In the bustling heart of Icerite Academy stood an imposing building.
This was the center of the entire campus, surrounded by the four major department areas.
Although the various classical and innovative buildings in the academy each had their unique charm, they all paled in comparison to this enormous central structure.
Not only because of its massive size, but also because its existence was starkly different from everything around it.
Compared to the Gothic or Renaissance-style buildings exuding historical atmosphere around it, this looked more like a military fortress.
Its walls were deep blue, hard as iron, surrounded by layers of powerful barrier formations, enveloping the building with soft golden light, forming visible magical protective shields.
For students, just feeling its presence from afar seemed to exert an invisible pressure.
Only by using official credentials and passing through multiple security checks at the sole main entrance could one enter this building.
Around this barrier, many members of the Royal Guard in splendid armor were patrolling.
They were not regular academy guards, but elite knights sent by the Kingdom of Houghton. If anyone dared to forcibly enter this place, they would surely not return.
All of this was because inside this building was a void gate leading to the Shadow World.
To prevent cultists or criminals from entering the Shadow World, all fixed void gates in the Southern Continent were under the highest level of defense and control by the Shadow World Management Association and the Southern Continent Joint Council.
The Kingdom of Houghton, where Lanqi was from, had a total of five large void gates, one of which was in Icerite Magic Academy.
Or rather, this academy was originally built around this gate, gathering high-level combat forces for research and study.
At this time when the sun was about to set in the west.
Icerite Academy was covered in a molten gold color, forming a tranquil and dreamy picture.
The shadows of Lanqi and Huberrian stretched long as they passed through the security checks of this building, laying straight on the wide road.
Until they finally stepped inside the building.
Before their eyes, in the spacious area, stood only an incredibly huge void gate.
Its appearance was bizarre and mysterious, yet as beautiful as the art of the creator. The frame was made of meteorite-like material, smooth as a mirror on the surface, with edges flowing with luminescence like liquid starlight, colors constantly jumping and changing between dark purple and silvery white.
The entire gate body flowed with a faint purple glow, like the deepest radiance in the night sky, constantly flickering, mysterious and unpredictable, as if countless stars were gently rotating in a vortex.
"What should we call our team?"
Huberrian looked at the last security checkpoint and its workstation, and the empty hall, and said to Lanqi.
They only needed to register their registered challenger licenses here, then have the staff check their [Shadow World Recording Program] wearables, and they could go to the void gate ahead for matched challenges.
If they wanted to use a "Team Card" for team challenges, they would also need to register the team name.
The "Team Card" was another tool magic card, officially called [Shadow World Coordination Program].
Lanqi thought for a moment and felt this could be filled in casually.
So, based on the characteristics of their two-person team:
"Let's call it the Civilized Role Model Team,"
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Lanqi answered.
Huberrian wanted to say something but held back, finally just nodding.
She felt there was a lot to criticize, but decided against it.
Let him be happy...
Next, they handed over their licenses and two types of tool magic cards each to the security checkpoint counter, waiting for the staff to process them.
"After entering the void gate, the Shadow World side will automatically start matching suitable existing Shadow Worlds for challengers. This cannot be controlled manually. Once you enter the matching state, don't come out of the void gate randomly, otherwise you might be separated. You know that, right?"
The staff member in military uniform explained some basic precautions while registering them with the magical device in hand, noticing their challenge count was 0.
"Understood."
Both nodded.
"Because there will be quite a few challengers from other ports around the world matching at the same time, you two with low ranks generally won't wait long."
The staff member stared at the crystal screen of the magical device while operating it, and continued explaining common situations to the two.
Even though Lanqi and Huberrian were already familiar with this knowledge, they still listened attentively.
In real Shadow Worlds, lower-ranked challengers are more easily matched successfully, as low-rank Shadow Worlds appear frequently and in large numbers.
High-rank Shadow Worlds often appear at lower frequencies. Sometimes even if challengers are willing to challenge them, there may not be Shadow Worlds available for them to challenge.
As for when the Association detects the appearance of a seventh-rank or higher calamity-level Shadow World, the Southern Continent Joint Council will issue warnings to various countries, and multiple countries will begin to negotiate and send out challengers and teams with extreme strength and most suitable abilities.
The higher the level of the Shadow World, the more serious the disaster caused by failure.
If the encroachment on the real world caused by the failure of second and third-rank Shadow Worlds is just a minor issue, then once a seventh-rank or higher Shadow World fails, it will bring about a true large-scale calamity.
Therefore, high-rank Shadow Worlds are treated with great caution by any country or force.
This is also why high-rank Shadow World challengers have such high status and position.
They have a say not only in their own kingdoms but also in the Southern Continent Joint Council!
As for wanting fixed challenger combinations to enter the same Shadow World, there are two ways.
One is for those top-tier challengers, due to their small numbers and the extremely few Shadow Worlds suitable for them, they will basically be matched together as long as they enter at the same time.
The other stable method is to carry a "Team Card" -
[Shadow World Coordination Program]
[Category: Spell Card]
[Grade: White Common]
[Rank: 1]
[Passive Effect: Will match into the same Shadow World with companions carrying coordination programs of the same number.]
[Note: No. 891852279 Team Card]
This was the team card Lanqi and Huberrian purchased at the entrance work counter.
Jointly issued by the Southern Continent Shadow World Management Association and the Card Makers Association, it was processed and replicated from the natural team function cards born from Shadow Worlds.
Generally, the more people in a team, the harder it is to match into a Shadow World, the longer the waiting time, and it also increases the difficulty compared to separate individual challenges.
However, if it's just a two-person team, the negative effects are minimal.
"Alright, when you come out, let me read the [Shadow World Recording Program] again, then you can get your challenger licenses back and leave."
The staff member returned their tool magic cards to them, and then the gate in front of them opened.
He waved his hand, indicating that the two could go in.
Lanqi and Huberrian took back their tool magic cards and thanked him, then walked towards the void gate.
There were hundreds of steps of distance. The two didn't say much along the way until they came to the front of this void gate.
"Ready?"
Lanqi turned his head and smiled at Huberrian.
"Of course."
Huberrian nodded as well.
Completely different from the doors manufactured by artificial Shadow World terminals, the real void gate was a bottomless black hole. Just approaching it, one could feel an invisible pulling force, as if it wanted to draw the souls of visitors into this endless unknown world.
However, Lanqi didn't hesitate and stepped straight in, as if passing through a water surface.
Instantly, sound, vision, consciousness, even time all disappeared in this moment.
What could be felt was only the breath of the universe, endless stars, and bottomless void.
As if two worlds were interweaving, taking shape together, after everything turned upside down and reversed, they finally arrived in a brand new world.
[The story of shadow and reality intertwining, once again unravels today.]