Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1534: Group Meeting

The sound of eating an apple was faint, but it still attracted the cat that was originally napping. When Luviya ended her deep kiss with Shard, Shard unexpectedly saw Mia appear at the bedroom door, peeked inside, and then darted into the room, choosing instead to nap on the bedroom windowsill.

It probably thought that Shard was secretly eating something delicious without it.

"Are there any new updates on The Chosen One? I remember we still have two Special Coins left."

Shard asked again, but Luviya shook her head:

"As I said, after the Randall Valley incident ends, we’ll take a short break for a few months. At least wait until spring is over before starting the next adventure. Look at you, get well first."

"I think I need to emphasize again, I should be considered recovered from my illness. How about going into town in a few days? As far as I remember, I’ve never seen the spring scenery of Tobesk."

"The city is also foggy in spring, but the outskirts are nice. I suggest you prepare for the riding competition Dorothy mentioned earlier, I’d love to see you win the championship."

Tobesk was experiencing a rare good weather today—the sunshine was warm and cozy, and the golden light shone through the window onto Luviya’s face, creating an inexplicable glow in her violet eyes.

Priest Augustus and Dr. Schneider arrived soon, with Dorothy being the last one to come after going home to fetch her thesis.

Seeing that Shard’s condition had clearly improved, the doctor and priest were pleased. However, during the meeting, the other four still let Shard stay in bed with a quilt covered, much like how the doctor was treated after being severely injured in the Lakeside Manor incident last summer.

"There are quite a few good things happening in our group recently."

Having returned from a long journey to Tobesk, Dr. Schneider was in a rather good state of mind. Brandishing the group’s status report, which was soon to be submitted to the Academy, he announced to everyone:

"I’ve advanced to the 7th Circle, Shard and Annette advanced to the 6th Circle, and Priest Augustus has moved up to the 3rd Circle. I believe the Academy will be quite surprised."

The promotions for both the doctor and Luviya were due to their experiences in Randall Valley, while Priest Augustus credited Shard’s return with the Angel Finger Bone.

The Old Cleric also seemed to be in a good mood; he and the doctor sat together on the couch moved in from the living room, habitually polishing his pipe:

"See, you’re all in the Inner Ring, while I’m still in the Low Ring."

"Priest, you should say everyone advanced except me, still stuck at the Five Rings."

Dorothy corrected from the side, but she truly looked a bit unhappy about it.

The doctor continued:

"Additionally, every spring semester, correspondence student groups can apply to the Academy for an extra ’Spring Adventurer Project Scholarship’. This is a bonus meant to encourage correspondence students to go on short adventures outside their residence. About one-third of the applying groups receive this money each year. I’ve been notified that my application has been fortunately approved this year. The scholarship hasn’t reached my hands yet, but it should arrive in the coming weeks. As we agreed beforehand, I, as the applicant, get an extra share, and Luisa, for writing the final report for us, also gets an extra share."

Though for safety and confidentiality, the Academy generally doesn’t require correspondence students to leave their residence for a long time, there’s an exception every spring for students to "go out." After all, Circle Sorcerers are not purely academic professions. Thus, the "Correspondence Students Spring Adventure Activities" are akin to the "In-School Student Off-Campus Practice Activities" in the summer, both being regular seasonal academy activities.

Shard also heard that last year, due to an insufficient number of group members, they couldn’t get that scholarship, which disappointed the doctor greatly.

"Additionally, we need to note that the academy’s investigation into correspondence student backgrounds has reached our region."

On this topic, the doctor visibly became more serious.

Priest Augustus also put down his pipe for a moment, Dorothy slightly frowned, Luviya squinted her eyes, and Shard stroked Mia:

"When exactly? I can adjust my plan to visit Miss Gawder."

"It should be next week, the Academy said I would receive a day’s notice beforehand, but it’s likely the weekend. The one leading this is a professor from the Chemistry Academy, but I didn’t find out their exact name."

The doctor looked at everyone in turn:

"Although this investigation mainly arose from last year’s academic spy issue with Sir Plisha making headlines, we shouldn’t let our guard down... you know what I mean."

Everyone nodded, and Dorothy asked:

"Has the Academy caught any other academic spies from the recent investigations in other regions?"

"This investigation is coordinated among the Three Major Academies. In January, the Zaras Literary Academy discovered a group entirely corrupted by a cult, which was quite severe. Although the situation has been resolved, Zaras Literary Academy’s admission process will undoubtedly be stricter next year."

Dr. Schneider said, though it had little to do with them:

"That’s the most serious issue uncovered in this investigation so far, rather the most severe problem among correspondence student groups in the last twenty years, even more serious than academic spies."

"Zaras Literary Academy surely didn’t expect such an unexpected gain."

Priest Augustus remarked, and the doctor nodded:

"As for Xerxes Higher Medical Academy, they uncovered two incidents where correspondence students colluded with in-school students to resell academy assets. As you know, the Magical Potions and Study of Alchemy materials sold to us by the Academy, especially those used in courses, are priced lower than market value, hence some profit from it. In my opinion, those who were caught deserve it. You either do such things without getting caught, or once caught, you’re incompetent and deserve punishment."

Though there might have been some issues in the doctor’s words, no one pointed them out.

"Will they be expelled?"

Shard asked with interest.

"No, it’s not a fundamental issue. But failing a grade is certain, and their group will be banned from enrolling new students. For Ring Sorcerers aspiring for higher levels, that’s a disastrous blow."

Not everyone can access various channels of knowledge like Shard. The systematic cultivation system of the Three Major Academies, formed over thousands of years, means that leaving the Academy-provided curriculum impacts the overall knowledge and future planning’s rationality, even if one’s level improves.

"So, nothing happened at our school?"

That was Luviya asking, and the doctor shook his head:

"How could there be nothing? But it’s not a big deal. From what my acquaintances at the Academy told me, a group from Randall Valley had their 1854 academic year evaluations downgraded a grade due to not reporting an escaped student from the Academy."

Shard’s mouth twitched. Although Miss Danester promised not to punish Emilia, she didn’t say anything about not punishing others involved.

"Additionally, the investigation identified a particularly special Circle Sorcerer who concealed their true background. This individual belongs to a group located on the Western Archipelago off the West Coast of the Old Continent. I apologize, but I didn’t remember the obscure island name. The five-ringed Sorcerer himself has no issues; he just didn’t want the Academy to know about his deceased father’s ties to illegal sorcerer groups, whose name is still on the wanted list of the True God Church."

At that, the doctor shook his head slightly:

"So, everyone has secrets they don’t want others to know. These secrets may not be harmful to others, so keep them well-hidden... Understand?"

"Yes."

"Understood."

"Of course."

"Got it."

"In any case, each of us just needs to be careful. The Academy’s background investigation on us will mostly be conducted before the professors meet us. The face-to-face meeting will last about half an hour per person. It’s not a big deal, so no need to worry too much."

Although he said so, everyone in the group was still worried about what might actually happen.

Last week’s group meeting couldn’t be held because the doctor wasn’t present and Shard was seriously ill, so there were quite a lot of things to handle this week. Even though Dr. Schneider didn’t want to disturb Shard’s rest, the meeting lasted until a little after 4 p.m.

Apart from Dorothy, the four who completed their advancements needed to consider their Arcane Technique and course adjustments. Now that it’s late in the Month of Rising Wind, it signifies the semester’s middle stage, and professors’ elective courses have started to open up one after another; the course application process isn’t exactly simple.

For Shard, he chose Professor Garcia’s advanced course "Introduction to Maze Locks." As for Miss Danester, she would discuss elective courses with Shard whenever she had time, being quite busy as the Librarian.

After the meeting concluded, the evening glow was even visible outside the window. Priest Augustus, Luviya, and Dorothy all noticed Dr. Schneider wished to speak with Shard privately, so they left separately.

Once the sound of the door closing came from downstairs, Dr. Schneider took from his carry-on box a black book embedded with a flat skull on the cover. It was the Malbas Demon Book, one of Shard’s spoils of war obtained from the Stone Mirror Demon, Gawder.

"I’ve read this book through; the content here is indeed quite useful to you, especially relating to Soul Pacts and Demon Curses, something the Academy wouldn’t easily teach us. But my advice to you is, you can look at the knowledge in it, but don’t read too much at once, and don’t show this book to anyone else besides you and me. When not reading it, place it in a silver container; I suggest you go to Old John to order one."

The doctor advised cautiously, and as he handed the book back to Shard, he also gave him a notebook.