With a gentle pull, the heavy oak door let out a low creak, its sound softened by the gentle touch of time. The office door pulled shut as the last demon teacher departed.
Outside the large, wood-framed window, the starlight of the Demon Realm poured into the room, overlapping with the warm lamplight to form a bright lattice of radiance.
Beside a square tea table near the window, Lanqi sat comfortably in a soft woven armchair, looking very much like someone enjoying a leisurely retirement.
[Time Remaining: 0 hours 57 minutes]
[Mission Objective 1: Academy exploration rate exceeding 60%. Current progress: 1200%]
[Mission Objective 2: Investigate the source of tonight's danger. Crisis resolved]
[Mission Objective 3: At least 1 person survive until the time limit expires. Currently surviving: 6/6]
[Challenger Lanqi is currently located in Corridor T01, Headmaster's Office]
After receiving the Poet of Great Love's triumphant report, he glanced at the Shadow World's information panel.
Sure enough, the mission status had updated.
It seemed all objectives for this Shadow World were complete, and time was well into the latter half of the fifth period.
Before long, the Shadow World would proceed to settlement.
He and Hyperion would be transported back to Ikerite Academy in the mortal realm.
"No way!"
The thought of going from headmaster of this dream campus straight back to being a student in that hellish academy made Lanqi dread looking at this agonizing countdown to waking up.
With a flick of his will, Lanqi turned off the recording function of the Shadow World Recording Program on his person.
The live broadcast could be toggled on or off at will. In high-tier Shadow Worlds that lasted days or even months, challengers often needed to live their own lives, and streaming every moment was hardly appropriate.
Since all mission objectives were accomplished, whether Lanqi continued recording would have no bearing on his school credits or the promotion points calculated by the Southern Continent Shadow World Management Association.
Right now, all he wanted was to study in peace and memorize Demonic Beast Fur Processing Magic, which the magic department teacher had delivered to the Headmaster's Office.
He had no desire to let the association record this magic; he only wanted to bring it back and pore over it with Talia.
Other humans had no need to know the principles behind such forbidden magic!
He might as well go offline and let the audience watch something lighthearted and pleasant instead.
Once Lanqi turned off his feed, the mortal realm's live broadcast would solely display Hyperion's perspective.
He was confident that compared to watching him sit in the Headmaster's Office reading, the mortal audience would far prefer to see the Poet of Great Love's cheerful smile.
"Allow me to appreciate the great fruits of demonkind's wisdom!"
Lanqi leaned back in the lounge chair with utter satisfaction, flipping through the book on magical theory.
"Then again, why were Hyperion and I matched into a Tier 4 Shadow World in the first place...?"
Something suddenly occurred to him, and he muttered under his breath.
Could a Tier 5 challenger have entered, dragging up the average difficulty?
Both he and Hyperion were below the Shadow World's tier, so for balance, there ought to be someone among the challengers who exceeded it.
The demon students invited to the Headmaster's Office earlier varied in strength, making them hard to tell apart. High-tier challengers were also adept at controlling their mana, making it difficult to pinpoint which four among them were the challengers.
Of course, those four challengers had never realized that Lanqi, the headmaster, was a challenger himself.
After all, under normal circumstances, no ordinary person would ever imagine that a student could somehow become the headmaster of a demon academy within a matter of hours.
"Hiss... If they all mistook me for a hidden NPC in this Shadow World, wouldn't it be horribly awkward if we ran into each other in the mortal realm later?"
Lanqi winced at the thought.
"Whatever."
Lanqi shook his head. They had already cleared the trial anyway, so there was nothing else to fret over. Right now, he only wanted to focus wholeheartedly on studying the magic he had been yearning for through more than half the Shadow World.
***
Above the foundation level,
Corridor F03.
The Demon Realm Plant Experimental Garden wafted floral fragrance right through its doors.
Upon entering the classroom, the first sight to behold was a vast lawn, sprawling out like a carpet of emerald green.
Along both sides of the winding path grew demon plants of every shape and size, from colossal demon eucalyptus trees to tiny demon wildflowers, from brightly colored demon tropical flora to thorny demon vines—all appearing like natural treasures that could flourish only on this soil.
Bathed in the subtle glow of magical lamps, the bright, plump plants had blurred contours, resembling phantoms drifting in the night mist.
They did not necessarily boast dazzling colors or flamboyant shapes, yet they stood there quietly and beautifully, like poetry, remaining unchanged through the passing of time as they silently watched every sunrise and sunset.
The Poet of Great Love and Hyperion had laid out a picnic blanket beneath a tree in the dim starlight of the early morning, preparing to enjoy demon delicacies packed from the Demon King's Bestowed Restaurant.
It was four in the morning, which could just barely pass as breakfast.
Happiness practically overflowed from the Poet of Great Love's face. Lying on the ground, she propped her cheek with one hand while gently brushing a flower's stamen with the fingertips of the other.
As if sensing her warmth, clusters of petals miraculously sprouted and burst into full bloom.
The Poet of Great Love's entrance effect originally caused flowers to blossom rapidly all around, though triggering such an aesthetic flourish required Lanqi to expend extra mana during her summoning.
Consequently, she also possessed a slight ability to foster plant growth, though it all consumed Lanqi's mana.
Now that Lanqi had agreed to let her play to her heart's content, she squandered his mana without the slightest hesitation.
Hyperion glanced at the Poet of Great Love, caught between speechlessness and a growing sense of relief.
At this moment, the Poet of Great Love didn't look at all like that succubus full of wicked schemes.
Due to the arrival of Hyperion and the Poet of Great Love, the demon teacher of the botany department in this Difficulty 1 classroom had temporarily changed the curriculum to "Free Viewing."
In other words, so long as one didn't damage the plants, one could rest freely in the room and receive a passing mark.
After the general assembly and announcement held by the Vice Headmaster, the faculty naturally knew the identities of these two female demons.
Today, Purgatory Corridor Academy had just gained a new lease on life. As a form of celebration, they would not make things difficult for students anymore.
Neither of them knew how long had passed in this peaceful atmosphere where time slipped by so easily.
A flurry of chilling wind swept past, rustling the blades of grass.
The Poet of Great Love raised her head in bewilderment.
She felt as though everything before her eyes had grown just a fraction dimmer in an instant.
The thinning, steadily chilling starlight allowed an indescribable dead silence to replace the tranquility of the botanical garden.
The very next second—
A sharp sound of tearing air echoed from nowhere across the open lawn!
A fierce wave of danger sent a shiver down Hyperion's spine, and every muscle in her body instantly locked tight.
Chapter 78