Chapter 18

【You have come into contact with the 'Whisper'.】

Just by glancing at the intricately crafted snuff bottle, it deeply captivated Shade.

Shade had seen more intricate objects in his world, but at this moment, he felt an overwhelming urge to possess this one. Fortunately, the woman's voice pulled his thoughts back to a normal track, and Dr. Schneider merely smiled at Shade's momentary lapse:

"Even a poet-level [Relic] can affect ordinary people, which is why the Church and the Academy try to contain and control [Relics] as much as possible. However, you have recovered very quickly. Once I open it, you will fall into a dream. The dream will last 7 minutes and 23 seconds, during which you will learn about the Academy's past and present. This will help you believe what I say."

"Such precise timing?"

Shade asked, then, following the doctor's guidance, he leaned back on the sofa in a position conducive to a nap.

"Almost every correspondence ringmage who joins St. Byron's has to confirm the information they received through this [Relic]. It has been used countless times without any errors."

The doctor smiled.

This "never" phrasing made Shade somewhat worried, but he did not voice his feelings and instead signaled the doctor to proceed.

"Alright, please prepare—"

The doctor stood up, covered his mouth and nose with a wet towel to prevent himself from falling asleep, and stepped back:

"Begin."

The lid of the bottle was lifted, and a rainbow-colored mist shot out. Shade immediately lost consciousness.

Shade had a dream. In the dream, his soul left his body and ascended to a distant height, looking down at the bustling steam city shrouded in gray mist, seeing steam factories spewing thick smoke in the distance.

Then he flew north, over cities, over mountains, over grasslands, over forests. Finally, he saw snow-capped peaks and, behind the highest peak, the vast ice cap of the far north.

Perhaps it was just an instant, perhaps several hours or even days, the sky in the far north darkened. In the darkness, under the rainbow aurora, behind the shining ice mountains, a massive complex of buildings appeared.

This was a strange dream unlike any other. After waking up, Shade only remembered walking through the vast Academy, strolling through ancient castles, looking up at the stars from the top of spires, wandering through lecture halls with rows of seats, searching for herbal formulas in the basement, and checking the [Relic] containment list in the library.

Mysterious, ancient, profound, and secret, it was St. Byron's Comprehensive Academy, but also a gathering place for mystics. It had stood behind the ice cap in the far north since ancient times.

When he opened his eyes, his vision was still a bit blurry, but the doctor's face became clear on the opposite sofa. He was hurriedly closing the lid of the snuff bottle and putting the poet-level [Relic] back into the box.

"How was it? Now you know the Academy really exists, right?"

After putting away the snuff bottle, the doctor smiled and asked Shade. Shade sighed wistfully, somewhat missing that strange dream.

"Indeed, what the doctor said is indeed true."

Even though it was just a dream, this special dream was enough to make Shade make the right judgment.

"The only side effect of this poet-level [Relic] is a slight addictive quality."

Dr. Schneider's voice was gentle, with a strange power, as if trying to pull Shade completely out of the dream world:

"Forget that dream, Shade Hamilton. But one day, you will join us as a ringmage, travel by steam train to the far north, cross the ice cap under the aurora, spend long nights huddled together in a blizzard, and together climb the highest glacier, then enter there, St. Byron's Comprehensive Academy, the dream of ringmages. My dream is to advance to the tenth ring in the Academy and obtain a lifetime professorship at St. Byron's. Shade, if you like it there, then join us."

That dream, both real and illusory, took some time for Shade to recover from. When the doctor formally asked for his opinion again, this time, Shade nodded without hesitation:

"Yes, I hope to join the Academy and become a correspondence ringmage."

Dr. Schneider's face lit up with a genuine smile:

"Then congratulations, Shade. Please allow me to call you that. You are about to become the fifth ringmage in our group. Please wait, Miss Dorothy Louise was here earlier. She will join me in conducting your enrollment ceremony. I can introduce you to her and let her know that I'm not always so unlucky. The enrollment ceremony requires at least two members of the group to be present to prevent new ringmages from being deceived."

Even though the doctor had been very enthusiastic since his morning visit to St. Delran Square No. 6, his enthusiasm seemed to increase even more:

"Oh, Louise is a fourth-year correspondence fourth-ring ringmage, and her main job is a novelist. I know you just 'awoke' from blind folly and probably haven't read her works, but she is somewhat well-known. 'The Dream of the Snail' and 'The Midsummer Night's Wish' won the kingdom's literary award three years ago, and she was even summoned by His Majesty the King along with 35 other awardees."

"Actually, you don't need to mention the total number of awardees from that year."

The door opened, and the blonde lady from earlier stood outside. She was still dressed the same way but looked a bit annoyed:

"Doctor, do you really need to tell all the unimportant information every time you introduce a friend?"

It seemed that the atmosphere in the four-person correspondence ringmage group was quite good, at least they were all friends, and Shade was glad about this. But he also guessed that the blonde writer lady had probably been listening to the conversation outside the door.

"Indeed, it's impossible for everyone to be completely without suspicion."

He thought to himself, preparing to stand up and greet her.

The doctor avoided answering the blonde girl's question and smiled, gesturing for Miss Louise to sit down:

"Detective Hamilton has accepted my invitation, and now our group finally has five ringmages."

"Doctor, you really didn't use any strange relics to manipulate luck, did you?"

She was suspicious but still came in and extended her hand to Shade:

"Dorothy Louise, novelist, and part-time journalist."

Miss Louise seemed very efficient, so Shade also stood up and lightly shook her hand:

"Shade Hamilton, sort of a detective."

"That's a pretty good profession."

As they spoke, they sat down again. The doctor cleared his throat, signaling that he had something to say:

"Shade, please allow me to call you that. The last thing before your formal enrollment, I need to talk to you about tuition."

Shade was taken aback, and the joy in his heart was once again dispelled by the sad reality. He blinked:

"Yes, tuition."

He realized that the doctor had not mentioned the Academy's significant drawback when introducing the Church and the Academy, after all, the True God Church would not charge money to absorb members.

"The school charges tuition by grade. Let me show you—"

Dr. Schneider took a document from the bookshelf behind his desk, and the blonde girl did not speak but watched the two with interest.

"This is the tuition schedule. Since we are correspondence, we do not directly communicate with the Academy, so the Academy created these documents to prevent group leaders from overcharging. I heard that this was quite common a few hundred years ago."