Lith used Invigoration on a painting to study its pseudo core and discovered that it had very simple controls.
‘Honestly, I hope the paintings are no dimensional doors. If you’re, right we might get swarmed at any minute. Also, we have no idea how many times these things can be used.
“If we go in too deep and then we find their pseudo core spent on our way back, we’d have no way out of Huryole.’ Solus thought while keeping her mana sense active.
Lith shuddered while realizing how foolish was his wish. Luckily, the dimensional magic inside of the paintings wasn’t intended as a means of transportation. By imprinting the paintings with his mana, Lith could solely explore the rooms they depicted, zooming in and out at will.
‘This is some kind of cameras’ control room.’ He thought. After fiddling with the controls for a while, Lith discovered that the zoom out function allowed him to see where each room was in Huryole and the directions it led to.
‘That’s how those guys managed to get out so quickly.’ Solus pointed him at a painting depicting another corridor filled with surveillance canvas.
Some of the images had been arranged so as to form a path leading outside.
‘The good news is that we can follow their lead and move faster, the bad news is that whoever stumbles into that corridor will find a way out and mess with our plan.’ Lith was zooming out all the surveillance images in the room to see if any of them led to the Forgemastering or the Alchemical lab.
Unfortunately for him, most of the depicted areas were disconnected between them, so they provided him with no clues where to go and hit the jackpot.
‘My advice is to follow the path of the undead. It will allow us to both move quickly and get rid of all those who might block our way back. Two birds with one stone.’ Solus suggested.
Lith nodded and studied briefly all the paintings before moving out. He stayed in each room only long enough to give Solus the time to scan everything with mana sense for valuable relics.
No matter how many times he visited it, Huryole was always creepy. The place reminded Lith of the White Griffon academy to the point that he could almost see the students sitting in the classrooms, practicing magic in the labs, and bullying the weak in the bathrooms.
Yet everything was empty and silent until it wasn’t anymore. For some reason, all doors would stay closed until someone opened them and each room was soundproof. Enemies would come at any time from any direction without notice.
Lith left the bathroom and entered the Gardens of Madness. He had already been there in the past, but this time he knew where to go next. The garden area was one of the biggest he had ever met, with so many doors that even Solus needed a map to not lose her way.
They spanned for several hundreds of meters, covering an area as big as a small village. It was also one of the most dangerous places in the lost academy. A green area meant plants which in turn meant food, and food was a priceless luxury inside Huryole.
Those who reached the Gardens would never leave until killed and would react to any intruder with extreme prejudice. Yet the place hadn’t been named after the violence it caused so much as after what happened once one of the landlords had their belly full for a while.
Finally freed from their hunger, humans, magical beasts, and undead alike would be torn apart between their need for company and the fear of losing what they had. Lith had witnessed several times them crying like babies while hugging, having sex, or even eating each other alive.
Only a few would live long enough to realize they had just exchanged one hell for another and would resume their search for the exit. All the others would remain trapped mind and body in the Gardens of Madness.
Lith used air magic to float a few centimeters from the ground and darkness magic to cancel his smell. His Skinwalker armor changed its colors according to its surroundings, making Lith nigh-invisible.
While moving through the Gardens, Lith left several bombs hidden inside small bags, just in case he needed to retreat quickly and had no time for finesse nor violence.
The next room was a seven-story tall library, filled to the brim with books.
‘Too bad we can’t use the tower’s Sentries to check their titles nor can we just store them inside our pocket dimension.’ Lith inwardly sighed at the idea of the treasure of knowledge he was leaving behind.
‘It would take hours anyway.’ Solus replied. ‘This place must belong to a time when dimensional items weren’t common. Misplace a book even once and it’s as good as lost forever.’
She skimmed the titles of the tomes they met on their way, but they were either trivial or nonsensical. Like “Basics of self-defense” or “How to cook your neighbor”. If the Gardens extended horizontally, the library extended vertically, like a tower comprised of bookshelves.
Lith was surprised not meeting anyone on his way and believed that for once luck was smiling upon him. Yet the truth was much worse. Undead were the only ones capable of building long-lasting alliance among themselves simply because they couldn’t feed upon each other.
Emperor Beasts, humans, and plants, instead, would welcome even their own kin as if they were steaming cheeseburgers. Guilt was a meaningless word in Huryole since the victim would be reborn in a few hours.
After living inside the lost academy for a few days, the only feeling that mattered was hunger.
“Congratulations.” Said a male voice when Lith reached the end of the known path.
“You’ve reached the Headmaster’s office and earned your place in the Arthan Academy.”
Lith had no idea if to be more creeped out by the person in front of him speaking the modern common language or by hearing the name of the Mad King spoken with deference instead of spite.
The man in front of Lith wore an ample golden mage robe and was about 1.60 meters (5’3″) tall. He looked to be in his mid-fifties and had long brown hair and a beard streaked red all over.
“How do you speak my language and what the heck are you talking about?” Lith said while pretending to be scared.
‘Solus, analysis.’ He actually thought while using the chatter to weave his best spells.
‘Whoever this guy is, he has a bright violet mana core and a life force, so he’s human. Yet he shares the same energy signature as Huryole, so I’m afraid we’re actually talking with the host of the Living Legacy that controls the place.
‘Be extra careful. If he’s anything like me, you’re speaking with the beast to whom belongs the belly you’re inside of.’ Solus prepared some spells of her own while trying to understand if the cursed object had any weakness she could exploit.
“Many people reach our institution every year and no matter how long they stay, they talk, talk, and talk. I had all the time I needed to listen and keep up with the outside world.” At a wave of the apparently amiable old man, a hologram of Lith talking with General Vorgh appeared in the middle of the room.
