Chapter 116: C-Captain, Take Su Su Along

Inside the headmaster's office, Harvey and Moyuna sat face-to-face. The old headmaster pulled a pitch-black stone and a piece of enchanted paper from his spatial storage, placed them on the desk, and pushed them toward Moyuna with a nod.

"No longer needed?"

Moyuna picked up the Void Stone and toyed with it for a moment. Inside, one could clearly see an object resembling a black hole slowly rotating, as if a cosmic black hole had been embedded within. This item was considered part of the spoils of war captured by Ruby; the young Mage God had traded intelligence on the Black Magic Association with the headmaster in exchange for the freedom to study it.

"It belonged to your group in the first place. How do you intend to deal with the Black Magic Association?"

Harvey did not covet one of the only three such strange stones left on the continent; he only studied it out of a mage’s curiosity. However, after days of painstaking research, he could only sigh at his own aging, unable to uncover anything special about the rock.

"Even you can't find their headquarters... How troublesome."

Moyuna opened the map recorded on the magic paper. It was marked with several red circles representing the hideouts where the black mages usually lurked. Moyuna, however, had no interest in these small fry. Black mages were endless; as long as the thirst for power existed in human hearts, they would continue to emerge. She had no desire to be a hero serving the people; she merely wanted to drag out the person who had laid a hand on Ruby and finish them off.

The young Mage God had long since learned from Ruby’s account that it was the teacher of that dead ghost who had sent people for revenge. She had been clever enough not to tell Ruby that the enemy had targeted the wrong person—that he was merely a scapegoat—lest she get her forehead flicked again. Besides, she had stood in front of Ruby to take a claw strike without hesitation; it was only fair that Ruby should help her eliminate some enemies in return.

"If I knew, I would have reported it to the Mage Guild long ago. Those old geezers would naturally handle it."

Harvey shook his head helplessly; his intelligence network only went so far. In truth, if Moyuna really wanted to find them, no one could stop her. She could simply use mental magic to probe the memories of the small fry, layer by layer. But she had no desire to sully her eyes with the chaotic filth in their minds—which was the only reason the vice president of the Black Magic Association was still alive to cause trouble.

"Headmaster, do you know where the Void Stone came from?"

Moyuna couldn't be bothered to hunt down the small fry—she would be staying by Ruby’s side regardless. She held the Void Stone up to her eyes, closed her left eye, and observed the black hole inside with focused intensity.

"Where it came from? Isn't it a product of nature?"

Harvey was stunned by the question. Although he was a Saint Mage, he spent his days in the academy and received relatively little information from the outside world.

"Half-right. You’ve surely heard of Elemental Spirits, but have you heard of the Elemental Saint Spirit?"

"I truly haven't."

"Thousands of years ago, before humans had founded any empires, the continent was divided among various kingdoms. The Luns Kingdom was the most powerful, as its people raised magical insects capable of sniffing out the locations of Elemental Spirits."

Seemingly inspired by the Void Stone in her hand to share a story, Moyuna began to recount the dust-covered past of the Holy Continent.

"Relying on this talent, they captured a vast number of Elemental Spirits every year, eventually finding the spirits' habitat. Those with power are usually greedy and foolish. As they prepared to launch an all-out assault on the habitat to seize the Tree of Life, a female elf stepped forward to protect her people."

Moyuna’s voice was captivating. Though Harvey was curious about how she knew this, he did not interrupt, content to be a listener as she painted a picture of a once-mighty kingdom.

"While elves do not fear humans, the outbreak of war would inevitably lead to death. Thinking this, the elven maiden drank a cup of sap produced by the Tree of Life. Of course, the water of life, which could merely bring back the dead, could not grant an elf immense power on its own."

"But as the saying goes, where there is oppression, there is resistance. The Elemental Spirits enslaved by humans, hearing her call, broke free from their masters and merged into her body. With a physique supported by such immense vitality, she was no less powerful than a god. The strongest mage army of that era turned to ash in mere seconds before her."

Moyuna sighed as she told the tale. That elven maiden was likely the first to cross into the realm of the gods, though unfortunately, it was not through her own power, so the aftermath was death.

"Filled with hatred for humanity, she destroyed the kingdom with her own hands. Before the humans could even react, a volcano descended from the sky, crushing the entire kingdom. It erupted not with scorching lava, but with spheres of void that turned everything they touched into nothingness. Both the perpetrators and the innocent were turned to void, their souls included."

"After leaving a warning for humanity, her body faded with the wind. It was on that day that humans understood that Elemental Spirits could not be hunted at will. The elves commemorated the maiden who sacrificed herself by calling her the Elemental Saint Spirit."

"Is that the origin of the Void Volcano?" Harvey finally asked. The legendary volcano, which supposedly floated silently in the void, had threatened to break through its seal several times. Fortunately, the angels' seals were strong enough to contain it, though people had named it after the translucent volcano floating in the sky.

"The incident caused too much of a stir. In the end, angels from the celestial realm intervened and sealed it into the void. However, the volcano still exhales spheres of void, and the Void Stones are the product of those spheres condensing over the years. The old geezers in the Mage Guild should know this; otherwise, they wouldn't have established the rule that one must have the consent of an Elemental Spirit to command it."

Moyuna revealed another secret regarding the celestial realm, as well as the rules established after humans learned their lesson. This was why she had been so agitated when she first saw Ruby’s scientific gadgets; at the time, she hadn't believed that a mere mortal like Ruby could command Elemental Spirits.

"Where did you hear these stories?" Harvey exhaled a long breath. This story exceeded his knowledge; it was hard to imagine such obscure information being possessed by a twenty-year-old girl.

"The Elven King’s diary."

"No, no, no—I mean, where did the diary come from?"

"My teacher stole it."

"That girl... I should have known it was Yura. Come to think of it, she’s practically half a black mage herself. How on earth did she invent the magic of swapping spaces?"

Harvey was truly speechless. He had known Yura was a handful, but he hadn't expected her to victimize not just humans, but the Elven King as well. To think she had successfully infiltrated the elven habitat and returned without being killed by the King—in a sense, she was even more formidable than Moyuna.

Then there was her godlike thievery. Theoretically, spatial storage could only be opened by the owner’s magic, yet Yura could empty the contents of someone else’s storage while merely brushing past them. He still remembered how his precious dragon crystal had been swapped for a rock in that exact manner. If Moyuna had told him Yura was the goddess of thieves reincarnated, he would have believed it.

"Who knows. I'm tired."

The young Mage God left her seat, preparing to depart. She mentally labeled the headmaster as stingy—they had been talking for so long, and he hadn't even offered a drink. Ruby was much better; he always prepared refreshments for her.

"Moyuna, can you create a Void Volcano?"

Whenever Harvey thought about the destructive power of that magic, he felt an itch he couldn't scratch. He couldn't resist asking. The Void Volcano was undoubtedly a Forbidden Curse-level spell, and he believed from the bottom of his heart that Moyuna could use such spells at will.

"I can't. I only know it is composed of Darkness, Fire, and Earth, and it requires several crucial magical structures."

Moyuna waved her hand, admitting her limitation. But Harvey heard something else in her words: if she didn't know the magical structure, then wasn't the Void Stone a textbook that could teach the Void Volcano step-by-step?

If Ruby were here, he would surely look at Harvey with a serious expression and say, "You just handed the button to launch a nuclear missile to someone who loves to cause trouble; you are responsible for the consequences."

Of course, the Mage God who stood for love and peace would never admit to causing trouble. Her reason was simple: laziness. Even if she learned how to cast the Void Volcano, Ruby wouldn't make her any extra food, so why bother doing thankless work? Maintaining her figure while acting as a parasite clinging to Ruby’s side was the best life possible.

"Wait."

"More to say? Are you becoming particularly long-winded in your old age?"

Moyuna’s hand was already on the doorknob, but she asked with a touch of impatience upon hearing Harvey call her back. Delaying the young Mage God from getting a drink was a serious offense.

"When the people from the Beana Fighting Spirit Academy arrive, do you intend to step in? You are a student here as well, after all."

Headmaster Harvey sounded conflicted. On one hand, he hoped Moyuna would deflate the visitors' arrogance; on the other, he didn't want the Mage God to lose control and accidentally kill all their students. What? You say cheating? Please, the Rhine Magic Academy had no rule stating that students must graduate once they reach a certain level.

"Depends on my mood. Besides, I haven't really seen any battle mages. If I had to consider it seriously, I suppose I could count as an Elemental Saint Spirit now. It might be fun to see who's stronger... Just kidding~"

Moyuna said it as a joke. Given her level, it would be like a max-level player street-brawling with newcomers who had just changed classes; the scene would be utterly devoid of humanity.

"Please, go easy on them."