Ultear had a secret.
Three nights ago, unable to sleep, she had come alone to the Fairy Academy for a night stroll. She thought it would be just an ordinary adventure, but who would have guessed...
(Three nights ago)
The moonlight was bright, and the night view stretched far. In the wind, a pleasant floral fragrance drifted. A girl with long jet-black hair, her heart filled with trepidation, walked alone, quietly and stealthily, deep into the campus.
The environment that was so familiar during the day took on a mysterious hue at night, shrouded in darkness.
"It's so quiet..."
"The whole school is silent; it feels like the world has become mine alone..." Expectation of the unknown made the girl's face, full of collagen, flush with irrepressible excitement.
Fortunately, the Ethernano in the air were calm and undisturbed, meaning there was no great danger ahead. Ultear thus summoned her courage and lengthened her stride.
The Fairy Academy is a castle-style magic school, but there are more than just castles on campus, and there is more than just one castle. The places provided for students and faculty for classes, lodging, and work are all castle-style buildings, though they differ in size. These castles—along with the plazas, gardens, ponds, libraries, sports fields, arenas, and the canteen—account for about two-thirds of the total area of the Fairy Academy. As for the remaining third, it is covered by twisting, bizarre paths and tall, thick trees.
Sha-sha-sha— When the night wind blew, the branches swayed along with it, like demons waving to welcome guests. Ultear instinctively shivered.
"These trees don't seem like much during the day, but I didn't think they'd be so eerie at night..." After a sigh, the girl readjusted her pace. She made each step smaller but stepped heavier and with more force, letting the soles of her shoes make a "da-da" sound on the ground, as if this could scare away all the demons and ghosts from the darkness.
"Yo—sh!!"
"The Fairy Academy Great Night-Tour Adventure begins!"
"Where should the first stop be?"
"Ah, right! I might as well revisit the primary school teaching building for a bit of nostalgia!!"
Ultear was already a second-year middle school student, but she still had vivid memories of her primary school years, where she had buried her head in books for six whole years. Following the forest path, this petite and graceful figure "putong-putong" hopped over to the primary school teaching building.
"This place hasn't changed at all..."
"Speaking of which, I really didn't expect primary school work to be so tight while middle school is so relaxed..."
"Sure enough, being an adult is wonderful!!"
After touring the primary school teaching building from start to finish, Ultear arrived at the university students' teaching building. This was a place she had never been to before, so as soon as she entered, she looked around curiously.
"What is this..."
"I don't feel like this place is any more high-class than the middle school building; plus, there's so much clutter piled up like a warehouse. How disappointing!"
"It seems being an adult isn't fun at all!!"
After leaving the university teaching building, Ultear successively visited the sports field, the arena, the garden pond, and the closed canteen. Finally, she arrived at the last stop of this night-tour adventure. For any wizard, it was an existence equivalent to a mountain of treasure—the Fairy Academy Magic Library!
The Fairy Academy library is not a standalone building. Behind the university teaching building is the courtyard of this castle, and behind the courtyard is the library; the two buildings are semi-connected. Because of its specific location, primary and middle school students in the academy rarely come here.
In fact, this library is not open to them. The reason is that it houses a vast collection of magic books, many of which are high-level magic, and even includes Lost Magic and Black Arts. These magics are very dangerous; for lower-grade students, they are strictly beyond the curriculum—the kind of existence that could easily harm oneself and others. Therefore, for the safety of the students, the academy strictly forbids lower-grade students from approaching the library.
At the Fairy Academy, after a wizard passes the assessment to become a university student, they need to "open a research topic" and gain their mentor's approval, then conduct research on it over the next three years. The magic books in the library are there to provide help for their research and the completion of their topics. Thus, under normal circumstances, only university students and faculty can enter.
Of course, not all lower-grade students are barred from visiting. If a wizard's talent is sufficient and they receive approval from their mentor and the grade director, they can obtain a temporary warrant to enter the library. For example, when Laxus was studying at the Fairy Academy, he chose not to pursue university studies, but because he possessed exceptional magical talent, he received permission to enter the library to study high-level magic during his middle school years.
Although Ultear's talent was also very high, her performance so far had not been excellent enough to reach the point of obtaining a temporary warrant, so she had never been here before. Tonight was the first time!
"Hehehe..."
"The most mysterious place in the academy—the Magic Library. I've never been here before!"
"I wonder just how many magic books are kept inside?"
Carrying tension and unease, Ultear quickly rubbed her hands together, then raised her right palm to rest on the door, giving it a gentle push inward.
Zhiya—
The library door was pushed open just a tiny crack! Ultear was instantly like a startled bird; she instinctively jumped back and ran three or four meters away, shrinking behind a stone pillar in the hallway, holding her breath and waiting quietly.
One second, two seconds... A minute passed, and nothing happened at the scene!!
"Very good, it seems there are no defensive magics set up here!" Ultear grinned, stepped out from behind the pillar with relief, straightened the corners of her clothes, and walked back to the library entrance with large strides. At this moment, she felt as if she saw a mysterious gift bag waving at her. She raised her hand again, pushed the library door hard inward, and poked her small head inside to peek.
Immediately—
"Eh?!"
"Why is there light inside?!!"
Light meant someone was there, and someone being there meant her night adventure would likely be caught red-handed! Although the Fairy Academy didn't explicitly forbid students from night tours, this behavior was generally frowned upon, let alone the fact that the place she came to was the library.
Ultear made a split-second decision to withdraw immediately. However, at that moment, a sudden change occurred! A massive suction force surged from deep within the library, like a beast that had been lying in wait for a long time finally capturing the prey it had been waiting for.
Ultear's pupils shrank, and she broke into a cold sweat, her face instantly covered in terror.
"How could—" Before her cry of alarm could be finished, her entire person was "sucked" inside. The door then closed with a "peng," tightly sealing off all sound.