“Foolish!”
After attending the discussion at the Twin Towers, Christian hurriedly contacted Ivan and carefully inquired about the restoration plan. After understanding the situation, he cried out in deep regret,
“Sorcerer Ivan, surely this will affect our subsequent research on the Ant Beings Sacred Altar. You should have discussed it with us first, now it’s too late to rectify the situation.”
“I’ve already researched the Ant Beings Sacred Altar; it’s just three one-way sacrificial array daises, so there’s no point in continuing the research,” Ivan said unhurriedly.
Hearing this, Christian felt a twinge of dissatisfaction inside. He had devoted so much effort to finding the Ant Beings Sacred Altar, only to be tricked and then told it was all for nothing.
“I have a hypothesis,” Ivan continued.
“Please, speak.”
“Perhaps your information was left over from when the defensive barrier was intact. After the barrier was reduced to the elementary level, many things changed—”
“You mean, the Ant Beings Sacred Altar has changed and may regain its original power if restored to the intermediate level,” Christian brightened at the idea.
“This is just a hypothesis,” Ivan cautioned.
“Your hypothesis makes sense; the original Ant King Barrier Array indeed was an intermediate runes sorcery array.” Christian thought silently for a moment, becoming more convinced of the possibility.
Watching his retreating figure, Ivan shook his head slightly.
He knew that Christian acted this way for two reasons: first, he had invested too much in the Ant Beings Sacred Altar, turning discontent into an obsession; second, the chance to advance to a Level 2 Sorcerer was rare, especially in a place like Moon Pincer Peninsula.
Various reasons led Christian to place too much importance on the Ant Beings Sacred Altar.
“Something is amiss. Teresa and Victor shouldn’t have agreed so easily,” Ivan thought of another issue, a trace of doubt flickering in his eyes.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire!
Based on his understanding of the two vice-deans, they would surely have objected.
Instead, the opposite happened, and the restoration plan passed without any issues, leaving him no time to speak with Christian. He had even planned out how to persuade Christian, but it became unnecessary.
“Swamp ant, have your people not heard any peculiar news?” he asked.
“No, Sorcerer Ivan. Should I try to find out more?”
“There’s no need.”
To date, more of the converted Ant Guards under swamp ant’s command had increased manifold, with only a few Shadow Ant servants left unconverted. Even so, his network of informants still spanned the entire academy.
However, the Shadow Ant servants were mere servants, unable to enter many significant places and occasions, naturally unable to glean certain information.
It’s worth mentioning that, unlike the original Shadow Ant servants, swamp ant’s Ant Guards could grow rapidly, be given different materials to evolve into various Ant Guards, and subsequently form a guard corps.
That was a capability of swamp ant as a ‘king.’
Nonetheless, under Ivan’s orders, swamp ant did nothing precipitous and simply maintained the current status of the Ant Guards.
…
The capabilities exhibited by an academy were indeed extraordinary, especially with the full support of the Three Great Families and without any sabotage from the Hunting Team.
“Steward Ivan, this is the first batch of materials. The rest will be gathered and delivered in stages. Hopefully, we will soon see an intermediate defensive sorcery array with 24 runes bundles,” Ove said.
“The academy trusts me so much; I will definitely give it my all,” Ivan nodded firmly.
He added to himself that what he would soon see was indeed an intermediate defensive sorcery array, but it consisted of 26 runes bundles. One of the runes bundles would be split into three, hidden in secret small spaces, and another runes bundle would fall into the Ant Beings’ secret vault.
The materials needed for these two hidden runes bundles were also blatantly listed on the list.
“Steward Ivan, I am delighted to be able to perform a more comprehensive repair of the defensive barrier under your lead again,”
“This mission is more important and will be more strenuous, Steward Madeline.”
“It is our honor, and I believe no one present would complain about the hardship.”
After Chief Steward Ove left, Ivan and Madeline exchanged a few pleasantries.
Just like the last time, Teresa sent him some helpers who also acted as supervisors.
Seeing the vice dean so unconcerned about appearances, he sent his daughter Madeline, niece Mauline, granddaughter Heidi, and grandson Carmel.
Ivan simply followed suit and enlisted his own mentor Randall and his junior Gina into the repair team. Carmel and Gina would take on the role Heidi did last time, starting by pitching in with the odd jobs.
Sorcerers acted with the speed and force of a thunderbolt. Under Ivan’s leadership, the team busied themselves on the Ant Being barrier.
From 23 to 24 runes bundles, it might seem a mere addition of one runes bundle, but it represented a whole new level of difficulty, which was naturally no small feat. However, for Ivan, none of this was a problem; it would only take some time to complete.
Five days later, all the materials listed were gathered.
Encouraged by this, Ivan and his team were even more motivated.
While they were immersed in the repair of the Ant Being barrier, time quietly ticked away until one day, a major piece of news arrived, disturbing the peace of the Mongna Ant Land Cottage and their minds.
A new island had appeared at sea, located beyond Flash Vortex Bay. It was said to have rich magic stone mines, and it seemed there were also sightings of the Sea Race.
Once the news reached the academy, as a member of the Enchantment Group, Ivan was also called to attend the meeting.
Inside the meeting hall, the higher echelons of the academy gathered together.
“Is the news credible?”
“Rapid Flow Twin Towers dispatched people immediately, confirming the news without a doubt.”
“What does Black Reef Sanctuary have to say? How far is the island from Flash Vortex Bay?”
“At the edge of the Power of Flash Vortex’s limit range, it is no problem to blast the whole island into pieces.”
Upon hearing this, many people visibly relaxed. The island being within the range of the Power of Flash Vortex meant that it was on Flash Vortex Academy Alliance’s territory, allowing them to handle the situation as they pleased.
Next, naturally, was to arrange for personnel to go there to split the island’s resources, and the meeting hall suddenly buzzed with excitement.
Ivan suddenly remembered what Tess Bielby had said, not expecting the Star Moon Alliance to act so quickly and cause such a commotion.
“Steward Ivan, how is your side going?” Teresa suddenly called out his name.
“I can’t leave at the moment. If the repair stops now, all the previous work would be in vain,” Ivan replied without hesitation.
“The repair of the Ant Being barrier takes precedence; our Enchantment Group will not participate in this mission,” Teresa announced to the room, and no one objected.
After some discussion, Chief Steward Barbatt of the Policing Team and Chief Steward Jenkins of the Patrol Team were assigned to lead teams to meet with sorcerers from other academies and head to the island to confront~ the Sea Race.
A few days later, tragic news returned to the Mongna Ant Land Cottage. The joint team from the Flash Vortex Academy Alliance had been attacked by the Sea Race and a particularly large sea beast, resulting in countless deaths.
The Mongna Ant Land Cottage suffered the loss of three sorcerers, with over half the team wounded. The losses were devastating. As the news spread, it immediately caused an uproar within the academy.