The place where Lucian now stood was directly behind the South Gate of the academy.
Although he hadn't been transported straight to the destination, it didn't really matter.
This stretch of road was nothing to speak of.
In fact, now that Lucian had already entered Raya Lucaria Academy, everything that followed was trivial.
With his strength, dealing with this bunch of sorcerers would be effortless.
As he advanced, Lucian suddenly sensed a concealed gaze upon him. He lifted his head and looked upward, and discovered something hiding atop the gate.
A Bloodhound Knight.
It couldn't see Lucian's invisible form, but it could smell him.
The Bloodhound Knight leapt down from the gate, landing beside Lucian.
It didn't attack, nor did it draw its weapon from its back. Instead, it simply sniffed the air, confirming Lucian's presence.
Then it did nothing more.
Lucian ignored it and continued walking uphill.
The Bloodhound Knight followed.
When Lucian stopped, it stopped.
When Lucian moved forward, it advanced as well.
The knight always maintained a certain distance, neither approaching nor falling behind.
Lucian stopped once more.
Turning slightly, he spoke to the Bloodhound Knight behind him.
"What do you want?"
Unfortunately, the Bloodhound Knight gave no verbal response, only staring toward Lucian's position through its iron helm.
"You have a master, don't you?"
Unexpectedly, the Bloodhound Knight nodded.
Lucian was genuinely surprised. It dawned on him that he'd been misled by his own preconceptions about Bloodhound Knights.
Of course—even if they communicated with one another through special means, they were still capable of understanding human speech and commands.
After all, they were trained humans to begin with.
If they couldn't even understand language, they wouldn't be fit to serve as "hounds" in the first place.
Since it had a master, then that master was most likely Queen Rennala of the Full Moon.
Bloodhound Knights were knights cultivated by Volcano Manor.
Considering that each of the Carian siblings' territories had Bloodhound Knights stationed within them, it was very possible that Rykard had trained them as elite guards, then gifted them to his siblings—and to his mother.
But now, the Carian Academy had been seized by the sorcerers.
Even the wolves that had formed an alliance with the Carian royal family had all been driven out.
Was this Bloodhound Knight hoping Lucian would lead it into the academy… to save Rennala?
If that was the case, then it wasn't an enemy.
Since it wasn't attacking, Lucian decided to let it do as it pleased.
He took a closer look at the Bloodhound Knight following behind him.
Its lower legs bent backward like those of a true canine, with reversed joints.
Its arms were also longer than those of an ordinary human, allowing it to run fluidly on all fours.
Who knew what kind of extreme modifications, or training it had undergone to end up with such a body structure.
Lucian shrugged and continued inward.
He walked along the long-abandoned road that sloped upward into the academy.
Sellen's words echoed faintly in his ears:
"This road was once bustling with life, filled with all manner of people."
"Countless seekers of knowledge passed through here, all striving to reach the academy."
"But in the end, only a handful were ever allowed to truly step inside Raya Lucaria."
Now, however, weeds had overtaken everything. The entire avenue was nearly swallowed by overgrown grass.
Strange trees had even sprouted along the roadside—who knew how many years they'd been growing.
After walking for some time, a flicker of firelight appeared near a cluster of bushes ahead.
Lucian approached and discovered a Nomadic Merchant.
The merchant couldn't see Lucian—but he could see the Bloodhound Knight.
Following the knight's line of sight, the merchant also looked toward Lucian's position.
"Huh? Is there someone there?"
"Honestly, you'd think people would learn by now—everyone knows the academy can see through invisibility."
Lucian was taken aback.
Logically speaking, the invisibility sorcery developed by the Sellian mages for assassinating their peers shouldn't have been so easily detected.
When he'd faced the mages of Sellia himself, even they couldn't pinpoint his location through magical traces alone.
"Oh?" Lucian asked. "How does the academy manage that?"
The Nomadic Merchant stroked his long beard, then noticed something odd.
"You… came from outside the academy, didn't you? That's rare."
"Well, since you don't know, I'll tell you. It's been a long time since I've talked to anyone, anyway."
Having not seen outsiders for ages, the merchant seemed unusually eager to chat.
He pointed at the sloping road beneath their feet.
"This place is now where the academy exiles its people."
"When Queen Rennala lost her sanity, the academy split into two factions."
"One side immediately launched a rebellion, attempting to imprison the queen."
"The other side believed the academy shouldn't be tainted by politics, but they didn't really do anything either."
"Perhaps they thought that by staying uninvolved, they'd be safe. But once the first faction succeeded, the second was expelled."
"After that, the academy suddenly sealed itself off. No passage in or out."
"Some unfortunate souls were driven out, but didn't make it out in time."
"With nowhere else to go… they were forced to remain here."
Lucian cut the Nomadic Merchant off mid-sentence.
"While I am interested in this story," he said calmly, "what does any of this have to do with the academy being able to detect invisibility?"
The Nomadic Merchant let out a chuckle.
"Of course it's related."
"Those sorcerers who were expelled couldn't get out, and couldn't get back in either. They were furious."
"Later on, one of them knew invisibility magic and spread the technique around. A whole group used it to sneak back in and fight their way inside."
"After that… none of them ever came back out. And the academy developed countermeasures against invisibility."
Sellen perked up with interest.
When she was still at the academy, she had never heard of such techniques. She herself could discern invisible sorcerers by detecting subtle fluctuations in magic, but what the academy had now sounded like an entirely new form of counter-invisibility sorcery.
Lucian nodded. Since the academy already had ways to deal with invisibility, there was no need to keep hiding.
He dispelled the spell on his body, fully revealing himself.
"By the way," Lucian asked, "why are you still here?"
At that, the Nomadic Merchant's expression turned complicated.
"Sigh… because I was one of the unlucky ones who didn't make it out in time."
"I was doing business inside the academy back then."
"I thought I'd sell some maps and things to the expelled sorcerers, make one last haul of runes. Ended up trapping myself inside instead."
"At the time, I was completely hopeless. But then I thought—if someone like me got locked inside with no way out, then surely there must be others who got locked outside with no way in."
"Thinking that way made me feel a bit better…"
—
At that very moment, far away in Stormveil Castle, Master Thops, who was busy refining his theories, suddenly sneezed.
He rubbed his bald head in confusion.
After confirming he wasn't ill, he bent back over his research once more—
—
Afterward, Lucian changed into a sorcerer's long robe and donned a Karolos Glintstone Crown.
The entire set was provided free of charge by the Nomadic Merchant.
Ordinarily, this man loved money—after all, he was someone reckless enough to think about making a profit even amid factional conflict.
But after being trapped here for so long, he had gradually turned into someone who lived for entertainment alone.
Now that a mysterious outsider like Lucian had appeared, he was more than happy to see him stir up trouble inside Raya Lucaria.
The Nomadic Merchant looked Lucian over after he finished changing and nodded in satisfaction.
"Heh heh, now that looks like a proper sorcerer."
"Don't worry, the academy's internal discipline is loose. As long as you get inside, no one will notice."
"Sorcerers prefer researching magic over talking to their peers, after all."
"As for how to sneak in… that depends on your ability."
"But if you can deal with the sorcerer guarding the lift, getting up there shouldn't be a problem."
Lucian nodded.
Truth be told, he didn't really need to disguise himself anymore—but experiencing a proper infiltration sounded fun in its own way.
A strange sense of déjà vu suddenly washed over him, like the childhood games where he'd impose arbitrary rules on himself.
Walking strictly along curbs—falling off meant losing. Stepping only on alternating tiles.
Thinking back on it now, it was oddly nostalgic.
With that in mind, Lucian made a decision.
This time, he would rely primarily on sorcery, and attempt a proper infiltration of Raya Lucaria.
Lucian headed toward the lift. Behind him were not only the Bloodhound Knight, but now also the Nomadic Merchant.
Before long, they passed through the roaming wolves and arrived near the Academy Gate Plaza.
Ordinarily, two sorcerers stood guard here to prevent anyone from tampering with the lift.
But now, there were seven or eight sorcerers gathered in the plaza—temporary reinforcements dispatched by the academy.
Not only that, they had already raised the lift to the upper level.
Seeing this, the Nomadic Merchant's expression turned grim.
It seemed to him that Lucian no longer had any way to reach the academy via the lift.
"Looks like your movements have already been discovered."
"This is going to be troublesome."
As Lucian was still considering how to break through, the Bloodhound Knight suddenly charged out on his own.
The sorcerers quickly noticed him and began firing spells in his direction.
Using Bloodhound's Step, the knight deftly evaded the incoming magic, closed the distance, and slashed one of the sorcerers down at close range.
Then, without hesitation, he sprinted toward the broken bridge leading to the North Gate.
It was clear—he was trying to draw attention away, so Lucian could reach the lift.
But with so many sorcerers present, he couldn't possibly distract all of them.
Lucian stepped out from cover and hurled a massive Cannon of Haima straight into the group.
What was the essence of stealth, anyway?
Wasn't it simply making sure no one could see you?
And killing all the enemies, was undeniably one way of doing that.
The sorcerers reacted quickly. Though they were sent sprawling by the impact, none of them fell outright.
They raised their staffs and fired back at Lucian.
Standing openly in the plaza, Lucian exchanged spellfire with them head-on.
The Nomadic Merchant hid behind a tree, completely unfazed by the glintstone shards exploding nearby.
"Hee! This is thrilling!"
"Even if I die here, it'll be worth the price of admission!"