Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Under normal circumstances, correspondence students are handled by the Student Affairs Office of Saint Byrons Integrated Academy, but even with their high efficiency, it's impossible for them to provide an immediate response.

So, the group went to a restaurant for lunch, and of course, the doctor who claimed to be "suddenly stricken with a serious illness" could only rest in bed, with the clinic's servants bringing him food. His appearance of being at death's door required no feigning.

The four who went out had a rich lunch at "Good Man Richard's Restaurant" on Rontgen Avenue, and by the time they returned to the doctor's bedroom, the response from Saint Byrons to the report had just arrived.

The Academy also attached great importance to this matter, otherwise the response to the report would probably have arrived only in the evening.

"Let me take a look."

Miss Luisa flipped through several pages of paper and, after reading, handed them over to the doctor, then announced the good news to everyone:

"The Academy does not doubt the authenticity of our report and even praised my writing skills... at least for now there is no doubt. The professors are very satisfied with the intelligence we submitted, and they had also heard about the incident in Tobesk City, but lamented the lack of an agent on the scene and needed firsthand news.

They also sent information on the gun used by the detective, and I didn't expect that it would actually be a Scribe Level (Level 4) Relic, and it's quite famous in history, known as the 'Spear of Kindness'."

Miss Luisa handed Shard the explanation booklet of the "Relic" that was clipped between the pages, and Shard glanced at it:

[Scribe Level Relic - Spear of Kindness.]

[It can use physical bullets, or a Circle Sorcerer's spirit to replenish bullets.

It does not harm the user; if the user aims at themselves and fires, it absolutely cannot cause self-harm; it does not harm others, when aiming at any life other than oneself, if there is no method to resist the lethal effect, and the trigger-pulling user's own level is below level 9, then the user will undoubtedly die.]

"So, the meaning of harming neither oneself nor others turns out to be that the wielder cannot harm themselves or others? Ha, I thought it was a judgment of alignment between good and evil."

He exclaimed.

"Detective, you've also taken the entrance test, you should know that good and evil are very difficult to distinguish. Therefore, there are rarely relics like the kind you mentioned."

The purple-eyed female diviner, Miss Annette, reminded.

The "Spear of Kindness" sounded very powerful because of its "lethal" effect, but as Priest Augustus had said, aside from those misled by fate or low-level Circle Sorcerers, few would actively use a relic without understanding its traits. Thus, the rating of the "Spear of Kindness" was only Scribe Level.

"What about the characterization of this incident?"

Priest Augustus was concerned.

"The illegal organization 'Blood of Mercury' and the believers of the Old God 'Lord of the Blood Feast' were jointly planning this shameful terrorist attack. The Academy has issued a reward to all correspondence Circle Mages in the Tobesk region, offering a reward from the academy for providing their intelligence."

Dr. Schneider read in a clear and resonant voice, obviously in better spirits after lunch.

"What about the reward for this incident?"

Miss Annette was concerned, and in fact, Shard was too, but he didn't have the nerve to ask so directly.

"The academy needs to verify the information we have provided, but it should have a result within a week at most. The current idea is that you and Shard get 20 practical credits as a reward, and are allowed to pick one Arcane Technique or Sorcery from the library, for which the academy can provide all learning materials and 10 Spellcasting Materials. Tsk, that's really generous."

Although Shard couldn't see his own expression, he imagined it must be similar to the female diviner with brown, short hair.

"Each of us three gets 8 credits,"

the doctor pointed to himself and then passed the report to Priest Augustus, who was closest to him:

"It looks like this Saturday afternoon, Professor Rontgen from the Divinity Academy wants to meet us."

Priest Augustus shook the pages in his hand, and they all saw that on the back of the first page, there was a notification for a meeting. The method used was the same as the private meeting notice Shard had seen before:

"The professor will ask about some matters to confirm the authenticity of our report, and then distribute our rewards. In addition, considering the special nature of this incident, the Academy will help Dr. Schneider heal his injuries as part of the reward for our team."

Priest Augustus said, and everyone showed a smile.

"With these 8 credits, it seems that the likelihood of me advancing to the 5th year this winter has increased."

The blonde girl spoke softly.

"That's great, now I won't have to lie in bed until the end of the year, I'd get moldy."

The blue-eyed doctor was also delighted; it was rare to see him display such an emotion.

"I've been wanting to select a new Arcane Technique from the library for a long time, and now with this stroke of luck, I'm going to pick the most expensive one on the list."

The brown-haired Female Diviner also sat quietly on her chair, her hands resting on her knees, smiling.

"8 practical credits, looks like this winter, I might try to improve my academic rating by another level."

The Old Cleric's wrinkles smoothed out due to the good mood.

Seeing that Shard had not spoken, the four of them looked at him:

"Say something."

Miss Luisa urged, and Shard thought for a moment. In his entire first year, he only needed 40 practical credits, of which 10 must come from Time Exploration, and the remaining 30 credits—miraculously, 20 were satisfied all at once:

"Although the gains this time were huge, I certainly don't want to go through it again."

He meant every word, and the Old Cleric in a good mood patted Shard's shoulder:

"While you're not wrong, how can a young man lack such vitality? You don't look like a 20-something-year-old. You should smile more often; that's my secret to a long life."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Given the average lifespan of this era, fifty-something-year-old Priest Augustus was definitely long-lived.

Influenced by the atmosphere, Shard finally smiled too.

Since coming to this world, with no family, no friends, no memories of the past, no money, and even a language barrier, to now having trustworthy people and his own strength, he truly had nothing to complain about.

Beyond the Academy's response to the incident, the paper also revealed Shard's academic status. He had unexpectedly obtained the Desecration Rune [Gluttony] by directly encountering an Old God, and the Academy was concerned about whether Shard had been affected.

However, his original study plan remained unchanged. [The Mad Light Chaser] and the Spirit Rune [Light] were still Shard's most critical tasks six months from now, before reviewing the Academy's [Sublimation Codex].

But because of the unique nature of the History Academy, not only would Professor Rontgen from the Divinity Academy meet everyone this Saturday, but Professor Hensinger Garcia, the Vice Dean of the History Academy, would also appear to compensate and reward them for the unexpected Fifth Era: Year 1068 time travel incident.

"Professor Garcia is likely doing your course summary. That's the Vice Dean of the History Academy, I never thought he would be the one to guide you, it looks like the History Academy really values your matter," Dr. Schneider remarked.

But since the rewards for the Lakeside Manor incident and the Investigator incident were both happening on Saturday, Shard looked forward to the chance to talk privately with Professor Garcia. He wanted to preview the [Sublimation Codex], as the four different types of Spirit Runes were already very close to him.