Most of the time, they quietly watched the scenery outside the window.

Motionless.

Unfamiliar and beautiful landscapes flashed into view at high speed, then were gone in a blur.

After a day of travel, it was now noon of the second day.

Lan Qi propped his chin on one hand, moving his gaze away from the animated scroll of scenery outside the window, and glanced at the clock on the train.

As sparse buildings and pastures resembling the suburbs gradually appeared, Lan Qi felt that the station was not far away.

"Speaking of which, Tata, what is your understanding of the Shadow World?"

He seemed to have finally grown tired of the scenery and turned to Talia with a question.

As the highest difficulty random dungeon that he knew was not yet fully developed, Lan Qi found a lot of information about the "Shadow World" in the books of this world.

It was just that the mysterious "Shadow World" was far more complex than he understood, and in this real world, it had completely transformed into countless dangerous dungeons.

And the Iketerite Magic Academy he was about to go to was originally a academy established with the goal of "cultivating talents who can overcome the Shadow World."

The entrance exam would naturally be related.

"Ignoring the Shadow World or failing to conquer it will lead to natural disasters in certain parts of the world, but clearing it will grant power and wealth."

Talia's eyes did not move as she answered simply.

Before she agreed to be Lan Qi's teacher, she had such an attitude no matter how Lan Qi asked her about magic card-related questions.

Lan Qi nodded upon hearing this, with no intention of asking further.

It was the same as what was written in the books.

To the people of this world, the Shadow World was like a double-edged sword.

Clearing the Shadow World would grant a large number of rewards, including the core materials for making magic cards, and more powerful, all-natural magic cards compared to those made artificially.

However, failure to conquer it would lead to natural disasters in certain parts of the world. If left unattended, the Shadow World would automatically close after a certain period of time, which would also lead to natural disasters devouring the real world.

Therefore, various countries and large forces around the world were doing their best to cultivate talents who were good at conquering the Shadow World.

"Shadow Worlds... appear without warning at fixed or random entrances in this world. They are projections of fragments of world history or the history of other worlds."

Talia added another sentence.

It seemed to be out of her duty as a teacher, and she would answer a little more about questions related to magic cards, but only a little.

However, the two of them were already used to this way of communicating that stopped at any time.

"I see..."

Lan Qi muttered to himself thoughtfully.

The books in the Border Library recorded that the Shadow World would gradually open on a regular basis, in endless numbers, with different timelines and worldviews, some easy and simple, and some extremely dangerous.

And after entering the Shadow World, people would gain unpredictable new identities to interpret historical fragments.

This led to the fact that any weapons, costumes, and ordinary magic items could not be brought into the Shadow World.

Except for—magic cards bound to the soul.

This was also the reason why magic cards had become the mainstream prop of this era, and it would bring indispensable help in conquering the Shadow World.

Looking at it this way, the Shadow World and magic cards indeed had an inextricable causal relationship. The raw materials of magic cards needed to be produced from the Shadow World, but having magic cards would make it easier for people in the real world to clear the Shadow World.

I really don't know how the ancient creatures in the pioneering period cleared those hell dungeons without magic cards when the Shadow World first emerged...

"We've arrived."

Talia's voice, like a drop of water falling on ice, interrupted Lan Qi's thoughts.

He turned his head and saw that the scenery outside the window had slowly stopped, a station built with ochre-red brick roofs.

The towering towers at both ends made the entire building look solemn and magnificent. The interior of the station was intricately decorated, with marble pillars, murals, and stained glass windows all showing the weight of history.

Different from the border city-state of South Wantina, this royal city named Iketerite retained a lot of historical elements while being grand and prosperous.

Lan Qi didn't hesitate much, took the suitcase from the luggage rack, and left the arrived train with Talia.

…

Walking through the concourse of Iketerite Central Station, the noise gradually faded away.

Lan Qi and Talia came to the edge of a wide square, took a small carriage for sightseeing, and began a new journey in this city.

The afternoon sun shone on the carriage, swaying gently, bringing leisure and comfort.

Looking far away, you could see the tulips and calla lilies in the Royal Botanical Garden huddled together, and the various plants were like gauze and mist, full of green.

The sound of horses' hooves echoed on the ancient cobblestone streets, and the wheels hummed and rolled. Even just leaning on the seat, Lan Qi could witness Iketerite's unique architectural style along the way: magnificent houses, brick-red walls, pointed eaves, and exquisite ancient carvings.

The carriage drove along the winding canal, and with the breeze, ripples rippled on the water, reflecting the willows gently brushing the surface of the water.

"When we get to the academy later, do you want to take a look around together?"

Lan Qi turned his head and asked Talia beside him.

"What do you think?"

Talia asked back at Lan Qi's seemingly friendly, but actually shameless invitation.

Since she wanted to protect Lan Qi, she actually had no choice, even though she had not fully understood who the guy who wanted to kill Lan Qi was after these three months.

She only knew that Lan Qi was telling the truth when he said "someone wants to kill him."

Along the way, the carriage passed an ancient stone bridge, the mottled beige bricks witnessing the vicissitudes of time. Under the bridge, the canal water gently lapped against the stone piers, making a peaceful sound of water. Overhead, a flock of seagulls circled in the sky, soaring freely.

"There's no way, going to the academy today is very important to me."

Lan Qi closed his eyes and spread his hands, said.

Different from the Alchemy and Magic Engineering branches, the Knight and Sage branches actually started the first part of the assessment when applying.

That is, the attribute test.

If one's own attribute growth is too poor, it may be impossible to participate in the formal assessment directly.

Because the recruitment goals of the Knight and Sage branches are to cultivate scarce talents who can overcome high-level Shadow Worlds, and once entering the Shadow World, not only the challengers themselves may be in great danger, but also the survival of their companions, and whether they can help the real world avoid being devoured by natural disasters, so the entrance exams of these two branches will have strict requirements on the practical qualities of the candidates.

After passing the first part of the attribute test, the formal exam, which is the second part, will use artificially simulated Shadow Worlds to examine the students' actual response capabilities. The third part of the final assessment is the functional combat test arranged by the departments.

After detailed research on the academy, Lan Qi finally chose to change his application branch from the Alchemy branch to the Sage branch, which specializes in magic combat.

Because his innate attribute bias or functional affinity made it impossible for him to become a physical professional, so there was not much hope of passing the first level of the Knight branch.

"..."

Talia didn't speak any more.

She knew Lan Qi's itinerary and arrangements very well, and she also heard from Lan Qi about the exam format he would face next.

It was just that based on her knowledge accumulated as a long-lived species in the long years, passing through the Demon Realm and many human kingdoms, she still didn't know what kind of combat profession to define Lan Qi as.

Let's leave this headache to Iketerite Academy.

Anyway, the one who will suffer is not her.