A week passed by in a blink of an eye.
As the underground world was generally dark and without light, Sain, who was on the airship, sometimes went up to the deck, but was not sure of the exact route to Shadow Valley.
When Sain and the others finally arrived at a brightly lit underground valley after a week, he turned to Lena beside him and asked uncertainly, "Is this Shadow Valley?"
A large number of magic crystal lamps and magical equipment appeared in every corner of Shadow Valley, making it as bright as daylight.
Sain also saw two towering magic towers.
A blue energy shield that encompassed the entire Shadow Valley persisted, and its elemental energy source seemed to come from the two magic towers in the center of the valley.
Upon arriving at Shadow Valley, Sain not only sensed the terrifying aura of more than a dozen official Dark Magicians, but also discovered many elemental puppets here.
These elemental puppets were mostly made of earth elements and ranged in height from two to five meters.
Their fighting ability could not be determined for the moment, but their strength was indeed great.
Some of the equipment and materials unloaded from the airship were carried by these earth elementals to their respective locations.
Their dull faces and facial features indicated that these earth elementals did not have much intelligence and were probably summoned by powerful Dark Magicians.
Similar to Sain summoning skeleton warriors with low-level magic "Summoning of Skeletons."
However, these earth elementals were obviously much stronger than Sain's skinny skeletons, and even the smallest earth elemental could probably crush his small skeletons with one slap.
Sain wondered how strong these earth elementals were, as there were at least twenty or thirty of them in Shadow Valley as far as he could see.
Who could be behind this display of power in Shadow Valley?
Upon arrival at Shadow Valley, the Dark Magic Apprentices spent a week in the cabin before descending upon the urging of the official Dark Magician and the Owl Academy Overseers.
Sain caught a glimpse of the owl, Seventh, but they didn't exchange any words, just nodding at each other.
The Dark Magic Apprentices were mostly grouped together in threes and fives. Upon closer inspection, it was apparent that those who had taken on the same mentorship were staying together.
The lower-ranking apprentices, and even the weaker entry-level apprentices, were staying together based on dormitory or personal relationships.
There were very few lone wolves.
Sain brought his girlfriend Lena to find the Big Senior Brother Zoro and Senior Sister Faye.
Although Bosch didn't come directly over, he was standing nearby.
Merry didn't come over either; she had her own mentorship and was staying with her two Senior Sisters.
"We won't be staying in Shadow Valley for a short time. Although the area is large, there won't be many tents due to the terrain, and the mentors won't be able to help us much in this regard," Big Senior Brother Zoro whispered to Sain.
"Okay," Sain replied.
As they spoke, the sound of a "wuwu" whistle could be heard.
The airship that Sain and the others had taken to get here slowly ascended and disappeared into the dark underground world after unloading everything.
...
The tent that Sain and the others eventually took over was located on the right side of one of the two magic towers in the valley's golden zone.
This location was closer to the magic tower, allowing them to seek the protection of the official Dark Magicians inside the tower immediately in case of any crisis or accident.
Apart from that, the terrain was relatively flat and open, and not far from the huge magic altar in the center of the valley.
Standing at the entrance of the tent, Sain could see the magic altar emitting white element fluorescence in the distance.
Through the introduction of Big Senior Brother, Sain learned that the Space-Time Rift was located inside that magic altar and was fixed by the altar.
Dark Magic Academy was not a friendly place to be.
During the scramble for the two tents, Sain and his group had a small conflict with two other groups of Dark Magic Apprentices.
Although Advanced Apprentices and aspiring Magicians were rarely seen in the Academy, it was evident that for this trip to Shadow Valley, the entire first-level of apprentices from the Academy had been brought along by the formal Dark Magicians.
Sain was surprised to find that there were a total of eleven aspiring Magicians and twenty-six Advanced Apprentices from the Academy. The strength of the Academy's apprentices impressed him.
During the tent allocation, Faye and Lena were assigned to share a tent, while Sain was paired with Big Senior Brother.
Bosch, a chubby apprentice, joined them at some point.
Despite Sain's reluctance, Big Senior Brother Zoro turned a blind eye to Bosch's presence, partly because of Sain's face and partly because of the copper piece Bosch had offered.
Big Senior Brother Zoro was the most similar to Mosido, the mentor, and spent his Academy life engrossed in experiments and alchemy research.
He had no friends, let alone any romantic interests, much like the other aspiring Magicians who were strangers to Sain.
For most apprentices in the Academy, Big Senior Brother Zoro was a cold, powerful, and unfamiliar presence.
On the second day of arriving in Shadow Valley, the formal Dark Magicians issued a series of orders.
It was evident that this was an urgent mission, with all apprentices from the Academy being summoned to execute the Shadow Valley task.
Eleven aspiring Magicians, including Big Senior Brother Zoro, were the first batch to enter the depths of the magic altar.
It was uncertain whether Mosido was looking out for them, but Big Senior Brother Zoro was second to last to enter among the eleven aspiring Magicians.
"Do you think these little guys can help us place the Portal Generator at the other end of the Space-Time Rift?"
One of the Dark Magicians in the magic tower in the valley asked the person next to them as the group of aspiring Magicians, including Zoro, entered the magic altar.
"Who knows? This Space-Time Rift is too small to even hold a level one creature."
"Mosido and the Vice Dean spent so much time reinforcing the space-time altar, just to protect these little guys' fragile bodies."
"Despite that, the unstable Space-Time Rift is a dangerous existence for us, let alone these little guys."
"If we can send two-thirds of them over to the other side, that's already pretty good, let alone we have no idea what's on the other end."
A Dark Magician shook his head in response.
Exploring different dimensions is full of uncertainties, especially when it involves going through a Space-Time Rift instead of directly descending from another dimension.
If the other end of the Space-Time Rift leads to a barren wasteland unsuitable for biological life, these little guys are out of luck.
In fact, the resource semi-dimension that most Dark Magicians in Mosobla City long for is usually a dangerous place where creatures below level one struggle to survive.
For example, if Sain and his apprentices were to visit a Fire Elemental semi-dimension, they would likely be roasted alive in no time.
The worlds where creatures below level one can adapt to survive are all complete and regulated worlds.
But these worlds are also accompanied by dangers.
Even in semi-dimensions similar to the Wizarding World in terms of rules and climate, Sain and his team, as outsiders, will inevitably be rejected by the will of the dimension and face hostility from the native population.
Therefore, regardless of what the other end of the Space-Time Rift looks like, these apprentices who are not even at level one will almost certainly face a life-or-death situation.
It's no wonder why Mosido, their mentor, goes to such great lengths to prepare so many life-saving tools for Sain and his team.