"Good heavens, where did you get that?" Barry's eyes widened at the sight of the grenade in Harley's hands.
"Don't worry about that, but I can assure you this little thing is way more useful than a magic wand." Harley playfully raised her eyebrows, tossing up and down the grenade, nicknamed the "Soviet Citrus," in her hand, causing Barry and Little Bruce to tremble in fear.
"You're not going to use this thing against the Tree Man, are you?" Little Bruce hesitated before asking, and Barry, staring at Harley, said, "You can't do that, it could destroy the school building!"
"That won't happen." Harley shook her head confidently, "The buildings here are all built by elves in the Maya world. They're not the same as the ones in the ordinary human society, they are much sturdier!"
"Still, using a grenade to blow up the school is ridiculous."
"Don't tell me you never thought about it."
Barry fell silent, even the most obedient children have occasional bouts of school weariness, who didn't fantasize about blowing up the school when they were young?
"Enough chatter, we need to rush to the dining hall, finish our meals before everyone else, and then hit the library for research."
Without further ado, the three hurried to the dining hall. The daily meals at the Magic Academy weren't as extravagant as dinner, but offerings of bread, grilled meats, and stewed vegetables were plentiful. Trays of food filled the dining hall, and the first to arrive, the three picked out their piping hot meals and finished their food as quickly as possible.
But on their way to the library, they encountered an unexpected person—Bruce Wayne, the Dean of Wayne College.
"You guys headed to the library? Be careful when passing through the main castle, I heard a student was injured before."
Barry felt a bit uncomfortable under the gaze of Bruce Wayne's blue eyes, but the concern and slight anxiety he carried for the students couldn't be faked.
Barry responded with a nod: "Don't worry, Professor, we won't go to the fourth floor."
"Of course, I believe you're all good kids who follow the school rules, but I don't understand why Principal Jim would place such an important magic stone in the school, it's not good for student safety."
"You're unsure why Master of the Dark Night Jim placed the magic stone in the school?" Harley instantly asked.
Bruce paused, then nodded and said, "I haven't known Master of the Dark Night Jim for very long. Speaking of which, only Professor Constantine and Professor Rodriguez in this school are old friends of the Master of the Dark Night."
Little Bruce and Barry exchanged a glance. Barry politely bid Bruce Wayne farewell and they carried on towards the library. As they walked, Little Bruce speculated.
"Wayne looks quite young, so he could be from a different generation than Constantine and Rodriguez, and the Master of the Dark Night. Therefore, he may not have been involved in the design of this trial."
"He seems friendly." Barry shrugged, "I especially like the Batman puppet he gave me."
"He's won the hearts of nearly all the girls in school." Harley yawned, "Spencer kept me up half the night gossiping about his love life the night he gave out the Batman puppets."
As the three chatted, they arrived inside the library—an octagonal tower at the end of the main castle, consisting of seven floors, each filled with rows of books.
The three began to search for information on the Master of the Dark Night, Jim. This was quite easy, Jim is a well-known figure in the magic realm. His Forgotten Bar was a hub of news for the entire magical world, almost every Grand Mage with writing prowess mentioned him in their works.
Before long, the table was stacked with books. Bruce was practically speed reading; Harley wasn't far behind. Barry, aware of his inferior reading speed, assisted them by noting useful information.
By the time it was completely dark, Little Bruce emerged from the mountain-like stack of books. He seemed somewhat dazed, clearly trying to remember the information he had seen, and then summed up.
"The Master of the Dark Night Jim has a very good reputation. Virtually all mages consider him a fair but very tolerant person. His Forgotten Bar provided a platform for mages to interact, but unfortunately, the bar was destroyed in the previous war of the magical world."
Harley followed him, stating, "Principal Jim left the school to rebuild the Forgotten Bar. He wants to unite the remaining forces in the magic world to seek their rightful rewards from angels and demons."
"The data shows that he once saved the Magic World Maya, and he has a powerful weapon. When vampires ran rampant in London, his squad saved many people, Andrew's Master's manuscripts record it this way," Barry read from his notebook.
"Then he should be okay." Little Bruce pondered before continuing, "If there's some conspiracy behind the trial involving the magic stone, he may be the one who was deceived."
"Remember what Dean Wayne said?" Barry grabbed Little Bruce's arm, "Master of the Dark Night Jim, Dean Rodriguez, and Professor Constantine are old friends. Could they have organized this trial?"
"Who else could it be?" Harley placed the last book in her hand onto the towering stack, and uttered, "I heard Professor Strange is also from outside. Dean Zattala, Dean Wayne, and Professor Pamela are all young, and Lady Shangdu is not human, so it could be at most Master Andrew too."
Little Bruce stroked his chin, "Maybe some of them genuinely wanted to create a trial to let students understand that they can't blindly follow power and they should actively stand up to defend human interests."
"Not everyone may see it that way, and some may want Jim to keep the magic stone in school for conniving motives."
Little Bruce gently tapped the pages with the tip of his finger and speculated, "Master of the Dark Night Jim kept the magic stone in a room in school and believed that only a few daring students would steal it. So, their security levels may not be too high since they're warding off students and not professors."
"But if a certain professor guides Jim into making this decision early on, leading him to think that only students would steal the Magic Stone, thus willingly lowering his guard, then this professor could take the opportunity to steal the Magic Stone. The measures set to shield against students wouldn't be able to stop him."
"You mean, Professor Rodriguez?"
"He's quite suspicious, isn't he?"
"But what would he need the Magic Stone for? You don't seriously believe that he is being controlled by angels and demons, do you?" Harley put forth her doubts.
"I didn't tell you that before we got involved in this, I ran into him in the corridor outside the Dean's office. I myself told him about how I had used the Divine Power rune to see an angel."
Barry opened his mouth in surprise, but Little Bruce quickly added, "But he guessed more before that. I initially thought it might be some mind reading technique, but then I thought, maybe he deliberately wanted me to think that. The truth is, he learned about me from a different angle."
"A different angle? What do you mean?"
"If he had a way to communicate with angels, he would naturally be able to see from an angel's perspective that I am connected with angels, wouldn't he?"
"This is a bit far-fetched." Barry shook his head and said: "I'd rather believe it's a mind-reading spell. After all, Professor Rodriguez is a renowned master of psychology worldwide. If he can read minds, everything falls into place."
"But we must remain skeptical, we..."
Just as Little Bruce was speaking, he suddenly paused, swaying slightly on his chair, nearly falling off. Then he held his forehead and propped himself up on the table with his arm.
"What happened?" Harley reached out to support him, asking.
"Nothing, I just got a bit dizzy." Little Bruce took a deep breath, shook his head peplexedly, but soon he was lost in thought again.
"I think you are dizzy because you were reading too fast earlier, you consumed too much energy. We'd better go back to rest right now." Barry hopped off his chair and said.
"We can't. Don't you remember? We have another labor shift tonight. We have to tidy up the warehouse for Professor Pamela."
"Oh god!" Barry covered his forehead and said: "If it wasn't for you two making trouble nonstop, why would I have to do this?"
"Stop complaining. We need to go early, get back early, and sleep. That's the only way not to oversleep tomorrow morning."
Barry is not a complainer to begin with, and Little Bruce felt unwell and did not want to talk more. After they returned the books, they headed towards the greenhouse again under the cover of night.
The grand garden didn't seem as lush and verdant at night as it did during the day. Instead, the plants under the night sky always reminded people of frightening ghoul claws.
Barry, who was holding the lantern, rubbed his arm and screaming almost jumped up when pricked by just a tree branch.
"Can you stop overreacting?" Little Bruce frowned, saying with some disgust.
"I'm just a bit... never mind, it's nothing. Let's hurry up."
Barry swallowed, picking up his pace. The three of them, looking at the light of a distant cabin, walked briskly and soon arrived near the greenhouse.
Just as they were about to enter the yard, Little Bruce quickly grabbed Harley, hiding behind the wall of the yard, and gestured towards the yard gate to Barry.
Under the glow of the door light, they saw a person in a black robe walk in. By build, it was definitely not Professor Pamela, but a man.
"Follow him." Little Bruce lowered his voice and said.
The three of them gently made their way to the back door along the yard wall. Here, there was a large area of climbing vine plants. They climbed on the thick stems of the vine to the top of the wall where they saw the man in the black robe picking plants from the mini garden in the yard.
"Remember what we learnt in class? Spiral Grass, when boiled with deer blood and Alien Cabbage, helps speed up the healing of open wounds." Harley lowered her voice and said.
"He's picking the leaves of the Alien Cabbage now." Little Bruce craned his neck to peer in, watching the movement of the man in black and said: "He's picking herbs that can be used to make healing ointments."
"Is that Professor Rodriguez?" Barry asked in doubt. But the distance was too great and the man was tightly wrapped in a black robe; they indeed couldn't make out who he was.
"He's coming this way, quickly, quickly, get down."
The three of them jumped down from the vine. After looking at each other, Barry said:
"We should go back first. Let's get up early tomorrow and come check what plants are missing. If indeed only materials to make healing potions are missing, then he must want to use it to treat the wound on his arm caused by the Tree Man."