For intelligent beings, witnessing the mutilation of their own kind is an extremely cruel thing. A powerful sense of nausea hit Leonardo like a surging tide, almost making him vomit on the spot.
He lifted his finger and gently tapped his forehead, casting the "Clarity" spell on himself. A cool breath swept across his mental sea, and Leonardo quickly calmed down.
He looked down at the group of little vampires, who were baring their teeth and claws and screaming incessantly. The killing intent in his eyes froze like frost.
Leonardo pointed a finger, and the little vampires instantly burst into flames without any visible fire source.
This was the second-level apprentice spell - Ignite, a rather cruel compound spell that mages usually used to torture and kill their enemies. Before burning, it would extract oil from an unknown astral realm and pour it onto the prey. This oil was highly flammable, and often, even after the prey had been reduced to ashes, it would still keep burning.
The little vampires let out shrill screams of pain and rolled around in the pile of bones. One of them even tried to jump into the excrement pool to put out the fire, but Leonardo kicked it back.
The sharp howls lasted for two minutes before gradually subsiding.
After the little vampires had turned into motionless charred corpses, Leonardo began to search the cave.
He was quite lucky and found two blood orchids in the "dining area" filled with corpses. These were the main materials for making mental potions.
It was rather ironic that the main materials for a potion that could enhance an apprentice's mental power and was worth a hundred gold pieces grew in such a bloody environment. This made Leonardo sigh at the wonder of nature.
Besides the blood orchids, Leonardo also found some coins and standard-issue weapons. These were probably left by a fledgling adventurer team. It seemed that they had bad luck, their expedition had failed, and they had all died here.
Leonardo packed up the spoils, used the Modified Fireball to directly collapse the entrance of the cave, and then returned to the town. After selling the standard-issue weapons to the town mayor at a discounted price, he set off on his return journey.
Two days later, Leonardo returned to Whiterun City.
Looking travel-worn, he didn't even have time to wash up and was about to go to the academy to confront Sophia face to face.
Leonardo had already planned what he was going to say in his mind. He wanted to expose the other party's ugly true face in front of everyone and make her unable to stay in the academy any longer!
After meeting up with his equally disheveled classmates, Leonardo couldn't wait to rush towards the distant academy buildings.
To enter the academy, one had to pass through a building.
This building was like the castle tower in his previous life memories, covered with the marks of time's carving, a testament to the passage of years.
It had an imposing name - the Great Mage Tower of Svel.
This tower was built at the end of the Second Age's Human-Demon War and had stood tall and proud for over nine hundred years.
It was not only used to resist foreign invasions but also had the responsibility of guarding the town.
Whiterun City's fame was largely due to this "Great Mage Tower of Svel".
The Magic Academy was built near the magic tower, and the current tower master was the director of the academy's security department.
Due to the preciousness of mages, the security measures of the Magic Academy were extremely strict!
To what extent were they strict? The Arcane Eye on the top of the Great Mage Tower of Svel allocated part of its computing power to provide security services for the students, including monitoring the entry and exit of people.
Once the Arcane Eye detected someone with malicious intent or hostility, that person would be immediately marked.
Then, the city guards would be sent to arrest the person. If the arrested person couldn't prove their identity, they would be sent to a dark mine cave to work for life.
The apprentice tutors were already used to the existence of the magic tower and felt no discomfort from the irradiation of the Arcane Eye on the tower top.
Leonardo stood in the detection area as usual, waiting for the blue light to turn on.
There were several apprentices who had just returned from the trial beside him. Although they were dirty all over, their faces were filled with excitement, and they were talking loudly to each other. It seemed that their trial tasks had all been successfully completed.
However, the blue light didn't turn on for a long time.
Just as Leonardo was wondering why the detection took so long, the blue light that had been scanning suddenly turned red.
At the same time, a loud shout came from the air.
"Leonardo de Lucas, you shameless wretch! After committing such a heinous crime, you actually dare to come back!!!"
The red light emitted by the Arcane Eye focused on Leonardo. The apprentices who were being detected with him immediately backed away far. In the blink of an eye, Leonardo was completely isolated.
Resist?
This thought didn't even have a chance to sprout in his mind.
Even if Leonardo were promoted to a formal-level mage at this moment, he wouldn't dare to act rashly within the attack range of the magic tower. In his memory, there were terrifying scenes of formal-level professionals being blasted to pieces.
So, Leonardo obediently raised his hands.
Seeing that Leonardo showed no resistance, a team of fully armed noble soldiers emerged from behind the low wall. They tied Leonardo up with ropes and then roughly escorted him into the academy.
Leonardo's appearance as a prisoner attracted the pointing and whispering of many apprentices.
"Is this the despicable person who molested his teammate during the trial? He really looks evil. That jet-black hair is like the incarnation of the devil."
"I heard he's from the de Lucas family. He's really disgracing his family."
"Does he even deserve to be called a noble?"
"I'm ashamed to be in the same school as him!"
Amid the whispers all the way, Leonardo was escorted to the auditorium of the academy's law enforcement team.
"Report, the prisoner Leonardo de Lucas has been brought."
With the soldier's report, Leonardo felt a hard push on his shoulder and then fell to the floor.
The magic lamps were lit, and Leonardo could see the faces of the people around him.
All the academy leaders were present, as well as the management of the student union, etc.
Leonardo also saw Sophia, whom he hated so much that he gritted his teeth, snuggling up to a blond playboy in the crowd.
That vicious woman!!!
"Leonardo de Lucas, do you know your crime?"
A righteous voice came from above.
Leonardo tried to stand up, but the noble soldiers kicked him on the back of each knee, and he fell to the ground again.
His embarrassed appearance caused low laughter among the crowd.
Leonardo gritted his teeth and tried hard to control his emotions.
He knew that once he lost control of his emotions, these people would laugh at him even more wantonly. He must not follow the script they had envisioned.
Since he wasn't allowed to stand up and speak, Leonardo simply sat cross-legged.
His silent resistance made some people frown.
Seeing that their master was unhappy, a henchman raised his spear, ready to hit Leonardo with it, but was stopped by the noble dean in charge.
The noble dean looked at Leonardo with a scrutinizing gaze and then let out a contemptuous sneer.
"Leonardo de Lucas, I've seen many juniors like you who have made mistakes. After making mistakes, most of you think that as long as you don't admit it, no one can judge you..."
The noble dean looked down at Leonardo from a height.
Usually, at this time, the person whose thoughts had been exposed didn't dare to meet his gaze. However, Leonardo still stared straight at him, his eyes showing no sign of backing down. This made the noble dean extremely uncomfortable.
He hated this "unwilling to lose" look.
It reminded him of his executed marquis father-in-law. At the time of execution, his father-in-law had also looked at him with this kind of gaze, as if looking at a clown.
"Judging by your expression, you obviously don't intend to admit it. Then, Sophia, come and tell in detail the atrocities that His Excellency Leonardo committed against you."
Hearing this, Sophia pretended to sob a couple of times. Then, with the help of the blond playboy, she walked to the center of the stage.
For some reason, the lighting technician shone a spotlight on her. The scene looked like the entrance of the female lead in a stage play.
Just looking at her appearance, Sophia did have the capital for it.
She also knew well how to arouse men's protective instincts. She raised her hand to wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes, making a look of unbearable pain.
Her pitiful appearance made the men present feel sorry for her, and the condemnation of Leonardo became even more intense.
After slightly stirring up the atmosphere, Sophia began to accuse Leonardo of his "atrocities".
"His Excellency Leonardo forced me to drink alcohol on the pretext of cultivating teamwork. While I was drunk, he suddenly burst into my room and pushed me down..."
"He threatened me that if I dared to resist, he would leave me alone in the wilderness..."
At this point, Sophia trembled her shoulders and let out delicate and pitiful sobs.
The people around, seeing the beauty crying so sadly, all accused "the villain" Leonardo.
"Nobility's face has been completely disgraced by this guy!"
"Let the de Lucas family execute him."
"Execute him!!!"