Volume 2: Shenzhou Academy & The Battle of Venice
The crimson twilight, thick as pooled blood, slowly sank behind the distant cloud banks over Jinghai Bay, brushing the ocean surface with a luminous gleam like the glittering scales of a dragon.
Stepping away from the Skymagic Arena—where frenzied cheers and the fiery, scrutinizing stares of thousands of students still echoed in the distance—Lin Feng slung his faded canvas backpack over one shoulder and strolled calmly out of the central campus of Shenzhou Archmage Academy.
He knew all too well that after this afternoon’s showdown, the name “Lin Feng” and the Summoning Department had become the eye of a massive tempest engulfing the entire academy. The boys’ dormitories of the Summoning Department were almost certainly swarmed by campus bulletin reporters and bitter scions of aristocratic clans looking for blood. Staying there to cultivate would be nothing short of begging for endless headaches. Fortunately, the hefty sum of mana currency along with the private villa rental authorization signed and guaranteed by Dean Xiao Zhenshan had granted him a far more peaceful sanctuary.
Following the navigation map on his communicator, Lin Feng turned onto Fengling Slope—an exclusive, secluded luxury residential enclave nestled about a fifteen-minute walk from the academy’s south gate. The gentle incline was paved with smooth slabs of grey granite, flanked on either side by ancient crimson maples and towering ginkgoes that completely shut out the bustling noise of the metropolis below.