Outside the secret realm, Daniel used his powerful mind power to observe what was happening within it. He couldn’t help but nod in approval.
His daughter truly lived up to his teachings—decisive and principled. When faced with an opponent’s decision to strike, she showed no hesitation.
Her only flaw was that, instead of killing Prins outright, she allowed him to survive.
This act of mercy was somewhat risky.
Certain special magic could be released even when a foe still had a breath left. Such kindness toward an enemy could be dangerous.
Prins’s words revealed another piece of information: House Windwhisper would fully commit to attacking Crossbridge Academy’s people.
Combining this with Daniel’s earlier findings, it meant that the other two families in the secret realm had formed some sort of alliance.
They were prepared to go to any lengths to harm the students of Crossbridge Academy.
Daniel began using his mind power to scan the entire secret realm.
It would be a significant loss if any Crossbridge Academy student died here.
In an instant, he had grasped the positions of all the students from Crossbridge Academy within the secret realm.
So far, Prins encountering Rose seemed to be mere coincidence.
The other students were scattered; even with the prior agreements between House Windwhisper and House Lunastone, they would struggle to coordinate a joint attack on the students from Crossbridge Academy in a short time.
Suddenly, Daniel noticed something interesting and smirked.
His attention was drawn to Reed, who was currently accompanied by a woman—a member of House Lunastone.
“Feigning pity while hiding strength? How intriguing!” Daniel mused to himself.
The woman’s mana fluctuations were expertly controlled to the early tier-silver level, as if she had just recently ascended.
Reed was wielding a spear and leading the way.
The woman had encountered him unexpectedly while battling a tier-bronze spell beast.
Although she was at tier-silver, her combat experience was quite limited. If Reed hadn’t arrived in time, she would have surely been defeated.
Reed had helped her defeat the spell beast, recalling the agreement in the secret realm to assist one another.
The woman, recognizing the situation, expressed her willingness to share the spoils and suggested forming a team.
However, Reed ignored her, focusing instead on his exploration, while she followed in his wake.
Watching Reed, Roge pondered how to eliminate him.
She was the strongest member of House Lunastone in the secret realm.
After entering, she devised a strategy to leverage her advantages to eliminate powerful members of Crossbridge Academy, and her execution had been quite successful.
She had some recollection of Reed, recalling him as a follower of Rose and Green, occupying third place.
Such a person was undoubtedly not simple.
If she could exploit his weaknesses, she could strike him down swiftly and efficiently—a principle Roge always adhered to.
Thus, she decided to attack when Reed was most vulnerable.
A tiger’s roar echoed from the forest ahead.
Reed gripped his spear tightly as a flaming tiger, a tier-silver spell beast, emerged from the woods.
Even Roge frowned at the sight; dealing with the flaming tiger alone would be a considerable challenge.
As she thought this, Reed charged at the flaming tiger.
The beast was taken aback that a human would dare to confront it. It lunged at Reed, flames erupting behind it.
During the past month, Reed had gained extensive combat experience against tier-sage opponents.
He understood that tier-sage foes weren’t solely human; some retained their spell beast nature.
Thus, he was well aware of the flaming tiger’s attack patterns.
The tiger lunged, but Reed dodged.
He redirected the flames at his feet with the tip of his spear and sidestepped the tiger’s claws.
With a thrust, he aimed for the tiger’s weak point—the area around its waist.
One shot! The flaming tiger collapsed to the ground. Roge watched in disbelief, astonished at how easily Reed had dispatched the beast.
“Um… let me help you collect the spoils from this flaming tiger,” Roge offered as she stepped forward. She then dropped her mana concealment.
As she passed Reed, she attempted to ambush him. However, Roge found her attack evaded. In an instant, she felt a cold sensation in her chest—Reed’s spear had pierced her body.
Roge couldn’t comprehend why this was happening. He had just killed the spell beast, and now, at what should have been his most vulnerable moment, why could he react so quickly?
“Why… you had no defenses against me this whole time…” Roge murmured in confusion.
Reed had no intention of explaining. He swiftly withdrew his spear, ready to search for others.
Throughout the month-long battles, the tier-sages were not to be underestimated.
Their attacks aimed directly to kill Reed, and he had learned to feel their murderous intent intensely.
The tier-sages often struck in an instant. Initially, Reed struggled to react in time, but he eventually adapted to their rapid attack styles.
As for Roge… a tier-silver opponent, even when ambushing, couldn’t compare to a tier-sage.
Moreover, Roge had followed closely behind Reed, making her killing intent almost instinctively trigger Reed’s response.
After enduring this struggle, Reed felt relief as Roge finally acted on her impulse. His fight ended swiftly.
Daniel was quite satisfied with Reed’s performance but would rate the House Lunastone member poorly.
He had expected to witness some impressive performance or narrative but had instead witnessed a lack of restraint.
Next, Daniel turned his attention to Green, who had also encountered someone familiar—Mossan Windwhisper from House Windwhisper.
“Mossan!” Green shouted angrily upon seeing him.
“You know me?” Mossan asked, puzzled, glancing at Green.
Noticing Green’s attire, he added, “Ah, you’re from Crossbridge Academy. I don’t recall us having met before.”
“Indeed, we haven’t, but…” Green didn’t previously know Mossan.
He had merely heard the name from one of his followers, who had lost everything because of Mossan.
His sister, parents, and family had all been destroyed by him.
The follower had nearly fallen victim to a spell beast as well.
Green remembered the name and the face. He didn’t understand why this member of Crossbridge Academy recognized him, but Mossan took the initiative to attack.
For him, killing a member of Crossbridge Academy was a necessary task.
Mana surged as Mossan unleashed a devastating magic attack that tore through Green’s body.
“Is that all?” Mossan coldly assessed before preparing to leave. Just then, he heard a cry—a girl sobbing.
Turning around, he saw that the recently slain Green had vanished, replaced by a bloodied girl who was crying.
Seeing her face, Mossan was reminded of the memories he wished to forget.
“Impossible… you should be dead… you cannot be here!”
Green stood beside Mossan, watching as terror spread across his face, softly saying, “The ones you killed have never truly died! They have always been watching you! Always surrounding you!”
“No!” Mossan screamed in a frenzied voice.