Henry indeed had no magical power, and aside from himself and Reina, no other instructors agreed that Henry should stay at the school.
Many instructors believed that although Henry’s strength was very strong, he still carried secrets on his body that they couldn’t see through.
But the other students were equally not to be trifled with.
During the last Assessment Exam, they had already seen it.
Compared to Henry, these students were just lacking practical combat experience.
And practical combat experience was something that could be accumulated through time. Given time, they would eventually surpass Henry.
But such statements were met with disdain by Reina.
She questioned these instructors in return.
“If these students are really as talented as you say, then why are students who graduate from the academy and take positions in The Alliance being slaughtered by cultists?”
“That’s because they use Black Magic! That’s forbidden power!”
Some instructors were unconvinced, but they were stared back down by Reina’s gaze.
“So, are people dead or not?”
Just this one sentence made all the instructors present fall into silence.
Indeed, just as Reina had said, the battlefield was not an exam.
No one could pay for these students’ lives.
Looking solely at the results of the Assessment Exam, Henry was indeed at the top among most students.
This was an undeniable fact.
But judging his future solely based on the fact that he had no magical power was also unfair to Henry.
So regarding the result of whether Henry could stay at the academy, Merlin made the final decision.
“Black Magic is an unknown power to us, but we cannot deny the future because of the unknown. I feel the same way about Henry. Moreover, as a student of the academy, Henry should have nowhere to live after being driven out by the Rumelter Family, so I think we can keep him here to do some work for the academy.”
Merlin looked toward Sidney.
The other naturally didn’t dare make a peep.
The matter of Henry staying at school was thus decided.
When he came back to his senses, Merlin noticed Henry was in a daze.
“Henry, how have you considered it? Do you still want to withdraw from Saint Nad Magic Academy?”
“Uh, not for now. But Principal, is it really okay to trust me this much? I heard that the Rumelter Family has sponsored the academy quite a bit of funding. What if they see you as disagreeable and stop sponsoring?”
“Aiya, look at what you’re saying. Do you think the principal is someone without money? Besides, the Rumelter sponsoring the academy is something they must do. They rely on this very thing to stuff people into the academy.”
Merlin looked at Henry with a face full of playfulness.
Only then did Henry realize that he could enter the academy entirely because of the Rumelter Family.
He scratched his head and agreed.
“Oh, by the way Principal, I still want to apply for something.”
“What is it?”
“Can my place connect to the academy’s plumbing? I usually need to use some hot water too.”
“Small matter. I’ll have someone help you with it later.”
Henry felt that Merlin was really being excessively good to him.
Not to mention that he was an abandoned castoff, just letting him stay at the academy alone — his support for him on this matter already made Henry very grateful, let alone these trivial details.
Merlin snapped his fingers, and everything around seemed to return to normal.
But Henry felt his head was somewhat dizzy, not knowing if he was somewhat unaccustomed to it.
After saying goodbye to the principal, he returned to his house and fell into a deep sleep.
****
Henry felt as if he was in the middle of an ocean.
Waves continuously crashed against his body.
He tried to summon his Flying Sword, but there was no response at all.
His hands and feet flailed about on the sea, his movements as comical as a dog paddling.
Suddenly, there was a mysterious force beneath his feet that dragged him down!
Henry instinctively reached toward the sky, but this reach actually allowed him to grab something!
It was a slender arm.
The other party forcefully pulled Henry up from the sea. Two forces seemed to be fighting over Henry.
“Stop pulling! If you pull anymore I’ll be torn in half!”
Henry roared internally.
But soon, the force underwater gradually weakened, and Henry was pulled back up again.
Before he knew it, his surroundings had already changed to a pitch-black cave, with only wisps of flames flickering ahead.
Henry spat out two mouthfuls of water and looked up to see a person wearing white magical robes sitting in front of the campfire.
The other party seemed not to care about Henry’s embarrassment, gazing at the campfire in a daze by themselves.
“Hello? Did you just save me?”
“Just lending a hand.”
The other party’s voice was very strange. Henry couldn’t distinguish their gender.
However, the other party’s personality seemed very cold, without any desire to converse much with Henry.
“What is this place?”
“The entrance to the Fallen Lands.”
Henry was somewhat surprised. He had thought the other party wouldn’t pay attention to him.
But they would answer every question he asked.
And looking at their attire, they looked very much like an old friend.
“Are you… Cliff Randall?”
“You know me?” Hearing the other party directly call their name, Cliff was somewhat strange.
They shouldn’t have spread this name outside.
However, the aura on this person in front of them was somewhat strange, as if there was an ominous presence circling around him.
Hearing the other party acknowledge their name, Henry also quickly stepped forward and grasped the other party’s hand.
“Aiya, I’ve long admired your great name! I’m your loyal fanboy. My name is Batman, and I’m an ordinary person without magical talent.”
This was the first time Cliff had seen someone so enthusiastic.
It tried to pull its hand out from Henry’s grasp, but the person in front of it held on tightly and wouldn’t let go.
This made it somewhat embarrassed.
It didn’t really like having strangers get close to it, even though there were only the two of them in this place.
“Bat… Batman, could you let go?”
“No problem!”
Henry released the other party’s hand.
He had actually been able to shake hands with an ancient true god! Even if this was in a dream, he planned never to wash his hands again!
However, the dream in front of him felt no different from reality.
Henry could even feel the surrounding temperature gradually dropping.
Cliff grabbed its staff and suddenly stood up from the ground, its tone also becoming serious.
“Stand behind me!”
The maiden’s slender fingertips traced complex golden incantations in the air. Holy Light elements flowed like water, gathering and condensing into a light shield with a diameter of about ten feet in front of her.
The shield surface was engraved with Six-pointed Star and angel wing patterns, with fine light flames dancing around the edges, causing the oncoming Death aura to sizzle and crackle.
Henry had also witnessed the same Light attribute defensive magic before.
Jessica’s defensive magic was identical to this, except the defensive magic in front of him was even more powerful.
That Death aura was like substantialized black fog, carrying the sickly sweet scent of rotting flesh and the rusty smell of blood and bone. Hundreds of twisted human faces vaguely appeared within it, their mouths wide open emitting shrieks. Each sound wave tried to pierce through the light shield’s defense!
But under such violent impact, the light shield remained completely motionless!
After withstanding it for who knows how long, when the black fog dispersed, the entire cave instantly returned to deathly silence.
“Is it over?”
Henry poked his head out from behind Cliff.
“Mm, it’s over. You should leave now too.”
Cliff’s staff pointed directly at Henry, looking as if they wanted to blast him to smithereens right here!
But Henry decisively surrendered, his speed rivaling a blitzkrieg on certain territories.
“I’m telling you I’m a good person. Do you believe me?”
“You have the aura of Dark Magic on you. You’re in cahoots with those guys.”
Cliff stated this like a fact.
“Bullshit! I don’t have magic at all. Where would Dark Magic aura come from!”
Damn it! How could people still sense Dark Magic aura on him?
Was Cliff trying to frame him, not wanting face anymore?
At this moment, Cliff’s image in his heart instantly plummeted to rock bottom. He could even stomp on it twice more and still not feel satisfied!
Damn fake savior, just a fraud!
Hearing Henry say this, Cliff’s figure clearly paused for a moment.
Then she cautiously approached, carefully examining Henry.
“That’s right, you don’t have any other magical power fluctuations on your body at all. This is impossible…”