The person who rushed over was none other than Lily’s first-round opponent, Jayne.
Back when Lily had just defeated Chris, Jayne had left the freshman group and disappeared to do who-knows-what.
As long as they weren’t examiners, the rules allowed others to step away briefly without affecting the assessment process. There were too many noteworthy things happening at the time, so no one paid attention to where he’d gone.
Unexpectedly, the moment he returned, he leveled an accusation against Lily.
Aaron’s smile faded as he calmly looked at Jayne. “Student Jayne, accusing someone of ‘using dark magic’ is a very serious charge. Please choose your words carefully.”
Many instructors weren’t on good terms with Aaron, but they all agreed with what he said.
Even they themselves, when suspecting Lily of using dark magic, wouldn’t say it outright. Before obtaining solid evidence, such accusations must be made cautiously, because they could easily cause harmful repercussions.
And now, after so many instructors had already examined and confirmed that Lily was fine, a student suddenly jumped out to claim she’d used dark magic—this wasn’t just an accusation against Lily, but against them as well!
The judging instructor who had previously been “questioned” by Jayne spoke up directly, “Multiple instructors proficient in light magic have jointly examined her. Lily did not cast any dark magic on Chris.”
The instructors weren’t intentionally harsh—there was no need for that. But with a group of high-ranking magic instructors of considerable status and power all staring at him, the pressure on Jayne was immense!
Jayne didn’t have Lily’s mental fortitude. His face turned pale, cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and a trace of regret even flickered in his heart: he shouldn’t have stuck his neck out like this.
But he’d already done it, and at this point he couldn’t just say “Sorry, my mistake.” He had no choice but to press on with his accusation.
Jayne gritted his teeth. “Professor, I have evidence!”
He turned to the other freshmen and spoke rapidly, “Lily’s magical aptitude can only be described as ‘barely scraping into the academy.’ After that, when we took classes together, she also performed unremarkably, right?”
That was the truth. No one stepped forward to deny it.
“A person, in a short span of time, inexplicably comprehends magic far beyond normal understanding. How did she do it? The answer is—this is the effect of dark magic!”
Jayne shouted sharply:
“She really didn’t use dark magic on Chris—but she used it on herself! She sacrificed her soul to gain greater power!”
Aaron shook his head. “Conjecture isn’t evidence.”
Was it possible to gain power through dark magic? Yes!
But it wasn’t the only possibility.
Some mages remained unknown for years before suddenly achieving enlightenment; others encountered fortuitous opportunities that propelled them to new heights…
Magic is a power where “anything is possible.” You can’t attribute every miracle to dark magic.
Going by Jayne’s logic, the prime suspects right now wouldn’t be Lily, but certain mages with particularly legendary backgrounds. Go ahead and arrest those few for interrogation first—but was that even possible?
“What I just said was reasoning. What I’m about to present is the real evidence!” Jayne produced a small box. “Inside is a shattered mirror. Its original owner was Lily.”
These standard-issue dormitory mirrors all had the dorm number on the back. A quick check would confirm whether it was hers—she couldn’t deny it!
“Get to the point.”
“The point is, this mirror has residual traces of dark magic on it. You professors can verify it yourselves.”
Jayne declared with absolute certainty:
“She used dark magic to break the mirror and tried to dispose of it secretly, but never expected the evidence to be preserved.”
Lily narrowed her eyes.
She wasn’t too surprised by Jayne’s accusation.
She’d long suspected that whoever sent her those dark magic materials had ill intentions, and she’d already braced herself for the possibility of being set up.
It was good that the mastermind was surfacing early—consider it preemptive mine-sweeping, removing hidden dangers.
Was it you? The one who slipped those dark magic materials into my dorm?
No, more precisely—was it you all?
Lily glanced at Chris.
Jayne was from Chris’s faction. Certain of his words and actions could be seen as an extension of Chris’s will.
But Lily noticed something strange: Chris’s expression was one of shock and bewilderment, as if he hadn’t expected Jayne to suddenly jump out and say all this.
From Lily’s observations, Chris had always worn his emotions on his sleeve—not the type to be deeply calculating. Perhaps Jayne wasn’t acting on Chris’s orders at this moment?
But if his “inability to hide emotions” was just an act, then that guy was rather terrifying…
Lily didn’t continue guessing whether Chris was connected to this matter. Connected or not, the truth would eventually come to light.
She turned her gaze back to Jayne. “A few days ago, I did lose a shattered mirror. If you say this is it, then I won’t deny it for now. But I also have two questions.”
After taking out the box, Jayne seemed to regain his confidence and was no longer afraid to confront her. “Go ahead, ask.”
“My mirror shards were thrown away at the garbage collection point outside the girls’ dormitory. Were you staking out the girls’ dormitory every day to pick through the trash?”
To be honest, Lily hadn’t expected someone to retrieve the broken mirror shards.
After all, no one else knew exactly when she would discard something that could potentially become “evidence,” which meant they must have gone through all her trash.
If she’d encountered this kind of pervert in the modern world, Lily would definitely have found a way to throw a sack over their head and beat them up! But in this world? She wasn’t about to let it slide either!
As soon as Lily said this, the female students present began looking at Jayne with very different eyes.
The First Academy was relatively strict with outsiders, but the internal atmosphere was fairly relaxed. While the male and female dorms were in separate buildings, there were no restrictions on visiting between them—it wasn’t unusual to see male students in the girls’ dorms sometimes, so there was no need to make a big deal out of it.
But staking out the trash station to spy on others was a completely different matter! Everyone had a right to some privacy!
Jayne felt like he had needles pricking his back.
He absolutely couldn’t let her stick him with the “pervert” label, or he’d never be able to show his face at the academy again!
Jayne immediately shot back, “I didn’t pick up the mirror myself. It was handed over to me by someone ‘in the know.’ You might not realize this, but your suspicious behavior has long been noticed by observant people. Isn’t it only natural that someone would try to collect evidence?”
He wasn’t foolish enough to be led around by the nose by Lily.
In just a few words, he’d clarified the situation:
He wasn’t someone who spied on girls’ trash;
Lily’s circumstances were special and should be distinguished from other female students—could keeping tabs on a suspect really be called “spying”? No, that was called “surveillance,” that was called “gathering evidence.”
As expected, everyone’s expressions relaxed considerably.
Then Jayne let out a cold snort. “Lily, are you deliberately trying to obscure the main point? The most critical issue right now is the suspicion that you used dark magic! Stop trying to change the subject!”
Lily shook her head. “I’m not changing the subject—I’m analyzing the problem. Both the source of the mirror shards and the identity of the whistleblower are very important.”
This tied into her second question:
“You say there are traces of dark magic on the mirror shards. How can you be sure they were left by me, rather than someone picking up the shards and then planting evidence to frame me?”
Aaron suddenly interjected:
“Lily’s objection is reasonable. Student Jayne, even if the mirror is problematic, it cannot serve as direct evidence against her. Additionally, please provide the name of that ‘informed person.’ For something this serious, the so-called informant should not remain hidden behind the scenes.”
The other instructors had varied expressions.
The first half of Aaron’s statement was unobjectionable. But the second half showed fairly obvious favoritism toward Lily.
Who could this “informed person” be? Chris? The Ryan royal family? Regardless of who it was, as long as Lily was innocent, Aaron was prepared to fight this all the way.
Lily glanced silently at Aaron. Her mentor seemed pretty reliable, after all. They didn’t have much of a connection yet, but when she was in trouble, he didn’t abandon her.
Jayne also understood Aaron’s implication. He was silent for a moment, then said with considerable resolve, “There is also more direct evidence.”
With that, Jayne suddenly pointed at Lily. “She herself is the best evidence. Professors, please use light magic to scan her!”
The other instructors first looked at Aaron. Aaron, in turn, looked at Lily.
Lily spread her hands with an air of complete innocence: Go ahead and check.
The mastermind behind this was vicious, with layers of interconnected schemes.
But what they didn’t know was that her mirror had broken from practicing water-arrow techniques, not from practicing dark magic. And her special version of the Light Breeze Technique wasn’t power gained from dark magic—it came from her modern scientific knowledge base.
So she wasn’t afraid of being examined. She only wanted to use this opportunity to expose the mastermind.
Beams of white light fell upon Lily.
It was an incredibly pleasant sensation, as if even her mental fatigue was being healed. Lily couldn’t help but close her eyes.
The white light faded. The instructors withdrew their hands and shook their heads. “No abnormalities.”
Lily opened her eyes, still savoring the feeling.
This was practically a top-tier mental spa! She felt like her weary office-worker soul had been purified!
Lily said with a hint of bashfulness, “Professors, how about a little more? What if my problem is hidden a bit deeper?”
The instructors’ faces darkened: To hell with your “hidden a bit deeper”!
Don’t think they hadn’t noticed—she just wanted to soak up more holy light therapy! Did they have infinite mental energy or something?
This kid looked pretty well-behaved, but why was she just like Aaron? Shameless!
At that moment, they recalled Lily’s performance in the arena and suddenly felt a bit dazed: Wait, why did they have the illusion that she was well-behaved? Just looking at her tactical thinking, it was clear she was no naive innocent!