45: The past reappears

Chapter 45: Past Revisited

"I didn't expect the strange tales to be true... Dick, you're the real strange tale expert..."

Xiao Nai looked at the scene before her and already understood what the "Stairway to Another World" was about.

She was a top student herself, and combining that with the fact that this used to be the Illusion Department's teaching building, she immediately knew she was in an illusion.

But this scene was too real; her sight, hearing, smell, and touch were all incredibly clear. It was Xiao Nai's first time experiencing such an illusion.

Dick didn't pay attention to his surroundings, but stared at the upper left corner of his vision, his brows tightly furrowed.

What's going on?

Didn't he already experience the strange tale firsthand?

Why hasn't the System settled yet?

Is it delayed or stuck...

Looking at the task progress on the "Former Terrifying Tales" which still showed [Completed 5/7], Dick had a bad premonition.

Perhaps the "Stairway to Another World" wasn't that simple, and he still hadn't discovered the truth.

"Be careful, what's wrong with you two, standing in the middle of the stairs without moving..."

"Exactly, don't you know it's lunchtime now?"

Suddenly, two students who were rushing bumped into Dick and Xiao Nai, but after just complaining a few sentences, they left.

However, Dick and Xiao Nai were stunned. This illusion could actually interact with people?!

"Dick, it's amazing! Those two people just talked to us. It's unimaginable, this illusion is too real..."

Although the Academy's Berserker Department had related illusion resistance training, Xiao Nai had only encountered some low-level illusions.

The people or objects inside would be like soul entities, unable to be touched, and they were all very stiff, like preset AI programs with very poor interactivity.

However, this dream wasn't like that; the two could clearly feel a big difference.

Dick was knowledgeable and understood illusion arrays better than Xiao Nai, so he discovered more anomalies.

The array on the stairs was crude and low-level; the illusion it produced couldn't possibly reach this level, nor did it have interactive functions.

Clearly, the illusion the two were currently experiencing was very wrong, at least it absolutely couldn't have come from the illusion array on the stairs!

Ten minutes later, after several investigations by the two, this illusion became increasingly mysterious.

All the students actually had distinct personalities, and even the cats and dogs were incredibly real. If it weren't for everyone's faces being blurry, this place would truly be no different from reality.

At the same time, the two also discovered that this was a time and space from over a hundred years ago; everything was a replica of the scene from that time.

Dick quickly formed a conjecture in his mind: the illusion he and Xiao Nai were in was most likely the high-intermediate level illusion "Past Revisited"!

This was an extremely complex illusion that also required recording a segment of time, which was very troublesome.

"Xiao Nai, did the Academy ever have a Mage above level 50 in the Illusion Department?"

Facing Dick's question, Xiao Nai thought for a moment, then quickly nodded and said, "It seems it was also over a hundred years ago. There was a Minister of the Magic Department named Michelle, and she was a level 54 Illusion Mage."

A level 54 Illusion Mage was fully capable of setting up "Past Revisited." Dick suspected that this Minister was most likely behind it.

She recorded the time and space scene from over a hundred years ago and stored it in the illusion array, waiting for future generations to trigger it.

Dick finally understood everything. It turned out the array at the stairs was just the key; only after being perfectly repaired could it activate the main array, "Past Revisited."

It's just a pity that after so many years, those who came to experience the strange tale were all students, and none of them had ever perfectly repaired the array at the stairs.

However, even if a professor from the Magic Department came, it would be difficult to repair the array. The knowledge involved here could only be mastered by high-level Illusion Mages.

Illusion Mage is a small branch of the Mage profession. They are very weak in combat at low levels, so it's very unpopular, and few Mages study illusions.

This is also why, after over a hundred years, no one has been able to discover this hidden "Past Revisited."

Everyone was like Xiao Nai, just simply repairing the array on the stairs, and only with good luck could they trigger some simple illusions.

But why did Minister Michelle record this segment of time?

And why did she hide this "Past Revisited"?

Dick lowered his head in thought. Perhaps only by figuring out the reason for "Past Revisited" could the task be completed.

The two walked slowly down the corridor. Xiao Nai was full of curiosity, constantly looking around, as this was a time and space from over a hundred years ago.

"Hello, Senior! Hello, Senior!"

Two junior students walked towards them. They were first-year freshmen and needed to bow to the two older students.

The Academy had nine grades, and the school uniform for each grade was different, making them very easy to identify.

Xiao Nai was very happy. She puffed out her chest and raised her head, putting on a mature look. "Mm, hello."

Dick didn't return the greeting; he was still thinking about the problem.

"Did you hear? Illusion courses are being changed from mandatory to optional..."

"Of course. A few days ago, Minister Michelle even had a big argument with the Warden about this. I was there at the time."

The two junior students passed by. Their chat made Dick suddenly look up, so he immediately turned around and asked, "Excuse me, I want to ask, what year, month, and day is it today...?"

Hearing this, the two junior students were a little confused, but soon one of them still said, "It's Year 96 of Charles, August 14th."

Dick's pupils contracted, his expression became serious, and he remained silent.

Seeing that Dick wasn't speaking, the two junior students bowed again and left.

"How strange, why would someone ask such a question?"

"Hehe, that Senior definitely wanted to talk to you. Don't say it, he's quite handsome..."

"Stop it~"

Until the two junior students disappeared at the end of the corridor, Dick still hadn't spoken. Xiao Nai on the side couldn't help but ask doubtfully, "What's wrong? Is today an important day?"

"You should know the reason why this teaching building was abandoned, right?" Dick looked at Xiao Nai and asked softly.

"Of course!"

Xiao Nai remembered everything about the strange tale because she needed to explain it when acting as a guide, so she immediately began to speak eloquently.

"On an afternoon over a hundred years ago, Minister Michelle of the Magic Department had a very serious magic accident while tutoring a male student."

"At that time, the entire teaching building was covered by Minister Michelle's illusion. Including herself, a total of 98 people were brain dead, most of whom were students..."

As she spoke, Xiao Nai's excited face suddenly froze. She looked at Dick and said tremblingly, "No, it couldn't be today, could it."

"Precisely!"

Dick nodded, looked at the scorching sun outside the window, and said with a solemn expression, "In about twenty minutes, that serious magic accident will happen."