Evil eye

Princeton was huge. The fact that it housed nearly four million residents, which was equivalent to the population of two Faustian Kingdoms, was a testament to its size.

Therefore, the gathering of high-rank Knechts in the northeastern city didn't have much of an impact on the people of the imperial capital.

The academy's campus was rather quiet today. Firstly, the holidays weren't over yet and the students were still busy with their trial missions. Secondly, it was because of the conscription order issued by the Hall of Knights.

There were a total of six faculties in the academy, four of which were knight faculties and two caster faculties. Therefore, most of the students in the academy were still knights.

Princeton had the most high-rank Knechts. Apart from the Hall of Knights, it had to be the Imperial Academy.

Even though the campus was quiet, it wasn't completely devoid of people. You would bump into one or two strangely dressed casters walking in silence every once in a while.

It was only during this period that you would realise that there were actually quite a number of casters in the academy.

These casters rarely had the concept of holidays. They spent most of their time in the academy, rushing to the library, classrooms and laboratories all day long.

All students were allocated dormitories in the academy. Most of them shared a room with two students, but there were also some who shared a room with one student. However, they had to pay a little more for the fees.

In this regard, Angelina was much better than most Lehrlings in school. She had rented a large house on Sacher Street and set up an alchemy lab at home. The collection of books in her spatial ring was so abundant that she didn't have to worry about finishing them, so she didn't have to stay in the academy all day long.

Today was an exception because it was the day Angelina packed her bags.

Although she didn't live in the academy's dormitory, there were many textbooks and materials that belonged to her in her tutor's alchemy lab and magic tower. She was about to set off for the Sanctum and was here to retrieve them today.

Apart from that, Angelina would also pay a visit to her grandmeisterin.

The grandmeisterin who taught in the academy had a high-class magic tower provided by the academy. It was quite convenient for her to do experiments and live in it.

Sitting outside the gate of the caster faculty, Locke was bored and looked around at the scenery.

Without the caster's badge, a Paladin like him was not qualified to enter the caster faculty, let alone get close to the alchemy room and Mage Tower where Angelina had retrieved her things.

The guard at the gate was a large eye the size of a washbasin. There were a few grey tentacles attached to the eye. Locke had no idea how it managed to stay afloat. If he hadn't been experienced enough, he would've shivered at the sight of it.

The black pupils in the middle of the big white eyes stared at Locke, who was standing outside the door. A faint sense of threat arose in Locke's heart. It was only a mid-rank major monster, but it could threaten a high-rank Knecht. Locke guessed that it was a major monster with great potential, just like the scorpiondrake.

Angie was only a mid-rank major monster at the moment, but its defence, agility and attack power were on par with a high-rank Knecht like Locke. Even a high-rank major monster wouldn't be able to withstand the venom of its stinger.

"What's this thing called again?" Locke rubbed his chin as he recalled that Angelina had introduced him to the caster faculty the last time he passed by.

"An evil eye?" Locke looked at the big eye with uncertainty. It didn't seem to be from Missia, nor was it from the east coast. Instead, it was a creature from another plane that casters had captured and thrown here to guard the gate.

"What are you looking at?" Angelina's crisp voice came from not far away. Dressed in a white cotton dress, she looked extremely pure and beautiful on this winter morning.

"What's the name of this major monster?" When Angelina came over from the caster faculty, Locke pointed to the big eyes at the door and asked.

"An evil eye, why are you looking at this slave?" Angelina was puzzled. She grabbed Locke's hand and pulled him out. "Let's go. We have to go to Granny Parlina's place!"

Angelina didn't seem to want to explain too much about the major monster called an evil eye. Locke noticed that there was a hint of disdain in her eyes when she said the word 'evil eye'. She even emphasized the word 'slave'.

It wasn't just Angelina. It seemed that all the casters in the caster faculty weren't interested in the few evil eyes that usually guarded the gate. It was obvious that they were superior.

"What does this thing eat?" Locke asked curiously. He didn't see any oral organs on the evil eye's body. It was still early, so he wasn't in a hurry to find Angelina's grandmeisterin. Locke had only seen one of these creatures so far. He still couldn't tell the difference between creatures from another plane and this one.

"Haha." Angelina seemed to have heard something funny. She covered her mouth and chuckled. "It doesn't eat!"

"Huh? Then how does it maintain its life? " Locke had learned some basic knowledge about magic and impetus in the academy. At the very least, he knew that impetus and magic were essentially a way of using energy. Apart from that, the blood energy in a creature's body was also considered a form of energy.

Impetus and magic were cultivated externally by absorbing impetus and mana from the air, while blood energy could only be obtained through internal digestion.

If this evil eye didn't eat, how could it maintain its strength and life as a mid-rank major monster?

"It absorbs light energy from the air through its eyes, and its tentacles can also absorb elemental energy," explained Angelina.

Angelina would definitely become a knowledgeable and wise person in the future. At least, that was what Locke thought. As long as he asked a question, Angelina would be able to answer it.

"Anything else?" Locke asked. He knew that most major monsters evolved passively. Unlike knights and casters, who could rely on impetus techniques and meditation to increase their strength, major monsters relied on food and the accumulation of life force to increase their magic power.

"Perhaps the magic crystal will be of some use," said Angelina.

"Okay." Locke's spatial ring flashed and a dark yellow earth crystal core the size of a fingernail appeared in his hand. This was the crystal core of a low-rank major monster, a desert rock snake, that he'd hunted when he passed through the northwestern desert of Aomar.

A low-rank major monster's crystal core was only worth five or six gold moores, which Locke didn't care about anymore. The gold cards in his spatial ring were worth eight to nine thousand gold moores.

With a playful attitude, Locke threw the crystal core. It flew in a parabola and accurately hit the evil eye's big head. It wasn't accurate to call it a head, because its whole body was made up of an eyeball and a few tentacles.

Locke's aim was still pretty good at this distance. When he'd first joined the army in his teens, he'd served as a scout for a period of time and practiced archery.

The evil eye had long noticed Locke, who'd been acting suspiciously ever since he'd arrived at the caster faculty's entrance.

If this was its previous home, the Aegean Plane, it would've taught this arrogant human a lesson. Unfortunately, this evil eye had become much more well-behaved since it was sold to the wizarding world thirty years ago.

It couldn't be disobedient. It had seen too many of its kind being mercilessly executed by the academy's administrators because they'd accidentally 'hurt' the delicate Lehrlings.

There were four gates in Angelina's caster faculty, and this was only one of them. Each gate was guarded by an evil eye. These major monsters were born with Delusion-breaker Eyes and were loved by the academy's casters.

Mid-rank major monsters already had a high level of intelligence, comparable to a teenager. Through Locke's series of actions, the evil eye could tell that this human didn't seem to have any malicious intentions. Moreover, the yellow earth crystal core attracted all of the evil eye's attention.

Having been sold as a slave, it hadn't touched a magic crystal for more than ten years. The academy's mentors weren't interested in spending too much effort on such a low-rank major monster's diet.

Moreover, evil eyes didn't need food as long as there was sunlight. They could also absorb starlight at night, albeit at a lower efficiency.

If there were occasional cloudy days, they'd be out of luck. Without any other means of replenishing their energy, they'd fall into a prolonged period of weakness.

In the evil eye's eyes, this small, low-rank major monster's crystal core was nothing more than a delicacy.

Even though it was a light-type major monster that moved extremely slowly, it managed to catch the core with its tentacles just before it hit the ground.

"Whoa!" Locke let out a strange cry. He wasn't surprised that the evil eye could catch the crystal core so accurately, but that it floated about twenty centimetres above the ground the entire time.

There were very few major monsters that could fly without wings, but an evil eye was one of them. Locke felt that his low-rank major monster's crystal core was an eye-opener.

However, if it was only a mid-rank major monster, an evil eye could only fly about twenty centimetres above the ground. It was no different from not being able to fly at all.

"Let's go! Granny Parlina is waiting! " Angelina didn't have the time to watch Locke's childish antics. She had an appointment with Grandmeisterin and it was best to arrive early.

"Let's go!" Seeing that Angelina was in a hurry, Locke ignored the evil eye and wrapped his arm around Angelina's waist as they walked towards the other side of the campus.

Behind him, the evil eye's tentacles were still holding onto the earth crystal core that Locke had tossed over. It seemed to be asking for Locke's intentions.

As Locke walked further and further away, the evil eye slowly raised its tentacles and sent the earth crystal core into the intersection of its eyeball and tentacles. There was a cavity there that could be used to digest things.

This Evil Eye also remembered Locke in its heart after this incident.

"Why did you feed it an earth crystal core? Isn't it a waste?" Angelina asked casually as she hugged Locke's arm from afar.

"If I feed it something this time, it won't guard against me like a thief the next time I come, right?" Locke laughed.

"Do you think you're feeding it to a dog?" Angelina rolled her eyes at Locke.

"I'll just take pity on it," said Locke.

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