This wizard only wishes to be a teacher

"Dean, give me a few days to consider," Lucien maintained his composure on the surface.

"This matter indeed requires careful consideration; there’s no rush, given that the initial preparations need at least two to three years," the Grey Bone Wizard said with a smile, nodding accommodatingly.

However, he quickly changed the subject to another matter.

"By the way, I recall on the west side of Greybone Academy, there’s a loose wizard organization named ’White Bone Alliance,’ right? If memory serves, they once intercepted our academy’s transport airships. Have they been active recently?"

"White Bone Alliance?" Lucien’s eyebrows knitted slightly upon hearing the name, but with the exceptional memory of a Formal Wizard, he soon located information regarding this wizard organization.

It was a nomadic group of wizards, or one might even call them marauders knowledgeable in the methods of wizardry. Their leader was a Formal Wizard, piloting a white bone airship that roamed the borders of several Great Wizard organizations, sustaining themselves through plundering.

"This wizard organization is still around; the leader is still the self-titled ’Captain Death’ Bartus Van Dyke..."

"Good," the Grey Bone Wizard said, looking at Lucien with a smile, "I feel this wizard organization is affecting the academy’s development, so... eradicate them, then capture ’Captain Death’ Bartus Van Dyke alive."

Eradicate the White Bone Alliance? Because they were affecting the academy’s development?

Hearing the Grey Bone Wizard’s directives and his reasoning, Lucien felt it was somewhat absurd.

Although the small wizard organization, White Bone Alliance, sustained themselves through looting, their threat to Greybone Academy wasn’t significant; in fact, to some extent, there was an unspoken truce and balance between the two.

With the presence of the White Bone Alliance and other minor wizard groups as a buffer, Greybone Academy had a sort of gray zone of separation from the Tower, which even seemed more favorable to the academy.

"There’s no need to worry about the White Bone Alliance’s retaliation or the escape capabilities of their airship."

The Grey Bone Wizard observed Lucien, who was now pondering with his head lowered, seemingly believing Lucien was worried about the nimble flight abilities and escape speed of the White Bone airship. He waved his hand lightly, and immediately numerous tiny shadow serpents emerged from beneath Greybone Academy, coalescing in front of the Grey Bone Wizard into the Snake Mother, previously seen by Lucien in the underground library.

And now, in her hands, was a Scepter.

The Scepter, crafted from a special forearm bone reminiscent of jade, even had a grey-white Crystal Stone embedded in the place of the original hand bones. The Scepter itself attracted shadowy currents to swirl around it, chilling enough to even make Lucien feel a coldness that seemed to originate from the soul.

"This is the Greybone Scepter, the academy’s most precious Witch Tool," the Grey Bone Wizard said with a smile as he manipulated the Snake Mother to hand the Scepter to Lucien. "During your tenure as the head of the academy, you may use the Greybone Scepter without charge."

"As long as you carry the Greybone Scepter and cast the witchcraft ’Greybone Sealing Technique’ that is sealed within it, let alone a White Bone airship, even a real Wizard Airship would lose the majority of its flying capabilities. The wizards on board will surely have their strength weakened by the effects of the sealing technique..."

The Grey Bone Wizard elaborated to Lucien about this powerful Witch Tool capable of being used by Second-level Wizards, but there was a clear implication in his words – urging Lucien to quickly lead a team to exterminate the White Bone Alliance and capture "Captain Death" Bartus alive.

After receiving the Scepter, Lucien nodded slightly, "I’ll handle this matter as soon as possible."

"Mhm," the Grey Bone Wizard nodded in approval of Lucien’s attitude, then with a whoosh, his already somewhat ethereal form instantly dissipated, turning into strands of shadowy current that quickly vanished.

"It really is..." Lucien silently watched the spot where the Grey Bone Wizard and Snake Mother had disappeared, then looked at the Greybone Scepter he was holding in his right hand, shaking his head with a sense of helplessness.

Lucien felt that under the manipulation of Level 3 Wizard Delatore, the situation amongst the continent’s wizards was about to descend into turbulence once again.

However, the campaign against the White Bone Alliance required some preliminary preparations and during this time, the information about the exchange team from Winter Fort, which Lucien had previously initiated, had already been sent out.

"Instructor Lucien, Winter Fort has set out their exchange team after receiving the gift you sent. Mm, I’ve heard that it’s led by three Formal Wizards. It’s considered quite a high-profile exchange visit from their side..."

Carly, responsible for liaising with Winter Fort, ran excitedly into Lucien’s office, holding a letter marked with spiritual power.

A smile couldn’t help but appear on Lucien’s face – he had been waiting for this satisfying outcome for almost a month and a half now.

...

"I really have no idea what those folks at Greybone Academy are thinking." A huge whale, flapping its wing-like fins, floated above the clouds using the power of Magic Essence and the fluctuations of air currents.

Inside the body of the whale, where its head would have been, had been transformed into a room-sized cabin. Three Wizards from Winter Fort and a dozen Wizard Apprentices were now living inside the Aeculli Cloud Whale, using this modified Supernatural Beast as a transport vehicle to rapidly approach the area where Greybone Academy was located.

Just as Elemental Wizards often looked down on Physical Refining Wizards, derogatorily calling them "brutes", those Physical Refining Wizards also had no love lost for Elemental Wizards who only knew "tricks" and considered "judging the situation" as the hallmarks of cowards.

Especially since the Elemental Sorcery that Greybone Academy excelled in was skewed towards survival, sneak attacks, and indirect combat—of the Shadow and death variety—it was even less to the aesthetic taste of the "manly men" of Winter Fort. It was this divergence in training systems that caused a mutual disdain between the Formal Wizards of the two sides.

And the reason why Winter Fort had sent three Formal Wizards for Greybone Academy’s unprecedented "Icebreaker Operation" was not simply because Iceberg Woolf was curious about Greybone Academy. The other two Formal Wizards came with the intention of finding fault and spectating the spectacle.

In their view, Lucien’s invitation for what he called an academic exchange was, to some extent, a display of low posture, a sign of Greybone Academy’s lack of confidence in their path of Elemental Witchcraft.

However, among the three Formal Wizards, Woolf didn’t share the prejudices of his companions. On the contrary, he held a kind curiosity about the exchange visit to Greybone Academy and also had a considerable interest in the methods of Elemental Wizards.

"Actually, I think this exchange might be a good thing, after all, some of the support-type Elemental Sorcery can actually be useful to us too..." Woolf began to say something but was promptly interrupted by the other two Body Refinement Wizards.

"Enough, Woolf. Instead of believing in those fancy but impractical witchcraft, you’d be better off spending time honing your body." Saud patted his shoulder, then handed him a bottle of vodka that was brewed only by a few countries near the icy plains, seemingly suggesting he needed a strong drink to clear his head.

Woolf shook the bottle slightly with a hint of resignation before pulling the cork and downing a couple of swigs.

"Isn’t this vodka more effective than any augmentative witchcraft?" Saud snatched back the bottle, began pouring himself a drink, and muttered to himself.

Woolf: ...

...

"Sally, that’s great! Tomorrow’s rune studies foundation class for our grade is suspended!" Early in the morning, Sally heard the jubilant shouts of her friend Monica.

When she turned her head, she saw Monica already sprinting towards her bed at a hundred-meter dash speed, and in the next second, an extra "Tuanzi" had appeared on top of her bed.

Sally’s mouth twitched, but she still lifted a salted fish that was prepared to be seasoned and marinated. "No, first tell me, why is the rune studies foundation class suspended tomorrow?"

"Aiya, the exchange group from Winter Fort is arriving tomorrow, and Teacher Carly is responsible for hosting the related affairs, so she just gave us a week off," Monica said with a beaming smile on her face, lying lazily on her bed as if her bones had melted away.

"Ah, Teacher Carly is good at everything, but the classes are too strict, and the homework too difficult. You know, some apprentices are already calling Teacher Carly the ’Silver Demon’ behind her back... Uh, anyway, viva the exchange student program!"

"Viva the exchange student program!"

"Viva the Silver Demon!"

As Carly passed by the first-year dormitory area of Greybone Academy, she could occasionally hear ghostly howls coming from inside the dorms. She looked down at the stack of homework she had prepared and fell into thought.

"Ah well, think of it as a thought exercise. Those who are interested can have a look, and those who aren’t, well, never mind." Carly mumbled to herself, feeling that the new batch of Wizard Apprentices had become a bit too relaxed, seemingly swinging from one extreme to another all at once.

"Perhaps, I need to discuss this with Instructor Lucien." Carly silently noted this issue, feeling that if it continued in this atmosphere, the new blood at the academy might be happy internally, but they would also be losing the combativeness and sense of urgency that previous Wizard Apprentices at Greybone Academy had.

"This can’t go on in the long run..." Carly thought as she approached the dormitory of a few "class representatives" and knocked on the door.

And when she pushed open the door, Monica’s cheers inside the room came to an abrupt halt.