Those time travelers that year

Three others jumped out of the window with Eunice to escape, leaving only three survivors. Those who hesitated after landing were never able to escape.

As for the reason? The blood and severed limbs spraying out from the broken windows let the four survivors know what had happened to their remaining companions.

"Where do you think the rats are going?" A mocking voice rang out. Under the moonlight, Melia, dressed in a maid's outfit, stood atop a rooftop, her face expressionless, watching the four disheveled people below. "Anyway, it's up to us maids to clean up the filth in this house, isn't that right, Atia?"

“Of course, sister… Since Master Ciel is out on business, then…” From the shattered window splattered with blood, a girl almost identical to Melia, standing on the rooftop, appeared, clad in slender full-body armor and wielding two blades, one of flame and one of mist. “Before our master, Master Ciel, returns, we must clean up some of the dust that has come from outside…”

The sheer veil fluttered gently in the moonlight...

The bright scarlet color was reflected in the water...

But it was a nightmare for the four people who jumped out of the window and escaped into the street.

The girl named Atia lightly leaped from the window and landed on the ground. However, while still in mid-air, the blade shrouded in mist had already been swung out. A misty blade of light descended from the sky, instantly tearing a girl standing next to O'Neill to pieces. Blood and bits of flesh splattered everywhere, covering the entire street.

When Atiyah landed on the ground, Onis and the remaining two had given up all thought of resisting. The gap in strength was too great... so, without prior agreement, they all chose to flee for their lives in different directions.

However, there was no escaping it.

Melia, who had appeared on the street at some unknown time, placed her hand on the neck of a fugitive as if it were a lover's. Then, the fugitive's head was twisted off and rotated 180 degrees.

The others are too slow!

A sheer cloak billowed behind Atia, untouched by any blood. Two longswords easily ripped through the delicate body, sending blood swirling in the breeze stirred by the blades.

In the end, the two knives severed the limbs of Oenice, the socialite.

"Dust is just dust!" The blade, unstained by blood, reflected the moonlight and also hinted at the approach of death.

"Your souls belong to their master! You ants!"

This is the last chapter of the main world. The rest will be covered after the protagonist returns. That's all for now, it's been a week... Sorry...

100. Dota World (Part 1)

This is a chaotic world, where war has been a constant companion throughout its history. When you open the history books of this world, you'll find that its recorded history of thousands of years is essentially a history of war that engulfed the entire continent. It's just like the family history of a certain two-faced rabbit on Earth.

So, as you know, troubled times breed heroes. In this world where battles have raged for thousands of years, or even longer—in fact, where even dog brains have been created through such chaos—countless heroes have emerged. However, there are simply too many heroes in this world, all sorts of characters. Seriously, there are so many worlds like this, where anything can just barge in! WoW, D&D, the Nexus, Valoran, 300 idiots…

Therefore, I personally think that Father Saint shouldn't just keep dealing with his own bunch of unruly kids who average less than 1.2 meters tall, but should also start managing the rampant illegal immigration problem. Of course, all of the above is just a joke...

In general, this is a world of diverse life. Various native and exotic creatures; flesh-and-blood beings, elemental beings, high-dimensional beings… all sorts of bizarre species roam this world. You can see ancient ice dragons flying overhead, and you can find colossal monsters in the valleys. Similarly, this is a world where magical civilization has highly developed; a brilliant mage civilization once flourished here. However, in the Mage Wars, this civilization perished in the flames of war, but it left behind many precious relics, such as various alchemical potions and magical artifacts.

Of course, there are many more relics buried in various corners of the world.

…………

Magic has always been something most people crave, whether it's the Radiant, who maintain their rule through order and law, or the Dire, who pursue power and desire. Magic is undoubtedly something many can use to change their destiny. While magic isn't the only power in the world capable of altering one's fate, it's certainly something most people acknowledge. After all, even if you only become a lowly mage apprentice, you'll still receive social respect; conversely, if you're just a down-on-your-luck warrior, you'll essentially only become cannon fodder in a war between two opposing factions.

Compared to the Radiant, which has a well-established system, the Dire is much more ruthless in its cultivation of talent. If you don't want to be a nobody for life, and don't want to be someone else's stepping stone, then all you can do is keep climbing up, pulling down anyone who gets in your way.

For example, on the Nightmare side, there's the Mysterious Academy, renowned for training various dark mages and evil wizards. Since the birth of its first hero-level powerhouse—Damon Lanik—this academy has been known for its many problematic figures in its teaching staff. The students and even the instructors tirelessly and relentlessly pursue rare, lost, forbidden scrolls and knowledge—the original texts of legendary learning forgotten in history.

Every year, the academy enrolls a large number of apprentices, yet at least half of them fail to graduate alive. In most cases, the failed apprentices either perish in various magical experiments due to unforeseen circumstances—the best outcome being being burned to a crisp, the worst being having half their body transported to another dimension, where they inevitably die. Many tremble at the mere mention of the academy's story, while many more yearn to enter and master the magic that could change their destiny.

Archimedes was one of them, but he wasn't the kind of person who craved power. If he had a choice, he would rather have been born in the Radiant, a land of perfect order and law, than in the Dire, where strength reigned supreme. His greatest childhood wish was simply to be an inventor or a craftsman. If only he could…

However, reality is not a fairy tale. Faced with pressure from his brother, Marcellus, and unable to compete with his brother, who had joined the army, for the family business, he could only flee his hometown in a sorry state and had no choice but to enter the Mysterious Annihilation Academy. If he became a formal mage, then his brother would no longer be able to target him, but if he failed to become a formal mage… well, then he would probably go to heaven due to an 'accident' at the academy.

Of course, if he becomes a hero and inherits the legacy of a hero, then it will be his brother kneeling before him, pitifully begging for forgiveness.

There are two Heroic Class Legacy in the Academy of Annihilation, which is considered a miracle in many places. In addition to the class legacy left by Damon Lanik, the first Heroic-level powerhouse of the Academy, the infamous Llane, the Demon Wizard, also left a Heroic Class Legacy.

If the Secret Annihilation Academy didn't possess sufficient power, it would have long been devoured by greedy opportunists. However, in reality, thanks to its ancient, forbidden knowledge—obsessed with seeking its return and subjected to numerous 'safe experiments'—many fools without self-awareness have become the academy's experimental subjects. Even at its weakest, no heroic professional dared to approach it.

Moreover, Gadin Keldarron, the current Dean of the Academy of Mystery, Chief Curator of the Forbidden Sanctuary, and Director of its Collections, is a genuine Warlock hero. He also possesses two pieces of Soul Equipment—magical artifacts born from the pinnacle of alchemy during the War of the Mages, now known in the world as Heroic Armaments. These are pieces of equipment that can be absorbed into the soul of a hero, granting them immense power.

Legend has it that the Aghanim's Scepter can grant mages demigod-like power. And, legendary is the Refresher Orb, a powerful item supposedly tailor-made for every strong wizard. It is said that Lord Gadin, equipped with these two heroic weapons, single-handedly slaughtered a Radiant border city during a conflict between the Radiant and Dire factions several years ago, and blasted a Radiant hero to smithereens on the spot.

Four enormous hellfires, accompanied by raging flames, turned the entire city and everything around it into a sea of ​​fire.

"If only I had that power!" Archimedes sighed helplessly, fantasizing about becoming a majestic and powerful hero. Reality was far more important than unrealistic fantasies. In this academy, if you didn't want to be used as a guinea pig, you at least had to know how to cherish time, or at least be punctual. "Damn it, the inferior healing ointment I was ordered to make yesterday isn't finished yet..."

Just as Archimedes was rushing to finish his work, there was a loud knocking on his door.

"Who is it!" Annoyed by the interruption, Archimedes put down his work and ran to the door, opening it.

Weekend, overtime, overtime... This month is a month of overtime. Christmas overtime, and New Year's Eve overtime too. 2333333333333333333333333333333333, what's that saying again? Work makes you free. Okay, that's it. I've already posted the two weekend updates two days ago, so it's not considered late. Unpaid overtime, and even deducted from pay for performance targets! The wind is really noisy today...

101. Dota World (Chinese)

"Who is it?" Archimedes muttered, walking to the wooden door. He placed his hand on the door panel, and a light blue magic circle flashed briefly before dimming. As mentioned before, this was a world with a highly developed magical civilization. Although the ancient war between mages had weakened its magical civilization, many of its influences remained.

The magic circle on the wooden door is essentially a locking spell; its only function is to close and lock the door. It's not particularly useful or defensive; it simply makes the door difficult to open. This is specifically designed to prevent thieves from sneaking in and trying to break in when the owner is away.

Although Archimedes did not believe that there would be any foolish thieves who would dare to steal from the Secret Annihilation Academy.

After manually dispelling the magic on the wooden door, Archimedes opened the door to his room. It was pitch black outside, so dark that one couldn't see their own hand in front of their face. It seemed that the Goddess of Night was in a bad mood tonight, and had thus obscured the light of the Goddess of the Moon.

"Where is everyone?" Archimedes stepped out of the room and looked around. But he didn't see anyone outside. There wasn't a soul in sight outside the house located in the apprentice quarters of the Secret Annihilation Academy. The other apprentices' quarters next to his were dark; it seemed their colleagues were already asleep. "Damn it, that bastard's playing a joke on me..." Archimedes stomped his foot angrily. Actually, this kind of thing was very common, especially in a highly competitive magic academy like the Secret Annihilation Academy, where using various means to drag down rivals was commonplace.

Just like the minor healing ointment he was making tonight, this was a job he'd taken on to earn money at school. After all, he wasn't one of those wealthy apprentices; he was basically working part-time while studying. The annual tuition fees the academy required were no small sum for a student like him, especially considering the academy's exploitation of him while he was learning magic. But if he didn't complete his work on time, he wouldn't get a single penny.

After being annoyed for a while, Archimedes confirmed that the knocking was just a prank or the work of some ill-intentioned person. After muttering a few curses, Archimedes turned around, went back into his room, and closed the door behind him.

However, he did not notice that as he stepped out the door, a semi-transparent figure slipped through the doorway along the wall and entered his room.

Archimedes returned to the house, closed the door, and re-locked it with magic. Then he went back to his workbench and continued making the minor healing ointment.

However, the outsider, who had concealed himself, quietly followed behind him, watching him return to his workbench and continue his work. Time passed slowly, and Archimedes, after carefully placing all the prepared minor healing ointments into glass jars, let out a long sigh of relief. All twenty jars of minor healing ointment were finally completed before the deadline.

He felt that with his skills, even if he couldn't become a high-level mage, he could still become an excellent apothecary. It's important to understand that both the Radiant and the Dire, due to years of hostility and war, have an ever-increasing demand for various potions and other war resources. In this world, healing methods are extremely scarce, except for magical bottles made using special alchemy to preserve the miraculous existence of the Fountain of Life.

Of course, this doesn't mean that the development of medicine in this world is backward; it's just that there are simply too many different factors in this world. Because you never know when a mad mage might create a failed magical experiment that affects an entire city, not to mention the war, with all sorts of destructive magic being used in warfare, not to mention the existence of heroic professionals who can destroy armies and cities at will.

“I’ve made about twenty bottles of Lesser Healing Ointment, each costing 32 gold coins. Adding the five bottles I had left over…” Archimedes silently calculated in his mind, then happily calculated his earnings: “After selling them, I made a total of 800 gold coins. Great! After deducting the handling fees and material costs, I made a profit of nearly 600 gold coins. Phew, at least that’s enough for next semester’s tuition.”

“I’ll find a chance to go to Barokov, outside the academy, and have a good meal and spend some money, just to celebrate that next year’s tuition is settled…” Archimedes felt a surge of heat rising from below as he recalled the still-attractive prostitutes in the hotels of Barokov.

“Although I don’t want to interrupt your wonderful thoughts about the future…” Just as Archimedes was immersed in his reverie, an untimely voice rang out in his workshop. “…But, I’m sorry to ask to borrow something from you.”

After that voice rang out, a chilling sense of death enveloped Archimedes. A hand reached out from thin air and pressed against Archimedes' head. The uninvited guest dispelled its magic, revealing its previously concealed form.

The fear of death gripped Archimedes' heart. He wanted to scream, but unfortunately, nothing came out. Fear seized him, and all he could do was watch helplessly as the hand easily shattered the force field shield that had held him firmly to his clothes—the shield used to withstand explosions in the event of a failed magical experiment—and pressed it onto his head.

A pair of dark golden eyes appeared before Archimedes, and for a fleeting moment, he seemed to see a pitch-black sun descending from the sky. The next instant, endless darkness enveloped him.

"Your identity, your memories, your soul... are mine now!!!" the owner of the dark golden eyes declared, like a supreme deity issuing a divine pronouncement, or a king issuing a command. Then, in the next instant, the twilight-colored firelight engulfed Archimedes, and his soul and memories were snatched away by the uninvited guest in that instant.

No one would care whether he lived or died, because in this academy, the bizarre deaths of apprentices and even formal mages for all sorts of reasons had become commonplace.

Of course, this was perfect for Charles, who was patiently waiting for Archimedes to finish what he was doing before making his move. A place without complete and strict identity verification was just right for him to infiltrate.

Writing, writing, even after working overtime, I'll still keep writing, so I'm posting two chapters today! Please add to your favorites and vote!

Tomorrow's chapter might be posted late, around 1 PM after get off work. Thank you everyone.

102. Dota World (Part 2)

"The power and authority to decide life and death... I feel like I'm getting closer and closer to becoming the final boss." Looking at the magic apprentice from the Annihilation Academy, reduced to ashes by the flames, Xia Er sighed. Before his transmigration, he was the kind of person who wouldn't even dare kill a chicken. But now, under the influence of his ever-growing power, the lives of ordinary people were completely insignificant to Xia Er. Like now, he could simply wipe out an innocent bystander with whom he had no grudge, then even steal and exploit their soul. If this were the world of Toril, any spellcaster casting an alignment detection spell on him would reveal the sinister, almost blackish red aura emanating from him.

Of course, if he were to actually go to the world of Toril, Charles could easily degenerate into a monster of the level of a Demon Grand Duke or an Abyss Lord if he wanted to. It's likely that both the Nine Hells and the Bottomless Abyss would welcome his fall. However, Charles certainly doesn't intend to do that for the sake of temporary power.

He intercepted the soul of the unfortunate man who had been burned to ashes, and Charles grabbed the soul and began to analyze and read the information within it through the primordial fire.

He arrived in this new world two days ago, appearing directly in the city of Barokoff outside the academy. In these two days, he'd only gained a general understanding of this world. It was indeed the Dota world that Xia Er believed in, but it differed from the world he knew through the game. At least those characters who, in the lore, could easily destroy a world—those incredibly powerful heroes—hadn't actually appeared. Instead, it was the inherited classes of these heroes that continued to dominate the war between the two factions in this world.

Moreover, during the brief two days of information gathering, he discovered that this world had other aspects that differed from the game he remembered. However, he didn't find anything specific, but that didn't stop him from using other methods to better understand this world.

For example, he could infiltrate the Mysterious Academy near Barokoff City. Although, according to the information he gathered, the academy hadn't yet started a new round of admissions, this wasn't an excuse to stop him. Infiltrating was easy, and besides, while the magical civilization in this world was advanced, it hadn't reached a point where Charles would be helpless against it.

In addition, the Mysterious Academy, unlike the Clock Tower in Type-Moon, isn't covered with various barriers and defensive spells. That would probably be useless anyway; if an enemy were to invade, it would either be a massive army or powerful hero classes. These heroes, who inherited the power and skills of the Dota heroes from Sharl's memories, are at least as strong as the Heroic Spirits in Type-Moon, based on what we've heard so far. In fact, aside from Noble Phantasms—the ultimate weapons of Heroic Spirits—most Heroic Spirits are probably inferior to the hero classes of this world. Moreover, some hero classes' skills are comparable to the Noble Phantasms of powerful Heroic Spirits. Even Gilgamesh's Ea, if Sharl remembers correctly, has a hero in this world capable of creating black holes.

The rest—those who twist the laws of life and death, control and alter time, manipulate the power of various elements—are no simple characters. Take, for example, Gadin Keldarron, the Warlock, the most closely associated hero class with Richard, who is also the ruler of the Mysterious Academy. Although the name, both its first and last name, left Richard bewildered, the rumors circulating in the city, regardless of their veracity, still made him serious.

This is the first world that truly poses a direct threat to him, unlike the Elder Scrolls worlds where there's little threat unless one delves into the fate of the Dragonborn. However, this world is different. If he truly wants to gain something in this world, he will inevitably encounter those professionals who have inherited the power of heroes.

Especially since Charles was also observing the inheritance of heroes in this world. Moreover, compared to the professionals of this world, Charles possessed advantages that they couldn't match. From what Charles knew, heroes in this world couldn't acquire a new hero profession after inheriting it. But for Charles, if he could capture the souls of heroes, he could gain abilities from them. Of course, there were many heroes in this world who manipulated souls, so perhaps Charles couldn't easily use souls.

But aren't there other options? Whether it's the Primal Flame or the Abyss, Sharl feels he still has a good chance. However, before that, he needs to understand the power of these hero classes and ideally experience it firsthand.

At this moment, the Heroic Class Heritage possessed by the nearest academy, the Mysterious Annihilation Academy, caught Xia'er's attention. Within the Mysterious Annihilation Academy, both the Warlock's inherent Heroic Heritage and the Demon Wizard's Heroic Class were perfectly suited to Xia'er.

So now, after trying every possible means, Charles has finally managed to sneak into this place.

……

After killing the unfortunate apprentice, Ciel began to read the apprentice's information through his soul.

"Huh? Archimedes?" Charles opened his eyes. "An apprentice? This is equivalent to the third tier of power in the main world, and he's still just an apprentice?"

The apprentice from the Mystic Academy named Archimedes, whom he had just killed, was indeed someone Sharl hadn't expected, even though he was killed instantly. An apprentice named Archimedes was equivalent to the third rank in the mystical realm of the main world. However, he was just an apprentice, at the very bottom of the spellcasting hierarchy in this world; above him were formal mages and high-ranking mages.

What troubled Xia Er the most was that there were over a thousand apprentices like him in the entire academy. Every year, the academy would recruit talented students, although only a small fraction of them would advance to become formal mages. The vast majority either died in experiments or were expelled by the academy because they were deemed not worth training.

Currently, besides apprentices like Archimedes, the Secret Annihilation Academy also boasts over a hundred full-fledged mages and dozens of high-ranking mages. Furthermore, there's a heroic professional academy headmaster. Even with his confidence, Sharl still finds this situation challenging.

"In other words, we'll have to take it easy!" To be fair, Sharl didn't think he could lose to that Gadin Kell Darrow Warlock. They were both warlocks, so who was afraid of whom? Even if you had a staff and refresh, there was no reason why you couldn't beat him, right?

Unfortunately for him, they could easily overwhelm him with sheer numbers. It's obvious that if things go wrong, Xia Er would face an attack from an entire academy. Even if he managed to escape, he'd be in serious trouble.

103. Private Transactions

The Mysterious Annihilation Academy is an ancient castle nestled in the woods north of Barokov. Its exact age is unknown unless one consults the academy's official records. However, the academy existed long before the city of Barokov was founded. Legend has it that the academy was the residence of a legendary mage before the War of the Mages, a mage who specialized in the study of forbidden knowledge. Because of this, even as the once-glorious mage civilization vanished into history, the Mysterious Annihilation Academy preserved its pursuit and research of forbidden knowledge.

This castle is quite large; from the outside, its area is at least one-fifth the size of the city of Barokov. Moreover, only once you actually enter the castle will you realize that its interior is much larger than it appears from the outside.

This is why many areas within the castle are off-limits, even to the point of being unapproachable. You never know what kind of strange things might lurk within. Every year, curious apprentices, driven by their own various curiosity, vanish completely from the academy. There are even rumors that some rooms within the academy harbor otherworldly monsters summoned from different dimensions or crystal walls by generations of heroic professionals, including Damon Lanick and Ryan, during their research into forbidden knowledge.

For example, its true form is a plant-like creature composed of tentacles and flesh, possessing hallucinogenic abilities and constantly emitting mental pollution. It can easily destroy or corrupt the mental world of a formal mage, and even high-level mages can fall victim to it without warning. However, in the eyes of those shrouded in illusion, this disgusting monster will appear as a pure young girl in a white dress.

Well! Let's just treat the above information as gossip. After all, if any unlucky apprentices really encountered this situation, they'd be doomed, wouldn't they?

In short, the Mysterious Annihilation Academy is enormous, and similarly, it harbors many dangers. In fact, since the death of its founder, the legendary mage, this ancient castle has been in a state of semi-out of control. The mages of the Mysterious Annihilation Academy have conducted extensive research into various forbidden knowledge, preserving a vast number of lost or rare magical books. Even many rooms within the academy have been linked to a chaotic array of alternate dimensions and demi-dimensions through various researches. The reason this ancient castle hasn't spontaneously combusted is simply because it's so chaotic, so chaotic that it maintains a strange, inexplicable balance.

As a result, many rooms in the castle became places for shady transactions among the apprentices.

……

This is a dusty room, with bookshelves covered in cobwebs and various burnt books. In the center of the room are several wooden tables and chairs lying on the floor. A group of people dressed in black robes, their faces completely obscured, are gathered in this room.