At the Modification School's base, in a meeting room.
Losqi anxiously questioned an apprentice who had hurried back.
"Did you find her?"
"No..." The apprentice tried to speak, but he was interrupted by his own heavy breathing. After a brief pause, he managed to say:
"We've searched the entire Apprentice City, but no news has come back."
Losqi's tensed nerves suddenly relaxed, and he began straightening his collar.
"How could a whole person just disappear without leaving a trace... You may go now; let me know if there's any news."
He knew he was out of options. All available hands had been sent to search, and the lack of results meant Beloli had likely met with misfortune.
"This matter can't be suppressed like the last one... it has to be reported to the higher-ups."
Losqi sighed. He knew the disappearance of a School's person-in-charge was a major event, far beyond the previous knowledge leak incident.
At its most serious, it could be framed as an invasion by hostile forces, which would prompt the Alliance to send an investigation team.
Even at its least serious, the Modification School would be furious. Why did one of their heads go missing? They would definitely send people to search and even hold them accountable.
Of course, the most sensitive issue was that before her disappearance, Beloli had told him she intended to investigate every member of the Sword Chant School... He was now very hesitant about reporting this. If not handled correctly, it could trigger a war between the two Schools.
After some thought, he decided to report it. Beloli's previous conflict at the Sword Chant School's base was already common knowledge.
Even if he didn't report it, the investigation team would eventually turn their focus toward the Sword Chant School anyway.
If they discovered this and he hadn't reported it, he might be interrogated as a traitor.
As he thought, he was about to record everything on paper... "Hi, Losqi. It's been a long time since I visited your Modification School. How did such a major thing happen?"
Losqi quickly put away his tools and looked at the person who had barged in without knocking.
"Didn't I say not to..." He looked at the visitor and realized why the apprentices hadn't blocked him from entering the base.
"Kalv..." Because the visitor was also a Formal Mage, the apprentices didn't dare stop him. Furthermore, this man himself did not fear the reputation of the Modification School.
"Why aren't you staying at the Necromancy School? What are you doing here? Thinking of transferring back to the Modification School?"
Losqi sneered, directly exposing Kalv's sore spot.
Kalv used to be a member of the Modification School. In an accident, he discovered he had a talent for Necromancy Spells, so he exerted great effort to transfer to the Necromancy School.
Later, Kalv spent four years in the Necromancy School to become a Formal Mage, being one of the fastest in the entire School to promote. It was clear his talent truly lay in Necromancy Spells.
This led Kalv to hate the Modification School even more. He had also spent four years there, yet his spellcasting level was barely higher than that of a new apprentice.
Combined with the immense effort he spent to switch Schools, his hatred for the Modification School grew.
"Give me a break. With your educational model of having few Spells and not letting apprentices learn modification knowledge, if I joined, would I still have to take an exam just to learn something?"
Kalv scoffed. To this day, he felt the Modification School's educational methods were backward. Despite having a bright future, they guarded their knowledge like a fortress.
The Modification School had split from the Necromancy School. Its philosophy had shocked the entire Alliance. The School's Chief was at the Peak of the Fourth Rank and was considered the most likely person to promote to a Fifth Rank Legend.
Kalv had joined the Modification School believing in this bright future, but the result was extremely disappointing.
Crucial modification knowledge would only be taught once you achieved a certain rank, and such a rank was not easy to attain.
Crucially, since the Modification School split from the Necromancy School, most of the Spells in its system had been claimed by the Necromancy School, leaving the low-rank Spells unique to the Modification School truly pathetic.
Their strength was essentially at the bottom among all Schools in the Alliance, making it nearly impossible for apprentices with few resources to achieve a rank through learning Spells.
Those who could get a rank either had family resources or had connections and channels.
Kalv maintained his smile and chuckled:
"However, I'm not here on behalf of the Alliance to criticize your educational model today. You should know that I found a job within the Alliance a few days ago."
As he spoke, he took out a badge densely engraved with patterns: burning flames, skeletons... the most eye-catching was the staff-shaped pattern in the center.
Losqi took one look and felt like he'd fallen into an ice cellar. He recognized this as a... "That's right. I've been preparing for the Alliance's Investigator exam for a long time. Fortunately, I received my acceptance notice a few days ago."
"I've been restless these past few days, worrying about where I'd be assigned for missions, but as it turns out, my good friend lent a hand."
Losqi remained silent, already contemplating how to deal with this lunatic.
"According to Alliance regulations... which article was it? Forget it. Anyway, the content is that if a major event affecting the Alliance's normal operations occurs at a temporary residence, an Investigator has the responsibility to participate in the investigation..."
"Coincidentally, the disappearance of a School's main person-in-charge is a major event. As a newly appointed Investigator, I must participate."
"In the course of an investigation, it would be quite normal to accidentally discover a certain School smuggling items prohibited by the Alliance, wouldn't it?!"
"My friend, you'd better be careful. I've heard your School is a major hub for smuggling corpses. We in the Necromancy School report it every day, but nothing ever comes of it."
"And... my friend, have you been privately performing surgical modifications on outsiders?"
"This is an important matter that our School's Vice-Chief specifically emphasized in the council; it requires an Identity Card and was written into the regulations two years ago."
"By the way, I won't start the investigation until the day after tomorrow. You can get prepared. After all, I don't know what Beloli was doing before she disappeared. With your help, I'll be able to find the truth even faster!"
Kalv's final words trailed off. After the sound stopped, he looked at Losqi for a while before standing up and walking out the door.
After Kalv left, Losqi's expression turned grim, and he cursed:
"Damn it, how did the Alliance let Kalv find such a loophole... No, I have to deal with those things first."
Normally, the Alliance wouldn't let someone with a conflict of interest investigate related matters. The Alliance was always good at smoothing things over and would try its best to prevent the two parties from having contact.
But this was clearly an exception. Kalv had just become an Investigator, and his transfer orders hadn't arrived yet. He could use this time to freely investigate 'related matters'.
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