056 We Contain, We Expire

The upper floor was actually quite spacious, though there were only two bedrooms. There were other areas like a study, but they were piled high with miscellaneous items.

Wallace suggested that Roland could share a room with him for the night, but Roland flatly refused.

Roland: "I don't like sleeping with men. I'd rather sleep on the couch."

Wallace: "That's wonderful, Roland. I was just being polite."

Roland: "......."

Roland was quite content with the couch.

Ever since meeting his mentor, he hadn't slept on a proper bed for three months. The couch at Wallace's place was large and plush, making it very comfortable to sleep on.

"Oh, right. There's something you need to see."

Amidst the casual chatter, Wallace led Roland to a small collection room and found a very old copy of the *Black Abyss School Regulations*.

The book seemed to have been through a fire, with only half of it remaining.

"After the academy was taken over, some interested parties deliberately gathered and burned the old regulations. This is a copy I managed to sneak back. Although only half remains, the important content is all here."

Wallace said mysteriously, "Take a good look. Before you get on the good side of the old janitors, the school regulations are your survival guide!"

Curious, Roland flipped through the book and discovered that out of the entire fragmented text, there was not a single rule—it was entirely composed of introductions to the old janitors.

The contents went roughly like this, taking one particular janitor as an example:

[Janitor ID: WZ-0036]
[Nickname: Ballet Ghost, Leona]
[Category: Unknown mystical entity (Neither undead, nor demon, nor magical creature)]
[Appearance: Beautiful ballet puppet / Elegant, silent dancer]
[Origin: We discovered 0036 in a bizarre, dead city full of puppets. After expending 136 lower-tier apprentices and 28 mid-tier apprentices, we found a countermeasure against 0036 and successfully contained it—splendid, the little brats of the Black Abyss will have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor... Heh heh heh heh.]
[Weakness: None]
[Characteristics: This creature possesses no concept of death or injury. No suitable method of sealing or banishing it has been found in experiments thus far.]
[Likes: Music boxes, dance partners (other ballet puppets)]

With a snap, Roland closed the book, his face completely blank. "This is a janitor? You call this thing a janitor?!"

"It's fine, it's not that dangerous. We already know a thing or two about it." Wallace chuckled, gesturing for Roland to keep reading.

Roland continued reading:

[When you encounter 0036, please follow these rules:]
[Rule 1: Do not touch it, or be touched by it.]
[Rule 2: When it begins to dance, do not blink; watch quietly and appreciate it.]
[Rule 3: 0036 likes to be the center of attention and will always remain in the center of your field of vision.]

[Rule 4: If 0036 encounters 0001 through 0035, they will form a ballet troupe and perform collectively.]
[Rule 5: ... (Multiple rules) ...]

At this point, the world went dark before Roland's eyes. He had originally thought there was only one such monstrosity, but he never expected an entire troupe!

Reading further, Roland discovered that the names of other Black Abyss Academy janitors were just as absurd:

Shepherd Tree, Snake-Beauty, Smiling Bubble... What on earth were these things?!

Were these janitors? Did they call these janitors?!

The lunatics of Black Abyss Academy called these bizarre things janitors?!

They didn't belong to monsters, demons, or the undead. They were 'mystical entities' and 'mystical phenomena'!

The Suffering Dice in the Tawny Fern Forest were a type of mystical phenomenon.

Mystical phenomena and mystical entities shared one common trait: they defied all logic.

Black Abyss Academy was like an asylum; the madmen of the Black Abyss had contained numerous entities within the academy whose mysteries they had never fully unraveled.

They helped the wizards guard the academy, functioning as a group of undying security guards that would make any enemy daring enough to invade the Black Abyss scream, "Goddamn it! What is this ghost of a thing?!"

They also assisted the wizards in teaching, serving as the finest 'assistants' for apprentice-level Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, helping Black Abyss Academy cultivate one remarkable Dark Arts master after another.

Of course, they were also capricious, difficult to communicate with, and hard to reason with.

Without a sufficient understanding of them, terrible things would happen the moment one crossed paths with them.

Therefore, the Black Abyss wizards had formulated a set of school regulations. The purpose of these regulations was to tell the students three things:
1. How to act to avoid running into these fellows;
2. How to evade them if encountered;
3. How to maximize one's survival rate if escape failed.

Other people's school regulations taught apprentices how to be good children. Violating them resulted in a deduction of academic credits.

The school regulations of the Alexandra Black Abyss 'Arcane' Academy taught apprentices how to survive within the academy!

There was a phrase written in the Black Abyss school regulations:

[Caution, if you discover that a certain janitor is not staying within its designated responsible area, do not attempt containment; immediately report it to the professor or instructor on duty that day.]

The Black Abyss wizards seemed to believe that only the instructors and full-fledged wizards in the Black Abyss who were intimately familiar with the janitors could safely contain them.

Of course, containment always involved accidents. Thus, the containment personnel would occasionally receive a brief, hands-on lesson in Defense Against the Dark Arts from these containment subjects.

To summarize the entire book of school regulations in a single sentence—this was not an academy, it was an asylum.

With a slap, Roland closed the school regulations with a grim expression.

"Sir, I feel that I might not necessarily learn much knowledge in the academy... I plan to hire a private tutor," Roland said with a pale face. "I will pay the fees."

Are you kidding me? Who would go to such an academy!

No, this wasn't an academy at all; it was a massive asylum!

Black Abyss apprentices weren't wizard apprentices at all; they were low-level employees! Expendable test subjects!

The wizards of the Black Abyss were simply a bunch of damned maniacs and perverted psychopaths!

Wallace hurriedly offered comforting words with a smiling face:

"Oh, my dear young brother Roland. The Black Abyss Academy of the past was indeed... well, very strict with the apprentices. But the academy today is no longer what it used to be."

Wallace coaxed persuasively: "The White Chess wizards have been stationed in the academy for a long time now, the janitors have been swapped out several times over, and even the old regulations have been buried beneath the dust of history. The old regulations in your hands are the only surviving copy!"

"Just think, if things like the 'Ballet Ghost' were still wandering around the academy, how could the White Chess wizards have abolished the old regulations? They would definitely make sure every apprentice had a copy!"

"In fact, most of the janitors have already disappeared. Only a few demons, werewolves, vampires, and undead remain in the academy. And the White Chess wizards are still hunting them down everywhere. So they don't dare show their faces normally. Therefore, the academy is quite safe now."

Hearing that there weren't that many monsters left in the academy, Roland's expression improved significantly.

He asked, "So, vampires and similar things are still hidden in the academy?"

Wallace hastily replied, "There are very few left! Just think about it, Roland. White Wizards are very resistant to our methods of training apprentices. They are also very opposed to dark creatures. If there were still so many chaotic fellows in the academy, the White Chess wizards would have sealed this place off long ago. How could they possibly send their own family's children here to study?"

"Anyway, I haven't heard any rumors about things like the Ballet Ghost appearing in recent years."

"I gave you these school regulations just in case... ahem, just to let you understand the situation of the old academy and learn about these kinds of creatures. Broadening your horizons is never a bad thing, right?"

Roland finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Indeed. If the academy were still this dangerous, people would have fled long ago, and the Wizard Market couldn't possibly be that lively.

When wandering around the market today, the new generation of newcomers at Black Abyss Academy had looked utterly innocent.

If these naive new students had been put through the old disciplinary system of Black Abyss Academy and experienced life-or-death trials, it would be impossible for them to remain so innocent.

They would be just like Roland, filled with suspicion and vigilance toward everything, acting paranoid and wishing they could hold up a shield every time they opened a door.

Wallace finally said, "Get some rest, Roland. I gave you these regulations mainly as a precaution. This book will give you a certain understanding of them—after all, they are neutral entities. As long as you follow the methods in the book and don't provoke them, nothing will happen even if you run into them."

Roland: "Fine then."

After sending Roland off, Wallace quietly pulled out a new newspaper and said with a solemn expression, "This is news from three months ago... It should be fine now."

The newspaper Wallace was reading was three months old. Over the past three months, no chaos had erupted in the academy, and Lilith and her faction had been exceptionally quiet.

"Damn Lilith, she still refuses to follow everyone and join the White Chess Council. Previously, she led other demon and undead janitors to hide around the academy and stir up trouble, and three months ago, she even stole the Ballet Ghost back into the academy!"

"Fortunately, the White Chess wizards were extremely capable and contained 35 out of the 36 Ballet Ghosts... Otherwise, it would have been a huge mess."

"Tomorrow is the arrival day for the exchange students from White Chess Academy. The White Chess wizards will definitely keep a close eye on things, so nothing should go wrong."