My System Just Exploded, And You Ask Me to Become a God?-Chapter 18 --Thanks, Big Bro

After erasing all traces of his involvement, Joad returned to the academy.

The white mist had cleared following the hurricane, revealing the aftermath.

The other scholars and professors, having sensed something unusual, had also arrived.

The Grand Scholar from the College of Potions patted his chest in lingering fear.

"Thank goodness for that hurricane—otherwise, those Enigma Blooms would've been a nightmare!"

Headmaster Simar's expression remained dark.

He had also noticed that a magical artifact had appeared during the battle,

but the dense mist had obstructed his view, preventing him from identifying it.

By the time the mist had cleared, the artifact had vanished without a trace.

Joad peeked out from behind some bushes, but no one paid much attention to him.

Only Leit and Harvey, seeing him safe, breathed a silent sigh of relief.

Lena, however, immediately rushed into Joad's arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Joad, you're finally back! You don't know how scared I was when you suddenly disappeared!"

Joad's lips twitched as he tried to reassure her.

"With the Grand Scholar and professors here, what could possibly happen to me?"

But Lena was still shaken, her little heart pounding furiously.

"I don't care—just don't ever go to such dangerous places again!"

Her declaration drew quiet sighs from the surrounding scholars and professors.

Her favoritism was far too obvious.

Even a blind man could tell what she was thinking!

Elsewhere, the three members of the Mington Principality arrived in haste.

Augustin calmly surveyed the area, his expression as neutral as ever.

Archido, on the other hand, had sustained a long gash on his arm, though it wasn't life-threatening.

The incident had passed without major casualties, and three days later,

Ilan Royal Academy successfully repelled the spellbeast tide and began the journey home.

As usual, Joad remained the most relaxed of the group.

Especially since this mission had brought him substantial gains—his mood was excellent.

As the academy's forces set foot in Pugisburg, Joad slipped away from the crowd.

Wearing a gray mage robe, he made his way to the Gilded Clock Guild.

On the surface, it was a clock shop, but Joad knew better—

this was the storefront of a vast merchant guild, with branches in nearly every principality.

Thanks to its powerful backing, the Gilded Clock Guild was known to purchase all sorts of... discreet items.

Which was exactly why Joad had come.

After all, the Dark Chain was a highly rare magical artifact.

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There was no way Ironchain Principality would let it go easily.

What surprised Joad was that the Gilded Clock Guild offered 40,000 mana stones for the Dark Chain!

The price left him momentarily stunned.

Given the guild's solid reputation, Joad completed the deal with satisfaction.

He also sold all the materials he had harvested from the spellbeast corpses—

most of them were low-tier and not worth much individually,

but the sheer volume added up.

A little here, a little there... and with some clever bundling—

By the time he was done, Joad had amassed a total of 80,000 mana stones!

He left the Gilded Clock Guild in high spirits, already doing calculations in his head.

With that amount of mana stones, he could push his mage rank even further.

Maybe not enough to break through to Archmage,

but enough to reach the peak of elite mage level.

As for Headmaster Simar... Joad now felt like he could deal with him one-handed.

Back at Ilan Royal Academy,

Joad happened to run into Augustin and the other two from Mington Principality.

He even greeted them with exaggerated warmth.

After all, without their attempted assassination,

he never would've made 80,000 mana stones!

That said, he didn't drop his guard.

In fact, he was carefully observing them in secret.

As soon as they left Ilan Principality's territory,

he planned to kill all three of them—no hesitation.

Unfortunately...

The three of them didn't even say goodbye to Headmaster Simar.

They shamelessly moved in and stayed.

Meanwhile, the trio from Mington sat face to face in silence, their expressions troubled.

"We... failed."

"Even after paying such a high price, we didn't harm Leit at all."

"How is this possible? The Dark Chain was activated—how did they escape?"

Augustin's voice rose with frustration, but Archido and the other mage remained silent.

None of them could figure out what had gone wrong.

The Enigma Bloom powder had been scattered—

the Dark Chain vanished—

even their puppet had completely disappeared without a trace!

It made no sense.

"Could it be... a traitor among us? Someone who leaked the plan?"

At that, Archido and the other mage shook their heads vigorously.

"No, Augustin! There has to be some misunderstanding!"

"Why don't we capture Joad and interrogate his soul?"

"No."

Augustin rejected the suggestion firmly.

"Joad has a good reputation in Ilan Royal Academy.

If you act against him, it will definitely cause an uproar."

"Then what do we do?"

"We lay low."

Augustin's eyes flickered with reluctant frustration.

"Our trump cards are all spent, yet we achieved nothing.

All we can do now is hope the idiots in Ironchain Principality discover that the Dark Chain in their museum is a fake."

"That way, they'll spare no effort in retrieving the real one.

And the tracking seal on the Dark Chain—

it's not something that can be erased so easily."

"Once Ironchain Principality realizes their artifact has been stolen—

and that it's currently in Ilan Principality's territory—

conflict will be inevitable."

Archido's eyes lit up with understanding.

"You're brilliant, Grand Scholar!"

"Yes! This way, we can stir up tensions between Ilan and Ironchain,

and use them to eliminate Leit without dirtying our hands!"

Augustin raised a hand to signal for quiet.

"The plan is going smoothly... but there's still one question."

"Who took the Dark Chain?"

"At the time, only Headmaster Simar seemed strong enough,

but he didn't make a move."

"Could it be an old hidden figure from Ilan Royal Academy?"

Augustin shook his head.

"Possible... but something still feels off."

"Whatever. I've already sent word to Ironchain Principality.

There's no need for us to do anything now—we just wait."

"When the Luminous Pearl Trial opens again,

someone else will take care of Leit for us."

"Even if he breaks through to elite mage, it doesn't matter—

because next time, it won't be us who make the move."

Little did they know,

Joad had already sold the Dark Chain to the Gilded Clock Guild—across multiple principalities.

Back at his dorm,

Joad sat cross-legged on his bed, a pile of mana stones stacked in front of him.

Taking a deep breath, he began absorbing their energy.

Mana surged into his body, making it tremble slightly.

Beads of sweat dotted his forehead.

He grunted softly, enduring the pain as time ticked by.

His face grew paler by the minute.

Finally, the last mana stone crumbled into dust—completely drained.

Joad let out a long breath of relief, then bolted out the door,

collapsing gently against the statue of the Goddess of Magic.

Starlight fell gently over him, softening his expression.

Burning through 80,000 mana stones had paid off—

his power had once again leapt forward.

Now, Joad had reached the level of a high-tier elite mage,

with a faint sense that a breakthrough was just around the corner.

All he wanted now was to become an Archmage,

to end this painful, mana-hungry grind.

Even if it meant risking mana backlash—

he didn't want to go through this agony again!

But... the higher the rank, the more mana stones he needed.

Could he really earn that much?

Joad sighed deeply and closed his eyes once more.

Whatever.

He'd sleep on it.

...