As the ritual progressed, the dead fox underwent a complete transformation. The blood from its body evaporated, and so did its flesh. In the end, all that remained were its bones.

As for Victoria, she too had changed by the end of the ritual. The demonic energy had entered her body, and she was stronger than before.

William was somewhat impressed by how much stronger she had become with just the first ritual. However, not everything was perfect. He knew he couldn’t continue doing this without addressing a serious issue.

‘She doesn’t have the demonic lineage, so she’s like Kier in that regard… I need to find a way to give her that lineage, or the demonic energy will eventually drive her insane.’

As serious as it sounded, this was a problem for the future. His immediate goal was to use Victoria to rescue him. That was the most urgent priority.

“What do you think, Victoria?” William asked.

Victoria was smiling as she clenched her fists. “From what I can tell, my attributes increased by about 15 points each. This is amazing!”

“15? That’s a lot, but it’ll decrease over time.”

“It doesn’t matter! With your help, I’ll become one of the top students here. What’s the next ritual?”

She was genuinely excited to continue with the rituals, and of course, William had to calm her down.

“Let’s get out of here first. There’s no point in trying to clean this up—removing the blood will be impossible. We need to avoid being seen on the way out.”

“Right.”

After hearing that, Victoria seemed to snap back to reality. She needed to return to her room without being seen, or she’d have a huge problem on her hands.

She retraced her steps, leaving the cell key exactly where she had found it on the wall.

A good amount of time had passed since they first entered, so when they reached the dungeon door, the guard was no longer there.

The school’s hallways—which had been lit earlier—were now completely dark. There were no students anywhere. The nearby library was empty and silent.

“Do you think we could take a look in the library? Maybe there’s a secret section full of books,” Victoria suggested.

Of course, the library would have a section like that. Every library William knew of had something like it, but it wasn’t a good idea to go there now.

The library would definitely have some kind of security, and even if it didn’t, the forbidden section would. The risk of getting caught was too high.

“Let’s save that for another time. Focus on getting back to your room without being seen. One thing at a time, Victoria.”

William was trying to reason with her the only way he could—by talking.

Luckily, Victoria wasn’t stubborn. After hearing that, she simply stayed quiet and did her best to return to her room.

She walked through the empty school, and as she reached the main entrance, she saw two guards standing in front of the door.

Mentally, she said to William, “There’s no way we’re getting past those two. What should we do?”

“Look for another exit. There should be one at the back.”

It was the only thing they could do. Victoria circled around and went to the back of the school. There, she found another exit, just as William had said, but there were still guards there.

One guard was standing near the door, and from the look of it, he was wide awake and focused on his job—meaning it wouldn’t be easy to get past him.

In fact, it would be impossible. The situation wasn’t looking good for them.

“Damn it, damn it. We’re going to get stuck here and expelled! Or worse, we might even go to jail!”

Victoria was starting to panic—which was expected. She had worked her entire life to get into that school, and now there was a chance she’d be expelled. It was eating away at her.

“Relax, we’re fine. The good news is there are no guards inside the school, so we can figure out a way to get out.”

Even as he said this, William wasn’t entirely confident. Victoria searched every corner of the school. She checked all the exits and even looked out the windows.

She thought about jumping out a window a few times, but outside, around the main building, guards were patrolling. It would be very difficult not to be seen.

If William could still use Stuart’s magic to camouflage her, everything would be fine, but that was impossible for him now. They’d have to find another way.

“Maybe there’s a secret exit inside that leads outside,” William said. “Are there any other buildings besides this main one?”

“There are the dormitories, and now that you mention it, I’ve heard some students talk about a passage like that, but no one knows where it is or if it’s even real.”

“A passage? Tell me more.”

“Well, from what they say, many years ago, a student at this school found an underground passage that connected this main building to the dormitory. He used it to sneak into the library and ended up becoming the top student. They only found out about it after he graduated.”

“What are the chances the school has already found and sealed that passage?”

“There’s a chance.”

“Better than nothing. Let’s look for it.”

Victoria set out to search for the secret passage, but it was incredibly difficult, if not impossible. How on earth were they supposed to find something like that?

The main building of the school was enormous, and the passage could be anywhere. As they walked through the hallways, they heard strange noises.

William was already thinking the worst—like a guard, a teacher, or even some shady individuals meeting at night to plot against the school.

That’s what he often saw everywhere he went. The nature of humanity was present in every corner.

But what they found wasn’t that. In fact, it was something unexpected, something that caused immense embarrassment for both Victoria and William.

She followed the source of the noise and found two older students. They were kissing, and the young man already had a wandering hand, exploring the young woman’s body.

“They’re meeting here at night because men and women aren’t allowed in the same dormitory… Oh my God, I want to unsee this,” Victoria said.

William, on the other hand, was excited about the situation.

“This is good, very good.”

Victoria was confused. “Wait, don’t tell me you were some kind of perverted mage? Is this part of your soul in the sword also perverted? Look, if you need to look at other women, know that I’m here, and I’m quite beautiful…”

A wave of confusion washed over William’s mind after hearing that. Victoria had misunderstood.

“No, that’s not it. I mean, yes, you are beautiful, but I’m not a pervert. Look, think about it. If they’re here, they found a way in and know how to get out. So, we can follow them!”

“That’s true!”

Victoria simply agreed and tried to forget that she had said what she did. The two waited for a while—of course, they weren’t watching—but the young couple seemed like they were going to stay there for a long time.

In the end, William suggested that Victoria make some noise nearby to scare them off. It was a simple but effective idea.

And it worked.

“What was that?” the young man said.

“It might be someone. Let’s get out of here.”

No one wanted to stay there and face the consequences. The two quickly put their clothes back on and left. Victoria followed them.

They went to another room. This room was filled with weapons and armor. It was where the school stored the equipment students used.

Victoria was very surprised, and so was William. Could the secret passage they used to enter the school really be in this room?

It didn’t make sense because this was a room many people visited daily, so if there were a passage there, someone would have noticed.

The couple entered the room and went straight to one of the corners. They approached the wall, and the young man began tapping specific stones.

Find your adventure at My Virtual Library Empire

This alone was very strange. Victoria watched closely which stones he was tapping—William also paid attention to memorize them.

After about 15 seconds, the floor on the other side of the room moved on its own! There, they saw a small trapdoor with a ladder leading down to a tunnel.

A few seconds after the couple entered, the floor closed again. Victoria decided to wait a bit before opening the passage herself.

“How on earth do they know about this passage? It doesn’t make any sense.”

She was baffled. Opening the passage required something very specific, and it didn’t make sense for that couple to know about it.

“I don’t know either. Let’s try to do the same.”

Victoria went to the wall after waiting for 5 minutes and tapped the same stones. She forgot some parts of the sequence, but luckily William helped her, pointing out the missing stones.

Just like with the couple, the floor opened again. They quickly went to the trapdoor and entered, descending an old wooden ladder.

“This is a tunnel. Let’s hope the exit is this way,” Victoria said.

They moved forward, not knowing what they would find in that tunnel.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep