The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　"That must be a mermaid."

　Holding a large number of books he had just borrowed from the library, Dak stood at the window of the castle corridor, looking at the luxury cruise ships on the lake.

　Although the mermaid leading the group had long, fair, and delicate legs, she wasn't wearing the iconic pearl necklace and seashell bra. However, her sapphire eyes, which seemed to draw one's soul in, were undeniably captivating.

　Mermaids are naturally alluring, especially their eyes and voices.

　Their eyes are called "Hearts of the Ocean," the most expensive gems. Their voices are "heavenly sounds," capable of softening even the toughest warrior.

　In traditional myths, mermaids are mostly depicted as kind and beautiful.

　Those "mermaids" who bewitched sailors and stirred up trouble were called "sirens." Mermaids are not rare.

　In the depths of the ocean, it can even be said to be everywhere.

　The truly rare ones are the royal family of mermaids—the Golden Mermaids! And in St. Marian Academy, there happens to be a "Golden Mermaid" with long, dazzling golden hair and fish scales.

　The "golden mermaid" that emerged from the underground city was named Esalia Patus.

　In history, she was the sea princess who broke the Poseidon lamp, causing the entire ocean to be ravaged by thunder, torrential rain, and hurricane whirlpools for ten whole days.

　Now, they are temporarily residing in the dense forest.

　Darke has maintained a constant focus on the group of monsters that emerged from the dungeon.

　Although they lived in the dense forest, they often disguised themselves as students and went to the Traveler's Street for fun. The academy's facilities were basically open to them, and they lived a very comfortable life, except that they could not leave the academy.

　Perhaps because she is a monster, Aisalia Patus does not have a great need for seawater. She can survive by taking a saltwater bath every night.

　Originally, she didn't even need to take a salt water bath in the dungeon. But this change, on a certain level, is also proof that she is gradually becoming a "real thing".

　Sherry Augustine's current treatment is the envy of them all. Therefore, the monsters in the dense forest are secretly plotting.

　Their latest plan is to build a temple in their settlement, and the statue worshipped in the temple is naturally the source of their awakening—the God of Wisdom.

　Although that statue is basically a replica of Ergany.

　But I must say, compared to their past plans, this is incredibly reliable.

　If they can get on Ergane's side and become her servant, then those monsters will naturally be able to come ashore.

　The edge of a dense forest.

　The former leader of the "Abyss", now the village chief of the monster village, the priest of the future temple, the "Golden Mermaid" child who looks only eleven or twelve years old, the walking crybaby - Aisalia Patus, is sitting on the petals of the "Man-Eating Flower Giant Beast", the familiar of the "God of Wisdom" Ergane, and playing with it.

　Starting by building a good relationship with the gods' familiars is naturally part of the plan.

　But today, when that luxury cruise ship descended from the sky, Esalia Patus suddenly sensed something.

　Her eyes widened suddenly, and she instinctively shrank back into the bud of the "man-eating flower beast," peeking out only half her head to peek.

　Dolores Stark, the "strategist" of the "Abyss" and a Star Tower diviner who once foretold the defeat of the demon race, appeared silently beside Aisalia Patus.

　"coming."

　Dolores Stark narrowed her eyes as she watched the sea creatures emerge from the ship's cabin.

　At the same time.

　A mist suddenly rose beneath her feet, enveloping her and Esaliapatus in it.

　The two figures vanished instantly, leaving only the slightly swaying "man-eating flower behemoth" on the ground.

　The mermaid standing on the deck suddenly turned her head to look. But although her gaze had traveled a great distance to look at it, she only saw the "man-eating flower behemoth".

　The mermaid's delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly, and a layer of pitiful melancholy settled on her cheeks.

　"Helen, what are you looking at?"

　A female Naga who walked up behind her asked疑惑地. Helen Marjorie shook her head slightly and said, "Nothing." Beatrice Doris glanced in that direction and said, "A man-eating flower. Do the professors at St. Marian Academy have a penchant for raising such monsters?"

　Helen said, "Humans are all kinds of strange and wonderful. We sea creatures are the same."

　Beatrice grinned. "That's true."

　As she spoke, she took a small step back, looked at Professor Sylph who materialized from the wind, and said in a friendly manner, "Vice Principal, it's been a long time."

　“Doris, we last met about two weeks ago,” Professor Sylph said.

　Beatrice said, "Half a month? Isn't that a long time?" Professor Sylph shook her head slightly and said, "Would it be alright to stay on the lake during this period?"

　Helen nodded and said, "This place is nice."

Chapter 1163 Opening Ceremony: The Academy Championship (4k)

　Those who know this understand that what binds sea creatures to the ocean is not simply "water".

　Otherwise, sea creatures wouldn't need to search for water resources in nature at all; they could simply soak in their bathtubs every day and travel to any place.

　Even the rivers and lakes within the ocean can only temporarily alleviate their discomfort from being away from the sea; it's a temporary fix, not a fundamental solution.

　The lake at St. Mary's College, however, has a "sea" feel to it. When Helen Marjorie said "this place is nice," she truly meant it.

　"Perhaps this month won't be as difficult as we imagine." After all the students who had come with the ship had emerged from their cabins, Helen led the group off the ship and followed Professor Sylph to the castle.

　The sea creature students from the Ocean Magic Academy observed the castle on the ground with great curiosity, as well as the human students who peeked out from inside the castle.

　One of the students walking at the front row, who bore a striking resemblance to Helen Marjorie, immediately asked curiously, "Professor Doris, are human ears also that long?"

　Beatrice Doris corrected, “Carola, that’s an elf.”

　"Aww." Carola Marjorie realized, "The one with the cat head is the human."

　“Those are orcs!” Professor Doris growled. “Carola! Have you even memorized your entire ‘Sociology of Humanity’?”

　Carola immediately retorted, "Professor Doris, mermaids don't have gills!"

　“Damn mermaid,” Professor Doris muttered. Carola said, “Professor, Nagas don’t have gills either.” Professor Doris glared at her sharply: “I’ll give you gills tonight!”

　"Hahaha." Carola laughed and ran forward.

　"Hey, Carola, don't run around!" A Naga boy hurriedly caught up. The sea creature students behind couldn't help but shake their heads.

　Mermaids and Nagas are almost indistinguishable when they transform into human form; apart from their fins and ears, they have no other obvious alien features.

　However, mermaids are usually magic-based classes, while Nagas are primarily warriors.

　Their shapes thus exhibit two different styles.

　In short, one is weak, the other is strong.

　The Naga boy, Tim, was a full head taller than Carola when standing upright. He and Carola were childhood friends, and he was also Carola's charioteer.

　"It's really hard to tell them apart if you don't look closely."

　Dark shifted his gaze from the mermaids and naga to the rest of the sea creatures.

　Although we don't know how the sea creatures transform into human form, after observing them, we can see that their method is actually not perfect.

　Apart from mermaids and nagas, which are sea creatures with half-human bodies, other sea creatures retain many very obvious alien characteristics.

　Looking over, Dak immediately noticed a sea creature with octopus tentacles on its chin, though he couldn't tell if it was an octopus or a squid.

　Beside the octopus/squid sea creature, there was a fat creature with a round head covered in sharp spikes; it must be a sea urchin.

　In addition, there are the clam tribe with two shells on their backs, the shark tribe with triangular fins on their heads, the sea dragon tribe with a horse's face and deer antlers, the merman tribe with small lanterns hanging from their foreheads, and the starfish tribe that looks exactly like Patrick Star, and so on.

　"And... what about SpongeBob?"

　Dark looked left and right but couldn't find the SpongeBob, and couldn't help but show a very disappointed expression.

　It has starfish but no sponge, so it's a bit lacking.

　Once all the sea creatures had entered the castle, the students who had been watching them from various parts of the castle dispersed.

　Dak, carrying the books he had just borrowed, continued walking towards his dormitory.

　He found many reference books on golem making in the library, intending to seek answers through self-study.

　With the arrival of the sea creatures, all eight academies were now present. The opening ceremony of the inaugural Academy Championship, scheduled for Saturday, could finally proceed smoothly.

　The previously clear-cut situation has become unpredictable. The appearance of the Sea Clan is definitely a bombshell.

　This instantly plunged the entire academy championship into a completely unpredictable realm.

　Although the "Sky City" is more mysterious than the sea creatures, it is still just the "sky above the continent".

　The ocean, however, is a realm beyond the continent, and it is infinitely vast and boundless.

　No one knows the true strength of the sea race, or the skill level of their students.

　Students who were particularly interested in the outcome of the academy competition quickly began to research the historical records of the sea race, attempting to deduce their strength from the various events recorded in history.

　But the ocean is infinitely vast, and the nearshore area is just the tip of the iceberg.

　Moreover, the sea creature reinforcements that were recorded in the war could not possibly be the strongest army of the near-shore sea creatures.

　Humans have some understanding of sea creatures, but they know nothing about their true strength and can only hold them in awe.

　This time, the sea creatures were suddenly invited to participate in the "Academy Championship," and it's hard to say whether it's a good thing or a bad thing.

　Prince Charles and the leader of the "Holy Church"—Chief Archbishop Caleb Norris—were leisurely enjoying afternoon tea.

　When the news arrived, Charles nearly spat out his lemon tea. Even though he managed to hold it in, a tiny bit still sprayed onto Archbishop Norris's beard.

　Jia

　Lenoris casually wiped his beard clean and said, "So the last spot is for the sea creatures?"

　Charles asked curiously, "Archbishop Norris, you didn't know either?" Calenoris shook his head slightly and said, "The arrangements for this year's Academy Championship were entirely handled by St. Marian Academy. I only knew there would be surprises, but I didn't expect it to be this kind of surprise. If there's a next year, we can certainly try our luck."

　Charles stroked his chin and said, "I always felt this was a thankless job."

　Galenoris shook his head slightly and said, "This is the inevitable trend." Charles's eyes flickered, and he asked, "What is the inevitable trend?"

　Galenoris looked up and laughed: "To heed the oracle is the way forward."

　Charles squinted at the scene, and after a long while, picked up his teacup and said, "I hope I can also hear my own divine oracle."

　Everyone was talking about the arrival of the sea creatures.

　Yesterday, the students of "Castle in the Sky" were at the center of the discussion, but today they have become part of the group's discussion.

　Team leaders who knew each other well gathered together and chatted enthusiastically.

　"I thought 'Sky City' was already a surprise, but I didn't expect the real surprise to be at the end!" The orc leader, Professor, gritted his teeth.

　“Yes, yes.” The dwarf and goblin leader, Professor, were relatively laid-back. The two of them whispered about the ancient book on metallurgy they had just borrowed from the library, only occasionally echoing the orc’s words.

　But even they probably don't know what they are—

　Those who want to win the final championship in this academy competition will not want the sea tribe to join them.

　In the past, when they discussed various forces, they subconsciously overlooked the sea creatures.

　Now that the sea creatures have been invited, their presence has instantly become more prominent, making them impossible to ignore.

　The elven princess and another elven leader were strolling through the traveler's street when the news was finally brought by an elven student.

　Lucia Artemis's eyes lit up, and her face showed obvious excitement.

　The other elf leader gaped, speechless for a long time. After all, he was the one who got things done.

　At six o'clock that evening, a notice about tomorrow's meeting was already posted on the bulletin board outside the castle.

　After finishing their dinner, the sea creature students temporarily headed to the towers of their respective colleges once the college assignments were completed.

　They were still staying on the cruise ship on the lake, but they still wanted to say hello to their classmates who would be there a month from now.

　The students in the common rooms soon welcomed the main character of the day, and the common rooms in each tower became lively.

　Putting everything else aside, the atmosphere of the "Academy Championship" is getting more and more intense every day.

　A new surprise every day keeps students engaged and builds their sense of immersion layer by layer.

　The Tower of the Noble House welcomed its largest number of sea creature contestants tonight. A large number of sea creatures, including the mermaid Carola and Nagatim, were born into nobility and flocked to the Noble House as soon as they were assigned to a house.

　This perfectly complements the fact that there were only two people at "Sky City" last night.

　After a night of interaction, the sea creature students left the tower in high spirits and returned to their cabins on the cruise ship.

　Half of the cruise ship was submerged, and the bottom section was separated to create a bathing area connected to the lake.

　The students returned to the cruise ship and lazily lay in the bathing area, chatting about their experiences at the academy that day.

　But in reality, even a screw in the corner of the wall is quite novel to them. Therefore, their endless stream of novel experiences sounds rather strange to others.