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

　He turned to the first page of the book and immediately saw that the words on the page emitted a golden light, as if guiding people to read.

　Remembering that Principal Arte's trial mission was also learned from a book, Dark immediately focused his attention, and the golden characters actually floated up.

　As expected, the text above contained the mission objectives for this trial!

　After careful reading, Dak immediately learned of the mission.

　In this trial, he must assume the role of "King." Amidst internal and external troubles, he must find the traitor among his children and protect the nation's territory from foreign invasion.

　Trial missions are usually set against the backdrop of real historical events.

　Therefore, upon learning of the mission, Dak immediately attempted to recall historical facts from the names of the king and the country he was portraying.

　But he did not succeed.

　Of all the historical events he could recall, none matched the current situation.

　Just as he was deep in thought, there was a knock on the office door. After the servant answered, he opened the door, and the first prince in the story suddenly entered, striding in with an imposing presence.

　Dark looked up and suddenly noticed that the prince had long, pointed ears, pale skin, and exposed fangs—obvious vampire features!

　"It's a vampire!"

　It was only at this moment that he realized he was playing the role of the king of a vampire kingdom!

　It is not human history. It is the history of the demon race.

　The title of vampire did not come from nowhere. They once possessed vast kingdoms, and vampires even lived in different countries, fighting each other like humans.

　Meanwhile, in the vampire kingdom where Dark was currently located, because the king had been on the throne for too long and was unwilling to abdicate, the vampire prince with the direct right to succession could only remain a prince forever.

　The king he portrays has eight children, each of whom is exceptional and possesses the qualities to become "king".

　However, merely possessing the qualifications to become a "king" is not enough to constitute the necessary factor for becoming a "king".

　A vampire king who will never abdicate, a vampire prince who will never see hope, and unchanging kingdom rules, and a decaying kingdom that continues to rot under these rules.

　If Dark knew about the history of vampires, he would have discovered that he was playing the role of the last king of this vampire kingdom!

　Throughout history, it was the ultimate demise of this kingdom that led to the decline of the vampire era, the shattering of the once unchanging kingdom, and the reduction of proud vampires into lowly bats licking the ground.

　Of the vampire king's eight children, not just one betrayed him—but all of them did!

　All eight of his children betrayed him.

　The war horns sounded, border battles broke out frequently, news of defeats kept coming, and the vast country was on the verge of collapse.

　It's a hellish start.

　Throughout history, the eight children engaged in various power struggles, with some colluding with foreign enemies, others forming cliques, and still others even seeking out evil gods to sacrifice and curse the king.

　The king, burdened by the need to guard against his children and defend against external enemies, gradually succumbed to his own strength, his kingdom weakened, and he ultimately fell from the throne. On the same day, an enemy nation invaded, and the kingdom was destroyed. Dark's current trial is to alter history through his own choices under these incredibly perilous circumstances, allowing the vampire kingdom to survive.

　However, unlike real history, he didn't have as many minor details to deal with.

　His activities are essentially confined to this office. He changes the course of events simply by issuing decisions, ultimately leading the plot to its conclusion.

　This task is so difficult that it's on a completely different level compared to Charles's trial task.

　After gaining a preliminary understanding of the situation through written descriptions, Dak immediately took action.

　He first issued a document inviting all eight of his children to the office to talk with them and confirm the overall situation of the kingdom.

　Although all eight children were rebellious, they certainly wouldn't utter lies that would be easily exposed in the presence of others. Darke used this opportunity to quickly understand the situation in the kingdom.

　Moreover, he had laid an ambush beforehand with "Magic Beast: Goddess of the Mind's Eye," and in the process, he read the minds of all eight of his children.

　Wait until the meeting is over.

　He revealed the biggest trap of this trial mission the moment it began—betrayal by everyone!

　The collapse of this corrupt kingdom was due to both internal and external factors. But to quell external threats, one must first secure internal stability.

　He confirmed the thoughts of his eight children by "reading their minds".

　Then, the next day, another meeting was convened, but this time the children were met one by one, and special tasks were assigned to them. In turn, they were used as pawns to manipulate them into killing each other.

　This was not difficult for Dark, who had almost gained God's vision.

　As each choice is made, the plot fast-forwards, the scenes shift constantly, and the hidden power of the eight children is gradually destroyed.

　However, because the perpetrators were other members of the eight children, and they were all carrying out tasks in accordance with the laws of the kingdom, they were unable to direct their hatred towards the king.

　Of course, this is just "without reason," but in reality, people don't act according to logic.

　Dak did not let his guard down. He sent his children who had no ties with the enemy to the battlefield, and imprisoned his children who did. Soon, there were no more threats around him.

　After dealing with the power struggles of his children, he immediately focused on the issue of enemy invasion.

　However, dealing with the problem of enemy invasion is more difficult than dealing with the problem of children betraying their parents.

　The core problem lies in the weakness of its military.

　The kingdom was deeply mired in problems, and even its most crucial military aspect was in dire straits. His decisions, issued from his office, not only failed to address the core issues, but each announcement was also delayed, severely hindering the unfolding battlefield.

　Under these circumstances, even if the "internal troubles" are resolved, it will be difficult to solve the "external troubles".

　Left with no other choice, Darke decided to personally lead the troops into battle! He stepped out of his office and joined the front lines. After that, they won a series of victories.

　A terrifying force, not belonging to that era, dominated the battlefield.

　By that point in the story, Dark had a very thorough understanding of the powers possessed by the vampires at that time.

　Their physical strength is not much different from that of modern vampires, and may even be slightly superior on average.

　However, their mastery of blood magic differs greatly.

　Although the vampire kingdoms of history were destined to perish, the development of civilization did not stop.

　The reason why vampires were so powerful during the demon era was largely due to their blood magic.

　Otherwise, based solely on physical strength, there would be countless demons capable of replacing vampires.

　Therefore, in the trial, Dark faced only a group of high-level infantrymen with some innate abilities.

　He personally led the army and swept across the battlefield.

　The dragons he summoned became the nightmare of countless enemies.

　Even the princes who were not imprisoned were ruled by terror, and their fathers were kind and their sons were filial.

　……

　The entire trial mission was completed with some twists and turns, but it remained largely under his control.

　But in the process of completing the mission, he remained vigilant at all times, always on guard against any "abnormalities" that might occur at any time.

　He even conceived of "abnormal" forms, such as "vampires" as powerful as himself, enemy divine soldiers falling from the sky, and natural disasters that destroy kingdoms.

　However, even after he successfully completed the trial mission, nothing "abnormal" occurred.

　At the end of his mission, he extracted the power he had gained from the trial and successfully created a "Destiny Talisman".

　That is the destiny of the House of Nobles, the "destiny" of the "emperor"!

　Holding the "Destiny Talisman," they left the trial world.

　When Dak returned to reality, he was still somewhat dazed.

　Although the entire trial process is filled with a lot of text and the actual experience only lasts a few days, the immersive feeling of participating in the trial is very deep.

　He truly experienced a vast period of history and participated in political struggles and battlefield battles that he had never been involved in before.

　Passing this trial grants the participant far more than just a change in their "fate."

　Dark was still surging with excitement, the gains he had made were unimaginable. When he first came out of the trial, his entire demeanor was completely different from usual, and it took him several minutes to slowly recover.

　The professors inquired about his trial.

　He recounted the events one by one, assuring everyone that nothing "abnormal" had occurred. "It's that period of history."

　After he finished speaking, Principal Art recounted the historical facts. Having realized his mistake, Dak decided to find time to go to the library to search for historical documents related to that period and gain a deeper understanding.

　However, he now has to face the fact that he has not found any "anomaly" in the hidden trial.

　The sky was beginning to lighten, and it was already past midnight.

　However, their initial task of "investigating anomalies" made absolutely no progress.

　Professor Sylph shook her head and said, "Excluding coincidences and other factors, this can only mean that the unusual situation Charles encountered was actually unrelated to the situation in the Sector."

　Professor Harvey said, "That can only be attributed to him."

　Dark frowned and asked, "So the problem lies with Charles himself?"

　Professor Sylph said, "Based on the information we have so far, this is the most likely possibility. Of course, there is another possibility."

　After speaking, she glanced at the crowd. Their eyes met, and the meaning was clear.

　If the problem doesn't lie with Charles himself, then it must lie with the "abnormality" itself.

　The only possibility is that the "anomaly" itself possesses self-awareness. That's why it remained hidden when they entered the trial.

　This situation is also the most difficult to handle.

　This means that other students should not be allowed to participate in this "hidden trial" before the original student is identified.

　This is like having a gold mine but being unable to mine it, which is bound to be regrettable.

　Moreover, if it is the latter, then what exactly is this "abnormality" itself? This is also a question that must be explored.

　"A classic case of seeking an answer to one problem, only to create more problems."

　Professor Harvey shrugged and said with a smile...

Chapter 1259 Darkdemon and the Proof of the King (4k)

　Although the problem remains unresolved, it is now past midnight because Dark has spent too much time in the "Hidden Trial".

　Therefore, the professors ultimately decided to temporarily disband and take a break. Two incidents occurred within the college during this period.

　The first incident was the attack on Dylan, the grassland spirit.

　There are clear victims and perpetrators in this incident. Moreover, the person who secretly committed the crime also spread the news that the soul of the grassland elf had been "cursed by the witch doctor," clearly intending to frame the beastmen.

　Although his intentions were all exposed and thwarted, he was so well hidden that the plan to restore the grassland spirit's memory of the crime failed, and so he has not yet been brought out from the shadows.

　The second incident was the attack on Charles.

　But the attack that Charles encountered and the attack that Dylan, the grassland elf, encountered are two completely different concepts.

　Charles was attacked in the "Hidden Trial" trial world, and the perpetrator was an "anomaly" encountered in the trial world.

　Without a deeper investigation, one might even suspect that the so-called "anomaly" is just an excuse for failing the trial.

　In reality, however, the "hidden trial" does not cause such severe damage to the soul of the trial participant.

　Therefore, Charles must have encountered an "anomaly" attack. However, it is currently impossible to determine whether that "anomaly" exists only within the "Hidden Trial" or can intervene in the outside world.

　Originally, many of the mechanisms within this castle had deep secrets, which even Principal Arte did not fully understand.

　With the arrival of the Age of Gods, changes are taking place all over the world, and St. Marian's Academy is no exception, with some long-dormant mechanisms slowly reviving.

　Even the professors need to calm down and explore in order to gradually uncover the truth. Under this general trend, all St. Mary's Academy can do is to further strengthen its patrol mechanism and select responsible and strong individuals from the "Hidden Serpent" to join the "Disciplinary Committee," thereby playing a preventive role against various anomalies.

　However, St. Marian's College is generally quite safe. As long as students don't wander around at unusual times, they are unlikely to encounter any danger.

　In particular, the tower dormitories of each branch campus are basically the safest.

　As the group disbanded and the professors left, Dark returned to the tower of the House of Nobles.

　He doesn't have to attend the first period on Tuesday, which is math, but he does have to attend the second period, history of magic.

　Therefore, after returning to the tower, he immediately took a nap.

　After waking up from a nap, I quickly washed up and rushed to the classroom for the history of magic.

　Professor Ryan Hawkes, keeping up with the times, has recently begun to talk about the history of the Age of Gods.

　He certainly didn't become a professor for nothing.

　In order to tell the history of the Age of Gods well, he spent a long time studying in the library, carefully sorting out the most recent period of the Age of Gods history before he began to teach in the classroom.

　This knowledge is essential for students who want to make a difference in this era.

　Dak also has a great need for this knowledge, but he is simply too busy to organize it on his own and can only try to learn as much as possible in class.