Time flew by quickly, and in the blink of an eye, several days had passed. The days gradually rolled into September, and Royal Crown University, which officially started in late August, had already been in session for some time.
The sky was clear, and the bright sunlight bathed the King’s Campus, illuminating the towering spires and weathered brickwork. The intricate stone carvings adorning the eaves and roof ridges, having withstood the elements for years, basked in the gentle sunlight.
As the oldest campus of the Royal Crown University, the buildings of King’s Campus had stood for over a hundred years. They exuded a classical solemnity, even carrying a hint of the eerie ambiance of an ancient castle. However, such an atmosphere could not overshadow the youthful energy of the students, full of life at nineteen or twenty years old.
Between the corridors, students walked in small groups, carrying various amounts of books, conversing as they moved forward. On the lawns, one could occasionally see a couple of young men and women sitting together, chatting and laughing. The school’s grand clock tower chimed loudly, prompting students with scheduled classes to rush through the hallways at breakneck speed.
This was a vibrant campus, nurturing the kingdom’s elites. Gaining admission here required both distinguished family background and exceptional talent. These students were the future pillars of Pritt, and their families took great pride in having a member studying at such a prestigious institution.
Inside the expansive library of King’s Campus, rows of bookshelves stood neatly arranged. Sunlight streamed through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, casting a warm glow. Many students wandered between the shelves, searching for books, while others sat by the windows, quietly flipping through the volumes on their desks. Dorothy was one of them.
"If Gregor knew I had enrolled in this university, he would be so excited that he wouldn’t sleep for days. Unfortunately, enrolling in university at thirteen is a bit too outrageous, so it’s best not to tell him."
Dressed in a brown top and a plaid skirt, Dorothy sat by the window, gazing at the campus outside as she pondered. In front of her, a towering pile of thick books covered the desk. Upon closer inspection, they all pertained to the history of Royal Crown University.
The History of Royal Crown University, The Notable Figures of Royal Crown University, The Origins of Royal Crown University, The Student Gazette, The Crown University Weekly...
These books were the true focus of Dorothy’s research. She was hoping to find clues about the ruins through these records.She had already spent several days on campus. Thanks to Beverly’s assistance, thirteen-year-old Dorothy was now officially a university student, with a complete student record and identity. She was free to explore the campus without restriction.
To ensure Dorothy had ample time to search for the ruins and study the mysteries, Beverly granted her a special privilege—her enrollment in a specific major and class was nominal only. She was not required to attend any lectures, although she had the option to do so if she wished.
Taking full advantage of the special identity Beverly had arranged for her, Dorothy had not attended a single class since her enrollment. She devoted all her time to searching for the hidden entrance to the ruins within the university, but her efforts had yielded little success.
At first, Dorothy planned to use small corpse marionettes to investigate the buildings and track people coming and going—just as she had uncovered the Igwynt Serenity Bureau in the Cypress Fir Tower.
However, King’s Campus was far too vast, many times larger than the Cypress Fir Tower. Dorothy’s small corpse marionettes were unable to thoroughly examine every corner. The ancient and complex architecture only made investigation more difficult. Unlike the Serenity Bureau, which had numerous employees frequently entering and leaving the ruins, King’s Campus lacked an obvious target to track.
After two days of exhaustive searching with her corpse marionettes yielded no results, Dorothy decisively abandoned the aimless method. Instead, she sought another approach to uncover leads.
Now, she had shifted her focus to researching the school’s records—combing through its history and urban legends to see if any seemingly ordinary events might hold hidden clues. After all, a ruin of that size lying beneath the campus, coupled with the fact that the site had once served as a base for multiple secret societies, meant it was impossible for the university to be completely unaffected.
For this reason, Dorothy had recently spent much of her time in the library, poring over records of King’s Campus. After an entire day of research, she finally discovered something of interest.
Through the documents, Dorothy found that King’s Campus had no shortage of bizarre occurrences—events that had persisted from the university’s founding to the present.
Strange calls echoing through empty halls, mysterious portraits, students suddenly going mad or even disappearing… Such peculiar incidents seemed to occur every few years, like an unbroken tradition. Though the university’s official history made no mention of them, numerous student publications contained abundant accounts—blurring the line between truth and fabrication.
At first, Dorothy was excited by these strange tales. She believed the rumors might stem from students stumbling upon the entrance to the ruins and being affected by residual mystical forces within. With this in mind, she personally visited each site mentioned in the records to investigate. However, despite her efforts, she found no signs of anything unusual.
After another day of fruitless paranormal investigations, Dorothy felt disappointed. She began to suspect that these stories were nothing more than baseless fabrications by students.
However, when she secretly examined the university’s archived student records, she discovered that there were indeed cases of students disappearing or being forced to withdraw due to insanity. The symptoms of their madness closely resembled poison contamination, proving that some mystical force was genuinely at work.
From Dorothy’s perspective, this mystical influence could stem from two possible sources. The first was residual spirituality leaking from the ruins. The second was the presence of a secret society within the university—composed of either students or faculty.
"Royal Crown University gathers a vast number of Pritt’s elites. Its predecessor was originally a base for several secret societies. In such an environment, the likelihood of new secret societies forming is extremely high..."
"If a secret society truly exists within the school, then the recurring paranormal incidents every few years make perfect sense. It’s inevitable that accidents occur when conducting mystic research. Since secret societies have continuity, these incidents would naturally persist over time..."
Seated at the desk, Dorothy contemplated the possibility of a secret society within the university as she gazed at the books piled before her. After going through so much information, this was the most plausible conclusion she had reached—and she had a way to verify it.
As she thought, she took out a gold coin marked with the symbol of Lantern, preparing for a divination.
If the divination succeeded, she could confirm whether or not a secret society truly existed within the university.
"Does a secret society exist among the students and faculty of King’s Campus at Royal Crown University?"
Reciting the divination question in her mind, Dorothy flipped the coin and prepared to catch it on the back of her hand.
However, at the crucial moment, she made an uncharacteristic mistake—the coin slipped, rolled twice on the floor, and wedged itself in the crack between the floorboards, losing its luster as it settled before her eyes.
Dorothy knew this meant her divination had failed. She had encountered a target equipped with anti-divination measures, and her available divination resources were insufficient to break through their defenses. A notification from her system confirmed this.
For the first time, Dorothy had failed in a divination attempt. However, it hardly mattered.
Picking up the now-dull coin, she blew off the dust and murmured, "The divination failed… I ran into an anti-divination barrier. As expected, if there really is a secret society built atop the ruins of the Star Numerology Scriptorium, they would definitely have access to some form of Revelation to counteract divination."
Dorothy’s goal was to confirm the existence of a secret society. A successful divination would have provided direct proof—but a failed divination, encountering resistance, was proof in itself.
"Now that I’ve confirmed there’s a secret society in this university, the next step is to track them down. After all these years of operation, I refuse to believe they know nothing about the ruins."
Pocketing the coin, Dorothy glanced around the quiet library, silently steeling her resolve.