Divine Magic Academy, conference room.

Principal Blake sat to the side, his head slightly lowered, earnestly listening to the Holy Master’s rebuke.

It was now evening, two hours since the array had collapsed.

This meeting was an emergency session regarding the sudden collapse of the Academy’s protective array, so much so that even the Holy Master set aside time to come inspect the situation in person.

At the time of the incident, Alvis—the Holy Court’s most authoritative Array Master—just so happened to be overseeing the Academy’s array exam inside the school. The sudden collapse did not affect any teachers or students within Divine Magic Academy.

In fact, most of the staff and students didn’t even know the Academy’s array had collapsed and that the whole school was exposed to the outside world.

As principal, Blake naturally had to answer for what happened.

Alvis even waited until the Holy Master had finished chastising Blake before speaking slowly: "Preliminary investigation reveals that the source of the collapse was at Modesty Tower. It started from within Modesty Tower and spread rapidly throughout the school in a matter of seconds."

"At the time, I was administering an additional array exam to candidate Holy Daughter Hilia. When I detected an abnormality in the array, I immediately went to the array’s core area and tried to stop it, but unfortunately, it was impossible—like trying to retrieve salt after it’s been thrown into boiling water; by the time you reach for it, it’s already completely dissolved."

Saying this, Alvis looked over at Blake. "Mr. Blake arrived at the scene very promptly and managed to disrupt our investigation, which is truly commendable."

Blake: "?"

He really wanted to say that, as the principal, it was his duty to maintain order, but under the Holy Master’s imposing gaze from the head seat, he dared not say anything.

Alvis continued, "After confirming that the incident began at Modest Tower, I led the array maintenance team to investigate around Modesty Tower. Unfortunately, we discovered nothing unusual—no anomalies, no enemies. The collapse was like a hillside soaked for years suddenly giving way—instantaneous destruction."

An investigating instructor stood up and said, "At the time, we were conducting array exams for first-year students at Modest Tower, and there was no resonance detected between any student’s array-decryption and the Academy’s array."

Alvis said, "Although the specific issue is not yet fully determined, I’ve discovered a major security vulnerability through this incident."

The Holy Master asked, "What vulnerability?"

"I’ve found that the Starlight Seven-Tower Array has a fatal flaw. This flaw requires only some rather simple magic power circulations to cause significant destruction to the array. In other words, even a Tier One Mage could potentially destroy the array—just like a three-year-old tearing open a Tier Six scroll with no protection: all too easy."

He presented the layout diagram of the seven towers to everyone and continued, "The school array’s weakness happens to be at Modest Tower. This incident was very likely triggered by the students taking the exam; when they attempted to decrypt the array, it coincidentally activated the flaw and directly caused the array’s collapse."

"You mean..."

Just as the Holy Master was about to speak, Blake suddenly thought of something and stood up abruptly, "Alvis, you said that at the time you were conducting an extra assessment for Hilia, is that right?"

The Holy Master shot Blake a displeased, sharp look.

If you can’t say something brilliant, get ready to confess your sins!

"Is there a problem, Mr. Blake?"

"I’m guessing the array collapsed after Hilia completed her exam, didn’t it?"

Alvis nodded, "I went to the Modesty Tower maintenance room and found a Tier Two array model for her to attempt to decrypt.

"She used an approach similar to how she solved the Tier One Starlight Seven-Tower Array, but her actions had no effect on the array model; the magic power she used simply dissipated."

With that, Alvis paused and looked at Blake, "I suppose you’re suggesting that Hilia is responsible for damaging the array?"

Blake nodded.

Alvis let out a cold laugh, "Do you know more about arrays, or do I? I was with Hilia the entire time. If she had caused it, would I not have been aware?

"I can tell you quite clearly: when Hilia attempted to decrypt the model, her magic power neither resonated with the school array nor triggered the flaw—it just dissipated. If I’d been right there and didn’t notice her set off the collapse, then there’s only one possibility—

"Her array mastery would have to be above mine, at least two tiers higher, for me not to detect anything at all. Even if it was a coincidence, I would have picked up on it. Alas, I didn’t. This matter has nothing to do with Hilia."

Feeling the Holy Master’s gaze bear down even heavier, Blake felt as if he were carrying a mountain on his back. Challenging authority was evidently a terrible idea, yet Blake had to say everything on his mind:

"Alvis, you might not know this, but when you returned to Modesty Tower, I ran into Hilia as she was about to leave. I asked for her help. She told me the array was completely destroyed and unsalvageable. Two of the Academy’s instructors didn’t believe her—they kept trying to restart the array until you got back."

Alvis suddenly understood, "So that’s why you made the instructors apologize to the student."

"Exactly. Hilia could see what was wrong, but the instructors—whose skills are second only to yours—could not. This shows Hilia’s mastery is quite high. Oh, I’m not saying she surpasses you, but what if she really could dissolve the array right under your nose without you noticing?"

"Blake, investigation requires evidence, not just inference. Just because she spotted the damage doesn’t mean her mastery surpasses mine—and it certainly doesn’t mean she collapsed the array. Of course, if you want to pin the blame on her, be my guest." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"I’m not accusing her of anything—if she could collapse the array, I’d almost be proud. Besides, as for what you said about the exam causing an array disturbance—do you have any evidence?"

"If you had the slightest clue about arrays, I’d argue with you. But as you know nothing and your comments are all wild guesses, just stop talking. The more you say, the more you sound like a fool. I don’t want to discuss this with you. My only conclusion is this: the array collapsed from the inside out, not due to an outside enemy, and there were no casualties. The cause of the incident can be investigated slowly. Right now, the priority is to rebuild the array."

Blake clenched his fists.

This Alvis really doesn’t mince words.

His blood pressure was already rising, but he couldn’t retort.

After all, he genuinely knew nothing about arrays—say anything more and he’d just be scorned as an idiot by the real professionals.

What he was good at was combat—world-shattering magic, not this.

If Alvis weren’t so prickly, Blake actually wouldn’t have argued with him—just like letting Hilia defuse explosions previously, he’d simply trust him to handle it.

Infuriating, but nothing he could do about it.

The Holy Master withdrew his gaze from Blake, pondered a moment, then said, "Blake has a point—it’s not impossible that our candidate Holy Daughter possesses such astonishing talent. But as you said, the priority now is rebuilding the array, to prevent heretics from getting into the Academy."

Alvis nodded. "Agreed. For now, our focus is to rebuild the array. The investigation can wait, though rebuilding might be very difficult."

"What difficulty?" asked the Holy Master.

"The remains of the old array have to be cleared out—such as...the Seven Towers."

"No—you can’t dismantle the Seven Towers!" Blake stood up once again.