The Student Council room was brightly lit, the glow of magical lamps reflecting off the polished floor. Knight statues stood outside at attention throughout the area, their presence a constant reminder of the Academy’s security. At the center of the room, a young man sat behind a desk buried under a mountain of documents. A crow perched lazily on the edge of the table, its head tucked under its wing as it dozed. Damon sighed, brushing his black hair aside. Without sparing a glance, he reached into his pocket and retrieved a pouch. With a practiced motion, he emptied its contents—glittering magic crystals—onto the shadow pooling beneath his chair. The inky darkness of his shadow rippled, greedily swallowing the crystals. A familiar chime echoed in his mind, a notification from his system. He barely acknowledged it, his eyes locked on the endless paperwork before him. He groaned. Continue your adventure with freewebnovel "Ahhh, this is so annoying… Finding records of students with spirit affinity is like looking for a damn needle in a haystack." Across from him, Lilith sat with one leg crossed over the other, twirling a strand of red hair between her fingers. She rolled her eyes. "Don’t be such a sourpuss. We’ve only been at this for three weeks." Damon let his head drop onto the table with a soft thud. "Three weeks of nothing. We haven’t made any progress. Meanwhile, the summoner’s been making more and more attempts to bring forth a dark spirit. Every time, we just end up with another unconscious student who fails to be a proper vessel. Luckily, they only stay passed out for two days at most, and there haven’t been any visible injuries." He lifted his head slightly, dark eyes narrowing. "But he’s getting close. There haven’t been any attempts in the last two days…" Lilith smirked, resting her chin on her hand. "I wonder… Is that a good thing or a bad thing? We do want the summoning to succeed so we can use that little thing we prepared… but we also don’t want it to succeed, because, well… it’s a dark spirit." Her emerald eyes gleamed with amusement. "My, my… You really should make up your mind about what you want." Damon turned away, avoiding her gaze. He couldn’t make up his mind. But if he was being honest with himself… he was leaning toward letting it happen. Or worse—helping it happen from the shadows. It had been three weeks since the night of the noble meeting. And now, on this night, they had found the third victim of a failed dark spirit summoning. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎 The academy had been informed, but they were determined to keep it under wraps. The last thing they wanted was for the nobles to catch wind of the situation. Damon sighed, rubbing his temples. He really didn’t have time for this. His end-of-semester evaluation was around the corner, and while his peers were training, he was here—hunting dark spirit summoners in the shadows. For the most part, Lilith had been helping him refine his mana control, so he no longer leaked energy like before. That was a plus. The nobles still hadn’t left. They were locked in endless negotiations over the Fayjoy family’s compensation. From what Lilith had told him, the sum was massive. Half of him wanted to run over and demand compensation of his own, but it wasn’t worth the trouble. Instead, he focused on keeping his shadow hunger under control. He managed it using the Sacrifice skill, devouring magic crystals to stabilize his condition. But even with his hunger somewhat contained, his finances were in shambles due to his many expenses. At this rate, he wasn’t sure what would break first—his body or his wallet, or better yet Lilith’s wallet. But none of that mattered right now. The most important thing was finding the summoner. The academy knew someone was performing dark spirit summonings. They just didn’t have a suspect. For now, all they could do was extinguish the figurative fires before they spiraled out of control. Damon exhaled sharply, gripping a small crystal blade in his hand. It was a magic artifact, one that Lilith had somehow convinced the academy to fund and create. Its purpose was simple—to banish a spirit from a host body without harming the host. "Are you sure this is gonna work on a dark spirit?" he asked, turning the blade between his fingers. Lilith smiled. "Positive. I had the one I gave you modified to cut out a piece of its soul." She leaned forward, her chest pressing against the table, revealing just enough of her cleavage to make it very clear she was teasing him. "Do you want to know how much it cost?" Damon quickly averted his eyes, pretending to focus on the magic artifact instead. "No. If I hear the price, the dirty poor miser in me might have a heart attack." He picked up another document and moved it to the side. "We can rule out Arthur Peddrake. He has no spirit affinity." Lilith nodded. "The number of second-year students with spirit affinity is low…" "Which means they might be targeting a first-year." For the past three weeks, they had been searching for students with an affinity for spirits. They had compiled a list, but getting solid proof was difficult—especially since it required stealing students’ personal files. Damon opened the next file. His eyes narrowed. Name: Sylvia Moonveil Race: Elf Age: 16 Gender: Female He flipped through the pages, skimming over her personal data. Height, weight, measurements—standard details she probably wouldn’t have wanted him snooping through. But then… he noticed something odd. Sylvia’s academy file was strange. Several fields were marked with question marks. The academy hadn’t recorded much about her past. Her file wasn’t just incomplete—it was marked CONFIDENTIAL, stamped with the headmaster’s personal seal. Damon’s brows furrowed. He didn’t need to dig into her personal history. All he needed was to check whether she had a spirit affinity. But after the last three weeks of Sylvia acting strangely, he couldn’t help but be curious. And yet, her file gave him no answers—only more questions. Why was her file so heavily restricted? He checked the profiles of Evangeline, Xander, and Leona. None of them were marked confidential. Their backgrounds were fully documented. Only Sylvia’s file was a mystery. He tapped his fingers against the desk, deep in thought. Lilith’s voice pulled him back to reality. "What are you doing?" Damon shook his head, closing the file. "Nothing. It’s just… Sylvia’s file is weird."