On the late-night road leading to Protos Royal Magic Academy, Zestira casually shared one of her secrets with Lanqi.
A rare few exceptionally gifted demons did not need to reach higher tiers to awaken a faint degree of innate magic from birth.
Zestira's innate talent enabled her to steer clear of certain dangers, but it also forced her to endure a heavier burden of negative emotions. In all her dozen-plus years, she had encountered people whose goodwill was always mingled with malice to varying degrees, but never anyone as pure and spotless as Lanqi.
Suspended between high-rises, hanging gardens supported by transparent magical barriers drifted in midair, planted with singing flora and luminous phantoms. The two walked beneath them without the slightest worry that anything would plummet from above.
Beneath the city-state's hallucinatory charm lingered an inescapable undercurrent of the bizarre.
"This way."
Zestira pointed toward an intersection to the left, signaling Lanqi not to head straight into the old district ahead.
The old district looked subtly warped. Its spatial structure was distinct from the outside world, like a multidimensional junction; take a single step inside, and one could end up anywhere in the Imperial Capital at any moment.
"By the way, do you guys have to tackle Shadow Worlds too?" Lanqi asked out of mild curiosity.
The Northern Continent lacked large-scale magical apparatuses like the artificial Shadow World launch terminal, which stood as the pinnacle of modern human magic engineering. Consequently, there was no such thing as a "practice mode."
Dying in an artificial Shadow World did not bring true death, but dying in a real Shadow World meant losing one's life. A preparatory student like Zestira, who had not even advanced to her first year yet, was expected to face a real Shadow World right off the bat.
Still, from what Lanqi had gathered from the silver-armored priest, Protos Royal Magic Academy offered extraordinarily generous and straightforward academic rewards. As long as one paid enough course credits, virtually any resource a student could need could be redeemed. The academy could even arrange for students to observe the Imperial Grand Sage's [Original Slate - Light].
As for the other slate, [Original Slate - Undead], its bearer, Duke Morotian, currently refused all requests for viewing.
Poet of Great Love had told Lanqi that the more pieces of the [Counterfeit Slate] series he collected, the more likely some new transformation might occur when he pieced them together later. The [Original Slate] pieces were originally fragments of a mural meant to fit together, but they had been treated with isolation magic, giving any two [Original Slate] pieces an absolute mutual repulsion. However, the [Counterfeit Slate] pieces created by Poet of Great Love lacked this repulsion, allowing a single person to bind multiple pieces.
According to the records of the complete map, [Original Slate - Light] and [Original Slate - Wind] happened to be adjacent pieces. If he had the chance to observe [Original Slate - Light], Lanqi was keen to experiment with assembling [Counterfeit Slate - Light] and [Counterfeit Slate - Wind] together.
"I enrolled in a course called *Shadow World Practical Skills*," Zestira said. "It's available to both preparatory students and first-years, and awards high credits. Besides, if you want to grow stronger, challenging Shadow Worlds is the fastest way."
She might vanish within the academy for anywhere from half a day to several days, so she wanted to explain things to Lanqi in advance so he wouldn't worry or wander aimlessly around the campus.
"Did you study Shadow Worlds in the Southern Continent?"
She had heard that rather than relying solely on brute personal strength to clear Shadow Worlds, people in the Southern Continent were accustomed to leveraging mechanics and intellect. They had comprehensive systems, curriculums, and intelligence-sharing that vastly raised overall success rates.
"I've tackled two of them and studied them a bit," Lanqi nodded.
"Then tell me a little about the key principles of tackling Shadow Worlds over in your Southern Continent," Zestira said.
This Shadow World would be observed by various professors and top-credit upperclassmen. Aside from the credits awarded based on performance evaluations, it would largely determine whether any professor would choose her and bring her into the Upper Academy.
"No problem. But if you're feeling unsure about the Shadow World, you could just bring me along, too."
Lanqi knew Zestira was only 2nd Tier. Logically, tackling a 2nd-tier Shadow World shouldn't be an issue, but from what Viscount Francis had once told him about her ordeal during the entrance examination, the real danger might not be the Shadow World itself, but her fellow classmates.
"No need," Zestira refused flatly.
She wouldn't drag him into such a perilous place.
The two lapsed into an easy silence once more. Zestira was never much of a talker, and they walked along a river surging with energy. It was one of Herrom's rivers, but it carried no ordinary water; it was an unprocessed mineral spring of raw magic core fluid. Hallucinatory ripples appeared on its surface from time to time—lethal poison to anyone without sufficient magical power.
Across the river, the iconic mechanical architecture of Herrom Zoo housed numerous modified creatures from the Demon Realm as well as alchemical beasts. Visitors were required to sign a waiver acknowledging that the zoo bore no responsibility if they were devoured or transformed.
Walking further along, one could reach Protos Royal Magic Academy after passing through the Endless Library and the Starry Sky Theater.
Herrom boasted a library with an unquantifiable collection of books, overseen by a 7th-tier automaton administrator. Not far above the library, at the end of levitating stairs hundreds of meters high, stood a theater. It was said that sitting inside made the night sky feel like a canopy and the stars within arm's reach, though it was ill-suited for patrons with acrophobia or heart conditions.
Lanqi had already done his travel research on these places. This was a city-state teeming with wonders; it would be a crying shame not to enjoy a proper tour.
Before long, the two arrived at a building on the outer perimeter of the academy to complete registration procedures before entering the campus proper. It was similar to Ikerite Academy's Student Service Center, with the sole difference being that this one operated twenty-four hours a day.
With the night-shift staff processing things efficiently, Lanqi filled out a series of forms and smoothly received a bracelet similar to Zestira's.
"..."
He glanced sideways at Zestira's wrist. The dim, deep-crimson glowing characters shifting across her bracelet read [150 (+0)].
Meanwhile, Lanqi's own bracelet displayed [0].
"I can earn points as an assistant tutor?"
Lanqi roughly guessed what the numbers meant. The number on his bracelet as an attendant presumably corresponded to the number inside the parentheses on Zestira's bracelet.
"All the points you earn will belong to me, but I don't need you taking risks to earn points for me," Zestira said impassively.
"Don't campus expenses require credits too?"
While filling out the forms earlier, Lanqi had noted several particulars. For instance, inside the academy, there were no transaction channels accepting imperial currency; all living expenses were deducted in credits. Without incoming credits, one's balance would dwindle away—a system strikingly similar to Purgatory Corridor Academy's model.
Furthermore, trading credits with imperial currency was not actively audited by the academy in theory, but should either the buyer or seller report it, the reported party would most likely have credits deducted until expulsion, with the infraction recorded in their permanent file. It was hard to tell whether this apparent loophole was an intentional design meant to test students' trust and evaluate their psychological mettle.
"Don't worry about it," Zestira's voice remained calm. "For an assistant tutor attendant, staying off-campus most of the time is likely the better choice. But on the Monthly Evaluation Day, I'd like your help."
Zestira candidly told Lanqi the help she needed. On weekdays, Lanqi could stay at the academy every day to instruct her, or he could simply come on weekends to tutor her.
"Monthly Evaluation Day?"
It was rare for Lanqi to hear Zestira ask for assistance. Earlier, he had heard that she faced a major evaluation at the end of the month, followed by a Shadow World challenge—both of immense importance to her.
"The last day of every month is Evaluation Day. A closed-door assessment is conducted, and the entire academy becomes a semi-restricted area. The classrooms are graded by danger level, and you must enter at least three classrooms that day. However, there's no way to know in advance what subject is inside each room. You could help me with tests like magic engineering and magic genealogy, and it's also a chance to earn a massive amount of credit points," Zestira said. "Still, I'll protect you."
Hearing this, Lanqi furrowed his brows slightly in thought.
He couldn't shake the feeling that this format sounded rather familiar.
Wasn't this just the normalized model of his Purgatory Corridor Academy?
"..."
Zestira glanced at Lanqi. She asked very little of Lanqi's duties; only this part was quite difficult. It was completely natural for him to feel some pressure. If he was unwilling, she wouldn't force him.
For most of the time, Lanqi would be free to roam the Imperial Capital. That was far safer than staying inside the academy. This harmless young man—Zestira merely hoped he could live a happy, comfortable life in the Imperial Capital. If he wanted to settle down, enjoying a peaceful retirement would be just fine. He didn't look like someone keen on causing grand upheavals anyway.
"Rest assured, even as a part-time tutor, I'll fulfill my duties conscientiously," Lanqi said with conviction.
Since tutors could be brought along to assist during examinations, Lanqi certainly wouldn't disappoint Zestira. He would let her classmates see what it looked like when a headmaster personally took the field.
Now that his official duties entailed little burden, he could devote his full energy to developing new ventures. Boss Cat had asked him earlier whether he wanted to play headmaster again this time, and he had said no.
He had promised to give Hyperion a surprise when they reunited. Lanqi had always prided himself on being a man of his word.
Because he had already been a headmaster once, becoming one again wouldn't deliver enough of an impact. He needed something fresh.
Having already made preliminary inroads into the Southwestern Province through the Resurrection Church, he had not only won the veneration of High Priest Kane, but his policy implementations had also earned the approval of the conservatives led by the Southwestern Province's governor. The widely disseminated image of the Pioneer was steadily transforming into the party leader revered by a burgeoning faction.
With a little more support, as the Pioneer, he could perhaps set about breaking into imperial politics—starting from the House of Commons.
Chapter 259