The School of Magic Engineering was filled with clean, streamlined designs and distinct geometric lines. Broad windows allowed the morning light to illuminate the office unhindered. In the brief silence, the movement of clouds beyond the glass was palpable even without glancing up.
"Professor, could you please tell me where I might be of help?" Lanqi asked, looking at Professor Borao with a puzzled expression.
A flicker of worry was evident in his eyes, but it clearly stemmed from a sense of responsibility and Lanqi's heartfelt devotion to the school.
"Lately, our academy hasn't quite lived up to its name. Over the past two years, our ranking among the Southern Continent's institutions has been slipping," Professor Borao sighed. "Naturally, both internal and external pressures have grown considerably heavier."
Ikerite Academy did not merely belong to the Hutton Kingdom; it was also an officially accredited, top-tier direct subordinate institution under the Southern Continent Shadow World Management Association and the Southern Continent United Kingdom Council. Along with numerous privileges and perks came the obligation to meet corresponding performance quotas, ensuring tangible results in return for the association's support.
Yet their present reality was far from ideal.
Duke Mikhail, the slated incoming Dean of the School of Magic Engineering and Headmaster, had gone missing; the Dean of the School of Sages was juggling multiple posts; the Dean of the School of Knights was a retiree brought back on contract; and the Dean of the School of Alchemy was currently behind bars.
At this point, Borao was practically the only dependable figure left in the academy.
"To be honest, I never really wanted to run the School of Magic Engineering. At my age, I should have retired long ago. But nobody in the Hutton Kingdom aside from Mikhail can take over my duties. The kingdom needs my engineering research and technical support, and since the research institutes are all on campus, I basically end up staying here," Professor Borao explained, detailing the academy's current state.
"So... might our academy fail to meet this year's quotas?" Lanqi grasped the heart of Professor Borao's current grievance.
"Going by the first half of the year, we're falling short. We'll have to scramble in the second half. A hard push ought to manage it, but whatever quotas the other schools fail to meet will have to be compensated for by the School of Magic Engineering," Professor Borao replied.
As a comprehensive institution, Ikerite was renowned not just for clearing Shadow Worlds, but also for its magic engineering research and various academic tracks. The School of Magic Engineering had always remained dependable.
Leaving aside the School of Alchemy's current mess, the School of Knights and School of Sages had seen a sharp drop in fourth-year and part-time students over the past two years. Consequently, clearances of high-tier Shadow Worlds were dwindling, creating a gap in new talent.
"Uh, Lanqi became a Platinum-rank card maker—does that count toward any of the quotas?" Hyperion asked from Lanqi's side.
"Unfortunately, no. You two are students of the School of Sages, with no training records under the School of Magic Engineering, so you aren't considered official magic artificers trained by us. Even if Lanqi reaches Platinum rank, it yields no points from the United Kingdom Council." Professor Borao shook his head across the desk. This was precisely why he had mentioned earlier that Lanqi had almost helped him.
This rule was primarily designed to prevent academies from recruiting ready-made card makers just to pad their scores; without documented institutional training, an achievement would not be credited as an educational accomplishment of the school.
Nurturing a Platinum-rank card maker awarded an immense bounty of points. Lanqi had come remarkably close to delivering a massive windfall to the School of Magic Engineering. Unfortunately, he had chosen the School of Sages upon enrollment—just like Mikhail, who had once chosen the School of Knights—leaving Borao able only to marvel at their peculiar inclinations.
"Still, since we didn't train him to begin with, it's only fair that we don't get the points. We simply missed out on an unearned advantage, that's all." Professor Borao took it in stride, spreading his hands.
"The one truly being targeted right now is Loren. Dean Sphintos of the School of Knights has an explosive temper and is a mad old bone; no nobles dare provoke him. But Loren is young and mild-tempered, which makes dirty underhanded schemes particularly effective against him. You catch my drift?" Borao looked at Lanqi, steering back to the main point.
"Indeed. Petty people always love jumping in the faces of gentlemen. Dean Loren possesses the greatest martial might, yet in most situations, he cannot resolve problems with force—nor would he ever dream of using martial prowess to beat people into submission." Lanqi rested his chin on his hand, unable to help worrying for Loren.
Seeing Lanqi worry for Loren, Hyperion began worrying for Loren as well.
"Lately, Loren has faced a barrage of criticism. People claim that while his personal abilities are formidable, he's derelict in his duties. Not only are domestic nobles attempting to impeach him, but foreign voices are also turning rather harsh," Professor Borao continued.
When Asna, the vice president of the student council, refused further academic study in favor of becoming an executive chef, Loren had braved tremendous pressure just to let her go.
Many domestic nobles felt Loren had ruined a peerless genius destined to become an eighth-tier powerhouse, branding his decision to let her become a chef as absurd and selfish.
Foreign commentary, driven by obscure motives, was equally rife with suspicion, hostility, and apprehension toward High Priest Loren. Smear campaigns and opportunistic articles frequently circulated, labeling him a mediocre educator who, out of personal jealousy, could not stomach anyone surpassing him.
Such reports were far from rare.
Lanqi's meteoric rise the previous year had delivered a resounding slap to their faces, quieting them for a brief period. But after Lanqi vanished without a trace for six months and seemingly faded into the background, the accusations against Loren flared up once more, and rumors ran rampant again.
"I see." Lanqi nodded with a furrowed brow.
He had not anticipated that this was linked to him as well.
The Dean of the School of Sages was a position endowed with immense authority. Back during his and Hyperion's entrance exams, nobles had attempted to compromise that very fairness. It was harrowing to imagine how much harder Hyperion's admission would have been—and how much more danger she would have faced in the academy—had Loren been replaced by a conniving, self-serving high aristocrat.
"Granted, regarding your disappearance, the complaints within the Hutton Kingdom haven't been quite as loud. As long as you can become the kingdom's Platinum-rank card maker, Shadow Worlds and personal tiers don't matter as much to them." Professor Borao suspected that with Asna nearing graduation, the noble lords of the Hutton Kingdom would never pass up this opportunity to strip Loren of the deanship.
If the School of Sages were forced to accept a new dean backed by the aristocracy in the latter half of the year, Borao would truly face a massive headache.
At the very least, Loren never made things worse; he handled his duties with diligence and responsibility, and remained a trustworthy, upright gentleman. He was infinitely better than those power-hungry schemers.
"Then I must vindicate Dean Loren. He is an outstanding dean," Lanqi promised Professor Borao, his mind thoroughly made up.
Leaving aside whatever international troubles Loren had constantly faced, Lanqi felt an undeniable responsibility to resolve the situation just on one simple chain of causality: Loren had stood firm to protect Senior Asna's dream, and Senior Asna cooked every day to keep Tata well-fed.
"What do you plan to do?" Professor Borao looked at Lanqi in surprise, not expecting him to be so enthusiastic. The boy truly cared deeply for Loren.
"Professor Borao, could you help me secure a special advancement approval letter for challengers that treats me as fifth-tier when challenging a Shadow World?" Lanqi requested.
Professor Borao held the highest authority in the academy and enjoyed deep connections with both the Southern Continent Card Makers Association and the Southern Continent Shadow World Management Association.
"...You want to touch a seventh-tier Shadow World?"
Lanqi was currently fourth-tier, while Hyperion was fifth-tier. If Lanqi wanted to be treated as fifth-tier, there was only one possible reason: he intended to find a seventh-tier teammate to pull them into a higher-difficulty Shadow World.
Under the regulations of the Southern Continent Shadow World Management Association, the tier gap between teammates challenging a Shadow World could not exceed two tiers.
Occasionally, exceptional individuals who wished to keep pace with higher-tier teams could obtain a special approval letter under the sponsorship of prominent figures, granting them a virtual tier-plus-one status.
"Yes. I want to bring a cat along," Lanqi confirmed.
That way, he and Hyperion could form a team with the seventh-tier Boss Cat, giving them a chance to encounter a seventh-tier Shadow World on their next attempt.
"..." Professor Borao fell silent.
He trusted that a smart lad like Lanqi had fully weighed the dangers.
A seventh-tier Shadow World underwent a qualitative leap compared to a sixth-tier one, mirroring the immense gap between the seventh and sixth tiers themselves.
Under normal circumstances, the strongest enemies appearing within a Shadow World were capped at the realm's tier plus two, with an absolute ceiling of the ninth tier.
For instance, in the fifth-tier Shadow World *Banquet of Sanctuary Villains* that Lanqi and Hyperion had cleared, the enemy they needed to defeat after clearing the mechanics was sixth-tier. Had the mechanics failed and plunged the Shadow World into a rampage state, the highest-tier enemy they could have encountered was seventh-tier.
Therefore, the greatest peril of seventh- and eighth-tier Shadow Worlds was the theoretical possibility of ninth-tier beings appearing.
The ninth tier touched the divine realm. In any era, such figures were masters of destiny.
They could be allies, but were far more likely to be foes, and discerning their stance in relation to the Shadow World's objective was often impossible.
Clearing any Shadow World of the seventh tier or higher—setting aside the feat of averting a natural catastrophe—produced records that served as invaluable historical documents. Whether illuminating the history of their own world or that of another realm, the data held immense academic and research value.
As for ninth-tier Shadow Worlds, they were apocalyptic in scale. The eras they projected were often the final years preceding an Age of Annihilation, in which even ninth-tier powerhouses struggled to survive.
They generally surfaced only once every century or two.
This century's ninth-tier Shadow World was already underway.
The price was that over several years, all ninth-tier powerhouses in the world were forcibly summoned away.
Consequently, on both the Northern and Southern Continents today, eighth-tier figures of cardinal rank stood as the supreme powerhouses.
"I can get it for you. But think it through carefully. If you fail, I'm not afraid of shouldering the blame, but Loren will be utterly ruined," Professor Borao said, his knuckles rapping against the desk as he stared at Lanqi with uncharacteristic gravity.
Clearing a seventh-tier Shadow World would count as a tremendous quota achievement for the academy, solving many of Borao's headaches.
However, if Loren learned that Lanqi—a student about to enter his second year—had charged into a seventh-tier Shadow World, his mind might completely short-circuit.
If anything went wrong, Loren would have to take the fall. Moreover, while the trial was underway, Loren, as the primary party responsible, would face immense pressure from the entire United Kingdom Council.
Of course...
If Lanqi pulled it off...
Everything would flip on its head.
It would turn into another classic cycle: doubting Loren, understanding Loren, and championing Loren.
Furthermore, many people would turn beet-red with rage, convinced that Loren had been cultivating a secret weapon all along, refusing to give them an ounce of face while delivering a ruthless slap to their cheeks. Loren's prestige would surge once more.
"I must dispel every bit of doubt surrounding Dean Loren," Lanqi promised Professor Borao with exceptional vigor.
"..."
Hyperion looked at Lanqi with a mixture of worry and dread.
Aside from being somewhat terrified of the prospective seventh-tier Shadow World, she was also worried that a once-in-a-century harsh winter might suddenly hit at the end of the year, forcing Dean Loren to bundle up in quite a few extra layers.
Chapter 527