Damien was inclined to hear more. He was not a person that would be afraid of a little complications. His whole life was not a simple matter, so it did not bother him. He was just happy to hear he was already locked into the tournament. Seeing that Damien was taking everything in stride, Nora nodded and continued with her gentle yet firm voice.

“Headmaster Sord has special plans for you. He wants you to take the mantle of our Academy Champion.”

Nora waited for Damien to respond to Ari’s outrageous proposal. It entailed a lot of benefits, but it came with its price. Damien had not read too much about the tournament, so he questioned it without trepidation.

“Academy Champion…”

“Yes it is an honor, however…”

Damien cut her off mid sentence, surprising her.

“What is that?”

Nora had almost forgotten she was talking to a child, not an equal. He was still full of questions without knowing everything. So from the start she explained everything to him. Nora went into detail of all of his benefits along with the support of the entire academy. Damien was honestly surprised they chose him after she told him it was usually an honor for a senior student.

‘I could benefit greatly with these resources, but… what will the others think?’

Damien’s thoughts were only supported when she said the same thing. It would be the consequence of him having that honor. Other students would create trouble in every possible way, as long as it wasn’t out in the open for Ari to catch. Nora finished her talk with Damien now understanding the whole situation. He was left in deep thought, trying to find ways to navigate his academy life after the announcement which would be confirmed the next day. Nora noticed this and tried to reassure him.

“Don’t worry too much about it, Damien. You will be getting stronger every day under my tutelage. Plus a month before the I-CAT, there is a qualifying tournament that takes place. Although your position is already secured, it would be best to shut down anyone’s complaints personally. Until then, I suggest you train hard without worry.”

‘She’s right… I might be scrutinized, however this is the best thing to happen for me. I need to take every advantage I can get. There will be others in different academies with the same support, and already in the Heaven Realm. I have to be more than ready.’

Damien nodded his head in agreement, completely calm. Nora was happy to see that expression and could only commend his attitude. She instructed him to return here tomorrow an hour before normal classes begin to avoid others. There, they would begin going through missing material along with catering a cultivation schedule unique to him. Damien bowed and left the room. Once he made it out to the open, Kyro came in and landed on his hair. At this point Damien was already used to him pulling his hair in every which way.

Damien made it back to his old room without running into another student. There he opened it up expecting it to be filled with stale dust. What he saw was contrary to his belief. His room was spotless and exactly how he left it. It brought back memories of his first time arriving and how Yuki treated him. Then he made his own circle of friends while enjoying a normal life. Kyro snuggled himself more deeply into his hair, feeling the sentiments pour out.

“I’m back.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Damien sat himself on his bed, looking around the room. In the corner of the room he found Kemo shut down in his cube state. He quickly picked him up and activated his runes.

“Hey Kemo I bet you missed me! You must’ve been the one keeping the room spotless. That was an easy task for you. Now that I’m back, you can get some real work done again!”

Kemo was excited to finally see his master again, but hearing the second part made him deflate. He jumped off his palm and rolled away in his cube form. Damien chuckled slightly, finally deciding to take a much needed rest. He had forgotten what it was like to truly leave everything behind and sleep without worries. Every night was filled with cultivation, travel, or battles. His exhaustion finally overwhelmed him where he passed out soundly.

The next morning, Damien awoke 5 minutes before his agreed meeting time with Nora. His mind quickly snapped into overtime knowing he would be scrutinized if he was late. He got up in a hurry making sure he had everything he needed. He zoomed out the door with Kyro staying behind in the cozy bed. He wouldn’t naturally make it if he didn’t use any of his techniques. Damien looked around to see emptiness wallow through the building.

‘It wouldn’t hurt if no one saw.’

Disregarding the rules of the academy like days of old with Cal, Damien used the speed and agility of his Dao to make it on time. He was smiling from one end to another when he felt this exhilaration again. He knocked on Nora’s office door before entering. His whole mood changed the moment he passed through those doors. Nora was a different person. There was her usual smile, however it ran a cold tingle down his spine. She motioned for him to sit and handed him a packet of papers. The contents included everything he missed and needed to catch up on. It seemed like an endless stream of topics he needed to learn. After going through the entire outline his mind was spinning just from thinking about it.

“How long do I have to learn all of this?”

Nora held out her hand with all of her fingers pointing out.

“You have 5 months under my tutelage. This timeframe was decided by me and the Headmaster. It is exactly the time until the qualifying tournament begins at the academy. There is no time to waste, we will begin now.”

Damien gulped in sadness. He went from an adventure lifestyle filled with excitement to textbooks. There wasn’t anything he could do though if he wanted to continue to advance in his cultivation. His Golden Mana Fluid was filled up nicely, but there was a long way to go in the Sky Realm. He couldn’t just go to the capital and demand a highly confidential cultivation technique.

‘Suck it up and grind it out!’

Damien had no other choice but to follow Nora’s plan. It was a schedule filled from the beginning of his day all the way to curfew. He had no time to mess around or even hang out with his friends. He was only allowed one day off every week and the off-weeks did not apply to him anymore. It was some sort of punishment for being away without permission from the academy.

Damien’s days would start with Rune Magic, Dao Magic and fighting theories based on those two categories. Then he would focus on Mana Control followed by Swordplay theory. Everything in the first half of his day was filled with reading and memorization. It bored him half to death, but with Nora on the other side, Damien remained respectful and attentive.

After the first half he was allowed a thirty minute break to eat. She had the meals delivered personally as the announcement was made school wide of his new role in the I-CAT. Naturally an uproar flooded the entire academy. Fury was built up in many seniors who thought they deserved it over Damien. Complaints were sent out relentlessly to the elders. It reached Ari’s ears who didn’t do anything to stop it. Ari wanted it to be this way so he could push Damien even further. Schemes were plotted from the students who would try to take that spot away from Damien.

Luckily Damien wasn’t currently directly facing the trouble he created. That didn’t mean he couldn’t feel the animosity build up throughout the school though. He was too busy with his studies to worry too much about it for now. After his lunch break was over, he was then brought to a private practice room for practical training. Everything he learned in theory was to be practiced in return. Nora devised this plan so he would have his body ingrained with every passing lesson. It would also help to expand his knowledge of other styles so he could dissect them later on.

After they were finished with the practical training, Damien would be left there to digest anything he could learn from it. Then his day would end with cultivation. Although it did almost nothing to increase capacity, he mainly focused on further purifying his Mana Fluid. It was already pure to an extreme degree, however he wondered if there was more beyond it.

‘If there was something beyond this Golden Mana Fluid, how strong would I be in the Sky Realm? Above the Heaven Realm and Leylin?’

Before curfew was up, Nora would knock on the door to the private room to inform him of the time. She waited for him to get up, but he refused to do so. Damien lifted his hand with his eyes still closed while speaking resolutely.

“If it’s okay with you, Nora, I would like to stay here overnight. If I only have 5 months then I would like to make use of all my time.”

Nora lit up in approval of his attitude. She had the power to allow him to stay here and she could see he was willing to do anything to improve. She hummed a tone of approval before speaking softly.

“You are free to do so. Would this be an everyday occurrence?”

Damien nodded slowly and went back to his own thoughts.