After long hours, Alexander forced himself to walk under a tree. He had lost a lot of energy and blood. There was not a single piece of skin on his body that was not scarred. At the moment he could barely stand.

At the moment he was conscious thanks to his willpower, but he could faint at any moment, he was like a candle struggling against the wind.

But there was nothing in his eyes of worry or uneasiness. He knew what he had to do. He forced himself to take a few more steps and sat down under the Gingko Tree. The Gingko Tree had a thick trunk and golden-yellow leaves twisted upwards.

This part of the forest seemed to be hidden in such a way that only experienced people could find it. It was located quite deep. Most of the trees were golden in color.

Alexander sat down under the tree, took a deep breath, and began to dig into the soil with the hilt of his katana. After digging a hole fifteen centimeters deep, he dipped his hand in and pulled out a bottle.

Inside the bottle was a light green pill and a plant.

Alexander put the pill in his mouth and began to meditate. When he opened his eyes an hour later, most of his Qi had been restored. This was the secret effect of a special recipe, the Moonlight Pill. Alexander had stolen these pills during his escape from the Shadow Cathedral.

The Moonlight Pill was the only pill that could directly replenish Shadow Energy. The higher-quality ones even had the power to restore physical energy.

After regaining his energy, Alexander put the plant in his mouth and started chewing. After chewing for a minute, he gulped down the sap and began to rub the plant on his wounds. Of course, such a small plant would not be enough for all of his wounds, so he applied it to the urgent ones.

Using herbs as an ointment was more useful and effective than using healing pills.

While fleeing, Alexander had been attacked many times and suffered thousands of small wounds. There was a lot of foreign energy in his body. Fortunately, after some Sah Chakra regeneration, he was able to remove these energies from his body. Otherwise, his organs would have been damaged.

After removing the foreign energies from his body, Alexander checked his surroundings and realized that he was safe. He should have been safe for at least another two hours as he had taken a rather complicated route. So he closed his eyes and cleared his mind of thoughts.

He needed to meditate to regain his energy as soon as possible.

---

For the others, the second day of the academy ended ordinarily. On this short day, factions had already formed and sides had made themselves known. Conflicts between the factions were already flaring up.

Alexander arrived at the academy at dawn on the third day and rented a private apartment. He now had six thousand credits, enough to make him one of the richest students at the academy. Naturally, he had to have a room where he could train as he wished and store his belongings.

'I'll use the Eternal Ones as an excuse for now.

It would be suspicious if one of the new students started living in luxury apartments. So he was going to use the Eternal Ones as an excuse. That way he could keep the suspicions at bay for a while.

'Now I need to analyze the energy signature on the Cursed Crystal and compare it with the information in the database. Once I know who the Watcher is, I can strike a blow at the Shadow Cathedral.'

Instead of going to class today, Alexander made his way to the Research facility behind the academy. The research facility was perhaps the most essential part of the academy. It housed the largest database in the school and was where almost all of the research was done.

It was also where cutting-edge technologies such as Energyprint Technology originated.

A little research revealed that the doctor in charge of the laboratories had fallen on hard times. It took him seven hours to get the information he wanted, so it was only in the afternoon that he was able to go.

The information he obtained through the black market was quite useful. If the situation had not been so favorable, Alexander would have had to delay his plans even further and would have lost the energy embedded in the cursed crystal.

Stolen story; please report.

When Alexander arrived at the entrance of the facility, he showed his ID to the security guards and entered. The inside was very white and spacious. Academics in white coats were walking down the corridor, moving from left to right, discussing something with excitement that hid their sunken faces.

Alexander ignored them and went to the information desk. There he found out where the doctor he was looking for was.

In the backyard of the facility, a man in a white coat sat on a bench, studying the reports. He had a sour expression on his face. His green eyes, deep and full of wisdom, were troubled. He seemed unable to focus on what he was reading.

Samuel Carlson.

He was one of the academy's associate professors with potential. His career as an academic had been extremely challenging. Too often his research was stolen, and he was ostracized and isolated by others. So he was far behind where he should have been.

As an associate professor, he was earning 100 credits a month. In the outside world, this would have been a very high salary, but it was insufficient to support his research. Because each of his research cost a minimum of 1,000 Credits.

Samuel was an associate professor about to be promoted to professor. So there was almost nothing he couldn't access, including the academy's database.

Alexander walked with steady steps to the bench and sat down calmly. His red hair shone in the sunlight, revealing his handsome face. He had a completely different air than he had at school. He looked confident, calm, and imposing.

At first, Samuel didn't look up from his files, but after a while, he couldn't resist and looked up at Alexander.

"Have we met, young man?"

Alexander looked into the eyes of this middle-aged associate professor and, seeing that he didn't immediately dismiss him, decided to continue.

"I know you lack funding for your research, Associate Professor Carlson, would you like to make a deal with me?"

The associate professor seemed curious and calm at first, but his face turned cold when he heard Alexander's words. If you were a high-ranking person at the school, you would receive such offers from time to time. The parties offering the deal were groups of students and teachers.

They always came with an offer to work for them.

Samuel Carlson was a man of honor. He never got involved with such groups and refused every offer.

"Don't waste your time, young man. Go study."

With a sigh, Samuel got up from his seat and prepared to leave.

"I do not represent any group or organization."

He was about to leave when he heard a mocking voice behind him.

"If you behave like this, being a professor will always be a dream for you. Do you want to lose to Professor Ferguson again?"

Samuel paused.

His composure was gone.

His eyes were murderous.

Alexander smiled when he saw them and said in a friendly manner.

"There is no need to be angry. Listen to my proposal first."

People like Samuel were the proud type. They liked to get straight to the point rather than speak or act indirectly. They didn't like what they didn't like, and they didn't mince words, no matter who the other person was.

This was a good thing. At least they could be proud of themselves. But in life, such people are usually losers. Because those who acted like lions would be deceived by foxes and lose the meat in their mouths.

The business was controlled by those who could play good politics. Truthful people like Samuel were the easiest targets. They didn't pay much attention to detail and didn't care about anything. He was the perfect livestock.

Alexander was not the only one who realized this. Otherwise, Samuel would have been a professor long ago and would have been recognized as one of the rare powers of the academy.

But Samuel was just a stepping stone on someone else's path to power.

---