When Curo opened his eyes, he could see the sun rising from the horizon. He took in a deep breath and after exhaling, there was determination in his eyes. Like every time before this, the youth always appeared when he was in the most dire need of advice.
Curo couldn’t exactly remember when he first met him but as far as he could remember, every time he ran into a mental wall, the youth would appear. He would leave behind a sentence or two that made Curo fall into this mysterious state. Every time he awoke from this state, his body felt lighter, his head felt clearer and his mind felt sharper. This mysterious state was actually Soul Cleansing. It was a very mysterious and envied opportunity for even Heavenly Sovereigns.
Once on cleanses their mind of the various thoughts that muddled it and saw their own desires clearly, one would be able to break the Heavens Limitations. Curo stood up and looked at the empty wine cup standing next to his own wine cup. He sighed as he collected the wine cups and set his steps towards the Foreign Affairs Department.
When Curo arrived at the Department, all of the Student’s and Instructors present gave him odd looks. Curo didn’t mind it much as he thought this had something to do with the performance yesterday. However, when he entered Instructor Sheng’s office, he saw that there were two other people present as well; Qing Zhao and Headmistress Xi.
Seeing this, Curo slightly furrowed his brows but quickly fixed his expression as he cupped his hands in greeting and walked in. When Curo closed the office door, Instructor Sheng sized him up and down. He then nodded his head and said quietly, “Seems like you found the solution for your problem.” Curo nodded his head and walked to stand before the table.
Qing Zhao then cleared his throat and embarrassedly said, “Boy, as you know, you have caused one shocking event after another during your one day stay in the Academy….” He put an emphasis on the phrase “One day stay”.
Hearing this, Curo smiled wryly as he nodded his head. Qing Zhao then said, “To protect the dignity and self esteem of the other Student’s, we have decided to remove you from the rankings.” Hearing this statement, Curo nearly stumbled. Removed him from the Rankings? Had that ever happened before?
Seeing the shock on Curo’s face, Qing Zhao explained, “You left us no choice…. Who told you to be such a monstrous little brat? We have to take the remaining 29 000 Students into the account as well. If you dominate all of the Rankings with ease, how will it provide the competitive environment that will allow the young ones to grow….” Hearing this Curo could only sigh.
His own performance had been too dazzling indeed. No matter how you looked at it, it was like Qing Zhao had said, him being such a monstrous genius would leave a scar in the other students. If they all only lived in Curo’s shadow, how could they progress themselves.
The Academy couldn’t just focus on one Student and ignore the rest. They had to take the majority of Student’s into account. Curo then asked, “How will I earn rewards for my advancements in cultivation then? Wouldn’t it be unfair to just kick me off the rankings and take away all the rewards as well?” Hearing this sharp question, Qing Zhao was startled.
Curo had always been a mild person, every time he had seen him and interacted with him, Curo had been well mannered and courteous. Instructor Sheng however released a smile, “Seems like the Jing Blood runs strong in this boy.”
Qing Zhao then thought about something and said with a laugh, “You will have a special ranking so to speak, you will earn monthly rewards based on your cultivation and Battle Score.” Curo opened his eyes wide as he heard that. He then let out a hollow laugh when he thought that the Academy had been forced to create a Special Ranking just for him so he wouldn’t hinder the other students.
Qing Zhao then said, “Your Battle Score of 27 000 earns you 20 000 Merit Points per month, three days worth of time in the Undying Flame Formation, three days in the Eternal Ice Formation and one week in the Divine Tempering Lightning Formation. In addition to that, every month you receive one Top Grade Healing Pill and ten Dragon Swallowing Pills and ten Dragon Tempering Pills.” Hearing this, not to mention Curo, even Instructor Sheng sucked in a deep breath in astonishment. Besides the Merit Points, these rewards were almost identical to the Heavenly Ranking Number One’s Monthly Rewards.
Headmistress Xi let out a sigh as well as she continued explaining, “You truly a monstrous genius and you warrant some special care. However, since we are still an Academy, the amount of care you receive will be directly related to your results.” Hearing this, Curo nodded his head as he knew that they wouldn’t just hand out the resources for free either.
Qing Zhao then said, “The monthly pay for your work as a Deputy for the Roaming Dragon Division will be 15 000 Merit Points per month. Depending on the volume of work, you may be given additional compensation.” Hearing this, Curo nodded his head as it had been as within his estimation range.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Curo then asked, “What do I actually do as a Deputy for the Roaming Dragon Division?” Qing Zhao gestured for Curo to sit down. As Qing Zhao and Headmistress Xi sat down at the other side of the table, Curo went to the other room. Puzzled, Qing Zhao wanted to ask what he was doing but before he could manage to do that, he saw Curo exit with four tea cups. Qing Zhao then nodded his head and silently waited. When the tea was done brewing, Curo poured everyone present a cup before sitting down opposite of Qing Zhao.
Qing Zhao then started elaborating, “Your main responsibilities lie with assisting Sheng Shi with his duties. When Sheng Shi is out for a mission or unable to do his duties for some reason, you will be in charge of the Division.” Curo nodded his head. This much was a given, he still hadn’t heard anything in detail. Seeing this, Qing Zhao continued, “Mainly, you will have to organize the Squads. See that they are all properly geared, oversee the reports on incidents, administer punishment to rule breakers etc. It will involve a lot of paper work but you will be exempted from all of the mandatory Academy Tournaments and Events. If you wish to take part you can but you are not obliged to.”
Hearing this Curo breathed out a sigh of relief. He was still new to fighting and he had only fought bloody fight to the death with the Xie Clan. He wasn’t confident in being able to hold back and not seriously injure or worse, cripple someone by accident. In a Death Battle, there was no holding back but during a tournament, one false move may end with someone’s life being forfeit. Curo didn’t want to become known as the person that killed or maimed everyone he fought.
Qing Zhao then continued, “Actually, there is another reason besides this that I am here for. The Ancient Meng Clan has sent a rather serious request for their juniors to exchange notes with our Students.” Hearing this, Curo’s face dropped. So did Instructor Sheng’s.
The last time they compared notes, it had ended rather ugly. At that time, Ji Long had dominated the Earth Ranking Number One and had quite a promising future ahead of him, however, due to the Meng Clan using some underhanded methods, Ji Long had suffered serious damages to his Origin Blood, that cut off his path. The Academy’s Instructors had been outraged and had demanded an explanation. However, all they had gotten was an “Oops, our junior didn’t know he was so weak.” They basically rolled all of the blame onto Ji Long being weak.
After that, the Academy didn’t accept any request for their Juniors to compare notes. This time however, if the Academy rejected again, they would be throwing away all of their face. Although, the current Elder and Senior Student’s weren’t weak and were actually quite strong, the Meng clan didn’t know how to control their Juniors.
Qing Zhao then turned his face towards Instructor Sheng and said, “This time, as the other Peak Heavenly Sovereign and the Head of the Foreign Affairs Department, your choice will be the final decision.” Hearing this, Instructor Sheng frowned. “This old bat is shoving all of the responsibilities onto my shoulders.” As Instructor Sheng thought about that, he glanced towards Curo and asked, “What do you think?”
Curo crossed his hands on his chest as he laid back a bit. He frowned in thought but sighed, “You can’t run from this forever. If they go around crippling Students again, we can just call the entire thing off and tear down any face they have.” Hearing this, Qing Zhao let out and astonished breath and asked with narrowed eyes, “How do you plan on doing that?” Curo smiled, albeit a bit darkly, “It is known that they once went around crippling our Students, if it were to happen a second time, there is one good sentence for their actions.”
Instructor Sheng then asked, “What sentence?” Curo smiled evilly as he said, “Once can be considered an accident, twice is a coincidence but a third time is deliberate.” Qing Zhao and Instructor Sheng exchanged a glance and Instructor Sheng then said, “That is quite ruthless….” Qing Zhao and Headmistress Xi nodded their head in unison. If they spread this sentence out, they would tear the Meng Clan name through the mud. Academies were gathering places for students from all over.
They had not received the same resources that the people from the Ancient Clans had when growing up. The resources the Academy gives may truly be more generous than what the Ancient Clans can offer their juniors but at the same time, they hadn’t received this kind of care from the day they started cultivating. In a sense, Ancient Academies comparing notes with Ancient Clans was truly one bullying the other. However, they had usually been tactful enough not to take their strongest people.
So these exchanges usually were some what friendly and ended in a draw like state. However, the last time, the Meng Clan had brought their most outstanding Juniors along and had caused severe losses for the Academy. Several geniuses had been crippled or maimed in one way or another. The moment this happened again, they can just call it off. If anyone tried to start something, they can just ask, “Why send our Students to fight people that had been fed with a golden spoon their whole life?”
The people that went to an Academy, most of them would leave upon graduation. Some would stay behind to cultivate as an Instructor or as an Enforcement Hall Elder. That was the difference between the Academies and Clans. If they spread the word that the Ancient Meng Clan was intentionally going around bullying others with their Juniors that had received the best care since day one, who could say anything otherwise?
Qing Zhao then stood up and smiled evilly, “Although, this may cause us to lose a genius or two, we can’t always cower away.” Instructor Sheng nodded his head as he said, “We can accept it and do as Curo said. Once they go overboard, we can call it all off and just rip their faces off.” Qing Zhao nodded his head and then gestured for Xi Qing to follow him as he left the room.
Quite quickly, word spread out that a month from now, the exchange between the Hidden Dragon Academy and the Ancient Meng Clan would take place. As the Student’s found more motivation to train, to wipe away the past humiliations, Curo spent this month quite leisurely.
He was immersed in the paperwork as Instructor Sheng was busy dealing with the formation of the Roaming Dragon Division.