"It... I... it’s time, Instructor," Alina said timidly.
She stood in front of him, her eyes lowered, not looking at Caelen at all. Out of everyone, she was the most confused, her mind in disarray. Because she knew best how depraved Instructor Caelen was.
But the sudden change today brought her no solace. Her only thought was, ’If his depravity was casual and unfocused before... what about now? How chilling would it be?’
Alina wished most for his failure in the challenge... and even his death.
But she wasn’t the only one who wished for his death. Marek wished for it even more.
Although it seemed Caelen had just sat there with his eyes closed the entire time without making any moves, to Marek, it was different.
Marek had wanted to leave for a while now. But he didn’t dare move. A deadly killing intent had locked onto him from Caelen! It was like a beam of bloody light pressing down on him! He couldn’t move. He couldn’t even breathe properly.
He hadn’t expected that a simple assassination of someone like Caelen could turn into this.
Just then, Caelen opened his eyes and stood.
The whole class reacted as if he were the center of everything and his every movement sent ripples through them.
The Caelen of yesterday, no matter how one looked at it, just couldn’t be compared to the one standing in front of them.
"Lead the way," Caelen told Alina.
And she did.
Kolu and Marek stood directly behind him, both expressionless but each lost in their own thoughts. Only then did the rest of the class follow behind.
They left Class Thirteen behind. Caelen set the pace, and it was measured, neither fast nor slow.
Students and instructors seemed to have no classes at this time of day, and they all came out to watch them, most of them already hurrying toward the training arena.
Kolu was updating Caelen. "Instructor Hadrian is the instructor of Class Sixty-Seven. As you know, the number behind a class is not a rank. It’s all random. The true ranking for classes is the Star Condense Scroll, which contains ranks from one to ten, with one being the highest rank a class can achieve and ten being the weakest." Get faster updates on novelping.com.
Although Kolu was speaking to Caelen, his voice carried throughout the whole class, as his intention was to ’teach’ the newcomers.
"The Star Condense ranking has real, tangible effects on the Academy. It’s why our Class Thirteen can only receive such poor resources. Even our allocated class can’t get enough essence for training. It affects the type of secret techniques we can get and which level of the library we can study at. It affects everything.
"Anyway, Class Sixty-Seven is ranked eighth in the Star Condense ranking."
Kolu smiled softly. "What makes a class strong or weak in the ranking? It’s the strength of the students. How many Bound Essence cultivators do they have? How strong are they? What about the Unbound? How many Ascendants does the class have? How strong are they? How strong is the instructor?
"It’s also more complex than that. How many students from each class dominate which Hall? Which Influence? Also, how are they contributing to the Academy and the war? Are they doing well in their missions outside?"
"Ultimately, it can be considered the raw strength of a class."
"And why is it important? Why take the ranking so seriously? It’s because, although this is an Academy for learning, it is also a military camp that fights directly against the Savage Wilderness. Strength is the only hard currency here."
By this time, they had already walked off the lecture grounds and entered the busy streets before making their way to the fighting arena.
"Class Sixty-Seven has twenty-three Bound, seven Unbound, and one Ascendant, who is Instructor Hadrian," Kolu explained.
By this time, they had already entered the arena through one of its numerous gates. The arena was truly enormous. It was divided into different sections used for different purposes, from closed-door training to open training, as well as personal or large-scale competitions.
On a normal day, Class Thirteen entering the arena wouldn’t have caused a ripple, but now, the challenge had already spread throughout the whole Academy.
It wasn’t because of Instructor Hadrian. Beside the colossal Academy, hundreds of Instructor Hadrians wouldn’t even cause a ripple.
But Caelen was different. He was a direct descendant of an Upper Sicon family. No matter how useless he was, his family’s influence in this world was simply that great! Even though it was declining, it was still that powerful.
There was also Young Master Kolu, whose prestige even outmatched Caelen’s! This would also be his first public match outside the classroom. How could people not pay attention?
The significance of winning or losing was different. Everyone, directly or indirectly, was paying attention to this seemingly simple challenge.
Even more so for those outside the Academy.
And that was why Kolu had remarked that something small had now become something big.
Although Caelen had always made a fool of himself, he had never done so like this in public. Would he really dare to accept the challenge and drag what remained of his family’s name into the mud?
But seeing him in the Academy... he really dared!
And what was Young Master Kolu doing here with him?
All of this was causing the whole Academy to buzz. The arena started filling up.
Caelen ignored everything and simply went to sit in the stands prepared for them while they waited for Class Sixty-Seven to arrive.
"Out of the seven Unbound of Class Sixty-Seven, three are outstanding. Mireia, Tiran, and Soren. It’s said that they have almost completely built their Primordial Ground. They are at the peak of Unbound cultivation."
"Hmm." That was Caelen’s only response.
"Caelen, are you really going to accept the challenge?"
Just then, a soft voice filled with warmth reached his ears, gentle and soothing, with a graceful lilt.
Caelen’s girlfriend has arrived.