Chapter 54: Chapter 52 Behind the Scenes

Clouds tore open as a majestic ship sailed across the sky. The sun shone bright above and cast an incandescent light that danced ceaselessly.

On the ledge of the ship, staring at all this beauty through the transparent barrier, Raul yawned.

‘Why didn’t anyone tell me that flying was this boring.’ He sighed, completely forgetting all the times Tai told him it was dull.

The first day he’d certainly been enthralled by the captivating sight, but the novelty had long worn off after seven days of straight flight. He couldn’t even look down as the land appeared as a blur to his lowly Refining Realm eyes.

‘Man, I can’t even enjoy the breeze because of this damn barrier.’ He sighed again while rubbing Pip’s head. The little rat had once again escaped Ellen’s room. She was pretty much Raul’s constant companion due to Ellen’s situation.

Ellen unfortunately had both a fear of heights and bad motion sickness, leaving her pretty much incapacitated. Tai naturally spent any time he wasn’t working taking care of her.

This unfortunately did leave Raul mostly isolated and bored for the trip, seeing as he was pushed out of helping on accounts of already taking care of Marina. He didn’t mind much though, better to be bored than cleaning up Ellen’s puke.

Raul spent most of his time over the journey just numbingly staring out the wind barrier while pointedly ignoring the mixed gazes and whispers around him.

All the Examinees were relatively close in age and knew his reputation. Combined with his scandalous wedding and decision to enroll as a Refining Realm, he could imagine the kinds of gossip flying around about him. Not that he blamed them, there was nothing better to do on this flying prison.

Of course, he wouldn’t be able to do anything to them even if he did mind. Everyone else on this ship was a Spirit Ascension Realm Cultivator, at least.

“Excuse me Sir Raul, Lady Marina says it’s time for your lessons.” A man walked up and told him. He looked a little handsome, as most cultivators do, with brown hair and average height.

“Finally! I’m so bored I’ll even take studying. Thanks Milton.” Raul hoped off the ledge and stretched.

They’d restarted their knowledge lessons since Marina healed enough to talk properly two days ago. They were short as she got tired quickly, but it was at least something.

“I’ll bring lunch over for you both in a little while.” Milton added.

“Thanks, I’ll look forward to it.” Raul licked his lips in anticipation. Milton’s food wasn’t as good as Marina’s, but it was still good.

Milton was the son of one of the house elders, and the servant Marina chose from the list Tai gave her. His cultivation was at the Spirit Ascension Realm, but his combat strength was below average, and he failed to pass the exams twice. He was now over thirty and no longer had any chance of enrolling.

He’d also failed to get into the guards because his sealing talents were also lacking. Milton wasn’t a wastrel son though, he worked hard and had a pretty humble personality, he just lacked talent. The only noteworthy talent he had was his proficient cooking skills, which were exactly the reason Marina chose him.

Her time was valuable and cooking meals a grade higher than her cultivation was hard. Having someone to cook for Raul simply made her life easier. Milton’s talent for it truly was high to the extreme as well, and he could even make grade three meals, not that Raul could eat those yet.

Raul originally felt bad he couldn’t convince Matthew to come in the end, but the realization that he probably would’ve starved to death these eleven days after Marina’s injury made him realize he’d gotten lucky. It also made him think twice about the inconveniences of his extreme physique.

‘I should ask Marina to teach me cooking.’ He already knew human cooking, how much harder could immortal cooking be?

“Squeak, squeak!” Pip complained while rubbing her belly.

“Sorry, sorry. Put a little on the side for my friend here Milton, from my share.” Pip was a Spirit Ascension pet, so she could naturally eat grade two meals.

“Of course, Sir.” Milton smiled.

“Sigh, how many more days do I have to be stuck here?” Raul grumbled as he made his way to Marina’s cabin.

…

In a large room filled with monitors and mirrors, a young gentleman sat going through some papers. “We seem to have quite a good crop this year.” He spoke into the empty room enticingly.  

“Sigh, you say that every year you host Julius, and yet our Academy is still in last place.” A drawling voice sounded from a mirror, causing Julius to blush.

“Oh hush now, let Julius have his fun. What’s so special about this year Julius?” An enchanting voice played along from anther mirror.

“Ah, well, it’s not like I do this for fun.” Julius coughed into his hand embarrassedly.

“Good, then you can move on to the actual work.” The drawling voice cut in.

“Well, I wouldn’t want to keep Tia in suspense.” He said hastily, causing clicks of irritation and giggles to ring from the mirrors and monitors.

“For starters, twenty-five Enshrined and four World Holder Cultivators are enrolling!” He said with an excited chuckle.

“ehhh, that quite a lot!” A new, younger voice exclaimed.

“Indeed. At that level they no longer need to take the exam, it’s quite a haul.” A playful voice sounded.

“A bloody mistake if you ask me.” The drawling voice cut in. “There was a year where I had six World Holders, and they were all bloody useless. Too often they’ve used up their potential and become set in bad ways, they couldn’t even stack up to the Enshrined Cultivators of our school.” He continued coldly.

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“Yes, yes, we all know about your petitions to add tests for their realms, but you don’t have to bring it up now. You have poor Julius all depressed.” Tia’s enchanting voice mediated again.

“I’m not depressed Tia.” Julius objected despite his downtrodden face.

“Oh? I’m sorry Damien, it looks like I cut you off for no reason.” Tia apologized.

“Well, I wouldn’t say that.” Julius said hastily, before Damien started another rant.

“You three haven’t changed from when you were students.” An older voice sighed tiredly from a monitor. “I don’t care much for the realms of the examinees. What of the professions young Julius? Are there any talented craftsmen this year? Anything worth my time coming?” He asked hopefully.

“Ah, well one of the World Holders I was talking about is apparently some sort of talisman genius. Well, that word gets thrown around too easily outside, but this one is rather special. He’s completed a marriage with the Norn Family.” Julius played his trump card.

The monitors turned restless at those words.

“Ho? Maybe this one might actually be worth something.” Damian muttered. Everyone here was familiar with the Norn Household’s modus operandi. 

All the examinees had one thing in common, they were below the age of thirty. At that age an engagement with the Norn Family wasn’t rare, but an actual marriage was extremely rare. 

It was more profitable for the Norn Family to complete the marriages after their tenure at the academy drew out the couple’s potential. That way they could ensure they were forming a connection to good stock and drive up the price for the contract simultaneously.

“That’s indeed interesting, but it doesn’t tell me whether I should spectate or not. They’re not taking the exams after all.” The old voice sounded bored.

“Of course, sorry Professor.” Julius apologized before hastily reorganizing his files. “We have quite a few interesting True Pillar examinees too. Quite a few of them have some fame to them and many opted to take the elite exam. Some even earned monikers, like Ashen Wind, White Death, Shining Ocean, Wild Spear, Ephemeral Mask, Arm-“

“Ephemeral Mask! That kid from the Vault Family, the son of the Patriarch?” A new, feminine and cold voice leaked from a monitor.

Julius gulped as many monitors and mirrors flickered to life waiting on his answer. He hastily went over the files while dealing with the sudden huge pressure in the room.

“Um, yes. According to his file he is from the Vault Family. They’re a Viscount Household with their only branch being here in the south.” He continued in confusion, not understanding what was so special about this small Household.

Animosity poured out of several of the monitors, startling Julius.

“Is he taking the elite exam as well?” The previous cold voice asked. Julius nodded quickly, sweat trickling down his face. “Snort. A mere viscount house dares to aim for elite on entry?” The voice snorted in disdain.

“I feel our selection of elites has been too loose lately, letting anyone think they can just shoot for it. A motion to increase the exam difficulty has been on the fence for ages now without any progress, I propose we increase the difficulty of this elite examination as a test run to see how viable it is.”

Julius watched dumbfounded as this sudden proposal was met with massive agreement.

“Hold on a minute!” A fiery voice called out loudly, drawing the attention of the room. “Have you forgotten that our school exists to help loose cultivators and those without much backing? They won’t stand a chance if we increase the difficulty as suggested!”

“Believe me, I’m far more aware of the Academy’s creed than a greenhorn like you can possibly imagine.” The cold voice turned its condescension on the fiery one. “However, the results don’t lie. We’ve been lenient and now our academy ranks last of the four. We should be working to pull those students up to the level of elites during their attendance of our school, not lowering the bar and giving them a false badge upon entry.”

Many agreed with the cold voices statements. They were the ones who usually pushed for the increase in difficulty. They wanted to recapture the Southern Academy’s glory days and put the other three in their place. Since one of the bigger neutral factions decided to make a move, they didn’t mind running with it to get their way.

The fiery voice wanted to respond that the Academy’s job was to raise their students, not use them to chase clout, but he was stopped by others from his faction. Some of them knew more about the cold voice’s faction, it was better to take a step back her and not push them to join the aggressive faction.

With no more dissenting voices, the proposal passed without more issue.

“See to it Julius.” The cold voice spoke once more before their monitor went dark. Many others quickly followed.

“…What just happened?” Tia whispered in confusion.

“Sigh, you kids are too young to know about these matters. Karma must always be paid in the end, it’s just a pity the bill falls on the wrong head. Still, the proposal itself isn’t bad, even if it comes from impure motives. That said, I won’t tolerate any unfair riggings against one student Young Julius. Ensure that the exams remain fair to all participants as you increase the difficulty, I will be watching.” The old voice also signed off, his enthusiasm for the exams spoiled.

“…Why do I feel like my workload just increased tenfold?” Julius fell back in his chair exhausted.

“Snort, this wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t try to brag.” Damian mocked unsympathetically.

“Now, now. If they found out later, they might’ve still blamed Julius anyway, so this might be a good thing.” Tia pointed out.

“Ugh, it’s scary that was a legitimate possibility. Could you guys help me come with new ideas for the elite exams?” He asked pleadingly.

“Figure it out yourself.” Damian signed off without hesitation.

“Sorry Julius, my apprentice just got back today, and I promised them I’d teach them a couple new skills.” Tia apologized but left just as swiftly.

“Ugh, why me?” Julius cursed as he struggled to think of ways to make changes to an exam starting in just six days.

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