Baizhu Star, surface, Trevela, City Council Hall.
A pale blue Ice Crystal Beetle slowly settled in front of the door. This expensive and rare mount was a symbol of High Mages, attracting many bystanders to stop and watch. For the usually deserted City Council, it was like a bomb had gone off.
All the governnt officials stopped their work and hurried downstairs to greet the man who alighted from the Ice Crystal Beetle. His gray Ministry of Education uniform seed especially eye-catching at this mont.
"Professor Atkez, what brings you here all of a sudden?!"
Mayor ngfeir Wellan hurried forward from a distance, with a big smile plastered on his face:
"You didn’t even say a word, I didn’t have the chance to clean up for you. Co to my office, I have a batch of Narrative-level Civilization tea there—"
"Let’s put the tea aside for the mont,"
Atkez waved his hand and, led by ngfeir, went straight to a private office. He dismissed the servants and secretary and set up a soundproof barrier. After making sure everything was correct, he began:
"Mayor ngfeir, I’ll get straight to the point—I am here on an urgent matter that Minister Balkmon entrusted you to complete."
ngfeir’s eyelid twitched, and his eyebrows furrowed slightly as he tentatively asked:
"Could it be about the previous issue with the ’Adventurous Saintess’...?"
"Vellia’s issue is no longer important. Currently, we have no idea what the situation with the Eye of the Galaxy is. Please cooperate with our Ministry of Education to do proper ideological propaganda. Encourage young Spellcasters to ready for war and actively organize workshop leaders for tactical training."
Atkez slightly modified his wording. Balkmon’s original words were to select elites from the students to prepare for the future wars, but Atkez felt that this would bring a great negative impact, as the students were still young with bright futures ahead and lacked the psychological resilience of mature Spellcasters on the battlefield.
Even though he had softened the wording, Mayor ngfeir’s face imdiately turned ashen.
"Father of Crystal!" ngfeir said in panic: "Have we been defeated? What should we do now."
"Calm down, Your Honor Mayor, it is now the Interstellar Era, and losing one war will not determine the destruction of an entire civilization. If we can’t win one hundred tis, then we fight for another hundred years; the cosmos has all the ti."
Atkez reassured him, injecting a dose of encouragent while continuing:
"Were you reporting on a student nad ’Leoz’ before?"
"Right, you rember him. That boy truly is a genius. It’s not like there aren’t people who can score full marks in five minutes, but they are all Transcendents of the Zeta Rank, yet Leoz is just a mortal of Gamma Rank."
ngfeir’s mood visibly relaxed a lot as he spoke, and his tone beca more cheerful:
"It’s just a pity that the committee adjusted him to Baizhu Interstellar University. Might it be better if he was transferred to headquarters?"
"That’s good the way it is. The mother star is strict and the academic atmosphere is stagnant; our place is most suitable," Atkez nodded. "Right, I rember, weren’t you going to promote this student?"
"Of course! A poor farr from the backwoods, who changes his fate and creates a future for himself through exams—isn’t that the best promotional material? If it was in the Night Butterfly Federation, it would surely make many poor Outcasts envious."
As ngfeir spoke, he clapped his hands excitedly. Under his administration, Trevela managed to nurture such an outstanding student, which he saw as a great blessing. Putting resources to good use would definitely score him political points.
"We even plan to give Leoz a special scholarship. I’ve had the secretary arrange an interview already. Later on, we’ll make a docuntary and promote it. Regardless of the future, he can serve as the best role model now. Next year, White Rainbow Star will surely receive high praise from the Supre Council and get more financial allocations..."
However, Atkez’s next words shattered ngfeir’s beautiful dream.
"That being the case, cancel his special treatnt."
Atkez said gravely:
"Leoz’s situation is very sensitive. Don’t let outsiders know his identity. Downplay his identity and achievents. The Minister requires us to treat each student fairly and justly."
"But Leoz’s ergence can make many families value education even more—"
"Mayor ngfeir," Atkez pointed outside the window. "Leoz is related to ’that’..."
Confused, ngfeir looked in the direction Atkez was pointing.
He saw a statue of a deity.
ngfeir’s head buzzed, and cold sweat instantly appeared on his forehead.
"So that’s how it is..." He wiped it away with a handkerchief, his voice unnaturally stressed: "If it concerns the Deities, then secrecy is indeed not too much."
"Leoz might be a naturally bestowed deity, a sensitive matter in our tis. It’s best not to talk about it," Atkez sighed. "We didn’t let him go to the mother star because of his identity. This is a complex issue, so you need to handle it lightly. Have the Public Relations Departnt take action to downplay Leoz’s deeds as much as possible. I will take care of it in the schools—All in all, don’t let people realize that there’s a ’deity’ among us."
Sotis, the innocent is not at fault, but possession of the gem invites jeopardy. No one knows if Leoz’s current situation might attract so ill-intentioned forces. This will require observation over ti.
On the other hand, Leoz’s mysterious identity and formidable strength would definitely beco very troubleso once they were fully exposed.
The elders of the Crystal Tower didn’t want to give up on studying and observing the Deities, nor did they want Leoz to stir up trouble, so they decided it would be better to just cozy up to Leoz, stabilize his emotions, and downplay his existence—that would be sufficient.
"Understood, I’ll have the interviews and reports about Leoz canceled imdiately, and the public opinion institutions will start working right away to ensure that the people in Leoz’s hotown remain unaware of his exam results," ngfeir thought quickly and imdiately ca up with a solution.
Atkez also breathed a sigh of relief:
"That’s good, over at the school, I will forge and conceal information to lower his level of prominence."
Unfortunately, he was not very familiar with Baizhu Interstellar University. This school was not accountable to the Education Departnt but was directly governed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Minister Balkmon believed that as long as Leoz didn’t co into contact with the political figures of the Crystal Tower, everything would be fine. After all, most of those arriving here were foreigners, which suited the situation perfectly.
What Atkez could do was only to use the adjustnt system to alter Leoz’s grades to above average.
’But anyway, they’re all students from foreign nations, language and cultural barriers exist, Leoz being there shouldn’t cause any issues.’
All the countries sent their elite and noble students, which, given these individuals’ backgrounds and cultivation, should be quite beneficial to Leo. They could significantly broaden the boy’s horizons.
......................
Li Aozi’s return to campus went smoothly, with stops along the way that made the journey more like a leisurely tour.
He was entitled to such ease. Beforehand, he had researched the dia news, and the light and breezy scenery cald Li Aozi’s heart.
"It seems Baizhu’s Bureau of Education plans to downplay my identity."
Not only that, when Li Aozi opened his personal terminal and searched for news about himself in the interstellar space, he found that the articles and videos related to ’Leoz’ ’Valenkov’ were rapidly decreasing. Instead, a bunch of unknown influencers with the sa na dominated the content under the na ’Leoz’.
As a broadcaster, Li Aozi was very clear about what this indicated: restriction of reach.
Unlike the network technology on Azure Star, which essentially relied on archaeology, the Layer Abyss boasted advanced and comprehensive virtual network services. It was too easy to control public opinion. Even genuine historical tragedies could be buried directly in dangerous and deadly deep-collapse belts, making it absurdly difficult to find buried truths through the network—as hard as finding them near a black hole.
"Hmm... in the short term, this is a good thing. It seems like Baizhu has suppressed news about . Are they planning on keeping safe?"
To verify his guess, Li Aozi took out his seldom-used Information Rune, connected to the planetary network, and checked his school’s educational network.
When Li Aozi searched for his enrollnt information, a ssage promptly popped up, indicating[Suspected Privacy Violation, Disclosure Not Permitted].
"I can’t even check my own enrollnt information—interesting. It seems the upper echelons of Baizhu truly value ."
Li Aozi stroked his disguised chin as he pondered:
"What advantage do I have on ?"
"Or is it that Baizhu really lacks talents? Has the situation at the front lines beco so dire that they need to send soone of unknown origins into the fray?"
"No matter how I think about it, Baizhu Interstellar University is a university that showcases the strength of the Crystal Tower Civilization to its allies—my school life should still be relatively safe."
Li Aozi actually had a relatively good impression of the Crystal Tower Civilization. After all, in this war, the Crystal Tower had a bit more righteousness, and dealing with monotheistic civilizations like the Night Butterfly Federation didn’t align with Li Aozi’s style of conducting affairs. In a universe where inclusivity and diversity were the mainstream, sticking to that notion was seriously outdated.
Li Aozi leisurely enjoyed his trip, engaging in sightseeing and reveling in nature. Suddenly rembering sothing, he casually sent the news of his successful matriculation to the other mbers of the Aid Study Society.
First to his better acquaintance, Cadfy.
"What? Brother Leoz, you’ve already been admitted?"
"Yes, I have classes the day after tomorrow."
"That’s wonderful, I’ve already contacted Miti and the others, everyone’s results have co in, let’s go out and celebrate properly, shall we?"
"Let’s not... I don’t like places with too many people."
"Ah, co on, there won’t be many. It’ll just be us from the Aid Study Society, everyone’s busy with studying and the start of term, so not many will make it."
Li Aozi thought it over; this was part of the college experience, so he agreed:
"Alright, then."
"Great! I’ll add you to our new group chat. The last one got reported for sharing risqué images and political spam."
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