Sora watched as Kara led the students to a separate section of the school. One they had prepared together.
When he noticed a bubble surrounding the building, he narrowed his eyes. "She already covered the area with a ti bubble. From the feel of it, ti flows fifty tis slower in there. A year inside equals about a week outside."
'This is the best opportunity for them to create their own Supre skills, but if they spend years inside of the ti bubble, it'll create a bunch of problems.'
'We've stopped our aging by managing life force and using body-forging techniques... But the kids are still below level ten and know little about body forging and mana. If they don't learn how to stop aging quickly, they'll grow old in re weeks. Sending them here at such a low level is dangerous. I hope you know what you're doing, Kara.'
Even with his concerns, Sora supported her completely, offering his skills and knowledge to help.
-----------------------------------------
After wrapping up a lesson on body-forging, Sora left the apprentice section, only for a notification to interrupt his thoughts.
[Emily Frekk: I left the tower a few hours ago and heard you've gotten quite famous while I was gone. Want to co to Guild HQ and talk?]
Sora sighed. He felt far too lazy to comply and started thinking of a polite excuse to decline until another ssage popped up.
[Emily Frekk: Kim told where your school is. If you don't co, I'll knock on your door instead.]
Shaking his head, Sora smiled. "Persistent as always." He quickly sent a reply.
[Ralph Eden: On my way.]
Monts later, he arrived at the ARAM headquarters. Familiar faces greeted him, but one stood out.
The receptionist, soone he only vaguely rembered, lit up the mont she saw him.
"Mr. Eden, welco back to the Headquarters!" she bead. "We're honored to have you as part of [ARAM]."
Sora blinked, slightly thrown off by the enthusiasm. 'What's with the warm welco?' Still, he nodded politely. "Thanks. I have an appointnt with Emily."
She eagerly pointed him toward Kim's office. Still puzzled by her reaction, Sora let it slide and headed toward the guildmaster's office.
He knocked on the office door.
"Co in," Emily called.
Sora stepped inside, greeted by her familiar grin. She was sitting with her legs on Kim's desk like she owned the place.
"It's been a while," Sora said first.
Emily leaned back, looking at the ceiling. "You say that like you've been busy."
"I have been."
Her grin widened. "So I've heard. Words travel fast when the rising star, Ralph Eden, opens a school in the middle of nowhere."
"It's Kara's project, really," Sora replied. "But yeah, I'm part of it now."
Emily tilted her head, looking in his direction. "Isn't there a saying about this? Behind every great man stands a woman, or sothing like that? Either way, you're a famous and successful man now and Kara is your—"
Sora rolled his eyes and interrupted her. "So, what's so urgent it couldn't wait for to finish my vacation?"
Emily removed her legs from the desk and leaned forward. "Oh, I just wanted to see your face. But since you're here…" She grabbed three stacks of paper and dropped them in front of him. "We've got guild matters to deal with. I need to know if I can count on you to help ."
Sora let out a weary sigh and took a seat across from her. 'Apparently soone doesn't believe in the concept of vacation…'
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He grabbed a stack and flipped through it. After reading through a few pages, his brow furrowed. "Guild applications? Why are you showing these? I'm just a random mber. That's your and Kim's job."
Emily giggled. "Not anymore. You probably know that by now, the news about the Ascension Tower spread not only to specialists, but also to the masses. After your performance in the tower—and with Kara's, Kim's, and my own contributions—[ARAM] has exploded in popularity." She pointed at the stack he was holding. "Every one of those applicants ntioned Ralph Eden as their reason for joining. Most are even willing to relocate to Seoul just to be in the sa guild as you."
Sora stared at her, stunned. "You're joking."
She shook her head. "Not at all."
Letting out a heavy sigh, Sora set the stack down and reached for the second pile. Flipping through the pages, he quickly realized what they were: letters. Thousands of letters.
He blinked, incredulous. "Are these... fan letters? Seriously?"
Emily grinned, clearly enjoying his confusion. "Seriously. Thousands of people reaching out to ask for interviews, share their admiration, or... well, confess their love. What I find hilarious is that most of them don't even know what you look like."
Sora didn't seem pleased and asked, "Why are you showing this?"
Emily shrugged her shoulders, "What do you want to do with them? I was going to forward them to you anyway."
Sora rubbed his temple. "I suddenly rembered I have urgent things to do back at the school…"
Emily laughed, shaking her head. "Nice try. But you're not running away today. Take a look at the last pile."
Reluctantly, Sora reached for the third stack of papers and started flipping through them. His brow furrowed as he read through the contents. Reports of battles, territorial losses, and calls for reinforcents painted a sad state of the world.
Noticing his expression darken, Emily sighed. "Now you see the problem. The war is escalating everywhere. And as a level 180 player, you're restricted from participating in anything smaller than Tier 3 wars."
Sora nodded. "I'm aware of this."
Her face beca serious, "The system's restrictions an you'd be forced to watch as the outer regions crumble. Lower-level players will suffer, and there's nothing you can do directly to stop it."
Sora remained silent, thinking 'Except that I can reset my level any day ... And help in any war if I wanted...'
Emily's gaze softened. "There is a way to help, though. If you're willing to commit to it. Your school, combined with Kara's talents, could be the answer. If you and Kara focus on developing talents from all over the world, you could raise an army of capable players to fill the gaps."
Sora frowned. "I know what we're capable of, and I know how fast we can help people grow. But I don't want the academy to turn into so military training ground. That's not what we wanted to create."
Emily crossed her arms. "I understand how you feel, but let's be real. We don't have the luxury to be idealistic right now. You've seen those reports. We're losing almost everywhere. If your academy can produce stronger players who can turn the tide, isn't it worth the effort?"
Sora looked away, his mind racing with conflicting thoughts.
'I don't want to participate in wars anymore, but if we don't do anything, won't there be millions of victims?'
Emily broke the silence. "If you accept my proposal, and if we manage to find a solution to turn the tides without going against your wishes and Kara's, I can give you sothing in exchange."
He glanced at her, raising an eyebrow. "What are you thinking about?"
Emily pointed to the chair she had been sitting in. "Kim."
Sora blinked. "Kim?"
She nodded. "Yes. You might not realize it, but Kim has a top-tier skill set when it cos to nurturing talent. He can turn any player with potential and the will to grow into a powerhouse."
Sora's curiosity was piqued as he listened to Emily.
"Think about it. If you brought Kim in as a teacher at the academy, it would be a ga-changer. His ability would complent Kara's talents perfectly. Combine that with your mastery over skills and powers, and the students would have no bottlenecks in their progress. With the three of you working together, their training speeds would skyrocket."
Sora shook his head. "Why are we discussing this here and now? Why aren't Kara and Kim involved in this conversation? They're the ones who'll be doing most of the work."
Emily giggled. "I wanted to talk to you first, to gauge whether there's even a chance of this happening. You can discuss it with Kara before the four of us sit down to finalize anything. As for Kim, he's currently busy trying to capture a level 180 dungeon. He should be back tomorrow."
Noticing the confusion on his face, she added, "You'll understand what that ans soon enough."
Sora left the guild headquarters shortly after the conversation, heading toward the academy.
'Emily wants to turn the Sky Academy into a training ground... I know she's not a greedy person and shouldn't be doing this for so personal reason, but weaponizing a branch of the school sounds weird.'
'But if we don't help the kingdom win at least so of these battles… we'll regret it.'
'I might have to reset my level and win so wars incognito. It'll buy ti for others to grow.'
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