He got up from his bed, and in just a few steps forward, his entire body gave out beneath him and he collapsed hard onto the stone floor with a sickening thud.
The impact drove the air from his lungs, but more concerning was the complete numbness that had seized every part of his body.
"What is this... numbness? Did making that one rune take that much toll on my body?"
His whole body did not feel anything at all, as if the nerves connecting his limbs to his mind had been severed. The sensation was terrifying in its own, a void where sensation should have been.
He tried to move his fingers and felt nothing in response, only the knowledge that his brain was sending signals that weren’t being received.
"No, I can’t fall unconscious just from making the most basic runes. Aaaaaaghh!"
He forced himself to get up through sheer willpower alone, screaming as his body protested every single movent with waves of pain as sensation began to return. The numbness was fading slowly but painfully, feeling like pins and needles stabbing through his entire fra.
The rune inscription must have consud more energy than I anticipated. Creating even simple magical patterns requires drawing from your cultivation reserves directly.
He staggered to his feet and leaned heavily against the wall, breathing heavy and waiting for his body to stabilize. After several minutes of standing still, the sensation finally returned, and the stabbing pain subsided to a manageable ache.
"Well, shall we return to work now?"
Despite everything his body was telling him, he managed to attend his classes and then his chores imdiately afterward. The effort required was imnse, but he pushed through it knowing that falling behind would raise questions he couldn’t answer.
While cleaning a stone tablet in the courtyard, his mind wandered to the requirents he still needed to fulfill at this academy. The rules were strict about attendance, especially for students as low-ranked as him.
I will have to attend today’s classes. Hmm, shit, it’s necessary to at least attend one of each class per week according to academy rules.
The other students working alongside him gave him a wide berth, aware of his recent victory. There was respect there now, mixed with wariness— that ca from witnessing unexpected strength.
Inside the lecture hall, the other students stared at him as if he was so kind of enigma that defied their understanding. He was from a noble duke house just like them, after all, carrying the sa bloodline prestige and family weight, but his other siblings had long since outshined him in every conceivable way possible.
Their accomplishnts made his re presence seem like a joke, a mistake of inheritance that the universe was slowly correcting.
The lecture hall itself was spacious, with high ceilings and tall windows that let in natural light.
Cale chose a seat near the middle, trying to be visible enough to satisfy attendance requirents but not prominent enough to draw excessive attention.
He sat down in his chosen seat and felt a gaze boring into the back of his head.
So it’s him again. Of course.
Zeke Hugh, second son of a minister of the court and walking embodint of privileged entitlent. His father was a war general from the last decade, a man of high military accomplishnt and strategic brilliance, but Zeke himself was a fucking jealous prick obsessed with marks and examination scores. He had been in a constant beef with Cale ever since Cale had scored full marks in all subjects of the entrance examination—a perfect score that had apparently wounded his ego.
Zeke represented everything about the old system that Cale despised, and his contempt for Zeke was equally profound.
Cale looked at him again and thought- So this is one of the geniuses of the continent. No wonder we are all dood.
The professor entered monts later, striding through the door, and for the love of god, she was from a branch family of Zeke’s household. Her na was Rafaela Hugh, and she carried herself with the confidence of soone who’d lived a life of unquestioned privilege and accumulated power.
Her eyes scanned the lecture hall with assessnt, taking in each student and making instant judgnts about their worth.
His family was one of those who ran away when calamities struck one after the other. If I had been disowned in this life too, he would’ve been the one to marry Fiora.
Rafaela began her lecture without preamble, voice cutting through the assembled students like a blade. "For the next three years, you’re all my students. I know we say all students are equal, but I will tell you directly—in this world, equality doesn’t exist. Since new lands like the eastern continents and even new realms are being discovered, once you leave here, you will understand the hardships you’ll face."
She continued. "The real cultivation sects are already on the move. On one side, they show kinship, trying to make friendly relations, while secretly trying to get us all under their influence."
Since she was in charge of battle strategies and technique refining, she taught various critical things, including how cultivation sects had entirely different ranking systems than the academy used. Her knowledge was vast and detailed.
"There are three main realms—mortal realm, spirit realm, and divine realm. After those co the ascendant realm and then the immortal realm. According to their scriptures, there are even more higher realms one can pursue after these, consisting of the chaos realm, supre realm, lower heaven realm, and finally upper heaven realms."
What... there are even more things I didn’t know about coming to light here. Thank god I decided to stay for now. She’s a battle veteran too, so she might actually be useful.
She continued her explanation. "Each realm consists of nine ranks or levels. These are apprentice, warrior, master, grandmaster, lord, king, peak, supre, and fusion. Though they can just be called rank one through nine for simplicity. Only realms under the immortal realm have nine ranks, while all the higher ones have only five—early, interdiate, middle, advanced, and peak."
But one thing she said struck Cale directly, cutting deep into his core understanding of the world.
"A low core person can never get strong. He will always be a bottom feeder, no matter how hard he trains."
That was true for in my past life, but not now.
"Give up the thought of trying to be so battle commander or leader. There are limits to even nobleborns like you. Your birth, your position, these things matter more than you realize in determining your ceiling."
But she was wrong about sothing critical. Cale could recognize many of the strongest legion leaders right there in that class of sixty students. The first ones to flee when the calamities ca were the teachers and the staff, leaving the students to survive through the continuous attacks that would reshape their world.
Cale raised his hand slowly, and Rafaela gave him an annoyed look that made it abundantly clear she wasn’t appreciating the interruption to her planned lecture.
"What is your question?"
"You said earlier that we are the only continent left with an aristocracy system intact. Is that statent actually correct?"
Rafaela’s expression beca condescending. "Yes, we are the only ones remaining with a noble system. The other continents abandoned their aristocratic structures centuries ago when they embraced more egalitarian approaches."
"Professor, what actual proof do we have that we won’t get attacked by these groups who smile and speak of kinship while harboring their own ambitions? How can we trust their friendly gestures?"
Rafaela scoffed with disdain, as if explaining sothing obvious to a particularly slow child. "You’re still just a kid, aren’t you? Political relations operate on principles you’re too young to understand. They break in seconds when interests conflict, yes, but that’s how the ga has always been played."
Cale continued. "You say that with such certainty, but have you actually seen their forces firsthand? What about organizations like the Heaven Sacred Azure Sect, the Blood Demon Sect, Silver Blood Bird Sect, even the Spirit Gulf Sect and Heavenly Lustrous Star Sect, let alone the various northern sects beyond our borders? Do you have any estimation of their actual military power?"
Rafaela laughed, a dismissive sound that echoed through the lecture hall. "Haha, are you making things up to prove your point now, kid? Such sect nas have never been heard of in any official records or historical docunts. You’re inventing nas to sound knowledgeable."
"That’s exactly what I’m trying to say, professor. You can’t even guess at or estimate their forces properly because you don’t have access to that information. And here’s sothing else—there are around three more continents with aristocracy systems still alive right now, hidden beyond our borders and unknown to most people here. We’re not nearly as isolated as the propaganda suggests."
But they won’t last any longer than three years. The calamities will sweep through them like fire through dry grass.
The other students around him started talking among themselves, their curiosity piqued by Cale’s bold statents. But Rafaela couldn’t believe what she was hearing, and her expression hardened.
"What proof do you have to support these wild claims you’re making? Because right now, you sound like a delusional child making up stories."
Is this the ti I say you’re a frog in a well looking up at the sky, thinking that’s all there is? That might be too blunt for this situation.
"And regarding that commoner and low-level thing you said earlier in your lecture—wasn’t the Fla Sovereign also a commoner who rose from nothing to that exact elevated status? Are you really claiming to be unaware of this historical precedent?"
The Fla Sovereign was a count of a defeated kingdom who had been a commoner before his sheer strength and perseverance helped him rise in both power and social status. It was a well-docunted historical event that contradicted everything Rafaela was saying.
"You’re forgetting sothing crucial that changes the entire narrative," Rafaela countered, with an edge of cruelty. "That ’traitor’ sold out his own country for personal strength. He abandoned his people to chase power. And he was probably the only commoner in the past two hundred years to ever advance that high. He’s an exception, not a rule that can be replicated."
"It’s all the ga of perseverance in the end, miss. Once you reach a high enough stage, things like country and nation seem too small and insignificant. Just moving ahead becos all that matters. Isn’t he a pri example for many people who want to transcend their circumstances? Why contradict yourself now by saying it’s impossible for anyone else?"
Rafaela’s patience finally snapped. "Smartass, do you realize you’re taking up valuable lecture ti just to say so made-up things? Cale Midgar, right? Let check your logs here."
She opened the attendance register and began flipping through records, her eyes scanning the information. Then she chuckled to herself with clear amusent.
"Hah, here it is. Soone with no proper core established yet, one win and eighty-four losses recorded in your combat record. With your obviously limited talent, I doubt even the so-called sects you nad will accept you. You’re even inferior to a commoner in terms of actual achievent."
Cale felt sothing burning inside him that wouldn’t be extinguished by mockery.
"Again with that shit about defending the gifted and sacrificing the diocre. If you knew even just a bit about the outside world, which this so-called king and emperor have been trying to seclude from us—"
The student beside him pulled his arm urgently, yanking it out of its socket as he tried to signal him to stop before he said sothing that would get him expelled or worse.
Cale realized he’d already said far too much. His emotions had gotten the better of him, and that was a mistake he couldn’t afford to make again.
He sat down, forcing himself to remain silent.
Rafaela turned back to face the class, and her expression was barely contained fury. She clenched her teeth. Then she continued the lesson again as if the entire confrontation hadn’t happened, moving on to the next topic.
I got heated again. Whenever I hear that emperor’s na, I fucking want to... no, let’s leave it for now.
The Emperor could be said to be a genius kind of dictator—soone who was smart and capable but whose decisive choices to isolate the nation had ultimately been the reason they never knew about their true opponents until it was far too late.
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