Olivia found herself floating in space with nothing but the vastness of an eternal universe. Her calm mind was now in a disarray, trying to make a sense of what was happening to her.
"Did academy master send me here? What is this place and why am I here?"
She tried to move but her sense of direction was messed up and she didn't know what space was. That was when a dignified hollowed voice spoke to her in this desolate void.
"Olivia Winterice. You have come to this place to seek refuge, yet your heart and mind seek out power. The power to change your fate and assemble it on your own will because you find it despising that those who are in power are the only ones worthy to shape their destiny."
The words sounded meaningful to Olivia. She didn't expect that her inner desires would be recognized like this easily. Her eyes darted around but she couldn't trace where the voice came from.
It was both in one place yet everywhere at the same time.
"I only want the power to protect myself and live the life I wanted to! What is wrong for a woman like me to dream and be ambitious?!", Olivia retorted.
As if satisfied, the voice replied in an intrigued tone, "Very well then, Olivia Winterice. Since you seek out power, power will come to you. But know that such strength is accompanied by responsibilities you have to take, and the rules you have to remember."
"The Heavenly Magic Academy revolves its ideologies around the Five Tenets that has been passed for eons you cannot dare to imagine. A violation of any of these and you will receive a punishment worthy of death."
"Then bring it on!", Olivia urged the voice to continue.
A subtle smirk resounded, "Open your eyes and perk your ears well, Olivia Winterice."
Olivia's body suddenly launched forward like a jet plane moving at supersonic speed.
"Urgh! What's happening?", she fretted. Things got out of hand and she didn't know if she was still being tested or not.
Amidst her frustrations, an image appeared in the distance. A robed man was overlooking a group of smaller figures beneath a mountain. It was no different to Eluard and the stone statue from the Altar of Rites.
His eyes were glowing in a golden hue, scrutinizing each figure with great detail. She stopped when her body was close to it, then the voice from before spoke again.
"All beings and all things are equal to the eyes unblinded to the truth."
Her body was launched to another image. This time, two figures were standing with their backs facing one another.
The one on the left had muscular arms and a wide grin plastered on its face. The world behind him was smothered in fire and wars that dyed the lands in red.
The other one had a serene expression with its eyes closed. His world was rather peaceful and everyone lived in paradise.
Olivia could feel the purity of the right figure's morality, and the ruthlessness in the left figure's brutality, affecting her emotions and viewpoint in life to a great extent.
"Strength solves the problems of the world. Righteous discipline and personality equally do the same as well."
Her body was then pulled to another side, showing a figure with both of its hands crossing its chest. It felt like the person swore something in their hearts, yet never revealed the intent behind it.
"The secrets of one's heart must remain to themselves."
The next image was a balancing scale in which the right scale was pulled down below. On top of it was the human brain which Olivia couldn't make sense of. After all, she had yet to know what that symbol signified.
The left scale which was pulled up had a heart shape floating above it.
"The heart sways one's sentiments. The mind sways one's destiny."
As the image distorted, her body was finally pulled back at the starting position. Above her head was a surreal figure that looked exactly like her.
She was sitting in a lotus position and something seemed to have been drawn out of her body. It was her soul, her spirit, the immaterial manifestation of one's self.
"Only through death can we achieve eternal peace."
As the last phrase was narrated, the void collapsed under Olivia's body. She started rotating in place until it became faster before she blacked out and lost consciousness.
…
Heavenly Magic Academy.
Eluard glanced at the two beams of light that shrouded the bodies of Emi and Olivia. They were currently afloat with their head bent upward.
[ Integrating system panels to the newly enrolled students. This will take a while. The system will notify the host if the process is completed. ]
Eluard sighed in relief. He was just following the system's script out of memory.
'Sooner or later, I'll have to do it myself.'
He wasn't good at communicating with other people so he was rather nervous about talking with them by himself.
'Ah, wait. I have forgotten something important.'
Now that he was about to have a student, the matter of teaching them magic came into his mind.
'Have I...?'
He immediately ran to the public library to read more books about magic cultivation. He dared to forget his responsibility as a teacher to the newly enrolled students. The system would surely punish him if he couldn't provide the services he advertised.
Eluard felt punching himself for being so stupid of wanting to gain new students when he couldn't even teach them his current set of knowledge. Although the first special task required him to read books, it was mostly about the history and demography of Aludia with only a little introduction about the knighthood and magic system of its inhabitants.
'Fuck, it feels like cramming for an exam for the next day! System, I need your help right now!'
[ Filtering books based on host's requirements. ]
The system then displayed a list of books Eluard needed to read and understand in order to teach his incoming students about magic cultivation.
'3-35 books? No time for complaining! Time to read!'
As the negligent academy master crammed the magical cultivation books in the public library, a different scene transpired in a secluded village in the Morning Star Empire.
Two people in peasant clothes walked carefully on a large dirt road. They wore scarves that hid half of their face and covered their head.
One of them was a hunchback old man with a low stature.
"Prince Lucan, this is the Huasha village. The people here are discreet and will allow us to remain hidden for a long time.", he whispered to the young man beside him.
A row of boats parked on the shoreline of a large river nearby. Some fishermen were readying to embark while others were settling in after a rough fishing session.
"Huasha village. I wonder why is this village a bit familiar to me.", Lucan muttered.
"Prince, it's the village of that Jinmu who defeated you long ago.", the old man answered his confusion.
Lucan stopped walking and stared at his steward with a dumbfounded expression, "Uncle Mer, are you serious? You directed me to that bastard's home village? Don't you think we'd be in big trouble if someone recognizes us?"
"Prince, don't worry, they won't.", Uncle Mer's persuasion didn't settle Lucan's worries.
A village guard noticed them and reprimanded, "Hey, you two there. Why are you whispering around yourselves? Are you into something?"
His sharp spear and wooden shield were ready to deal with any troublemakers inside Huasha village. Uncle Mer approached the guard and handed him a pouch of money.
The guard snorted and beckoned them to continue, "Don't make any funny business around."
"See, prince. Wasn't hard now, was it?", Uncle Mer winked at Lucan.
They proceeded to go further into the village without any interference. Lucan eyed the residents here carefully.
When they arrived at the central area of the village, a man blocked their way while holding a fan in his left hand.
A cold breeze went by them, fluttering the man's ponytailed hair to the air.
"Prince Lucan, I didn't know you have missed me that much."
Sarcasm and anger filled his voice.
Lucan recognized the person, "Jinmu Lin, I'm not here to fight you."
Jinmu shook his head in disapproval, "Then what are you here for? To see how far I have fallen to the pit after you destroyed my magic root? Aren't you a bit too shameless? You should realize on whose territory you are now, Prince Lucan Hermes!"
He waved the hand holding the fan and signaled. Spears were pointed at the two as the villagers surrounded them with hostility.
Lucan was about to say something when he realized that Jinmu was holding a familiar white envelope in his right hand.
'Was he invited to the academy too?'
It spelled trouble to Lucan who had great enmity against Jinmu.
"What now, Prince Lucan? Didn't expect this, did you?!", Jinmu taunted. He wouldn't dare to forget the day when Lucan sent a group of mask men to assault him and destroy his magic root in public. That day ended his ambitions and brought nothing but despair to him and his family ever since then.
Now, he could deal with Lucan here whatever he wanted. It didn't matter if the royal family were to take revenge. Jinmu needed to return the favor no matter the cost.
"Capture them!", Jinmu ordered.
The guards were to pounce when Lucan took out his white envelope and displayed it in front of Jinmu's eyes. Uncle Mer glanced and was curious as to what it was.
"You! How do you have that?!", Jinmu widened his eyes. The village guards stopped moving, wondering what was so special about the envelope that flustered their young master. In Jinmu's mind, the same white envelope landed on the side of his bed after he woke up earlier.
Although he has briefly heard of the fabled magic academy during his time at the Morning Star City, Jinmu thought he was just dreaming and that reality has yet to kick in.
"I have met with the academy master, Jinmu. Heavenly Magic Academy is real and if you dare stop me now, things aren't going to end well for the both of us.", Lucan threatened.
Jinmu narrowed his eyes and contemplated on what to do. There was a possibility that Lucan's threatening held some legitimacy. The envelope in his right hand held the answer to all his questions.
Before he could decide, a loud cry resounded from the entrance of the village. Lucan could feel a tremendous chivalric will pressuring them from afar.
"Ah!"
Bodies and blood were thrown into the air. Their bodies had deep scratch marks all over. It resembled that of a canine predator like those from a lion or a tiger.
A scarred man haughtily walked into the fray as if the village guards were of no problem to him. On his right shoulder was an imprinted face of a dark wolf, baring its fangs to those who looked at it.
Dark miasma surrounded him. It was his released chivalric will.
'He's the source of that pressure! And an imprint, I see. He must be a higher blade knight, at least in the consolidation realm.', Lucan slowly stepped back and hid the envelope from sight.
The scarred man smoked before grinning at Lucan.
"Prince Lucan Hermes! I thought you were smarter than I worried, but it seems like your younger brother fares better in this aspect! Because you have disappointed me, I will punish you to death!"
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