Chapter 959: Chapter 827: Glory
Qu Jianlei heard Xiang Xue’s words and realized that this guy graduated from Chaoyang Military Academy.
Chaoyang Academy may not rank among the top four in higher education, but it is roughly in the top ten imperial academies, surely one of the top four military academies.
He glanced at the other three, "What’s your opinion, you three?"
To his surprise, both the Paranoid and the Old Lady agreed to let her join.
They both had entered the Celestial Hook Enigma Mansion before, but that was ages ago, and Xiang Xue obviously knows more about recent changes.
The taxi did not head directly to the Mist Mansion but chose another direction, midway switching to a motorcycle from the Storage Talisman.
After transferring, everyone became nocturnal, as there was no choice; there were too many satellites over Celestial Blade, and many patrols.
The five of them took four days to reach the vicinity of Mist Mansion, and when they were more than a hundred kilometers away, they stored away the motorcycle.
This area is desolate, not even trees, only hardy little grass, no more than ten centimeters tall, and very sparse.
Under these circumstances, the five had to be extremely careful to avoid being discovered, getting closer became even harder.
The control system outside Mist Mansion is independent, even Little Lake finds it difficult to infiltrate.
Qu Jianlei also worried that this control system might have artificial intelligence, only allowing it to hack into a few watches.
Since they couldn’t affect the opponent’s surveillance, they had to be extra cautious.
But soon, Little Lake brought good news.
In a few days, new interns will arrive at Mist Mansion; the scene should become relatively lively.
Next, the five could only inch forward, trying not to attract attention.
In three days, they advanced just over fifty kilometers, going forward would be even slower.
Fortunately, that day, two buses arrived, bringing more than a hundred teachers, students, and Guardians.
However, the guards of Mist Mansion are experienced and did not relax their vigilance on the surroundings.
Clearly, over the years, too many people have tried to fish in troubled waters here.
Qu Jianlei and his team only managed to advance twenty kilometers, without much more achievement.
Luckily, after another two days, a second batch of intern students arrived, from Imperial Glory Academy.
Glory Academy’s predecessor was the Noble Academy; after the imperial abolition of noble titles, it was renamed Glory.
The academy has strong faculty, with students mostly from wealthy or prestigious backgrounds, and high entry barriers.
Although the academy’s ranking isn’t stable in the top ten, it’s surely within the top twenty; the key is its graduates have a wide network.
This time, the teachers, students, and guardians numbered over four hundred, which ordinary schools cannot match.
Interestingly, among the hundred-some students, some have a very distinctive personality.
Generally, noble education is excellent, as families that can endure long won’t neglect education.
But there are indeed some students, not arrogant or rude, but exceptionally charismatic.
When they cause a stir, even the guards at Mist Mansion have quite a headache.
If it was mere troublemaking – it wouldn’t be the first time; the guards would naturally suppress it strongly.
But the key issue is these people don’t cause trouble, they just walk the line showing personality.
Xiang Xue knows well about this, she chuckled quietly, "Glory has a tradition of challenging Mist Mansion guards..."
"To make the guards furious, their nostrils flaring, but unable to retaliate – that’s a win."
"Faced with them, the guards can’t afford not to be reasonable, or all the students will unite...the consequences would be serious."
"It’s really..." Qu Jianlei thought for a moment, muttering under his breath, "Youth is wonderful."
"What’s so good?" The Paranoid remarked dismissively, "It’s really quite boring."
Compared to his straightforwardness, the Old Lady’s eyes shifted, "It’s an opportunity, I’ll try to stir up some chaos."
The next moment, she silently manipulated the Water Element, aiming to create rain here...well, maybe snow.
The weather change at Celestial Blade is much wilder than at Celestial Hook, and the convergence speed of various elements differs.
To be safe, she operated cautiously; the rain she created likely wouldn’t catch this batch of students.
But...isn’t there another batch? Sharpening the axe won’t delay the chopping of wood.
Generally speaking, after students disembark, they organize luggage, sort out their ranks, and walk two kilometers to Mist Mansion’s entrance.
This takes about an hour.
However, students from Glory Academy were indeed disobedient, joking and filming while collecting their luggage.
Photography is prohibited at Mist Mansion’s entrance, but since they’re here, everyone wants to capture the beautiful moments of their student days.
The guards strictly held to the rules, speaking out to stop them, but the students didn’t agree: this is discrimination!
Other academy students have taken lots of photos here, why only restrict us?
The phenomenon they described does indeed exist, but...the guards simply don’t want these guys taking pictures.
When they took out regulations, some students pulled out imperial photography qualification certificates: we have officially recognized licenses!
This kind of situation isn’t the only one; it’s just chaos all around, the students want to stir up trouble, but the guards firmly refuse to let anyone gain prestige!
In the midst of this, suddenly an alarm sounded, followed by an electronic synthesized voice.
"Alarm, alarm! Anomalous water element fluctuations detected, anomalous water element fluctuations detected!"
"Really..." The old lady ten kilometers away stopped her operation sulkily, "It’s that sensitive now?"
As the alarm sounded, a large number of guards surged out, "No elemental manipulation allowed here, who did it?"
This time, they had the upper hand; elemental power is prohibited outside the Mist Mansion to prevent any sabotage.
But the students of Glory Academy weren’t having any of it, "Whose body would be so weak as to need elemental power?"
Awakened individuals, unless excessively specialized, have physical fitness comparable to Modified Warriors after awakening.
Some even said, "If you can’t handle it, don’t play; falsely accusing others, what’s the point?"
Everyone knows that using elemental power is forbidden at the Mist Mansion’s entrance, but it’s not because of concerns about damaging the mansion!
The Mist Mansion has suffered attacks in the past, and both sides have fought fiercely, using plenty of elemental power.
Moreover, the Mist Mansion has accepted interns for years, and students’ control power is quite poor, how could there not be someone inadvertently using elemental power?
From the perspective of Glory’s students, even if someone occasionally loses control, the other side shouldn’t make such a big fuss.
Now that the guards have a reason, they won’t let these young masters go, and immediately expressed their intent to identify the culprit.
First, water attribute awakened individuals are the focus of the investigation, but... there are over ninety water attribute people on site!
Besides students, there are teachers and also those hired as guardians.
With so many people, it’s practically legal impunity because elemental fluctuations flashed by, missing the first moment precision location.
But the guards were also well aware of Glory Academy’s notorious reputation and planned to let the little guys taste some bitterness.
Then things escalated, water attribute awakened individuals were unexpectedly tied to one marquis and two count clans.
To be fair, marquises are already nearly top-tier in today’s society.
The Empire currently has seven dukes, the pinnacle of the aristocratic class.
But the dukes’ children are limited, and those with insufficient qualifications cannot enter Glory Academy.
There are also those children who look down upon others, heading straight to the Empire’s top four schools—Glory’s ranking is still lacking a bit.
Others, despite their prominent family background, deliberately keep a low profile, using a false identity for schooling, reducing many trivial matters.
Generally, having a marquis’ child among students is considered quite high.
It’s extremely rare for Glory’s interns to include children from marquis families.
This time, only one marquis’ son came, handsome but relatively low-key, and he hadn’t joined the commotion at all.
Although the student himself is fire attribute, one of his guardians is A-level water attribute, and the guards wanted to investigate this person.
At this point, the marquis’ son wasn’t having it—I’ve done nothing and you guys think I’m easily bullied?
He firmly disagreed with the investigation, "We’ve been very cooperative, are you sure you want to insult my family?"
There’s also a count’s daughter who is water attribute, and another water attribute is a guardian to the count’s son.
As expected of Glory Academy, there are simply too many aristocratic children; those below viscount aren’t even worth mentioning.
In fact, the Empire doesn’t have that many nobles.
The main reason is that the Celestial Hook Enigma Mansion involves "opportunities," resulting in a high proportion of aristocratic children—this needs no explanation.
In short, such a big fuss has made even the leading teachers a bit dumbfounded.
Especially since there are also water attribute teachers, and the guards already plan to treat them equally.
This has nothing to do with respect or lack thereof; the guards are all soldiers, in their eyes, whether teachers or students, all are external awakened individuals.
If they cooperate normally, the guards wouldn’t mind being a bit polite to the teachers.
But when things happen, the teachers’ weight might not match that of Glory’s students—after all, they’re just awakened individuals teaching at the academy.
After some disputes, a Supreme with wood attribute appeared among the guards.
This person had a look of impatience, "What’s all the arguing about, just follow the rules, this is a military control zone!"
"I don’t care what background you have, once rules are set, they must be followed... No exceptions for anyone!"
With the Supreme stepping in, the situation was entirely different, and the students fell silent one after another.
Though there might be vast powers behind them, the noble identity is gradually becoming a thing of the past.
Yet, "Supreme is beyond insult" remains an iron rule in Imperial society.
Nonetheless, the marquis’ son was still unwilling to relent; he raised his hand and saluted, speaking respectfully.
"Greetings, sir, concerning the honor and dignity of my family, please inform us of your identity!"
The noble status might not intimidate anyone, but once linked to "honor," the matter becomes huge.
Glory Academy gets its name from this notion, a noble who doesn’t speak of honor, still qualifies as a noble?
Between nobles, once they emphasize honor, it often symbolizes a fight to the death!
