Snap!

With a mere snap of his fingers, their surroundings instantly changed. From the vast greenfield of perpetual serenity, it turned into a bustling city filled with people!

Elias and the group couldn't help but widen their eyes in amazement.

Professor Felix smiled as he spread his arms widely.

"Welcome to Arcane Academy! This is where you guys will start your new journey as student rankers. If I recall correctly, this place is also called the 'core circle' thus by reaching this place, you have essentially passed the entrance examination and become an official student of the academy."

"Since I'm the one that passed you guys then it should be my duty to introduce and lead you to get your student cards. BUT... that's not happening."

"What? Why?"

Sumi tilted her head, utterly confused.

"Well..."

Professor Felix suddenly wore a difficult expression as though he was undergoing a heavy moral dilemma. After some reluctance, he sighed and continued:

"...I'm too lazy for that. Besides, if everyone saw me, then my admirers would crowd the city. That would be too troublesome. At the same time, I can't blame them! It makes sense why though, with my ungodly sorcerer skills and handsome face, I'm bound to have countless admirers..."

Snap!

Hearing that, Sumi's eyes couldn't help but twitch violently. Her body suddenly trembled as she looked like she was about to go on a rampage.

For someone as quiet and stoic as Sumi to react like that, Elias had to clap his hands on the obnoxiousness of Professor Felix.

He was simply unmatched.

Especially when his expression suddenly turned smug and proud when he spoke about himself in a narcissistic manner.

'A man with no equal, indeed.'

Buzz!

At this moment, the watch on Felix's wrist buzzed. He glanced at it and saw that someone was calling him with the name 'Luna'.

Professor Felix's brows rose in delight while his lips curled into a smirk. He shook his head lightly and looked at the four newly-passed participants.

"I've already sent purple and golden to the infirmary if you're wondering about them. No need to thank me for my noble deed. Also, in case you get lost, see that large building over the middle? That's the academy,"

"Go get your student cards first. That's the most important thing in this place. After you get your student card, you can freely explore the Ranker Society. Anyways, I'm out students. If you need anything, feel free to ask anyone but me!"

Everyone's eyes immediately moved toward the middle. True to his words, there was indeed a large building in the middle of the city. It was wide, and gigantic—a perfect fit for its reputation as the most prestigious academy.

Before Professor Felix vanished away, he looked at Elias and smiled.

"Go get your student cards first. Also, you... white haired kiddo. After you get your student card, go to the academy and look for my disciple to find me. Let's talk, I'm really curious about you, Elias Corleone."

Elias simply nodded and gave no reaction. But that was enough as an answer for Professor Felix. Under their gaze, the obnoxious man suddenly vanished like he was never in front of them to begin with.

Bam!

At this moment, Sumi stomped on the ground loudly to express her irritation.

"Originally, I thought it was absurd that my father didn't hold Professor Felix in high regard. He said it was because Professor Felix... was unique, to say the least. That made me confused, but now I finally understand why..."

"I don't understand. I don't understand. I don't understand...."

Beside her, Roshia shook. She looked at the sky with slightly vacant eyes, as though she couldn't accept what she had just experienced.

Never meet your heroes, she thought.

***

After Professor Felix disappeared, Elias didn't have any obligation to stay anymore and walked away from the group.

He looked at the entrance gate of the city.

After hearing "city" a lot of people would wonder why an academy for rankers would have something like a city in its midst.

But it was relatively simple. Similar to the inner circle, the core circle was a separate dimension entirely.

But compared to the inner circle dimension, the core circle dimension had a stable spacetime coordinate and contained both morning and night cycles.

To elaborate, the core circle dimension was like a full-fledged world where it was safe to build a base without

fearing the risk of spacetime collapse or destruction.

Back then, after creating the academy building, the academy founders thought of creating a city of rankers to complement the arcane academy in its development.

This city was called — the Ranker Society.

After a participant reaches the core circle, the participant would have to enter the Ranker Society to proceed to the academy.

The Ranker Society was like a real city in the outside world. It had its own government, institutions, and economy as well.

'Similar to real life, your performance in the academy will translate to your potential living conditions in the ranker society.'

If your performance in the academy was poor, then it was likely your living conditions in the ranker society were going to be poor as well.

However, if your performance was good, then it was likely your living conditions in the ranker society were good as well.

Elias hummed softly. This was basically the academy implementing their philosophy of "only the strong can control their own life and the world" to the student's mindset.

By making the students with poor performance be punished, the academy was basically forcing the students to improve themselves for the sake of their living conditions.

Although it was horrible for the students, the academy had already cautioned them beforehand that they were teaching future heroes, not slackers.

If the students disagreed with that, then they should either improve or quit. Plain and simple.

Elias entered the city and observed the Ranker Society. There were a lot of student rankers walking around and entering different buildings.

Some were indifferent and happy, while others were depressed and anxious. He even saw a situation where one student was begging another student about something.

After taking a look, Elias was no longer interested and went directly to the direction of the guide in the city. However, before he could take another step a shout suddenly resounded behind him.

"Wait!"

Without even turning around, Elias recognized the voice to be the princess of the Truensoest Empire — Elizabeth Truensoest.

Following the shout, several footsteps followed. It was obvious that it wasn't only the blonde haired princess that followed him.

Elias frowned in dissatisfaction before turning around. He saw Elizabeth along with the others, the four beautiful girls approach him.

The sudden shout of Elizabeth seemed to have gathered some attention towards them, with the student rankers in the city looking at her with strange expressions.

"This girl... she's so beautiful! But wait, she looks quite familiar..."

"You idiot! That's Princess Elizabeth Truensoest from the Truensoest Empire on the other continent! What do you mean familiar?! Jeez..."

"Huh? But why is she here!?"

"If I remember correctly, she just turned seventeen this year. She's most likely part of the batch of the new students of this year,"

Seeing Elizabeth, the student rankers were audibly surprised. But the surprise didn't end there. They quickly noticed the other woman who was following her behind.

"Oi, that woman... and green eyes. A trait of Aethereal family. Then, isn't that...?! Sumi Aethereal?"

"The heiress of the Aethereal Guild! She's here...! If we can get to know her, we might get into a her guild even if we failed the academy!"

"That's right!"

The reaction towards Sumi's appearance was beyond Elizabeth. Most likely it was because the student rankers were more exposed to the Aethereal Guild than the Truensoest Empire.

But nonetheless, none of those lessened the annoyance that Elias was feeling at the moment. He looked at them with a heavy frown.

"You bunch again. What is it this time?"

"I'm sorry! But can we follow you? We don't know where to get the student card. Professor Felix left before we could ask. It seems like you know the way so... I hope you can consider this request of ours, please?"

Elizabeth sighed in relief as she caught up to him. Her beautiful sapphire-blue eyes looked at him sincerely. If it was any other man, they wouldn't be able to resist her current charm and allure.

But Elias's frown intensified instead. He didn't really want to accept her request, but after careful consideration, if he rejected them it could easily lead to a more troublesome development considering the situation.

If he rejects her request like this, he would be seen as a jerk or asshole by the people watching the situation. It wouldn't even matter if he says he has his own reasons for doing so, the public will always side with the beautiful girl.

If that happened, his reputation would plummet to the seven hells without him even doing anything yet. Considering his plans in the academy, he can't let his academy life be over without even attending his first class.

Besides, there was no need to antagonize them in public. It may incur resentment or anger to them. If that happened — it would be a far, far more troublesome affair.

Elias was not scared, hardly. But Elizabeth, Sumi, and the rest were still main characters. Although they might not be able to beat him, that didn't mean they were powerless to make trouble for him.

Thus after considering the pros and cons, Elias didn't need to think twice and accepted the request. He nodded as his expression smoothened.

"Sure, I have no problem with that as long as you don't talk too much. You gather too much attention with that loud voice of yours,"

"Ah... I'm sorry. But thank you!"

Elizabeth apologized, embarrassed. She held her skirt and bowed gracefully, which, Elias acknowledged with a simple nod and glance.

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