At the Grand Natural Academy, there were over six hundred first-year students, divided among twenty classes, with around thirty students in each.
Besides Gubo, who served as the first-year dean, there were also deans for the second and third years.
The academy's rules did not restrict how long students could stay on campus. In fact, they encouraged students to travel for extended periods. For scholars, a century of shutting themselves away and studying could never compare to the gains from a single journey full of the unknown. First-year students only stayed at the academy longer because they were still relatively weak.
"Class Eleven."
Looking at the class sign by the door, Reilo took a deep breath and knocked three times, interrupting the young female instructor as she taught the class.
More than twenty young students below turned to look, their gazes gathering on the young male student who had suddenly appeared.
Reilo took out his letter of introduction and looked at the female instructor, who seemed puzzled.
"Hello, this is my letter of introduction."
The young female instructor read the letter in surprise.
"Reilo? Hehe, come on in."
The young female instructor looked to be under thirty, but Reilo knew she might actually be much older. After all, only senior scholars who had earned a Profound Meaning Degree Certificate were qualified to teach a class at the academy.
With a cheerful smile, the instructor welcomed him.
"You can call me Teacher Jenny. I hope you'll work hard and achieve something in Class Eleven. Just find any seat you like."
Then Teacher Jenny turned to the students below. "Everyone, let's welcome our new classmate!"
"Thank you, Teacher Jenny!"
Reilo looked over at the students.
The classroom was very spacious, with a good seventy or eighty seats arranged in tiered rows, facing down toward the lectern. Only about twenty students were seated, though.
The scholars all turned to look at him, murmuring among themselves.
Reilo hesitated, then looked toward a chubby, curly-haired boy in the front row who was grinning from ear to ear. He walked over and quietly sat down beside him.
The others lost interest in Reilo, turned back toward Teacher Jenny at the lectern, and continued listening.
"Hehe, did you choose to sit beside me because you realized I'm the most handsome guy in Class Eleven?"
The chubby boy raised his eyebrows and winked, joking quietly with Reilo. His thick eyebrows were rather cute, and when he smiled, his chubby cheeks looked like bright red apples. He held out a plump little hand.
"My name's Xiao Kang."
Reilo hadn't expected him to be so friendly. He shook the boy's hand, finding it soft, warm, and squishy.
"My name's Reilo."
Seeing Reilo take out a notebook and a quill and settle down to study, Xiao Kang said with a bored look, "Give it up. Teacher Jenny doesn't teach any actual lessons. If she weren't so beautiful, I doubt half the class would even show up."
Teacher Jenny was indeed very beautiful. Her bright red, wavy hair was alluring, and her fiery red lips made her cheerful smile even more striking. If Reilo hadn't known she was a genuine Profound Meaning Scholar, she would have bewitched the souls right out of many of the boys below.
Hearing Xiao Kang, Reilo stared at him in surprise. "If she doesn't teach any actual lessons, why come to class?"
Xiao Kang pursed his lips. "She just tells stories about her travels when she was young, encouraging us to go traveling like she did."
"In the remote Northern Ice Abyss, my friends and I had exhausted all our strength searching for the legendary Ice Marrow Flower. Eternal white snow surrounded us, and silence blanketed every corner. Just when we had all despaired and were about to give up, the light on the horizon suddenly changed. A rainbow aurora shimmered, and a breathtaking sight unlike anything we had ever seen appeared..."
Teacher Jenny's story had everyone on tenterhooks, their eyes full of anticipation.
"Then we heard a long, piercing cry. A Colorful Swift spread its wings and flew over our heads at an incredible speed! Its wings stretched more than ten meters across. Even the greatest scholar I had ever visited would have seemed as slow as a snail beside it. It even created a tangible sonic boom, breaking through the snow and ice around us. And that was how we finally found the Ice Marrow Flower."
Just as Xiao Kang had said, Teacher Jenny's classes were all about her youthful adventures, told with humor and wit, or the insights she had gained from visiting famous scholars.
It was probably all meant to inspire the students to travel and explore!
"Teacher, are there really still Colorful Swifts in this world? My first teacher said those powerful Ancient Creatures went extinct long ago and had become fossils deep in the earth."
A black-haired girl asked, her face full of anticipation.
Teacher Jenny wasn't angry at the doubt. Instead, she replied earnestly, "I'm absolutely certain that what I saw was a Colorful Swift!"
She paused, then continued, "As for whether those legendary Ancient Creatures had power comparable to Divine Power, I don't know. But I do know they weren't completely wiped out. Beyond the lands inhabited by humanity, in the barren Night's Veil Land, in the depths of the boundless seas, and even on distant, unknown continents, there must still be surviving Ancient Creatures!"
Reilo understood now. Teacher Jenny had only one purpose in her lessons: to continually stir up scholars' desire to explore.
That also explained why the top two on the academy's Elite Rank were both in this class, even though the class's average grades weren't the best in the academy.
"Xiao Kang, where's Hell, the Spirit Medium ranked first on the Elite Rank?"
Reilo quietly asked Xiao Kang.
Spirit Medium was Hell's nickname, a title bestowed by the academy's senior instructors. It was a title worthy of a place on the Elite Rank, a recognition and blessing from the academy, and an extraordinary honor granted to very few students!
As far as Reilo knew, the student represented the teachings of a scholar who was the instructor's rival at the academy.
Broadly speaking, the conflict between the academy's schools of thought was really a struggle between the instructor and that person.
Xiao Kang said, "Don't bother looking. Hell and Megana are hardly ever in class. Teacher Jenny doesn't teach any actual lessons anyway, so they'd never waste their time here."
Megana was the student ranked second on the Elite Rank.
The new students had not yet finished their first quarter, so the official Elite Rank had not been issued. For now, the instructors had privately ranked the students with the most Elite Rank points in each class. Hell and Megana ranked first and second among the first-years, with 109 and 101 points respectively.
That was also because Gubo was the first-year dean and had access to fairly comprehensive information about the first-year students' Elite Rank standings, which allowed him to give Reilo useful advice.
Reilo felt a little disappointed. He hadn't earned any Elite Rank points yet, but it would still have been nice to see his targets in person.
Since the first- and second-ranked students weren't in class, Reilo had to settle for asking quietly, "Then who's Bai Xing?"
Bai Xing was the third-ranked student on Class Eleven's Elite Rank. Reilo had just seen the outstanding student's name in Gubo's letter of introduction.
Xiao Kang pursed his lips this time, seeming quite annoyed with the girl named Bai Xing. He pointed toward the girl in white on the other side of the classroom and grumbled, "That's her."
"Huh?"
Reilo asked, confused, "Did she offend you?"
Xiao Kang looked miserable. "Our families arranged our engagement when we were little. But last year, she suddenly broke it off and ran away here. My old man forced me to come to the academy. That bastard even swore in front of everyone that if I didn't win her back, he wouldn't let me return home and inherit my title. Damn it!"
Reilo was stunned. He couldn't believe a story could be so convoluted. "What did she say?"
"She said I'd have to beat her first, otherwise I should give up. She even said I was a toad dreaming of eating swan meat. Damn her grandma! What did I ever do to her? Why mess with me like this? I just want to quietly inherit my title and be an utterly mediocre viscount!"
Xiao Kang looked aggrieved and dejected. "Don't bother looking. Even with the special Magic Prop from my family, I couldn't beat her. She's improving so fast, too. I'm hopeless for the rest of my life."
For some reason, seeing Xiao Kang suddenly struck Reilo as hilarious.