Imperial Capital Academy

Biodata

Overview

• Imperial Capital Academy stands above all other academies in the Great Yan Kingdom and is regarded as a destination for exceptional talent. Admission through the normal route requires successive provincial, metropolitan, and palace examinations. 171
• Its martial examination is considered its principal and most difficult avenue of entry. 363
• Although the academy emphasizes martial strength, its leadership also recognizes the importance of the literary path following Qin Yao's palace literary duel. 465
• The academy covers approximately ten thousand mu and is divided into an outer academy for ordinary students and an inner academy for elites. 366 418
• Its banner carries sufficient authority for its special patrol team to receive immediate passage through the Imperial Capital's restricted General's Gate. 361
• The academy is exceptionally well funded, operating numerous industries whose services are free to teachers and students. 365
• The academy's outer academy has more than one thousand students, while the inner academy has roughly two to three hundred elite disciples. 449
• Academy students are widely regarded as exceptional talents, but Qin Yao's battlefield achievements and rapid growth forced many students to reassess the gap between formal academy training and true combat experience. 422 613

Admissions

Standard Examinations

The standard path to enrollment follows an imperial-examination-style sequence: provincial examination, metropolitan examination, and finally the Palace Examination in the Imperial Capital. 171

Direct Examination

The Direct Examination is a special admissions route established alongside the Foreign Repelling Camps in the northern regions.

• The Direct Examination exists to recruit young martial artists and skilled commoners into winter defense of the Three Northern Prefectures without requiring a full-scale war. 171
• For participants aged twenty or older, military merit instead converts into silver rewards. 171
• The title Foreign Repelling Spearhead is retained for the under-twenty participant with the highest military merit in that year's northern campaign. 362 366
• The academy dispatches personnel to escort exceptional Direct Examination candidates to the Imperial Capital after their qualification is confirmed. 351 352
• The academy's Direct Examination notice bears its official seal and instructs qualified candidates to depart for the Imperial Capital promptly. 352
• An earlier battlefield entrant gained renown after passing the Direct Examination with military merit far above the minimum; the emperor reportedly granted him the epithet Foreign Repelling Sharp Blade. 191

Campus

Entrance and Grounds

• The academy entrance is a white-marble gatehouse bearing a large golden plaque reading “Imperial Capital Academy.” 364 365
• A broad bluestone road runs through the grounds, lined with ancient trees and blue-brick, gray-tiled buildings; several tall towers stand deeper within the campus. 366
• The outer academy alone requires more than half a shichen for a rough tour. 367

Inner and Outer Academies

• Under the academy's ordinary rules, a student who enters the Mystic Gathering Realm should move from the outer academy to the inner academy. 470

Ten Thousand Schools Plaza

• Ten Thousand Schools Plaza is located in the inner academy and hosts major academy-wide events. 418
• Its mirror-smooth bluestone ground is surrounded by carved pillars depicting dragons, phoenixes, qilin, and other beasts. A screen wall behind its platform bears the inscription “Source of Ten Thousand Schools.” 418

Facilities and Resources

• Library Tower — A six-story repository of cultivation arts, martial techniques, military history, and reference works. It is said to contain ninety-nine percent of Great Yan's cultivation arts and martial techniques. 431 433 443
  • Official students may borrow cultivation methods of the rank permitted by their identity plaques. 367
  • The tower is estimated to contain no fewer than eighteen thousand volumes. 367
  • Despite its extensive collection, the academy lacks authority to collect cultivation techniques above the Profound tier. 484
  • Borrowing charges rise with a manual's rank: middle and upper Mortal-rank techniques cost one to two academic credits per week, lower Profound-rank techniques cost ten, middle Profound-rank techniques cost fifty, and upper Profound-rank techniques cost 250. Instructor guidance may incur an additional charge. Students may instead pay hourly to study inside the tower. 432
  • The upper Profound-rank collection is secured in locked glass cases with mechanical reading controls. Students entering the tower are checked for writing materials. 432 435
  • On the academy's monthly book-sunning day, the tower's mechanisms unfold its roof and extend bookshelves into the sunlight. The closure is not announced in advance, and the inner and outer academy deans oversee security while the valuable manuals are exposed. 442 443
• Martial Skill Pavilion — A repository of martial skills and cultivation methods. 475
• Alchemy Pavilion — Handles alchemical instruction and supplies; even apprentice apothecaries are considered highly promising. 404
• Formation Hall — Academy facility for formations. 367
• Rune Hall — Academy facility for runes. 367
• Talisman repository — Stores talismans for cultivation and combat use. 475
  • The academy also trains talisman practitioners; however, advancing from talisman apprentice to apprentice talisman master ordinarily requires years of study. 578
  • Some graduates who become apprentice talisman masters are assigned to cities as defense gunners operating Mystic Crystal War Cannons. 523
• Alchemy rooms — Available for alchemical work and cultivation-related use. 475
• Martial arenas — The outer academy has twelve arenas. Arenas one through ten are open for daily practice, while arenas eleven and twelve are usually reserved for tournaments. 438
• Public kitchen — The academy cafeteria offers varied meals at roughly thirty percent below outside prices, reducing the time students need to spend outside campus. 418
• Academy stables — Direct-examination candidates may board mounts free of charge; the stables provide premium fodder mixed with beans, fruits, and vegetables. 365

Student Benefits

• Students and staff may use many academy-operated services without charge. 365
• During the Direct Examination period, a qualified candidate's immediate family may receive free lodging and meals at a designated inn through an academy recommendation. 365
• Academic credits are awarded within the academy and can be exchanged for rare materials or cultivation manuals. 370 413
• Credits may also be exchanged for pills, weapons, and other academy resources. 370
• Qin Yao received 300 academic credits after his assessment victories. 404
• By imperial order, the academy temporarily opened its Library Tower, Martial Skill Pavilion, alchemy rooms, and talisman repository fully to Qin Yao before the Northern Expedition. 475
• Under this special authorization, Qin Yao was permitted to borrow ten high-grade Mystic-rank cultivation arts and martial skills for twelve days and acquire substantial quantities of pills and talismans. 476

Rules and Discipline

• Private fighting within academy grounds carries consequences and is prohibited outside sanctioned contests. 367
• Riding is prohibited inside the academy; mounts must be registered and placed in the academy stables. 365
• The Direct Examination is elimination-based: candidates who lose their one-on-one combat assessments do not remain. 367
• Missing a scheduled Alchemy Pavilion selection ordinarily forfeits the opportunity; the academy does not make individual exceptions. 411

Administration

• An academy council participates in decisions concerning exceptional student rewards. 373

Notable Events

• Creation of the Direct Examination system — The court established Foreign Repelling Camps and the Direct Examination route within the preceding two years to strengthen northern winter defense. 171
• Qin Yao's Direct Examination — Qin Yao arrived as the Foreign Repelling Spearhead and entered through the military-merit route. His cultivation test revealed Blood Aperture Realm Level Nine, and he eventually won five consecutive duels to secure admission. 352 375 413
• Commendation assembly — The academy held an academy-wide ceremony at Ten Thousand Schools Plaza, attended by Principal Huo Enting, the Fourth Prince, Yan Yangyi, and senior military figures, to recognize Qin Yao's battlefield achievements. 418 420 421
  • Yan Yangyi awarded Qin Yao ten thousand taels of gold and a two-courtyard inner-city residence during the ceremony. 422
• Palace literary duel — By imperial decree, the academy's teachers and students entered the imperial palace to observe Qin Yao's literary duel with Qin Yuwei. Only fifty-seven instructors and students away on academy training missions were absent. 449
• Northern Expedition preparations — Following Qin Yao's appointment to lead troops north, the academy opened major cultivation resources to him for half a month. 474 475
• Special resource channel controversy — Qin Yao's extensive borrowing of cultivation arts, pills, and talismans under his imperial authorization prompted concern among Huo Enting, Han Yongshi, and Zhu Qinke that academy resources might be misused. 476 477
• Qin Yao's rapid advancement — During the period of special academy support, Qin Yao advanced from the first to the third layer of the Mystic Gathering Realm in a single day, astonishing the academy's teachers and students. 480
  • After four days of seclusion, he further rose from the third to the fifth layer of the Mystic Gathering Realm and cultivated the high-grade Mystic-rank Scarlet Sun Palm to the Mastery Realm. 482
  • The academy spread news of his first breakthrough to demonstrate that its exceptional investment in him was producing results. 480
• Recognition of Qin Yao as an equal — Following Qin Yao's ascent to the third layer of the Innate Realm and appointment as a second-rank Northern Expedition General, Huo Enting stated that Qin Yao need no longer address himself as the principal's student and accepted the more personal form of address “Elder Huo.” 498
• Sand City victory acclaim — After Qin Yao's military achievements in the Sand City campaign earned him the subordinate first-rank title of Upper Army Grand General, outer academy students openly discussed him as the academy's extraordinary classmate and a standard against which their own accomplishments paled. 612 613