Cassell College

Biodata

Background / History

Operations in China

Cassell College sends separate teams to China to investigate the Bronze and Fire King in the Three Gorges and interview Lu Mingfei. Angers has already selected Lu Mingfei as an S-rank recruit, making the interview a formality; invitations to other classmates provide cover for his recruitment. Cao Ya, who previously hoped to attend Cassell but received no invitation, instead joins a government special department and monitors the college’s movements 18 40 41.

At the Regent Hotel, Cao Ya confronts Professor Goodman, Nono, Ye Sheng, and Sake Tokiko over the Three Gorges operation. He argues that their unauthorized exploration and planned use of weapons violate Chinese sovereignty, demanding one Dragon Raja corpse as compensation. Goodman cannot authorize the transfer of such a valuable asset and refers the matter to Angers 42.

Forced Merger

Angers travels to China after Cao Ya reveals that Lu Mingfei is staying with him. Although both men oppose dragonkind, they disagree over Cao Ya’s intention to capture living Dragon Kings for laboratory research. Cao Ya demonstrates his ability to enforce that plan by defeating Angers in a sparring match, breaking through Word Spirit: Time Zero and shattering his blade 43 44 45.

Cao Ya then demands that Cassell become part of his proposed martial arts university. Angers initially objects, defending Cassell’s education and the trustees’ authority. Given three days to respond—and faced with Cao Ya’s threat to seize the college’s valuables if refused—Angers accepts and returns to address the board 46 47.

The announcement provokes arguments on the Night Watcher Forum and brings the trustees to campus. Cao Ya arrives two days later, flies above the grounds, and releases an overwhelming display of golden light. When Frost Gattuso rejects the merger, Cao Ya traps him in an illusion that leaves him alive but mentally incapacitated. The college subsequently accepts both incorporation into the First Martial Arts University and Cao Ya as principal 48 49 50.

Early Administration under Cao Ya

Because the First Martial Arts University cannot open immediately, Cao Ya plans to use Cassell as his teaching base for roughly two years. Students such as Lu Mingfei are to enter Cassell first while the new campus is built and authorities prepare for a gradual public disclosure of supernatural affairs 47.

Cao Ya leaves existing internal groups alone provided that his orders are carried out. He offers to teach the Golden Bell Shield in return for the treasured materials he intends to take, prompting teachers and students to begin acknowledging his leadership 50.

His first documented deployment of the Execution Department brings bounty hunter Ronald Tang to campus. Cao Ya identifies Tang as Norton, the Bronze and Fire King, but prevents Angers from killing him: the intended experiment is to destroy Norton’s consciousness while preserving Old Tang’s human identity. The procedure’s outcome is not shown in the supplied chapters 50.

Organization and Members

Leadership and Governance

• Cao Ya — Becomes principal through the forced merger; intends to use Cassell’s personnel and resources to support mass martial arts education 45 47 50.
• Angers — Former principal and the college’s most respected leader. Accepts the position of dean beneath Cao Ya; also hopes to obtain his cultivation method 42 46 48.
• Board of trustees — Represents powerful families and financial interests. Its members oppose Angers’s unilateral merger agreement and assemble at Cassell to challenge it 47 48.
• Frost Gattuso — Represents his elder brother, trustee Pompeii Gattuso, at the confrontation with Cao Ya. His incapacitation ends the board’s open resistance 49 50.
• Beowulf — Trustee known as the “Dragonblood Drinker”; attends the merger confrontation despite normally avoiding board meetings 48.

Departments and Branches

Other Notable Members

• Professor Goodman — Leads discussions with Cao Ya in China and hopes to teach the S-rank Lu Mingfei to strengthen his professorial standing 42 47.
• Chen Motong / Nono — Participates in Lu Mingfei’s recruitment and the negotiations with Cao Ya; possesses a formidable profiling ability 43 47.
• Ye Sheng and Sake Tokiko — Accompany Goodman and Nono in China; strongly defend Angers when Cao Ya dismisses his strength as merely passable 42.
• Chu Zihang — A-rank student and Shilan High School alumnus who recognizes Cao Ya as a former schoolmate 43 48.
• Caesar Gattuso — Views Cao Ya’s victory over Angers as a new challenge rather than a reason to oppose the merger, provided Cassell can continue slaying dragons 48.
• Lu Mingfei — S-rank incoming student personally chosen by Angers, who regards him as a potential means of ending the history of dragons 41 43.

Education and Doctrine

Mixed-Blood Training

Cassell trains Mixed-Bloods from across the world for combat against dragonkind 45.

• Its experienced teachers, powerful students, and existing combat strength make it valuable to Cao Ya’s proposed university 45 47.
• Angers initially considers its educational approach excellent and sees no need to replace it 46.
• Dragon blood gives Mixed-Bloods stronger physiques than ordinary humans, although Cao Ya is uncertain how useful that advantage will be in martial arts cultivation 45.

Martial Arts Expansion

Cao Ya’s proposed reorganization replaces reliance on a small dragon-slaying elite with a broader program of publicly accessible supernatural training 46.

• Initial instruction: Golden Bell Shield is offered to Cassell’s teachers and students 50.
• Withheld technique: Cao Ya does not share his fundamental Indestructible Diamond Divine Art because hidden adversaries remain active 50.
• Public rollout: General enrollment and disclosure are delayed at the authorities’ request to reduce the risk of social unrest 47.
• Dragon research: Cao Ya favors capturing Dragon Kings and investigating their powers; Angers and Goodman initially regard containing a living Dragon King as dangerously impractical 44.

Facilities and Resources

Norma

Norma is Cassell’s supercomputer, with tremendous computing power and the beginnings of independent thought 41 42.

• Can monitor activity worldwide and compile intelligence on individuals 41 43.
• Predicts a greater than ninety percent chance that Cao Ya’s visit concerns the Three Gorges operation 42.
• Retrieves Cao Ya’s records but cannot identify his supposed Word Spirit, exposing the limits of the college’s bloodline-based assessment of him 43.

Campus and Holdings

• Campus — Sprawling grounds with attractive scenery, surveyed by Cao Ya from the air upon arrival 49.
• Treasured collection — Includes Dragon Raja remains valuable enough that Goodman cannot independently authorize their transfer 42.
• Military resources — The college has access to firearms, explosives, and specialist dragon-slaying personnel 42 45.
• Financial resources — Described as possessing vast resources; its representatives stay in a luxury five-star hotel and wear elaborately tailored uniforms 42 45.

Campus Culture

• Loyalty to Angers — Faculty and students hold him in exceptionally high regard; his defeat does not diminish their respect for him 42 46.
• Institutional pride — Members identify Cassell as the world’s only dragon-slaying school and resent Cao Ya’s lukewarm assessment of it 49.
• Night Watcher Forum — The internal website hosts the merger debate, with its announcement thread accumulating more than ten thousand replies before widespread moderation quiets the arguments 48.
• Luxury — Cao Ya repeatedly remarks on the representatives’ expensive accommodations and clothing; Angers also characterizes Cassell’s members as adept at enjoying life’s pleasures 42 44.