Warm natural light poured into the classroom through the giant windows, cascading down like a translucent waterfall of pale gold, covering each tier of seats.
In the back row, Huperion pressed her lips together as she looked at Lan Qi. Her eyes shone with an indescribable radiance.
The heavy, suffocating gloom she had felt before seemed to melt away, as if the icy loneliness wrapping around her heart had quietly dissolved when she heard Lan Qi’s “arrogant” words.
Her expression softened under the sunlight.
“If you can really bring my father back, then I’ll have a huge backer.”
Lan Qi grinned, as if he had already decided—he would help her find her father.
“Lan Qi, it’s not as simple as you think…”
Huperion’s voice was gentle.
Her gaze was warm, like spring sunlight, but beneath that gratitude and emotion lurked a trace of sorrowful shadow—the deep worry that she might drag Lan Qi down with her.
Precisely because Lan Qi kept helping her, because he was an irreplaceable friend, she was even more determinednot to involve him.The Duke’s disappearance was shrouded in mysteries.
But every thread pointed south—toward the Kreit Empire and the Resurrection Church.
A road with almost no chance of survival.
Huperion knew that when Lan Qi said he wanted to bring Duke Migaya back, he was mostly joking.
Someone like him, so monstrously talented, didn’t need a patron to thrive in the Hedon Kingdom.
Just give him a few years—he would rise on his own, becoming a figure who would shake the world.
There was no such thing as “needing a big backer in the next year or two.”
“Huperion, if I could just cling to the Duke’s thigh and laze around for the rest of my life, I’d never bother working hard.”
Lan Qi said this with all seriousness, as though he had just declared his ultimate life goal.
“…”
Huperion stared at him, stunned by how earnestly he spoke such shameful words. For a moment, she didn’t know how to respond.
Because she knew Lan Qi—she knew he wasn’t joking.
If there was one thing Lan Qi lacked, it was ambition.
She could never understand how someone with such terrifying talent could be so utterly laid-back.
But thinking deeper, she realized this extraordinary state of mind was inseparable from his strength.
“…Thank you, Lan Qi. My friend.”
In the end, she still spoke, word by word.
The words were clumsy and awkward, yet like a gentle stream—tender and earnest, yet filled with force.
So clear, so transparent, they reflected her sincerity.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry. We can always ask Frey when the time comes.”
After spending a few days hanging around Frey, Lan Qi had realized that Frey lived for efficiency and thrills.
For small, trivial things, Frey wouldn’t care.
But for big things? Frey might really be willing to take the risk.
High risk, high reward—that was exactly what Frey pursued.
After reassuring Huperion, Lan Qi returned to listening attentively to the lecture.
This magic engineering course contained knowledge he actually needed to study carefully.
The reason he wanted to rack up as many real credits as possible to offset mandatory courses was so he could choose more specialized magic-engineering classes next semester.
Still, plenty of required courses at the institute weren’t necessary for him. What really interested him were the new experimental courses taught by Professor Bola’ao.
For now, though, he didn’t plan to tell Huperion too much.
If he directly told her: “The Duke’s trail is most likely in the Kreit Empire, and we have a little over a year to rescue him,” it might scare her.
Besides, he couldn’t explain the source or credibility of his intel.
He worried she wouldn’t understand the Kreit Empire’s current situation, and might recklessly rush to the vampire stronghold in desperation.
Every vampire marquis was eighth rank, completely overpowering other races at the same tier. There might even be ninth-rank vampire dukes or princes unsealing themselves.
That map was not something they could touch right now.
But one day, they would have a way to deal with vampires.
They just needed to fight through Shadow World, get stronger, and dig up anti-vampire methods from the history of the Blood Moon Catastrophe. Then heading into the Kreit Empire would be safer.
Perhaps they wouldn’t even need to push all the way to the end of the Blood Moon arc before they could set out.
After all, Lan Qi had one great advantage—he held vast amounts of intel on the vampire lair’s maps!
He was certain he might be the only person in this world capable of rescuing Duke Migaya.
This would also be the shortcut to once and for all resolving the Wilfort Tragedy!
Lan Qi’s only life goal: just work hard for two years, then retire
!Yes—the Duke of Migaya Alansar was his ultimate golden thigh!
By then, he’d be the Duke’s benefactor, financially free, free from school! Rich and powerful—the dream life!
The only pity was that when it came to the future expedition to the Kreit Empire, Lan Qi still couldn’t think of any bargaining chip to convince the great demoness Talia to join him.
She was his bodyguard, not a henchman—her only duty was to protect him from assassins, not to stop him from running headfirst into death.
And even if both Talia and Huperion were demons, there was no such thing as a “demon solidarity pact” that would compel Talia to risk her life helping Huperion.
Maybe later, he’d find something worth negotiating with her.
But until then…
The next year or so would largely be spent waiting for Shadow World’s cooldown.
That time in the real world offered another important path to grow stronger—
“Teacher Teresa, I have a question.”
From the back row, Lan Qi raised his hand high.
The purpose of this class was to encourage open questions and discussions.
“Please, Lan Qi.”
Teresa looked slightly surprised. She hadn’t expected him to engage so actively.
She’d heard from other Sage Institute teachers that in class, Lan Qi was just… present.
He always looked half-dead, never knew the answers when cold-called, but never skipped class either, never slacked off or napped.
The kind of student whose dedication quietly touched teachers’ hearts.
And yet here he was, giving her face.
“May I ask—who currently holds the Primordial Stone Tablet – Mind, Primordial Stone Tablet – Healing, and Primordial Stone Tablet – Sealing?”
Lan Qi asked seriously, his face calm but his words striking at what he truly cared about.
Because this timeline was already different from the original story he knew.
The holders might have changed.
And since the Primordial Stone Tablets had never been officially implemented in the game, he only knew a few names.
But that was the beauty of this academy—if you wanted to know something, you could just ask the teacher!
And the teacher would just tell you everything they knew!