Chapter 216: Transcendence Academy (2)

The person sitting next to Louis was none other than Shiba.

Shiba exclaimed with a bright smile, “Oh, it’s you, Louis! I knew it! I saw your name at the top of the admissions list and thought, ‘No Way’…!”

At the mention of “top,” all eyes in the room turned toward Louis.

Louis sighed slightly. ”…Could you lower your voice?”

“Ah… I’m sorry.”

“More importantly, why are you here?”

“Huh? Because I got accepted, of course.”

“They didn’t assign classes based on grades?”

“Probably not?”

“Then why are you here?”

”…”

In other words, Louis was asking if Shiba’s skills were good enough for Class 1.

Shiba responded glumly to Louis’s dismissive remark.

“I barely made it into the top 25…”

“Not bad.”

“T-Thank you! But… what about you, Louis? Didn’t you say you were going on a trip?”

“I did, but my plans changed.”

“How did you get accepted into the academy?”

“What do you mean ‘how’? I got in through my skills. It wasn’t particularly difficult. The test is supposed to measure your normal abilities anyway.”

“Ahem.”

Shiba cleared his throat at Louis’s earnest response.

Unfazed by the ‘damn fool’ look directed at him, Louis instead leaned forward over his desk.

“Anyway, I’m going to sleep.”

“Ah, yes! Goodnight.”

But Louis couldn’t sleep.

“Lord Louis, Lord Louis. They say that friend over there is the vice-president. And they’re the granddaughter of Graham the Blacksmith. Oh, and I heard one of them is from the Master’s family… Ah, I think that must be her!”

Shiba chattered incessantly in Louis’s ear as he lay sprawled on the ground.

Louis turned to look at him with an exasperated expression.

”…Where on earth did you get all that information?”

“Haha, aren’t we competitors before we’re classmates? Gathering intel is essential!”

“Competitors?”

“Graduating from Transcendence Academy in Class 1 gives you such an advantage, doesn’t it?”

“But why…?”

”…No way you don’t know?”

Shiba, slightly flustered, quickly found his footing and began chattering away. The explanation was lengthy, but the core message was simple:

Ranking system. Among those, Class 1 represents the top tier. Even if you started in Class 1, poor grades could demote you to Classes 2, 3, or 4.

This was essentially a system designed for competition. Perhaps that’s why, despite being classmates since enrollment, I could sense an invisible rivalry between us.

“I heard that graduating from Class 1 directly qualifies you as a 4th Grade Trainee at the Tower of Wishes.”

“A 4th Grade Trainee?”

“Ah, the 4th Grade Trainee title is just…”

The current structure of the Tower of Wishes was simple.

The Grand Masters, whose whereabouts were currently unknown, had 15 disciples or individuals of equivalent skill who were called Masters.

The disciples of these Masters were known as 1st Grade Trainees.

This hierarchy continued down to 4th Grade Trainees, with those who couldn’t reach 4th Grade being classified as apprentices.

Let’s see… So apprentices are like interns, 4th Grade Trainees are entry-level employees, 3rd Grade Trainees are section managers, 2nd Grade Trainees are assistant managers or department heads, and 1st Grade Trainees are director-level? Masters would be executive-level, then.

According to Shiba’s explanation, there were currently five Masters serving as professors at the academy, with most lectures being conducted by 1st Grade Trainees, except for a few specific courses.

As Shiba continued his noisy explanation, Louis felt a piercing gaze from Louis that seemed to ask, “How can the head disciple not know something this basic?”

As Louis’s face burned under the weight of everyone’s stares, an old man entered the lecture hall through the front door.

Louis’s eyes lit up upon seeing him.

Huh? That guy?

The old man was the one who had conducted the Q&A with Louis during the interview.

Shiba gazed at the old man with admiration.

“Master Harold…”

“Is he famous?”

“Of course he is! He’s one of Grand Master Douglas’s disciples!”

“Hooh?”

At Shiba’s whisper, Louis’s eyes sparkled.

A disciple of Douglas…

No wonder his stubbornness reminded Louis of a dwarf’s.

As Louis turned to look, Harold standing at the podium began speaking.

“I welcome you all who have formally embarked on the path of Techno Mages. I am Harold.”

A thunderous applause erupted after his brief greeting.

What followed was rather unremarkable. Simple encouragement and academic schedules. The speech was so devoid of substance that one might wonder if he’d come merely to deliver these trivial remarks. As he prepared to descend from the podium…

A voice interrupted.

“Question.”

Harold paused mid-step, turning slightly to address the raised hand.

There stood a white-haired young man.

Simultaneously, a flicker of recognition crossed Harold’s eyes.

So it’s him.

The peculiar applicant with that unique motivation. A man whose skills matched his sharp tongue.

Harold fully turned toward the speaker.

“You’re Louis, correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I don’t recall mentioning a Q&A session.”

“Come on, it’s our first class. Let us ask at least one or two questions.”

Louis’s casual tone sent a faint ripple through the crowd.

Who was Harold? He was not only the disciple of Grand Master Douglas but also one of the top craftsmen in the Tower of Wishes. Known for his exceptionally strict personality, rumors claimed he was the most challenging figure for Tower of Wishes trainees to deal with.

Yet here Louis was, addressing him with such irreverent informality.

As everyone else looked shocked, Harold alone wore an expression of fascination.

Before Harold could respond, Louis cut in again.

“Can I meet the Grand Masters when I enter the Tower of Wishes?”

Louis’s question subtly shifted the atmosphere in the room.

The Grand Masters. A title that every Techno Mage walking this path revered and aspired to.

The new students who had just arrived were equally curious.

”…”

In the silence, twenty-five pairs of eyes were fixed on Harold.

After a moment of silence, Harold spoke.

“If you’re curious, come inside the tower.”

With those words, Harold left the lecture hall.

Those who had been anticipating something looked disappointed.

But Louis was different.

Look at this?

Harold had clearly avoided answering earlier.

If it doesn’t exist, he could have said so. If he didn’t want to tell us, he could have refused.

Louis sensed that Harold knew something about the Grand Master.

Meanwhile, after Harold left the lecture hall, an instructor entered.

“Today’s schedule ends here. Consider this the academy’s consideration for your adaptation. Take it easy today. You’ll be busy tomorrow.”

With those words, even the instructor left, and slight murmurs began to spread throughout the room.

It seemed everyone was at a loss for what to do with this suddenly freed time.

At that moment, a man from the front of the lecture hall stood up and approached Louis.

The brown-haired man scanned Louis from head to toe.

“You’re Louis?”

“Yes?”

“Pleased to meet you. I’m Brew Lemington.”

As Brew extended his hand, Shiba immediately whispered in Louis’s ear:

“That’s the Deputy! The Deputy!”

Smiling at the information, Louis took Brew’s hand.

“Ah, so you’re next in line after me.”

Brew’s eyebrow twitched.

The grip of Brew’s hand, locked in Louis’s, tightened slightly.

”…I may be Deputy now, but next time you might find yourself in my position.”

“Well…” Louis chuckled and released his hold. “I suppose you should try your best.”

“Thank you for the encouragement.”

“You’re welcome.”

Watching Louis shrug nonchalantly, Brew’s eyes instantly sharpened with intensity.

The other new recruits remained seated, captivated by the silent standoff between the Head and Deputy.

As their staring contest continued…

CRASH!

The door burst open with a violent slam.

A thunderous shout echoed through the room:

“LOOOOUIIIIISSSS!”

A woman in black rushed through the door and dashed toward Louis, throwing herself into his arms.

Louis sighed as she clung to him, her silver hair clinging stubbornly to his chest.

“What are you doing here…?”

“I came straight here as soon as I finished. Ahh… I couldn’t bear to be away from my Louis for even thirty minutes.”

All eyes in the room turned toward Kani, who was nuzzling her face against Louis’s chest.

“Damn… Who’s that?”

”…She’s gorgeous.”

“That’s her. The Head of the Piloting Division. I heard rumors, but… she’s insane.”

Over 70% of the Holy Garden’s technical division was male. Naturally, all eyes were drawn to Kani’s exceptional beauty.

This wasn’t any different for Louis.

He stared at Kani with a slightly dazed expression, watching her beam with happiness.

And Kani wasn’t the only one who found Louis.

“Louis-oppaah!”

Tania burst in after Kani. She pouted slightly at Kani, who had already claimed Louis, then tilted her head at Shiba standing beside him.

“Huh? Shiba?”

“T-Tania!”

Shiba waved enthusiastically at Tania’s sudden appearance, but…

“Hey, Shiba.”

”…”

Tania gave a curt greeting before brushing past. She sidled up to Louis and whispered:

“We’re all new students here. It feels weird calling you ‘teacher’. So I’ll just call you oppa from now on.”

It was obvious that she was using this opportunity to satisfy her own desires. Still, since her words made some sense and it was too annoying to argue, Louis waved his hand dismissively.

”…Do as you please.”

“Yes, Louis-oppa!”

Tania’s smile blossomed like a fully bloomed flower, causing the men watching her to change their gazes once again.

Then Kendrick and Khan arrived. This time, the eyes of the tech team women sparkled.

“Wow… So that’s what they mean by ‘the ratio God bestowed’.”

“They’re on a completely different level from those tech team noobs…”

The presence of the four figures in black uniforms among the white-clad crowd was striking. Kani and Tania clung to Louis like magnets, never leaving his side.

Kendrick and Khan were subtly surveying the classroom, with Louis at their center. The audience’s gaze remained fixed on them, unwilling to look away.

Louis sighed as he stood up, suddenly feeling like a zoo animal under the spotlight. Kani, still clinging to him, was dragged upright like a child on a piggyback ride. Having become Louis’s permanent shadow, she peeked up and asked, “Where are we going?”

“The dormitory…”

Louis trudged forward with a weary expression, his travel party following like ducklings behind a mother duck. A spectator among the crowd grumbled, “The world’s so unfair. The handsome and pretty ones… always sticking together?”

Of course, even the grumbling newbie couldn’t tear his eyes away from Louis’s group.

When Louis arrived at his dormitory room, he turned back with an incredulous expression.

“You guys… aren’t coming in?”

“We’ll come later!”

“Today we’re checking out Louis’s room!”

”…You’re all trying to squeeze into this cramped space?”

The dormitory was designed for two occupants per room. Yet six people stood outside the door, including Louis.

Huh? Six people?

Something wasn’t adding up. The reason became clear when Louis asked:

”…Why are you here?”

The travel party’s eyes simultaneously turned toward the person at the rear. Shiba, standing there, flinched under the collective gaze as he replied:

“Well… I’m also in room 303.”

”…What?”

Only then did Louis check the names on the door:

Louis

Shiba Bunt

Louis found himself speechless.

”…”

They had boarded the same ship, been assigned to the same class, and now shared the same room.

What is this…?

As Louis clicked his tongue in disbelief, a shady deal was being struck on the other side of the room.

“Shiba, want to swap rooms with me?”

”…But I can’t enter the women’s dormitory, right?”

“Ah, it’s fine. If anything happens, I’ll take the blame.”

“W-What do you mean ‘take the blame’?!”

Shiba shuddered at Kani’s mischievous gaze and quickly hid behind Louis.

Louis sighed deeply.

Is it my fate to be constantly surrounded by commotion?

Meanwhile, the rest of the travel party had stubbornly forced their way into the room. The four of them sprawled across the two beds placed on either side, leaving the owner of the room, Shiba, to squirm awkwardly before retreating to a corner.

”…Why are you crouching on the floor when there’s a chair right there?”

After clicking his tongue in disapproval, Louis became lost in thought.

There are three things I need to accomplish here.

First, I would uncover the corruption and inefficiencies within both the Transcendence Academy and the Tower of Wishes.

I’ll naturally discover those flaws over time anyway.

After all, imperfections tend to reveal themselves gradually as one becomes familiar with an environment. Even if I don’t want to know, the truth will come to light eventually.

And secondly…

I needed to find whatever William was searching for that night before he did.

That bastard definitely said it.

Perhaps… it might not be in the tower.

If my hunch was correct, William was trying to locate something in the Transcendence Academy that he couldn’t find in the Tower of Wishes. And crucially, William himself probably didn’t know where to look yet.

Then I just need to beat him to it.

Whether it’s me or William, neither of us knows the location of the item. Whoever finds it first gets to claim it.

However, William had the advantage of knowing what they were searching for.

I have William.

Though Louis didn’t know what they were looking for, he could simply follow William, who knew everything. Louis planned to extract clues from every one of William’s movements. To this end, he assigned someone perfectly suited for surveillance to tail William.

Fin, I trust you!

With her mastery of the Sacred Scripture of Stealth and her diminutive stature, keeping tabs on William wouldn’t be difficult.

The buyer did say they’d contact us again.

The key to exposing the Tower’s greatest scandal rested with Fin, who was now attached to William.

I’ll leave that matter to Fin for now…

And the third task:

I need to find those disciples…

He had to locate the former disciples of the Tower of Wishes—the ones who could reveal his true identity.

No matter how much corruption I uncovered, it would all be for naught if my words carried no weight.

Especially when the culprit was one of the fifteen Masters.

My voice, having just entered the tower, would be easily dismissed.

To prevent that from happening, I had to find the Grand Masters’ whereabouts.

And currently, the only ones who might know their location were the Masters themselves.

When I think about that old man Harold… There must be something he knows.

It wasn’t just Harold. The other Masters likely possessed valuable information too.

If I kept digging, I’d surely uncover something useful.

To do that, I needed to approach the Masters first.

Fortunately, Transcendence Academy housed three additional Masters beyond William and Harold.

Information… I need intelligence on the Masters. It’d be ideal to have a regular informant.

As Louis pondered this, his gaze fell upon Shiba crouching in the living room.

…Huh?

Simultaneously, the corners of Louis’s mouth curled upward in a predatory grin. It was the smile of a lion eyeing its prey.

I tried my hardest to send you away.

Despite his efforts to sever their connection, Shiba’s presence kept resurfacing like an unyielding tide. Louis could no longer deny it - even the slightest brush of clothing constituted fate, so this blatant entanglement must be destiny itself.

You’re the one crawling back here, begging to be crushed.

After all, Shiba was destined to become his capable punching bag.

“Heh-heh-heh.”

As Louis chuckled darkly…

“Eh-hic… Must be a cold… Khan… Could you spare me a blanket…?”

Shiba shivered violently, gripped by an inexplicable chill.