Chapter 97

The headquarters of Carillian Academy is located on an archipelago at the intersection of the northern and southern continent.

The main campus is situated on the central island, surrounded by other islands that each serve specific functions, collectively protecting the central island like a moon surrounded by stars.

The northern continent is the territory of the demon race, while the southern continent is home to human nations, the dwarf kingdom, and the elven forest, among other relatively peaceful races.

Carillian Academy is established on the sea at the border between the demon race and human nations.

It is said that the reason it has survived for so long under the watchful eyes of the demons is due to the ancient protective magic array left from the era of the ancient Carillian Empire.

Once attacked, the islands will form an impregnable chain of sea defenses, protecting the central island layer by layer.

The days spent traveling to Carillian Academy were much more comfortable than the days spent in the trial dungeon.

Whether it was because the ship’s facilities were more luxurious or because everyone’s mindset had changed, the initial anxiety and nervousness had transformed into a sense of relief and joy now that they were assured of their admission.

Winnie had also been living quite comfortably these past few days.

Although the meals on the ship were rather plain for the young nobles, they were a rare delicacy for him. He felt like he had never eaten so well or lived such a high-quality life before.

He didn’t have to do anything all day, just strolled around the ship, played a few rounds of cards or chess in the entertainment area, slept when he was tired, and ate the 24-hour unlimited supply of desserts in the dining hall when he was hungry.

Life was too good. Wasn’t this the life he had always dreamed of?

All the hard work and struggle were for the future version of himself to live such a carefree and luxurious life, weren’t they?

So much so that when the ship docked and it was time to disembark, he was reluctant to leave.

Honestly, as a disgraced fallen noble, he wasn’t much better off than a commoner, and in some aspects, his starting point was even lower than that of commoner students.

If he could live like this all the time, why would he go through the trouble of racking his brains to get into Carillian Academy?

Thinking about it made him even more regretful. If only he had transmigrated into the second son of a great noble family, someone who could just laze around and wait for death.

After all, the future wouldn’t require him to take on any responsibilities; he could just live off the family’s wealth, and everything would be taken care of for him.

But alas, he wasn’t. Instead, he had transmigrated into the original villainous cannon fodder character, the one everyone hated. Everything had to be built from scratch.

Thinking about this, Winnie felt a surge of anger. That damned goddess had only shown up once during his bloodline awakening, made a brief appearance, and then threw out a line, “The future of the Varelis family now rests on you,” before disappearing again.

Seriously, if you want me to revive the family, at least give me some benefits, abilities, or magical tools, right?

You’re not giving me anything, yet you expect me to work for free?

That old hag, didn’t she know how dangerous it was for him back then? If it hadn’t been for the sudden return, he would have demanded some compensation from her.

Radiance Goddess, if you don’t cough up some gold coins, I’ll be the last generation of the Varelis family. Just wait for the family line to die out!

The magic-powered ship sailed across the vast sea, and after a week-long journey, it was time to disembark.

After having breakfast in the morning, Winnie was “kicked” off the ship by the instructor, reluctantly leaving the luxurious ship that had made him so reluctant to leave.

The happy days ended at this moment.

It was time to start working hard for life again.

I’ll miss you, luxurious ship. I’ll miss your luxurious velvet beds, your unlimited supply of desserts, your entertainment card games and chess matches, your three meals with meat, eggs, and milk…

As he thought about it, Winnie, led by an instructor, officially set foot on the archipelago of Carillian Academy.

They disembarked on a subsidiary island, as ships were not allowed to go directly to the main island and had to transfer from the subsidiary islands.

The instructor responsible for receiving the students from the kingdom was a young and energetic man. He was enthusiastic and talkative, answering the students’ various questions as he led the way.

As they disembarked, Winnie caught a glimpse of another luxurious ship about to dock, presumably carrying students from other countries.

Winnie suddenly thought of the other female leads from the original story, such as the imperial princess he had met in the trial dungeon.

She should be on those ships about to dock, right?

Speaking of which, Mirexia, who was a year ahead of them, should have already arrived at the academy.

As the student council president, she had a lot of work to do and had to return to school early.

After handling state affairs, she had to return to the academy to deal with the mountain of paperwork.

Sometimes, one had to admire Mirexia’s dedication and sense of responsibility.

That workaholic princess seemed to have no concept of stress relief or relaxation, as if her life consisted solely of work.

The islands of Carillian Academy were connected by bridges, and these magic-powered bridges could be closed at any time.

In times of crisis, the bridges would be shut down to ensure the safety of the main island.

The young instructor led the curious freshmen, introducing them to the various facilities within the academy.

Winnie walked on a magic-powered bridge, the translucent blue fluorescent bridge beneath his feet reminding him of the glass bridges he had seen in his previous life.

The semi-transparent surface faintly revealed the scenery below, which was not friendly to those afraid of heights.

If it were fully transparent, it would give the sensation of walking on air.

Many students, experiencing this for the first time, looked uneasy.

However, seeing everyone else walking on it, they felt embarrassed to hesitate and could only muster the courage to follow.

But there were also students who enjoyed this feeling, such as Aesphyra.

It had to be said that the archipelago was truly vast. They had been walking for most of the day and still hadn’t reached the main island.

They had set out in the morning and only arrived at the main island in the afternoon.

Since the semester hadn’t started yet, most of the senior students hadn’t returned to academy.

The academy was now populated only by instructors, some senior students, and the freshmen.

The freshmen from various regions gathered in the academy’s grand plaza. Winnie soon noticed other batches of freshmen arriving one after another.

In the academy’s grand plaza stood a tall and majestic white stone statue of a goddess with her hands in a prayer pose.

Before the students arrived, the leading instructor took out a list and had the students line up in order.

“Aesphyra Galactus? Who is it?”

“Instructor, it’s me.” Aesphyra stepped forward gracefully.

Today, she was wearing a pair of black short boots, paired with shiny black knee-high stockings and a dark gold-trimmed black skirt.

Her upper body was clad in a white button-up blouse, and her silver hair, as smooth as silk, was tied back with a large black bow.

“Galactus, you’re exceptionally talented.” The instructor looked at Aesphyra with approval. “Your overall scores are the highest in the entire grade.”

The other students were shocked. Although Aesphyra had an impressive demeanor, they hadn’t expected a young lady from a viscount family to take the top spot among this year’s freshmen.

“You flatter me.” Aesphyra smiled calmly, as if the achievement meant little to her.

“Hmm, stand at the front.” The instructor was quite satisfied with Aesphyra’s composed reaction, thinking that Carillian Academy might have another monstrous genius on its hands, and had her stand at the front of the kingdom’s freshmen.

Now everyone understood that the order of the lineup was based on overall scores, which inevitably led to some awkwardness.

Those with good admission scores had their moment of glory, while those with less impressive scores stood at the back of the line, feeling embarrassed as if they were being publicly shamed.

For a moment, all the students couldn’t help but feel nervous. They had passed the most difficult trials, but they had no idea where they stood in terms of overall scores.

Winnie, however, was completely unfazed, as if it had nothing to do with him, and even whistled softly.

He didn’t care. Getting into the academy was enough, as it meant his baseline had been raised to a level that was definitely not low. As for rankings? Why bother with that?

He even hoped his ranking would be lower, so as not to attract unnecessary attention, which would align with the public’s impression of Winnie.

The gazes of the other students, filled with anxiety, often swept past Winnie.

He could guess what they were thinking—they were probably relieved that he was there to be the bottom, so even if their scores weren’t great, they wouldn’t be too embarrassed.

“Eric Ackerman.” The instructor called out the second name, and a dignified young man stepped forward, being asked to stand in the second row.

“Not bad, not bad. You’re all future leaders.” The instructor praised. Needless to say, this was the kingdom’s second-highest-scoring freshman after Aesphyra.

Ackerman?

Winnie recognized the surname. If he remembered correctly, it belonged to the most powerful marquis family in the Camella Kingdom, and this Eric was the eldest son of the Ackerman Marquis family.

If his scores were among the top, most of the kingdom’s nobles would accept it, as Eric was a well-known prodigy in the Camella Kingdom, considered to be on the same level as Mirexia, a leading figure among the younger generation.

Sure enough, after Eric stepped forward, the noble students from the kingdom who had heard of his name weren’t surprised, feeling that it was only natural for him to be in that position.

If it hadn’t been for Aesphyra’s unexpected rise this year, he could have even competed for the top spot.

If Winnie knew what they were thinking, he would probably have a sarcastic thought like, “Even without Aesphyra, it wouldn’t have been his turn this year.”

Joking aside, just look at who participated in this year’s entrance exams.

It was the all-star cast from the original story that had beaten Winnie up. Here, even dragons had to coil, and tigers had to crouch.

After calling out several other well-known noble students from the kingdom, the instructor cleared his throat and called out.

“Winnie Varelis.”

So soon?

Winnie frowned, not expecting his score to be higher than he had anticipated, even placing him within the top ten of the kingdom’s freshmen.

Amidst the shocked expressions of the kingdom’s students, who thought they had misheard and were now gaping in disbelief, Winnie stepped forward.

“I see, a descendant of the goddess.” The instructor nodded in approval, giving him an encouraging look. “The revival of your family is within reach.”

Not really, not really.

Winnie thanked him and stood behind the previous person.

He felt several gazes on him. The first was from Aesphyra, as enigmatic as ever, leaving him unable to decipher its meaning. The second was rather peculiar, coming from Eric.

His gaze lingered on Winnie, and even when their eyes met, he didn’t look away.

Instead, he gave Winnie a once-over, nodded, and gave him a look that was hard to interpret.

“?”

Winnie was puzzled. He couldn’t understand it, as he had never been looked at in such a way before.

But he could tell that there was no negativity in that gaze; it was more of a positive affirmation.

Having grown accustomed to the disdainful looks of others, Winnie could sense it.

That was precisely why he found it even more confusing.

This Eric was also a notable character in the original story, but interestingly, he had no interactions with Winnie in the original plot.

He neither followed the crowd in slandering Winnie nor participated in the campaign against him.

Hmm, in terms of height, he was much taller than Winnie, and he was exceptionally handsome and dignified.

It was a pity that such a character, if not in a game like this, would have been a protagonist in any other game.

After that, the nature of the list changed completely. The few people ahead of Winnie were relieved that their scores were high enough, while those called after Winnie looked ashen-faced, like defeated roosters.

They knew that no matter where they ranked today, the label of “not as good as Winnie” was firmly placed on their heads.

Well, now there was no need to compete for higher rankings. Winnie had done them a great service.

Winnie looked over at the freshmen from other countries. Next to the kingdom’s lineup was the empire’s.

He wasn’t surprised to see the familiar black-haired, purple-eyed girl standing at the front of the crowd.

It was Isatia Lanteville.

If Winnie remembered correctly, in the original story, when Aesphyra stood at the front, she had kept staring at Isatia, even winking at her, which Isatia had mistaken for a challenge.

The two pairs of similar purple eyes staring at each other had been quite an interesting scene.

Thinking of this, Winnie glanced in Aesphyra’s direction and found her standing properly, her gaze fixed straight ahead.

Even though she was in line with Isatia, it was as if she hadn’t noticed her at all.

Since when had Aesphyra become so well-behaved??

Winnie was shocked.

In the original story, Aesphyra had kept staring at Isatia, so obviously that Isatia had turned to look back.

But now, Aesphyra wasn’t looking at Isatia at all, so naturally, Isatia wouldn’t turn to look at her.

It was just that the freshmen from both countries were led by top-tier beauties, making the scene quite captivating.

Just as Winnie was about to look away from Isatia, he suddenly noticed a pair of purple eyes fixed on him. He looked over and realized it was Isatia from the other lineup.

Winnie was momentarily stunned, remembering that he had helped Isatia in the trial realm. She probably recognized him.

However, the way Isatia looked at him was completely devoid of any emotion. Being stared at by those authoritative amethyst eyes made his scalp tingle.

What’s going on with you all? Aesphyra isn’t looking at Isatia anymore, but now Isatia is staring at me, a grown man, non-stop. What’s the deal??