Two Mandatory Courses

Ye Qing's brows creased, feeling uneasy.

It wasn't a sense of danger per se, but as he watched everyone nearby, especially the players, listening intently to the woman and expecting an explanation, he sighed.

If this woman exposed them to these secrets, it means that they've already tossed their lot with the floating academies of the Holy Order Prefecture. Perhaps, these floating academies are Themis' method of covertly grooming her personal army since the other six prefectures had some semblance of a cohesive battle force cultivated after thousands of years of bloodshed.

What's a better whetstone other than the Crimson Nation that survived the testimony of time throughout the ages?

However, Ye Qing wasn't interested in getting mired too deeply in this conflict. Thus, he couldn't afford to listen in on these secrets yet, at least not in a straightforward manner like this.

The woman was about to continue expanding on the information about the Crimson Nation and the Seven Prefectures when Ye Qing raised his hand. "Do we have the option to not know, or is this lecture mandatory?"

Ye Qing chose his words carefully by addressing this whole play as a lecture, as the players who proved blindsided by their eagerness to explore the secrets of this world and the natives who hold an intrinsic bias against the Crimson Nation wouldn't think too deeply about Ye Qing's words.

However, the woman in military uniform was different, the same went for the instructors behind her as they were more than aware of this woman's hidden intentions.

It's just… They hadn't expected one of the youngsters to be so calm, to the point of discerning these little inconsistencies.

The woman furrowed her brows, her cold hazel eyes locking onto Ye Qing, causing the latter to quiver gently.

This wasn't the real world, and there was no Madam Ye to protect him from life-threatening situations, and this woman had more than one option at hand to dispose of him. Thus, he was genuinely uncertain, hesitant… and somewhat scared right now.

The stadium was silent for a while.

The woman smiled and said, "You have to choose between two mandatory courses from here till we reach the Storm Floating Academy. I should have informed you earlier, it simply slipped out of my mind; the first course is this one, consisting of a three-hour lecture regulated across our three days of travel."

Her beautiful hazel eyes glittered as she continued, "As for the second course; it is a combat regiment where you will engage in prolonged combat sessions with our instructors, though you'd have eight hours a day, for the remainder of the return trip."

She smiled, linking her arms behind her back as she spoke lightly, "Goes without saying, they will do their best to drill advanced combat habitat into your flesh and bones, and since the course is mandatory; you'll be afforded no breaks, and if you miss one minute off schedule, you'll be hereby expelled from not only our Storm Floating Academy, but the entire system."

As the woman finished talking, the sliding doors arranged across the higher-level railings of the stadium opened and from each door, three fierce men stepped out. Powerful external force wreathed around some of their bodies while others had palpable internal force that almost burst from underneath their callous skin.

Ye Qing felt a pricking sensation in his retina by simply staring at these people. He gulped, hard.

What worried him wasn't the physical pain but the fact that he only had two days left before his brain breaches the safety limits of extensive high-tension processing.

Even as he gritted his teeth, Ye Qing turned off the safety mode and took a deep breath. In the worst-case scenario, he would faint in-game for a few hours like last time.

Ye Qing looked up at the woman in military uniform, speaking resolutely, "I chose the second course, Mandatory Combat Regime!"

A bit of temporary pain is a better option than unknowingly enslaving himself.

"Head Instructor, I would like to undertake the second course too! Please grant my wish!"

"M-me too! P-please!"

Ye Qing's body shook.

He turned over and through the dense crowd, he spotted Reiner and Celesti. The former stood straight, though it was obvious how grievously his wounds affected his stance even as his body quivered periodically. As for Celesti, despite the lack of obvious wounds, her shaking body stood close to Reiner's, speaking up through the clattering of her teeth.

She didn't even dare look up at the combat regime instructors, let alone the woman in military uniform.

Nonetheless, in this silent stadium, her voice echoed loud and clear. When everyone saw this petite, little girl volunteering to undertake the cruel course, most of the men in the audience felt their cheeks flushing red.

"Nonsense!"

Ye Qing yelled in a rare moment of outburst, his eyes turning red as he glared at Celesti. Was she looking to die?! These instructors were obviously planted to coerce students into choosing the first course.

They wouldn't hold back; they'd do their absolute worst to force him, Reiner, and Celesti into backing down.

The woman in military uniform snorted coldly despite her surprise. "She made this choice to follow you; if you don't wish for her to suffer, you've got only one option. Other than that, I can't let you influence the minds of the students."

She wasn't blind; she immediately spotted the connection between these three. Obviously, they didn't wish for their friend to suffer and thus chose to follow him.

If she could use this psychological barrier to force this student into backing down, that would prove for the best.

Ye Qing's eyes turned cold; he understood her tactics quite well. In fact, this was a commendable move, beautifully executed too. However, that was only if Ye Qing was dead set on joining the floating academy.

She didn't know that the entire academy, in his eyes, was no more than a means to an end. Although his search for the lost history might prove arduous without the extensive resources of such a behemoth, it wasn't enough to force him into servitude.

Under her cold eyes, Ye Qing took a deep breath. "You might as well save both my time and yours by outright expelling me from the Storm Floating Academy."

Everyone, including Reiner and Celesti, was shocked.

Why go so far?

Celesti panicked, shouting, "Brother Mortal!"

Reiner's eyes constricted into pinpricks, as he felt something off too. No matter how ridiculous a mandatory lecture was, is it worth it to outright leave the academy over something so trivial?

However, he didn't give the matter much thought since in his opinion, Ye Qing saved his life; he owed the young man that much faith, at the very least.

The entire stadium went dead silent after Celesti's shout, the majority of the audience staring at Ye Qing with gobsmacked expressions. At this moment, Reiner took Celesti's hand and said, "Brother Mortal, us two siblings at least owe you a life. If you're leaving, we're also leaving."

Every player had a strange expression as they stared at Ye Qing, not having expected the center of hubbubs on the forums to be exposed in such a… weird manner.

The woman in a military uniform furrowed her brows, not having expected this young man to be a tough bone to crack. This was a headache.

Just as she was about to order the instructors to capture and throw him off the vessel, the players finally came to their senses.

"Mortal?! That Talisman Master Mortal?!"

"No shit Sherlock! Look, he's the only dude with ghost mode for both name and level! Remember, the Mortal on the forums had ghost mode on too… How many coincidences could there be in this world?"

That's right! Thinking about it, people realized that among everyone present, there was only one player who ghosted his name and level. At first, no one really cared, but if this guy was also called Mortal, then that's a whole other story.

Even as the players began to clamor, no one was stupid enough to rush over like fangirls under the cold eyes of these instructors. As for Ye Qing, who already made up his mind to leave this academy; he didn't care one bit about those eyes and started walking towards the panicking Celesti and solemn Reiner.

The woman's beautiful eyebrows creased the more she listened to the fervent discussions. If what they said was true, she couldn't bear the responsibility of kicking away a future talisman master.

She smiled and said, "Why didn't you mention your vocation much earlier? Some talents have the privilege of hiring personal attendants; can't you have these guys accompanying you with this privilege?"

Even if she did regret it, the woman wouldn't toss her dignity away and beg for Ye Qing to come back while offering some ridiculous compensation.

Even if she knew of his aptitude beforehand, she wouldn't be able to openly bend the rules for one person, especially someone hellbent on maintaining his freedom and opposing her controlling tactics.

However, this person wasn't just any talent as he was also an undying otherworlder; this at least warranted a little bit of rul-bending, though not arbitrarily.

Why would the academy bow its head for a mere talisman apprentice with rudimentary skill at best?

However, even if she allowed Ye Qing to act willfully now and help these two in, she would make sure that the other instructors collected interest from the Mandatory Combat Regime!