Chapter 24: Royal Academy

In a battle, proper position is very important. This was especially so when you are fighting multiple opponents at the same time.

Proper positioning can lead to victory and poor positioning can lead to your own demise. Understanding this, the Wind Breather backed away and somersaulted in the air and while he did that, the other two Genetic Strengthener approached him while he was in the air.

Their physical strength was strengthened by mana and the both ofthem threw a punch so powerful that it compressed the air in front of him.

However, to their disappointment, the Wind Breather was too slippery and he twisted his body in the air, effectively dodging their attacks.

If that wasn't enough, his legs even threw a kick at those two, pushing them away from him.

With the Wind Breathing Art's characteristics of free and fast movement, even manuvering one's body in the air is not impossible.

As the Wind Breather's feet landed on the ground, one can see that his sword was actually sheated on his scabbard but his hand was still tightly holding the sword's handle.

Suddenly, his battle suit and hair fluttered as he once again mobilized a significant amount of mana.

His gaze sharpened and as soon as he unsheathed his sword, he suddenly vanished from everyone's vision.

"[Core Skill: Wind Charge!]"

Yet another Core Skill was used and when everyone can finally see the Wind Breather again, he was casually standing in front of one of the assassins.

"S-so fast!" Melissa exclaimed. Even a Genetic Strengthener cultivator like her was almost unable to catch that move.

Clearly, Herrick Ashton is on a completely different level!

Even Kyrell can't help but suck in a mouthful of air after watching the next scenes that unfolded.

Heads... multiple heads flew in the air. All the Genetic Awakeners were killed by the Wind Breather in a single attack.

He was finally able to kill all the 'small fries' and it is now time to focus on the Genetic Strengtheners that has the chance to threaten him although the threat wasn't much.

"R-retreat! This mission is impossible!"

One of the Genetic Strengtheners shouted in fear and three figures immediately jumped from one tree after another to flee. They didn't dare fight anymore!

If not for the Wind Breather deciding to deal with the weaker cultivators before dealing with the stronger ones, it might be the three of them that died.

Just as Herrick Ashton was about to pursue the three, Melissa stopped her.

"Don't chase. Your mission is to protect the Young Master not to kill all assassins"

After hearing that, the Wind Breather's footsteps halted and he nodded his head. He slashed his sword in the air to flick the blood away before sheating it again.

After acknowledging Melissa and the others with a nod, he jumped on one of the nearby trees before vanishing from everyone's vision.

He surely is still around but neither Kyrell nor Melissa and the driver can see him. Of course, that is only if Kyrell don't use Zero to search for him.

"Damn... with strength like that, he does have the capital to act cool!" Kyrell thought, his heart anticipating the time when he would have that level of power and even exceed it.

"Let's move our camp" Kyrell said as the soup given to him by Melissa became unpalatable due to the sight of these corpses. How can he eat with such a disgusting scene around him?

—-

A few days passed and they were uneventful. Aside from the assassination attempt that failed in the first night and attack from weak bandits from time to time, nothing interesting happened.

Kyrell finally reached the Royal Capital and it was not much different than the Thousand Mountain City when it comes to urban development, only slightly better.

After all, the Everbright Kingdom's territory is not that large. With a smaller territory, those ruling it would have an easier time developing the Kingdom. It wast surprising that the Royal Capital is only a bit better compared to Kyrell's hometown.

As a clan with a Spirit Nourisher Cultivator, even though they are a recently rising clan, the Evander Family still owned a small manor in the capital.

Hence, there was no need to rent an inn and they went straight to the Manor. As soon as Kyrell arrived, the servants greeted him.

He greeted them back but he went straight to the bathroom to wash his body. It might have been only a few days but as someone that doesn't really get dirty, the past few days were a bit uncomfortable for him.

Only after bathing for an hour did Kyrell felt refreshed and he was about to rest on his bed when he heard someone knocking on his door.

"Come in" Kyrell gave permission and the door was opened by Melissa.

"Young Master, the entrance exam of the Royal Academy will be held tomorrow. Do you have special instructions?" Melissa inquired, acting like the qualified maid she is.

Even if her master doesn't say anything, since she knows that Kyrell will enroll into the Royal Academy, she purposely reminded him in case he would have some special instructions.

"Nothing much, just make sure I have enough new daggers and shurikens in my weapon pouch" Kyrell replied and Melissa nodded her head.

"I will see to it, Young Master. If you need to go to the training ground in the manor, the other servants can lead the way for you"

As Melissa still has a lot of things to do after arriving in the capital, she excused herself and leave Kyrell alone.

—-

"So... this is the Royal Academy... 'my vacation' here will last for at most a year and after that, my life..."

Kyrell took a deep breath as he stared at the golden gates of the Royal Academy. Factions in the Kingdom with Spirit Nourisher cultivators can recommend their people into the academy.

Of course, that is just recommendation. The recommended students still need to pass the entrance examination to be admitted.

Aside from these strong factions, there are also 'commoners' that are recommended once they showed enough talent.

"The Royal Family ruled the Everbright Kingdom but the power of local factions are also not to be underestimated. As the 'ruler', they possessed the most number of resources in the Kingdom, occupying many resource rich places"

"To avoid displeasing the local factions and also to recruit various geniuses to strengthen the Imperial Power, the Royal Academy is founded"

"On one hand, it would distribute the resources from the Imperial Family to other factions. On the other hand, as a place for geniuses, recruiting these geniuses to serve the royal court will strengthen the royalty"

As someone that likes to read, Kyrell naturally knew a lot of things including the history of the Kingdom. He knew many things and gave his judgement as to why the Royal Family founded and spend resources on the Royal Academy.

Kyrell entered the gates and showed his recommendation letter bearing the family crest of the Evander Family and entered the academy.

—-

The staff of the Royal Academy guided Kyrell along with the other examinees into an open ground where blue large crystals are prepared.

When Kyrell arrived, there were already lines formed in front of those crystals. There are at least five people touching the crystals at a time with their eyes closed and various expressions flashed on their faces from time to time as if they were enduring hardships.

This made Kyrell curious as he even saw one examinee removing their palm on the blue crystal while shouting as if his body was electrocuted by something.

"Those large blue crystals are called Trial Crystals. Once you touch one, it will create illusions in your mind. While inside the illusion, all of your strength will be perfectly replicated"

"The first exam is simple. You will have to fight a magic beast at the same rank as you are. You either need to kill the magic beast in the illusion or not die inside for at least ten minutes"

"Of course, the faster you kill the magic beasts, the more points you will receive and these points will determine your ranking. There's always exciting prices for the top 10 of the entrance examination"

"Oh, and be careful, once you die inside the illusion, you will automatically fail and can't move on to the next stage"

The academy staff explained to the newcomers that immediately became serious.

As the academy spends a lot of resources into the students, they naturally cannot nurture just any random cultivator. If you will spend resources you might as well use it on a talented cultivator, right?

After all, even the royals don't have an unlimited supply of cultivation resources and in this world, there is no such concept as too many resources!

"I wonder how many will be elimated" Kyrell thought while looking at the other examinees. There are many that hope to enter the academy for the abundant resources inside but not all of them will pass.