High atop the northern VIP watchtower of the Great Qian Royal Academy, Second Prince Qian Ye gripped the carved marble balustrade until his fingernails turned bloodless white. Above his golden crown, the translucent crimson ring of his Regressor Halo flickered like a dying oil lamp at 52%, while his Foreknowledge Decay hovered past 60%.
In his previous life a hundred years ago, the autumn intake of the Royal Academy had been his grand triumph: Little Marquis Qian Hu had effortlessly swept first place. Won the Academy Treasury’s prize—the Thousand-Year Frost-Star Crystal—and presented it to Qian Ye so he could. Refine the dormant soul-wisp of an Upper-Realm Sword Empress trapped inside it into an obedient puppet spirit!
Yet today, because of that abominable South Ward cook Gu Changsheng. The three little villains who shouldn’t have even known each other for another decade had exploded the Spirit-Root Measuring Pillars, humiliated the Royal Clan for a hundred thousand silver taels. Scored triple perfect marks on the graduate written exam!
“Your Highness, don’t worry!” Senior Head Instructor Lei panted as he scrambled up the watchtower stairs, his beard still glittering with pink quartz dust as he bowed low beside Qian Ye. “I have already herded those three brats and the twenty commoner scholarship candidates into Sector Four of the Thousand-Gravity Illusion Labyrinth, and locked the outer meteoric-iron blast doors with your Imperial Tally!
