At this, Mark Thompson tapped the table lightly, as if putting pressure on the sixteen-year-old boy before him, or perhaps urging him in some way: “Now, you can make your decision. Two choices—which one will you pick?”

William Carter looked at the man who, up to this moment, had never once looked him in the eye, but now sat upright and spoke to him seriously. He said nothing, simply stood up, and prepared to leave the dining hall, as if Mark Thompson’s words just now hadn’t been addressed to him at all.

Seeing this, Mark Thompson still didn’t get angry; he didn’t even move from his seat. “Young man, having energy and fighting spirit is a good thing. But your opponent is Samuel Grant, a core student of the Xuanzhong Advanced Sword Academy, heir to the Viscount Frank Grant’s family, and a bearer of the Intermediate Swordsman Medal. Such an opponent is not someone you can defeat just by relying on youthful bravado. If you are cut down by Samuel Grant, that’s not a big deal. But don’t let our family’s precious jewel feel regret for you. Even though the chance is slim, our purpose as servants is to solve problems for our masters. So, I hope you think carefully and make one of the two choices…”

Mark Thompson’s words did not make William Carter stop. Faced with such an overbearing, self-important secretary who acted as if everything he did was a favor, William Carter’s attitude was simple.

Ignore.

Utterly ignore.

He walked from his seat straight to the side hall’s door, his steps never faltering, as if no one had spoken to him at all.

“William Carter, you will regret what you’re doing right now.”

Mark Thompson did not go after him.

Although he was just a retainer under Count Haino, even a mere retainer at the prime minister’s door held a seventh-rank official’s status. His position was far above that of a merchant family’s son. If it weren’t for the matter concerning Miss Helen Clark, he probably would never have spoken to such a green kid in his entire life.

As for the matter remaining unresolved…

Just as he’d said, his only purpose was to lessen Miss Helen Clark’s guilt a little. But in reality, given her character, that was highly unlikely. With her noble status, she had probably already forgotten who William Carter even was.

…

When William Carter returned to his dormitory, Scott Baker was already there.

At Xuanzhong Advanced Academy, each room housed only two students. The tuition of 120 gold coins per term was not paid for nothing.

“William Carter? You’re back? I heard Instructor Jane Howard looked for you today. If I’m not mistaken, she’s also from Bishui City, right? Two years ago, she was a student herself.”

William Carter nodded.

“So, did Instructor Jane Howard have any way to stop this duel?”

“No.”

“I see.”

Seeing that William Carter didn’t seem in the mood to chat, Scott Baker didn’t say more. After all, even though they shared a dorm, he’d only really known William Carter for three days.

William Carter glanced at Scott Baker, but instead of going to bed, he stood in the center of the room and began to practice standing meditation.

“You’re…”

Seeing William Carter standing there at night, looking like he intended to stand all night, Scott Baker was a bit surprised.

“It’s a method to stimulate qi and blood.”

“You really are hardworking. What a pity.”

Scott Baker said no more, rolled up in his blanket, and went to sleep.

Glancing at Scott Baker, then at the rather cramped room, William Carter frowned slightly. “Looks like I need to find a place and move out of the dorm. It’s too small. Core students can have a room to themselves, but even then, there’s not enough space for many kinds of training. It’d be best to have a small courtyard.”

With such a cramped space and someone else present, many of his training plans couldn’t be carried out. And by conventional methods, reaching the level of a formal swordsman capable of condensing force would take more than three years, even at his current speed.

As for leaving the academy…

William Carter had no such plans for now.

If he wanted to quickly and thoroughly understand this world’s cultivation system, an academy with systematic education was clearly the best place.

Chapter 11: Miracle

The night passed quickly.

By the time the sky began to lighten, William Carter had already awakened from his meditation.

He hadn’t spent long on standing meditation; for the latter half of the night, he had been practicing the Heavenly Demon Spirit-Tempering Technique. As its name implied, this was a method for tempering the spirit, which William Carter had come across by chance in an ancient relic. It originated from a ninth-rank psychic and could be cultivated all the way to the level of a Spiritual Master.

A Spiritual Master was the most exalted figure in the Alliance, their status far surpassing that of a seventh-rank psychic. Since the psychic cultivation system was established thousands of years ago, the entire Alliance had produced fewer than ten Spiritual Masters. A spirit-tempering method that could be cultivated to that level was a peerless treasure in the eyes of all psychics.

It was precisely because William Carter possessed this spirit-tempering method that, in his previous life, he was able to reach the level of a sixth-rank psychic by the age of thirty.