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Dark.

It was a dark abyss.

As though the God of Creation had accidentally knocked over a bottle of ink, a corner of the sky was soaked by impenetrable darkness.

There was nothing above the sky, but there were living beings underneath the sky.

Countless powerful beings in ten thousand worlds charged toward the lesion-like darkness without the slightest hesitation.

The galaxies were easily shattered and worlds were annihilated with a snap of a finger.

The world itself was merely a speck of dust in this war.

Everything was engulfed by darkness.

Martial arts, magic spells and laws of gods.

— All of them were rendered powerless in this abyss of darkness.

Finally, a corner of the sky was torn apart.

Darkness spilled forth into the world.

It engulfed countless stars, the sun and the moon.

Wherever the darkness flowed, the land was left barren as though it was destroyed by swarms of locusts.

The gods were powerless and all beings wept.

It was then that a loud dragon cry rang out in a certain world.

Then it was followed by countless cries.

A huge and mighty dragon covered the sky.

It roared as it flew towards the darkness that was spilling forth.

Its wings sliced through the air, its roar shook the world and its eyes shone like a sun.

The darkness retreated.

However…

A huge hand appeared from the void and came through the sky.

It was a giant hand covered in scales.

It passed through the crack torn open by the darkness.

Like grasping for a fish, it grabbed a few dragons that couldn’t avoid it in time.

Moments later…

A chuckle came from above the sky and echoed through countless worlds.

“How delicious.”

………

“Ugh… this dream again.”

Lilith sat up from her bed and held her head with a troubled look on her face.

She couldn’t remember when she started having the same dream almost every night.

The scene was very fuzzy and she would forget about the content of the dream as soon as she woke up.

But having the same dream every night was starting to make her wonder if she had any mental illness.

“Seems like I should get a doctor to check it out. I wonder if psychologists exist in this world.”
“Never mind. I should get up first. Today is the first day of school, so I can’t afford to be… late.”

Lilith suddenly caught a glimpse of the clock hanging on the wall.

The gentle morning sunlight streamed through the gap between the curtains and shone on the clock. The hour and minute hands of the clock made a perfect right angle.

Ah, it’s nine o’clock. I got up at the right time.
Hold on, what time does class start again?

Was it half-past eight?

“That means I’m late! How did Thea end up oversleeping too?!”

Lilith sprung up from her bed and frantically put on her clothes while criticizing the saintess who had overslept too.

However, Thea’s bed was empty long ago. Even her blanket and everything else was neatly folded.

There was a note left on the blanket.

I didn’t wake you up since you were soundly asleep.

Don’t worry, I’ll help you answer during roll call. There shouldn’t be any problem.

I can’t save any breakfast for you, given your appetite. So you’ll have to get your own breakfast at the cafeteria.

PS: You must take your breakfast, I heard our first lesson is actual combat.

PPS: Remember to change your pillowcase. You were drooling last night, hehe~

Yours truly, Thea.

Rip rip!

Lilith quickly tore the note to pieces.

“Hehe, there’s no way I’d drool in my sleep.”

She threw a glance at her pillow and noticed that there indeed seemed to be some traces left on it.

“It must be that this pillow was originally dirty. It must be.” Lilith mumbled to herself seriously, “I should have a good talk with Thea later. Making baseless accusations isn’t what a former saintess should do.”

Lilith tucked an explosive scroll into the pillow, then threw it out of the window.

Boom!

It made a loud noise and the shockwave of the explosion shook the windows.

A commotion was heard in the distance and Lilith could hear some random teacher yelling from time to time.

Ah.

What a quiet, beautiful and peaceful morning.

Lilith took her time washing up and dressing up. Since Thea would answer the roll call for her, she could surely take her sweet time.

After that, she could still go to the cafeteria to enjoy her breakfast.

The first lesson was actual combat, how befitting of an academy that prioritized martial prowess.

I like it.

On the other side, at arena number 33 in the west wing of the academy…

The west wing was the largest flat land of the academy which was built next to the mountain, so naturally, it was put into its best use.

The academy built 108 huge arenas to be used as facilities to carry out lessons or for students to settle disputes between them. Their scale and quality far exceeded those arenas that were temporarily built for the entrance exam.

This was where class 9, the class that Lilith belonged to, would hold its first lesson.

“It has been thousands of years since the academy was established. From the time when it was still unheard of by many to now when it is known to be the best academy on the continent, things have always revolved around martial prowess. Only the strongest are fit to be leaders. This has always been an unchanging truth throughout the ages.”
“And today, I, your adorable class teacher, shall conduct your first class in the academy.”

The speaker was the teacher in charge of Lilith’s class. Mr. Miguel, who was also known as the Iron Wall in the academy.

“The reason why there’s neither opening ceremony nor the principal’s speech right after you join the academy is because your eyes are about to be opened.”

Miguel scanned the students.

Most of them had an arrogant look on their young and tender faces.

“I know most of you are the leaders among your peers and are brimming with arrogance, especially after you managed to survive the harsh entrance exam. So, the objective of today’s class is to stamp out the arrogance in all of you.”

Miguel clapped his hands and a group of students in uniform came out from the entrance at the other end of the arena.

“Meet your seniors, who are also your opponents today.”

That immediately caused an uproar.

The opponents were the seniors from the same academy? How could they possibly defeat them?

They were similarly gifted but with extra years of special training. Anyone with a brain would know their chances of winning was close to nil.

Could it be that the first lesson was to let the students experience one hundred forms of abuse?

“Of course, we are not subjecting all of you to a one-sided torture,” Miguel assured. “They are only a level higher than all of you, so the gap isn’t something you can’t overcome.”

“Then is there any reward if we win?” Someone suddenly raised his hand and asked.

“Reward? Of course there is. As long as any one of you can win, I promise that none of you will ever be subjected to corporal punishment for any mistakes you make in the future.” Miguel licked his lips. “You should know that I enjoy using corporal punishment on students the most.”

Everyone’s eyes instantly lit up as soon as they heard that. The reward of never being punished obviously got everyone fantasizing.

For example, the possibility of sleeping in…

Or skipping classes…

Since they could escape from punishments, they might as well prank the teachers…

But before anyone had the time to be happy, Miguel doused the cold water on everyone.

“However, if none of you win, your punishments will be doubled in the future,” Miguel snickered.

Everyone exchanged looks and could see a trace of determination in each other’s eyes.

In any case, they must at least win the next round!

“Well then, let’s commence the class.” Miguel flipped through the class roster in his hand. “Hmm… the first contestant shall be… Lilith.”

No one responded.

“Lilith?”

There was still no response.

“Where is Lilith?!”

Miguel scanned the crowd. He was nicknamed the Iron Wall, not only because of his height and strong build, but also because of his tough ways of dealing with wrongdoers.

Anyone who dared to break the rules in his class would definitely suffer miserably.

This was the experience summed up by countless seniors through their blood and tears. As soon as the school started, they would pass on the information to any juniors that they acknowledge.

Hence for this class, almost everyone came early, for fear that they would be the first to get into trouble.

Yet, someone dared to make a mistake in front of Miguel, the Iron Wall?

Did she think this iron wall was built with plasticine?

At this very moment, Thea shrank in one corner among the crowd.

Sweat was rolling off her forehead as she bit her lips and blamed herself.

I’m sorry Lilith.

I forgot that it’s impossible to answer on behalf of someone else in actual combat class, especially when it is the class teacher who is conducting the class.

Hurry up and come, or else you’re really done for!