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Central conference room, top floor of St. Caroline Academy…

There were 108 candles lit up in the spacious and bright conference room, symbolizing the highest level of conference was in session. The candlelight flickered, creating a strange atmosphere.

This was a rule handed down from the first dean. The number of lit candles signified the urgency of the situation. This was the second time that all 108 candles were lit up since the academy’s founding a thousand years ago.

Naturally, regular teachers in the academy weren’t eligible to participate in this conference. Hence, they could only anxiously wait for the outcome outside the conference room. Regardless of the outcome, this conference would definitely determine the fate of St. Caroline Academy.

At this moment, twenty-three tenured professors and the five elders were in attendance. Even with their qualifications, they could only stand by as observers and not speak unless addressed.

The vice-dean sat at the south end of the table. Apart from him, highly valuable ultra-long-ranged spectrum stones were placed in other seats.

“Let’s begin,” the vice-dean commanded softly.

A total of nine figures were projected above the spectrum stones, their superior presence inadvertently leaking into the room. Before the conference even began, the atmosphere in the room already turned extremely stifling.

The vice-dean stood up and bowed slightly to the other nine figures respectfully. “Please allow me to introduce Your Honors to my fellow colleagues from the academy.”

“Proceed,” one of the figures responded.

“Thank you.”

The vice-dean respectfully bowed again and began with the introduction. “Well then, first, the guardian of the Holy Dragon Empire, the Aurora Dragon, Lord Taylor.”

Gasp.

As soon as the vice-dean’s voice fell, gasps could be heard in the conference room. Although everyone had predicted that important figures would be attending this conference, they didn’t expect them to be this important.

This was not just the legendary dragon, but also the one who made a pact with the first Holy Dragon King and the being that built this empire. It could be said that he was an important figure that only existed in the legend, whom no one would even dare to imagine meeting in reality.

Taylor’s human form was a rough-looking man. He scratched his head when he heard the reaction from others and laughed. “Haha, don’t be nervous. I’m just here because the king, that eighty-year-old kid, pulled me here. Just pretend I’m not here.”

The vice-dean nodded then continued, “Second, the Pope Delance from Luminous Theocracy.”

The other people from the academy remained solemn. However, this person’s identity wasn’t as shocking compared to the first figure.

The Pope of Luminous Theocracy, who once fought with Lilith over his daughter, gave everyone a slight nod but his gaze was on the figure to his left.

“Third, the Pope Novak from Shadow Theocracy.”

The figure that Pope Delance looked at was none other than Pope Novak. When the latter noticed his gaze, he smirked. “Yo, long time no see, Delance. I heard that your saintess went missing?”

“The affairs of Luminous Theocracy is none of your business.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk… How can you call yourself a Pope when you can’t even protect your precious saintess? If I’m you, I’d just find a toilet and drown myself in it.”
“Shut up, you sissy.”
“What did you say?”
“Sissy.”
“I dare you to say that again.”
“Sissy.”
“A war it is!! I declare a war on you in the Goddess’ name!”
“Come on then! Who’s scared of a sissy like you?!”

Seeing that a war was about to break out, someone quickly came forward to diffuse the situation.

“Do it, do it! If you two fight, I’ll get one or maybe two good things out of it!”
“……”
“……”
“Don’t look at me like that! It can’t be helped that we’re three neighboring countries. Who wouldn’t want to take advantage of the situation?”

The old man sitting across from the two men stroked his beard and chuckled.

“And fourth, Chairman Durdur of the Southern Federation.”
“Hmph!”

Delance and Novak shot a glare at each other before they sat down and stopped talking.

The vice-dean secretly breathed a sigh of relief at the end of that dispute, then continued on with the introduction. “Fifth, the eldest princess of Macedonian Empire, Her Royal Highness Lesiah.”

A silver-haired beauty, about seventeen or eighteen years old, held her skirt and curtsied elegantly to everyone.

“Sixth, the Prime Minister of Merked Kingdom, His Excellency Mihabel.”

The paunchy middle-aged man sitting on the leftmost side showed a polite and amiable smile.

“Seventh, the leader of the Scabbia City-State Alliance, Lord Grichtin.”

A topless muscular man nodded expressionlessly.

“Eight, the king of the Kloster Kingdom, His Majesty Neharch.”

A gray-haired old man sitting in the shadows cracked open his eyes with much difficulty and nodded in response.

“Lastly, Lord Rosdel from Caviach.”

An eccentric man stood up and took off his hat as greetings.

After introducing everyone, the vice-dean scanned the conference room.

“Since the dean still couldn’t be contacted, I shall participate in this conference on behalf of the academy. Well then, the St. Caroline’s second square table conference has officially commenced!”
“Alright, stop beating around the bush. Why have you gathered all the busy people here?”

The Aurora Dragon Taylor put his feet on the ancient square table that was passed down from the first dean, flapping the flip-flops against his feet impatiently. “Although I’m not a busy man, I’ve got a date with a sexy little snake demon tonight. I’ll have to leave when it’s time.”

Taylor smacked his lips. “Speaking of that little lady, she’s really a hot one even though she’s only thirteen or fourteen. I…”

“Let me get to the point then,” the vice dean quickly interrupted before Taylor could continue spewing something inappropriate.

“But before that, I have to announce some bad news.”
“Oh? Bad news? Is it as bad as having this sissy sitting next to me?” The Pope from Luminous Theocracy asked.
“…Delance. Let us each gather a hundred thousand men and battle against each other in the name of the Goddess at Roseau Plains!”
“You think I’d be scared, sissy?”
“Wait! Please set that aside for now, both of you. The news that I’m about to announce is extremely important.”
“Hmph!”

Both of them shot each other a glare again before turning their head away and stopped talking.

The vice-dean wiped the sweat on his forehead and smiled wryly. “The bad news is that… two hours ago, the human race gained another peak saint-level expert.”

“What?”
“For real?”

The heavy news from the vice-dean was like dropping a drop of water into a boiling pot of oil. The room instantly erupted.

The number of peak saint-level experts among the human race could be counted with just two hands. Hence, a new presence would naturally arouse the attention of all parties.

Lord Grichtin laughed heartily. “A new addition to the peak saint-level experts among our human race means another addition to the main force to battle against demons. Isn’t that good news? Why do you call it bad news?”

“Right.”
“Vice-dean, did you say that because you hated the fact that this person wasn’t a student from your academy?”

The vice-dean couldn’t help but let out a long sigh when he heard these questions.

“The birth of another peak saint-level expert should have been something to be celebrated, but…”

He took out a wanted poster and laid it out on the square table. Some sort of magic array on the square table activated. The picture and text on the poster were magnified, allowing everyone in the room to get a clear view of it.

“But what if this peak saint-level expert is this vile criminal who is ranked first on the Slaughter List?”

Upon hearing that, even the bigshots in the room exchanged looks with each other. Obviously, they also understood how disastrous it would be for the human race if a long-wanted criminal reached the peak cultivation realm.

The horror was no less than the invasion of demons and the urgency of this was even more severe.