Chương 52: Entering the Academy, and a Duel of Earth Ciphers

The massive white stone archway of the Solaris Royal Academy rose more than sixty meters high, standing like a man-made mountain over the entrance to grounds as vast as a small city. Thousands of carriages — jade-inlaid, magic-plated, gilded in solid gold — belonging to great houses from all seven empires lined up in long rows across the marble plaza. Banners of Sword Saint bloodlines, Grand Mage families, and vassal kingdoms fluttered across the sky under the bright sun of opening day.

The jet-black, gold-trimmed armored carriage of Vance Commerce rolled to a stop right at the entrance reserved for honored guests. The door opened. Lucian stepped out first, dressed in the navy-and-silver uniform coat of the College of Culture and Commerce.

The moment his feet touched the red carpet, the air around him noticeably chilled as two more figures emerged behind him: Sylvia, in a dark blue silk dress, her fine silver beast ears perking up to catch the breeze; and Astra, in a modest floral dress, the gleaming gold Sun-Slaying Dragon Sword hanging at her hip. Hundreds of eyes from noble young men waiting to complete their enrollment shot toward them like poisoned arrows. Whispers, jealousy, and grinding teeth rippled through the nearby carriages without pause.

Lucian ignored the hostile stares entirely, walking on at an unhurried pace as a dim System v2. 0 notification appeared before him. [NEW REGION REGISTERED: SOLARIS ROYAL ACADEMY] [Multiple unidentified language sources detected.] Lucian pushed the notification off to the corner of his vision and led Sylvia and Astra across the maple-shaded central courtyard. The Solaris Academy grounds were split into four independent districts: The Traditional Nobility District: for the children of dukes and royal earls.

The Scholars & Magic District: where ancient forbidden arts were studied. The Adventurer District: directly connected to the Academy's own dungeon ecosystem. And at the towering center: the Ten-Thousand-Year Tower of Knowledge, housing millions of pre-war ancient texts. As Lucian turned onto the stone path leading toward the VIP dormitory villas, a figure came walking the opposite direction from the Library.

She was a girl of about sixteen, black hair pulled into a high ponytail, wearing the honor-knight uniform of the College of Metallurgy, a diamond crest of House Wright pinned to her chest — the leading metallurgy and mining duchy of the south. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Her face was fine-boned, dark eyes behind silver-framed glasses carrying the sharp, cold precision of a top-tier scholar. The two of them passed shoulder to shoulder on the narrow path.

The black-haired girl tilted her head slightly. Without looking directly at him, she murmured in English:"Wi-Fi password is password123." Lucian's footsteps hitched for exactly a tenth of a second. The ten-year-old's face didn't so much as ripple. He didn't turn his head, didn't break stride, kept walking forward — but the corner of his mouth moved just enough to let out one flat, deadpan reply in English:"I'm on ethernet." Screech.

The heel of a magical leather boot ground hard against the marble, letting out a dry, sharp squeal. The black-haired girl behind him stopped dead in her tracks. She spun around, eyes blown wide, her gaze trembling behind her glasses as she stared at the small back of the ten-year-old boy strolling away with his hands in his pockets. In the mind of the former software engineer turned eldest daughter of House Wright, an earth-shattering scream detonated. HOLY SHIT, IT'S ACTUALLY HIM! HE'S ACTUALLY FROM EARTH!

At the exact same moment, inside Lucian's own head: HOLY SHIT, THIS IS THE SAME IDIOT WHO WROTE THAT TO-DO LIST AND DODGED HER DEBTS! Neither of them turned around to shake hands. Neither of them shed a tear at meeting a fellow countryman. In front of thousands of students and royal supervisors standing around the courtyard, two people from Earth froze for one heartbeat, realized exactly what the other was, and immediately pretended nothing had happened.

The noble students who'd witnessed that brief, frozen second held their breath, then erupted into terrified whispers.

"Did you see that?! That was First Scholar Evelyn Wright!"

"The air froze solid the second they passed each other — the pressure between them was insane!"

"The secret war between this generation's two greatest geniuses has officially begun, right at the front gate!" Lucian couldn't be bothered with the nonsense chatter behind him. He pushed open the iron gate of his private dormitory villa and stepped into a spacious sitting room flooded with sunlight.

Sylvia quickly opened the luggage trunks and began sorting through the ancient-language documents; Astra set the Sun-Slaying Dragon Sword against the corner wall and dashed excitedly toward the magical refrigerator to check for strawberry ice cream. Lucian walked to the large window and gazed out toward the towering spire of the Tower of Knowledge, glowing faintly against the clouds.

He pulled the blue-black simili-covered English notebook out of his pocket, flipped to the second page, and let a satisfied grin spread across his mouth.

"A noble academy, a princess keeping tabs on me, a Savior working as my bodyguard, and now an IT nerd trying to sniff me out..." Lucian leaned back against the window frame, taking in the glittering capital below. Lucian looked from the notebook to the Tower of Knowledge.

"Fine. Maybe this school won't be a complete waste of tuition."