Two days later.

Imperial Capital Academy.

With Great Xia Nation and Sakura Country officially declaring war, it was like two giant ships.

Every single part on them began to operate in an orderly manner.

In front of the teaching building.

Dozens of students surrounded a middle-aged teacher, highly emotional.

"Teacher Zhang! Please help us think of a way!"

"We want to enlist! We want to go to the front lines!"

"Yes! We want to go kill all those Sakura Country bastards!"

"Protecting the country is everyone's responsibility! We can't wait any longer!"

The surrounding students were furious, chiming in one after another.

Surrounded in the center, Teacher Zhang had a bitter smile on his face and kept waving his hands, trying to calm everyone down.

"Students, students, everyone calm down first!"

"I understand how you feel, I really do!"

"But the military hasn't issued any notice to our academies to conscript students yet!"

A male student took a sudden step forward, almost getting right in the teacher's face.

"Wait for a notice? How much longer do we have to wait?!"

"The war with Sakura Country is about to start, and the vanguard forces of several war zones are already raring to go."

Teacher Zhang was forced to take several steps back by his shouting, the helplessness on his face deepening.

"I understand, I know everything you're saying!"

"But military orders are absolute! Without an order, how can I help you process your enlistment? I don't have that authority!"

"Then we'll go find the principal!" a slightly shorter student shouted eagerly. "The principal must have a way!"

"Yes! Let's go find the principal!"

The crowd grew restless again, making a move to surge toward the principal's office.

"It's useless for you to look for the principal now!"

Teacher Zhang shouted loudly, finally managing to temporarily quiet the crowd.

"Because the principal, along with several deans of our academy, already rushed to the military department overnight last night."

"Compared to you, they can be of much greater use on the battlefield."

The excitement on the students' faces instantly froze.

Teacher Zhang looked at them, his tone softening a bit, filled with earnest concern.

"I know that every single one of you wants to do your part for Great Xia Nation."

"But..."

He shifted his tone, his gaze sweeping across everyone present.

"Ask yourselves, with your current strength, what can you do once you're on the battlefield?"

"Are you going to throw your lives away, or are you going to cause trouble for the soldiers on the front lines?"

These words were very blunt, even somewhat hurtful.

Wang Lei's face instantly flushed red, his fists clenching so hard they cracked.

"Teacher Zhang! We aren't afraid of death!"

"It's not a question of whether you're afraid of death!" Teacher Zhang's voice suddenly rose. "It's a question of qualification!"

"War is not a game! You are not qualified yet!"

These words were like a heavy hammer, smashing hard against the heart of every student.

They all lowered their heads, their faces filled with frustration and unwillingness.

Seeing their dejected looks, Teacher Zhang didn't feel good either, and his tone softened once again.

"I know these words are harsh, but it's the truth."

"What you should be doing right now is not surrounding me here and shouting empty slogans."

"Instead, you should seize every single second to go to dungeons, to the Tower of Trials, or to anywhere that can make you stronger, and risk your lives to raise your strength!"

"Once you graduate, officially join the military department, and become qualified soldiers, that will be the best time for you to serve your country!"

His words left everyone speechless.

Just as these students and the teacher were arguing.

No one noticed a grey-haired old man in plain clothes quietly walking up the steps.

Passing right by them.

He strolled through the campus of the Imperial Capital Academy, looking at the sights before him that were both familiar and unfamiliar, his eyes slightly dazed.

Time seemed to freeze here.

After so many years, the tree-lined paths and the teaching buildings here didn't seem to have changed much.

It was just that the trees were taller and the walls were older.

And those faces overflowing with the aura of youth had changed batch after batch.

The old man walked aimlessly, eventually stopping by the edge of a wide lake.

The lake water was crystal clear, shimmering with ripples.

His thoughts seemed to drift back to a very, very long time ago, along with the undulating ripples.

He recalled that back in the day, he was also a student of the Imperial Capital Academy.

And he was the undisputed number one prodigy of that era.

An SS-Rank Space-type class, 【Dimensional Walker】.

Relying on his elusive methods and absolute strength that crushed his peers.

He swept through all the top Geniuses of Great Xia Nation's universities back then, winning the national university tournament championship without suspense.

The title of "Ace" resounded throughout Great Xia.

...

That was the finals of the national tournament.

He had just used a move, "Spatial Shatter," to blast his opponent—the S-Class 【Immovable Wisdom King】 from Zhenguo University—off the arena stage.

The entire venue erupted.

The mountain-shaking, tsunami-like cheers almost blew the roof off the stadium.

Countless people went wild for him, cheering for him.

He stood in the center of the arena, enjoying the glory of being the center of attention, high-spirited and incredibly arrogant.

His gaze swept across the audience, only to be accidentally drawn to a quiet figure.

Amidst the fanatical crowd, that girl seemed completely out of place.

She didn't scream, nor did she wave her arms.

She just sat there quietly, holding a thick book in her hands, her eyes clear and focused, as if the noise of the outside world had nothing to do with her.

That was the first time he had ever taken the initiative to ask for a girl's name.

She had a beautiful name: Lin Zhu.

From then on, he would always appear around her, intentionally or otherwise.

In the library, he stopped reading books on combat techniques and instead accompanied her to read dry historical documents.

On the training grounds, he would use his space abilities to bring the scenery from her paintbrush to life before her eyes.

The most sensational time.

Was on the night of her birthday.

He took her to this lakeside, and in front of half the school's students, used spatial power to draw in tens of thousands of fluorites.

The fluorites gathered into a brilliant river of stars in the night sky, flowing slowly before turning into a magnificent meteor shower that fell for her alone.

The Imperial Capital Academy was sent into a frenzy that night.

The love story of the "Ace" and the "Talented Girl" became a beloved campus legend from then on.

Everyone thought they were a match made in heaven and would go on like this forever.

Until graduation.

He met his teacher, Marshal Deng Qihe.

That man, as grand and imposing as a mountain, ignited all the ambition in his heart with just a single sentence.

"Zhao Qingcang, your talent shouldn't just be used on campus."

"Come with me to the military department."

"The future of Great Xia needs power like yours."

He agreed almost without hesitation.

He thought Lin Zhu would go with him.

After all, she was also an SS-Rank Professional, the 【Lord of Senluo】.

But she rejected the olive branch extended by the military.

"Qingcang, I hate fighting."

"I just want to stay here and be a teacher."

That was their first, and most intense, argument.

Gradually, the two of them walked down two completely opposite paths.

He was kept by Marshal Deng Qihe's side, groomed as the successor to the future marshal.

He began to grow busier and busier.

He was either in the danger-ridden border forbidden zones or on the bloody battlefields against enemy nations.

The time they spent meeting grew less and less.

From once a week at the start, to once a month, and later, they could only meet hurriedly once every few months.

Every time they met, it was just a few brief words.

He asked if her work at the school was going smoothly.

She asked if his injuries had healed.

Then, there would be a long silence.

He didn't know how to describe the cruelty of the battlefield to her, and she couldn't understand the heavy mission he carried on his shoulders.

Between them, there seemed to be an invisible abyss.

Later on.

Still by this lakeside.

On a cold, rainy night.

Lin Zhu took the initiative to break up with him.

He still remembered that night, Lin Zhu cried very bitterly.

"I wish so much... wish so much that you were just an ordinary Professional."

"Even if you were only C-rank, or D-rank, it would be fine."