Chapter 6: The academy of Marz

After Eva pondered over it she came to the conclusion that he was probably right. If they hid or destroyed his art, nobody would believe the rumor without seeing it for themselves. The words from villagers in these parts of the lands would be seen as superstition. And the chances of another nascent soul realm cultivator or higher having seen his work before she did was as good as zero, she wouldn't stand here talking with him if that was the case, they would have taken him away for sure.

Stars began to shine in her eyes, 'this could actually work!' She thought. Without his status as a dao child, people will only think he is a genius with unseen talents. Although kingdoms often target rising geniuses from each other, it is far from the level of targeting a dao child. They will be able to protect him from such threats without a doubt, especially if they give him more protection than they normally would. She could only think of a single problem, if he wants to enter the academy he would need to pass the assessment tests. She was afraid that when his talents are going to be tested they will be off the charge!

"You're right Samuel," She said. "If you hide your status as an artist and the fact that you can see, feel and comprehend the dao before the nascent soul stage, then nobody will be able to tell you are a dao child. You will still be targeted as a genius of course, but we will be able to protect you from these threats. And that brings me to my next question. I'm sure you will have already guessed it by now but I want to recruit you to join our academy. So how do you feel about joining us?" Eva asked with the most beautiful smile she could produce as she pushed her breasts a little upwards.

Hearing her desire to recruit him into the academy, he started to think about it seriously. He had always wanted to leave the village, there is nothing left to learn or do for him here anyway. The academy would grant him access to a wide variety of knowledge, something he was very eager to possess. The downside was that he will probably be tied to regulation and even worse, had to socialize with other people. 'What if I minimize the downsides by using my status as a genius and ask for special privileges? I'm sure they're very eager for me to join as I'm not an everyday student they will gain. I can probably use that and exploit them to a certain degree.' He thought it was worth a try.

"Before we begin discussing my entrance to the academy, I will need you three to make your oaths to the heavens first," Samuel asked them.

"Fine" All three of them reluctantly said, an oath to the heavens was no small matter, after all, you will die if you ever break it as your soul will dissipate into nothingness. Cultivators like to be free the most and a restriction to an oath gains them anything but. Still, they all believed it was worth it if they could gain his trust and allegiance in the process, and so they proceeded and took the oath.

With one hand pointing two fingers at the sky and the other on their hearts, they began the ritual of swearing an oath to heaven...

"With the heavens as my witness, I, Eva Hofmann, hereby swear to never tell nor hint any other soul about the fact that Samuel is a dao child."

"With the heavens as my witness, I, Anna Werner, hereby swear to never tell nor hint any other soul about the fact that Samuel is a dao child."

"With the heavens as my witness, I, Sarah Goldmann, hereby swear to never tell nor hint any other soul about the fact that Samuel is a dao child."

Seeing them swearing their oaths without a shred of hesitation he was very pleased with their behavior. They were after all, much stronger than himself and were under no obligation to do so whatsoever. He realized he was very lucky that they were the ones that found him first, and not some evil-minded people who could for example, threaten him with his parents' lives to swear an oath to the heavens to do their bidding.

"Thank you," he said, being genuinely pleased. "Now about me joining your academy, can you please explain to me what the academy is all about, as this is the first time I even hear about it."

'With their oaths behind them, they had established a certain level of trust. Seeing that he was showing an interest in their academy, things were going in the right direction,' Eva thought.

"To give you a clear picture about what the academy entails and what it represents exactly, I shall start with its history, bringing us back a little over fifteen thousand years ago when the academy was founded."

"In the earlier days before our current kingdom was founded and before the royal family started their reign, the lands were governed by seven large sects. These times were very turbulent and chaotic as the country and its people were often plunged into war, resulting in the death of millions of people and many survivors losing their homes.

"The situation was perilous and seemed to last forever until one day everything changed. Three of the seven sects who were on the losing side and were done with all the bloodshed started working together in secret, planning to overthrow the others with the help of the neighboring kingdom of 'Elsmere'. And after many years of war, they had finally succeeded in doing so."

"The lands once ruled by the seven sects were absorbed into the kingdom of Elsmere, creating peace and prosperity for all of its inhabitants until this very day. Once the war was over, the three remaining sects were disbanded and their higher-ranked officials were awarded nobility, one of their descendants is standing here right now, among us in this very room." Eva said while she looked at Sarah.

"Instead of sects, our kingdom raises its cultivators via Academies. And the academy we are from is one of the academies founded right after the war, near the city of 'Marz'. It's located about four thousand miles in the opposite direction of the forest, far across the barren lands."

Meanwhile, Samuel who was listening intensively was still resisting the urge to look at her breasts, they were moving up and down with every breath she took.

"The Academy is one of the twelve official academies throughout the kingdom and its popularity among them is ranked somewhere in the middle. The current amount of students number about sixty thousand, excluding several thousand teachers and staff.

Finally noticing that he was trying very hard not to stare at her breasts after he failed to do so for a split second, she couldn't stop a slight pinkish blush from appearing on her face. 'At least he's trying hard she thought' And therefore, didn't mind it at all, she even felt a little good about it.

After a slight pause of settling these thoughts, she continued with her sales speech.

"To become a student of our academy or any other academy for that matter, there are two requirements you have to fulfill. One is that you need to be a citizen of this kingdom, and although most villagers are not recognized as citizens I can easily solve this problem by vouching for you as a teacher. The second requirement is that you have to pass the academies assessment tests, which might be a little problematic in your case, but we'll discuss that in a minute."

"If you fulfill these two requirements you gain the right to officially become one of its students. Every student will be given free lodging and food and almost all the information and classes will be accessible for free as well. There are a few exceptions though, there are certain lessons and information that is deemed as classified and will only be accessible after you pass the strict screening procedure arranged by the royal family."

"The last thing I want to mention is that the academy works in a very special way as there are no requirements for graduation. There are no examinations at the academy and any student can leave whenever they want with no strings attached. Whenever they feel the academy has nothing to teach them anymore they are free to do whatever they want."

"And that's about it. If you have any questions please feel free to ask." Eva said when she finished her sales speech with a lovely smile.

After listening to her speech, Samuel began to think about it. 'It does seem like the perfect place to be at this moment. It will enable me to gain vast knowledge and start and raise my cultivation without too many restrictions restraining me. There are only a few remaining things I need to clarify before I make my decision.'

"The free lodgings you were talking about, are they shared lodgings or private lodgings. I'm not really fond of socializing with most people and the last thing I want to do is place myself in a house with strangers."

"This..." But before Eva could explain, Sarah interrupted her.

"I will arrange a private lodging for him, consider it done. What I'm more worried about is the talent assessment, how are we going to solve that problem?"

Samuel could already guess what kind of problems they were talking about and has therefore already thought about a solution. "I know how to solve this problem, all you need to do is arrange a private meeting for me with the person in charge of the academy and I will do the rest."

"A private meeting with the dean? That might be possible but if you're planning what I think you're planning then you're going to need me to attend that meeting as well," Eva said.

"Thank you, that won't be a problem of course. Then I hereby agree to join the academy."

And so, four dazzling smiles appeared.