Chapter 759: Injured Giant Man

Chapter 759: Injured Giant Man

The host continued without stopping for breath.

"Massive Resource Allocation! For the next 20 years, all the burden of strengthening this year’s freshmen of the academy will be handled by the three Empires!"

"Next, we have Priority Resource Selection. Whenever the yearly resources are distributed to the academies by the Empire, Aurelius Beast Academy will receive the first chance to select the resources of their choice!"

"Next, and might as well be the most important—5-year entry rights to valuable secret realms across all three Empires! Which naturally includes unrestricted teleportation access to any location."

Though the host hadn’t specifically mentioned it, this also meant that the students of Aurelius Beast Academy would now have more freedom and variety when choosing secret realms to enter.

Some of them were even restricted within the Human Empire and were technically under the possession of powerful forces, but with this access, even those forces would need to open their hands.

The host continued.

"Then we have access to specialised training grounds for 5 years! This includes the Elven Empire’s Aeltharion, the Dragon Empire’s Solarynth, and the Human Empire’s Astral Sanctum!"

Hearing that, the most visible reactions came from Ronan and Cecil, who looked almost disbelieving. Even Kaelion, Tavian, and Uraan showed reactions after hearing the last one in their respective teleported places.

The students of the other academies were already on the verge of nosebleeds from sheer jealousy, and that even included their instructors and professors.

Unfortunately, Leo had no idea what any of them were. But they seemed very important. At that moment, Lily nudged him.

"Leo, I have read that many celestial events happen regularly in Astral Sanctum. Isn’t it great for our Nyxa?"

Leo raised his brow in pleasant surprise.

"It is indeed great," he responded with a nod.

But the host wasn’t done yet.

"And naturally, since the academy has unlocked so many privileges—they get the opportunity to recruit double the number of students in the next admission!"

"So, people! If you are of age, or your children are, prepare! Because even with double the recruitment allotment, they can still admit only 10,000 combatants!"

"There’s also a major approval that every academy, regardless of their rankings, is granted, and that is that experts from other Empires will come to give lectures and hold training sessions for the interested students. And of course, they aren’t prohibited from taking in personal students who catch their eyes!"

They hadn’t decided to authorise cross-admission of other races in academies yet because this was only the first step toward fixing their relationships.

Right now, there was a high chance that a weak elf, human, or dragon student would be suppressed or bullied in an academy where a particular race was in the majority.

Thus, the first plan was to make people respect and recognise the strong experts of other races so they would gradually become more comfortable with each other. If these experts made an impression on the younger generations, things would naturally get smoother in the future.

"And lastly, the academy is allowed to increase their staff to twice as many as they have now!"

This was huge.

Staff simply meant fighting force. Because even if an instructor’s title suggested they were a teacher, at the end of the day, they were a 3-star professional directly under the academy’s command.

And having been allowed to make their force twice as large, it simply meant they would grow stronger than other academies and have their already famous name backed by even greater strength.

The only problem was that, even now, most academies hadn’t recruited enough people to fill their existing quota. The area under their control was enormous, but the number of people needed to maintain it was less.

As individuals capable of reaching 2-star were less than 0.1% of the total Human Empire population, while 3-star and 4-star professionals were a long shot. Thankfully, because of the dreadful measures taken in recent decades, quality had been steadily increasing.

Nonetheless, Aurelius Academy would still see massive boosts, as many wandering people would join to gain access to exclusive realms.

Then there were also those who would leave other academies to become part of Aurelius Beast Academy.

Though obviously, unless they were exceptional and had their reasons, Aurelius would not take such people kindly because they had technically become ’traitors’ to their previous academy, and who knew if they wouldn’t do the same to them in the future?

It would be nothing but having a snake in the grass. They will bite the hand that feeds.

The host listed a few more.

Ancient Ruin Access — Exploration rights to a newly discovered ruin.

Beast Hunting Rights — Exclusive access to a dangerous hunting region.

Auction Priority — Early access to major Imperial auctions.

Alchemy/Forge Allocation — Priority buying rights to tools crafted by master alchemists or blacksmiths.

Things wouldn’t have been that great if these were limited to just the Human Empire, but they were for all 3 Empires.

The Sunborn Royal Academy received almost identical rights, but they were placed 2nd in priority access.

Now, it was finally time for the students’ private rewards.

When Leo looked around the space—a garden with a small pond and well-trimmed greenery, with a vast expanse in the distance offering a great view—he realised that, except for his people, none of them was present.

The people present included Leo, Lily, Miho, Sylrael, Thalvyr, Aeila, and Veronica.

"W-were is Brother K?" Miho frantically looked around the area.

"Don’t worry, I think I know where he is..." Leo muttered, connecting the dots and guessing he must be meeting with the Emperor first.

Miho nodded and became quiet.

"Where are the others though?" Lily asked.

"Well... I mean, at the end of the day, we are competing against each other too. It’s natural that they will be awarded separately," Leo reasoned, and Lily nodded. Then, something clicked in her mind.

"S-so the Emperors know that we are together?" she asked.

"Hugging me after getting tired at the end didn’t help in keeping things secret." Leo chuckled and teased.

A warm blush spread across Lily’s face, which she quickly hid away.

"And well..." Leo realised that Katherine must also have been a culprit in exposing them.

At that moment, the professors appeared in front of them. Gunther, Brant, Katherine, and even Tarun. Their faces made it clear they were very happy.

The students greeted them.

Tarun even appeared behind Leo and gave him a strong pat on the shoulder, cracking the ground beneath his feet.

"Marvellous job, kid! Very good!" He said with a wide grin.

Then, another individual appeared. His entrance was special; he was already seated on a lavish sofa descending from the sky, with two women sitting beside him, holding him upright as their hands glowed with a warm green light.

Just looking at him, Leo’s danger sense activated, and even the others seemed to stop breathing when they felt the aura emanating from his body.

Because the man in front of them was nothing short of a giant—an almost 11-foot-tall man covered in black draconic scales.

And the aura that seemed to be originating from the man was something Leo was familiar with.

Divine Essence.

But the man was grievously injured. A large, gaping wound bored through his chest, exposing his rib bones, while both of his arms were shattered.

Though one arm seemed greatly regenerated, it looked very malnourished, as if something was obstructing its repair.

As a matter of fact, even his half-destroyed heart was visible, which was beating weakly and might as well be kept alive by the two women.

And it wasn’t that the women were weaklings that they couldn’t heal him.

From Leo’s guess, one was Mid 5-star and the other? He couldn’t even sense her rank, like he couldn’t sense the man’s.

The professors bowed respectfully to the man and stepped aside.