Chapter 1 October Arrives

October had arrived.

Passing through the Moon God Garden, a gentle breeze blew, and the ginkgo leaves beside the road fluttered down, carpeting the path with a light yellow blanket of fallen leaves.

Today was also the first Monday of October.

As the eight o'clock bell of the Saint Kreeti Monastery rang, before the morning classes had even begun, students in the Saint Kreeti Monastery Officer School uniforms were already chatting in small groups on campus, discussing their studies and practical training.

Elliot Square.

"Hey, have you heard?"

A bright and beautiful noble girl ran from behind and patted the back of the blonde boy in front of her.

"What?"

The tall, blonde boy under the building slowly turned around, not at all startled by the silver-haired noble lady.

"Starting today, we're getting a new professor for this course."

The noble lady leaned closer and whispered.

Their conversation immediately attracted brief glances from the students passing by.

They were not far from a square under a large building, located in the heart of the Saint Kreeti Monastery campus, adjacent to the iconic Vinerd Library and the Great Hall.

This five-story main building was constructed of red brick and gray stone, with Saint White decorative lines adorning the exterior walls, and the ancient emblem of the Saint Kreeti Monastery inlaid on the triangular gable on the front.

Below the gable were three arched doorways, with the words "Saint Kreeti · Elliot Hall" inscribed above the central main entrance.

Although the vast majority of students wouldn't be in the same course as them, it was rare for the Grand Monastery to recruit a new professor at this time.

The empire's top academy didn't just recruit any professor. Whoever was recruited would inevitably take over complex advanced courses, so their background certainly wouldn't be small.

"Wasn't old man Bronk teaching pretty well?"

The blonde boy asked, expressing his confusion at the school's decision.

"Professor Bronk is getting old. Although he can teach many courses, he can't be responsible for two Level 4 courses and one Level 5 course by himself, right? It was already a stretch to schedule classes at the beginning of this semester. Headmaster Violette also promised Professor Bronk that once a new teacher was found, he wouldn't have to help with this Level 4 course anymore," the noble girl said, shrugging.

After all, a course head was different from an ordinary instructor. They needed to coordinate the course syllabus, supervise teaching quality, formulate unit development plans, finalize assessment models, manage teachers and teaching assistants, and handle external liaisons, among other tasks. They needed to possess management, leadership, and academic skills simultaneously.

It was necessary to have someone with extremely high achievements in their field to be able to handle it with ease.

"In the empire today, besides those professors who have been transferred to the imperial military, is there anyone else who is qualified for this kind of subject?"

The blonde boy questioned.

The Saint Kreeti Monastery had five levels of courses, and the number at the beginning of the course number indicated the level.

Generally speaking, the first three levels corresponded to the normal students of the three grades.

Students could apply for graduation after completing eight Level 1 courses, eight Level 2 courses, and eight Level 3 courses in three years.

As for the special advanced courses of Level 4 and Level 5, they had higher credits and challenges, and only third-year students and students who stayed on campus after graduation to continue studying would choose them.

"Now that there is a gap in the demand for talent in the Kreeti Empire, naturally those who are capable will be discovered," the noble girl said triumphantly, seemingly looking forward to seeing what kind of person the new professor would be.

"Anyway, let's go to the classroom first."

She happily stepped forward.

The blonde boy nodded and walked into the main building of the Saint Kreeti Monastery with her.

The entrance hall of Elliot Hall, paved with black and white marble tiles, had a copper chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The entire building had one hundred and twenty-one classrooms and seminar rooms, mainly used for undergraduate students' magical theory research and magic-guided engineering courses.

The classrooms varied in size, accommodating from twenty to two hundred people.

In addition to ordinary classrooms, there were also advanced practical skills teaching rooms and imperial magic-guided engineering laboratories to meet the needs of different courses.

The middle floor of Elliot Hall also had a faculty lounge, which not only provided teachers with a space for rest and communication but also an ideal place for teachers and students to discuss academic issues. In addition to soft sofas, a full set of coffee tables, and a wall of books, there were also printing presses and coffee machines for teachers' exclusive use.

Another notable feature was its clock tower.

The towering clock tower was inlaid with four large clocks, and the melodious chimes would resound throughout the central area of the Saint Kreeti Monastery every hour on the hour. The terrace below the clock tower was also a good place for students to gather and relax in their spare time.

The two walked from the terrace, passing a black-haired figure with his hands on the stone railing, gazing at the campus.

"To be honest, after studying here for a few years, I still easily get lost in this building," the noble lady sighed as they re-entered the indoor corridor.

"Hopefully, the new professor won't be late."

The blonde boy had also had trouble finding his classroom when he first came here.

This building was definitely a nightmare for the directionally challenged, so it mostly housed advanced courses.

Whether they could arrive on time for the first class could be seen as an indication of whether the new teacher was reliable.

A top university of the Saint Kreeti Monastery's level shouldn't have a professor who was unprepared and flustered.

It was worth mentioning that Elliot Hall also managed several major student organizations of the Saint Kreeti Monastery, such as the Saint Kreeti Monastery Student Union and the Saint Kreeti Monastery Debate Religious Studies Society. The offices of these organizations were all located in Elliot Hall, making it easy to go to the wrong classroom.

Although Elliot Hall was nearly a century old, it had not stopped moving forward. In recent years, it had undergone several renovations and technological updates to meet the needs of modern imperial teaching.

The introduction of interactive magic-guided whiteboards and imperial unified system coverage had given this ancient building a new lease on life.

As a plaque in the atrium of Elliot Hall's fourth floor stated—"The way of education lies in enlightening the mind, pursuing truth, and continuing the glory."

Elliot Hall had witnessed the nearly century-long history of the Saint Kreeti Monastery, and every brick and tile was imbued with the academic atmosphere and humanistic spirit of this highest institution of learning in the Southern Continent.

Those who could gather here were all the most promising young people of the contemporary Kreeti Empire.

Unknowingly, the two had arrived at the spacious lecture hall at the end of the corridor on the fourth floor.

Sunlight streamed in from the floor-to-ceiling windows, coating the entire hundreds-of-square-meter classroom with a hazy golden glow.

The classroom echoed with the laughter of students as they greeted friends they hadn't seen over the weekend, chatting cheerfully.

However.

The divisions between student groups were also very clear.

Despite studying at the same academy, the students' status and positions were very different.

At a glance, one could see the three areas into which the students of the Saint Kreeti Monastery were divided: the aristocratic class, composed of members of the royal family, great nobles, and important officials' families; the middle or neutral class, composed of wealthy merchants, officials, and children of remote nobles; and the common class, composed of special admissions students and children of ordinary merchant families.

Even though they were all talented students, they found it difficult to escape the constraints of their status and positions, and they unconsciously began to form cliques according to their origins and family affiliations.

Although the blonde boy and the noble lady were qualified to be among the nobles, they didn't seem to want to show that label in class, and they found two seats in the middle back with a good view.

There was still a while before the official start of class.

Sitting in the classroom, one could clearly hear the conversations in the classroom.

"The new professor is directly leading a Level 4 course? Is he that amazing?"

"There's no way around it. Professor Bronk was already at retirement age. He's able to continue teaching at the Saint Kreeti Monastery now partly because Headmaster Violette retained him, and partly because he doesn't want to get involved in the military's conscription."

"Maybe they just couldn't find anyone, so they had to put a duck on the shelf, parachuting in a new professor to fill the gap."

"I've heard a little bit about the new professor..."

The noble student who was speaking lowered their voice.

"Is there any gossip?"

"He's a poor noble who was transferred from Niksasend, a remote area in the northwest. He may never have been to the capital before."

As soon as the words were spoken, a contemptuous snicker rang out among the noble students.

In the eyes of the aristocratic class, those remote and impoverished nobles who brought shame to the aristocratic class had already been stripped of their noble status.

As they spoke, some of them couldn't help but look at the figure of a black-haired girl on the far left side of the classroom.

There was a typical descendant of a fallen noble in their class.

It was undeniable that she had an innate talent for magical engineering.

But it couldn't change the fate of her, who had chosen to classify herself as a commoner, being despised by the aristocratic class.

"Which side will the new professor lean towards?"

"It's said that he's a young genius in magical engineering who received his imperial doctorate at the age of 23 and became a professor at Niksasend Northwest University at the age of 25, but he was transferred over before he could officially teach."

Another group of students was whispering, and some were worried.

The position of the course head often influenced students' course selection tendencies.

In some classes, most of the students were nobles, while in others, most of the students were commoners.

If it was a professor from the noble faction, it would be quite difficult for commoner students to pass and get high scores.

The reason why many students liked the previous Professor Bronk was precisely because Professor Bronk didn't favor either the noble faction or the commoner faction, and he wouldn't give preferential treatment or suppress students based on their background. He was very good to the students.

It was extremely rare for a course to change professors mid-way, but encountering one would be full of luck.

Just as the students were talking about it, the front door of the classroom was opened, and light shone into the classroom.

All the students' eyes were focused on the black-haired man who entered the classroom, and the noise gradually quieted down.

His appearance was like the morning mist rising from a calm lake at dawn, faintly carrying a radiance.

Mysterious, hazy, and yet clear.

His gestures revealed a condescending tolerance of secular culture. His gentle gaze focused only on his own subtle actions, such as closing the door, walking to the podium, and putting down his books, unaffected by anyone.

Until he finally turned his eyes to the students on the other side of the podium.

Although he hadn't started talking yet.

But many students felt after their first glance at him that he wouldn't be a bad person.

Because his lake-blue eyes naturally harbored compassion and thoughtfulness, but none of it was for himself.

Only for the living beings and suffering he saw.

That was the gaze of a saint.

The professor took off his soft felt hat with a rounded crown and a small brim.

The simple lines of this top hat, paired with a loose coat over a gray waistcoat, made him appear even more serene and restrained as a scholar.

Gulp.

Many students in the classroom were stunned by his unique aura, and they subconsciously swallowed.

"I am Landry Washington, the new professor of the Magic Engineering Academy of the Saint Kreeti Monastery."

He introduced himself,

"Everyone doesn't need to be too reserved. Today, compared to a formal lecture, it may be more like a seminar or an explanation of the course outline."

His pleasant voice instantly awakened the students from their daze, and the atmosphere in the classroom became active again.

Many students felt relaxed because of the way he looked and even started discussing in whispers.

The black-haired, blue-eyed new professor didn't care about the gradually noisy classroom. He just let the students chat freely, slowly taking off his gray long coat, hanging it on the coat rack, and turning back around.

"Professor, what do you think of the empire today?"

A student sitting in the front row took the initiative to ask.

After briefly exchanging opinions with the people around them, many students agreed that this professor was likely to be a more moderate and conservative neutral party, possibly not leaning towards either the nobles or the commoners.

Although this question was very sensitive, it was undoubtedly the point that all the other students cared about the most. It could reveal the professor's faction and position.

"..."

Landry looked at the student who asked the question with a slightly puzzled expression, without saying a word.

Until the atmosphere made the classroom quiet down again.

"The existence of the monastery is to provide a haven for independent thinkers. Political topics should not be involved in schools."

He finally spoke slowly, as if he was also thinking deeply about this question,

"We all know that this world is different now. Some people are laughing, some people are crying, and most people are silent."

Students of different grades would take the same course.

Due to the flexibility of the Saint Kreeti Monastery's course arrangements, students were able to freely arrange their required and elective courses. However, many courses contained prerequisite courses, so most students would still complete the more basic courses in the lower grades to unlock subsequent advanced courses.

Of course, if students wanted to learn more difficult courses in advance, they could directly contact the professor of the course and register at the student service center after obtaining permission.

Landry's current course was a Level 4 advanced and specialized magic engineering course, "Research on the Magic Engineering of the Demon World," suitable for outstanding students who completed their studies in their third year or were pursuing an honors bachelor's degree, as well as research-oriented students who stayed on campus after graduation. Whether it was one or the other, this type of class gathered the empire's youngest magic engineering geniuses.

"So what?"

Some students couldn't help but ask. They didn't quite understand the professor's words, which didn't relate to the empire's internal affairs but were more focused on the empire's external affairs.

It had to be admitted that the Kreeti Empire's current internal and external problems had a closely related, mutually causal essence.

But his pattern, what he saw, seemed to be completely different from theirs.

"The messenger who stole fire for mankind is the embodiment of light, and can also be the embodiment of the god of death."

He opened the *Grimoire - Old Testament* at his hand, muttering to himself,

"Perhaps the time for a true balance of terror in the Southern Continent has arrived."