Chapter 539: Back

Michael skimmed through the lists for a while, eyes narrowing as he began to notice a pattern.

There were far more academies than he had expected—thirty in total—and they weren’t simply scattered or equal. They were ranked into three stage.

First Rank Academies.

Second Rank Academies.

Third Rank Academies.

Michael didn’t know the exact criteria that went into these rankings, but his instincts told him it wasn’t arbitrary. Power. Resources. Techniques. Connections. Possibly all of those things.

Michael leaned closer to his screen as he read through the little blurbs of history and description provided for each.

Still, Michael wasn’t here to drown in details.

He focused on what mattered.

The offers.

Of the eight Awakener Academies that had extended invitations to him, only one bore the crest of a First Rank Academy. The rest were split—three Second Rank and four Third Rank.

Michael’s lips pressed into a line. He wasn’t stupid.

If he could skip the last round of exams entirely and walk into a sure admission, he would. But now that he knew about this ranking system, there was no question about it—he wanted only the best.

His thumb hovered over the glowing crest of the First Rank Academy, eyes sharpening as he pulled up its details.

Academy Name:

Veraunt’s Edge

Michael’s eyes locked onto the name. Veraunt’s Edge. Something about the crest—an obsidian spear bisecting a silver sun—caught his attention.

Maybe it was the spear...

He tapped it.

The page loaded.

>

Veraunt’s Edge

Established

: **** (130 Years Ago)

Rank

: First Tier

Location

: Secure Zone: Havenridge Nexus, Eastern Aurora

Veraunt’s Edge stands as one of Aurora’s oldest and most respected Awakener academies. For over a century, it has produced some of the most powerful Awakeners in history, many of whom still occupy key leadership roles in the Federation.

Michael raised a brow.

This school seemed to have quite the heritage.

> Dimensional Crack Access:

4 × Rank 4 Dimensional Cracks

2 × Rank 5 Dimensional Cracks

> With stable control and protective regulation around these rifts, students at Veraunt’s Edge receive real combat training and steady growth.

That alone was a huge deal.

The brief history of the school didn’t catch his attention much. What really hooked him were the

dimensional cracks

.

This was the first time Michael found out that entities

other than the Federation

could control them. That fact alone made him pause.

Dimensional cracks were resource troves.Even lower-ranked ones.

For any academy to claim ownership over cracks, much less high-ranked ones, meant they had the power to enforce dominance, secure the area, and regulate it without collapse.

Michael’s eyes lingered on the description:

4 × Rank 4 Dimensional Cracks

2 × Rank 5 Dimensional Cracks

He felt a cold thrill.

Rank 4 cracks corresponded directly to the

fourth stage in the cultivation power system

—the

Master Rank

. That meant they were infested with Rank 2 monsters,.

But the Rank 5 cracks... those were worse. They corresponded to

rank 3 monsters

, and the gap between Rank 2 and Rank 3 was nothing short of a chasm.

And this academy had

two

.

Michael’s lips tightened. It was one thing to claim controlled Rank 4s, but Rank 5 cracks.

It meant that somewhere within Veraunt’s Edge, there were Awakeners, teachers, or perhaps even the academy itself, powerful enough to enforce order in places the Federation itself often struggled to contain.

The thought gave him pause.

He’d seen a lot in the Land of Origin already, and he had his undead legion as proof of how far he’d come. But the sheer fact that an institution dared tame not one but

two Rank 5 cracks

painted a clear picture:

Veraunt’s Edge wasn’t just strong. It was monstrous.

Michael leaned back slightly, his thumb hovering over the glowing crest.

For the first time since logging in, his heart gave a faint, anticipatory thrum.

He continued.

> Specialization: None. However, due to the presence of the academy’s Supreme Treasure, The Elemental Atrium Core, a student deemed exceptionally promising may be granted the chance to form a Symbolic Pact with an Elemental Spirit.

Michael’s eyes sharpened further.

He didn’t know what this meant but it sounded precious.

Michael thought hard.

Why him?

Veraunt’s Edge looked like one of the strongest academies in all of Aurora. On paper, he was the one who should be wondering if he met their bar, not the other way around.

Maybe it was the broadcast.

In any case, good news was good news.

Without hesitating further, Michael hit Accept.

A confirmation pane slid up, cool and clinical.

> Confirm Acceptance — Veraunt’s Edge

Proceed?

He tapped Confirm.

The crest pulsed once—obsidian spear through silver sun—then the page updated.

> Status: Accepted

Next: Await academy email

He backed out to the dashboard and noticed a small line he’d ignored before:

Applicaton to Academies requires selecting four academies minimum.

So that was the catch. If you didn’t have offers—or didn’t like your offers—you had to shotgun at least four choicesm But with a First Rank acceptance already locked, none of that applied to him. The "four-pick" headache evaporated.

Michael exhaled,.

He returned to the Offers tab out of habit. The Veraunt crest was now grayed with a tiny lock icon. Several other Awakener crests dimmed.

He then closed the portal.

Now there was only one thing to wait for next.

A response from the academy.

Hopefully it goes well.

Just as Michael was about to relax.

Back in the land of origin, a knock came from the other side of his door.

Michael’s brows furrowed.

A knock.

At this hour?

He sat still for a heartbeat, his senses stretching outward like a ripple across water. His perception swept through and pressed against the aura on the other side of his door.

When it registered, he blinked.

It was her.

The dark elf assassin.

After so many days she was now back.

Michael had ordered her to check on the other lords under his command and it’s been days after that.

To some extent he was even almost about to.forget her.

If it wasn’t for the contract they shared, he would have thought he had died or ran away.

However, the last one was also impossible as long as the contract between them existed.