For hundreds of years, Jade City remained the last refuge of people. Situated south of the Heavenly Ridge, the Jade City was sheltered from attack by the wide Ice River to the west and the insurmountable Dusk Forest to the north and east. But this hardly made the city a stronghold of humanity. From time immemorial, continuously besieged by demonic beasts, the city was defended by its defenders, heroic warriors and spellcasters, who for generations defended their homeland from all misfortunes from the outside, sacrificing themselves in the name of relatives and friends.

Tian Zhe was riding in a carriage. Opposite him was a young girl of about twenty-two. She was his aunt and went with him to the Ice Lotus Academy.

The young man could have gone on his own since all the formalities were settled long before Yang Li's memories awakened in him, but the girl's goal was not to help his nephew with the settlement. Tian Lan got a job as a teacher in the same class where her nephew will monitor his close communication with the mayor's daughter.

Tian Zhe looked through the window of the carriage, immersed in his thoughts. On the one hand, he did not like the fact that his family was using him to strengthen their position in society, not to mention that he was only thirteen, and therefore the daughter of the head of the city was about the same. On the other hand, Zhe understood that the local culture was to blame. In his earlier recollections, a blurred figure told that his great-grandmother was given to her husband when she was twelve and that one was sixteen.

True, the blurry person clarified that she was treated as an adopted daughter for the first five years since she was still too young to have children. Therefore, Tian Zhe, in the depths of his soul, hoped that the institution of the family has at least some reasonable restrictions on the marriage of minors in this world.

Finally arriving at the academy, Tian Zhe was shown his room, which was quite spacious for the room provided in a dormitory.

“If the young gentleman wishes, then he is free to go to his home and spend the night there at any time,” the commandant of the hostel explained in an ingratiating voice.

“I see.” Despite the norms of communication, Yang Li was not used to chatting a lot without being inclined to communicate and therefore thought that short answers would be enough. ”Leave me. I want to rest before class.”

“It’s good, and by the way, if the young gentleman needs anything, you know who to turn to,” the man answered the young man, but he didn’t go anywhere, as if he was waiting for Tian Zhe to ask for something.

“Leave me alone!” repeated Tian Zhe, but his voice, instead of indifference, oozed cold and anger.

“Good good. I'm already leaving,” the commandant was angry at heart from such an impudent behavior of the boy, and along with this, he regretted that he had angered the young master of one of the sacred families of the city. He just wanted powerful connections.

“How many people here dreaming of making connections,” finally left alone, Tian Zhe was able to relax and lay down on the bed finally. Surprisingly, the mattress was soft enough to match the large bed on his estate, but it still fell short of the old world's orthopedic mattress.

“And here I have to study for the next four years,” Tian Zhe relaxed, exhaling heavily. He has already become accustomed to constantly distribute spiritual energy throughout the body, concentrating it not only in the spiritual core but also in the muscles.

According to the former Tian Zhe's memoirs, he never did this, concentrating all his training on increasing spiritual strength and strengthening the spiritual core. Still, Yang Li noticed that this new energy unknown to him, which he feels well, enhances his physical capabilities if it is distributed on the body.

Thus, he wondered if he would be able to distribute spiritual forces in the body constantly, and for this, he decided to start with the muscles. Straining them for a better sensation, Tian Zhe distributed spiritual energy throughout the body in time with the muscles' contraction and tried to keep the energy in them as long as possible.

He was unaware that experienced warriors and spellcasters used such a practice and that a thirteen-year-old teenager could not have known about such practices. Nor did he know that his spiritual energy control skills were far superior to those of ordinary warriors and spellcasters. The reason for his progress was that being from a world without spiritual energy, Yang Li felt it very well as something annoyingly unusual.

Let's compare his feelings of spiritual energy with vision. The difference is that an ordinary person sees an image without noise. A spiritual practitioner would see his nose or blood cells moving through the vessels in his eyes. In contrast, Yang Li constantly saw the blood vessels themselves.

The bell sounded to mark the beginning of the lesson. Since the welcome event in the Ice Lotus Academy's courtyard has already ended, all classes have dispersed to their auditoriums to meet their teachers and introduce each other. Tian Zhe took a seat next to a beautiful girl in simple but high-quality clothes that the children of low-income families could not afford.

Tian Zhe didn’t feel like sitting in the same row with anyone; instead, he would rather take the last row alone. The reason for his choice was that this was the so-called daughter of the head of the city, with whom he must build a close relationship.

Her long, straight, lavender hair fell to her waist, her face was clean without any teenage skin problems, and her skin was as light as snow. Elegant pale turquoise clothes with a subtle floral pattern accentuated her figure. The girl sat straight as if she had stepped out of an illustration of an encyclopedia about court ladies and princesses.

“Girl, even if you chose a simple and widespread cut, you have to be blind not to notice how different these clothes are from the clothes of the petty nobility,” Tian Zhe's heart wandered in the valley of skepticism.

"Do you... do you need something?" the girl noticed Tian Zhe's gaze and turned around and asked a question.

“No,” the young man answered dryly, after which he surprised the girl by lying on the desk. He was well dressed and, unlike her, did not try to hide his noble origin behind simple clothes, but at the same time, he collapsed on the desk like some redneck, which embarrassed the girl.

Tian Lan was as embarrassed as the head's daughter. Even if he is her nephew, how can you get so relaxed in the presence of a teacher?

As for Tian Zhe, he overlooked the gross violation of the norms in his actions. In the end, only memories remained from the consciousness of the real Tian Zhe, and along with Yang Li's personality and memory, his habits came. So the boy took his usual student pose,” a dead fish.

“Okay, since everyone's gathered, let's start our introductions,” Tian Liang laboriously regained her composure.” My name is Tian Lan, and I am a silver spellcaster and will be your general education teacher for the next year.

After introducing herself, Tian Lan surveyed the class. She did not like the idea of becoming a teacher too much, but such is the will of her older brother, the head of the family, and she had to come to terms with it. Half of the students were from low-income families, and Tian Lan considered it beneath her dignity to teach even the basics of cultivation to some commoner.

“Since I have already introduced myself, now it’s your turn,” the girl opened a magazine with a list of students, where, in addition to names and surnames, there was also brief information with their characteristics. “When I say your name, stand up, and introduce yourself to your classmates. Tell us about yourself, what family you are from, and your spiritual core.”

The students grimaced. It was okay for them to talk about themselves and their hobbies to find friends. Still, when talking about their families or their spiritual core, they could be humiliated because of their background or developmental opportunities.

“Xiao Ning.”

“Present,” the first was a girl with red hair gathered in a ponytail. “the noble family of the Heavenly Dragon, blue spirit core.”

All eyes were riveted on her. It was not only that she was the first or her beauty that distinguished her from her classmates, but that she had a blue spiritual core.

Spiritual cores were divided by color and denoted the quality with which the core could accumulate and produce spiritual energy. The red spiritual core, found in most people, is mentioned only in the tales and legends about the past heroes to the legendary purple. In fact, even the blue spirit core was considered to be something legendary, as, in the entire history of the Jade City, only the legendary founder lords had blue spirit cores.

“No, wonder everyone was staring at her,” Tian Zhe pulled his head off the desk and stared at the girl. “She's a damn genius!”

The boy thought so, focusing on the fact that in his perception of the surrounding people's spiritual flows, Xiao Ning's spiritual flow was several times stronger than that of his classmates' inexpensive clothes, not to mention the commoners.

“Speaking of geniuses,” Tian Zhe looked at his neighbor again, lowering his head to the desk. Her spiritual flow felt a little better than Xiao Ning's. Hence, there are at least two or three geniuses in this class.

After the introduction of Xiao Ning, no one in the class caused a stir. As predicted by Tian Zhe, half had a red spiritual core, a quarter had an orange one, and the better the core was, the fewer their owners were.

“The sacred family of the Fire Orchid, green, spiritual core,” Tian Zhe will soon be introducing himself, so he repeated his remark to himself.

Although he did not know his current data, judging by the recollections of the students' data being measured before entering, he had exactly that green, spiritual core and a spiritual flow in the region of sixty, which also made him a genius.

“Li Xue.”

“Present,” came the turn of the neighbor Tian Zhe, daughter of the city's head. “Blue Spiritual Core.”

The girl did not name her family, but few paid attention to it. Just words about the color of the spiritual core distracted ordinary guys. Blue Spiritual Core, since the founders' days, only a few people have had such cores, and they all left a mark on the history of the Jade City. All the students' faces were filled with awe. This girl in the future could become the second legendary spellcaster in the city.

As a teacher, Tian Lan already knew Li Xue's data and was not surprised by it, so after waiting a few seconds, she continued the roll call.

“Yang Li.”

“Present,” Tian Zhe stood up and immediately froze.

“Me,” another boy said and also froze in mid-sentence.

There was an awkward silence in the class.

"Who exactly did you call?" thought the boy.

I want to die, Tian Zhe thought.

“What the hell ?!” Tian Lan screamed in her mind. ”Do you have brain damage from lying on the desk ?!”

Mechanically, without realizing himself, Tian Zhe responded to his former name and not only did he make himself an idiot, but it also turned out that there was someone in the class with the same name.

“I beg your pardon. I dreamed that they called me,” burning with shame, Tian Zhe justified himself by falling asleep. Once in place, he wanted to sink into the ground, die a hundred thousand times, or, at worst, get lost in his own thoughts.

“This noble guy is such a simpleton!” The class filled with laughter. “Falling asleep on the first day, what a disgrace for his family!"

Not only commoners but also children from noble families could not help laughing. “What a stupid guy this is,” they thought.

Li Xue could hardly contain her laughter. Sitting next to Tian Zhe, she could see perfectly well that this guy was awake. “How many crows did he manage to catch?"

In the next second, everyone in the class shuddered. A frightening aura emanated from their teacher.

“Well, they shut up, the little dogs, and continued the roll call,” her voice was cold and full of threats. Nobody dares to laugh at her and her family. Even if her stupid nephew made himself look like an idiot, the taunts directed at him were also addressed to the entire Fire Orchid family, and it was unforgivable.” Yang Li!” Tian Lan repeated the name with anger.

“Here,” the boy responded in fright. “the noble family of Heavenly Carp, red spirit core.”

“Sit down,” Tian Lan replied coldly. “Next, Tian Zhe.”

Tian Lan ignored the list and decided to go straight to her nephew to put the stupid kids in their place.

“Present,” Tian Zhe stood up, the aura of laziness that had surrounded him earlier disappeared. Each student felt the icy pressure coming from the boy. ”The Sacred Family of the Fire Orchid, green, spiritual core.”

This time, Tian Zhe took the situation seriously and, as if wearing a mask of pure ice, introduced himself to his classmates.

Everyone fell silent. Not only the commoners but also the noble ones broke out in an icy sweat. It was not the spiritual pressure from Tian Lan or the color of the spiritual core of Tian Zhe, but the title of his family: The Sacred Family of the Fire Orchid, one of the three sacred families of the Jade City, with high authority in society.

Tian Zhe continued to stand, playing the role of a villain intimidating weak citizens, and slowly peered into his classmates' faces. His gaze came to rest on Yang Li, a guy whose last name and first name sound similar to his first name. He was of medium height and built, light red hair was of medium length, orange clothes of good quality fit well on him, and a simple necklace of copper plates was around his neck. The more Tian Zhe looked at the boy, the more uncomfortable he became.

“Sit down,” Tian Lan's voice dripped with anger. “Tian Zhe, sit down!”

The boy did not hear his aunt's displeased voice. His brain was burning under the pressure of many thoughts. Yang Li's appearance, the color of his spiritual core and the faint sense of his spiritual flow made Tian Zhe's brain work at full capacity. Taking turns looking at Li Xue, Xiao Ning, and Tian Lan, the boy could only squeeze out.

“What the heck.”

Tian Zhe was in a headache. He was in the audience, and an inconspicuous boy from a poor noble family sat opposite him and looked at Tian Zhe in bewilderment.

“How did I end up in this situation?” Frowning, Zhe continued to glare at the boy. Steadfastly, like a predator stalking its prey, Zhe carefully examined the man in front of him.

“There can be no mistake. He is the main character!”