Chancellor Leishen took Princess Jasmine and Yang Yang to the student dormitory in secret before leaving. Although it was called a dormitory, it was a giant, thousand-floored building that reached beyond the clouds. There were even multiple of these giant dormitories for the just the junior students alone. 

 

On the one-thousandth floor, Chancellor Leishen sat on a chair and poured himself a cup of tea. "Both of you missed the orientation yesterday so I'll do all the explaining. The school is split into the junior campus, senior campus, elite campus, and the legacy campus. You'll begin as junior students and to rise through the ranks, you have to obtain silver-merits. Silver-merits can be obtained by completing missions, trading goods, winning competitions, passing trials, and dueling. You can use them to advance to the next rank or buy items." 

 

The chancellor brought out tiny pieces of silver and passed them to the both of them, one hundred for each person."All junior students start with a hundred silver-merits. To go to the next rank, you would need to turn in ten-thousand silver-merits." 

 

"Sir, what about our classes?" Yang Yang asked. 

 

"Ah, those." An awkward expression appeared on the chancellor's face. "Uh, don't worry about your classes. Go. Not go. It doesn't really matter since you obtained formal education at the royal city already. You can go into any lecture halls you want here. Some types of lectures are rare, while others are common. It depends on the subject. The point of the students here are to cultivate, and that goes double for you two." 

 

A teleportation spell formation appeared under him. "Well, that's all. I need to get back to work so you kids have fun. Oh, butler, your room is on that other door." 

 

The chancellor pointed at a door before disappearing. 

 

......

 

Yang Yang unloaded all the luggage's content before entering the living room. "Yang Yang." 

 

He turned around, only to see that Princess Jasmine now had black hair and black eyes. "Your highness, you..." 

 

"It's just a simple Transformation Magic spell. White hair and purple eyes are distinct traits that belonged to the royal household. Since we're here to stay safe, it would be better if I don't stand out too much." The princess tied her into a ponytail and walked to the front door. "Let's go explore the school. Oh, and call me 'Young Miss' in public from now on. Your address would make my disguise meaningless." 

 

"Yes, Young Miss." The two left the dormitory and explored the campus. Outside the dormitory, many students were walking around and exploring the campus themselves. Princess Jasmine and Yang Yang didn't attract many attentions as they toured the campus and took their time to examine the architecture. Sometimes, they laughed. Sometimes, they bought food. Sometimes, they went into the buildings. 

 

Eventually, they stopped. In front of them was a large, black pagoda. It had a hundred stories and emitted a strong aura of blood. It was in complete contrast to the surround buildings that emitted auras of peace and knowledge. A long line of people was stretched from the entrance of the pagoda that seemed well over a kilometer. These people had white-colored uniforms, indicating their status as a junior student. The pagoda flashed, and a white-robed student walked out of the pagoda. 

 

Suddenly, a group of disciples in black uniforms arrived. "Oi, get out of the way!" 

 

"Senior Sister Rain Snowflower is here to challenge the War Trial Pagoda!" 

 

"Back off! All of you!"

 

They cut to the start of the line. One of the junior students stepped up. "What do you think you're doing!?" 

 

He activated a spell, but a black-robed student immediately knocked him out with a wind-type spell. The junior student coughed blood before he was taken away by his friends. The black-robed student looked at the crowd and scowled. "If any of you tried anything else funny, you're going to get K.O.'ed liked that guy, got it!?" 

 

He turned around and bowed. "Senior Sister, please go in." 

 

A black-robed, blue-haired, blue-eyed girl placed her palm onto the War Trial Pagoda's entrance and was sucked in through a spatial vortex. The group of black-robed students formed a line and blocked the entrance. 

 

"Damn those guys. Just because they think they're senior students that means they can bully us." 

 

"Pricks like these guys are disgusting! Utter simps!" 

 

"Hey, did he said that girl's name was Rain Snowflower? That must mean that she's from the House of Rain!" 

 

Yang Yang listened to the conversations around him while Princess Jasmine shook her head. "That was the daughter of nobility? How repulsive and impatient." 

 

"Your highness, please calm down. It is not just the nobility. Even among the lower- and middle-classes, people will bully other people that are weaker than them. If's a law of nature: the strong eats the weak." 

 

"Indeed, but we should be beyond that. Are we not exalted magi? Do they have no standards or ethics or morals? Also, it's 'Young Miss.'" 

 

"Yes, your high... Young Miss."

 

Some time passed and the pagoda flashed again. The blue-haired, blue-eyed girl exited; she was bleeding from head to toe. The group of senior students quickly took her away. The forty-ninth story of the pagoda flashed with a red light and then died down. 

 

"Incredible! She actually went all the way to the forty-ninth trial! That means that she's an elite among the senior students!" 

 

"The first twenty trials are for junior students, the next thirty are for senior students, and then the last fifty are for elite students. To be at the forty-ninth trial means that she's an elite among senior students." 

 

"Holy crap! She's pretty and strong! I want her to step on me!" 

 

"Dude same! Wait, weren't you the one to call them simps?" 

 

......

 

"Damn it." The junior student who was knocked out was surrounded by his friends. They comforted him and put out words of encouragement. 

 

"Hello, fellow brothers and sisters." The group turned their heads and saw a black-haired, green-eyed young man walking up to them. 

 

"I was wondering if you guys can answer a question." The young man waved his hand and a stream of magical power entered the injured young man. It healed his injuries, and amazed the group.

 

"Yes, yes, yes. Anything brother, please ask us. We'll do our best to answer you." Before, they were slightly annoyed at his arrival, but now they were smiling from ear to ear. 

 

"What do you know about the War Trial Pagoda?" 

 

"The War Trial Pagoda is one of the trial grounds in the institute, and only a hundred students may enter the pagoda at a time. It's not the most impressive, but it is the most popular one among the junior, senior, and elite students. In fact, there are over a hundred of these pagodas here on campus. Every floor represent a trial, and each trial give rewards upon completion. There are automatons inside the pagoda that fight you and you have to beat them to complete the trial. Every trial is harder than the last and every ten trials represent a ten-fold increase in difficulty compared to the last ten trials. Moreover, when you receive a reward after a trial, you won't receive it again and if you challenge the pagoda a second time, you have to restart at the bottom floor."

 

"Thank you," The young man turned around and left. "Escape Magic: World Bending."

 

"Ah, brother wait! What's your na-" Before the group can finish their sentence, the young man disappeared.