Gino thought they had followed him to confirm if what he said was true. He was ready to answer that it was real.
But then he heard them ask something else instead.
"Head Gino, how are you planning to recruit students in Eternal Ascendancy? Are there any entrance exams? Or any specific criteria?"
They were asking this so they could later help their friends get into the academy.
When Head Gino heard this, his expression didn't change. Even though he hadn't expected this question and was really surprised, he controlled his face perfectly to maintain his role as academy head.
He answered, "Well, there will be no entrance exam. And there is no specific criteria. We will only select 500 students every year because we don't have unlimited resources. 400 of them will be invited directly by the academy—the people we deem worthy. If they want to join, they can. If not, that's okay. The remaining seats out of 500 will be selected from applications submitted by interested students. And don't worry—there will be no favoritism or backdoor entries. We have strict rules against it."
Saying this, he turned and walked toward his office.
Ruyi and Jina, on the other hand, felt disappointed when they heard this. They couldn't help their friends. It all depended on the academy's evaluation…
They stood there for a moment, exchanging glances.
Then they sighed and walked away, minds full of thoughts about Roxa, the academy, and the uncertain future ahead.
***
In Eternal Ascendancy – Sanya's player lobby.
In the lobby, Only Sanya and Rudra remained.
They had already played more than three matches. Galaxy had to study in the real world, so she left the game. Heart Clone also exited—he wanted to create new techniques and comprehend more elements.
Currently, Ankit and his clones were focused on their own work. Ankit was creating an item to help comprehend time elements. Ether Clone, Solar Clone, and heart clone, himself were heading to the Errant Expanse for the task Ankit had entrusted to them. The remaining clones were building the fortress.
No one was focusing on becoming stronger right now.
Heart clone had his fill of the game too. He decided it was time to focus on cultivation and becoming powerful. He planned to create some powerful martial techniques.
How would he do it? It was simple.
He connected his mind with Sphera and instructed her to search the entire internet for martial technique ideas, novels, forums, videos—everything—so he could draw inspiration.
He no longer needed to read hundreds of novels himself and extract ideas. Sphera could do the work now.
She would organize everything perfectly. She could combine techniques from different sources, improve them, or even create entirely new martial techniques that had never appeared in any novel.
He murmured to himself, "But there is a problem....I will not be able to read the novels myself…"
Because if Sphera did all the work, he wouldn't need to read them personally and find inspiration. But that also meant missing the real fun of slowly reading, imagining scenes, and experiencing the stories with his own mind.
Of course, he could use Sphera to directly transfer all the data into his brain—like he had read every book. But it wouldn't be enjoyable. No imagination. No thrill.
So he decided not to do that. He could read the novels later. He had a long lifespan anyway.
He ordered Sphera to start her work right away.
In the meantime, he closed his eyes and began thinking about elements.
The time element was already being handled by the main body, Ankit.
So he should focus on new ones now.
He had already comprehended almost every basic element.
Why "almost"? Because it wasn't guaranteed he had found them all. What if more existed in hidden places?
He had also comprehended many higher elements. And from his experience reading countless novels, he knew there were more waiting.
He had heard of "Fate Law," "Destiny Law," "Reincarnation Law," "Karma Law," "Causality Law," "Luck/Providence"… and more.
But he hadn't comprehended any of them yet.
And he didn't know how to start.
For the basic elements—like water and fire—he had comprehended them directly. He simply felt them, understood their nature through personal experience and repeated use.
For the higher elements, he had taken a different path. He observed their functions carefully—how they slowly worked, how they influenced the world. Each had a clear lead, a visible trace. Even the time element had its patterns, its flow he could track and follow.
But for fate, destiny, reincarnation, karma, causality, luck, providence… he had nothing.
No lead.
No visible trace.
No starting point.
How could he observe fate? What should he watch to understand destiny?
Did he have to die and reincarnate to grasp reincarnation?
What even was luck—random chance or something deeper?
How could he sense karma or causality when they were invisible threads woven through everything?
He had been in this situation before.
Early on, he had tried using the basic-element method on higher ones. It failed.
The higher elements required a different approach.
He could guess the same thing was happening now.
These elements—fate, destiny, reincarnation, and the others—were in a completely different category.