Chapter 47: Unexpected Visit!
Ethan stared at Instructor Cass, completely taken aback.
What the fuck was this?
He was just about to open his mouth and demand an explanation when Cass spoke again, his expression leaving little room for argument. "It’s the principal’s orders."
That was enough to make Ethan shut his mouth.
Arguing here wasn’t going to change anything, especially when the order had apparently come directly from Ronan himself.
With an irritated click of his tongue, Ethan turned around and walked away.
The moment he did, the classroom erupted behind him.
"See? Even the academy put him on hold. I told you there was something suspicious about his recent achievement."
"Especially him guiding Drey. Isn’t he an F-Rank Guide? How is that even possible?"
"Nope, he’s no longer F-Rank. It has already been confirmed by the instructors that he advanced to D-Rank."
"See? That makes it even more suspicious!"
The voices followed Ethan as he walked down the corridor, blending together until they became nothing more than a constant stream of noise in the back of his mind.
So he was really being investigated.
He had suspected as much, but hearing it confirmed so openly still made his stomach sink.
And that bastard of a principal had seen him yesterday.
He had even spoken to him normally and casually dismissed his issue about Zane, making Ethan think, for a brief moment, that perhaps Ronan wasn’t paying much attention to him after all.
Apparently, Ethan had been an idiot.
The man had simply been waiting! Waiting to catch him off guard just like this!
What a hypocritical bastard!
Ethan’s expression darkened as he continued walking. He needed to keep his guard up from now on.
There were probably countless eyes watching him now, waiting for him to make a mistake, reveal something suspicious, or give them another reason to question how an F-Rank Guide had suddenly become a D-Rank Guide and successfully guided an S-Class Sentinel.
He couldn’t afford to mess up.
More importantly, he couldn’t rely on the academy.
If they were already investigating him, there was no guarantee they would let him stay if things became troublesome.
And if the investigation eventually turned against him and he was expelled...
What then?
Ethan slowed slightly.
He didn’t have a family to depend on and he couldn’t keep depending on the academy either.
He needed a way to earn money on his own.
Even if the worst happened and he was eventually thrown out of the academy, he needed enough money to survive outside without crawling back to his family for help.
It was better to prepare now than to wait until he had no choice.
With that thought firmly planted in his mind, Ethan continued toward his dormitory.
Meanwhile, somewhere far beyond the academy grounds, a certain distinguished group of people had already begun making their way toward the academy.
And they were coming specifically to find him.
By the time Ethan returned to his dormitory, his irritation had settled into a dull annoyance.
When he got in Zane was no where to be found. A smile immediately appeared on his face.
"Oh, thank God."
He quickly stepped inside and locked the door behind him.
Finally!
With the room to himself, Ethan decided to make use of the opportunity.
There were two things he needed to do.
First, check his mental sea.
Second, cultivate.
After what had happened during the guiding, he hadn’t been able to properly examine his mental sea because of his hospitalization. Now that he was finally back in his room, he wanted to see whether there had been any changes.
Ethan sat down on his bed, closed his eyes, and carefully reached inward.
His consciousness sank into his mental sea and the familiar sensation enveloped him.
When his surroundings finally settled, Ethan looked around. At first glance, there didn’t seem to be much difference.
The landscape was still familiar, the spiritual energy still flowed through the space, and everything remained relatively peaceful.
Yet after observing it carefully, Ethan noticed something.
It was healthier.
Not dramatically different, but noticeably steadier. The spiritual energy moved through his mental sea with greater smoothness, and the entire space seemed slightly more stable than before.
It was almost as though successfully guiding Drey had somehow strengthened it.
"Did I actually get stronger from that?"
Ethan looked around thoughtfully.
It wasn’t enough to make him jump an entire rank, but there was definitely a small improvement.
Considering how badly he had exhausted himself during the guiding, he honestly hadn’t expected his mental sea to look this healthy. He had expected it to look worse from his overuse.
What Ethan didn’t notice, however, was something new.
Near the far edge of his mental sea, where several strands of spiritual energy usually drifted lazily through the air, a tiny golden thread had appeared.
It was so thin that it could easily have been mistaken for a stray strand of spiritual energy.
It pulsed once.
Then became still.
Ethan never noticed it. Instead, he focused on the condition of his spiritual energy. He had clearly overused it during the guiding.
Far more than he should have.
If he wanted to continue progressing, he needed to restore what he had lost.
Ethan settled himself properly and began cultivating. Spiritual energy slowly gathered around him.
He guided it through his body, allowing it to circulate through his spiritual pathways before gradually drawing it back toward his core. For a while, everything went smoothly.
However, Ethan soon noticed something strange.
His cultivation was slower. Much slower than before.
He frowned then tried again, focusing harder.
The spiritual energy responded, but the progress remained sluggish.
Perhaps he hadn’t fully recovered from the guiding yet. That was the only explanation he could think of.
After all, he had practically drained himself while purifying Drey’s corruption and had spent an entire week unconscious afterward.
His body might have recovered physically, but his spiritual energy clearly hadn’t returned to its previous state yet.
Ethan sighed.
Fine.
He would just have to be patient.
He continued cultivating.
Time passed quietly as he slowly replenished his depleted spiritual energy and worked toward restoring the strength he had lost.
He remained immersed in the process until the passage of time became difficult to track. Slowly, the exhaustion from his still-recovering body began catching up with him, forcing Ethan to finally stop. He opened his eyes and exhaled deeply.
That should be enough for now.
Once he was fully recovered, he would begin working seriously toward increasing his Guide rank.
Ethan stretched before remembering what he had originally planned to do after checking his mental sea.
Money.
He needed to figure out some way to make it.
His mind immediately began running through possibilities as he wondered what he could realistically produce, sell, or use to earn an income without exposing anything he was keeping hidden.
He had barely begun forming a plan when a knock on his door made him pause. His first thought was Zane.
The bastard had probably returned.
Ethan reluctantly got to his feet and walked toward the door. He reached for the handle and pulled the door open.
His complaint died instantly.
There was no Zane standing outside.
Instead, several unfamiliar faces were standing before him.