“Save me…”Her voice was so faint that Rhys wasn’t even sure he had actually heard it.Maybe she hadn’t spoken at all.Maybe he had only read the movement of her lips.Either way, those two words echoed inside his head as he stared at Sophia lying in a pool of blood.His mind refused to accept what had just happened.One of the assassins glanced toward Rhys.“Leader.”“One of them is still alive.”His raspy voice broke the silence.Another assassin looked at the corpse of their fallen companion before turning back to Rhys.“There’s some kind of high-level protective barrier around him.”“We’ll lose more people if we keep attacking.”The man who appeared to be their leader didn’t hesitate.“It doesn’t matter.”“Our mission is complete.”“The target is dead.”“We’re leaving.”Without another glance, the three assassins disappeared back into the forest.Rhys remained rooted to the spot.Around him lay four bodies.Three of his companions.One dead assassin.Only when the forest became com

There was a reason people across the Tower called Liam the Mad Principal.It wasn’t simply because of his unpredictable personality or his habit of openly provoking powerful factions that most people wouldn’t even dare mention by name.It was because no one ever dared retaliate.Not the great religious orders.Not the lesser gods of the Sixth Tier.Even those who possessed unimaginable authority spoke of him carefully, lowering their voices whenever his name came up.It wasn’t just Liam they feared.It was the thing hidden away beneath the university.The power he carried was so unnatural that it seemed to mock the boundary between life and death itself.Long before his name inspired fear, Liam had been nothing more than a scholar.He had loved knowledge more than anything else.Every mystery fascinated him, but there was one question that consumed him far more than the rest.Could death be reversed?That obsession began the day his younger brother died inside the Tower.Liam refused t

Buhara was the first to wake up.Out of him, Erin and Sophia, he recovered the fastest, but the moment he opened his eyes, confusion washed over him.The last thing he remembered was chopping down trees on the First Floor.After that…Nothing.He had never seen the assassins.He had no memory of being poisoned.As far as he knew, he had simply blacked out while working.He slowly sat up and looked around the infirmary.“Where am I?”His eyes landed on the beds beside him.“Why are puny Erin and stinky Sophia sleeping here too?”He frowned and rubbed the side of his neck.“Buhara’s neck hurts.”The puncture wound where the poison dart had been removed still throbbed.Rhys wasn’t in the room anymore.Once his condition had stabilised, Professor Maven had ordered the medical staff to move him elsewhere so he could recover separately from Buhara and Erin.Not long after Buhara woke up, Professor Maven entered the room.Instead of explaining everything immediately, he questioned Buhara firs

After another exhausting day of training, Rhys made his usual trip to the infirmary.Ever since the attack, visiting Sophia had quietly become part of his daily routine.As he reached the entrance, one of the medical staff spotted him and broke into a wide smile.“Perfect timing.”The healer nodded toward the room.“She’s awake.”Rhys blinked in surprise.“Really?”“Go on. She’s been awake for a little while.”Rhys tightened his grip on the flowers in his hand before walking inside.Sophia looked up the moment the door opened.She was sitting against the headboard, looking much paler than usual, but at least she was awake.A faint smile appeared on her face.“Hey…”Her voice was still weak as she adjusted the loose medical gown covering her shoulders and sat up a little straighter.Rhys smiled back.“Hey.”He handed her the bouquet.“I brought these.”Sophia accepted them carefully and lifted them to her nose.She took a slow breath before giving him a puzzled look.“They smell like fr

A few weeks after the attack, life slowly settled back into something that almost felt normal for Rhys and Sophia.Almost.The assassination attempt had changed Principal Liam more than anyone cared to admit.Ever since his bloody retaliation against the Olympian assassins, he had become even more unpredictable than before. His moods shifted without warning, his lectures were harder to follow, and there were days when the dark aura around him made even experienced professors uneasy.Yet beneath all that instability, one thing had never changed.He cared about his students.Especially Rhys and Sophia.Whenever the academy assigned them a floor raid or an outside mission, Liam made sure they never travelled alone. Sometimes he sent a senior professor to escort them. Other times, he personally accompanied them through the Tower.No one argued with the arrangement.After everything that had happened, everyone understood why.By then, both Rhys and Sophia had already cleared the Third Floor