By the time Theon returned to his building, it was a few minutes to four, the hour when night was thin. He could already hear the hunched old sweeper moving around in his own room at the ground floor, the sound scraping through the quiet. He carefully tested the door, fingers light on the handle. He'd oiled the hinges two days before to help his sneaking out sessions ease smoother across all factors, a small insurance he was grateful for now. Outside, he hoped the old man whom he shared the building with hadn't gotten up to pee some time in the night, and noticed the door was not properly closed. If he had locked it. Hehe, he would be in big trouble. The thought was absurd, the risk was real. Theon tried the door, gently pushing it forward. It stuck, refusing to pull open, totally unmoved despite all his efforts. His eyes widened. This old man truly woke up in the middle of the night and locked him out. He must have been confused about whether he forgot to lock the door or not, cau

The burning light in Kane's eyes satisfied Solvyn in no small measure. It wasn't merely the excitement of a cripple seeing hope again, nor the gratitude of a disciple toward his benefactor. It was something fiercer, something far more valuable. That fire was hatred refined into ambition, humiliation forged into resolve. Good. He wasn't raising a sheep destined to spend its life grazing beneath another's shadow. He was raising a dragon, one capable of soaring above the heavens themselves. To nurture such a creature, one had to be at least this ruthless. Weakness bred weakness, while pain forged monsters worthy of standing at the summit. Everything he had gathered over the years, every risk he had taken and every life he had trampled upon, was ultimately for this very purpose.All the murky waters he had waded into, all the blood silently spilled behind closed doors, every connection painstakingly cultivated and every treasure accumulated over decades... who had it all been for? His bit

The pounding downstairs was growing more insistent and savage, each deafening impact reverberating through the wooden structure until the walls themselves seemed to shudder in protest. Dust drifted lazily from the ceiling beams with every strike, while the hinges groaned under the relentless assault.Old man Lu's face creased into deeper lines, visible displeasure settling over his weathered features. His brows furrowed ever so slightly, his sharp eyes flickering toward the entrance as though silently calculating how long it would withstand such treatment.“System, is there a way to swap the room till they leave?”“A way to swap the room?” the system echoed thoughtfully. “You mean to return it to the way it was before.”“Exactly.”“Hmm... I can. However, I will need four to six minutes to completely dismantle and move it into system storage space. Also…”The system paused.The hesitation alone made Theon's anxiety spike.“Also what?”“Also, the original room might collapse or get dama

Theon gasped loudly and quickly stepped back, his eyes widening until they looked ready to pop from their sockets.“You… you all... you destroyed the building!” he screeched, his voice cracking from ‘shock’ as he pointed a trembling finger toward the rapidly collapsing upper floor. “Where am I going to live from now on?”His eyes were round as saucers, perfectly painting the ultimate picture of the wronged, broke-ass victim who had just watched his only shelter ruined before his very eyes.Above them, another deafening rumble echoed.Crack!A supporting beam finally gave way.The remaining guards stumbled out in a panic just as another section of the second floor collapsed behind them. More stones, shattered timber, and chunks of broken masonry rained down in an endless cascade, each impact sending tremors through the already unstable structure.Dust exploded into the air, reducing visibility almost instantly.Within moments, the patrol captain's furious curses disappeared beneath the

Theon's eyes glistened as he slowly looked up, wearing an expression so aggrieved it was as though the entire world had conspired to wrong him.“Speak.” The Junior Censor's voice boomed through the lobby, carrying unquestionable authority. “Which building did you damage?”“It wasn't me,” Theon whispered, lowering his gaze before lifting it again. His lips trembled ever so slightly. “It was Academy Patrol Team Nine. They flattened the Backlands residential building. Someone even got trapped inside. I... I barely managed to escape.”Silence descended upon the lobby.The Junior Censor's expression stiffened then darkened.It felt as though he had swallowed a live fly.It wasn't Theon? It was one of the academy's own patrol teams?Then, why had the brat acted like a frightened rabbit from the very beginning?His lips twitched involuntarily.“What did you say?” the second censor asked, his narrowed eyes locking firmly onto Theon as though trying to determine whether the young man was fabr