Villain Seduces to Rise in Status

Chapter 24: 24 - Classroom

He got up from his bed, and in just a few steps forward, his entire body gave out beneath him and he collapsed hard onto the stone floor with a sickening thud.

The impact drove the air from his lungs, but more concerning was the complete numbness that had seized every part of his body.

”What is this... numbness? Did making that one rune take that much toll on my body?”

His whole body did not feel anything at all, as if the nerves connecting his limbs to his mind had been severed. The sensation was terrifying in its own, a void where sensation should have been.

He tried to move his fingers and felt nothing in response, only the knowledge that his brain was sending signals that weren’t being received.

”No, I can’t fall unconscious just from making the most basic runes. Aaaaaaghh!”

He forced himself to get up through sheer willpower alone, screaming as his body protested every single movement with waves of pain as sensation began to return. The numbness was fading slowly but painfully, feeling like pins and needles stabbing through his entire frame.

The rune inscription must have consumed more energy than I anticipated. Creating even simple magical patterns requires drawing from your cultivation reserves directly.

He staggered to his feet and leaned heavily against the wall, breathing heavy and waiting for his body to stabilize. After several minutes of standing still, the sensation finally returned, and the stabbing pain subsided to a manageable ache.

”Well, shall we return to work now?”

Despite everything his body was telling him, he managed to attend his classes and then his chores immediately afterward. The effort required was immense, but he pushed through it knowing that falling behind would raise questions he couldn’t answer.

While cleaning a stone tablet in the courtyard, his mind wandered to the requirements he still needed to fulfill at this academy. The rules were strict about attendance, especially for students as low-ranked as him.

I will have to attend today’s classes. Hmm, shit, it’s necessary to at least attend one of each class per week according to academy rules.

The other students working alongside him gave him a wide berth, aware of his recent victory. There was respect there now, mixed with wariness— that came from witnessing unexpected strength.

Inside the lecture hall, the other students stared at him as if he was some kind of enigma that defied their understanding. He was from a noble duke house just like them, after all, carrying the same bloodline prestige and family weight, but his other siblings had long since outshined him in every conceivable way possible.

Their accomplishments made his mere presence seem like a joke, a mistake of inheritance that the universe was slowly correcting.

The lecture hall itself was spacious, with high ceilings and tall windows that let in natural light.

Cale chose a seat near the middle, trying to be visible enough to satisfy attendance requirements but not prominent enough to draw excessive attention.

He sat down in his chosen seat and felt a gaze boring into the back of his head.

So it’s him again. Of course.

Zeke Hugh, second son of a minister of the court and walking embodiment of privileged entitlement. His father was a war general from the last decade, a man of high military accomplishment and strategic brilliance, but Zeke himself was a fucking jealous prick obsessed with marks and examination scores. He had been in a constant beef with Cale ever since Cale had scored full marks in all subjects of the entrance examination—a perfect score that had apparently wounded his ego.

Zeke represented everything about the old system that Cale despised, and his contempt for Zeke was equally profound.

Cale looked at him again and thought- So this is one of the geniuses of the continent. No wonder we are all doomed.

The professor entered moments later, striding through the door, and for the love of god, she was from a branch family of Zeke’s household. Her name was Rafaela Hugh, and she carried herself with the confidence of someone who’d lived a life of unquestioned privilege and accumulated power.

Her eyes scanned the lecture hall with assessment, taking in each student and making instant judgments about their worth.

His family was one of those who ran away when calamities struck one after the other. If I had been disowned in this life too, he would’ve been the one to marry Fiora.

Rafaela began her lecture without preamble, voice cutting through the assembled students like a blade. ”For the next three years, you’re all my students. I know we say all students are equal, but I will tell you directly—in this world, equality doesn’t exist. Since new lands like the eastern continents and even new realms are being discovered, once you leave here, you will understand the hardships you’ll face.”

She continued. ”The real cultivation sects are already on the move. On one side, they show kinship, trying to make friendly relations, while secretly trying to get us all under their influence.”

Since she was in charge of battle strategies and technique refining, she taught various critical things, including how cultivation sects had entirely different ranking systems than the academy used. Her knowledge was vast and detailed.

”There are three main realms—mortal realm, spirit realm, and divine realm. After those come the ascendant realm and then the immortal realm. According to their scriptures, there are even more higher realms one can pursue after these, consisting of the chaos realm, supreme realm, lower heaven realm, and finally upper heaven realms.”

What... there are even more things I didn’t know about coming to light here. Thank god I decided to stay for now. She’s a battle veteran too, so she might actually be useful.

She continued her explanation. ”Each realm consists of nine ranks or levels. These are apprentice, warrior, master, grandmaster, lord, king, peak, supreme, and fusion. Though they can just be called rank one through nine for simplicity. Only realms under the immortal realm have nine ranks, while all the higher ones have only five—early, intermediate, middle, advanced, and peak.”

But one thing she said struck Cale directly, cutting deep into his core understanding of the world.

”A low core person can never get strong. He will always be a bottom feeder, no matter how hard he trains.”

That was true for me in my past life, but not now.

”Give up the thought of trying to be some battle commander or leader. There are limits to even nobleborns like you. Your birth, your position, these things matter more than you realize in determining your ceiling.”

But she was wrong about something critical. Cale could recognize many of the strongest legion leaders right there in that class of sixty students. The first ones to flee when the calamities came were the teachers and the staff, leaving the students to survive through the continuous attacks that would reshape their world.

Cale raised his hand slowly, and Rafaela gave him an annoyed look that made it abundantly clear she wasn’t appreciating the interruption to her planned lecture.

”What is your question?”

”You said earlier that we are the only continent left with an aristocracy system intact. Is that statement actually correct?”

Rafaela’s expression became condescending. ”Yes, we are the only ones remaining with a noble system. The other continents abandoned their aristocratic structures centuries ago when they embraced more egalitarian approaches.”

”Professor, what actual proof do we have that we won’t get attacked by these groups who smile and speak of kinship while harboring their own ambitions? How can we trust their friendly gestures?”

Rafaela scoffed with disdain, as if explaining something obvious to a particularly slow child. ”You’re still just a kid, aren’t you? Political relations operate on principles you’re too young to understand. They break in seconds when interests conflict, yes, but that’s how the game has always been played.”

Cale continued. ”You say that with such certainty, but have you actually seen their forces firsthand? What about organizations like the Heaven Sacred Azure Sect, the Blood Demon Sect, Silver Blood Bird Sect, even the Spirit Gulf Sect and Heavenly Lustrous Star Sect, let alone the various northern sects beyond our borders? Do you have any estimation of their actual military power?”

Rafaela laughed, a dismissive sound that echoed through the lecture hall. ”Haha, are you making things up to prove your point now, kid? Such sect names have never been heard of in any official records or historical documents. You’re inventing names to sound knowledgeable.”

”That’s exactly what I’m trying to say, professor. You can’t even guess at or estimate their forces properly because you don’t have access to that information. And here’s something else—there are around three more continents with aristocracy systems still alive right now, hidden beyond our borders and unknown to most people here. We’re not nearly as isolated as the propaganda suggests.”

But they won’t last any longer than three years. The calamities will sweep through them like fire through dry grass.

The other students around him started talking among themselves, their curiosity piqued by Cale’s bold statements. But Rafaela couldn’t believe what she was hearing, and her expression hardened.

”What proof do you have to support these wild claims you’re making? Because right now, you sound like a delusional child making up stories.”

Is this the time I say you’re a frog in a well looking up at the sky, thinking that’s all there is? That might be too blunt for this situation.

”And regarding that commoner and low-level thing you said earlier in your lecture—wasn’t the Flame Sovereign also a commoner who rose from nothing to that exact elevated status? Are you really claiming to be unaware of this historical precedent?”

The Flame Sovereign was a count of a defeated kingdom who had been a commoner before his sheer strength and perseverance helped him rise in both power and social status. It was a well-documented historical event that contradicted everything Rafaela was saying.

”You’re forgetting something crucial that changes the entire narrative,” Rafaela countered, with an edge of cruelty. ”That ’traitor’ sold out his own country for personal strength. He abandoned his people to chase power. And he was probably the only commoner in the past two hundred years to ever advance that high. He’s an exception, not a rule that can be replicated.”

”It’s all the game of perseverance in the end, miss. Once you reach a high enough stage, things like country and nation seem too small and insignificant. Just moving ahead becomes all that matters. Isn’t he a prime example for many people who want to transcend their circumstances? Why contradict yourself now by saying it’s impossible for anyone else?”

Rafaela’s patience finally snapped. ”Smartass, do you realize you’re taking up valuable lecture time just to say some made-up things? Cale Midgar, right? Let me check your logs here.”

She opened the attendance register and began flipping through records, her eyes scanning the information. Then she chuckled to herself with clear amusement.

”Hah, here it is. Someone with no proper core established yet, one win and eighty-four losses recorded in your combat record. With your obviously limited talent, I doubt even the so-called sects you named will accept you. You’re even inferior to a commoner in terms of actual achievement.”

Cale felt something burning inside him that wouldn’t be extinguished by mockery.

”Again with that shit about defending the gifted and sacrificing the mediocre. If you knew even just a bit about the outside world, which this so-called king and emperor have been trying to seclude from us—”

The student beside him pulled his arm urgently, yanking it out of its socket as he tried to signal him to stop before he said something that would get him expelled or worse.

Cale realized he’d already said far too much. His emotions had gotten the better of him, and that was a mistake he couldn’t afford to make again.

He sat down, forcing himself to remain silent.

Rafaela turned back to face the class, and her expression was barely contained fury. She clenched her teeth. Then she continued the lesson again as if the entire confrontation hadn’t happened, moving on to the next topic.

I got heated again. Whenever I hear that emperor’s name, I fucking want to... no, let’s leave it for now.

The Emperor could be said to be a genius kind of dictator—someone who was smart and capable but whose decisive choices to isolate the nation had ultimately been the reason they never knew about their true opponents until it was far too late.