Since Zuko was an invited student, he had to go through some assessments to become part of the academy. The next day when he woke up, he found a massage form Professor the contents were simple, it said that Zuko had an assessment test today at a certain period of the day. It also said that it was Professor who had talked to the administration for early assessment for his disciple.
The assessment was a piece of cake for Zuko, he passed the test with flying colors. He was then handed over his ID which officially stated that Zuko was now the student of Soul-Fire academy. When Zuko returned Professor was already in the palace, he was like waiting for Zuko upon seeing him he got up and greeted him very politely but there was hidden trouble under his false facade. "I am sure you have succeeded, right." Professor was very glad when he saw Zuko nodding in response.
They chatted for some time later after dinner Zuko left the dining hall and bid Professor good night. Inside his room, he was practicing once again his disguise art and when he felt like he could not proceed any further, he went to rest. At this time the sky was already getting brighter.
The next day was spent in selecting his courses and other related activities, he took few classes, roamed around the academic block, checked the library that was as humongous as one could imagine, the books in there were so numerous that if were gathered could form a small mountain. There was even the mission board that would always ask the students for different missions when Zuko entered the building he found that different missions were still there that had different rewards for them, some had points as a reward and as for others, they had different rewards such as cores, weapons, and other important contents for different purposes.
While Zuko was working over the data Professor had provided him and spent the night cultivating his arts, two days passed by just like that. On the third night at the dinner that Zuko was having alone as he knew that Professor will be late, he was gulping the wine when the door to the palace opened and Professor entered. "Jace my boy, I am so glad that now I am a permanent researcher over here, but there is still a small fever that you have to do me, you have got to help me with my new research. They have asked me to submit it in two days. It is very important so you have to help me out this once." Professor was very happy and when he sat at the table he passed Zuko a present.
"I am sorry but that is not possible, I have got my own things to do. Besides, we already discussed it that I will only help when I want to. Haven't I helped you once and even earned you the permanent residence here, isn't that enough." Zuko had some sourness in his voice when he responded to Professor's blunt request.
"No, no you are getting it wrong, I am willing to pay any price for your help." Professor still was all smiles, had put on a face of a beggar and eyes that of a homeless cat.
"Well, I don't need anything right now, when I do so I will surely help you with your researches." Zuko was not a bit affected by Professor's begging. He was too blunt in his conversation.
"Don't you force me, understand. I have other means too."
"Are you threatening me? Go ahead do whatever you wish but don't blame me later on then." Zuko smiled then he picked the napkin and cleaned his mouth and hands. He stood up and left the dining hall just like that. He went inside his room and was about to close the door when Professor halted him, "Stop right there!" but Zuko acted like he did not hear him.
"Sure you are a stubborn ass." Professor moved and attacked Zuko, he launched a sudden kick but to his bad luck, Zuko dodged the kick with a simple swift movement. Enraged Professor shouted, "System restrain Jace in his room until I say and all his access and authority, I take it back."
"What, you want to restrain me," with a smug smile Zuko then laughed out loud. "I told you don't blame me later on." getting serious, Zuko issued a command, "System restrain Professor completely in this room forever until I allow you." The door closed behind Professor and he was restrained in Zuko's room. He shouted for help and called the admin but Zuko had already blocked all of his connection to the outside of the room. The main system was not authorized to peep into the private places of the staff and the students, hence Zuko was confident that this matter would remain under control until something unexpected occurred.
Zuko then went back to the Professor's room and spent the night cultivating until he was fully exhausted.
The next morning, Zuko went to his room and tied the sleeping Professor who had spent the whole night shouting for help. he shifted him in one of the labs in the basements. Professor was tied by ropes and his mouth was also sealed by tape.
In one of the research labs, few people were discussing something among themselves, 'Professor Shan, what do you say about it, although you have just come from a town, your the first person among us who has gotten his residence in the capital so fast. That shows how knowledgable you are about cybersecurity."
"You are flattering me," Laughed Zuko, " It is possible to infiltrate but the problem is that it requires a lot of time and this is the flaw, during this period their system will automatically seal the only path we may discover." Zuko who was disguised as Professor Shan and explained a few things about cybersecurity in detail.
"So you mean if only we can find a way to increase our speed or delay them we can easily access their system and then can steal all of their data. That sounds easy." one of the men from the group said when at the same time another one spoke out, "Yeah, sure it is easy that is why Professor Remuse will do this job." Everyone laughed when the group joked.
The next day Zuko submitted the research that Professor was asked a day ago. His methodology and techniques were very inspiring that is why his idea was put on the board of elders where important decisions were discussed.
His idea was approved and his status was further raised in the academy. He now had access to more resources and luxuries. Zuko would spend his time both as Professor and Jace in the academy. Most of the time he would stay in the palace and study everything that he could, a bit was spent on other activities like cultivation and other areas.
During this period when he was going through data provided to him, he found many new and different information that he had no idea existed. His eidetic memory and superb concentration were very helpful to him, he could do much in little time.
Soon he was accepted into a project where he had to infiltrate into his enemy's system for that he was given even more access to many resources. While others were slow in their work but Zuko was not, within a few days he found a way to infiltrate into any kind of system but he was not willing to notify the academy of his success, he wanted to use it for himself so he infiltrated into his own academy system.
while he was surfing through the data, Zuko found some very important data about the science of cloning. He found out that the army of dead was just a lie that 'Skull And Bones' was famous for but instead, it was all cloning technology that they used. All this time they had tricked everyone with a very simple but effective method and it was that 'Skull And Bones' would take DNA of every fighter and important figure, later if something happened to them they could then take out his clone and show that they could resurrect the dead.
No matter what, Zuko still admired them on the research that they had done all these years. If compared to the outside world, the outside world may take a hundred more years to reach this stage only in case if they got lucky.
This discovery led Zuko to many new ideas and dimensions which he expected would bring a great difference in one's life if applied appropriately.
The next day, Zuko out of his daily routine went and applied for the medical department. Since he was a newly enrolled student he still had the time to cancel his already enrolled subjects. Zuko was soon allowed into the new department.
Now Zuko was busy in his studies and cultivation all day. Since Zuko already had the access to the entire data of the academy, he now no more needed to disguise himself as Professor Shan, so he was most of the time disguised as Jace or as his new mentor.