Headmaster Steven rolled his eyes when he heard Deion's excuse. It is no wonder that John became so irritable after taking these two under his wings.
"Care to try again?" Headmaster Steven exerted his aura onto Deion.
"Headmaster, it's fine. I just tried out a technique that my body couldn't handle" Bruce got back up after remaining unconscious for a couple of minutes.
"Hmm, was the technique derived from the book I mentioned earlier" Headmaster Steven stroked his white beard.
"That's correct" Bruce smiled thinly.
"Impressive… You actually managed to decipher the book" Headmaster Steven now held Bruce in a higher position. The Way of the World hasn't been deciphered by anyone throughout the history of the Imperial Academy.
He brought it up because he thought Bruce would be able to gain something from it. Never did he imagine that Bruce managed to decipher the entire book and obtain the inheritance of the Imperial Academy founder.
"Hmm… Why did you send us to read the book if you didn't expect us to decipher it?" Bruce looked at Headmaster Steven with a weird look.
"My original intention was to have you learn something from the founder. I never expected you to inherit his legacy that easily" Headmaster Steven replied.
"Founder? Legacy? What are you talking about?" Bruce didn't follow what Headmaster Steven was saying.
"The Way of the World is the only thing left to us by the original founder of the Imperial Academy"
"As you can see, the book actually does not contain any powerful technique on the surface. Instead, it contains the philosophy of the founder"
"Previous headmasters of the Imperial Academy theorized that something must be hidden in the book, but none managed to decipher the code"
"Could you tell me what you found in the book?" Headmaster Steven was also extremely curious about the message left behind by the founder. He had spent countless years on the topic but always came up with nothing.
"The gist is that we are shackled by the laws of the world. If you want to break through the shackles of the world, you first need to master the way of the world. Then, you need to break the laws of the world to reach Worldly Supreme" Bruce gave Headmaster Steven the hidden message behind the book.
Though, he did not disclose the techniques he had just learned. For some reason, he could not tell anyone about the techniques as there are some restrictions in his soul preventing him from doing so.
"Is that really it…" Headmaster Steven gasped when he heard the hidden message. He too has been stuck in the Great Emperor realm for thousands of years like many others. He had tried many methods to advance further but there was a wall that he could not penetrate.
"Perhaps you really are the lucky star of the continent Bruce" Headmaster Steven smiled warmly.
"The calamity is coming to our continent and thankfully, you are here."
"Please Headmaster, I'm still too weak to handle Worldly Supreme experts" Bruce blushed as he wasn't used to all the attention people had been giving him.
"You have helped our continent tremendously because I feel that I am able to break through to the next stage in Great Emperor" Headmaster Steven showed excitement in his eyes after a long time. He had thought that he would forever be stuck at his current stage until the day he died. However, Bruce had opened his mind to new possibilities.
"But wouldn't you still be stuck at the Great Emperor stage?" Deion blabbed out his thought without a care in the world.
"Correct, but at least I am one step closer to Worldly Supreme"
"Have faith in the continent that protected us for millions of years. I am quite confident that the continental wall will not disappear in this century" Headmaster Steven raised up his fist in the air showing a youthful side of himself, unlike his external appearance.
"So, are you saying that you will be able to reach Worldly Supreme in this century?" Bruce asked.
"I am at the 7th extreme in Great Emperor which means there is a small chance that I may be able to break through to Worldly Supreme" Headmaster Steven nodded.
"What are extremes?" Deion didn't quite understand the cultivation stages in the Great Emperor realm.
"Unlike the previous realms, the Great Emperor realm is divided into 9 stages. Each stage is called an extreme because you would have to survive thunder tribulation each time to reach the next extreme." Headmaster Steven slowly explained.
"Many people reached the Great Emperor stage and never went further than 1st extreme due to the immense might of thunder tribulation"
"How strong is our master then, Headmaster?" Deion asked. He had always been curious about his master's strength but whenever he asked that question, he would get smacked in the head.
"Nice try, but you can ask him that question yourself" Headmaster Steven refused to answer because it's typically taboo to disclose other Great Emperor's strengths. Information about all the Great Emperors on the land is sealed by their respective influences.
Headmaster Steven decided to reveal his strength to the duo because Bruce had helped him forge a new path to Worldly Supreme.
"Why so secretive…" Deion cross his hands and grumpily stared at Headmaster Steven.
"Don't make things difficult for the Headmaster, Deion" Bruce nudged his friend to be more understanding.
"Bruce, I will pass on the hidden message from the book to the other leaders in the Alliance of Kingdoms"
"For your reward, you may take any treasure from the Imperial Academy treasury" Headmaster Steven wanted to inform everyone of today's event and immediately close himself up for cultivation.
"Headmaster, would it be possible for me to exchange my reward with energy crystals?"
"I only need energy crystals to advance my strengths" Bruce faced no bottleneck at Divine King. The only thing he lacked was energy crystals. He did obtain a sizable amount from the Dark Forces the other day. Combined with his current wealth, he should be able to reach High Stage Divine King fairly soon.
"You may go to the treasury room and obtain 100,000 high energy crystals" Headmaster Steven secretly bled internally as he gave out the reward to Bruce. However, he already determined Bruce to be the clutch factor in the upcoming calamity. The Alliance will do its utmost to develop Bruce.
"Thank you, headmaster!" Bruce bowed and went to the treasure room with Deion. He didn't want to linger any longer in case Headmaster Steven changes his mind.
"Is it me or are we making so much money in this period?" Deion smiled brightly as he calculated the amount of money the two had on hand.
"We need to make more money because we both will need a massive amount of energy stones to break through into Divine Emperor" Bruce still was not satisfied with their current wealth.
"Easy, let's just ask the Alliance for more energy stones" Deion laughed.
"That won't do. The Alliance of Kingdoms has many mouths to feed. I'm only getting this much money due to the title they have given me."
"The best thing we could do is rob the Dark Forces of their fortune to fund our cultivation" Bruce suggested a new revenue source.
"How would we be able to do that when we can't leave the academy?"
"No clue but we need to come up with some ideas on how to sneak out occasionally" Bruce didn't have any idea either.
The two got to the treasury room and obtained their reward. The two parted ways because Deion planned to see Chelsey while Bruce wanted to cultivate.
When Bruce reached his dorm, he found a beautiful figure waiting for him outside the door.
"Sophia, what are you doing here?" Bruce was happy to find such a beauty waiting for him.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm here for our date" Sophia smiled.