Inside his office, Dean Snowcrest was working on some papers with a slightly worried heart when suddenly, someone knocked on the door.
"Hmm? Who could it be?"
Dean Snowcrest pondered with a confused look on his face. He tried his best to remember if he missed any appointments but even after thinking hard about it, he couldn't think of anyone who was supposed to go to his office today.
He then decided to pick up a small apparatus that lets him speak to the person in front of his office through a large speaker.
"You may come in"
Upon hearing Dean Snowcrest's voice, the staff member flinched for a few seconds before he managed to gather his courage and nervously entered the warrior dean's office.
After walking for a few minutes, the staff member arrived in front of Dean Snowcrest's desk.
"You! What have you done this time?!"
The dean yelled in a slightly angry voice. Up until today, he was still worried about Shye because of the stupidity of this staff member.
He believed that giving Shye a quest to hunt dangerous creatures inside the intermediate adventurer zone just to make him give up early was a very stupid idea. After all, what if he died while attempting to complete the mission?
Fortunately, the next words of the staff member finally gave him slight peace of mind.
"D-D-Dean…I apologize again for my mistakes the other day…However, Shye Crowley has returned and he actually completed the quest!"
After hearing what the staff member said, Dean Snowcrest was pleasantly surprised so he started to calm down.
"What? Do you mean Crowley was able to take down three armored hyenas, a blackwood boar, and an ember tiger within three days?"
Dean Snowcrest replied with a calmer tone but he never thought that the next words of the staff member would be so infuriating.
"Y-Yes Dean, that's what happened so as per our agreements…I…gave him an intermediate adventurer badge…"
*BANG*
Dean Snowcrest slammed his table in anger.
"WHAT?! HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID?! HE'S JUST A FIRST YEAR STUDENT!! HOW WILL YOU TAKE RESPONSIBILITY IF SUCH A TALENTED STUDENT DIES WHILE ADVENTURING?! HUH?!!"
Fortunately for the staff member, Instructor Fienna entered the office so the anger of the dean was delayed for now.
"Dean Snowcrest, I apologize for accidentally eavesdropping about the matter concerning Crowley. However, I do believe that a rough gem will never shine if one does not polish it. I believe that we shouldn't pamper Crowley too much or he might not reach his full potential."
After hearing what Instructor Fienna said, Dean Snowcrest continuously took deep breaths to calm himself down.
Indeed, if he pampers Crowley too much, Crowley might not reach his full potential.
As a dean of the academy, he should look at the bigger picture and not worry all the time whether Shye would survive inside the intermediate adventurer zone.
Dean Snowcrest then looked at the staff member and dismissed him after realizing that he was indeed pampering Crowley too much.
The staff member looked gratefully at Instructor Fienna before leaving the dean's office and returning to his desk in the Permissions Pavillion.
After the staff member left his office, Dean Snowcrest rubbed the temples of his head before looking at Instructor Fienna again.
"Fienna, thank you for reminding me, I was getting a bit too preoccupied by the thought of avenging our academy's humiliating defeat five years ago."
"No worries, Dean Snowcrest, I fully understand your intentions."
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…
Meanwhile, Shye was at home happily enjoying a meal with his little sister while telling her stories about her encounters inside the intermediate adventurer zone.
"Woah! So you defeated two of those huge boars alone?!"
"Hahahaha! Isn't your big brother amazing?"
"Yes! Now I can't wait to start adventuring!"
*KNOCK* *KNOCK*
The siblings were chatting happily when suddenly, someone knocked on the door of Shye's dormitory.
Shye and Maia went silent and looked at each other for a few seconds before Shye stood up and opened the door.
"Yo! Shye Crowley right? I see that you're currently eating and I apologize for disturbing you. I'm Li Xin, a third-year student from the mage course and a member of the Order of the Black Sword."
"Senior Ren asked me to tell you to drop by the society headquarters, I believe he wants to introduce you to the other society members."
"Oh, I see. Thanks for telling me, Senior Xin. I'll drop by later after I finish my meal."
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…
"Oh…So this is the society headquarters huh?"
Shye was amazed, he had always been wondering where the headquarters of the adventurer societies were located but after asking around, it turned out that the academy had purchased a vast amount of land fifteen minutes away from the academy where each adventurer society could develop their headquarters.
The vast land had around 60 buildings, some buildings were shabby while some looked grand and imposing.
These buildings were the headquarters of all the adventurer societies and although the land was provided for them, the buildings were built entirely by the students.
It was evident which adventurer societies were more successful than the others because the headquarters of the top adventurer societies looked way better compared to the shabby headquarters of adventurer societies such as the Pink Unicorn Society.
This was because the top societies not only had more budget provided to them by the academy, they also had more successful activities which further increased their budget compared to the lower ranked societies.