After paying, Eddie's first move wasn't to ask for a receipt, but to snatch the catalog of beauties.
"Don't look at it here. The beauties in our school are very cautious around wolves. You'd better act like a good boy," the goat-bearded old man advised.
Then asked, "By the way, what's your name? Titan? Never mind, names aren't important. Titan, which study program are you interested in? We have the 'Free-Roaming' style, 'Door-Shut' intensive study, and even an unofficially encouraged but not opposed 'Romance Style' for male-female pairing."
"Hold on, what's this 'Free-Roaming' style?" Eddie immediately sensed something was off.
"It's highly liberal. The instructors don't interfere, and students are free to learn on their own!" the goat-bearded old man shamelessly explained. Eddie was infuriated. Wasn't this just a scam? Charging tuition and then not caring about the students at all?
"Do the instructors not teach?" Eddie barely suppressed his urge to punch the man, deciding to clarify first.
"They do. Over the course of a year, each instructor gives at least two lessons. One is an introductory lesson for teachers and students to get acquainted, and the other is a farewell lesson at the end of the year for parting words," the goat-bearded old man hadn't finished explaining when Eddie nearly collapsed. "What kind of teaching is this?"
"What about the 'Door-Shut' intensive study?" Eddie inquired about the second option.
"As the name suggests, it's self-study. Our library is generously open for students to research," the old man implied that opening the library for students was a great favor.
"And the 'Romance Style' male-female pairing? Are relationships allowed on campus?" Eddie thought this idea wasn't bad.
"Shh, we don't officially support it, but we don't oppose it either. If you find a girlfriend, our cafeteria can provide couple's meals and seating for you to feed each other. I mean, we offer a better and more comfortable learning environment for students to study happily! Of course, those couple's meals cost extra, about ten times the price of a regular meal, but they're very nutritious. Usually, our cafeteria doesn't give away sand for free," the goat-bearded old man was the most shameless person Eddie had encountered since his arrival in the Dragon Rising Continent.
Eddie thought he was shameless enough, but compared to this old man, he felt he was lacking something.
With such a shameless vice-dean, it was no wonder that Ivy League College, with its three-thousand-year history, had fallen into such disarray!
Finally, unable to hold back, Eddie blurted out something he hadn't expected to say,
"Aren't students supposed to come here to learn?
Why do they need so much comfort?
If you don't care about them and let them date all the time, will they even study?
According to you, this place is like a paradise for students!"
"Indeed, it's a paradise, but a paradise for underachievers!" the goat-bearded old man chuckled. "Titan, you must not have heard about our college's reputation."
"What reputation?" Eddie was curious. Could this rundown college have any good reputation?
"We Ivy League College are known as a paradise for underachievers and a hell for top students," the goat-bearded old man smirked. "The exact opposite of Capital Academy!"
"No wonder you can't attract students," Eddie now understood.
Which parent doesn't think their child is a top student?
Who would willingly send their child to hell?
Even if not a top student, no one would send their child to Ivy League College just to chase girls.
If they wanted to chase girls, they could do so at home. Sending them to college is about hoping for their success.
No matter how good the conditions at Ivy League College, it was impossible to attract students. Students might like such a lifestyle, but parents would never agree. Sending them here would be a waste of money.
"Our college's philosophy is to make the underachievers even worse and the top students even better! If a brilliant student comes to our college, we'll use every means to torment them, making their life a living hell. As for the underachievers, what great things can you expect from them? It's better to let them live comfortably and enjoy a few happy years at the college," the goat-bearded old man continued, leaving Eddie stunned.
This reasoning actually made some sense. For students who were beyond help, instead of exerting tremendous effort to turn them around, it might be better to let them have a good time at the college.
Many underachievers didn't care about learning and just wanted to get through the years.
Of course, parents wouldn't agree with this approach, perhaps that's why Ivy League College had declined.
The college might have a sound educational philosophy and teaching attitude, but it wasn't accepted by the mainstream.
Seeing Eddie's bewildered expression, the goat-bearded old man smiled like a sly fox, "Titan, why don't you give our tests a try?"
Eddie immediately thought of the protagonists in fantasy novels.
In those stories, the protagonist usually attends a college, where dating is the main focus, along with recruiting a few loyal followers.
A classic scene is the protagonist joining a long line, and when it's finally his turn, he touches a crystal ball to test his magical power, and extraordinary events occur.
Typically, the crystal ball emits a rainbow light before being shattered by the magic power. But that's normal for a protagonist.
Then comes the exclamation of the testing mage: "All attributes of wind, fire, water, earth, light, and darkness? A rare genius of a millennium! My magic power couldn't even break the crystal ball. Terrifying!"
Nearby, a few students met along the way, who would later become the protagonist's loyal followers, would excitedly shout, "Boss!"
The whole crowd watches the protagonist, who smirks devilishly, and then everything becomes easy. Beautiful girls throwing themselves at him, a bunch of people kneeling and calling him 'boss' - it's all part of the script.
Usually, the dean, who's peeking at girls bathing, would rush over upon hearing the news.
If he sees the protagonist holding a boiled egg, he'd exclaim, "Is this the legendary Phoenix Egg? Where did you get this?"
The protagonist would innocently scratch his head and say something that floors everyone: "I bought this from a street vendor for breakfast." Everyone would then suspect the protagonist is a divine child from the heavens.
Then, of course, more people would kneel and shout 'boss.'
"Come on, Titan, you can fantasize about beauties later tonight. I know a great place where you can peek at them changing clothes. It's not free, though—one gold coin per view," the goat-bearded old man interrupted Eddie's daydream.
This old man was the most lustful, shameless, and student-needs-aware instructor Eddie had ever encountered.
"Where's the crystal ball?" Eddie looked around the room but didn't see any crystal ball for testing.
No tens of thousands of onlookers, no beauties throwing themselves at him, no followers kneeling and calling him 'boss' - all that was fine, but no crystal ball either?
The goat-bearded old man shook his head and waved his hand, "You see, Titan, you're a bit mistaken. At Capital Academy, they indeed use a crystal ball for testing, but our tests are more complex and refined, so we don't use that method."
Eddie was curious, "If not a crystal ball, then what do you use for testing?"
The goat-bearded old man produced several small, exquisite scrolls from his chest, each in a different color: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, each representing a different difficulty level.
"How are these tested?" Eddie wondered if touching a scroll corresponding to his attribute would make it light up.
"Each of these scrolls is a miniature spatial scroll, made by me. Each color represents a level of difficulty, with red being the lowest at level one, and violet the highest at level seven. When you open a scroll, you'll be transported to a space where monsters await you. The difficulty varies; for example, this red level one scroll has ten second-level Swiftwind Wolves. If you open the scroll, you'll be teleported right in front of these hungry wolves. If you can kill them all, finish the battle within ten minutes, and come out unscathed, then you'll no longer be considered an underachiever!" The goat-bearded old man smiled kindly, but to Eddie, he seemed more like a demon.
"You're trying to kill me for money!" Eddie was sweating profusely, having never seen such a dangerous test.
"You don't have to take the test, but then you'll be assessed as an underachiever and miss out on our college's unique 'Hell Journey' training course. Of course, you can always find a girl and spend your days feeding each other in the cafeteria." The goat-bearded old man smiled, not at all offended.
"How many in the school have passed this test?" Eddie couldn't believe anyone would accept such a twisted test.
"Including the apprentice instructors, Ivy League College has a total of 360 students. Add you, and it's 369. Our student testing rate is about 10%, so 37 students were willing to try. The success rate is close to 30%, with 11 passing, four of whom are considered outstanding! Titan, don't you want to give it a try? Outstanding students get scholarships, and the beautiful dean herself will personally instruct you. You should see her in class, wearing a net-like, sexy leather outfit that's so provocative it could set hearts on fire! Underachievers don't get such treatment!" The goat-bearded old man's words tempted Eddie. It was just Swiftwind Wolves, after all. He could easily slay them with his magic blade without summoning his battle beast.
"Fine, I'll do it, but only for the scholarship," Eddie said, not admitting his curiosity about the dean's revealing attire.
He pushed aside the violet scroll offered by the goat-bearded old man and picked up the red one. As he opened it, a golden beam of light flashed.
Instantly teleported, Eddie found himself in a dimension similar to the Space of Life and Death, roughly the size of two soccer fields. At the center was a small hill, likely the den of the Swiftwind Wolves.