Heaven's Greatest Professor

More than two hundred candidates gathered in the compound before the first ray of the sun filtered through the broken skies' folded clouds. The high-ranking superior officer kept them waiting for some time. Considering the ambient energy was high in this area, most people began meditating by the time he appeared.

Warden, however, had been sleeping for most of the time. Despite intending to rest up the previous night, he spent the majority of his time sorting out problems for his future. Still, he managed to sleep for more than five hours, and with his physique, that was more than enough to be energetic.

He joined midway through the superior officer's speech, not really listening to whatever he was talking about. It wasn't that he was disobedient or arrogant; Agnes had already informed him more about the subspace than the superior officer seemed to be aware of. Unfortunately, he couldn't please everyone.

"Where were you?" Marcus whispered. "If you were a few minutes later, we would've left without you."

"Good thing I'm here, no?" Warden grinned.

Marcus glared at him.

"Well, we wouldn't have left," May said, glaring as well, though not with the same intensity as Marcus. "But it would have delayed us. Perhaps we would be the last among the crew to enter. Everyone else would have a head start on us."

Her concern was valid, but the subspace wasn't a place where a slight head start would cause any disadvantage. However, there was another reason why everyone else was so tense. The gold-ranked superior officer had just informed them that many silver rankers had lost their lives in this subspace, some facing a fate worse than death.

Certainly, a way to dampen everyone's mood. The natural suppression of the second fold wasn't making things any easier either. Supposedly, it would only get harder from here.

"Relax, as far as I know, the only reason silver rankers lost their lives or went missing is that the inheritance ground is specifically for iron rankers and lower," Warden whispered.

"How do you know that?" Pierce, Marcus's right-hand man, asked. "We were told the suppression was higher for those with higher ranks, but…"

Everyone was now looking at him questioningly. Warden thought it was common knowledge and he was merely reminding them, but it seemed like it wasn't so common after all. The military wasn't spoon-feeding every detail to the noble sons and daughters.

"Well, I might have been in the crew that found the location of the inheritance ground," Warden said, scratching his rough hair, which appeared dirty brown to others, even if it was strikingly grey. "I haven't entered, but I heard some news from those that did."

"What?" Marcus said, his voice a tad louder, enough for the gold ranker to turn in their direction and glare. Before the gold-ranked aura could bear down on them, Marcus shouted, "Apologies, Sir. It won't happen again."

"I'll hold onto that, Young Lord Valerius," said Chainbreaker, the gold-ranked officer. After that, Marcus or anyone in their group didn't even utter a word, keeping their spines straight, completely focused on what the officer was saying.

Warden shrugged and gazed around. He found Agnes standing with her eyes closed. She opened her eyes and found him looking. She didn't even acknowledge the gaze, playing her role. Next to her was the twenty-fourth prince of the Sivian Empire, standing with regal armour, a stoic look on his face. A striking woman who resembled the prince stood on his right, clad in white clergy attire.

Lady Cassandra and all the women from Azalea Garden stood to their right, their poise cool and respectful; with matching clothes, they looked more like high-class attendants than fighters. One figure stood among them other than Lady Cassandra.

Jenni, Warden thought. What the hell is she doing here? Please don't tell me Elder Ming messed up his plan in challenging her and created so much distance between them that she ran away to join the expedition.

Jenni wasn't as cool and respectful as the other women in the Azalea group. It wasn't really in her nature. She gazed around as if trying to find some familiar figure. Her eyes met with Agnes for a moment as both women acknowledged with a slight nod.

Well, it's better not to involve myself with her when I'm inside, Warden thought. Considering the role he would have to play, it's better if he didn't implicate anyone else.

"For one last note before you enter," the gold ranker said. "The teleportation gate we have unearthed is not the usual one... While the teleported people were transported in the same space, the location is random... You will likely separate in the first round of the test. But remember your purpose.

While we do not disapprove of the contesting among the younger generation, remember your purpose for this expedition. There will be a hard reckoning for those who acted upon their greed and put others' lives in danger."

With that, the long speech ended, and the gold ranker put his words into action. He tore a hole in the plasmic barrier above the altar where he stood, under everyone's eyes.

"Even with my power, I can only keep it open for about eight minutes," he said. "Enter!"

Obviously, everyone gave the first opportunity to the imperial prince, who entered without even shooting glances at anyone else. He seemed headstrong and not too talkative. Agnes joined them afterwards.

"Good luck, Captain Agnes," Jenni shouted among the stoic crowd. When everyone shot her glances, she just shrugged. "What?"

"Lady Cassandra, I don't remember you taking an Adept Runesmith on your team," Pierce said, narrowing his eyes.

Cassandra smiled. "I didn't intend on taking Lady Jenni... it's just circumstances that led us together. At the precipice of the moment, one of our candidates had an emergency and had to drop out... Good thing Lady Jenni presented herself at the right moment, or we would have had to enter with one woman less."

It wasn't just Warden, but it sounded too convenient to everyone present there.