Ning teleported back to his room underground. He didn't really know how much time had passed since he read through Trebor's past, but given that it was close to evening time outside, it must've been over 12 hours.
His mood was a little better after learning about little Roid. So, he smiled and went outside. It was time to talk about the system with Eleonora.
He walked out of the underground and was met with almost a hoard of people walking out of the academy.
'All the students are leaving?' Ning thought in surprise. He looked around and saw Jezeere seeing over the leaving students.
"Senior Jezeere, what's going on?" he asked.
"Oh, teacher Ning, we've been looking for you," Jezeere said.
"What's this?" Ning asked first.
"Oh, the students are leaving for home, and we're overseeing to make sure one of those attackers didn't hide somewhere by some chance," Jezeere said.
"Oh, is the academy closing down? Or…" Ning asked
"Yes, for 3 months. In the next 3 months, we are looking to improve the security of the sect. Trebor managed to bypass our formations and enter the academy just because he was once allowed to."
"That led him to turn down all the other security formations too. We're are going to take the time to fix those sort of overlooks," Jezeere said.
"I see. Well, it's not a bad idea to send the students back home after such a traumatic experience either," Ning said.
"Anyway, principal Singeer is looking for you. I believe he has a very important message for you," Jezeere said.
"Oh… okay. Do you know by chance where teacher Eleonora is?" Ning asked.
" Teacher Eleonora? She… I think she left with her brother, not really sure," Jezeere said.
"She left with her brother? Aw man, I really wanted to talk to her about something. Whatever, I will go check what the Principal wants to say," Ning said and went over to the underground hall.
He spread his divine sense and quickly located Singeer.
"Principal Singeer, I heard you were looking for me," Ning said when he ran up to Singeer.
Singeer was with a few people looking at some broken rocks and was quietly talking with them.
"Ah, teacher Ning, you're finally here," Singeer said.
"What happened here?" Ning asked, looking at the mess.
"Oh, just something that Trebor did. He couldn't shut down some of the defenses, so he opted to destroy it instead," Singeer said.
"Anyway, where have you been? I got great news for you," Singeer said.
"Oh? Great you say," Ning smiled, looking forward to what it was.
"Yes, after learning that you defeated the evil men and especially defeated Trebor, the Emperor wants to award you," Singeer said loudly.
"…what?" Ning's smile suddenly dropped as his face turned serious.
"Yeah. We told the emperor that you had taken care of the threat, so he decided to have a ceremony where he awards you with a medal of honor," Singeer said excitedly.
'Fuck!' Ning thought.
"Can I not go?" Ning asked.
"Huh? But it's one of the most prestigious things you can get. Not only will it help you, but it will also help the academy," Singeer said.
"I just… don't want to go there," Ning said.
"Um, is there a reason for that? Are you injured and can't go?" Singeer asked worriedly.
"No, I'm fine," Ning said.
"Then…" Singeer thought for a moment and asked, "do you have a grudge with the Emperor. Did he ever do something bad to you?"
Ning thought for a moment and the answer was obvious. 'Sigh, I'm judging a person before even meeting him. Maybe he's different from how he was 80 years ago.'
'Maybe he's not the same jealous old man, maybe he's changed as a person,' Ning thought.
"Sigh, No," Ning answered. "Alright, I'll go."
"Very good. The ceremony is in 2 days. It will take place in the capital," Singeer said.
"Alright, I will leave today," Ning said.
"Wait, you won't be going alone. Haha, I will be going with you too," Singeer said.
"Ah… well…" Ning wanted to go find Eleonora to talk for a bit, but it seemed that would have to be pushed further back.
"Okay, when do we leave?" Ning asked.
"In a few hours," Singeer said. "I still need to judge the level of damage that we've suffered."
"Alright, let me help you too," Ning said and walked along with Singeer, looking at the damages.
Singeer asked a few questions to Ning, which he answered as truthfully as he could.
Ning told him about his time roaming around the world and how he came to learn a lot of things as well as how he trained to be so strong.
"Oh, so it's not Qi cultivation but body cultivation that made you so strong?" Singeer asked in amazement.
"Yes. I've been cultivating my body longer than I've been cultivating my Qi, so it's somewhat gotten stronger than my cultivation base," Ning said.
"I see. Are you from the Sun Empire?" Singeer asked.
"No, but I do believe my body cultivation technique originated there," Ning said.
"Must be. Who else could love the body cultivation techniques other than the barbarians of the desert," Singeer said.
"Oh right, what about the teleportation and the attraction?" Singeer asked.
"Those were a one-time use artifacts I got during my journey. Sigh, I can't believe I had to use them like that," Ning lamented.
"You are still young, teacher Ning. I'm sure you will find a lot more of such treasures," Singeer said.
They looked around a little longer and documented all the damage. Once that was done, he handed the documents to one of the staff and left the underground.
It was already dark outside and none of the students were there. Only a few staff members walked around.
"Sigh, I think it's time we leave. It will take us a little over a day, so we should reach there half a day before the ceremony," Singeer said.
"Okay," Ning said. "Let's leave."
