NOVGO.NET Chapter 1086 - 1086: 10th Place?!
“What?!” Amelia’s eyes narrowed, her sharp tone cutting. “Do you mean the Golden Heir himself must sleep under the stars like a beggar?”
Sophia frowned, her voice soft but heavy. “Surely there must be exception…”
Even Bai Qi tightened her hands around Kent’s sleeve. “This is humiliation.”
Fatty Ben roared furiously, stamping his foot. “Outrageous! Brother Kent is the Golden Heir! If he sleeps in the garden, then I’ll set fire to the kitchen! What sort of place dishonors their heir like this?!”
The servant lady’s expression didn’t flicker. “Golden-Heir or not, rules are rules. The academy doesn’t bend for pride. Until a mountain accepts you, you are nothing more than guests—guests earn-nothing here.”
Her words cut sharper than swords. Even the Dragon Twin Sisters hissed, their scales crackling faintly.
Kent’s eyes, calm as still water, fixed on the woman. “And if I wish to pay?”
Finally, her lips curved in the faintest smirk. “Currency here is Academy Points. Mana crystals mean nothing in these grounds, as I warned you earlier. Ten Academy Points will purchase temporary residence for your household.”
Fatty Ben nearly fainted. “Ten? Where in the nine hells are we supposed to pluck ‘Academy Points’ from?”
The servant’s gaze sharpened, as if she had been waiting for the question. “Earn them. Tonight, if you wish. The simplest task: gather silk worm pupae from the Glacial River Mountain. For each collected, you will receive one point. Simple enough… if you can catch them.”
Her tone carried amusement now. She turned lightly on her stone slab, gliding ahead of them. “Come then. Let me see how your so-called household struggles.”
The companions exchanged glances—some tense, some furious. But Kent gave a faint nod. “We go.”
Glacial River Mountain loomed beneath the night sky, its slopes glowing faintly with blue light. Streams of water cascaded upward instead of down, forming rivers that defied gravity. Along their banks, crystalline trees sprouted, their leaves shimmering like shards of ice. Fireflies danced over the waters, glowing softly.
But within the rivers swarmed small, glimmering creatures—silkworms, each as long as a hand, their translucent bodies shimmering. They spun threads of silver-blue silk, dropping them into the water. From these threads formed glowing pupae that drifted slowly like pearls caught in current.
“Easy?” Lucy scoffed as she reached for one, but the instant her fingers touched it, the pupa shot away like lightning, vanishing into the current.
Sophia tried with calm movements, extending her aura to catch one, but the creature twisted in impossible angles, escaping her grasp with a flick.
Tata Lan growled, stomping into the stream, both hands grabbing wildly. After five minutes, she caught a single pupa and raised it over her head, grinning like a conqueror. “One!”
Fatty Ben was already drenched, his sleeves rolled up. He lunged left and right, sweat flying, his belly jiggling as he tried to scoop. At last he caught one… but then sneezed, and it slipped away.
His wife smacked his head. “Idiot! You lost it!”
Maya extended a thin poison mist to slow them, but the silkworms darted through untouched. Lin Lin tried careful alchemical seals, but the glowing pupae slipped past like water through fingers.
Hours passed, and the group collectively managed to gather thirty-three pupae between them all—barely enough for three points. Their breaths came heavy, their expressions dark.
The servant lady leaned lazily on her stone slab, her eyes amused. “So much fuss… even thirty-three between all of you. Golden Heir, it seems your strength doesn’t translate to simple gathering.”
Her tone carried mockery, but Kent didn’t flinch. He had been silent the entire time, standing on the banks, watching.
At last, he stepped forward, his white robes brushing against the crystalline waters. His voice was low, calm.
“Enough.”
He lifted his foot and stepped onto the river itself. Instead of sinking, his body flowed like air. His movement left no ripple, his figure almost dissolving into light.
“Immortal Living Steps…” Bai Qi whispered, her eyes widening.
Kent moved again—once, twice—and with each step, the currents of the river bent toward him, as if the very law of water had recognized his command. The silkworm pupae that darted away from others floated toward his feet, clustering in silver-blue glow.
One step, a hundred pupae gathered.
Two steps, five hundred more.
Three steps, the entire river shivered as the pupae clustered like a living tide.
The servant lady’s eyes widened, her composure cracking.
Ten minutes passed, and the glowing surface of the river was empty. Every single pupa was gathered in a swirling spiral around Kent, captured not by force but by flow. He raised his hand, and the entire collection—more than ten thousand pupae—hovered above his palm in a mountain of silver light.
He turned to his companions, his tone steady, his face calm.
“Ten thousand. Enough?”
Fatty Ben collapsed onto the ground, soaked and gasping. “Ten thousand?! We only got… thirty-three! Brother Kent, you make us look like fools!”
Amelia stared, speechless. Sophia lowered her head in awe. Even Lily’s eyes, always suspicious, flickered with shock she couldn’t hide.
The servant lady, her hands trembling faintly, bowed her head for the first time. Her voice, stripped of its mocking calm, was soft.
“This… this is more than enough.”
Kent let the mountain of pupae vanish into her jade collection slip, his expression still unreadable.
“Then the matter is done.”
He turned, walking calmly back toward the central gardens, the night wind fluttering his robes. His companions followed, still stunned, their minds reeling at the sight.
The servant lady remained on her slab, staring after him with disbelief in her eyes. For the first time since she had been assigned to guide him, her heart faltered.
What… what kind of man gathers ten thousand pupae when others barely touch thirty?
Her lips parted, whispering the words she dared not say aloud.
“Golden Heir… or something far beyond?”
The river glowed faintly behind her, but it was empty. All its treasures now answered to him.
And the night swallowed the silence of her shock.
–
The night air was crisp, the stars over the Seven Mountains burning like divine eyes. By the time Kent and his group returned from the Glacial River Mountain, the servant lady walked in silence, still shaken by what she had witnessed. She carried the jade slip heavy with more than ten thousand silk worm pupae, her eyes occasionally flicking toward Kent’s back as though to confirm he was real.
When they stepped once more into the Central Hall, the old elder behind the desk lifted his brush without looking up. The servant lady bowed and laid the jade slip down before him.
The elder tapped it once with his brush. The slip dissolved into streams of silver light that flew into the enormous wooden board on the wall.
The board shimmered, hundreds of names glowing faintly. Disciples, outer disciples, servants—each ranked by their contributions and academy points.
In the blink of an eye, a new line etched itself onto the board.
Kent King — 10,000 Academy Points — 10th Place.