God of Illusions

With Tai Shan’s defeat to Hu Xian’er, the second round of the tournament came to an end. The five class monitors including Bai Xiaofei walked to the middle of the public square, allowing everyone to look at them. Even if the tournament was to end here, these five names would be etched into the history of Starnet Academy: Zhao Ziyun, Bai Xiaofei, Yan Suzi, Luo Han, and Hu Xian’er.

“Cheer for them, everyone. I would also like to congratulate all members of the five classes. You are all now officially a part of Starnet Academy. You are all allowed to freely choose between the different schools the academy has to offer.” Accompanied by a thunderclap, Lei Shan appeared above the public square. Instantly, all the clamor was gone. Lei Shan was a legend in the hearts of many people here. He was a legend deserving of everyone’s respect.

“As the top five of the tournament, you are all qualified to get your first reward. In the coming third round, your placing will determine how generous the reward will be. Work hard, everyone. Trust me. The rewards I have prepared will definitely surpass your imagination,” Lei Shan said indifferently as he hovered in front of them. 

Apart from Bai Xiaofei and Hu Xian’er, the other two class monitors became visibly excited. Hu Xian’er remained calm because she was simply not interested in the rewards. As for Bai Xiaofei, he was calm because as far as he was concerned, no reward could surpass the billions of Amethyst Coins he had placed as bet.

“Can I ask a question, principal?” Zhao Ziyun gulped and nervously asked.

“Of course.” Lei Shan’s smile was as amiable as ever, calming the nerves of Zhao Ziyun who was extremely nervous.

“If I perform well enough, can you give me a chance to forever stay at the academy?”

The moment he uttered these words, everyone was alarmed.

What Zhao Ziyun meant was clear. He wanted to be a teacher at Starnet Academy. However, this seemed very far-fetched as he was still a new student. Zhao Ziyun, however, thought differently. As far as he was concerned, if he missed this chance, he wouldn’t get another chance to meet Lei Shan again.

“As long as you can reach the Grandmaster Rank before graduation, I will make an exception for you. You won’t have to go through the interview and will directly be appointed as the head teacher of the next class of new students. Will this do?” Lei Shan said, a smile on his face.

An overjoyed expression appeared on Zhao Ziyun’s face. As for the spectators, their mouths were struck agape in shock.

He agrees just like that? Aren’t there supposed to be some procedures to this?

“Thank you, principal!” Zhao Ziyun sincerely expressed his gratitude after he recovered from his excitement. From how he was acting, it was as if he wanted to give Lei Shan a warm embrace.

“Ok. Go back and make your preparation for the next round. The third round will be very interesting. I hope all of you can do your best.” Then, Lei Shan turned and looked at Bai Xiaofei. 

“Don’t disappoint me.” His dull voice was spread through the public square through the screen. The spectators who were still in shock over what Zhao Ziyun said were once again stunned.

What is the background of this kid? He has actually caught the attention of Principal Lei Shan?

“Don’t worry. I will definitely be the champion. After all, I had bet everything I had on it. Winning is the only alternative.” Bai Xiaofei spoke nonchalantly. He was completely carefree, different than the rest of the participants who all showed nervousness and respect when facing Lei Shan.

Isn’t he just an old man? Why are you all so nervous? Bai Xiaofei muttered inwardly. Luckily, no one present was capable of reading minds. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to stay calm after hearing Bai Xiaofei’s thoughts.

An old man…but that seems to be accurate?

“I hope so. Otherwise, your master will lose badly in his bet.” Lei Shan smiled and did not say anything else. Once again, a thunderclap sounded, and he vanished. Bai Xiaofei curled his lips when he saw this.

Pfft, this ability of his sure is suitable to act cool. One day, I will get myself an ability like this as well.

The departure of Lei Shan also served to signal the official end of the second round. Slowly, the crow started leaving. Bai Xiaofei also returned to his classmates.

All of them were extremely excited. Without a doubt, being an official member of the Starnet Academy was immensely good news for them. Of course, there was one exception: Fang Ye.

“What’s up? Why do you look depressed?” Bai Xiaofei was no idiot. He had long noticed that Fang Ye had been somewhat off for the past few days. He had only been too busy to ask about it. But looking at how Fang Ye was behaving, he felt like he had to ask. Otherwise, something bad might happen.

“Nothi—”

“Just tell him. There is no need to hide things from Big Brother Fei,” Wang Hang interrupted Fang Ye before Fang Ye could complete his word.

“Yeah, Old Fang, this isn’t like you. Didn’t you say you wanted to be Big Brother Fei’s right arm? Keeping secrets is not something a right arm would do.” As Mo Ka spoke, he placed his hand on Fang Ye’s shoulder and started shaking him.

“If you don’t feel like saying, you don’t have to. I can go ask your parents instead,” Bai Xiaofei said. There was a frosty tone that was rarely seen present within his voice, and what he said stunned Fang Ye. He did not need to think too much to know what the problem was. Fang Ye was doing fine previously. Since his parents had arrived, he had changed. Therefore, apart from his parents, what else could be the reason for his change?

“Ok…I’ll say it…,” Fang Ye hesitantly said, slowly raising his head guiltily. Sadness was apparent in his voice. “My father no longer allows me to go back home….”

After listening to his story, everyone of the Savage Class apart from Wang Hang was stunned.

He is abandoning a son this fine? They gulped, unable to recover from their shock.

After Fang Ye spoke up, Wang Hang began speaking up as well, and bit by bit, he narrated what Fang Ye had experienced growing up. “Young master’s mother passed away a long time ago. After that, master got a new wife – his present wife. She went on to give him two sons. You guys should be able to guess the rest of the story. It is already a miracle for young master to be able to grow up safely. Therefore, I don’t find this surprising at all.

“This time, master used the excuse that young master now has a safety net in the form of Starnet Academy. In the future, he will be able to do well wherever he goes. The little amount of fortune in their family won’t be of help to him. Therefore, they no longer need him to waste his time with any affairs concerning the family…”

Hearing this, anger covered everyone’s faces. They wanted to go find Fang Ye’s father then and there. Bai Xiaofei, however, merely looked at Fang Ye with a solemn gaze.

“Fang Ye, tell me – what are your actual current thoughts?”

Everyone blanked out. Then, they looked at Fang Ye, who had a look of hesitation on his face.

“I…I don’t know either…” He choked on his words and could only squeeze out these words, which meant nothing. Everyone who was expectantly looking at him sighed.

“Let me be the one to present to you the choices. You only need to select one of them.” Bai Xiaofei paused, a ruthless glint appearing on his face. “Your first choice is to find a way to change your father’s mind, to have them accept you again. Your second choice is to snatch everything you deserve, to consign them to eternal damnation. Your third choice is to drop the matter here. From here on out, you are no longer associated with them.”

The three choices caused Fang Ye to blank out.

Indeed, no matter what, these are the only choices I have. But how should I choose?

Fang Ye sank into a long hesitation.