CHAPTER 103: SPIRITUAL SAGE

If they were honest, all of the students were delusional. Everyone believed they were a precious asset to the academy, thus unable to comprehend the obvious clues.

Sending all the students to a different planet full of vicious beasts—without any protection from elders.

Many had witnessed their kin die in battles with those beasts, yet they remained blinded by their ego.

Students from Earth were in the most shock. Until now, they had been pampered—protected from beasts and any external interference.

Slowly, the thoughts began to embed themselves in Gracie and Tyler’s minds. For Gracie, old wounds were reopened.

She hated these feelings the most—being controlled by someone, unable to fight back.

Her hatred was directed at the academy teachers and the big clan leaders who knew everything but didn’t come out to stop this massacre.

They checked their badges where "57k" shimmered. Until now, it had just seemed like a number, but now the realization hit—almost 60,000 students had perished in the past few months.

"We need to stop this... we can’t let this continue," Gracie staggered back, panicking and falling to the ground.

Tyler’s calm and aloof expression was now filled with horror.

"But how?" Tyler’s grim voice fell on Gracie’s ears, snapping her out of her illusion.

"We’ll tell everyone," Gracie took a deep breath, realizing how she had just acted.

"That’s exactly what they want," Harry placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her.

"We can’t be their puppets—we have to stop this," Gracie insisted.

"Let me get out of here. I’ll kill those who are responsible for this exam," Tyler growled in frustration.

It wasn’t just random outrage—they had faced the truth in the last five minutes.

Part of it was realizing that among those 60,000 dead students could be his friends, Liam and Blake.

Their hatred was directed toward the people responsible for those deaths. And in all three hearts, a resolve had been formed—to pay back the ones behind this.

"I will defeat the leaders of all settlements and unite the students," Gracie stood up, determination gleaming in her eyes.

"And why would they fight you?" Harry asked mockingly.

Gracie bit her tongue. In this brutal world, who would face her head-on when they were protected behind a wall of students?

"I know some are even level nine," Harry added.

"I’m on the verge of a breakthrough. If I can get some decent corpses, I could reach level nine," Gracie assured.

"Level nine isn’t enough. If you truly want to stop this fight, you need to reach the Spiritual Sage realm," Harry said with a smirk.

He himself was at level six—reaching Spiritual Sage in such a short time was nearly impossible for him. But Gracie, who was much closer, might achieve it soon.

Gracie’s face reflected shock.

"Yes... yes, I just need to become a Spiritual Sage and the battle will stop. But I’ll need a lot of soul energy—something only obtainable from a level nine soul cultivator."

Her words were simple, yet hard to digest. What she implied was to kill a level nine soul cultivator and use the soul eater skill on its corpse.

"Hmph, I would’ve done that, but I don’t think there are any level nine soul cultivators on this planet," Tyler said with firm resolve.

"No. If we do that, then what’s the difference between us and those behind this exam?" Gracie shot back.

That was her belief. Harry and Tyler understood, but they wouldn’t follow her ideals. That was their choice.

Gracie knew this, and she wouldn’t force them to adopt her philosophy.

"I have something. It’s difficult, but once we succeed in killing it, you’ll definitely reach the Spiritual Sage level," Harry proposed.

Harry handed the herbs he had collected throughout his journey to Tyler.

"I don’t know how useful they are—ask someone who does," Harry and Gracie bid their farewell.

Amidst the chaos of the impending battle, two figures moved swiftly toward the southern mountains.

"Oh shit, they’re already here," Harry said, seeing thousands of students crossing the mountain hills.

They were all from Ray’s settlement. So he had been manipulated as well.

Ray was a level nine cultivator and yet no different—just another pawn in the academy’s evil schemes.

He led an army of students toward the jungle. It was inevitable—the newly established settlement by Gracie was now surrounded on three sides by powerful student strongholds.

The only safe side faced an endlessly vast desert full of vicious beasts.

It was confirmed—this would be the place where the armies of all three settlements would clash. It would become a battlefield where Gracie’s subordinates would be sandwiched from three directions.

It was only a matter of time before the ground would be soaked in blood and the settlement destroyed.

Gracie and Harry were racing against time. Gracie needed to ascend to Spiritual Sage if she wanted to stop the impending doom.

Harry guided her, evading all the students. They encountered no beasts on the way, but the path littered with slain creatures.

It was obviously done by the Ray’s army.

Corpses of Raptors and Behemoths lay on the path. Harry and Gracie ignored the seen, these beasts were not of high enough level to provide them with any benefit.

Harry did put some level eight Behemoths in beast space which could help him level up his soul cultivation. But they were very few, he only found three before the couple reached in front of a cave.

The entrance covered by vines, the fruit on the vine lighting the surrounding.

Back on Earth, inside the domain, a person had just entered a room.

"What’s going on? Where are the exams being held?" Aiden asked hurriedly.

A beautiful lady stood before him.

"The elders tried to keep the truth from me, but because of my element, they couldn’t keep me in the dark.

It’s a different planet—said to be on the border of human civilization and Dakis," Alrisha answered, deep in thought.

"What? Those bastards! First, they sent me to deal with those brain-dead Dakis, and now they’re still trying to hide their atrocities."

"We’re leaving. What’s the name of the planet?" Aiden asked, rushing out of the room.

"Gravemara," a voice echoed in his head.

"What about the students?"

"I had only marked a few. Harry is still alive, but some of the marks are gone. I can’t tell their exact condition—the distance is too great," Alrisha replied.

"Let’s see how many we can save. I’ll skin those so-called leaders alive afterward," Aiden said, furious.

He had arrived on Earth just five minutes ago. He had assumed the exam would be held here or somewhere nearby in close environment—but he should have foreseen the scheming of those bastards.