Three days had passed since Yue Yang began listening at the Thousand-Year Great Sage’s window.

Though he’d ultimately never heard what the true secret of life actually was, he now understood what he needed to do going forward. The Trial Grounds were a place where people came to perceive the secret of life, and the final goal of clearing the gates wasn’t the Divine Codex itself — it was guiding people toward the divine realm, or even beyond it. After all, not every divine being had grasped the secret of life.

For those three days, Yue Yang had been an exceptionally well-behaved student.

If any of his teachers from his previous life could have seen it, their jaws would have hit the floor.

But there was no denying that attending classes here gave him access to a great deal that couldn’t be encountered outside — knowledge uniquely available only within Human Valley. The one regret was that the Thousand-Year Great Sage had only given the one lecture. He held no further teaching sessions afterward, though he did seek out Yue Yang privately for a conversation, during which he spoke with unending admiration for the original master of Star Diamond Castle — that is, Fourth Sister’s elder sister. The Thousand-Year Great Sage never explained how he knew her, and didn’t speak much about this mysteriously extraordinary “mother” to Yue Yang — only that he deeply admired her comprehension of life. Yue Yang found himself wondering whether those words implied that she had actually grasped the secret of life.

Had she perceived it in the ruins of the gods?

Back in the Grimoire World, Princess Qianqian and the others agreed Yue Yang’s guess was plausible — but the truth would have to wait until this “mother” was actually found.

“Students — you are all people of noble standing, the upper class. In the days ahead, some of you may take on independent responsibilities, or inherit important positions or titles within your families. Your futures are boundless. But I want to remind you of this: before any of that comes, you must possess deeper knowledge and specialized skills. Bear in mind — we are not those thick-headed mercenaries, not the common folk who must labor with their bodies and sweat to feed themselves. We are refined nobles, the true upper class.”

“That means we must master higher forms of knowledge and skill.”

“In the three months ahead, we will undertake a series of developmental programs. The class includes a number of students who have been held back a year — they have extensive experience, and newcomers are encouraged to ask them freely. Over the first two months, beyond our studies, we will also engage in creative works, preparing projects to build a strong foundation for the Life Assessment Ceremony in the third month.”

“Remember — honor will accompany you throughout your life.”

“At the last assessment, if not for Baron Zhonghua, Silver Maple City would have returned from the rankings in shameful emptiness — something this principal has no wish to see again. I hope this assessment brings more surprises, more people breaking through and claiming honor. Any student who places in the top ten earns the right to be invested with a baron’s title; the top three receive dedicated domain land — even a small township represents an advantage gap that would take newcomers a long time to overcome otherwise. If you’d like to put that in numbers: even the smallest township under Silver Maple City’s jurisdiction is worth ten thousand Heaven Crystals — and that’s before factoring in the honor level required to purchase one.”

“Do you want to become a true lord? Then work hard and study. Everything must be created by your own two hands.”

The Heavenly Pride Wanderer’s Guild maintained a dedicated academy for training Heavenly Pride wanderers.

It had ten instructors.

The principal was a silver-haired man who looked decades younger than his age, with eyes as sharp as an eagle’s. He treated his students well and lectured with serious professionalism, but his standards were exacting and his demands high, and he treated honor as something worth living and dying for.

The academy offered over a hundred specialized fields of study — enough to make anyone’s head spin. Heavenly Pride wanderers enjoyed considerable freedom in their course selection, allowed to pick any ten specializations from the catalog, with the requirement of achieving excellence in at least one. If a student had particular strengths that fell outside the listed specializations, they were equally encouraged to chart their own path and pursue independent achievement — the Heavenly Pride Academy would provide as much guidance as possible and the fullest possible support.

Yue Yang selected seven specializations: diplomacy, tactics, resources, financial management, lifestyle, arts, and literature.

Within literature, ancient inscription texts were his primary focus.

As for arts — whether architecture, visual art, music, or other subtopics — Yue Yang felt confident that as a transmigrator, he could produce competent work in any of them within three months. Noble lifestyle management and Human Valley resources were things he genuinely needed to understand. Tactics and diplomacy — those he was genuinely curious about, wanting to see how Human Valley handled them.

Beyond the hundred-plus standard offerings, Yue Yang submitted proposals for three entirely new specializations: “rune arrays,” “artifact spirits,” and “battle constructs.”

The puppet-and-construct field did already exist, and with good reason. Within Human Valley, nobody could engage in direct combat.

Including soldiers on the battlefield.

If any party wanted to go to war, they had to submit an application at a War God statue.

All combatants would then enter a designated battlefield, where soldiers piloting puppet battle constructs would engage each other. The winner could claim and enjoy the loser’s spoils — annexing townships, mines, timber estates, and other resources.

The dueling arena operated on the same principle.

Without puppet battle constructs, direct combat anywhere in Human Valley was simply prohibited. This was ironclad law.

Puppet battle carriages had existed for tens of thousands of years, and puppet soldiers for at least thirty thousand — a design where soldiers climbed inside and piloted mechanical armors. They were somewhat clunky, but had rapidly replaced battle carriages as the dominant battlefield force. Then, ten thousand years ago, Vivienne had entered Human Valley and, in choosing her specialization, independently invented an entirely original type: puppet war beasts.

These were constructs that attached to soldiers — taking various animal forms, with some special variants — and when deployed in battle would flood the field in overwhelming numbers. As long as the commanding soldier remained alive, they would continue fighting indefinitely.

This unmatched achievement in its field was what earned Vivienne an exceptional promotion to Viscountess within just three months, and as her puppet war beast designs were officially put into service, she was subsequently elevated to Duchess in successive promotions. Had she not left Human Valley in a rush within six months, she would undoubtedly have become a Prince of the realm, dominating her corner of it. The Conquest Queen’s name inspired awe not only in the Heavenly Realm beyond — inside Human Valley, it was equally a name that made people’s hearts seize.

Yue Yang naturally had no intention of following in Vivienne’s footsteps exactly.

What he was developing were battle constructs.

Entirely new, epoch-defining battle constructs of a kind never seen before.

The level Yue Yang had reached today meant that even the Puppet Codex old Master Yue had left behind — if brought into Human Valley — would offer tremendous reference value. Battle constructs were genuinely Yue Yang’s area of strength.

“Titan student — do you genuinely have confidence in making meaningful achievements in all three of these entirely new fields?” The principal had never once in his career encountered a student this astonishing. Other people blazing their own path in a single independent specialty was already remarkable enough. This young man had opened his mouth and asked for three, right off the bat. Even vegetables in the market didn’t come this cheap.

“Ah — this is merely the preliminary concept for one of my projects. I humbly invite the principal’s guidance and corrections.” Yue Yang naturally made no mention of the fact that he had an entire Grimoire World full of capable women at home ready to assist, each one accomplished in both scholarly and martial pursuits. Never mind three research projects — thirty would be no problem.

“This rune array—” The strict principal paused. A student who’d only attended three days of class had already produced work? What manner of genius was this?

He could barely believe his own ears.

He accepted the work and looked at it — and found himself staring at a rune array of staggering complexity, composed of three ancient-grade rune arrays, six Heavenly Realm-grade rune arrays, and nine completely unfamiliar rune arrays he’d never seen before. Every second it rotated, every rotation gave birth to new configurations. It left him dazzled, slack-jawed, unable to look away for quite some time. This rune array was too profound for him to offer any guidance on — and, most mortifying of all, he, the man who fancied himself the living index of Silver Maple City’s library, didn’t recognize it. His professional reputation was at stake.

Beads of sweat broke out across the principal’s forehead.

But once the awkwardness passed, a wave of delight replaced it. The fact that he couldn’t advise on it was itself proof of this young man’s caliber. At the Life Assessment Ceremony three months from now, this one would place at worst in the top three — the honor would still fall to Silver Maple City, and having a student like this under his roof was its own kind of prestige.

Imagining himself three months from now, able to hold his head high in front of those other old men.

Ha. He didn’t want to think too hard about how furiously jealous they’d be.

Let them be jealous.

Let them be savagely jealous. Whose fault was it that they didn’t have a student this outrageously talented?

“Esteemed Principal — in truth, this rune array is only a rough draft. It will need another month before it’s properly developed.” Yue Yang offered this explanation with becoming modesty.

“One month — only one month? Haha, absolutely no problem at all!” The principal hastily wiped the sweat from his forehead and, for the first time, broke into a genuine smile. “To think that Titan student’s research into ancient runes runs this deep — truly worthy of being Star Diamond Castle’s master’s son. Now — I’ll give you all the time you need. If there isn’t room in your schedule to attend other specialization lectures, you may focus your energy on your independent research first. I’ll inform all the other instructors — you can pursue your research with complete peace of mind.”

“That wouldn’t be appropriate. As a student, I must maintain respect for every one of my instructors.” Yue Yang at this moment was performing the role of a model primary school student with only the little red neckerchief missing. “Besides, it doesn’t actually interfere with attending classes. If I complete the specialized coursework during the day, I have the evenings to do my research.”

“Is — is that actually feasible?” The principal’s face took on an expression of someone witnessing something beyond their capacity to process. This was, by any measure, the most outrageously capable student he had encountered in his entire life.

“The other two projects — I also humbly invite the principal’s corrections.” Yue Yang presented the remaining two pieces.

“You — you’ve actually inscribed an artifact spirit into a quill pen? Good heavens, what a waste — an object with an artifact spirit could potentially become a Sacred-tier treasure!” The principal nearly toppled over on the spot.

This monstrous Titan student had gone and added an artifact spirit to the school-issued quill pen that had been handed to him.

Did he not know that squandering his gifts this way would invite divine retribution?

(End of Chapter)