The dozen or so members of the Lei family gathered around Lei Wei nodded in unison. Their young master had merely taken a fancy to a girl from the Luo Merchant Guild, which should have been the Luo family's fortune. It was that damned Qian Jin who ruined everything, even slaying Lei Yueyue, the future hope of the Lei family. This matter absolutely could not be left unresolved.

"Go anywhere, I don't care!" Lei Wei gritted his teeth, glaring hatefully toward the direction of Yongliu City. "I will definitely return!"

"He will definitely return." Qian Jin looked up at the sky. "The Lei family will certainly return! Since they have fled, the only thing to do now is to enhance our strength and expand our influence."

Zeng Yicheng meticulously observed Qian Jin. The feeling this young man gave off was completely different from the first time he saw him. If he had been a nascent lion before, now he felt like a lion stepping into adulthood.

"Uncle, I'll take my leave then." Qian Jin nodded toward Zeng Yicheng and spurred his horse out of the city gates.

"I'm starting to truly understand the Guild Master..." Zeng Yicheng murmured to himself, lost in thought as he watched Qian Jin's receding figure. "Understand why the Guild Master was so certain about handing over his position to him."

Qian Jin rushed all the way to the Academy, arriving before the Headmaster's office and raising his hand to knock.

"Enter."

Isabella, seated in her swivel chair behind the leather sofa, looked up with surprise as Qian Jin entered, smiling faintly. "Wearing a cloak?"

"Is this for a masquerade ball?" The stoic Tian Ce sat on the guest sofa in the Headmaster's office, holding a fragrant cup of tea, raising an eyebrow with an innocent smile. "Student Qian Jin, I heard you became the Guild Master of the Blacksmiths' Union. Congratulations! Find some time for a drink? To celebrate?"

Qian Jin's gaze lingered on Mu Ne Tian Ce for a moment longer. Few people in Yongliu City should know about his becoming the Blacksmiths' Guild Master. How could this student, Mu Ne Tian Ce, know so quickly?

Isabella’s slender fingers rapidly tapped the tabletop in a series of quick dong, dong, dong sounds. "Student Mu Ne, don't steal the Headmaster's spotlight."

Mu Ne Tian Ce smiled casually and continued to savor the cup of clear tea in his hand.

Qian Jin glanced sideways at Mu Ne Tian Ce again. To maintain such a relaxed demeanor toward the Headmaster—hardly anyone in the entire academy could manage that. It wasn't feigned; it was an instinctive emanation. What exactly was his background?

"Headmaster." Qian Jin bent his waist slightly. "I need to request leave..."

Thunk! Upon hearing Qian Jin's words, the finger Isabella had been tapping the desk with lost control, piercing straight through the hard wooden surface. Her beautiful eyes flickered with repeated surprise. "What did you just say?"

"I need to re-qu-..."

"Request leave?" Isabella forcefully pulled out the finger embedded in the desk and appraised Qian Jin up and down. From when she was a student to now being the Headmaster, she had never seen a student like this—requesting more time off than time spent studying! He had only just returned to the academy a few days ago, and now he was asking for leave again?

"Last time it was to see your father. What about this time?" Isabella patiently stared at Qian Jin. If she didn't know this kid had become the Blacksmiths' Guild Master, if she didn't know he was the future Guild Master of the Torrent Fortress, if she didn't know he was Jun Wudao's nephew, if she didn't know he had single-handedly tangled with several major powers in Yongliu City overnight to almost flatten the Lei family...

Isabella struggled to quell the annoyance in her heart. If she didn't know all these facts, any student who failed to attend classes on time would have long since been disciplined! Never mind anything else, demotion by a year would be the first step! Even the City Lord's own son would be demoted a year first! Isabella pouted her sexy, beautiful red lips; unfortunately, this young man's current standing made him even more troublesome than the City Lord’s biological son.

"A friend is in some trouble," Qian Jin stared weakly at the office desk, which now bore a hole thanks to Isabella. He could deeply empathize with the Headmaster's current frustration.

"Qian Jin," Isabella adopted her official Headmaster persona. "You should know this is the War God Academy. If you merely wish to become a warrior who swings a sword and slashes people, I won't stop you from taking more leave. But from my perspective, your ambitions are greater than that, aren't they?"

Qian Jin slowly nodded twice, inwardly admiring the Headmaster; she had somehow grasped his true objective.

"Without sufficient time at the academy, you won't learn military command. Without time here, you can't understand the strengths and weaknesses of your classmates. Without enough time on campus, you can't build rapport with the others... and on the battlefield later, no one will talk about classmate camaraderie with you. Without enough time here, you also won't have the chance to study your peers... and find retainers among them..."

Isabella sipped her clear tea, staring at Qian Jin with a look of reluctance. In all her years as Headmaster, she had never encountered such an outstanding ordinary warrior. Teachers were already requesting to transfer him to the Tactical Command Department, something unprecedented. That old general had extremely high standards.

Such frequent leave requests from a student would not only significantly impact his future personal combat strength but would also affect his overall development. Unless Qian Jin spent every day locked away in the Torrent Fortress, continuously gathering Battle Crystals through the Four Great Powers, a normal warrior student could only acquire the most Battle Crystal resources and gain access to more Combat Techniques while attending the academy.

Combat Techniques! Exactly! Isabella even decided that in a few days, she would find time to take Qian Jin to meet the teachers who specialized in developing Combat Techniques, to see if they could custom-design a set perfectly suited to him.

Even the great powers of Yongliu City, united, could not accomplish something like this. In the area of Combat Technique research, even the Bloodline Warrior families had to admit that the great War Academies were the strongest in the True Zenith Dynasty.

"Qian Jin, your time is limited," Isabella said earnestly. "You don't have much time to waste. Stay at the academy, and I can arrange for the teachers to specially design a set of Combat Techniques most suitable for you."

Ye Cao, standing outside the door, trembled constantly, anxiety and worry shining in his eyes. The Combat Technique research experts of the War God Academy crafting personalized techniques specifically for Qian Jin—this was an incredibly tempting offer! Even a Bloodline Warrior might choose to stay under such circumstances.

"Headmaster," Qian Jin bowed deeply again. "I am truly grateful for the importance you place on me. But my friend, he saved my life..."

Isabella closed her eyes in despair; there was no point in continuing the argument! If Qian Jin agreed to her terms and refused to help someone who had saved his life, she would lose respect for him! But if he went...

Isabella realized what an absurd situation this was. If Qian Jin didn't go, she would look down on him; if he did go, he would waste precious time...

"I wonder where Student Qian Jin intends to go?" Mu Ne Tian Ce glanced sideways at Ye Cao outside the door, maintaining his smiling expression. "Your friend waiting outside the door looks rather rough around the edges, doesn't he?"

Qian Jin was already quite familiar with Mu Ne Tian Ce's perceptiveness and answered without much curiosity, "Beyond the Frontier."

"Beyond the Frontier?" The corner of Mu Ne Tian Ce's smiling face couldn't help twitching. "I hear things aren't very peaceful out there right now."

Isabella frowned in confusion, staring at Qian Jin. This young man truly sought out trouble wherever he went! A while ago he went to Qianzhou and miraculously returned alive from the Ancient Desolate Sand Sea. Now that the Frontier wasn't peaceful, he wanted to go there? Perhaps the next time a fierce battle broke out on the Human-Demon Battlefield, he would rush off to join that too?

"Beyond the Frontier, is it?" Isabella sighed, knowing that trying to stop him was impossible. "Go then, and come back quickly. If you miss the exams, you'll need a makeup session. If you fail it, prepare to be held back a year."

Qian Jin bowed thankfully. If he were sitting in the Headmaster's chair, he would have at least forced a frequently absent student like this to take a temporary leave of absence.

"Beyond the Frontier..." Mu Ne Tian Ce lightly fanned himself with his folding fan, smiling as he stood up and looked toward Isabella.

"Do you wish to request leave?" Isabella's tone held a hint of certainty in her questioning manner. "Want to see the Frontier too? Take that gorilla guard of yours, and you can both leave."

"Thank you, Headmaster." Mu Ne Tian Ce bowed deeply. "The academy doesn't currently have any suitable retainers for me. I will return for the exams."

Isabella managed a weak smile. This Sixth Prince of the True Zenith Dynasty had received highly systematic education since childhood. For him to enter a place like the academy, finding retainers wasn't even his primary objective. For an outstanding prince, what was more important was tempering himself, witnessing the myriad states of the common people, and understanding what a true ruler should do.

Exams? Regarding the various theoretical tests at the War God Academy, the Sixth Prince Mu Ne Tian Ce could likely achieve near-perfect scores by the age of ten! Isabella waved her hand, dismissing Mu Ne Tian Ce, and leaned back, resting her arms behind her head as she gazed at the ceiling. The royal family had sent messengers more than once, stating that the princes' trials were genuine trials, and the academy should not interfere at all. Even death would only mean that the prince lacked the destiny to become a sovereign! If the prince made an error in judgment, he would lead the nation to ruin.

"I still need to prepare!" Isabella stood up, walking toward the door while muttering softly. "I heard that among these princes, the Third and the Sixth are the most exceptional. The Frontier? That place is fundamentally beyond predictable calculations. The Demon Race, the Human Race, and even the Barbarian Race have forces involved there. No accident should be surprising."

Isabella lightly touched the ground with her toes, floating over the old, worn desk, and quickly exited the room, heading straight for an ancient, lush tree on the campus.

"Wake up, lazy cat." Isabella stood on a thick branch and used her toe to nudge Hong Zhelingguan, the Sleeping Lion King, who was sound asleep on the branches. "If you don't get up soon, I'm drawing my sword."