The History of the Spiritual Arts Academy

The history of the Central Spiritual Arts Academy can be traced back thousands of years, to a time when humanity had just begun to recover from the upheaval caused by the disappearance of the gods, and the entire continent was in a state of precarious instability.

Besides the Demons, who were the natural enemies of all living beings, the groups humanity clashed with most were undoubtedly the beastkin in the south and the Dragon Race in the northwest.

Although humans had always held the upper hand in wars against the beastkin, after losing the protection of the gods, ordinary humans were simply unable to withstand the might of the dragons.

At that time, only a handful of Saint Rank humans could be mentioned in the same breath as those ancient, haughty creatures.

Consequently, the first few Grand Archmages among humans joined forces to build a city in the northwest of the continent. The original intent of this city was to serve as a counterpoint to the Dragon Valley in the north, allowing them to collectively face the threat posed by the Dragon Race.

As time passed, under the leadership of those mages, this initially small city continued to grow and flourish. They began to settle there and cultivate their own successors, passing down knowledge and techniques from generation to generation.

Since then, this once-nameless small city gradually developed into a giant academy renowned throughout the continent. Countless young people aspiring to become strong considered it an honor to join the academy, traveling there in a steady stream, desperate for a chance to learn.

Much like the War God family Po Kong belongs to, the Central Spiritual Arts Academy has never suffered a gap in Saint Rank experts since its founding thousands of years ago.

Coupled with the countless outstanding students who graduated from the academy, their brilliant achievements have made the prestige of the Central Spiritual Arts Academy increasingly transcendent, reaching a level that is almost unrivaled.

According to Noah, the Archmage named Eventador was a classmate and close friend of Carlos and Arthur back then. The three of them had already displayed extraordinary magical talent during their student days.

It is hard to imagine that three people graduating in the same year would all step into the Saint Rank realm before the age of thirty. This was an unprecedented miracle in the long history of the Central Spiritual Arts Academy.

Therefore, they were once hailed as the “Golden Generation,” becoming models for countless juniors to look up to.

Unfortunately, the three who were known within the academy as the Golden Triangle eventually chose their own paths.

After years of traveling with Carlos, Arthur chose to join the military to serve the country; Carlos chose to live in seclusion in the mountains to pursue his research; and Eventador, who disliked the clamor of the mundane world, chose to remain at the school as a teacher, silently cultivating the next generation.

Based on the intelligence they had gathered previously, Eventador now held the high position of Dean and had attained the title of Archmage. Given Carlos’s friendship with him, it wouldn't be difficult to meet him.

As for other basic information about the academy, they had already learned most of it from the gathered intelligence, which didn't differ much from Noah’s descriptions.

After chatting for a while, Noah claimed he was a bit tired, closed his pages, and returned to Starlight’s side.

Starlight knew that Noah had been helping him master the elemental mark left by Taros over the past few days, which was mentally taxing, so he didn't say anything.

However, knowing Noah as he did, Starlight always felt that Noah was still hiding something. But he didn't pry further; if there really was a problem, they would cross that bridge when they came to it.

That said, as Starlight became more familiar with that elemental mark, he found that his mastery over dark elements was improving at an astonishing speed.

Although this ethereal sensation couldn't directly push his dark element level to the Saint Rank in a short period, it certainly saved him from many detours. At the very least, he wouldn't need to seek out a Saint Rank expert of the dark element for guidance.

In the eyes of ordinary people, dark magic was often closely associated with words like evil and gloom, always giving off an ominous feeling.

Even Carlos, who was proficient in both light and dark elements, had been quite cautious and reserved when teaching Starlight about dark magic.

But in Noah’s view, no matter what element a spell belonged to, the element itself had no inherent good or evil. The effects brought about by magic were only related to the user.

This reasoning also made Starlight less resistant to the mark left by Taros. As long as he didn't use it to commit atrocious acts, he would have a clear conscience.

However, it was still best to use skills like the Shadow Sphere—which he had secretly learned from the Ancient God of Darkness—sparingly. To this day, he hadn't forgotten the terrifying consequence of that skill turning everything within a hundred-meter radius into a ghastly white.

Even a sturdy tomb couldn't withstand its corrosive power. If such a skill were used on a person, Starlight felt his skin crawl just thinking about it.

The road from the Violet City-State to the academy was likely the most well-developed path on the entire continent. Not only was the entire road paved with stone slabs and equipped with streetlights, but dedicated personnel also cleared any anomalies in the surrounding area at regular intervals. Thus, their journey over the past few days had been relatively smooth.

A distance of a thousand kilometers is neither long nor short. With no external interference, the four of them finished the journey in just under five days at their walking pace.

On the morning of the fifth day, Starlight and the others saw a massive castle bathed in the morning light from afar.

Unlike the scattered, block-like layout of the Violet City-State, all the buildings of the Central Spiritual Arts Academy were built around that terrifyingly large castle in the city center.

It was actually somewhat amusing; the total number of teachers and students in the entire academy was only a few thousand, yet the entire city had a population of over a million.

Most of them were the families and attendants brought by the students, followed by various groups of people who wanted to provide services and goods to the academy.

The dense houses built around the perimeter of the castle were mostly constructed and accumulated by dignitaries and nobles over the ages.

Many people took pride in owning a property next to the academy, and some even set buying a house here as their lifelong goal.

After all, in this day and age, one really couldn't study magic without a certain level of financial strength.

Starlight had deep personal experience with this. He and Po Kong had worked on all sorts of commissions for an entire month, yet they had barely saved enough money to buy a single magic book.

So, while the city might not look particularly unique on the outside, it was incredibly wealthy. Take that thousand-kilometer-long highway, for example—it wasn't something an ordinary city-state could afford to build.

Even Po Kong, who came from a noble background, couldn't help but marvel at the wealth of those people after seeing the prosperity around the academy.

Due to its location in the heart of the continent, the entire city was relatively stable. The entry procedures were also extremely simple; one only needed to provide valid identification to enter directly.

Given their current adventurer ranks, the soldiers at the gate simply recorded their information casually before letting them in.

However, this relaxed security didn't mean the city was chaotic. On the contrary, the public order of the entire Academy City was admirably good.

Because everyone wanted their descendants to have the best conditions, many wealthy merchants and nobles had spontaneously organized city guards. Residents only needed to pay a small monthly maintenance fee to enjoy this safe life. In a sense, they were benefiting from the presence of those wealthy individuals.