Molting the Mortal Coil

Chapter 959: Academy

Upon entering the twenty thousandth floor, Sage was astounded by the sight in front of him. The level was dominated by a single immense structure that towered over the whole level like a mountainous castle. At the quarter and halfway marks up the huge building there were expansive terrace areas, giving it a three tiered look. The base of the structure spread out to more than a quarter of the space on the level.

Sage marveled at the brilliant light above and the clear sky. It was impressive how well they simulated a clear blue sky. His first stop, like on every tenth level, was an administrative building where he could purchase general and more specialized information about this level as well as the previous and next ten levels. Since he had come here to find some obscure information he purchased the most detailed information packet about this level and the Clear Sky Academy. A thousand Spirit Stones later he found quite a few details to pay attention to. First of all, the Dean of Clear Sky Academy was also the Lord of this level, which was the case on every academy level. Secondly, the whole level was essentially dedicated to the Clear Sky Academy.

Around the academy were various businesses that catered to the teachers and students: restaurants and stores for their daily needs mixed in among multi-floored dormitories. The large ramps that spiraled up to the next level of the Capital were filled with the homes of the level's workers as well as the immense staff of the Clear Sky Academy. The Academy itself was more than two hundred miles wide, though most of that was actually upon the first raised tier. This area was actually made up of a number of large wilderness areas with different types of terrain that were used to practice being in the wild.

The upper terraced area was much smaller in area and it held most of the things that would normally be expected to be found at an academy. Training Dojos, Auditoriums, Libraries, Swimming Pools, and all the other large facilities found at large universities. There were also quite a few others that were unique to the Cultivator world. They had so many specialized training grounds that it put the Sunfire Pagoda from the Holy Flame Sect to shame.

Another important piece of information was that due to the sheer size of the place, the Clear Sky Academy was run like many schools within a single building. They had multiple tiers of students as well as separated groups among those tiers. These different student bodies would compete amongst each other and the most successful could challenge those of a higher tier. The system was similar to having a bunch of competing outer sect disciples trying to get promoted to inner sect disciples or core disciples.

All of this wasnt that important to Sage personally as he wasnt intending on enrolling as a student. He was far too old to meet their requirements. This was a place for young geniuses born in the Tianxia Capital to train. Instead, Sage was interested in what he had to do in order to access their knowledge. As luck would have it, there was indeed a route to gain a sort of membership to the Academy. He wasnt a prospective student, but there were still tests he would have to pass in order to join, and even if he did pass he would still have to pay a large fee.

With this basic information gathered he followed the map hed purchased to head to the Academy entrance for non-students or staff. The place was like a mountain and had many entrances, but most of them were intended for students or staff specifically. In fact most of these entrances were even tailored to each of the different student groups. A portion of the level housed their dormitories which was then closest to their own entrance as well as the rooms allocated to their learning and training. With such a massive building and so many students it built more comraderie for them to see all the same people each day, or at least thats what Sage assumed. Even if the school was as populous as a huge city, if they were broken up into neighborhoods it would be easier to build a sense of community.

Sage drove his steam powered vehicle over to the nearest guest entrance and then stored it away. Up close here at the ground level, the Clear Sky Academy appeared to be a gigantic wall. More impressively, this immense stone wall was covered with extremely intricate and detailed reliefs. There were also many statues of Cultivators mounted on the outside of the wall. Sage didnt stop to admire it all, but there was a bit in the information booklet that said it was decorated with murals from many tens of thousands of years of history and statues of famous alumni. A couple hundred feet up the wall, it transitioned into many columns with railings. This area was high enough that it still looked like a massive wall, but for those who were up there it was a wide open balcony area.

The entrance he approached was very colosseum-like, and he walked through this wide tunnel towards the light at the other side. At the end of the tunnel he walked out into a large chamber. He actually felt a little deja vu at this point as the experience reminded him of when he first entered the Tianxia Capital. The massive structure seemed sealed, yet upon entering he found a wide open space that was far from the claustrophobic feel hed expected.

There was a sort of small plaza and he realized he could have driven in here instead of slowly walking down the tunnel. There was, astoundingly, a sort of gift shop and then the office he was looking for. Heading inside he was glad to see only a small group in front of him. There was an older man wearing an Academy Uniform with a teachers badge meeting with a small group. A man with graying hair at his temple and wearing an extravagant outfit was leading an equally well dressed teenager. They were followed by a pair of guards and servants. Sage waited patiently as the teacher took them in for what he assumed was some sort of tour.

Once the group left, Sage was free to approach the counter and indicate his intention to join. The woman nodded and brought him down a hallway to a side room. The room had work tables along all its walls and in a row down the middle. Each of the tables were covered with many small potted plants.

If you wish to join the Clear Sky Academy, youll need to demonstrate your ability. Release your law powers.

Sage thought about holding back his strength, but at this point his laws were not his strongest weapons. In the interest of getting better treatment he didnt hold back and released all three of his laws. The Minor Law of Filtration at the 5th degree, the Primal Law of Corruption at the 2nd degree, and the Primal Thermal Law at the 3rd degree. Since the woman asked him to do it, he was sure they had some method of detecting it and he was not wrong. As he resonated with the different laws some of the plants in the room started to react.

From a cursory glance, Sage had no idea how the plants reacted. The woman walked around the room noting down all the changes and as she called out her findings, Sage figured out how it worked. There was one set of plants that reacted based upon the rank and degree of the laws he released, one of them seemed to sense a single Minor Law making one flower bloom, while another reacted to the two Primal Laws with two blooms. Surprisingly, the petals of the flowers fell off, leaving the same number of petals on the flower as the degree of his laws. This only took up a single table right next to the door. The rest of the room was actually some sort of method used to classify which laws he used and there seemed to be a complex identification process on an individual plant to narrow down what sort of law it was.

After this process was done, she led him out of the room as an array activated on the ceiling, causing all the plants to return to their original state. Heading back to the desk, Sage had to pay a fee of a hundred thousand Spirit Stones and then he was given his identity token and a Jade Tablet filled with the rules he had to follow.