Under the system's constant reminders, Ethan woke up in a half-asleep state. There were certain people who, if disturbed during deep sleep, would feel the urge to beat the interrupter to death—no matter who they were. Friend or foe, mother or father, brother or sister, wife or lover—it didn't matter.
Ethan belonged firmly to this category.
Unfortunately, the system had no physical form. Alas, apart from endless curses, there was nothing he could do to it. Worse still, the system had no emotions. It existed only to follow commands issued by its owner, completely unaffected by verbal abuse.
Ethan wanted to cry—but no tears came.
After sitting angrily on his bed for five minutes, the drowsiness finally faded and reality returned. He got out of bed and entered the washroom. Once he finished tidying himself up, he left his dormitory and locked the door behind him.
His first stop was the mission hall.
There, he deliberately selected a random mission—one that would take roughly a year to complete. With that done, he headed straight for the library.
After opening the doors, Ethan walked inside and made his way to the exact spot where he had originally discovered the memory crystal.
Since he had already viewed its contents, the crystal no longer held any value for him. He carefully returned it to its original hiding place.
Ethan still couldn't understand why the library had been included in the administration list in the first place. The founder of the academy had explicitly ordered Dean Will to keep the library sealed until conditions improved.
And Ethan was sharp enough to know that the academy's situation had not improved—if anything, it had worsened drastically over the past two hundred years. There was no way the current dean would issue an order to reopen the library under such circumstances.
Why, then, was the library's management officially listed?
He didn't know the answer—but he was certain there was a deeper story behind it.
Never underestimate Ethan in this regard.
He might be a fool in many aspects of life, but his mind had been sharpened by reading countless cultivation novels. In matters related to Earth, he failed more often than not. But in the cultivation world, he felt like a completely different person.
He had always believed he didn't belong on Earth.
This world—this was where he fit.
Even on Earth, people had called him "Fool." Yet when he played Ascension, everything changed. The game revolved around cultivation, and he had become its top expert. His intuition in situations like this was almost always accurate.
Whatever the hidden truth might be, Ethan knew one thing for certain: he currently lacked the power to protect himself if something went wrong.
He hadn't even begun practicing proper cultivation techniques.
The only reason he had reached the 5th Level of the Elementary Stage was because he relied entirely on Attribute Points. He hadn't trained breathing techniques or combat skills at all.
Ethan made a firm decision.
By the time he returned, he would be strong.
At the very least, he would surpass the dean of the academy—or else he would be doomed. He had read enough cultivation novels to understand how such situations usually ended.
After taking care of everything that needed attention, Ethan left the library. He presented his mission approval letter to the guards at the main entrance and finally departed from Sacred Wind Academy.
Ethan walked far from the academy—nearly twenty kilometers.
Yet he didn't feel even the slightest bit tired.
He knew this was only possible because he had become a cultivator and reached the 5th Level of the Elementary Stage. Otherwise, walking twenty kilometers without fatigue would be impossible—even for someone like Usain Bolt.
Now that he had left the academy, a crucial question lingered in his mind.
What should he do next?
Even though he had plans, he didn't know where to start. Leaving behind a place that provided food and shelter without a clear destination—only a fool would do something like that.
After racking his brain for some time, an idea finally surfaced.
He would go to Phoenix Feather City.
Phoenix Feather City was one of the largest cities under the Royal God Sect, and it served as the base of Sacred Fire Academy.
Like Sacred Wind Academy, Sacred Fire Academy was one of many academies operating under the Royal God Sect. Every few years, it recruited and nurtured talented cultivators, who were then sent to the sect for further development.
Among the hundreds of academies, there were ten original academies that had been established first under the Royal God Sect. These ten shared similar naming conventions:
Sacred Wind Academy
Sacred Earth Academy
Sacred Fire Academy
Sacred Water Academy
Sacred Metal Academy
Sacred Wood Academy
Sacred Light Academy
Sacred Darkness Academy
Sacred Time Academy
Sacred Space Academy
These ten academies enjoyed special privileges. The resources they received each year were three times greater than those allocated to ordinary academies. This preferential treatment was one of the main reasons Sacred Wind Academy had not been disbanded despite its decline.
After all, the founder of the sect and the founder of Sacred Wind Academy had been close friends.
Ethan chose Phoenix Feather City not because it was extraordinary, but because it was the nearest major city to his current location.
He had already saved the entire sect's map in his system, so navigation posed no problem. In fact, he trusted the system's navigation far more than Google Maps.
This wasn't disrespect toward Google Maps—it relied on software and code, after all, and bugs were inevitable.
This was the cultivation world.
Here, accuracy surpassed anything Earth could offer.
And that was enough for Ethan.