On the other hand, Silas kept moving toward Wandering Tavern.
He had rejected the person without even listening.
He had seen them talking to others and getting rejected just minutes earlier.
He could already guess they only wanted to recruit him.
Even if the person was a beautiful girl, he refused. First, because in the game this wasn't their real appearance. Second, he was only focused on the Central Academy. Joining a sect would increase his workload and distract him from his goal of becoming strong.
Some time passed, and Silas reached Wandering Tavern.
Arriving at the meteorite, he showed his information to the guards outside and received permission to enter.
He stepped inside.
The whole restaurant, Wandering Tavern, had been booked entirely by the university for this grand celebration.
Just as Silas stepped inside, heads turned.
The moment people recognized him—the boy who received the Central Academy invitation—the room buzzed.
A crowd quickly surrounded him.
Voices overlapped in excitement, congratulations, questions, and praise.
Silas stood calmly in the center, listening without interrupting. His voice would have been drowned out anyway amid the noise.
Only when the university counselor arrived did the chatter die down.
The counselor gently guided Silas forward and began introducing him to faculty, staff, and a few influential alumni present.
Silas greeted each one politely—short nods, quiet "hello," nothing more.
The counselor smiled broadly and raised his voice.
"Now is the perfect time. Let's introduce Silas to the whole world."
He activated a live stream from the university's official E.A. Network account.
The holographic feed appeared above the table—visible to everyone in the restaurant and instantly broadcast across the network.
The counselor spoke clearly into the stream.
"Today, we celebrate one of our own—Silas, a student of our university, who has received a direct invitation to the Central Academy!"
The chat exploded with messages—congratulations, emojis, questions, and a flood of viewers tuning in.
Silas stood quietly beside the counselor, expression calm and unchanging.
He didn't speak.
He didn't smile for the camera.
He just listened.
Inside, he felt nothing but mild impatience.
The party, the stream, the attention—it was all noise.
In two days, the real thing began.
The Central Academy.
That was what mattered.
Not this.
The counselor continued praising Silas, the university, and the bright future ahead.
Silas let the words wash over him.
He had come.
He had shown up.
Now he just waited for it to over.
So he could go back to preparing.
Quietly.
Alone.
The way he always preferred.
While Silas was being introduced on the live stream, his family watched from separate places.
His mother viewed it on her player window from her clinic, surrounded by patients and assistants who paused their treatments to glance at the screen.
His sister watched alongside her colleagues and friends in a quiet corner of her government office in the Concord.
His father, Mory, watched from his real-world school with his coworkers and the principal.
Mory had come to the school in person—not in the game world—because the principal had called an urgent meeting.
The meeting was about permanently closing the real-world school and fully shifting to Eternal Ascendancy.
After the meeting ended, his coworkers and the principal congratulated him warmly about Silas's Central Academy admission.
They gathered around a large screen, watching the live feed together.
Just as they were immersed in the stream, the door burst open.
A man stormed in, followed by four massive, muscular bodyguards.
He shouted, "Hey, Mory! Your son got admitted to the Central Academy, and you didn't even tell me? You've got some nerve!"
When Mory and the others realized who it was, their moods soured instantly.
But they quickly hid their feelings, stood up, and bowed 90 degrees in greeting.
The man strode forward without hesitation and sat in the principal's chair.
The principal said nothing.
He remained bowed, head lowered, not daring to object.
But in his mind, he screamed, I hadn't informed him about the meeting. It was a secret meeting. How can he—
His thoughts stopped when he remembered the person influence.
The live stream continued playing in the background, Silas's calm face on screen.
But no one paid attention anymore.
All eyes were on the man in the principal's seat.
Mory's hands clenched slightly behind his back.
He knew exactly who this was—and why the entire room feared him.
Mory remained bowed, voice shaking as he spoke.
"Forgive my mistake, Sir Gorak… I only learned about it yesterday… I didn't get the chance to speak with you…"
***
(Forgive me for the delay, i had thought i already uploaded it)