One-Eyed Monster

Dean Hoffman of Luona's Yonder Travel Academy had been rather busy lately.

He felt overwhelmed with endless tasks. These tasks were neither small nor insignificant. They were tedious and nagging, always seeming to exhaust him without his realizing it.

Some of these tasks came from the daily operations within the Yonder Travel Academy, and some from the complicated affairs outside of it. These tasks kept piling up relentlessly, testing Old Hoffman's patience.

Old Hoffman had weathered many storms in life, so these petty troubles wouldn't knock him down, even though his body was not as robust as it used to be.

This heap of trivial matters had ended up developing a new skill in Dean Hoffman. Over time, this new skill became part of him, and whenever anyone mentioned the Dean of the Yonder Travel Academy, they would immediately associate him with this special "skill."

Whenever people asked him how he had developed this special ability, he would shrug helplessly and respond, "I was forced to hone this skill because of incessant trivial matters. Believe me, I didn't want it this way."

Many might find Dean Hoffman's special ability amusing. However, once they found themselves experiencing a situation similar to Dean Hoffman's, they would genuinely start to admire his unique skill.

That ability was sleeping. But one should not underestimate this kind of sleeping; Dean Hoffman's ability to sleep was famous throughout the Imperial Capital.

Even toddlers learning to babble in the Luona Capital knew that the Dean of the Yonder Travel Academy could always enjoy a sound sleep, anywhere and anytime.

Yes, Dean Hoffman would doze off during meetings, take quick naps during lectures, and let's not even begin to talk about when he was reviewing documents...

The old dean's sleeping postures were also varied and puzzling. Whether he was sitting at a conference table or lying on the Academy lawn, he could easily drift off to dreamland. More surprisingly, he could even sleep soundly while standing on the podium or crouching by a small river.

This was enough to make a swarm of sleep-deprived people green with envy.

Imagine this: you had worked laboriously all day and were feeling sore and exhausted. You finally thought the time to take a break had come. But, by a stroke of bad luck, the Mountain Monsters of the Mantai Empire suddenly started causing a disturbance at the Border Realm. You then had to respond to the summons of the Administrative Office or the Guardian Army and act as a night watchman for the populace. This was despite knowing perfectly well that the Mountain Monsters, being afraid of the dark, would never attack at night. However, your ordinary status compelled you to obey the order, as you could not afford to offend either the Administrative Office or the Guardian Army. You could only silently accept the task of standing guard at night. As a sentry, you had to stand there, watching everything happening far and near, even though you knew in your heart that the Mountain Monsters would not come, whether from afar or nearby. Still, you had to put on a show, even though your eyelids had already betrayed you...

At that moment, you would definitely think, How wonderful it would be if I had Dean Hoffman's skill! I could not only stand guard but also sleep, and the task would be completed as a matter of course. Nothing could be more perfect than this!

If only I could have Dean Hoffman's ability!

Clearly, this ability to fall asleep anywhere and at any time was highly coveted.

However, Dean Hoffman had not used this ability much lately. It was not that he had not been tired recently, nor that he had been resting well. After all, no matter how much he feigned old age and illness, a pile of matters would still be waiting for him to handle at the Yonder Travel Academy. For example, an auditing student named Igor was constantly restless, frequently stirring up all sorts of strange incidents.

Of course, no matter how much commotion an auditing student caused, it would not disturb Dean Hoffman's slumber, because this level of trouble could not stir the depths of his heart.

The one who actually roused Dean Hoffman from his perpetual dozing was Governor Rostov. That night, Lord Rostov instructed his Housekeeper to take a carriage and fetch Old Hoffman from the Yonder Travel Academy to the Twin Star Grand Hall. At that time, less than two days had passed since the council meeting regarding Fury Thunder had concluded.

Although Old Hoffman was full of grievances, he had to accept the fact that he would once again have to doze off in the council hall. The Yonder Travel Academy owed its existence to the Lord Governor's contributions. If he, an old man, did not do something for the Lord Governor, he would truly feel undeserving of his title as Dean.

He knew that when he went to the council hall, he never had to worry about anything. Governor Rostov always had his own plans for everything. He could sleep soundly in the council hall until the Lord Governor needed to question him, at which point he would wake up.

His grievances were mostly because it was already nighttime, and he simply disliked going out at night.

However, once he arrived at the council hall in the Twin Star Grand Hall, he discovered he could not fall asleep no matter what. Moreover, that bout of insomnia had affected him to this day.

The primary reason for his insomnia was not that he had received some shock at the Twin Star Grand Hall, nor that he had seen something he should not have. Rather, it was because another cluster of Spirit Power within his body had been awakened by Rostov's news.

He was a Scholar and had studied various ancient professions and factions. His Numerical Sensing Skill was exceptionally refined, allowing him to calculate the entire course of an event without needing any tools. In his neither long nor short scholarly career, he had encountered too many things.

The more he encountered, the more he knew.

The more he knew, the more he had to conceal.

Scholars are always laden with anxieties. They understand many undisclosed secrets, but they also know what can be said and what cannot.

Sometimes, a sordid truth can cause the uninformed populace to panic. At other times, a righteous slaughter can ignite hatred among the people. The populace is often deceived, seeing only the sights that the observers standing on high choose to let them see.

Dean Hoffman knew many things, but he could not offer all these secrets to Rostov, because Politicians would always resort to any means necessary. Some ancient things on this continent were better kept hidden.

But when Guru Mountain came into Governor Rostov's view, Dean Hoffman could no longer sleep.

The secrets hidden beneath that mountain, whether unearthed by the Black Crow or seized by the City Administrative Office, would only bring disaster to this Empire...

Dean Hoffman shook his head. The extreme winter will come when it is due. Some secrets are fated to be revealed at this time. I hope those innocent people will have Hao Yun then.

The old Dean recalled the discussion about Guru Mountain and the Black Crow that night. At the time, he could clearly sense Governor Rostov's determination to investigate Guru Mountain. He knew that dissuasion was futile. To prevent the situation from deteriorating further, he could only awaken that part of his Spirit Power that had long been dormant within him...

Guru Mountain! Hmph, my student Igor is also exploring this mountain. I just wonder how that fellow, brimming with Spirit Power, is faring on the mountain now...