As Leo stepped out of Faye’s room, his hair slightly tousled and a subtle smirk lingering on his face, the last thing he expected was to run into Professor David.

    The professor was headed towards his dorm room after finishing his lecture, his expression neutral—until his gaze landed on Leo.

    "Skyshard?"

    David’s voice carried a note of surprise, his eyes flickering from Leo’s disheveled appearance to the door he had just stepped out of.

    Leo could almost see the gears turning in the professor’s mind, piecing together an entirely incorrect scenario.

    However, he met his gaze nonetheless.

    "Professor." Leo said, as he walked past him, entirely ignoring the tension hanging in the air.

    But as he brushed past, he could swear he heard David curse under his breath.

    Leo didn’t need to read minds to know what the professor was thinking.

    The man had clearly jumped to the worst conclusion possible—assuming that a teacher had offered him sexual ’favors’ in exchange for being acquainted with his Monarch-level talent.

    It was ridiculous. Unfounded.

    But Leo had neither the time nor the patience to care.

    With only 12 minutes before his next class, his focus was elsewhere.

    *******

    Returning to the Practical Combat Arena, Leo walked with a renewed sense of confidence about himself.

    Although his conversation with Faye had not gone entirely as he hoped it would— in some ways, it had turned out better than he ever could have imagined.

    He now knew that his memory loss was something voluntary and not something imposed forcibly upon him, and although there was a possibility that Faye was lying and making things up, something about her demeanor and how she talked about his past self, made Leo trust him.

    Today, having talked to her, Leo found out about his goal in this academy and his reason for coming here, and that alone felt much better than the confused state he found himself in up until yesterday.

    Up-till yesterday, he had no clue why he was here, or who put him here, or what was his end-game.

    And although many of these questions still remain unanswered, at least now he knew his short-term goals.

    1)He had to get stronger and somehow top the first year rankings.

    2)He had to be selected for the academy team representing them in the circuits and participate in that competition.

    3)He had to shine at the circuits and hopefully help Rodova overturn Geneva’s rank, as it would be an achievement big enough to be noticed by the universe’s best Assassin Guild - The Black Serpents.

    Which eventually brought him to his final goal for having joined this academy....which was finding a way into the Black Serpents.

    Not through force.

    Not through stealth.

    Not through any method they had used before.

    Which meant that if they wanted to retrieve the skill scroll— if they wanted to see a new Timeless Assassin to rise again— they needed a new approach.

    One that would allow their agent to walk freely within the guild’s walls. One that would not raise suspicion. One that would let them strike from within.

    But that was easier said than done.

    In a world where background checks ran deep, where major organizations conducted psychological evaluations and lie detection procedures on every new recruit, infiltrating the Black Serpents was impossible for anyone with even the slightest connection to the Evil Cult.

    Even a single hidden memory of the mission could be fatal, as no one could join that organisation with fabricated pasts or forged documents as the guild’s security measures would expose them long before they ever got close to the armory.

    Which left them with only one possible entry point.

    The grassroots level.

    Unlike other recruitment methods, the Inter-School Circuits were one of the few ways the Black Serpents scouted new talent without prior affiliation checks as they expected the reputed academies to have already done that bit.

    Hence, those who dominated the circuits, those who stood out among the most promising young assassins in the universe, were offered a chance to join.

    Making it the only way to join without triggering suspicion.

    And that was why Leo Skyshard had come to Rodova Military Academy.

    That was why he had erased his own memories.

    A clear background. A blank slate. No affiliations. No ties to the Evil Cult. A perfect candidate.

    This wasn’t just about gaining strength. This was about building a cover story. About proving himself as an exceptional talent while operating within the Righteous Alliance framework. About ascending the ranks of the academy without any traces of his true allegiance.

    Only after cementing himself as one of the best would he receive an invitation.

    Only after earning his way into the Black Serpents would he finally get his chance.

    Once inside, he would steal back what was rightfully his.

    And when that day came, when the scroll was back in their hands, he would return to the Evil Cult as their next Dragon.

    The next candidate to become the Timeless Assassin.

    But until that day arrived...

    He could never know the full truth.

    For in this game of shadows, ignorance was both his greatest shield and his deadliest curse.