Selina asked Jaiden foolishly. It seemed like the answer that Jaiden gave her was truly something that was unexpected. 

“Do you think that even makes sense?” 

Hearing her skeptical words, Jaiden just calmly spoke.

“I don’t think there’s anything that can’t be done. The North has also developed a lot. They also have a lot of complaints with the Center. Besides most of the Northerners are gathered around the Leonhardts so if we can convince them, then everything will be fine.” 

“Ha… Even if we can persuade those beasts, wouldn’t we become isolated once the North falls?” 

“I don’t think so. It’s not only the North that has complaints about the Center. Isn’t there one more place that’s pissed off by the lack of support from the Center?” 

“Ah… The West.” 

The West was a place that faced numerous borders and countries. It was a place where disputes and skirmishes always happened. Although it made huge money through trade, it was like a money sinkhole due to the money that they poured out to resolve the conflicts that they always experienced. 

However, the current Central Politics did not have any political settlement with other countries. How could they even achieve a settlement with other countries when they themselves were in a political dispute. This situation was something that the West found frustrating. After all, conflicts would continue to rise in their area if the Center did not settle with the other countries. 

“As long as we can achieve cooperation with the West with the backing of the forces from the North…” 

“The East and the West can be reconnected through the North?” 

“And it’s not only the West. There are definitely some Lords in the East and the South that are unhappy with the Center. To be specific, the Eastern Merchant Union. They pay huge amounts of taxes to the Center every time but the Center’s response to pirates has always been lukewarm. They might be unhappy with them too.”

Selina looked at Jaiden as if she was asking if he knew something like that too. After pondering over his answer, she couldn’t help but just nod heavily. She was just trying to listen to Jaiden’s thoughts with a light heart but she heard a lot more things than what she initially thought she would hear. If she were able to write a paper based on what Jaiden had said, then she could get it to the Northern Command for a review. 

‘Although it’s like a shot to the moon, there are still a few things that are worth examining.’

Selina easily figured out the possibility so she continued to ponder deeply before speaking to Jaiden.

“What you said today… Can I talk about it with other people?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Right. I understand. I’ve heard your thoughts on this well. I’ll make sure to tell the military science professor too! Thanks!”

He did not know what passed through her head but all Jaiden could do was shake his head as he watched her disappear from his sight. Then, he finally left the spot where he was standing. 

At this point, Jaiden had no idea what awaited him. All that passed through his head was the fact that he could collect additional points after answering her question. He was happy that he could already start collecting points for his early graduation. 

In fact, the thoughts that he told her was something that he had thought about in his previous life. However, he failed to put them into action. He did not even think that it would be done here since his words couldn’t change the situation in the Northeast. It was literally just a dream within a dream. After all, the Northeast would not be able to escape from the Center’s tight grip.

“I wonder where our Baepsae is…”

Jaiden was left with nothing to do since all of their classes for the day had been cancelled due to the sudden monster invasion. So he went under the shade of a tree and laid down.

―Tweet!

“Huh?”

For a moment, he thought that he misheard so he looked around for a moment. However, there was no sign of Baepsae at all. 

“Am I hallucinating?”

Perhaps he hallucinated and thought that he heard Baepsae because he missed the tiny bird very much. 

―Tweet!

Jaiden hurriedly raised his head when he heard the sound of Baepsae from above him. Looking above him he finally saw the figure that he had missed so much. Baepsae’s body was a cacophony of colors with the dominant rare blue feathers covering all over its body mixed with some yellows and reds. 

His face lit up when he saw that the punk had finally appeared in front of him. 

“Baepsae-yah!” 

―Tweet!

Baepsae flapped its small wings as it landed gently on Jaiden’s head after hearing his call. Then, as if knowing how hard things were for Jaiden, Baepsae immediately tweeted and chirped, singing a song that only it knew. Jaiden’s eyes slipped close after listening to Baepsae’s song. He only opened his eyes after its chirping had finished.

“Punk…” 

The song was not that long but he could feel that his body was filled with energy. Even his consumed mana had been recovered as it started to spin and run in his mana circuit. 

“Thanks.” 

―Tweet!

He stroked its cute and tiny head, when Jaiden saw the small bird nodding. It looked like it was telling him that what it did was nothing at all. Then, he asked.

“You’re not going anywhere else are you?” 

―Tweet! Tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet!

“Hmm? You got a new friend? You like that friend more than me?” 

―Tweet! Tweet!

Jaiden felt jealous so he tapped his fingers on its small wings.

―Tweet! Tweet!

“Your friend is around here? Hmm…” 

Jaiden looked disappointed when he saw Baepsae’s gaze. It seemed like the cute bird was telling him that it would come to him whenever he was having a hard time so he should train hard. 

“Our Baepsae have a severe wanderlust.” 

―Tweet!

Jaiden watched the bird blankly as Baepsae kicked him hard and flew away from him.

Our Baepsae is heartless.

However, thanks to Baepsae, he felt a bit refreshed. Since the fatigue that he had felt due to the battle earlier had disappeared to some extent, he turned to return to his dormitory after taking one last look around the academy. 

The next day, they were all officially seated in the classroom. 

Even though they were attending a military academy, they still needed to study the necessary and basic curriculum to learn some basic common sense. Thanks to this, they were required to study military science and basic beast theories as their basic courses. Unlike other academies where they were allowed to find things that they wanted to learn, only compulsory subjects were given to them to learn.

The class was also divided. They even added the competition system to their curriculum so the 1st class were those from 1~30 and will be cut off after that. The other classes would also be cut off every 30th student. The rankings and the class would also change every four months. And for the students who had to maintain or raise their current rankings, hell had finally begun. 

Since they were in a military academy, their main focus still lay on military science and basic beast theories. And this was where the problem began.

“Number 13?” 

“Yes!” 

“I heard from Selina. I will give you extra points.” 

“Thank you.” 

There was no problem with calling him out with everyone around him but as soon as they heard that he was being given extra points, the rest of the children began to look at them questioningly.

They were all wondering what Jaiden did to get those extra points. However, they soon knew the reason. It was because the military science professor kept on asking Jaiden questions to confirm if what Selina had told him was true. 

Although it was the most basic questions about military science, it still felt a bit problematic since he was answering those questions without any difficulties at all.

And whenever Jaiden answered his question perfectly, the military science professor would throw a more difficult question. The problem was that the professor thought that he could not answer it but Jaiden had a lot of jjambap so he answered the question without thinking about it.

“Well done. I look forward to more next time.” 

“Th… Thank you.” 

Jaiden felt embarrassed when the professor finished their first class after he asked him those questions. Still, even though he had a lot of jjambap, he still made a lot of progress after being asked those questions by the professor continuously. 

And the next subject was basic beast theories…

Selina must have heard the news too since she had a strange expression on her face. But it seemed like she just went along with the flow as she asked Jaiden one question after another.

Unlike military science, basic beast theories was a subject that had a lot of questions that couldn’t be answered without any real knowledge. So when Jaiden answered all of her questions, both Selina and the rest of the students looked at him dumbfoundedly.

“Uhm…” 

Since he was tired from the military science professor’s barrage of questions, he thought that he should just roughly answer Selina’s questions. He knew that he should pretend that he did not know but he just answered everything unknowingly because he was exhausted. 

“A… A goblin’s habit?”

This was the first time that Selina had even heard of a goblin’s habit.

The goblin’s unusual habit was something that should be known 10 years later. It was their weakness to be exact. Smelling too much rotten milk or rotten fruit would make them feel like they were drunk. 

Jaiden couldn’t help but pause when he realized that he unknowingly blurted out those words.

‘Did I mess up?’

It was a weakness that was not yet known at this time. He only knew of it back when the northern part of the country had fallen and was devastated and everyone was fleeing. They accidentally found this weakness while they watched the goblins that occupied a village that was filled with rotten food. 

Jaiden avoided Selina’s gaze as his back got drenched with cold sweat. 

And just like that, the basic beast theories lesson had ended. Jaiden had to be bombarded with questions from all of the professors in the theoretical classes. 

In fact, the basics were not something that difficult for Jaiden so he could easily answer their questions. However, when he tried to refuse to pay any more attention to the professor’s questions, the professor threatened him that he would give him penalty points if he hesitated to answer him. So he had no choice but to continue answering.

“I don’t think number 13 is suited to be a freshman.”

“Is it because their level is too different?”

“Hoo… But it isn’t customary to bypass the first year, you know? We have no choice but to leave him here for a year or so.”

“But at this point, there’s no point in having that student listen to our lectures. Right?”

The professors had gathered to discuss Jaiden. During their time teaching in the academy, they had experienced some students that did not need to learn the basics. However, they did not have a problem with them since they usually had a hard time studying once they entered their 2nd~3rd years. The problem was that Jaiden’s level was far beyond that. The theory and basics that they were teaching here in the academy was completely meaningless to Jaiden. 

In the first place, he came here to turn himself into a war weapon. After all, he knew that this place was the weakest in terms of the theories and the basics.

“Thesis.”

Selina suddenly spoke about a thesis after listening quietly to the others. The other professors turned to look at her in unison. 

“Let’s test number 13’s common sense and basic theories at the level of the 6th years. Then, let’s get him to write a thesis in military science and basic beast theories.”

“From a nine year old?”

The military science professor looked at her absurdly. However, all she could do was show him a helpless face. 

“I understand the test. But it takes time to prepare for a thesis. Right?”

“That’s right. So don’t you think that number 13 should prepare his personal thesis in military science and basic beast theories classes?”

The military science professor nodded his head heavily at her words.

“Above all, we should keep it a secret that number 13 is a genius.”

“Why? Isn’t it better if rumors spread?”

“Theoretically speaking, if his genius is to be highlighted then other local academies will take him from us!”

Selina glared at the bald professor who just spoke nonsense earlier. 

“But he’s a soldier?”

“It doesn’t matter. There are a lot of military academies here so if the Center gives out their orders then he could easily be taken away from us.” 

“I… I see.” 

Everyone nodded their heads at Selina’s words. 

Just like that, all of the professors gave Jaiden a special test and a thesis assignment following Selina’s words. Everyone felt jealous with the special treatment that Jaiden was receiving but they did not make any move. Perhaps they were blinded by Jaiden’s spectacular moves during the battle before.

Then, after Jaiden received a perfect score on his tests, he finally wrote a thesis in military science and basic beast theories.  

Jaiden thought that he should just completely end all of these tedious theoretical classes so he wrote a thesis on everything that he knew. And when he thought that he was lacking something, he would study related materials and books from the academy which added flesh to the knowledge in his head. 

However, since he was preparing two papers at once, they were written almost similarly. But that was something that he did not need to care about. He wasn’t even a professor. Besides, he was just nine years old right now so he gave up thinking that this was more than enough.

And the next day…

“Number 13.”

“Yes.”

The military science professor called out to Jaiden with a serious look on his face.

“You’re now out of the theoretical class.”

***

Notes:

[Adding flesh to the knowledge] – means adding details to an idea, plan or argument. Making it more complete and better.

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