The Dawn of the New World

The Ship was parked alongside a gigantic platform that held it in place. Hao Xuan was standing on the very edge, looking down at the densely packed city a few kilometres in the distance.

It didn't exactly match the image he had in mind when he first heard about the academy of Sollertia but it surely wasn't anything bad. The architecture was a mix of British Victorian-era buildings and traditional Chinese residences back from earth.

The entire place was jam-packed with buildings on top of one another. There was not a single piece of land here that didn't have a several hundred years old structure on top of it. There was a massive river filled with crystal clear blue water that snaked through the entirety of bustling conurbation with huge bridges and boats decorating it every few kilometres. (Img in authors note)

With his eyesight, he was able to see for several dozen kilometres but there was still no end to it. It was completely different from any of the Mei's cities.

"How far does it go?" he mumbled to himself.

Wu Jin who was behind him came forward and stood beside him, overlooking the same scenery.

"This is just one of the outer areas. The entire place is far too big to even measure now. It keeps expanding as more and more people decide to put down roots."

"Is the entire academy like this? So tightly packed?"

Wu Jin looked at him with a raised eyebrow and shook his head.

"Please don't say things like that in front of other people, you'll only embarrass yourself. This isn't the academy, it's just the lower city beneath it. The academy is up there," he pointed up.

Hao Xuan looked up but only saw a few clouds in the azure sky.

"In the sky?"

"Yes. The actual academy floats above. You can only get to it through a few special teleportation portals around the lower city. It's surrounded by numerous barriers so you can't even see it normally."

"Damn," Hao Xuan looked at the city once again. It looked truly spectacular from his point of view, but this was only a no-name city below it?

"Let's go before it gets dark," Wu Jin shouted from the chariot, waking Hao Xuan from his daze. He got into the unmanned chariot along with the other 3. The lady in the pantsuit closed her eyes and placed her hand on a sigil next to her seat and the chariot took off like a rocket. Within a few seconds, it was so far away that Hao Xuan couldn't even see the ship anymore.

He poked his head out and watched the scenery quickly change below him. Fortis who was on his head also enjoyed the view, pointing at every little thing he saw. It was all new to him.

Zhurong poked his head out of Hao Xuan's shirt and calmly observed everything without much of a reaction. He looked like a bored prince sitting in Hao Xuan's embrace like that.

About an hour or so the chariot slowed down and came to half over a residential area. The buildings here looked like normal houses from Earth, with the tallest one only being two stories tall. It seemed like the earth he came from was influenced by this world in a much deeper way than he initially thought.

The chariot stopped over a relatively large house with a 100 meter wide garden at the back. It was very peaceful and the degree of ambient spiritual energy was several times higher than the Mei kingdom. He felt refreshed just by breathing in the air.

Growls of beasts could be heard now and then, probably pet creatures of other cultivators.

"This will be your place while you're getting ready for the tournament. It's under my name directly so no one will bother you," Wu Jin explained while jumping down.

Hao Xuan was so busy looking around that he almost missed the part about the tournament.

"What tournament? You still haven't explained how you're gonna get me in the academy," he reminded.

"Yes yes, let's go inside first," Wu Jin waved his hand and entered the house first. Followed by Jin Wang and Hao Xuan. The lady stayed next to the chariot.

The inside of the house was almost exactly like what you would see from a place like earth, almost eerily so. Zhurong and Fortis jumped down and disappeared somewhere as soon as he entered. He looked at Wu Jin with a deep frown,

"Do all the houses look like this?"

Wu Jin sat down on a sofa and smiled proudly.

"I looked you up when I got back home. I know you came from one of the farming planets so I chose this place specifically, just to see your face. It was worth it!" he grinned.

'Farming planets?'

A thick vein popped up on Hao Xuan's forehead as he glared at the smug teenager.

"Relax, you know I can't do anything to you. I was just curious. Come sit, I'll explain my plan."

Hao Xuan swallowed the curses back down that were in his throat and sat across from him without saying a word, quietly staring daggers at the boy.

Wu Jin let out a sigh like an old man.

"If you had come when I first called you a few months ago, you could have gotten into the academy relatively easily. All you had to do was pass an entrance exam and I could've taken care of the rest, alas-"

"I was busy. Past is the past, move on. What's the plan now?" Hao Xuan rudely interrupted.

Wu Jin smiled, "I know. Now that you can't get in normally, you will have to fight for it. There is an old tradition amongst the top academies of our continent. Every 5 years they hold a tournament where the newest batch of students from every academy participate for a grand prize. The first prize is 1 'reasonable' wish, any wish at all. If it is possible to fulfill it, then all the top academies will do their best to do so. The second and third prizes are just a few trinkets and favors."

Hao Xuan nodded, "So you want me to participate in the tournament and get one of the top few places?"

Wu Jin let out a hollow laugh.

"I intended to, but you missed that deadline too by several weeks.. I'm afraid now you'll have to work for one of the bigger powers that are already in the tournament, beg them to let you in."