"So, what does that have to do with me?

" Sam asked.

It is not his fault that the gods are too dumb to estimate his progress. He has been breaking their expectations since the start. They should have expected it by now.

"Well, if everything went well according to the original plans, then the players, including you will have relatively even ground. You wouldn't have access to the privileges given to the freshmen of the Academy realm.

That was the plan all along. Having the players with not privileges of the Academy realm compete with the freshmen who gained the privileges of the Academy realm.

But as usual, you screwed up everything.

Not just you, Noah as well. Even she came a bit earlier that they thought. Now, the other gods are complaining that you get to enjoy the privileges and the other's don't.

"

"What privileges are you talking about? I know my research is not wrong. The pocket dimensions as a whole are not really that great. Not to the point going this far.

Also, the players are bound to come and the pocket dimensions are going to be open for the rest of the year until a couple of months before the start of the next academic year.

So, we are going to benefit either way.

"

"Both of your points are valid. But there is one twist. The pocket dimensions prepared for this year are a bit special.

As you might have already witnessed the difference between the students of the Academy and the players is very different. It is the difference between night and day.

You might want to say, your friends are not players, but you must understand except for the trio that tagged along with you, who practically grew like the players would, the rest of them are talents that are exceptional in their own right.

They are actually good enough to be player candidates.

Most gods are shocked that you managed to go this far and find these people on your own to form a team with them.

Indra even said that they should be excluded from your forces.

"

Sam just shrugged. He indeed wanted to say that his friends are really whopping the asses of these greenhouse academy students. Except for being talented, they don't have much going on for them.

They are not as experienced in battles. Sam's troops, even the lowest ranked ones have more experience that these people. If they are not the same cultivation level in an all our war, Sam's people will burn the Academy realm to ground albeit suffering some casualties.

Ling Tian continued…

"Anyway, I digress. To even out the playing field a bit, the pocket dimensions are loaded with some exceptional rewards for the students here.

According to the estimated timeline, you and the rest of the players are supposed to come when these people are still in the middle of clearing these pocket dimensions.

Then you will start competing with them.

Your official Player missions are also going to start from there onwards. However, now Noah and you are already here and you will have way too much advantage over others.

Of course, there are some gods, who say that you completely earned this because you made your way yourselves without any help, but the majority won and they decided to keep the pocket dimensions closed until then.

"

Sam thought for a moment and asked.

"So, the competition will start when exactly? When all the players are in the Academic realm or when all the players joined their respective academies?

"

"When they step foot in the Academy realm of course. Joining and not joining the academy is up to their strategic decision, the admission is provided as a gift and some of sort of personal special treatment to the players.

"

"That's good to know.

By the way, you are giving me all this info, are you allowed to do that?

"

Ling Tian stayed silent for a moment and said.

"I don't know. I didn't have any explicit instructions about giving information like this. Of course, there are some parts of info that do have restrictions, I am not giving that away.

"

"I don't understand the limits of it, so whatever. See you later.

"

Sam started walking away.

"Oh, next time don't interrupt my class, particularly don't interrupt by solving problems. I know you got a big head, but that is no reason to let some lesser minds to learn a bit.

"

Sam just showed a thumb's up symbol showing that he understood and walked away.

He got enough information. He really could get used to having Ling Tian around. The information is free with little to no effort. Now, he just has to wait for things to roll forward a bit. But before that, he needs to takone precaution.

He went to the hub to give out certain instructions to the main system. After that was done, he went back to clear more missions. The hub's system is spreading rumors more and more, particularly about the deal between Joker and the Noble league. Once it reaches a certain boiling point, Sam can proceed forward with another big step. He only wished that the Flaming Skulls are operating a bit more. The complaints from the students have been saturated for quite some time. The Deans took some really strict measures. One lucky thing is that his friends who are not part of the academy but cleared the realm level missions attracted more heat than he anticipated and it kind of compensated for the lack of assignments for the Flaming Skull organization.

Anyway, he already has plans set up for this scenario, that will fuel the chaos enough to satiate his desires.

Time passed as everyone became busy with their own plans. Noble League is busy with the training. Joker trained them every single day and they could see their improvement with every passing day as well.

Sam's mission monopoly is working well. Since Noble league is also competing for the missions, the situation became a bit harsh for the rest of the first year students.

Missions are the primary source of income for many students, since most of the academy students are monopolized by Sam's teammates they wanted to opt to Realm level missions. Then Sam's teammates and Noble league combined occupied all of the Realm level missions. The rest of the students started feeling a bit troubled with the situation and it is showing a strain on the economic situation of the city.

A lot of students opened a bunch of businesses to gain some extra coins, now even they are straining. While things are going like this, exactly one week after this, when Sam was about to leave the Academy and go out to do some hunting, he saw a familiar face that brightened his day a bit more.

"Its about time you guys are here.

"

Arkiv and Kumar are standing at the entrance of the Academy waiting for Sam to come out. They could have sent message through the communication tokens, but they didn't. Noah is also waiting along with them, Sam almost didn't notice her for a moment.

Arkiv and Sam hugged each other and then Kumar and Sam.

"So, what took you guys so long?

"

Sam asked.

"Can we sit somewhere and talk? I could use some of your good booze. Noah said that you have an excellent new booze added to your collection.

"

"Of course. Let's go. I know a good restaurant here. The food is amazing.

"

"Did Makar come with you?

"

Arkiv asked hopefully. He is one of the few people who frequented Sam's city and ate a lot of Markan's food. It is indeed very hard to beat.

"Don't worry. This food will meet your standards.

"

Sam said as he looked them up and down. They looked pretty ragged.

"You guys didn't have a good time did you?

"

"Of course not.

"

They just joked around and went to Nalan's restaurant. Nalan always had new recipes ready for Sam to taste and since he came with friends, he was more than willing to put his skills to test.

"So, did you guys join your Academies?

"

Sam asked both Arkiv and Kumar.

Arkiv nodded and replied.

"I did, but my situation is not exactly good there, as you know Hou Yi and I don't get along, despite him being my sponsor. He must have given explicit instructions to make my life a bit harder. The Grade 2 students are already looking to get a piece of me.

"

"Not completely out of my expectations.

"

"I haven't joined the Academy yet. I actually came to directly meet you. Even meeting Arkiv was a coincidence.

" Kumar said and his voice was a bit solemn.

"What happened? You need something from me?

"

Sam noticed that Kumar is a bit serious and it must have been an important thing. At least that is what he thought.

"I came here to make a request on behalf of Karthikeya. He is too embarrassed to ask this of you. So, I am asking this as a personal favor.

"

"What is it?

"

"He wants you to undo whatever you did to the Planet that you were in for your final test.

"

As soon as he said that, Sam's expression changed. The Smile was no longer there.

Noah is a bit surprised. Even she doesn't know what Kumar was talking about, Arkiv was also same. However Sam clearly knew what he meant.

It was the planet where he went to finish his final test.

The war against the nature.

Sam almost forgot about it. At least, he didn't keep actively thinking about it.