The Spider Queen

Sophie stepped towards the gates of the Academy and looked up with a confident grin on her face.

She was no longer wearing a cloak to hide her appearance and felt the gazes of curious passersby upon her figure but paid them no mind.

Why must she hide herself from the prejudice of others?

The two months of training had tempered her shy personality and it must have been Katarina's influence, but the opinions of others no longer mattered to her.

"Make sure to beat them up milady!" a loud cry sounded out from behind.

Sophie turned around to see Katarina leaning casually against the spaceship while waving her hands frantically in support. The duke was going to accompany them on the trip to the Academy as well, but an urgent matter came up, so he had to go to one of his territories to settle it.

Her new uniform was made of memory cloth which was a fascinating material that could morph itself around her body and looked quite fitting.

In addition, poor Sophie was carrying two trunks worth of food, clothes, gifts and other items that her overprotective dad demanded she bring.

The duke gave her a class four whip made of black carbon fibres and with the push of a button could cause spikes to form along its edge. The weapon was safely tucked away in her backpack but for some reason Sophie's blood boiled at the opportunity to let loose.

Jack had already given her a new cultivation art to practice so her simply passed her a pair of nanotech gloves that could protect her hands when using palm techniques.

Katarina gave her a set of vials with each containing a poison more dangerous than the last, but it was a small bottle of aphrodisiac that caused Sophie to blush furiously and caused her to scold her mentor.

"Hey… you never know," was the words her irresponsible teacher replied.

"How shameless do you think I am? What would people think if they discovered that a duke's daughter was carrying this stuff!" Sophie furiously bellowed.

Despite the big show of protests….

She still kept the bottle… for emergency use.

It was incredibly fortunate that the duke did not find out that his daughter was given a bottle full of this substance as there was a high chance that he would have beaten Katarina to death.

(Meanwhile in the principle's office)

Gentle sunlight streamed through the windows of an office where a middle-aged man was pouring tea for an esteemed guest.

The middle-aged man was slightly overweight and had an unpleasant pair of eyes that darted around shiftily. He wore the teaching uniform of the Royal Academy but adorned the front of his chest with golden medals that sparkled in the light.

"What brings a recruiter from the Atlas University to our humble school?" the principle of the Royal Academy spoke with a fawning expression towards the hooded figure.

Only the top twenty high schools on the planet Gaia were allocated ten slots to potential candidates for the university test.

Although these students were all geniuses….it meant nothing to the four great universities.

The Atlas University was the university based on the human controlled planet of Lunare and was generally where most of the noble children would select to go. It was named after the Greek myth of Atlas and symbolised the weight humanity held to carry the burdens of the federation.

Any student accepted to the university would have a shortcut to power in the Imperial Army and a life of wealth.

This was not to say that the other universities did not have their merits as each were equally powerful…

But who would go to a school on a planet where mankind was the minority?

The university entrance exam was open to the top applicants of every planet in the federation along with special exemptions for allied civilisations and immigrant species. The recruiter gracefully sitting on the chair thought that these students were no more than big fishes in small ponds.

Were it not for a special mission from the higher ups at the college, he would never waste his time at this place.

"Allow me to frankly speak principle Yang. The university of Atlas has special authority to grant special seed status to five students in this school."

"This would be in addition to the ten seeds chosen from your internal competition. However, it must be noted that if the special status kids qualify in the entrance exam…. then they must select the University of Atlas."

The principle was overjoyed and could barely contain the grin that threatened to burst out at any moment. He hastily nodded in acknowledgement and the recruiter left the room after receiving a list of names.

This was tremendously good news!

He had been quite distressed over the high number of talented children in this current year with only ten slots available to them. There was a total of twenty golden star uniforms issued in the entire senior year population which was a record amount.

One had to be high level in the qi body stage to even qualify for this prestigious title.

As for the rest of kids….why bother to wasting everyone's time?

The class evaluation was opened to all students in the grade, but it was obvious that only the top students would qualify. There would be a few dreamers every year but some careful manipulation of the fighting order would eliminate them directly.

Loud knocking came from the door and a pretty young secretary strolled in with a happy smile on her face.

"Sir! We have finalised the list of all the students registered for the competition and several have reported breakthroughs in their cultivation."

She handed a silvery grey tablet to the principle who glanced at the data and promptly removed the five names he had selected to go directly to the university entrance exam. His hand soon paused on the profile of one student as he casually verified the information of the registered kids.

"Sophie Peterlor? Is that Duke Peterlor's daughter?" he asked.

"Yes…. but her talent is not very good, and she has remained at the early stages of the qi body for a few years now," the secretary noticed his curiosity and swiftly replied.

"She has been registered as untalented and given a black uniform as well."

Principle Yang frowned and his interest in the girl soon disappeared. He had just recalled the memory of how the Duke threatened to blow up the school if his daughter was not registered after receiving backlash from the other noble parents.

The principle had a contemplative look on his face before issuing an order,

"Change the evaluation exam so she faces Leona of the Braveheart family. I want this hybrid stain on this academy gone as soon as possible!"