The [Gate of the Spirit Realm] was a Grade 3 Forbidden Artifact. Its function was straightforward: it could open a door to any location and allow the user to return to the original starting point at any time.

  However, its price was terrifyingly chaotic. Upon use, the wielder would randomly lose "something" from their body. It could be a single strand of hair, an eye, or even a heart. The law of loss was entirely disordered and impossible to predict. It was only categorized as Grade 3 because its range of harm was localized to the user rather than threatening an entire city.

  After explaining this, a look of confusion crossed Estelle’s delicate face. How had Eros known her soul was fragmented? Soul damage wasn't like a physical wound. She looked at him and asked directly, "Eros, how did you discover that Mama’s soul was missing a part?"

  Eros gave a casual shrug. "Did you forget, Mom? I’m carrying an Ancestral Artifact."

  So that’s why! Estelle thought, the explanation making perfect sense in her mind.

  As for her missing sister, Elsa—though Estelle was loath to give up, her current strength was clearly insufficient to deal with the hidden crisis in the Domain of Sin. She had no choice but to put the search on hold for now.

  Over the next few days, Eros remained bedridden due to his lingering weakness. During this time, he learned that he had officially missed the school's opening ceremony. Estelle, however, remained unfazed. "It doesn’t matter," she assured him. "You can just head over whenever you're ready."

  Undine, who was already a student at the academy, took a leave of absence to stay home for a few days once she heard Eros had regained consciousness. Through her animated storytelling, Eros began to form a clear picture of the place where he would spend the next few years.

  The so-called First Holy Academy of the Imperial Capital was a warlock training institution jointly founded by the Three Great Churches: the Church of Reincarnation, the Church of the Sea, and the Church of Covenant. They scouted children with warlock talent from across the Empire.

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  However, the academy only taught the knowledge required for Sequence 9 through Sequence 7.

  If you wanted to go any further? Heh. You only had one choice: join one of the Churches. After several years of diligent "interning" and labor, the Church might graciously consider revealing the advancement methods for the higher sequences.

  If you chose not to join? Well, you'd just have to pay back the exorbitant tuition fees for the past few years and head back to wherever you came from. But for children from commoner families, those fees were an astronomical sum they could never hope to repay.

  Consequently, almost every graduate chose to join a Church, becoming the foundation of their workforce. To those commoners, being a "corporate slave" for a Church wasn't a bad deal. After all, these were the top ten powers on the continent; the pay and benefits were excellent. The only thing you lost was your freedom.

  But in a feudal society ruled by divine right, where you barely had human rights to begin with, who had time to worry about "freedom"? No one had complained about this system for tens of thousands of years.

  Another month passed. Though his body still felt a bit frail, Eros was fit enough to handle basic physical activity—as he put it, he could "sing, dance, and rap" just fine. With a lingering sense of reluctance, he bid Estelle farewell and boarded the train bound for the First Academy, located deep within an ancient forest far outside the capital.

  A new life is beginning!

  With a low whistle, the steam train slowed down and finally hissed to a halt at the foot of a mountain. Stepping off the train, Eros looked at the stone staircase winding from the base all the way to the summit. His head began to throb.

  In my past life, a few thousand steps would have been nothing. but in this state? If I try to climb that, I’ll probably collapse halfway up.

  Eros felt a wave of regret. Estelle had offered to send several servants to assist him, but he had declined, thinking it was just a normal school. How was I supposed to know the front gate involved a mountain climb? That brat Undine didn't say a word about this!

  His eyes darted around, landing on the "big brothers" traveling on the same train. These guys were clearly students too; otherwise, they wouldn't have been on this restricted line.