"Stop drooling and start eating."

  Kael prepared two buckets of instant noodles and placed one in front of Shier.

  "Thank you, Boss!" Shier retracted her longing gaze and thanked him with a delighted smile.

  "You're welcome. But remember, the rule still applies: only one per day," Kael warned as he peeled back his lid and began stirring the noodles with a fork.

  Since the capacity of the Combat Strength Enhancement Training Room had increased, the daily foot traffic had jumped to a whole new level. The entire Blood Wolf Squad now visited every day, unlike before when they had to come in small shifts. Even Ling Xiao’s royal guard, upon realizing there were more slots, had stopped rotating and started bringing the full contingent for training.

  More people naturally meant higher sales for other goods, and the biggest winner was the snack vending machine.

  [System: Congratulations, Host. The upgrade mission for the Combat Strength Enhancement Training Room has been completed.]

  The sudden notification almost caused Kael to shove a forkful of noodles up his nose.

  "That fast?" Kael was pleasantly surprised, but he kept his cool. He calmly took a bite of noodles and replied in his mind, "I'll claim the rewards tonight."

  To be honest, Kael hadn't expected his tutorial video to be that effective. He had been mentally prepared to grind for several more days. Halfway through his meal, just as he was about to take a sip of the broth, he looked at the bucket in his hand and had an epiphany.

  "Wait... the mission finished early because of this, didn't it?"

  A boost to Comprehension meant a massive spike in learning ability. It naturally accelerated the mastery of combat techniques. Without these noodles, the players would have likely spent days just banging their heads against the wall.

  "In that case, Han Ming turned out to be quite the lucky star."

  Recalling the Young Master of Drunk Cloud Restaurant, Kael felt a sudden surge of gratitude. If Han Ming hadn't come to pick a fight, Kael wouldn't have been able to "scam" the System into releasing the noodles. Without the noodles, the upgrade wouldn't have happened this quickly.

  "He helped me out so much... should I treat him to something? ...Nah, forget it. He doesn't know anyway."

  Kael decided to take the win and stay quiet. As for Han Ming, things would just proceed as usual.

  Brilliant Academy, Principal’s Office.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Gu Pingchuan and Meng Xiangyu had just returned from Kael's shop when they bumped into Wu Zuozhou, who looked like he was in a hurry to leave.

  "Zuozhou, where are you off to?" Gu Pingchuan asked, seeing the man’s frantic pace.

  "Principal Gu! You really picked a perfect time to come back. You and Old Meng just wander off and dump all the paperwork on me," Wu Zuozhou complained before even stating his business.

  "Now, now, Old Wu. We agreed on our schedule beforehand," Meng Xiangyu waved it off, immediately cutting the complaints short.

  "Tell us what happened first," Gu Pingchuan said smoothly.

  "What else? It’s the Inter-Academy Tournament. Those old fogies from Zenith Academy and Earth Academy sent messengers. They want to start preparations and demand the final roster of participants."

  Wu Zuozhou’s expression soured at the mention of the event. Academies were entities independent of the Empire, free from governmental control. Consequently, powerful academies were the most sought-after destinations for talent. Brilliant, Zenith, and Earth were the "Big Three."

  To compete for resources and top-tier students, the three academies held a tournament every two years to determine their rankings. For the past twelve years—six consecutive tournaments—Brilliant Academy had dead-lasted. It was the reason the other two academies treated them with such thinly veiled contempt.

  "So that's it. They probably don't realize that we’re planning a massive surprise for them this year," Gu Pingchuan smiled, looking completely unbothered.

  "The roster was prepared ages ago. The real issue is that it's our turn to host the tournament this year," Wu Zuozhou added, shaking his head.

  A tournament of this scale rotated its host to maintain fairness. More importantly, the three academies weren't even in the same Empire. Brilliant Academy was in the Archaic Origin Empire, while Zenith and Earth were located in neighboring territories. They were only linked by their shared location in the Eastern Desolation.

  "Is that why you were rushing out?" Meng Xiangyu asked.

  "Principal Gu was supposed to handle the negotiations, but since neither of you was here, I had no choice but to go myself," Wu Zuozhou said with a helpless sigh.

  "I understand. I’ll take it from here," Gu Pingchuan waved his hand dismissively. "We’ve let them be happy for far too many years. This time, we can't let them have their way."

  "Here is the list of students," Wu Zuozhou said, holding out a stack of papers.

  "No need. We will discuss the roster again later. There is still time before the tournament starts." Gu Pingchuan didn't take the documents; he simply turned and walked away.

  The first meeting for the tournament was usually just about deciding the venue and doing a little reconnaissance. In the competition between the Big Three, no one ever showed their cards this early.

  Once the last customer had left, Kael closed the shop doors.

  As an employee benefit, Shier was allowed to use the training room after hours. Kael personally found playing alone a bit boring, but for Shier, the feeling of slowly increasing her strength was something she savored. Every ounce of power gained was a new ray of hope for her revenge. She knew Kael had done enough by saving her and giving her a home; the blood debt had to be settled with her own hands.

  "Shier, remember to rest early. Don't overwork yourself; you have to mind the shop tomorrow," Kael called out as he headed to the second floor.

  "I know, Boss!" her voice drifted up from behind.

  Kael let out a long yawn and walked into his bedroom.

  "System! System, get out here. We can talk about the rewards now," Kael said impatiently as he sat on his bed.

  [System: Please speak plainly, Host. The fifty additional slots for the Combat Strength Enhancement Training Room will be rolled out as soon as the employee goes to sleep.]

  "I'm not asking about that," Kael said, well-acquainted with the System's rigid protocols. "I'm talking about the Suggestion Right for the upgrade."