After reaching the maximum level, my "soft rice system" finally arrived.

"Wonderful, wonderful."

Ciel and Empishi each held a bucket of popcorn, marveling at the scene on the light screen.

Once a new student enters the illusion, they will be automatically isolated from the outside world until they fail the trial.

However, with the mental power of a legendary mage like Charles, such an illusion could not trap him. Moreover, thanks to the massive flow of information transmitted from that vast ocean of mental power, he could still watch the exciting scenes in the VIP room in real time.

It's like having double the perspective and double the fun.

It just feels like something's missing right now.

Ciel tossed a piece of popcorn into his mouth, looked at his empty right hand, and became even more determined to complete this novice-level task.

How can you enjoy a melon without a refreshing drink?

Chapter Eleven: These days, even the Shadow Council is running tutoring classes.

Trial of Wrath—

"My child, what are you holding in your hand? What are you going to do!"

"I will take your place, Father!"

……

Slaanesh's Trial—

"Oh, you naughty little fellow."

"Stepmother, you are so beautiful."

……

The Trial of Greed—

"Why isn't the old man dropping any more gold coins?!"

……

Time passed slowly, and batches of talented new students broke through the blockade of the Demon King's city guarded by demons and began to challenge the Demon Tower.

At first, most of the people in the VIP seats were laughing and chatting.

After all, the most important thing among nobles is vanity and face. They have been competing with each other for most of their lives without finding a winner, so naturally they have begun to shift their attention to the next generation.

Everyone hopes that their offspring will make a name for themselves in the trials, which will also bring honor to the elders in the community.

It's a pity they forgot to be wary of the numerous individual cases like those of the Marquis of Norton.

Thus, the nobles' hopes for a meteoric rise to prominence turned into a meteoric funeral.

But the nobles were indeed nobles.

After a brief moment of embarrassment, they quickly and tacitly avoided discussing the scenes from the trial and began to change the subject.

As the head of the Imperial Capital's Advanced Extraordinary Academy and the instigator of the Trial Illusion, the white-haired Principal Dawn naturally became their target.

"Dawn, after observing this ceremony, I feel that your school has a very strong faculty. You are even able to create a trial illusion of this scale. So it is reasonable to reduce the budget appropriately."

"So, I also received a complaint letter not long ago, saying that your school has some problems with taxation."

"Principal Dawn, you wouldn't want your college to be shut down for tax evasion, would you?"

……

On the edge of the Demon King's castle, Ciel threw the last piece of popcorn into his mouth, and the popcorn bucket in his hand disappeared.

To outsiders, it would seem as if Xia Er had stored it in a storage ring or similar item.

But in reality, the popcorn bucket had already fallen into the Abyss Plane through the miniature interdimensional teleportation array that Xia Er had secretly activated.

There's no other way. With a landfill like the Abyss Plane—a completely natural, pollution-free place that doesn't even require garbage sorting—it would be a waste not to use it.

"While gossiping is interesting, it can get a bit tiresome after a while."

Charles stretched.

He had been watching the show from the sidelines because there were too many challengers crowding around the Magic Tower, which made Xia Er, a perennial shut-in who stayed at home in the secondary plane and the Black Tower Library, feel a bit physiologically repulsed.

Now that the challengers have either died or gone to their funerals, most of the area has been cleared out, making it a good time to travel.

After all, his performance in the illusion space was directly related to the completion of the novice mission and his future good life, so Xia Er naturally couldn't give up easily.

shhhhh--

The sound of a pen tip scratching against paper reached my ears.

Ciel turned around and saw Empisi sitting on a small stool, staring at the light screen directly above the Demon King's castle, writing furiously.

"It's been almost two hours, are you a reporter?"

The other party had obviously read Black Tower's books published in recent years and easily understood the meaning of the word "journalist".

"It's just to make some extra money on the side; these firsthand gossip stories about nobles are worth a lot of money."

As he spoke, Enpishi waved his hand without pausing his writing: "We're all in the same industry, so there's no need to keep things hidden like before."

Colleagues?

Hiding it away?

Charles paused slightly.

Could it be that my true identity has been discovered?

Although I didn't pay much attention to it, the "Autonomous Cognitive Distortion" that was being applied to Sharl at this moment was a genuine eighth-ring spell.

Logically speaking, unless one is a powerful individual who has reached the quasi-legendary level or possesses relevant racial talents, there is no possibility of seeing through "autonomous cognitive distortion".

He extended a small portion of his spiritual power, hidden within his spiritual ocean, and swept it over Enpishi, causing him to pause slightly in surprise.

I never expected that he was a cross-dresser.

"Yes, if it weren't for the fact that we had to memorize all the past exam questions to take to the tutoring center, and at the same time test the grading standards of many questions, and didn't care about the scores at all, how could we have ranked last and second to last in the written exam?"

Enpishi had an expression that said, "You can't fool me. Everything is under control."

"Otherwise, any student with normal intelligence would not have scored so low."

Tutoring classes.

Charles repeated the word in his mind, feeling some dead memory suddenly begin to attack him.

"Yes, running a tutoring center is the most profitable business right now. It's much more lucrative and safer than selling information."

"Don't be fooled by those wealthy ladies who are all incredibly stingy. They're only enthusiastic when it comes to enrolling their children in classes. The phrase 'Don't let your children lose at the starting line' is enough to make them spend their money without batting an eye."

Enpishi spoke with considerable pride: "Our Shadow Council, relying on its intelligence network spanning the entire continent and its accumulated expertise over the years, possesses the most comprehensive database of past exam questions and teaching resources on the entire continent. More than 60 percent of the nobles in the capital choose to send their children to our tutoring classes."

Charles remained silent.

The Shadow Council is the most prestigious secretive organization in the Western Continent, with a history of nearly a thousand years.

The current leader of the Shadow Council is a legendary-rank powerhouse, also known as the "Queen of the Night".

The Shadow Council originated from intelligence trading and is involved in various gray industries such as mercenary missions and the black market.

Before he became a legend, when Xia Er was traveling and gaining experience on the continent, he had many dealings with the behemoths of this hidden world, exchanging information.

However, it now seems that he underestimated the breadth of the other party's business scope.

"I never imagined that even information brokers would be running tutoring classes these days."

"It seems that the education and training industry is really profitable."

Charles muttered a couple of things to himself, while pondering whether he should suggest that the Golden Deer Chamber of Commerce also start offering tutoring classes.

After all, research by mages has always been a bottomless pit of money, and even legendary mages often have to take on side jobs due to insufficient funds.

The wide-area information exchange network he's currently working on is an ambitious project planned to cover the entire western continent.

Once it is officially launched, the magical materials and resources required will be an astronomical figure, even for the entire Black Tower.

Therefore, Charles never thinks he has too many gold coins.

As for the name of the tutoring institution...

After a moment of contemplation, Charles wrote three large characters in the ocean of his mind—

New West.

Chapter Twelve: Bro, wanna buy a cheat?

After chatting for a while, the two eventually went their separate ways.

Empishi continued to sit on his bench watching the recorded questions on the light screen, while Ciel was heading to the center of the Demon King's Castle to participate in the advanced trials in the Demon Tower.

Roar--

Before they had gone far, a roar came from beside Charles's ears.

He turned around and saw a goblin-like monster with purplish-brown skin waving a large club and walking towards him step by step.

Although it was on the outskirts of the Demon King's castle and had undergone initial clearing by the new recruits, there were still some demons who managed to escape.