In another world, Lu Mingfei is learning card making.

Well, this problem is quite difficult for Lu Mingfei at his current level.

So he only gave it a couple of seconds to his mind before putting it out of his head and focusing on the 'farce' unfolding in the classroom—

"Huh? Is it over already?" Lu Mingfei asked, looking at Lintel, who had floated back to the podium, still seething with anger.

"Of course—Professor Lintel handled it quickly: he kicked Anna out of the classroom for disrupting class and deducted fifty points from her grade." Ron, having handed in his assignment and returned to his seat, nodded with a smug smile. "But I really didn't expect that even someone like Asmon would have such a loyal friend… However, it seems most people can still see clearly who is on the right side…"

"Is 'loyalty' really the word used to describe friends?" Lu Mingfei casually corrected Rong En's mistake, then glanced at the students of the Noble Academy. They didn't show any worry on their faces—

Is Asmon really that "unpopular"? That shouldn't be the case. As Rais said, if numbers are truly that important, then it's only natural that Asmon would have supporters after gifting them this knowledge…

Wait, really?

Lu Mingfei frowned.

If you put yourself in someone else's shoes, and someone unexpectedly gives him a generous gift, he would naturally be grateful.

But on Earth, after talking with Su Enxi and Jiu Demai, he suddenly realized something very important:

People are different from one another.

Some people believe that all people are born equal and that all human lives are equally precious; but some people—well, we can't call them "some people," we should call them "aristocrats" here—believe that they are born more noble than others.

It wasn't just the nobles; even those who were originally commoners but gained power for various reasons would "think highly of themselves" and believe that commoners were just commoners and could not be compared to them.

Lu Mingfei used to think that gratitude, mutual help, and extending a helping hand to the weak and weary were universal values, which could actually be considered "chivalrous virtues" within St. Marian.

It is often only those students who delve into the sacred scriptures, want to use religious decks, and even simultaneously act as 'Paladin,' 'Ascetic,' and 'Priest' who have similar ideas.

That's why Rong En took the initiative to get close to him—because he had already decided that Lu Mingfei had inherited the excellent qualities of the previous hero and was still following the knight's code, so he was already a qualified knight.

"But, to put it another way, the 'nobles'... might follow a different set of rules?" Lu Mingfei squinted as he scanned their faces.

Even though one of them was "kicked out," they seemed completely unaffected, sitting there attentively listening to the lecture—even the students of the Knights Academy were more concerned about Annabelle's plight than they were.

"If we think about it more deeply, it seems... the 'living environment' of the Noble Academy is far worse than that of the Knight Academy?" Lu Mingfei's eyes narrowed slightly.

In the academy of nobles, an unimaginable barrier exists between students, and even between individual students themselves. This barrier causes students to view everyone else as someone they can exploit.

Give them benefits, and they'll take them all; try to get them to do anything, and that's extremely difficult.

"...From this perspective, Annabelle is actually quite pitiful. If Asmon were still alive, he could certainly protect her by virtue of being the 'Son of the Valkyrie,' and a considerable number of students would even try to curry favor with her in order to please Asmon."

"But now, Asmon is gone—Anna must feel quite lost right now, right? It's as if all the good people around her have suddenly turned into bad people. People who she could usually persuade with just a little pleading—or maybe not even a pleading, just a simple asking—are now impossible to talk to no matter how hard she tries..."

Lu Mingfei shook his head, dismissing these strange ideas.

Regardless of what kind of person she is, she is now Asmon's loyal friend, and Lu Mingfei has no right to help her.

"Even if I wanted to help her, I couldn't lend a hand—what's her problem right now? She can't find any of her own friends, and none of the friends I can introduce her to are from the Noble Academy..."

"—So why did she go to the academy of nobles in the first place? Was it just because she had noble blood?"

……

Anna, who had been wandering around outside for two classes and a long break, finally returned to her seat before her summoning class.

Lu Mingfei kept his questions to himself, but Anna's gaze remained fixed on him.

Well, although it was Lintel who made the decision to send Asmon home to reflect, Lu Mingfei was even willing to give the Tiss family "face" and let the matter stop there to prevent public opinion from fermenting.

But Anna felt that this matter shouldn't be left like this.

—Lu Mingfei was unwilling to speculate about others with the most malicious guesses. Perhaps she simply didn't know the truth of the matter and was just misled by Asmon's statement.

Perhaps Asmon, before leaving, didn't want Lu Mingfei to have too much of a peaceful life at the academy, so he deliberately pinned a blame on him...

Thinking of this, Lu Mingfei sighed.

Indeed, humans are visual creatures by nature.

Is it simply because Anna's features are indeed exquisite that he is unwilling to use his imagination to think about how many problems Anna actually has?

"I shouldn't be that... 'short-sighted,' right? Lu Mingze's two subordinates are both rare beauties, and I don't think I've given them much extra attention..."

Lu Mingfei lowered his voice and muttered to himself, but then his next thought was: Really not?

Rong En followed Sarah's gaze to his side and saw Lu Mingfei slumped on the table, looking dejected.

He immediately slammed his fist on Lu Mingfei's thigh under the table, making Lu Mingfei straighten up and concentrate on the lesson.

Professor Sarah gave Lu Mingfei a sharp look, then continued the lesson.

Today, Professor Sarah will be discussing in-depth content on basic summoning spells—or, in other words, the foundation for more advanced summoning spells:

Search for the magical core of the magical spirit.

"The magical core of a magical sprite is the most important component that constitutes it." Professor Sarah tapped the blackboard. "Only by sensing the magical core can one perform synchronization, fusion, or even temporary or permanent ascension on a magical sprite..."

"These operations are all performed on the magic core, so this lesson is crucial."

Lu Mingfei perked up and underlined the key points of the lesson in his textbook.