“Umm… is there a reason, teacher Ning? We can’t allow teachers to leave their spots for no reason unless they are gold starred or haven’t had a free time in years,” Singeer said.
Ning sighed and explained everything.
“Ah… I see. That is indeed very… sad,” Singeer said. “I didn’t expect your popularity to be your one detriment when it came to teaching.”
“I would be fine with it if only the ones that actually wanted to study could get a chance to enter too,” Ning said.
“I get what you mean. There have been times like this when a teacher suddenly goes up to gold rank, and suddenly everyone comes to see how they teach. Fortunately, those people do care about the teaching, unlike the students going to yours,” Singeer said.
“However, I don’t think you need to go into closed cultivation for that,” Singeer said. “How about you limit your classes to 2 classes every week? That way you can keep teaching and the students will leave you alone.”
“Uhh… I’ll try I guess,” Ning said and returned.
Over the next couple of weeks, Ning lowered his classes to 2 classes a week. Each week he taught one class of Alchemy and one class Beast Masters. Every third week, he also taught one class of Physicians, and one class of Bug Handling.
In this way, he separated his time by teaching very sparingly. Even then, that didn’t help at all.
Due to the limited teaching time, the students would use that one day to meet him, and it once again ruined his teaching experience.
‘No, I can’t let this keep on going,’ Ning thought and went up to Singeer once again to confront him.
However, Singeer surprisingly agreed, making Ning very confused.
“Haha, don’t look at me like that, teacher Ning. Remember what I said? Gold starred teachers can freely go into closed cultivation. Go and hide by yourself while your fame dies down.”
“I’m sure the academy can wait,” Singeer said.
“Thank you, principal Singeer,” Ning said and left. He went back out and found a few of his students.
He met Reya and gave her a few books to study on her own. She expressed her thoughts about becoming a teacher once she was done graduating from the academy in a decade or so. He told her to do so.
He met Nilo and talked to him for a bit. He learned about how Nilo was very close to finding his cure on his own. Ning smiled and gave him a talisman with the answers so that he could learn what other directions he could’ve gone to find the cure.
He talked about how he was likely going to be the next Emperor of the empire and should learn about politics while he was at it. Nilo was a little sad about it all, but he accepted that as something he should do.
He was currently alone in the academy since his mother had already returned by his father’s side to become the empress of the empire.
He expressed his desire to return back to the Capital once his studies were done and go and become the crown prince he had come to be by fate.
Ning then went to Ender and talked to him for a while. He also gave him some books to learn in his free time.
Ender had the opportunity to learn alchemy with Ning for 3 whole months, so his overall level as an alchemist had gone up by a few notches.
Although it wasn’t to the same level as Hyesi or Anya, Ning considered Ender as his Psuedo disciple now.
Ning then went around to the various teachers and students to meet them for a while. He just told them what he was planning to do and they all supported his decision.
Finally, Ning went to Ely. It was getting close to evening time by now, and Ely was in the Artifact wing’s staff room.
“Hey,” he called out.
“Oh, hi. What’s up?” Ely asked.
“So… I am going to a closed cultivation soon,” Ning said.
“Oh, for how many months?” Ely asked.
“Um… for a few decades… at least,” Ning said.
Ely stopped. The information was too jarring for her brain to understand in a single moment.
“Wait… a few decades? So long?” she asked.
“Yeah, it… just feels like the right thing to do. I need to get stronger as a cultivator and I also need energy. Staying awake for hundreds of years… it just feels dreadful,” Ning said.
“We have to do that too,” Ely said.
“Haha,” Ning chuckled, “it’s a little different… in a way. I am immortal, you guys are not. 2000 years is an eternity for a mortal, and a lifetime for a Nascent Soul cultivator.”
“But for me, there will come a time when 2000 years will go by in the blink of an eye. There will be times when I will go to sleep during the birth of a child, and wake up when that child is dying of old age. It’s… a haunting thought, really,” Ning said.
“You’re talking about this like you will be gone for centuries,” Ely said.
“Haha, I won’t. But, it’s just that… I’m afraid everyone, everything around here will change when I come back out… and in a sense, this is goodbye for the current world.”
“Although, I guess that’s the life of an immortal. I will have to say goodbye to things a lot from now on and welcome the changes whether I like it or not.”
“So, uh… I will hopefully see you later. Take care,” Ning said and turned around to walk away.
“Don’t worry about it when you come out,” Ely said from behind him. “Even if everything changes, I won’t. I will be here for you why you come out.”
Ning stopped and looked back before smiling slightly. “Thank you,” he said and went back to his room.
Ning properly closed the door and fortified it before sitting down on his bed. He was a little nervous about going into closed cultivation, but he still closed his eyes and breathed. Soon, he was cultivating.