Imprisoned for a Trillion Years, I Was Worshipped by All Gods!

While Daniel was out, he had no idea about the small commotion that occurred during the distribution of supplies.

Nor did he know that his image in the hearts of the students had elevated from respect to adoration.

The sight of the rampaging spell beasts that day still bothered him.

Daniel had invested a lot of energy into Crossbridge Academy.

He regarded the school as his own property, and any threats that arose, he wanted to stamp out before they could grow.

Even though the Desolate Plains were far from Riverside City, Daniel began patrolling in that direction.

After making a full circuit, he found no trace of the spell beasts.

Just as he was about to return, he heard several screams.

The sound came from far away, and Daniel originally didn't intend to get involved. But then he heard the low growl of a spell beast, which caught his attention.

Daniel's figure vanished from where he stood.

In the next moment, he appeared on a hill a kilometer away.

The ground below was shaking as a massive red turtle spell beast continuously pounded the earth. Nearby, several young people lay scattered on the ground.

Among them were mages, knights, and Daniel also spotted an assassin holding a dagger and a priest radiating faint golden light.

It was a well-rounded adventuring party.

However, their equipment was tattered, suggesting they were just a group of friends out on a self-organized adventure.

"Run!" The knight in front wiped blood from the corner of his mouth and cursed, "Hurry up, my taunt is about to end, all of you, just run!"

"Brother!" The priest struggled to muster even a little mana, but under the turtle spell beast's tremor attacks, she couldn't manage it.

The assassin coughed twice, then drank a potion and suddenly turned invisible.

"The moment Kent and I strike, the rest of you leave immediately, don't look back," the assassin's voice came from near the giant turtle spell beast. "Cough... You guys can split the mana stones I have hidden under my bed."

This tragic scene made the other members of the team tear up.

The mage gritted his teeth, grabbed the sobbing priest, and prepared to use his last bit of strength to teleport her away.

Daniel, from his high vantage point, watched with great interest.

What a passionate battle.

What a touching display of friendship.

Ah, youth.

None of them noticed the figure in the sky.

With death-defying resolve, the knight and assassin launched their final assault on the spell beast, charging at it.

A hint of mockery flashed in the giant red turtle's eyes.

Did these short-lived, bronze-tier humans think they could attack it?

Dream on. It would crush these humans and slowly pulverize them into mush!

The red turtle stretched its neck, preparing to unleash a deadly sonic attack.

In the next instant, a single finger extended from the void.

With a light flick, as if brushing away a small feather from his shoulder, Daniel effortlessly sent the turtle spell beast flying.

With a "thud," the massive body of the red turtle flipped several times in the air before crashing heavily to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust that made the adventurers squint.

When the dust settled, they were shocked to see that the fearsome behemoth was lying motionless, its eyes wide open, and the mana within its body was dissipating.

The group stood frozen in place, not daring to move.

They couldn't even comprehend what had just happened.

Only the mage, who had been standing farther back, saw what had occurred. She quickly rushed over with the priest in tow: "Someone just saved us!"

"My apologies, honorable sir. Thank you for saving our Ragtag Mercenary Squad. We're from Riverlight Town."

Daniel, who had been about to leave, suddenly became interested when he heard the name of their squad.

He descended from the sky.

The team members immediately stepped forward and respectfully bowed to him.

Their leader, the knight, was particularly shaken. He had glimpsed a finger flick the giant turtle away, but he thought it had been a hallucination before his death. Now he realized someone had indeed intervened.

This man's power was terrifying.

That turtle spell beast had been tier-gold.

Could this mage be a tier-platinum, or even tier-diamond figure?

With that thought, the knight became even more respectful.

"Are you an independent mercenary squad?" Daniel had watched their entire battle.

Their willingness to risk their lives for their comrades, even sacrificing themselves to ensure others could escape, had left a deep impression on him.

These young people, likely no older than twenty, had potential.

To Daniel, character was more important than strength.

With him backing them, even a pig could be trained to become a king-tier spell beast.

"Yes, honorable mage sir," the knight replied. "I'm Kent, captain of the Ragtag Mercenary Squad. Thank you for your help. Is there anything we can do to repay you?"

Daniel nodded.

Gratitude.

Another good quality.

Although there was an enormous gap in strength between them, and the mercenaries could not offer any real assistance, the desire to repay a favor was completely different from simply accepting help as their due.

"I'm the headmaster of Crossbridge Academy in Riverside City." Daniel handed an academy badge to Kent. "If you're interested, you're welcome to join my academy. We value young people like you."

"Crossbridge Academy!" The group was shocked.

Their hometown was a small village some distance from Riverside City.

To them, Riverside was a grand city.

As for a specialized academy, that was a place they had never even dared to dream of.

"Can we really go?" Kent carefully pocketed the badge. "Will the tuition be expensive? We might need to take on a few more tasks to save up the money."

"It's free," Daniel smiled. "Your friendship is more valuable than mana stones."

He snapped his fingers in the direction of the spell beast's corpse.

The beast's body began to decay.

Then, its essence condensed into a small red gem.

"Set out as soon as you can, and be careful on the road."

After leaving behind the spell beast's red gem and this bit of advice, Daniel disappeared as suddenly as he had arrived.

"Wow!!" The mage's eyes sparkled. "What a powerful figure. Is this what high-tier mages can do? Maybe I'll be able to do that one day too."

"Don't let your guard down," Kent said, putting away the gem and looking around. "That fight made a lot of noise. We're all injured, so let's leave before anyone comes to take advantage."

The group quickly suppressed their excitement at surviving and cleaned up their tracks before swiftly departing.

They decided that as soon as they had recovered, they would head straight for Riverside City. If they could really join Crossbridge Academy, that would be incredible.

Daniel had already gone far.

The trace of his mind power left behind told him the mercenary squad's next steps.

This reassured him that his decision was the right one.

"They're a good squad," Daniel thought as he returned to the academy. Looking at his students, he realized something.

Compared to those young mercenaries, the kids here lacked combat experience. They were too sheltered.

This wouldn't do.

Daniel didn't want to raise a group of delicate flowers in a greenhouse.

He had high expectations for his students.

"Hard work can improve strength, but abilities only grow through real combat experience." Daniel began pondering how to organize a large-scale academy-wide training exercise.

At that moment, an anxious-looking Isolde came to find him.

"What's wrong? Are the mana stones all used up?" Daniel glanced at her and tossed over a large bag of mana stones.

"No, no, no! Daniel, please stop giving me mana stones," Isolde jumped in surprise. "I'm losing sleep every night worrying about how to spend all this money."

"I'm here to report something else."

"I've received intelligence that strange lightning has been appearing along the northern border, near the Desolate Plains."

"The lightning is making the spell beasts restless, and there's a high chance it could trigger a spell beast surge."

"..." Daniel coughed awkwardly.

That had been his doing.

But it shouldn't have had much of an impact.

Isolde continued, her face filled with concern: "Many prophets are saying this is a sign of the world's end. There have already been a few spell beast sightings outside the border cities."

"Some have even shown up near nearby towns."

"Daniel, should we be preparing for this?"

The end of the world?

That was a bit of an exaggeration, Daniel thought, but it seemed like a good opportunity to train his students.