The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

The rumors about Heins Academy spread faster than anyone could have anticipated.

[Oh…!! Looks like I won!]

"Not bad. How about this, then?"

[Eek! No, no, no!]

Indra let out cries of dismay as she played a board game with Illyna, who seemed to be enjoying it immensely at her expense.

"So, have you made your decision yet? Or does it even matter now?" Morziana chuckled with a hint of amusement.

"I didn’t think the tides of public opinion could be turned with this kind of method. Honestly, it’s impressive," she added with a tone of respect.

"You’ve got to use whatever tools are at your disposal. It’s foolish to leave options on the table just because others cannot or will not use them,” Davey replied.

"Seems like you didn’t need the power of the Contas Empire after all.”

"I just came to the conclusion that there was no need to create unnecessary debts. At least, not for now."

Davey knew that Emperor Contas was a bold man. He even cooperated with him in the past, regarding Illuminati-related matters. Even then, he could tell the man had a desire to establish stronger ties through political marriage. However, he had no intention of taking on additional wives—no matter the circumstances.

"Even so, you’re quite the catch. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little envious of the princesses."

"There’s no need to lie.”

Morziana burst into laughter, gracefully standing up. "You’re right. I’m not into men who are too perfect. I need someone whose gaps I can fill in myself. If there’s no gap to fill, where would I even fit in?"

"I’m only the way I am because I’ve met those three.”

"I wish you luck in your endeavors, Prince Davey," she said, making a smile that showed no lingering attachment.

Just as she was about to leave, she added, "That reminds me, I once visited the Lyndis Empire and..."

"Alright! I’ve got work to do, so I better get going. Illyna! I’m going to take Indra with me, so you keep the princess company for me."

"Wha—What?!" Illyna squealed in astonishment.

"Oh, Princess! I’ve been meaning to have a chat with you," Morziana said.

"I... um..."

Illyna, who had already been warned by Perserque about the lady’s endless chatter, turned pale. Before she could do anything, though, Davey made his escape. He knew fully well that neither demigods nor ordinary humans would be able to endure her endless talking.

"Reina, that bitch… trying to one-up me? Fine. I’ll use Illyna, who’s basically you from this universe, and pass the baton to her instead.”

No matter how beautiful the woman was, he had little interest in such trivialities.

"By the way, I’ve met five of the Six Great Beauties of the continent. Who’s the last one?"

[What are you talking about, human contractor? Because of you, I just had to surrender a game I was winning!]

"You were never going to win that game."

No matter how powerful Indra was as a Spirit King, she was still equivalent to a young and inexperienced child. Facing someone like Illyna on the dire battlefield of board games, her chances of winning were slim.

* * *

The two walked through the quiet halls of the academy. As they passed by the beastfolk maids, they smiled brightly and bowed before continuing on their way. Indra then broke the silence.

[Human contractor.]

"What is it?"

[I know what the Grand Spirit said to you.]

"And?"

[Are you just going to leave the Spirit World as it is?]

"To be blunt, it’s not a decision I can make right now.”

[Why not? If you destroy that moon, everything will go back to the way it was...]

"And the Primordial Spirits will rampage again, starving for vitality.”

If that were to happen again, he knew things would become irreversible.

The Grand Spirit had explained the current situation of the Spirit World simply yet profoundly—an imbalance caused by excess vitality. Controlling the power of the third moon, Thanatos, was no easy feat even for Davey.

"It’s on hold for now—there’s nothing I can do about it at the moment."

For now, he had to see how the situation would unfold. The best solution would be finding a way to gradually consume the excess vitality, but such a thing was far easier said than done.

Returning to Heins Academy, Davey noticed how quiet it was. Most cadets had gone back home, but those who lived in the dormitories still remained. In the distance, he saw Myuu and Tadia laughing and playing ball together. Myuu’s smile radiated joy, clearly showing how much she enjoyed spending time with her friend.

"Three thousand applicants... enrolling all of them is going to be impossible."

"Considering the finances and other logistics required, six hundred is the absolute limit," another voice chimed in.

Most of the students were nobility. He knew that allowing the number of noble students to exceed that of commoners would inevitably lead to social problems. Keeping that in mind, Heins Academy had worked hard to maintain a balance between the two groups.

“Even so, accepting six hundred students is only a fifth of the total applicants. Clearly, we cannot enroll all of them,” the other voice added.

No one could’ve predicted such explosive growth in their application numbers.

"The commoner numbers haven’t changed much," Davey noted.

Most commoners lived day-to-day, and didn’t have the resources required to pursue such opportunities.

Royal Attendant Bernil had once suggested a simple entrance exam, but Davey dismissed the idea. He believed that, while there were those born with talent, still others needed to be given an opportunity for their talents to finally bloom. He knew he’d regret his decision if he only accepted those who were already visibly talented.

Even so, he wasn’t sure how to use that knowledge to pick applicants. Although he banned applicants from the Shan Kingdom and other nations involved in the grade manipulation scandal—which narrowed the pool slightly—there were still plenty of other countries full of eager applicants. He knew there were other options such as donation-based admissions, entrance exams, or direct interviews, but each method required significant time and effort while carrying their own implications.

Finally, Davey decided on a novel approach.

"Lie detection."

He was personally familiar with elves, who were known for their ability to spot lies.

"Yuria, I’ve got a job for you."

Though he could practically picture her irritated smile as she listened to his idea, Yuria wasn’t with him at that moment.

"We’ll ask two questions. First, one to ensure they genuinely want to learn. Second, to evaluate their character," Davey proposed.

Archbishop Alice raised an eyebrow, internally questioning whether such an approach would work, but he nodded confidently regardless of her reaction.

"It’ll filter out a lot of people, for sure. We don’t have the luxury of admitting those who only want to enroll for a spirit blessing.”

Even with those strict limits in place, it’d still never be able to filter out enough students.

So—

"Let’s fix the initial testing pool at three hundred applicants. If someone fails, the next in line takes the test until we reach the full three hundred."

Heins Academy had no intention of becoming a massive institution, emphasizing quality over quantity. Its purpose was not to maximize numbers, but to maintain quality and balance.

* * *

News of Heins Academy’s rapidly growing applicant pool spread like wildfire. Rival academies were left feeling as if they were falling behind. Naturally, with more students going for Heins Academy, applications to other academies dropped, nurturing grudges from the other institutions against Heins Academy.

But there was nothing they could do about this phenomenon. Some sought to mitigate the damage by lobbying their governments to force nobles of their countries and allied nations to attend their academies instead of Heins Academy. However, the results were lackluster at best. Even if they succeeded, such forced enrollments would only amount to hollow victories and lowered academic outcomes.

Still, Heins Academy remained unbothered, unweathered by the increase in applicants. They had no hard feelings about the number of prospective students.

Meanwhile, Indra insisted on staying in middle earth to explore rather than returning to the Spirit World. Knowing he’d be keeping her in tow, Davey decided to visit Evangeline, who was still in recovery. Though her absurd growth spurts had subsided, she still occasionally experienced fevers and pain. Despite overcoming the worst, she would nonetheless struggle every now and then.

Davey was concerned about how he could possibly alleviate her discomfort. As he watched her innocent face and pondered, he noticed something strange—a faint, shimmering light near her neck.

[Interesting. She’s not human.]

"She’s my daughter."

[But… you’re human??]

"She’s still my daughter."

Evangeline was a legacy Eclipse left behind, the daughter of her and Hercules. Since he had vowed to protect her, she was also his daughter as well. Just as with Darian, he planned to raise Evangeline with all the love and care she deserved.

[But that light on her neck…]

"I know."

He could tell something had recently coalesced. The flow of energy that should’ve been actively circulating to fuel her power was now blocked at her neck, leaving it stagnant and unresponsive.

‘That wasn’t there a few moments ago.’

“There’s nothing wrong… Oh, though I suppose that could be part of it,” Davey muttered, glancing out the window at the sky.

The sun was setting, marking a time when vitality from the moon poured down with the most abundance. He suspected that excess vitality to be the thing interfering with her growth.

"I guess I really do have to make that decision soon…”

It seemed that he had to quickly figure out how to adjust the amount of vitality while ensuring it wouldn’t disrupt the energy flow of the worlds.

Later that night, Davey went down into the underground dungeon. Inside, he found a man collapsed on the floor trembling violently. Despite that disturbing state, he had no visible injuries.

The moment the man noticed Davey, his eyes widened in terror. He scrambled toward him on all fours, clutching desperately at his legs.

"I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything! Just please, get rid of those crazy rabbits!"

"It’s not really a priority anymore—I don't particularly care what you have to say.”

"Please! I’ll talk! Let me talk! Just get me out of this hell! Please, I’m begging you!"

Seeing the frantic pleading, Davey clapped his hands in satisfaction.

[Humans are truly cruel... I should be careful not to cross them…]

Indra muttered, glancing uneasily at Davey. Ignoring her comment, Davey flashed a smile.

"Alright then, start talking. Who sent you?"

"It... It was Duke Sharen of the Shan Kingdom!"

"Your mission?"

"That... That’s..."

"Killer Rabbits, come back here. Looks like he needs a little more motivation."

Kyu!!

At his command, several white rabbits with glowing red eyes emerged from the shadows. One of them, its muscles bulging as if on steroids, stepped forward and began mimicking squats in front of the assassin. The sight made the man turn pale as a ghost.

"Aaah! Go away! Get lost! I can’t take it anymore! Just kill me instead!"

As the man screamed in terror, Davey casually gestured for the rabbits to back off.

"Talk."

“It…”

“Hey, Kill—”

“I’ll talk! I’ll talk! It was an assassination! We were sent to assassinate a trainee!"

"Tadia, I assume?"

"How did you...?"

"It’s obvious. He can’t touch me, so he targeted Tadia instead—the one arguably responsible for ruining his son.”

Davey smiled in satisfaction, having finally received confirmation. Although he didn't have any actual evidence, he didn’t need any now that he knew who the culprit behind all of this was.

"Has the prisoner behaved so far?" Davey asked.

One of the Killer Rabbits blinked its glowing eyes and stepped forward.

[He’s an amusing human to train. His small frame will look great after just a bit of work!]

[Heeek! It talks!]

Indra gasped, as if she had seen something beyond comprehension. The Killer Rabbit turned its gaze toward her in response, only for Davey to wave it off.

"That’s not what I asked.”

[Oh. Right, right. He tried to escape earlier, saying something about fleeing to another country. I didn’t quite catch the meaning.]

As the Killer Rabbit answered in a low, abrasive voice, Davey narrowed his eyes.

"A quick thinker, isn’t he? Hey, Killer Rabbit."

[Yeah?]

"What do you suggest we do about him?"

[Does he need more punishment? Leave it to me. Give me a week, and I’ll have him completely reformed.]

He knew all too well what “reformation” entailed—their infamous muscle training.

"Any other options?"

The Killer Rabbit’s eyes gleamed mischievously.

[There is another way... You’ve even seen it before.]

ChubbyCheeks & FriedNook's Thoughts

Editorb’s Thoughts

For our younger readers, please remember that it is best to apply to many different colleges/schools/institutions in order to maximize your chances of a favorable outcome. If these students drop normal schools but don't get accepted to Heins Academy, they're pretty much screwed lol. Same with jobs—you gotta put yourself out there in order to seize the best opportunities. Don't be like me and get left with no backups ༎ຶ⁠‿⁠༎ຶ

Make sure everyone gets a chance to hear you

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!