Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 459 - 97. Special Treatment

Chapter 459: 97. Special Treatment

Baizhu Star, surface, Trevela, City Council Hall.

A pale blue Ice Crystal Beetle slowly settled in front of the door. This expensive and rare mount was a symbol of High Mages, attracting many bystanders to stop and watch. For the usually deserted City Council, it was like a bomb had gone off.

All the government officials stopped their work and hurried downstairs to greet the man who alighted from the Ice Crystal Beetle. His gray Ministry of Education uniform seemed especially eye-catching at this moment.

"Professor Atkez, what brings you here all of a sudden?!"

Mayor Mengfeir Wellan hurried forward from a distance, with a big smile plastered on his face:

"You didn’t even say a word, I didn’t have the chance to clean up for you. Come to my office, I have a batch of Narrative-level Civilization tea there—"

"Let’s put the tea aside for the moment,"

Atkez waved his hand and, led by Mengfeir, went straight to a private office. He dismissed the servants and secretary and set up a soundproof barrier. After making sure everything was correct, he began:

"Mayor Mengfeir, I’ll get straight to the point—I am here on an urgent matter that Minister Balkmon entrusted you to complete."

Mengfeir’s eyelid twitched, and his eyebrows furrowed slightly as he tentatively asked:

"Could it be about the previous issue with the ’Adventurous Saintess’...?"

"Vellia’s issue is no longer important. Currently, we have no idea what the situation with the Eye of the Galaxy is. Please cooperate with our Ministry of Education to do proper ideological propaganda. Encourage young Spellcasters to ready for war and actively organize workshop leaders for tactical training."

Atkez slightly modified his wording. Balkmon’s original words were to select elites from the students to prepare for the future wars, but Atkez felt that this would bring a great negative impact, as the students were still young with bright futures ahead and lacked the psychological resilience of mature Spellcasters on the battlefield.

Even though he had softened the wording, Mayor Mengfeir’s face immediately turned ashen.

"Father of Crystal!" Mengfeir said in panic: "Have we been defeated? What should we do now."

"Calm down, Your Honor Mayor, it is now the Interstellar Era, and losing one war will not determine the destruction of an entire civilization. If we can’t win one hundred times, then we fight for another hundred years; the cosmos has all the time."

Atkez reassured him, injecting a dose of encouragement while continuing:

"Were you reporting on a student named ’Leoz’ before?"

"Right, you remember him. That boy truly is a genius. It’s not like there aren’t people who can score full marks in five minutes, but they are all Transcendents of the Zeta Rank, yet Leoz is just a mortal of Gamma Rank."

Mengfeir’s mood visibly relaxed a lot as he spoke, and his tone became more cheerful:

"It’s just a pity that the committee adjusted him to Baizhu Interstellar University. Might it be better if he was transferred to headquarters?"

"That’s good the way it is. The mother star is strict and the academic atmosphere is stagnant; our place is most suitable," Atkez nodded. "Right, I remember, weren’t you going to promote this student?"

"Of course! A poor farmer from the backwoods, who changes his fate and creates a future for himself through exams—isn’t that the best promotional material? If it was in the Night Butterfly Federation, it would surely make many poor Outcasts envious."

As Mengfeir spoke, he clapped his hands excitedly. Under his administration, Trevela managed to nurture such an outstanding student, which he saw as a great blessing. Putting resources to good use would definitely score him political points.

"We even plan to give Leoz a special scholarship. I’ve had the secretary arrange an interview already. Later on, we’ll make a documentary and promote it. Regardless of the future, he can serve as the best role model now. Next year, White Rainbow Star will surely receive high praise from the Supreme Council and get more financial allocations..."

However, Atkez’s next words shattered Mengfeir’s beautiful dream.

"That being the case, cancel his special treatment."

Atkez said gravely:

"Leoz’s situation is very sensitive. Don’t let outsiders know his identity. Downplay his identity and achievements. The Minister requires us to treat each student fairly and justly."

"But Leoz’s emergence can make many families value education even more—"

"Mayor Mengfeir," Atkez pointed outside the window. "Leoz is related to ’that’..."

Confused, Mengfeir looked in the direction Atkez was pointing.

He saw a statue of a deity.

Mengfeir’s head buzzed, and cold sweat instantly appeared on his forehead.

"So that’s how it is..." He wiped it away with a handkerchief, his voice unnaturally stressed: "If it concerns the Deities, then secrecy is indeed not too much."

"Leoz might be a naturally bestowed deity, a sensitive matter in our times. It’s best not to talk about it," Atkez sighed. "We didn’t let him go to the mother star because of his identity. This is a complex issue, so you need to handle it lightly. Have the Public Relations Department take action to downplay Leoz’s deeds as much as possible. I will take care of it in the schools—All in all, don’t let people realize that there’s a ’deity’ among us."

Sometimes, the innocent is not at fault, but possession of the gem invites jeopardy. No one knows if Leoz’s current situation might attract some ill-intentioned forces. This will require observation over time.

On the other hand, Leoz’s mysterious identity and formidable strength would definitely become very troublesome once they were fully exposed.

The elders of the Crystal Tower didn’t want to give up on studying and observing the Deities, nor did they want Leoz to stir up trouble, so they decided it would be better to just cozy up to Leoz, stabilize his emotions, and downplay his existence—that would be sufficient.

"Understood, I’ll have the interviews and reports about Leoz canceled immediately, and the public opinion institutions will start working right away to ensure that the people in Leoz’s hometown remain unaware of his exam results," Mengfeir thought quickly and immediately came up with a solution.

Atkez also breathed a sigh of relief:

"That’s good, over at the school, I will forge and conceal information to lower his level of prominence."

Unfortunately, he was not very familiar with Baizhu Interstellar University. This school was not accountable to the Education Department but was directly governed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Minister Balkmon believed that as long as Leoz didn’t come into contact with the political figures of the Crystal Tower, everything would be fine. After all, most of those arriving here were foreigners, which suited the situation perfectly.

What Atkez could do was only to use the adjustment system to alter Leoz’s grades to above average.

’But anyway, they’re all students from foreign nations, language and cultural barriers exist, Leoz being there shouldn’t cause any issues.’

All the countries sent their elite and noble students, which, given these individuals’ backgrounds and cultivation, should be quite beneficial to Leo. They could significantly broaden the boy’s horizons.

......................

Li Aozi’s return to campus went smoothly, with stops along the way that made the journey more like a leisurely tour.

He was entitled to such ease. Beforehand, he had researched the media news, and the light and breezy scenery calmed Li Aozi’s heart.

"It seems Baizhu’s Bureau of Education plans to downplay my identity."

Not only that, when Li Aozi opened his personal terminal and searched for news about himself in the interstellar space, he found that the articles and videos related to ’Leoz’ + ’Valenkov’ were rapidly decreasing. Instead, a bunch of unknown influencers with the same name dominated the content under the name ’Leoz’.

As a broadcaster, Li Aozi was very clear about what this indicated: restriction of reach.

Unlike the network technology on Azure Star, which essentially relied on archaeology, the Layer Abyss boasted advanced and comprehensive virtual network services. It was too easy to control public opinion. Even genuine historical tragedies could be buried directly in dangerous and deadly deep-collapse belts, making it absurdly difficult to find buried truths through the network—as hard as finding them near a black hole.

"Hmm... in the short term, this is a good thing. It seems like Baizhu has suppressed news about me. Are they planning on keeping me safe?"

To verify his guess, Li Aozi took out his seldom-used Information Rune, connected to the planetary network, and checked his school’s educational network.

When Li Aozi searched for his enrollment information, a message promptly popped up, indicating[Suspected Privacy Violation, Disclosure Not Permitted].

"I can’t even check my own enrollment information—interesting. It seems the upper echelons of Baizhu truly value me."

Li Aozi stroked his disguised chin as he pondered:

"What advantage do I have on me?"

"Or is it that Baizhu really lacks talents? Has the situation at the front lines become so dire that they need to send someone of unknown origins into the fray?"

"No matter how I think about it, Baizhu Interstellar University is a university that showcases the strength of the Crystal Tower Civilization to its allies—my school life should still be relatively safe."

Li Aozi actually had a relatively good impression of the Crystal Tower Civilization. After all, in this war, the Crystal Tower had a bit more righteousness, and dealing with monotheistic civilizations like the Night Butterfly Federation didn’t align with Li Aozi’s style of conducting affairs. In a universe where inclusivity and diversity were the mainstream, sticking to that notion was seriously outdated.

Li Aozi leisurely enjoyed his trip, engaging in sightseeing and reveling in nature. Suddenly remembering something, he casually sent the news of his successful matriculation to the other members of the Aid Study Society.

First to his better acquaintance, Cadfy.

"What? Brother Leoz, you’ve already been admitted?"

"Yes, I have classes the day after tomorrow."

"That’s wonderful, I’ve already contacted Miti and the others, everyone’s results have come in, let’s go out and celebrate properly, shall we?"

"Let’s not... I don’t like places with too many people."

"Ah, come on, there won’t be many. It’ll just be us from the Aid Study Society, everyone’s busy with studying and the start of term, so not many will make it."

Li Aozi thought it over; this was part of the college experience, so he agreed:

"Alright, then."

"Great! I’ll add you to our new group chat. The last one got reported for sharing risqué images and political spam."