Zandar began investigating the most powerful families in the universe.
Groups like these rarely appeared in the public eye.
Many people didn't even know they existed.
But for Zandar, looking into their backgrounds was nothing more than moving his fingers a little.
At the same time, Eric began using the system to recruit people everywhere.
Zandar pressed a hand to his forehead.
"All right, Eric. I know you're excellent, and I know your judgment won't be wrong, but could you at least look at their ages? Some of these kids haven't even finished growing their baby teeth! Hurry and send them back!"
After resolving that little incident, Zandar easily bypassed layers of security and browsed through the family members' information.
Each name was longer than the last.
Then he compared them to Eric's name...
It was far too perfunctory.
Zandar picked up a pen and paper and wrote down a long string of middle names with good meanings.
His pen paused briefly, leaving behind a dot of ink the size of a grain of rice.
After thinking for a long time, the scholar finally added his own surname, Kuwabara, to the end of his student's name.
Translated directly, the new name meant: holy, godlike, the greatest, eternal ruler.
Looking at the name, which totaled more than twenty characters, Zandar set down his pen with satisfaction.
Following these people's records, he found a school.
Several couples had been classmates there. They met, married, and had children.
Their children, who were the next generation of heirs, were exactly the right age for admission and were highly likely to attend this school.
The school wasn't particularly famous and had never appeared in any interstellar rankings.
It was located in the safest star system, had a long history, abundant campus activities, and excellent facilities.
The student council held real authority, organizing campus events and serving the students.
Graduates had established a dedicated trust fund for it. From the student council president down to ordinary members, everyone could receive compensation from it.
Zandar's eyes shifted slightly as he looked up at his student.
Eric sat across from him.
As usual, he held a notebook in his hands, recalling the weapons he had seen in games. Every so often, he picked up a fountain pen and wrote something down.
Inside were many concepts capable of overturning the universe and destroying planets.
Neither of them wanted to start a war, so none of those ideas had ever become reality. The corresponding technologies existed only in Eric's notes and on Zandar's drafts.
Zandar fell into thought.
Then he might as well study business alongside Eric.
Earn more Credits and establish a trust fund.
If his student ran into any difficult problems, he could also help answer them.
Zandar's gaze shifted.
In the corner beside the bookshelf lay manuscripts from who knew what year, papers that should have been thrown away long ago.
Pull out any one of them at random, and it would shake the universe and completely reshape the corresponding industry.
Better to keep them and exchange them for shares on Eric's behalf.
As for the other manuscripts, he'd make copies.
The originals would go into the system backpack, while the copied manuscripts would stay with Eric as a backup.
This wasn't because Zandar didn't trust his student.
On the contrary, he trusted Eric's abilities completely.
If Eric wanted to, he could get along with anyone.
Once he enrolled, he would definitely become close friends with his roommates.
But what about after graduation?
Connections were never maintained through old friendships alone.
Only continuous exchanges of value could preserve them over the long term.
Fortunately, his student saw things clearly enough. He would take the initiative to ask, to compete, and to seize opportunities.
He would make use of everything around him that could be used.
Just as he was thinking this, Eric suddenly looked up.
"Zandar, I have a guess..."
Zandar raised an eyebrow, encouraging his student to say it.
"That computer deliberately set limits... Could it be protecting humanity?" Eric said hesitantly. "Protecting humans... from exploring the true nature of the world."
Zandar's eyes widened instinctively before he let out a soft laugh.
"That's a very interesting guess."
No matter what the truth was...
No matter whether the world was real or false...
He had found the only truth in this world.
Next, he would turn the false into the real.
Even if the plan failed, Eric would still be there to deal with the Stellar Computer.
Zandar patiently guided him.
"Eric, there's one thing you need to remember."
"Aeons have no humanity. They don't care about humans."
"They look at us the same way humans look at ants. Do you care about the ants beneath your feet?"
"We can't use our own way of thinking to judge them."
Then he turned the screen toward his student.
"What do you think of this school?"
"There are more girls."
Eric understood Zandar's hint, and his expression became somewhat helpless.
Seeing that, the scholar hurriedly changed the subject.
"Perhaps their parents are afraid scenes from dramas will play out in real life?"
"They're afraid their daughters will fall in love with a man who has nothing and lives in poverty..."
"Most of them will date men of similar standing and get married after graduation."
The scholar coughed lightly before introducing the dormitory facilities instead.
"The school uses six-person dorms. You'll have your own bedroom, walk-in closet, and private bathroom, but the living room, kitchen, and study are shared with the other five."
"What kind of six-person dorm is that?" Eric complained while browsing the school's official website. "I don't have any requirements for the dorm itself. As long as there's one normal person living there, I'll be thanking heaven..."
Zandar thought to himself that heirs personally chosen by powerful families couldn't possibly be abnormal.
He didn't think much of it and casually reassured him.
"They're all perfectly normal. This school only made exceptions for students from certain planets. Everyone else grew up in very similar environments and was exposed to very similar cultures. You'll definitely get along."
Because of the existence of his creation, Zandar had come to resent receiving praise for his writings.
He had originally wanted to erase everything from his past.
But Eric still had to attend school.
Zandar also needed to gather more talented people, so he changed his mind halfway through.
He wrote a résumé and recommendation letter for his student and sent them to the school.
Just as he had expected, Eric was accepted.
His other five roommates were precisely the heirs of the families Zandar had investigated.
Zandar was very satisfied with this.
First, he accompanied Eric while they handed his luggage over to the butler for unpacking and room organization.
Then he accompanied him to try on school uniforms.
The school attached great importance to student appearance. The uniforms alone filled half a wardrobe.
It wasn't until dinner time was approaching that all the enrollment procedures were finally complete.
Eric looked at the badge engraved with his name.
His name contained a full twenty characters.
His gaze lingered briefly on the final two characters, Kuwabara, before he asked, "...Zandar, why is my name so long?"
Seeing that he hadn't asked about the surname at the end, Zandar felt warmth in his heart.
Keeping a straight face, he said, "Everyone else's names are long too."
No sooner had the scholar left than he received a communication.
Eric sounded utterly exhausted.
"There's not a single normal person here!"
Zandar: "..."
"Two of my roommates' horses started fighting. They spent half the night calming them down in the stable..."
Zandar: "..."
'As expected of a school chosen by the wealthy.'
Students could even bring horses to school.
It seemed he'd been too conservative.
He shouldn't have listened to Eric's suggestion. He shouldn't have brought eight suitcases.
He should have brought sixteen.
After hesitating for a moment, Zandar said, "I remember my teacher has some excellent horses..."
The student on the other end ignored him and kept complaining.
"Why does the school inspect our appearance?"
"I understand checking badges, ties, and tie clips, but why do they even inspect collar stays, collar pins, and shirt stays?"
Zandar looked puzzled.
"Shirt stays? Aren't those worn on your thighs? How do they inspect that?"
Eric gave a bitter smile.
"...The teachers made us take off our jackets and stretch."
"As long as one person in a dorm fails the inspection, all six have to go back and fix their uniforms..."
"It's six kilometers round trip between the academic building and the dorm..."
Zandar comforted his student.
"It's fine. Maybe next month they'll relax the standards."
"I hope so..." Eric sighed. "All right, lights-out is almost here. We can't keep talking. I need to check my uniform one more time before bed..."
Over the days that followed, the student never complained again.
Both he and Zandar had an extremely strong desire for control.
That need for control showed itself in every aspect of their lives.
Eric wouldn't even allow himself to remain trapped in negative emotions for long.
He had once lived in constant fear of death and had spent a long time overcoming it, so he treasured both his emotions and his time.
Speaking of life and death, he once told Zandar, "I don't want to leave behind any regrets."
"Even if I die..."
"I want to die completely fulfilled."
Eric kept the oath he had made with Zandar.
He allowed himself to make mistakes.
When entering fields he had never tried before, he had his own standards of judgment and never measured himself by other people's standards.
He protected both his body and his soul.
He maintained a regular routine, making sure to sleep at least eight hours every day.
He exercised regularly. Even when overwhelmed with work, he still made time to swim at least five days a week.
He always put himself first and protected his own emotional well-being.
If spending time with someone made him uncomfortable, he would gradually distance himself from them.
Zandar fully agreed with Eric's way of doing things.
He wasn't swayed by outside influences and never developed negative emotions after failing.
More accurately, he skipped the step where most people adjusted their emotions and went straight to reviewing what had happened with his companions.
To a small number of people...
These personality traits became the reason they disliked Eric.
They saw Eric's sense of deserving things as arrogance, conceit, and an excessive sense of superiority.
His unwavering will and determination were judged as self-centeredness.
His rare display of negative emotions was taken as proof that he lacked humanity and empathy.
Zandar believed these traits weren't flaws.
Eric, true to his name, was a natural leader who inspired confidence.
His student wasn't a psychologist, nor was he the father of his subordinates. Why did he need to empathize with everyone else?
Fortunately, most of the students had grown up in environments very similar to Eric's.
Only in front of a small minority might he become the thorn in someone's side.
What Zandar hadn't expected was that the teacher would actually call him to the school.
The school regularly reported students' situations to their guardians. But most students came from influential backgrounds, and their contacts were either butlers or family offices. Zandar was one of the few guardians who had a close personal relationship with a student.
Compared to formulaic, impersonal replies, the teacher preferred talking with Zandar, and even the camera used to record school activities favored Eric.
So after the incident, the teacher immediately explained everything to Zandar.
"It isn't anything serious."
"Eric fought three people by himself, and he won."
Worried, Zandar immediately put aside his research and headed for the school.
Besides worrying about his student's injuries, he also found the experience strangely novel.
He, Zandar, one of the greatest scholars in the universe, had actually been called in as a parent?
When Zandar arrived, the teacher was sitting around a round table drinking tea with five students.
The moment the scholar saw Eric, he instinctively asked, "Were you frightened?"
Eric raised an eyebrow.
"How could I be?"
Zandar looked him up and down several times. After confirming that Eric wasn't injured, he finally relaxed.
"Why did you fight?"
Eric answered as though it were only natural.
"Because I saw it happen, so I went to help him."
Zandar smiled.
"Next time, find somewhere without people or cameras before you do it."
The teacher beside them lowered his head and drank his tea as if he hadn't heard a thing.
Once the two finished catching up, the teacher set down his teacup and clapped his hands.
"All right, children. It's time to make up."
"Think about your families. Think about your companies' stock prices..."
"Normally, the proper thing would be for you to hug each other and exchange cheek kisses."
Only then did Zandar finally spare the others a glance.
When he saw one of the central figures in the incident, his expression immediately turned cold.
Eric frowned, openly resisting the idea.
The other students looked equally miserable.
The teacher smiled with satisfaction.
"Then a handshake will do."
The five of them kept straight faces as they took turns shaking hands, and the matter was settled.
The teacher kept Zandar behind.
Before leaving, Eric made himself completely at home by packing up two portions of desserts and drinks from the teacher's refrigerator.
Half an hour later, Zandar finished talking with the teacher and walked out of the office building.
His student was sitting upright on a bench by the roadside with another person.
Each of them held a dessert while chatting.
As Zandar approached, he heard Eric say, "Trust me. You'll definitely become an outstanding leader."
He paid no attention to the other person's reply and instead stepped forward.
"Eric, let's go."
Eric stood up as instructed, said goodbye to the other person, and quickly walked over to Zandar.
The two followed the road beneath the shade of the trees.
After several minutes, Zandar asked how the two had met.
The other person had picked up Eric's notebook.
Zandar stopped walking.
"He envies you."
"...Huh?" Eric looked confused, then joked half-seriously, "That's only natural. After all, my teacher is you."
The student clearly didn't want to continue the topic and only wanted to brush it aside.
"You're never serious." Zandar glanced at the person beside him before continuing. "I don't want to interfere with your decisions, but this kind of person has too strong a sense of purpose."
"He can admire you. He can be timid. He can be afraid. But he absolutely cannot envy you."
Eric didn't care.
He stepped forward and draped an arm over the scholar's shoulders.
"Come on, it's really not a big deal..."
Zandar remained unmoved and said with a cold smile, "There's a type of person who will feel burdened even after you've helped them. They'll deliberately paint you as the villain in their own mind and look for problems after they've already decided on the answer."
"They'll watch everything you say and do. They'll see your help as charity, your words as showing off, and secretly rejoice when you fall into hardship..."
Eric interrupted him.
"Will there ever be a day when I fall into hardship?"
Zandar answered instinctively.
"No."
As long as he was there, he would never let Eric end up in such a situation.
"All right, Zandar." The student lightly patted his shoulder. "Whether it's your judgment or what you saw in the system... I won't believe either."
"The system is just a tool we created. Compared to a tool..."
"I'd rather trust my own judgment."
Zandar looked at the young man before him.
That face was simply too young.
His features were gentle and looked completely non-threatening.
Once he entered society, people older than him would underestimate him because of that face.
Zandar sighed.
"Fine. Then let me give you one piece of advice. Ask him for something in return once in a while. Otherwise, he'll definitely come to resent you."
After having dinner with Eric, the scholar returned home.
He earned Credits and established a trust fund.
He gathered other geniuses together, and whenever they met, he brought Eric along and introduced him as his student.
He was paving the way for Eric.
Everyone understood what Zandar was doing, but no one pointed it out.
From then on, there was one more person included in their conversations.
One person said, "Zandar, that face of his only suits a cold expression or a smile. Any other expression makes him look..."
"Too easy to fool."
Another person offered Zandar a suggestion.
"Just have him wear accessories that make him look older. That'll solve the problem."
Zandar humbly asked, "What kind of accessories?"
The other person replied, "Gold-rimmed glasses? A ring? You could just copy the style of graduates from his school."
Zandar nodded repeatedly.
He had a black felt hat, a black suit, and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses custom-made for Eric.
Then he began choosing accessories.
Meanwhile, Eric began his colorful campus life.
He went deep-sea fishing with the roommate who had bought a yacht, sampled wine at another roommate's inherited winery, played golf, sailed, played polo... and occasionally traveled to other star systems on weekends.
When Zandar received a communication from Eric, he was worrying over a ring.
The heads of powerful families wore rings engraved with their family crests on their thumbs to display their authority and status.
Did he really need to design a family crest as well?
Zandar accepted the communication.
His student urged him to open a package.
It was a souvenir from live-fire training.
The scholar opened it.
Inside was a handful of spent shell casings.
Eric continued talking about what he had seen and experienced.
Zandar listened quietly before asking, "What color gemstone do you think looks the best?"
Without hesitation, Eric replied, "Blue gemstones look the best, but personally I like yellow diamonds more."
Zandar suddenly understood.
"You like carbon? I'm about to head to the laboratory. How much do you want?"
Eric fell silent before answering helplessly, "Yellow diamonds attract wealth."
Zandar: "..."
His feelings became extremely complicated.
His student couldn't possibly just want to marry money, could he?
Filled with worry, Zandar ended the call.
Considering that men's rings weren't suited to being overly flashy or elaborate, he ultimately chose a single rectangular-cut yellow diamond.
As time passed, Eric was about to graduate.
The custom-made items Zandar had ordered gradually arrived at the house.
The accessories remained unopened and, together with their gift boxes, were placed in the drawer beneath the wardrobe.
As for the clothes, Zandar personally hung them inside the wardrobe.
Looking at the suit before him, the sense of satisfaction welling up in his chest made it impossible for him to suppress his smile.
May this gift make Eric appear steadier and more trustworthy.
May this gift accompany Eric through many more important moments in his life.
May his student...
Obtain everything he wishes for, and may every road he walks become smooth.
That was what Zandar wished.
With a smile on his face, he slowly closed the wardrobe door.
Unfortunately, the greatest scholar in the universe couldn't foresee the future.
Until the day he died, he never had the chance to personally give this gift away.
And by the time he saw Eric again...
Eric no longer needed it.