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

“Starry Sanctum? The name sounds pretty impressive, but the place itself… honestly, it’s pretty disappointing,” Alan blurted out instinctively, giving his frank assessment.

Blanche’s brows immediately knitted together.

“Mind your words!” she snapped. “This place was once one of Sirius Academy’s most important sanctums. Even if it has fallen into decay now, I won’t allow you to disrespect it, not even half a word!”

“Alright, alright, I won’t say anything more,” Alan said hastily, raising both hands in a gesture of surrender.

Blanche sighed heavily and rubbed her forehead before composing herself again. Her voice grew serious.

“I’m not joking with you, Alan. Back in the day, Sirius Academy’s glory was something even Lioncrest Academy could not hope to rival. When we spoke of ‘a sky filled with shining stars,’ it wasn’t just poetic fantasy—it was our reality.”

Alan smiled slightly, then pointed toward a ruin covered in moss and creeping ivy.

“Senior, it’s not that I don’t want to believe you. It’s just… standing here, in front of this wreckage, it’s really hard to feel convinced.”

Blanche’s eyes lowered, her earlier pride giving way to a faint sadness.

“You’re right,” she admitted quietly. “But what I said is still true. The name ‘Sirius Academy’ once resounded across the entire Plantagenet Kingdom…”

Alan looked puzzled.

“If the Academy used to have that much influence, then how did it end up… like this?” he asked, struggling to find a tactful way to put it.

“Arrogance,” Blanche answered through gritted teeth, a mixture of bitterness and helplessness flashing in her eyes.

“Arrogance? I don’t see anything particularly arrogant about our Academy now…” Alan replied, genuinely puzzled.

Blanche shook her head.

“What you’re seeing is the Academy as it is today. You know nothing about what it was back then.”

“In those days,” she continued, her voice tinged with nostalgia and regret, “the arrogance of Sirius Academy was beyond anything you could easily comprehend. Let me give you an example to illustrate.”

“You know about the Charlie royal family, right? The one that’s immensely powerful nowadays?”

Alan immediately thought of the third princess he had met in Ironblood City, as well as Emperor Denken, who had recently stepped forward to mediate a public dispute.

Whether in terms of temperament or strength, the Charlie royal family certainly carried an overwhelming presence.

Their dominance wasn’t just the result of royal privilege—it was the natural manifestation of their sheer power.

Seeing the glimmer of understanding in Alan’s eyes, Blanche continued.

“Back then, even the mighty Charlie royal family had to bow their heads to us. They clung to Sirius Academy like vassals, answering our summons at a moment’s notice. We treated them like younger siblings, commanding them at will!”

“What?!” Alan couldn’t help but gasp in disbelief.

Treating a royal family like subordinates?

The kind of arrogance Sirius Academy had displayed back then was almost unimaginable.

Yet even amidst the shock, Alan keenly picked up on another point. He frowned slightly and asked,

“Senior, if the Academy behaved that way, wouldn’t they have made a lot of enemies among the other powers? Especially the royals—there’s nothing they hate more than being overshadowed.”

Blanche nodded heavily.

“You’re quick to catch on. You’re absolutely right. Many forces harbored deep resentment against Sirius Academy back then because of how high-handed and domineering we were.

But none of that mattered at the time, because the Academy had the power to silence any opposition.”

“The real disaster—the blow that truly crippled Sirius Academy—was not from external resentment, but from within.”

“It was the departure of a single student.”

Alan’s curiosity was thoroughly piqued now.

“Who?” he asked instinctively.

Blanche met his gaze steadily, speaking each word with deliberate clarity.

“Robert.”

“What?! Robert was once a student of Sirius Academy?” Alan exclaimed, stunned by this revelation.

“Why didn’t he stay, then?” Alan pressed, puzzled. “Why would someone like Robert choose to leave?”

Blanche clenched her fists tightly, her voice trembling with frustration.

“Perhaps Robert had already seen the fatal flaw within Sirius Academy. Or maybe he simply couldn’t bear the Academy’s way of doing things back then.”

“Gayle must have told you, right?

Years ago, Sirius Academy and Lioncrest Academy clashed in a great battle.

The situation was much the same as today: while the mighty elders stood aloof, it was the young students who fought each other, wagering their very lives.”

“And the result?” Blanche’s voice grew bitter.

“Lioncrest Academy achieved a sweeping victory. As for Sirius… it was nothing short of a massacre. Corpses littered the fields, and the Academy suffered devastating losses.”

“After that battle, Robert lost all hope in Sirius Academy.

He turned and left without looking back.”

Alan stood frozen in place, even though he was merely hearing Blanche’s account secondhand.

He could still vividly feel the chilling weight of that catastrophe, the sheer tragedy of it.

No wonder “pride” ranks first among the Seven Deadly Sins as decreed by the gods.

Whether for an individual, a group, or an entire nation, once consumed by pride, destruction follows swiftly and ruthlessly.

Alan clenched his fists silently, making a firm vow to himself:

No matter how strong I become, I must never fall into arrogance.

Staying humble is not just a way to avoid trouble—it’s the most basic respect one can offer to the world.

“Alright,” Blanche said at last, wiping the corner of her eye and forcing a smile.

“We’ve talked enough about the past.

It’s time for me to show you the compensation.”

She turned briskly and walked toward the heart of the Starry Sanctum.

Alan hurried after her.

After passing through a set of worn, grand doors, they entered a vast and solemn hall.

The hall’s perimeter was lined with twelve ancient steles, each engraved with the image of a fantastical creature.

However, the passage of countless years had rendered the carvings and inscriptions difficult to make out, shrouding them in layers of dust and mystery.

Blanche approached one of the steles, brushing away the thick coating of dust with her hand.

Turning back to Alan, she said:

“These are the Twelve Zodiac Steles.

They depict fantastical creatures, each representing one of the twelve zodiac signs.”

“But these creatures weren’t mere fantasy,” she added with a serious look.

“They truly existed once.

However, because their destructive potential was so overwhelming, the gods themselves intervened, dissolving them into the purest form of energy—Origin Mana.”

“In the past,” Blanche continued, her voice growing lighter with a touch of reverence,

“every year, emissaries from the Sacred Realm of Astra would come here to decipher the inscriptions on the steles.”

“Once they completed their deciphering, the mana they extracted would be shared with the students of Sirius Academy.”

“And this,” she said with emphasis, “was one of the main reasons why Sirius Academy grew so invincible and proud.”

“The Origin Mana born from these creatures was simply too powerful.”

Alan’s eyes widened in awe as he turned to examine the worn steles more closely.

But then, a question surfaced in his mind.

“If it’s that important, why don’t the Sacred Realm emissaries come here anymore?”

Blanche smiled bitterly.

“Because Sirius Academy… no longer has students strong enough to withstand the Origin Mana.”

“And if we were to expose these steles recklessly now,” she added, “it would surely spark major unrest.”

“In the end, after weighing all considerations, the emissaries decided it wasn’t worth the risk.”

“Besides,” she said with a light shrug, “the Zodiac Steles aren’t unique to Sirius Academy.

They exist in other places across the world too.

The emissaries can study them wherever they like—it makes little difference.”

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