NOVEL NEXT chapter 17
17
After a night’s rest, the three quickly resumed their journey.
During their travels in the day they would kill monsters for leveling up and huddle together for warmth at night. Occasionally when they came across small towns they would go in for some fun – life was good indeed.
After over a month of long journeying, the trio finally arrived at their destination.
“Brother, is that the Royal Academy?” Mia asked, pointing at the massive clock tower ahead.
The clock tower was resplendent and noble, shining like a luminous temple under the sun’s rays.
Gu Ming replied, “It should be. Let’s go.”
“Got it.”
When they arrived at the entrance of the academy, a man in school uniform blocked their path and said, “Show your student IDs.”
Gu Ming responded calmly but firmly, “We don’t have student IDs yet. We’re here to enroll today.”
“Do you have admission letters?”
“Yes.”
“Let me see them.”
Gu Ming pulled out three admission letters from his pocket and handed them to the guard.
After carefully inspecting them and confirming there were no issues, he returned them to Gu Ming and said,”Do you see that clock tower?”
Gu Ming nodded. The guard continued,”You can complete your enrollment procedures there.”
“Alright. Thank you.”
Just as Gu Ming stepped through the entrance gate something seemed to occur to him; he turned back towards the guard.
“Hey brother, among the students who enrolled this year, is there one named Leo?”
The guard seemed not to hear, completely ignoring Gu Ming’s words.
Seeing no response, Gu Ming resorted to his trump card, stealthily pulling out a gold coin from his backpack and slipping it into the guard’s hand.
The guard hurriedly pushed the coin back, righteously refusing, “The academy has rules against disclosing student information. Do I look like someone who can be bribed, huh?”
Undeterred, Gu Ming slowly added nine more gold coins to his palm and offered them again.
The guard scanned the surroundings, and in a matter of seconds, with lightning speed, he completed the motions of receiving, grasping, stuffing, and withdrawing.
After the series of actions, the guard hooked his arm around Gu Ming’s shoulder with a smile, “Brother, you’ve asked the right person. There’s nothing in this academy that Rand doesn’t know. You want to know if there’s a Leo here? I can tell you for sure, there isn’t, absolutely not. But I wouldn’t doubt there are those who enrolled under a false name.”
Gu Ming pondered for a moment. According to the plot, the brave Leo enrolling under a false name seemed unlikely, and unnecessary.
Having obtained the answer he sought, Gu Ming inquired about various other matters within the academy. Rand’s intelligence was indeed impressive, providing answers to all of Gu Ming’s questions. However, when Gu Ming asked if any royalty had enrolled, the guard’s demeanor changed, and he began his crooked spiel, “I can’t say. The academy has rules, and do I look like that kind of person…”
While Rand was still boasting, Gu Ming took out ten more gold coins and handed them over.
After another quick scan of the surroundings, Rand’s poker face instantly transformed into a respectful smile towards Gu Ming, “Big brother, you have a keen eye (^_^). Let me tell you, you’ve asked the right person. There’s indeed a rumor that a royal princess is enrolling. Have you heard about the princess? She’s a beauty, fair-skinned, pretty, and tall. Marrying her would be the pinnacle of life…”
With the information he wanted, Gu Ming walked towards the two women.
Not long after Gu Ming had left, Rand called out from behind, “Take care, big brother. Come visit us often.”
Gu Ming paid no attention, his mind occupied with the recent events. In the original story, the princess was supposed to enroll in school with Leo. But now, for some reason, she had enrolled early. Did this mean that Leo might also have enrolled early? This thought gradually raised a sense of crisis in Gu Ming.
On the stairs, Mia called out to Gu Ming,
“Brother, hurry up!”
“I’m coming.”
Gu Ming jogged over to join the two girls and they headed towards registration together.
…
“Hello, we’re here for enrollment.”
Gu Ming handed over their admission notices to a staff member at the front desk. After reading through them, Sherry smiled and said,
“No problem at all. Please follow me.”
Sherry led them into a room where a huge crystal caught everyone’s eye.
“You three need to register your abilities by placing your hands on this crystal ball,” she instructed.
Mia was first up and placed her hand on it. Soon after, blue alien words appeared on it (Tier 3).
Sherry was stunned; she hadn’t expected this young girl who looked even younger than herself to possess almost equal power as her own – especially considering Mia had claimed she was only fifteen during registration!
Before Sherry could recover from her shock though,Tina’s hand was already on the crystal ball which then flashed dazzling red light along with more text (Tier 3).
Now Sherry was completely flabbergasted; while Tier 3 warriors and mages were common in this academy, none of them had registered as such!
When it came Gu Ming’s turn he deliberately suppressed his magic power and cell activity level.
However when “Tier 5” appeared in large letters on the crystal ball he felt like he’d been hit hard – making him sigh slightly – but then remembered that whoever made this crystal ball must have been a Tier 7 mage so felt somewhat relieved.
Sherry’s pen dropped from her hand and she stood there dumbfounded. It wasn’t really her fault though; a Tier 5 at the start of school was unheard of – even the strongest student in the academy was only Tier 5. More importantly, this ‘cheating’ Gu Ming turned out to be a red-blue intersecting magic swordsman, which was just too invincible.
After finishing his test, Gu Ming was immediately surrounded by the two girls,
“Brother, you’re so amazing! You’ve reached Tier 5!”
Gu Ming humbly said,
“Well, it’s alright, just so-so.”
Regaining her composure, Shi Li heard Gu Ming’s words and couldn’t help but silently criticize in her heart,
“Just so-so? If you call that ‘just so-so,’ then what am I? Do I even have a place to live?”
After her silent rant, Shi Li, with a smile brimming on her face, said to everyone,
“Please follow me, I’ll show you around the campus.”
Normally, campus tours aren’t guided, but the strength displayed by Gu Ming and her companions was truly astonishing. Shi Li thought it worthwhile to foster a good relationship with them.
“Look, this is our institute’s academic building. You’ll have classes here according to the schedule. Of course, since warriors and mages learn different things, our school’s curriculum isn’t mandatory for every class. For example, a mage can choose to attend only mage classes or also warrior classes, and vice versa.”
Shi Li then involuntarily glanced at Gu Ming, the aberrant magic swordsman. A magic swordsman is a warrior-mage whose magical essence and cellular activity have reached the same tier. For instance, if Gu Ming’s magical essence tested higher than her cellular activity on the crystal ball, only the blue of the magical essence would show.
The profession of a magic swordsman is exceedingly rare. To achieve it, one must train in both magic and combat, which requires twice the effort of an ordinary person. Moreover, training in both can lead to being a jack of all trades but master of none. For example, a typical warrior needs only to learn physical techniques and one type of elemental magic, whereas a magic swordsman must master physical techniques and at least three different types of elemental magic. Moreover, advancing in both magical essence and cellular activity in tandem is incredibly challenging, deterring countless aspirants. Of course, the advantages are clear: a magic swordsman possesses the power of a mage and the agility of a warrior, akin to a hexagonal fighter, capable of both offense and defense.
What Shi Li didn’t know was that Gu Ming was not actually a magic swordsman but a summoner, one who could perform dimensional summons.
—