Chapter 283: Gossiping Roommates
“I’m back~”
Pushing open the villa I hadn’t returned to for a long time, after sleeping in a tent until my back ached, I ultimately missed my big bed.
I checked the time; today was quite eventful at the academy. The students were watching the excitement, while the teachers had to discern the underlying details.
The extraordinary witches who understood the situation naturally knew what had happened today. It was the day another Great Spellbook was born at the Witch Academy in the main world!
At the same time, it was also the most intense moment of attack from outside the world. Let’s not forget that there is a race of Abyss Demons lurking outside the world, ready to pounce. It can be said that, taking advantage of the phenomenon surrounding the birth of the Great Spellbook, the Abyss Demons had made new moves.
It could be said that the days ahead in the main world wouldn’t be peaceful.
Moreover, defending against external enemies naturally couldn’t rely on just one academy head. Many extraordinary witches had also voluntarily followed Headmaster Mei Linde’s lead; even if they were just going to lend a hand, they wanted to make an appearance.
Additionally, the headmaster had just completed the creation of a Great Spellbook, which carried significant reference value.
At the Witch Academy, numerous extraordinary witches dedicated their lives to the study of Great Spellbooks.
Perhaps they didn’t necessarily want to create a Great Spellbook.
Because through the study of Extraordinary Knowledge, one could also derive a plethora of spell models, and it was even possible for original spell sequences to emerge.
However, none of this concerned me, nor did it concern any of the other students at the academy. When the sky falls, there is always a tall person to hold it up, and the headmaster is the tallest of them all.
Right now, I only knew that once I truly began to slow the rhythm of my life, I already had countless things to do.
And this required a very clear plan for my life.
The previous plan, which felt like child’s play, was indeed not able to keep up with my new pace. I had to truly start a new life as I had previously intended, making new friends along the way.
Entering the door, I thought that the villa would be like before, with them gathering downstairs at night. However, it seemed I was overthinking it.
The only one here to welcome me was the intelligent butler, Little Cattle Horse, resembling a floor-cleaning robot.
Upon seeing it, I thought of this energy-consuming household item. Subconsciously, I checked how much magic power the villa had left; it was still in the three-digit range, so I replenished some.
Perhaps I was the only one in the newbie phase who dared to squander magic power like this in this villa.
“Little Cattle Horse, where are they?” I knocked on top of Little Cattle Horse to ask.
“They’re in the bedroom.”
Little Cattle Horse succinctly answered my question but didn’t provide any further information, as that would likely involve personal privacy.
I didn’t expect them to be in the bedroom; I thought they had gone out partying.
Just as I prepared to close the door, a figure appeared at the doorstep.
“Hmm? Xiao Han? You’re back?”
A surprised voice rang out at the door. I recognized this voice very well; looking up, it was Yu Yatian.
However, as soon as I raised my head, my pupils shook!
The girl before me was wearing a black outfit that resembled a nun’s dress, devoid of the cheap plastic feel of a cosplay costume. The white base color provided a strong visual contrast with the black fabric.
The overall design was bold and avant-garde, with a tight-fitting top covering a somewhat meager chest, and the high-slit skirt revealing glimpses of her bare legs under the hallway light.
“Ah? Yu Yatian… what is this?” I looked at Yu Yatian in disbelief. After just a few days apart, she was bold enough to wear this?
Had she already been led astray by those in the dormitory, sinking into a corrupt lifestyle with them?
“Oh, it’s the uniform issued by the new club I joined. I should have mentioned that my original club was disbanded, right? I joined this club with a senior who is also a recluse. As it stands… aside from the clothing being rather breezy, everything else is fine.”
Yu Yatian explained to me in quite a matter-of-fact manner.
“Uh… it is quite breezy.”
“I don’t care about how others see me; that’s how recluses are. Moreover, since I’ve become a girl, I accept reality and experience different lives. On this point, Sister Xiao Han, you should see it more clearly than I do.”
Yu Yatian closed the door and changed her shoes, and at this moment, she seemed to have completely embraced her identity as a girl, carrying this behavior through various details. I could hardly find any evidence that she had once been a boy.
“By the way, I heard you went to the Witch Secret Realm for some kind of trial, so, Sister Xiao Han, you must have made great progress, right?”
“Huh? Why the sudden question?”
“Just curious. Today, the academy’s online forums are buzzing with discussions about the strange occurrences in the academy. I noticed a lot of people pointing fingers at you, so I was a bit curious.”
“You noticed it too?” I rubbed my forehead, feeling helpless.
“Well, I’m not a caveman; I can use a phone. So… are you okay, Sister Xiao Han?”
“Of course I’m fine. But enough about me; what have you been up to lately, Yu Yatian? I feel like I don’t really know what you guys do normally.”
“Me? Well, I attend classes, and when I don’t have class, I go to the library to read. I know so little about the extraordinary world and extraordinary powers; I need to learn a lot of common knowledge on my own, and the classes on extraordinary theoretical knowledge are way too general.”
“I didn’t expect you to be so diligent.”
“Not too bad. Most students who can get into the Witch Academy possess some abilities, and they know what they need. Also, Sister Xiao Han, you might be underestimating the impact of new students like you. It’s not just you, but also Tan Han and others who have pushed many people into a frenzy of competition.”
“Everyone’s competing, huh… alright, alright.”
I shook my head with a smile. I had just planned to relax, only to find others beginning to compete. I hoped they wouldn’t end up causing any problems.
While Yu Yatian and I were chatting awkwardly downstairs, there were also movements upstairs at this moment.
“Who’s back? Is it Hong Chanyi? My food… hmm? Xiao Han… sister?”
“Hi~ Dongli Yiren, it’s been a while. How have you been?” I looked up and smiled at Dongli Yiren, realizing that Little Cattle Horse had meant her when it mentioned they were in the bedroom.
At this moment, Dongli Yiren was wearing loose pajamas and held a pen, but upon seeing me, she seemed to think of something and dashed back into her room.
“What’s up with her?” I turned to Yu Yatian to ask.
“I’m not too sure. Dongli Yiren has been quite diligent these days; she’s been growing some plants and flowers on the top floor. She mentioned that it was you who guided her…”
“Oh~”
I nodded. It seemed that Dongli Yiren had undergone quite a transformation. After recognizing her situation, she had found such motivation.
Before long, Dongli Yiren re-emerged from the bedroom, holding several notebooks in her hands.
“Uh… Sister Xiao Han, this… I’ve taken notes in this notebook, here you go…”
“You can keep it; there’s no need to return it. Just keep it as a memento.” I waved my hand, stating that this was something that would just gather dust if it came to me.
“What’s the situation with you two?”
“Well, it’s like this…”
“I realized what I want to do, and Sister Xiao Han helped me borrow some notes,” Dongli Yiren explained to Yu Yatian before I could speak, “So, given that, I’ll be keeping these notebooks for now.”
“Okay, as you wish.” I nodded. Seeing how seriously Dongli Yiren was treating these notebooks indicated that they were quite enlightening for her.
“By the way, Dongli Yiren, I just wanted to ask if you have any interest in doing some part-time work at the plantation… You might come into contact with many rare extraordinary plants.”
“Plantation?”
Dongli Yiren quickly grasped the core keywords from my sudden question.
“Yes, it’s the place within the Witch Academy that specifically cultivates extraordinary plants. It’s quite large and labor-intensive. There are aspects where spells may fall short…”
“I got it; I’ll check it out when I have time.” It was clear that Dongli Yiren had her own plans.
Seeing her like this, I didn’t want to impose any decisions on her and was relieved I hadn’t mentioned to Sofiry that I would recommend Dongli Yiren for the job.
However, at this moment, compared to these trivial matters, they were much more interested in my sudden return and the big fuss I had stirred up today.
I briefly recounted what happened in the secret realm to them. Of course, I skipped over the parts that couldn’t be disclosed. They listened with great interest, especially regarding the Fool Dream race, being very curious about this new intelligent existence apart from humans they had encountered.
As for the other races at other academies, I began to vaguely notice that they didn’t seem particularly concerned about these racial changes and still considered themselves human, merely believing that their extraordinary powers allowed them to present themselves differently to others.
This mindset, or more accurately, this notion, might be a concept constantly impressed upon them since birth; they perhaps felt that everything was reasonable, while I found it awkward, especially regarding colleges that host inferior demons.
And there were many such colleges. The fact that they could still rake in a large number of students was quite indicative of an issue.
“And then? What happens to those Fool Dreams? With the secret realm collapsing, don’t they have nowhere to go?”
“Exactly… Sister Xiao Han, you really neglect the people’s affairs; the explosion of the secret realm is really related to you, right?”
“Wait… Hong Chanyi? When did you come back?” At this moment, Dongli Yiren also noticed that another person had appeared here, “Didn’t you bring me food?”
“Ah, of course I did! How could I neglect the starving Dongli Yiren waiting for my feeding in the dorm? I wouldn’t forget to bring it!” Hong Chanyi revealed a bag of neatly packed food.
“Now that’s more like it.” Dongli Yiren took the lunch box and quietly waited for my response.
“Sister Xiao Han, you still haven’t said what will happen to those Fool Dreams.”
“Sauté them, I guess~ But I do know some inside information.” I began to speak.
“What inside information?”
“Those Fool Dreams may appear in the Witch Academy in another form. I heard that the headmaster personally steps in to reshape their bodies, so there’s a possibility we might meet them at the academy.”
“Really? I’m looking forward to it!”
“By the way, Sister Xiao Han, since you’ve returned from the secret realm, should you bubble up in the group to confirm your return? After all, you’re the nominal class leader of our Class 14!”
“Um… that probably isn’t necessary.” I looked at Hong Chanyi. Although I said that, my hands instinctively opened my phone; at this moment, the class group and the mutual assistance group were beyond what ‘explosive’ could describe; saying they were ‘busy’ would actually seem conservative.
“If Sister Xiao Han doesn’t want to get into trouble, just leave it all to me. I can share your situation in the class group. I think everyone in the class will be very interested in this.”
“I’m fine; just don’t embellish it too much.” I waved my hand. I naturally wouldn’t fuss too much about Hong Chanyi’s fondness for gossip and chatting in the group. Even though she took a picture of me when school just started, I didn’t mind, considering it a way to promote their understanding of me.
However, speaking of understanding between classes, they always keep learning about me, but it seemed I had never taken the initiative to learn about them.
Days passed, and the buzz on the academy’s online forums gradually subsided. Everyone waited for the release of the person responsible for the incident following the collapse of the Witch Secret Realm.
In the end, they only received the announcement that Headmaster Mei Linde had successfully created a Great Spellbook. Unfortunately, this announcement didn’t raise much of a stir, as quite a few people in the Witch Academy didn’t know what the Great Spellbook represented, and some didn’t even know such a thing existed. Even the seniors who had a slight understanding clearly realized they had no qualification to obtain such a Great Spellbook.
During these past few days, I had thoroughly relaxed, although it wasn’t a matter of completely lying flat and doing nothing. Instead, I began to carefully plan my upcoming academic life.
As I settled down to think about it, I found that I had many things to do. Leaving aside matters related to the headmaster for now, organizing and comprehending the various spellbooks I had just obtained would also take a significant amount of time. Even if I didn’t plan to dive deeply into the spellbooks at this stage, it didn’t mean I didn’t need to understand my own means.
Sometimes, knowing oneself is more important than knowing anything else. Next, I needed to make use of the prize from the recent exchange competition, like the opportunity to customize alchemical items, though I hadn’t figured that out yet so I planned to keep it on hold for now since there was no time limit.
Then there was… Store Manager Shali. I hadn’t yet asked her to fulfill her promise regarding the small treasury before the exchange competition.
However, I had already contacted her vía phone, and she assured me she wouldn’t go back on her word. Whenever I wanted, she would immediately open her small treasury for me.
Lastly, I originally planned to master a skill, specifically alchemy. I had even deliberately learned about the runes related to alchemical rituals, but seeing Sister Bai’s impressive body techniques in the Fool Village Secret Realm, I similarly wanted to try practicing body techniques.
However, my energy was limited, so I planned to continue with alchemy as per my original plan. When I made exchanges with the store manager, I also intended to acquire some alchemy-related items.
As for the magic source from spellbooks, it didn’t count as a necessity anymore. Besides, at this point, I already had so many spellbooks that I couldn’t use them all. The rest would just be luxury additions, enriching my foundation.
If I wanted to enrich my foundation, I also had other plans—namely, the collection plan for minor spellbooks.
Though the effects and power of minor spellbooks were much weaker compared to regular ones, they worked effectively in everyday life, such as… illumination spells, fire-starting spells, invisible hands, and so on.
Just as I was excitedly continuing to plan my future studies, a phone call came in.
“Hello, Teacher Ji, is there something you need from me?”
“There’s something, a big matter. Hurry over to me; the headmaster wants to see you. I’ll take you there.”
