The churning sensation in Zheng Qing’s stomach surged, bringing his laughter to an abrupt halt.
Not far away, Li Meng sat on the ground, her face pale, tears streaming down, her lips trembling as if she wanted to say something.
The dove, Little White, cooed, circling around her incessantly. Poseidon’s head poked out from her robe, then scurried onto the ground, still seemingly dizzy. He staggered a few steps, then lay down, refusing to move.
Lan Que hugged his sword, trying to straighten his back, and sat cross-legged.
Xiao Xiao pulled out his notebook, laid it open on the ground, and quickly jotted notes with trembling hands.
The young monk and the red-haired beauty were nowhere to be seen.
The disheveled new students either squatted on the ground, panting, or knelt, retching, or stood to the side, tidying their clothes. They gathered in groups of three to five, scattered across a wide area.
Zheng Qing felt the smooth sand beneath his hand, a smile he couldn’t suppress on his face.
Although he made no sound, and an indescribable dizziness still enveloped him, a never-before-felt sense of security gently rose from beneath him, bringing peace to his heart.
After the emptiness, to feel the solid ground was truly wonderful.
After the weakness, to feel the strength to breathe was truly wonderful.
“We just experienced the despair that these Little Elves went through,” Zheng Qing said, tears still uncontrollably spilling from his eyes. He roughly wiped his face, smiling, looking at everyone: “I think they have the right to feel what it’s like for us to stand on solid ground right now.”
Li Meng looked at him blankly, nodding repeatedly.
Lan Que, holding his sword, slowly nodded.
Xiao Xiao looked up at him, then refocused his attention on the notebook in front of him.
Not far from the beach was a plaza paved with white marble. The clean, white slabs shimmered dazzlingly in the sunlight.
In the center of the plaza stood a magnificent stone gate.
The stone gate was situated on a stone platform, with the emblem of First University hanging in the center of its lintel: a black triangular prism on a circular wooden base. On the two side pillars were Confucius’s maxims: “Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.” The gate frame was intricately carved with ornate reliefs, and five-colored rays of light shone through these sculptures, enveloping the stone gate in a magnificent Aura.
An elderly man with silver hair draped over his shoulders, a Western face, tall stature, and a black robe, stood serenely at the entrance of the plaza, saying nothing. The noisy new students spontaneously quieted down, standing still and orderly.
The old man held a thick spell book, occasionally flipping through it. From the spell book, streams of silver-white light sprayed out, soaring into the cloud sea, sweeping the disheveled and terrified new students onto the beach in front of the plaza.
Not far away, the upper-year students chatted and laughed, gathered in groups of three to five, seemingly floating down from the sky like skiers. They scrutinized the disheveled new students with mischievous gazes, their expressions full of satisfaction.
“Dark psychology,” Zheng Qing thought, recalling some details from when he exited the cabin, secretly complaining.
After landing, the upper-year students respectfully bowed to the old man at the plaza entrance, then formed neat lines, crossed the white marble plaza, and gracefully entered through the small doors on either side of the stone gate.
“Do you know why the University uses such a terrifying way of exiting the cabin?” Zheng Qing asked Xiao Xiao.
“It’s said that a qualified Wizard needs a strong heart. You never know when your laboratory might create a Kayako or a Frankenstein,” Xiao Xiao calmly replied.
“So, you knew we were going to fall out of the plane!” Zheng Qing narrowed his eyes at him, cracking his knuckles.
Xiao Xiao quickly raised his notebook, opened it, and held it up to Zheng Qing: “University Rule One, Article Five: Fighting in front of the University gate will result in one warning and a deduction of five academic credits!”
Zheng Qing’s arm, reaching for the gray cloth bag, froze at his side.
He didn't want to get a warning right after enrolling.
Xiao Xiao showed a mischievous smile.
Then he let out a scream.
Li Meng kicked him hard from behind, indignant: “That’s what you get for not telling us!”
Poseidon and the dove, Little White, followed the little girl, charging over aggressively.
…
After a long while, when everyone had landed, the old man’s hoarse voice clearly resounded across the plaza: “Remember this lesson today, and feel the meaning of being alive. This is the beginning of your studies.”
Zheng Qing was bewildered. This was a lesson? What was the topic? Feeling the meaning of being alive? If Wizard courses were all this profound, he would have trouble keeping up. He looked worriedly at the others.
Fortunately, the new students around him also had similarly confused expressions.
The old man offered no explanation, simply opening the black spell book in his hand.
“The sun rises brightly, the valley wind blows gently.”
His withered hand brushed over the black spell book, and a gentle warm breeze blew from all directions, swirling around all the new students, carrying away the moisture from their bodies, and also sweeping away their fear and fatigue.
This was the power of a Wizard! Zheng Qing felt the warm breeze with excitement, recalling the Thunder Spell Thomas had cast in Daming Ward, and his heart yearned for this magical power.
“Now, line up and follow your seniors. Prepare to enter the sacred halls of the University and embark on your brand new path of exploration!”
The old man closed his spell book, turned, and walked towards the tall, magnificent gate.
The new students were silent for a few minutes, then immediately erupted into a noisy clamor.
“How do we line up?” Zheng Qing looked at the colorful robes in the plaza, feeling a bit dazzled.
“Look at the robes.”
“Robes?”
“Nine Provinces College wears red robes, Alpha Academy wears white robes, Atlas wears yellow robes, and Starry Sky Academy wears blue robes. University Professors, Lecturers, and Assistant Teachers generally wear black robes, but they wear different badges to distinguish their specific ranks; there are also some Gray Robes, who are School Workers. Don’t underestimate them; many School Workers are retired Old Professors, and some are even former Deans.”
Zheng Qing nodded repeatedly, already able to roughly identify the Wizards around him. All the Wizards around him were red-robed, and Wizards of other robe colors were also gathered together. Interspersed among them were a few black-robed Professors and gray-robed School Workers.
Other new students gradually caught on, and distinct lines of four colors began to take shape.
The black-robed and Gray-robed Wizards standing among the new students smiled with satisfaction.
Zheng Qing and his companions stood in the center of the line.
A scrawny boy next to them looked enviously at the pets in their arms.
“I’ve always wondered why storage devices can’t hold living beings,” the scrawny boy mumbled, fiddling with his rolling suitcase. “I always wanted to bring my green-haired zombie from home; they say the University environment is good for it. But my interviewer wouldn’t allow it.”
“The admission letter states that you can’t bring high-risk magical creatures. If you want to gain the favor of girls at the University, you can’t bring anything more dangerous than Little Elves,” his companion, also in a red robe, replied with a helpless expression. “As for why storage boxes can’t hold living beings, I don’t know either.”
“Perhaps it’s because Wizard items contain a certain substance that other life forms don’t possess,” Zheng Qing couldn’t help but interject.
“That makes sense!” The scrawny boy looked at Poseidon, nodding repeatedly.
“Idiot!” Xiao Xiao gritted his teeth, glancing at the muttering few, and growled, “Oken’s Theorem, one of the thirteen fundamental axioms, a corollary of the Primordial Axiom: the life constants under different spatial dimensions are inconsistent. Did you not graduate from middle school?”
Zheng Qing stared blankly at Xiao Xiao’s black-rimmed glasses, resisting the urge to pull out his brain and eat it.