Alpha Academy has a large number of students from wizarding families.
These ancient families, with histories spanning hundreds or thousands of years, have accumulated a wide variety of complex rules and preferences.
For example, the student lounges.
Unlike the common rooms at Nine Provinces College or Starry Sky Academy, Alpha Academy offers a large number of small private lounges.
These lounges are built and decorated by different wizarding families and are leased by them long-term. Alpha Academy allows these families to hang their Family crests on the lounge doors.
Every wizarding Family with a private lounge at Alpha Academy takes pride in it.
Due to the different wizarding families involved in building and leasing, the styles of the lounges also vary.
For example, the ancient Black Family, inheriting the consistent extravagance and decadence of the ancient Vampire, has a lounge with a strong Rococo style. In contrast, the Cullen Family, a newer generation of Vampires with a shorter history and still a radical style, prefers a more luxurious Baroque style.
The Ness Family is a small wizarding Family with pure bloodlines. Due to some historical factors, they have close ties with the Cullen Family. Under the Cullen Family's arrangement, Arthur Ness, who attends Alpha Academy, acquired a private lounge.
This lounge is small in area but is opulently decorated.
The dome is adorned with magnificent reliefs, and the surrounding walls are decorated with various colored marble, gemstones, bronze, Mithril, and other Materials, giving every student sitting in this lounge a satisfying sense of oppression.
However, the current sense of oppression in the lounge is not due to these luxurious architectural features.
Instead, it is caused by the overly stifling atmosphere of the conversation in the lounge.
A guest who had been invited used an almost impolite tone towards the lounge's owner—Your Excellency Arthur Ness.
From any perspective, this behavior seemed somewhat rude. In the arrogant and prejudiced Alpha campus, an ill-mannered student would be looked down upon by everyone.
Arthur pursed his lips, taking a slight breath, and looked at Sima Yi.
"Then what should we do?" he asked with a somewhat stiff tone.
Even though the elders in his Family had told him that Diviners from the East had a certain eccentric style, he still could not accept Sima Yi's flippant tone just now.
Sima Yi seemed unaware of the suppressed atmosphere in the lounge.
He put down the scroll in his hand and smiled as he looked at everyone.
"Not a Freshman?" Kitano Gen repeated, puzzled.
"Yes. Not a Freshman." Sima Yi shook his head and suddenly posed a question: "Everyone knows that Duke Milton of the Vampire Council once studied at First University."
Many students in the lounge showed expressions of awe.
Arthur Ness also slowly nodded.
Duke Milton is the current head of the Cullen Family; his name commands respect from everyone in this lounge.
"Duke Milton also started as a Freshman. What if, and I mean what if—" Sima Yi emphasized, "What if the one you fought on Beta Town Pedestrian Street was Lord Milton, a Freshman who had just entered the University? Would there still be any shame in your battle?"
Arthur Ness's eyes lit up.
"It's our honor to receive guidance from a Lord," Kitano Gen shouted from the side.
"It's our honor," Sima Yi repeated, sweeping a glance across the lounge:
"Right now, we're not discussing reducing public opinion, but reducing losses. From today onwards, I don't want to hear you slander those excellent Freshmen anymore. On the contrary, I hope to hear more positive statements at the club social event after evening self-study."
Arthur Ness somewhat understood Sima Yi's meaning.
The expression on his face was as if he had swallowed a large fly.
"Can we stir up other topics on campus to cover this up?" Arthur still felt some resistance to praising those young kids and asked, struggling.
Few people would praise those who had shamed them.
"A last resort," Sima Yi rejected. "As I said before, no plan can avoid the fact that you were suppressed by a group of Freshmen."
"I know this is difficult. But you must overcome it, not avoid it. It's like an inertial Spell; the longer you avoid it, the greater its power will be when it erupts."
"The greater the power, the greater the losses will be."
"This lounge can no longer withstand greater losses."
"You need to drink this bitter wine clean before this matter fully ferments."
"Remember, drink it with a smile."
Arthur Ness nodded in silence.
The other members in the lounge gently let out a sigh of relief.
As long as this trouble could be resolved quickly, the others didn't mind giving their opponents credit.
That night.
Some new information began to circulate from the private gatherings of older students and quickly spread throughout the entire campus.
"That boy who used such a miraculous Talisman is said to be from a Legacy of a certain branch of Kunlun, a Holy Land in the East."
"So Zhang Jixin was that Zhang Family kid after all; I knew that fighting style was so familiar."
"The sword user from Starry Sky Academy was holding an Advanced Magical Artifact!"
Students had a strong interest in gossip.
These messages spread effortlessly and became richer with each telling.
During the spread, much true information was unintentionally added by others.
This delighted Arthur and his companions.
For example, the boy named Zheng Qing was actually a Publicly Funded Student! It is said that in the initial assessment of the first Charm and Talisman class, he accomplished an unprecedented feat, scaring the young Lecturer so much that he fainted!
And the short boy with glasses was a specially admitted student, entering Nine Provinces College with a zero score on the college entrance exam! One must know that grades and scores are the truth in Nine Provinces College, which lives by exams.
Now someone had broken this truth!
"It's a complete pleasant surprise," Sima Yi concluded.
Sometimes, what you try your best to make others acknowledge receives no attention. But the turmoil you wish to eliminate no matter what will constantly stir up waves.
Nine Provinces College, Dormitory 403.
"What should I do?" Zheng Qing's face showed some pride, but also distress, as he clutched an invitation in his hand and looked at his roommates in the dormitory.
This was already the Nth invitation he had received in a week.
Correspondingly, during this period, he had also received thirty-seven duel invitations.
Although he had avoided some duels using various methods, he still inevitably accepted four.
And those four opponents, who were even worse than him, further exaggerated his already inflated reputation.
Zheng Qing was truly helpless.
He looked out the window.
Perhaps because it was a cloudy day, there was no moon in the sky.
In the dormitory, the swaying fluorescent light tube on the ceiling cast a cold, pale light, filling the entire dormitory with a chilly atmosphere.
The curtains of Dylan's six-poster bed were still tightly closed, and some suspicious creaking sounds came from behind the drapes.
It sounded like gnawing on bones?
Zheng Qing pretended not to hear the sound, trying his best to focus on the invitation in front of him.
Next to the desk, Xiao Xiao also had a pile of invitations in front of him.
"No choice," Xiao Xiao said, scratching his chin in distress, drawing in his black-covered notebook. "Be content, Lan Que has already dueled twenty-four times in the past few days."
"I never knew you were from the Kunlun Legacy!" Xin Fatty said from the side in a disgusting, fawning tone, squeezing out a obsequious smile on his face. "A direct Daoist Legacy! Please grant this humble one a few of your scribbled Talismans."
"Get lost!" Zheng Qing said, annoyed, grabbing Tuan Tuan, who was sniffing the withered chrysanthemum on the table, and fiercely throwing him at Xin Fatty.
Immediately, the dormitory erupted into a chaotic scene of cats and people jumping.