Glan Natural Science Academy

Few days later.

 

The annual entrance ceremony once again commenced on time.

Auen wore the simplest and plainest of scholar clothes and squeezed through the crowd in the square. Although the noble clothes he wore before were magnificent, they never really made him feel true happiness. They were like price tags that marked his body.

But now…

Auen finally felt that he was truly alive.

His heart had a feeling of fullness. The desire of the unknown, and of a new journey of life. The infinite anticipation of the next second, and new, like-minded friends.

“I wonder if Ryger came?”

He thought of the companion he’d come to know by chance a few days ago and looked around. Sadly, there were too many people. He did not see that expected silhouette.

……

Out of desire towards higher academic ranks, towards  exploring more advanced knowledge or perhaps to build connections. For various reasons, scholars all over the land gather at Glan Natural Sciences Academy.

The vast majority of the learners at the Academy were nobles from well-off families and possessed elegant etiquettes and inherited knowledge as well as sufficient gold coins. Auen was merely one of the most ordinary among them.

Every family hoped to use the later generations’ interactions to help shape the family’s future networks.

Under the sagacious mentors’ lead, noble scholars would learn together, get to know each other, and build deep friendships which will be used to establish the power relations in the Principality in the future. It’s not uncommon for marriages to happen because of this.

“You there, a look at you and I can tell you’re an outstanding scholar who researches natural law with a bright future. This etched inkstone will cost you only 3 gold coins. Free 3 for every fake. Interested?”

Auen was held up by a buck-toothed, bespectacled female senior.

He could feel the air of opportunism from her. It was something born from the commoner’s life of having to worry about survival every day and haggle over every small thing, just like that classmate called Ryger that he had encountered.

Auen gave the senior the once over.

Far away from disputes over familial interests… a brand-new journey in life… all was truly well.

A calm, collected smile emerged on his face as if the back-toothed senior trying to sell him etched inkstones had also become elegant and beautiful.

“How do you know I’m a scholar that studies natural law?”

The buck-toothed senior’s eyes brightened, and she pushed up her spectacles. “I’ll tell you if you buy one.”

3 gold coins. It wasn’t a small number, but compared to Auen’s ample reserve funds for the next three years, it was nothing much.

“Deal.”

After some slight hesitation, Auen took out 3 gold coins and handed it to her.

An etched inkstone was a relatively superior energy ore.

In crystal pits, some high-quality energy crystals could be found among the load of normal energy crystals. An etched inkstone was one of them, and also the ordinary sort. Its price was normally around 5 gold coins, and it was a consumptive magic material commonly used by scholars studying natural law to conduct energy and etch energy runes.

“Hehe, here!”

The buck-toothed senior handed Auen 4 pieces of etched inkstones.

Proudly, she said, “The answer is: I say that to everybody I meet. You just happen to be one of them. Hehe!”

Uh?

Auen froze for a moment then laughed and pointed to the 4 crystal stones. “But I only bought 1 etched inkstone.”

The senior was even prouder now. Fiddling with her eyebrows, she said, “Free 3 for every fake. Those 3 pieces are your compensations. Don’t say that I lied to you now, everybody does things according to the agreement!”

This time, Auen was completely dumbfounded. Thereafter, he shook his head and smiled, laughing at his foolishness.

He was naturally able to differentiate between authentic and counterfeit etched inkstones. It’s just that he didn’t think that something like this would happen. Back when he was studying at home, all materials were delivered by the servants. And although his tutor had taught him to identify samples, he lacked the real-life experience of it, and so was played like a fiddle by this senior.

“I was careless.”

Auen didn’t get angry.

" "

Looking at the crystal rocks closely, although they weren’t etched inkstones, they were still a type of energy ore called ‘indigot’. With 4 of them, their value was more or less 3 gold coins.

Seeing how Auen was well-mannered, the buck-toothed senior got slightly interested.

“I thought you would be like that person a while back and want to get all physical and go through an academic exchange1 with me! Hehe, as long as it doesn’t go against the moral contract, scholars in the Academy solve conflicts by natural selection using their own academic proficiency. So, to pick a fight against a scholar 2 sessions ahead of you… heh heh…”

“I’m called Anliya. Scholars familiar with me also like to call me the crystal summoner. If you have any academic problems in the future, feel free to look for me.”

Auen’s eyes brightened. “I’m Auen.”

After Anliya left to find her next prey among the crowd, Auen played with the indigots in his hand then stored it in his spacebox.

Just the first day of school and he had experienced such interesting things. The scholar life in the next 3 years surely won’t be dull.

“Auen! Auen!”

Suddenly, shouts of his name came from the crowd.

Surprised, Auen stood on tiptoes and looked around. He finally found the skinny silhouette among the crowd who was waving and calling him.

It was Ryger who he had travelled with a few days ago.

“Ryger!”

He made a happy expression and quickly squeezed through the crowd to get to Ryger.
……
As a teacher of the Academy, Satro naturally didn’t have time to teach Ryger alone during the entrance ceremony.

Ryger, too, used the spare time to buy some simple, plain grey scholar clothes, wear it neatly and come to the Academy’s square to find Auen who had accompanied him.

“How have you been the past few days? Have the Academy arranged an initiate tutor for you?”

Auen looked up and down at Ryger with his grey scholar clothes and praised, “This set of scholar clothes really suits you!”

Compared to Ryger’s thin, pale face, Auen’s was rosy and delicate. The latter looked down at the glass specimen case Ryger was carrying. Some black tadpoles were swimming in it.

“Mmn. The Academy already arranged an initiate tutor for me and I’ve decided to study in the direction of evolutionary secrets! These are tadpole specimens that I collected when I passed by a lake just now. In the short future, I’ll observe the process of tadpoles becoming frogs and learn to create frog specimens at different phases.”

An excited, content smile emerged on Ryger’s face.

Over the past few days of learning, he had praised many times of this world’s wonders and greatness.

Ryger had never thought before that the world that appeared to be so normal – even all of the most ordinary things that he knew of – was actually full of all sorts of marvellous knowledge. Everything that he knew before was nothing more than the surface appearance of the True Law in this world. He was insignificant and tiny.

“What about you? I haven’t seen you in the past few days. Which class have you been assigned to?” Asked Ryger.

“First year, class 4. If you have any problems, come find me.”

Auen could feel Ryger’s changes over the past few days.

In the Accipit Jungle, Ryger’s eyes were guileless and lost. But now, Ryger was the same as him – shocked by the wonders of the True Law, with the desire to know carpeting everything.

Auen continued. “I bought a house in the Dower district. The atmosphere for studying there is better and it’s closer to Scholar Street and the lecture building. Where are you living?”

The two were like good friends and had no reservations between them.

Ryger shook his head and joked, “The rent in the Academy is very expensive so I rented a place in the south-eastern city block. It’s a bit far but I can walk the extra distance and train my body. My father often told me that I need to train my body more back when he was still alive, so I guess I’m completing his wishes, hah hah.”

Looking at the cheerful and optimistic Ryger, Auen grumbled, “We are classmates that’ll be studying together for the next 3 years so why didn’t you come look for me when you had troubles? Will you decline to help when I face any difficulties in the future?”

“How could I!”

Ryger began to apologise.

In a timely manner, a group of mentors walked up a platform. The several hundreds of students in the large square quieted down and looked over.

Footnotes

Kill me. All the sources that I use tells me that it translates to academic exchange. Except when I google academic exchange, all the results were about effing student exchange programs, which isn’t what it means in Chinese.  Simply put, it’s the exchange of ideas in academia. It refers to the discussion, argumentation, research activity done to share knowledge, experience, results, and analyse and discuss them.