Back in the classroom, Bai Ling pulled Lin Qiufeng out for a walk.
She had her reasons for not wanting to stay in class.
First, with Xiao Ta as her knowledge base, she could basically teach herself and didn’t need to listen to Teacher Zitong’s explanations at all.
Plus, Xiao Ta contained all kinds of magic arrays and explanations, so she had no use for Teacher Zitong.
And besides, she hated the atmosphere in the classroom—the feeling of being watched was just awful.
“Xiao Ling, what are we doing out here?” Lin Qiufeng grinned mischievously at Bai Ling.
“What do you think?” Bai Ling replied, not in the mood.
You know I don’t like it, and you still say stuff like that.
Seriously.
“Hehe, I just wanted to tease you.” Lin Qiufeng laughed awkwardly.
Bai Ling rolled her eyes at her.
“So, what are we doing now?” Lin Qiufeng asked curiously.
After all, every afternoon was free time, and she never knew what to do.
“Hmm, let’s go check out the Inscription Hall!” Bai Ling suggested.
Actually, she wanted to give it a try herself.
She didn’t really know how to kill time either.
As for doing tasks, Teacher Zitong hadn’t taught them magic arrays yet, so that was obviously out.
Bai Ling had thought about teaching her, but she wondered if that would be inappropriate, so she decided to just let things happen naturally.
“Huh? Xiao Ling, you’re already starting to work on magic arrays?” Lin Qiufeng looked surprised.
“Yeah, I guess.
Let’s go try it out.
We’re just killing time anyway.” Bai Ling shrugged, showing she had no idea what to do with her afternoon.
She wasn’t exactly the active type—if she could be lazy, she would.
“Alright! Xiao Ling, you’re going to try it out? But I don’t know how to draw magic arrays yet.” Lin Qiufeng was excited at first, but then her mood dropped.
“So, what secondary profession are you planning to pick? I’ll go with you when the time comes!” Bai Ling didn’t really know how to comfort her, so she just asked what she planned to choose.
It was better than saying nothing.
“I haven’t really thought about it yet.
I’ll just look around and decide later.
There’s no rush, right?” Lin Qiufeng was pretty chill about it.
For her, secondary professions were probably just a burden.
She just wanted to get stronger, though maybe being an alchemist would suit her.
But the bar was pretty high—she didn’t know if she could make it.
“Yeah, true.
If you want to pick a secondary profession later, I’ll go with you.” Bai Ling really didn’t know how to comfort people.
Was saying this too…?
“Yeah, thanks, Xiao Ling.” Lin Qiufeng smiled, genuinely happy inside.
Having someone care about her—what could be bad about that?
“No problem.
But I don’t like it when you thank me.” She really didn’t like friends thanking or apologizing to her.
It just made things feel distant.
Either be really good friends—no need for thanks or apologies, she didn’t want to hear it—or just be acquaintances, not too close.
“Oh! Got it, won’t happen again, hehe.” Lin Qiufeng blinked curiously, then seemed to think of something and grinned.
“Good, that’s more like it.
Let’s go!” Bai Ling didn’t want to waste any more words, so she dragged Lin Qiufeng off to find the way to the Inscription Hall.
After wandering around campus for so long, who would bother to check where everything was? As long as they didn’t get lost, it was all good.
“Let’s go! Let’s go!”
After wandering through most of the campus, they finally stopped in front of a building.
The building wasn’t big—three stories, tower-shaped, with a square footprint.
Each floor was a perfect square, and the whole thing was built from fine steel, looking solid and imposing, giving off a strong sense of awe.
A small path paved with bluestone led straight to the entrance.
Above the main door was a plaque with three bold characters: “Inscription Hall.”
At the entrance sat two guard-like people at a table.
On the table were some sheets of yellow paper, and a pen lay quietly beside them.
As they walked up, Lin Qiufeng naturally asked, “Is this where you take the Inscriptionist exam?”
“Yeah, this is the place.
Are both of you signing up?” The one on the left, who looked like a middle-aged teenager, spoke up.
“No, she’s signing up.
I’m just here with her.” Lin Qiufeng pointed at Bai Ling.
When the two of them turned their gaze to Bai Ling, they couldn’t help but stare.
Delicate features, skin as white as jade, long black hair casually draped down her back, and black pupils that seemed to hold a scattering of stars.
The first one to snap out of it gave an awkward smile and said, “Uh, hi, what’s your name?”
“Bai Ling.” Bai Ling answered calmly.
She wasn’t that short-tempered—she didn’t even get mad when people stared at her in class, let alone with these two.
“Magic level?” Seeing that Bai Ling wasn’t upset, he got back to business.
“A-rank.”
“???” He looked at Bai Ling in surprise.
There were A-rank students signing up, but they were usually older—second or third years.
But Bai Ling was clearly a first-year, and her friend’s earlier question confirmed it.
Who in the academy didn’t know the Inscription Hall’s registration was here?
“Magic element?”
“Healing.”
“Huh? What kind of magic element is that?” He was confused—he’d never even heard of it.
Was she messing with them? But that didn’t make sense—they had no reason to.
“Yeah, it’s a special type of magic element.
No wonder you haven’t heard of it—it’s pretty rare.” Lin Qiufeng answered for Bai Ling.
She knew that Bai Ling had no interest in talking to strangers, let alone explaining something this annoying.
“Really?” The guy looked skeptical.
“If you don’t believe me, you can go check.” Lin Qiufeng shrugged helplessly.
Why did no one ever believe her?
“Alright then.” He wrote it down on the yellow paper, still looking doubtful.
“Hey, snap out of it.
Take her to the test.” The guy nudged his dazed companion, who’d been staring at Bai Ling.
“Huh? Oh, oh! Miss, please come with me.” The guy finally came to his senses, stood up and gave a gentlemanly bow, then led Bai Ling into the square building called the Inscription Hall.
“Can I go in and watch?” Lin Qiufeng asked the guy with a fawning smile.
She wanted to see Xiao Ling shine—she didn’t think Xiao Ling would fail.
“I’m afraid not.” The guy hesitated.
“Why not?” Lin Qiufeng was a little annoyed.
“It’s the rules.
Unless you’re here to have an Inscriptionist draw a magic array for you, outsiders aren’t allowed in.”
“I’m not an outsider.” Lin Qiufeng bristled.
Was she just an outsider? She was just here to accompany Xiao Ling for the exam!
“Rules are rules.
I can’t break them, right?” The guy shrugged, helpless.
“Hmph, fine, I’ll just wait.” Lin Qiufeng was angry, but there was nothing she could do.
She could only wait!
