Qu Weichen took the key and returned to her dorm.
It was a single room, not particularly spacious, but it had a desk, a bed, a wardrobe, a washbasin, and a private bathroom with a shower.
All in all, it was a pretty nice place.
Just as Constance had said, she’d already set up the room.
The wardrobe was stuffed with an academy uniform, two sets from the Prison Sanctuary, two training outfits, and two sets of casual clothes and pajamas Qu Weichen had never seen before.
She held them up to herself—they were definitely her size.
The bed was already made, with a simple blue and white checkered set.
The quilt was soft and fluffy, and there was an extra layer of padding and cotton underneath the mattress.
Cloth shoes, leather boots, and long boots were all lined up on the rack by the door.
There were toiletries and bath supplies, and all the daily necessities were there too.
Even tissues and sanitary pads—Constance had tossed a whole box under the desk, with an unopened bag of towels and bath towels on top.
It really had everything.
Qu Weichen walked around the room, washed the towels and hung them up to dry, and couldn’t find a single thing she was missing.
This was just too thorough! Qu Weichen put the stack of books she’d gotten today on the desk.
There was “A Detailed Introduction to Magic,” “Elemental Basics,” “History of Fuyu,” “General Theory of Abyssal Culture,” “Foundations of Martial Artists,” and all sorts of other books, plus a map of the academy tucked in.
For once, Qu Weichen was actually interested in every single textbook, but instead of reading right away, she got up and did a set of punches in the space between the washbasin and the bathroom to loosen up, then sat down to start reading.
She read until she felt hungry, then picked up the map, put her key in the storage locker, and headed downstairs.
She went to the cafeteria for a meal.
The first and second floors were all food counters, with separate areas for vegetarian dishes, meat dishes, soups, and desserts (drinks).
You just paid with your Source Lang Card.
The third floor was for ordering dishes—you could have the chef cook something on the spot, bring your own magical beast meat or rare ingredients, or even bring your own chef to cook however you wanted.
The fourth floor and above were private rooms, and your food would be delivered after you ordered.
Qu Weichen was a little surprised when she heard about all this—she’d thought it would be way fancier.
But just the first and second floors were enough for her.
She got a balanced meal with both meat and veggies, plus a bowl of kelp and pork rib soup.
After eating her fill, she strolled around the academy, took a lap around the track, and then went to the training hall.
The training hall was divided into two sections: one for magic and one for martial artists.
The magic section had blue floors, the martial artist section red.
Qu Weichen curiously checked out the magic equipment—a humanoid target with a display screen, though it was off at the moment.
After asking Number Nine, she learned that it could sense and absorb various elements, so the little mages just had to attack these “targets.” There were already some mages trying them out, and from their uniform colors, they were all freshmen.
There were also inactive elemental arrays—if you put the corresponding elemental stone in, it would increase the concentration of that element nearby, making it easier for mages to cast spells.
But there weren’t many small magic tools here, probably to prevent theft? After all, they wouldn’t leave anything valuable lying around.
The martial artist side was much simpler.
Each area had a three-meter-tall block of metal.
Number Nine said it was a special alloy, extremely tough, perfect for martial artists to practice on.
Qu Weichen saw fist marks, palm prints, and other dents on it, but none were very deep.
She gathered her “qi” and punched it hard, but the mark she left was barely visible, and the force rebounded so much that she staggered back several steps before she could steady herself.
“…This is just, way too tough.” Qu Weichen looked at the huge block of alloy and couldn’t help but sigh.
If only those undead were as brainless as zombies—just build a wall out of this alloy and what would there be to fear! [If those undead were zombies, they’d be the kind that could dig tunnels and appear out of nowhere.] Number Nine said speechlessly.
These two things weren’t even on the same level! Qu Weichen ignored the system—she was just daydreaming anyway.
She gathered her “qi” and punched the alloy a few more times, almost exhausting herself, then stretched and looked at the other equipment.
Treadmills, climbing machines… The martial artist area had plenty of machines for physical training, but not many of each, so they were probably fought over by the classes.
Fought over, huh? That meant martial artists would have to battle for them—strength ruled.
That was probably what the academy intended.
Qu Weichen had done her homework.
The academy’s final exams were all about book knowledge and common sense, plus your understanding and insights into magic or martial arts.
If your answers were especially good, they’d be included in the “Outstanding Examples Collection” and printed for other students, maybe even put in the library.
As for actual combat, that wasn’t part of the final evaluation.
So, the competition and motivation between classes and students would happen in other, more “gentle” ways.
If students had conflicts, they could settle them fairly in the academy’s arena.
The training hall’s space and equipment were limited, so classes would fight over them.
Sometimes the academy would even come up with little games—like a basketball game for mages where you couldn’t touch the ball with your hands and had to use magic, or a tug-of-war just for martial artists.
Qu Weichen had been surprised when she heard about these—what was so fun about that? She’d never waste time on childish games and fights when she could be cultivating.
But now, looking at all this equipment, Qu Weichen suddenly felt an overwhelming fighting spirit.
“Do we have to fight for the training grounds tomorrow afternoon? Should I come early? I should get everything ready before class, right?” Qu Weichen thought it over.
At fourteen, she was definitely one of the more intimidating freshmen, especially since she was already a first-rank martial artist.
With her combat power… she should be able to win easily.
—If nothing unexpected happened.
Qu Weichen lingered in the training hall for a while, trying out all the unused equipment before finally heading back to her dorm to rest.
She didn’t know that after she left, other freshmen who came to check out the training hall went over to the alloy block, searched for a long time, and finally found the barely visible marks she’d made with all her strength.
They exclaimed in surprise, “There’s actually a first-rank martial artist among the freshmen?”
“Isn’t she just a genius picked up by the Prison Sanctuary?” another student scoffed, glancing at the door.
“Just got lucky, that’s all.” The gap between the clouds and the mud had shifted just like that.
…
Qu Weichen went to the cafeteria for another meal.
After training, she’d burned a lot of energy and needed to eat more to recover.
Once she was full, she went back to her dorm.
Her routine was super healthy now—after a shower, she changed into pajamas, read at her desk for a while, then climbed into bed and went to sleep.
Theory class started at 7:30, but Qu Weichen got up at five to wash up.
She put on her training clothes and ran a few laps on the track.
It was still dark when she got there, and no other students were around.
After twenty laps, she took a short break, then gathered her “qi” in her hands and did a few sets of punches in the air, the sound of her strikes cracking through the air like firecrackers.
By the time she finished, other students had started showing up to run, but it was only 6:30.
Qu Weichen went straight back to her dorm to shower and wash up.
Her training clothes were soaked with sweat, so she washed and hung them up.
She towel-dried her hair, then sat at her desk to blow it dry.
Only then did she carefully comb her hair, change into her uniform, put all her books, notebooks, and pens into her spatial ring, and slip on her soft boots to head to the cafeteria.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to use the storage locker, but it wasn’t very smart—one book took up one slot, which Qu Weichen found baffling.
The spatial ring only took up one slot, but using it that way was just too inconvenient.
Qu Weichen figured that once she started training with weapons, it’d be best to keep them in the storage locker.
Or if she ever got robbed, she could hide her spatial ring in there too.
At 7:15, Qu Weichen finished breakfast and walked into the teaching building, heading to her class.
Huh, Tu Weierxi wasn’t here? Qu Weichen wasn’t familiar with her classmates—since Teacher Xu hadn’t made everyone introduce themselves, she didn’t even know their names, let alone say hi in the morning.
She quietly sat in her seat, took out the “General Theory of Abyssal Culture” she hadn’t finished yesterday from her spatial ring, and kept reading.
The Abyss really was like another continent, with a culture totally different from Fuyu.
Qu Weichen read about the various races of the Abyss—“undead” was just a catch-all term.
She didn’t know what they called themselves over there, but that’s what people on this continent called them.
There were necromancy types like skeletons and corpses, which could be further divided by race—centaurs, giants, elves… It seemed like if you died on Fuyu, you’d just revive over there as a necromancer.
There were also soul types like vengeful ghosts, evil spirits, and nightmares—the red mist she’d seen before was an evil spirit.
Then there were demon types, all sorts of demons, which sounded like a mess.
But these demons were the most similar to the Fuyu humans, and were born intelligent.
They could even enslave and command other weaker beings in the Abyss.
Unfortunately, the book didn’t go into detail.
There were also some that didn’t fit into any big category.
Qu Weichen looked at the “evil beasts”—described as huge, destructive creatures that grew in the Abyss.
The rough sketch showed a grotesque mountain of flesh, like a demon, but that wasn’t the only form.
Some experts guessed they were ancient magical beasts that accidentally fell into the Abyss and evolved there.
So even centaur skeletons were just cannon fodder during Abyss invasions.
Qu Weichen thought she’d have to work even harder.
“If I win the training grounds, will I get an achievement?” Qu Weichen asked in her mind.
[If you complete an achievement, then you’ll have completed an achievement.] Number Nine replied with some useless nonsense.
“…” Qu Weichen was silent for a moment, then said in her mind, “You know, you can be pretty smart when you want to be.”
