There was no teacher striding into the classroom with a cold and elegant air as the bell rang for class, but there was Tu Wei’erxi.
The elf girl’s cheeks were slightly flushed, and there was a bit of sweat on the tip of her nose.
Who knows if she ran all the way here.
Anyway, her posture as she entered the classroom was perfectly composed, not a hint of awkwardness.
“G-Good morning!” Tu Wei’erxi was still catching her breath as she sat down at her seat.
She glanced back at Qu Weichen, and seeing that no one was looking at her, her cold expression instantly melted away.
She patted her chest, trying to steady her breathing.
“You’re really early.
Ugh, I just can’t get up in the morning.”
“Is it that early?” Qu Weichen glanced at the sunlight outside the window.
Although her memory was already a bit fuzzy, she seemed to recall that she usually slept until the sun was high in the sky…
“Of course, this is totally against nature! We elves follow nature, embrace nature!” Tu Wei’erxi whispered excitedly.
“So I usually sleep until I wake up naturally.”
“…Wonderful.” Qu Weichen really didn’t know what else to say.
She couldn’t help but whisper to Number Nine: I can’t do it anymore, my filter for elves is almost gone.
But then she thought of Tu Wei’erxi’s posture when she entered the classroom and felt a bit relieved: At least their appearance still fits the filter.
That lively look when they’re close… isn’t so bad either.
Qu Weichen was still happy inside, but she was also a little curious.
“Don’t you meditate? Elves have to cultivate too, right?”
“Of course we do, I practice every day.” Tu Wei’erxi said, “We have special bottlenecks that require us to pass nature’s tests.
Other races don’t have that.”
“Besides, cultivation and rest don’t conflict.
How can you cultivate better without enough rest? Communicating with the elements is exhausting, you know.”
Qu Weichen had never communicated with elements before.
As a necromancer, at most she communicated with the undead, so she didn’t know what meditation or communication felt like.
Hearing Tu Wei’erxi say this, she just nodded.
She really needed to read that magic book carefully.
She had to catch up on the basics.
The morning theory classes were split into four periods, and it wasn’t just the homeroom teacher teaching everything on the first day.
But since there was no class schedule handed out, Qu Weichen found it a bit odd.
After asking Tu Wei’erxi, she learned that whichever teacher was free would come teach, as long as all the required topics were covered before the end of the term.
After all, teachers needed to cultivate too.
So on the first day, Qu Weichen learned “Detailed Introduction to Magic,” “Elemental Basics,” “History of Fuyu,” and “General Theory of Abyssal Culture,” but not “Martial Artist Basics.”
Tu Wei’erxi didn’t seem to care about this.
She even comforted Qu Weichen, “Our practical classes are what really matter.
Don’t worry, Teacher Xu will definitely come for the practicals.”
Qu Weichen took all her notes in her books, and if she ran out of space, she’d tear a page from her notebook and tuck it into the right spot.
By the end of the morning, she’d taken a ton of notes and felt like she’d learned a lot.
“In the afternoon, we have to go to the training hall half an hour early to claim the training grounds and equipment.
Are we going to fight?” Qu Weichen was itching for action, full of fighting spirit.
“Yeah, but I don’t think anyone will compete with our class.” Tu Wei’erxi whispered, “The other classes haven’t awakened yet, and even those without magic talent aren’t in a rush to have their kids awaken at twelve.
Plus, the whole academy already knows you beat He Muman.
I heard General Pingyuan himself went to the Prison Sanctuary to get her out yesterday, and her face…”
Qu Weichen nodded.
“She brought it on herself.”
The two of them went to the cafeteria for lunch, then split up to rest in their dorms. Qu Weichen kept up her good habit of napping at noon.
After all, she’d gotten up too early and studied hard all morning—she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t tired.
After resting, she arrived at the training hall half an hour early.
Most of the new martial artist class students were already there.
Tu Wei’erxi spotted Qu Weichen and waved at her, her golden hair standing out in the crowd.
“Someone in your class is already a first-rank martial artist.
This fight isn’t fair.” The supposed class monitor from another class said.
The students of Class Seven looked at each other.
They’d left the earliest yesterday, and only learned about the rumors today.
It took them half the morning to match faces to names, but they still weren’t familiar with each other.
They didn’t even have a class monitor yet.
Since yesterday, they hadn’t seen Teacher Xu again.
“What’s unfair about it? Can’t your family afford a five-thousand yuanlang awakening potion?” The first to speak up was a human girl Qu Weichen didn’t know.
She’d been holding Tu Wei’erxi’s shoulder when she heard the other class’s comments, wanting to hear what they meant, but didn’t expect someone else to step up.
“She’s already fourteen! Why isn’t she in third year?”
“So what if she’s fourteen? If you’ve got the guts, you can enroll at fourteen too.” The girl strode to the front of Class Seven, hands on her hips, chest out, full of confidence.
“The academy didn’t make any rules, so who are you to point fingers? It’s not your school.”
Qu Weichen looked at Tu Wei’erxi.
“Who’s that…?”
“…Do I look like a social butterfly to you?” Tu Wei’erxi clearly didn’t know either, but that didn’t stop her eyes from lighting up as she stared at the human girl like she’d found a treasure.
“Wow, another interesting human! She’s glowing!”
It wasn’t just Tu Wei’erxi who felt that way.
When they saw someone in their class able to argue with everyone else, taking on six at once and leaving Classes Eight through Thirteen speechless, everyone felt a kind of uncontrollable admiration.
Basically, the other classes wanted Class Seven to keep Qu Weichen out of the fight for a “fair” match.
But that wasn’t fair to Class Seven at all.
“Heh, when Orifis enrolled as a genius freshman, the magic class didn’t restrict her.
Did they stop her from fighting for territory, or from using magic? Whether it was magic robes or wands, there were no restrictions.
So what, martial artists are special now?”
“That’s the magic class!”
“The magic class always thought we martial artists were a bunch of brainless, talentless brutes.
Are you trying to prove that this year’s martial artist freshmen not only lack those two things, but don’t even have basic shame?” The girl put on a look of deep disappointment.
After all the arguing, they finally decided to draw lots for one-on-one matches.
Class Seven got a bye in the first round.
Watching the matches, Qu Weichen realized that even though these kids were only twelve or thirteen, their fundamentals were really solid.
Their moves flowed well, and their ability to adapt in a fight was impressive.
It was obvious they’d trained for a long time—totally different from her, who’d only learned for three months in a haphazard way.
But because of that, their moves were all by the book.
They’d stop at the right moment, dodge when they could, and go back and forth.
They’d never fight like Qu Weichen did, pushing through injuries just to win.
But then again, they were just kids.
Qu Weichen thought of Wan Zhiming.
Maybe the reason she’d beaten Wan Zhiming back then… was because of this.
But not everyone was like that.
The Central Academy was full of geniuses, and even among the unawakened martial artist freshmen, there were some who stood out.
Like the Hall Master said, the will and courage needed for martial artists—some of these kids had both.
“Boom—” A giant girl threw a giant boy over her shoulder, slamming him to the ground with such force that if the training floor wasn’t made of special material, there’d probably be a crack.
The beastkin roared as they clashed, fighting like wild animals.
The sound of muscle against muscle made people turn to look.
Maybe it was an unspoken rule in the martial artist class: if one class sent out a giant, the other would too.
Same for the other races.
Qu Weichen watched the beastkin boy’s leopard tail puff up, then looked at the giants’ earth-shaking fight, and suddenly felt that being a first-rank martial artist wasn’t all that impressive.
“If you go up, their class doesn’t have any elves.
Will they forfeit?” Qu Weichen noticed the other classes really didn’t have any elves and couldn’t help but ask.
Tu Wei’erxi: “…Humans will fight me too.
Who’d be dumb enough to forfeit?” She glanced at Qu Weichen, thought for a moment, and reminded her, “Be careful if they send a giant to fight you.
Since you’re a first-rank martial artist, it wouldn’t really be bullying you.”
“You didn’t say that at lunch.”
Tu Wei’erxi was totally unapologetic.
“That was at lunch!”
“But they’ll probably want to finish quickly.
This has dragged on long enough.” Tu Wei’erxi glanced at the training hall entrance.
Someone was coming in, but it wasn’t their Teacher Xu—it was another class’s homeroom teacher.
Yeah, the martial artist class homeroom teachers all taught practicals.
This teacher didn’t say anything, just watched them fight from the side.
Qu Weichen noticed the training hall was really well soundproofed.
They couldn’t hear the fights upstairs at all, especially once the matches started.
She also noticed quite a few students in different colored uniforms heading upstairs.
Before this round was even over, the giants and beastkin in Class Seven were already fighting over who’d get to go up next.
“Isn’t Qu Weichen a first-rank martial artist? She’s not fighting?” Qu Weichen heard a classmate ask.
After all, the giants were already arm wrestling, and the beastkin were getting competitive.
The human students didn’t say anything, but were already stretching and warming up.
“Didn’t she just fight He Muman yesterday? That’s a senior, after all.
She should rest today.” A giant boy flexed his muscles and slammed the other giant’s hand to the ground, looking proud.
“She’s already famous.
Give us a chance, will you?”
“Yeah, I really want to fight a senior from the magic department too.” The gray bear boy on the other side sighed.
Forget about the martial artist class—they still couldn’t beat the upperclassmen martial artists.
All they could do was bully the mages who didn’t have time to chant spells.
