That day, Qu Weichen was rarely eating alone in the cafeteria.
From a distance, she saw a few people in blue academy uniforms walking over and sitting at the table next to hers.
Qu Weichen glanced at them, found them a bit familiar, and only after taking another bite of meat did she remember that this seemed to be He Muman and her friends (or rather, her followers), the ones she’d fought before.
“Sigh, the first floor of the cafeteria always has the same dishes.
Only those from tiny villages and poor families find everything novel and keep eating magic beast meat.” After a look from He Muman, the girl on her right pinched her voice and started speaking in a mocking, sarcastic tone.
Qu Weichen acted as if she hadn’t heard, cutting the meat on her plate into small pieces and stuffing them into her mouth, quickly finishing everything.
She picked up her plate, turned around, and went to the meat counter to buy another piece.
“Some people who can’t make it to the big stage always like to use underhanded tricks, like sneak attacks and such.”
Qu Weichen cut the magic beast meat on her plate into small pieces again, took a big gulp of milk, and started eating once more.
“Sure enough, people from certain places all act the same way.”
“Look at the way some people eat—if you didn’t know better, you’d think they were refugees from outside the city.”
“Oh, why bother talking about it? Some people just have no parents to teach them manners, so of course they don’t know any etiquette.
No different from barbarians.”
Qu Weichen’s chewing paused for a moment, then she continued.
She lowered her eyes, picked up a piece of magic beast meat, and thought to herself, “There’s actually still a word like ‘barbarian’ in this world?” [It’s an insult for orc tribes who haven’t been civilized.
Before the Abyss appeared, there were constant wars between races on the continent.
Those orcs ate magic beasts raw, and when they ran out of food, they’d eat humans.
So humans called them barbarians.] Qu Weichen understood.
The places where orcs lived were pretty wild, and back then, orcs mainly hunted.
Those places weren’t suitable for growing crops, and orcs didn’t know how to farm anyway.
She listened to all the sarcastic and indirect insults from the next table, but slowly finished all the magic beast meat on her plate.
Then she downed her milk, wiped her mouth and hands, and finally stood up.
“If you have something to say, say it to my face.
Whispering and talking behind people’s backs—that’s what really shows you have no upbringing.” Qu Weichen said bluntly, “You were personally brought back by General Pingyuan, and he never taught you any manners?”
“You!—” Even though her table had been chattering nonstop, Qu Weichen had only said one sentence, and He Muman was already furious, standing up and glaring at her.
Qu Weichen couldn’t help but wonder if the Hall Master had forgotten to give He Muman the antidote.
She looked at He Muman, whose anger seemed real, and thought of the person who’d followed her when she first came to the academy… Could it be that He Muman didn’t know about that? Was it General Pingyuan’s doing? Or his son’s? Or maybe someone else who didn’t like her or the Hall Master.
“Do you dare to get on the arena and fight me fair and square?” Qu Weichen couldn’t help but size her up.
It’s only been a month… Had He Muman reached Warrior Level One? [Obviously not.] So the Hall Master hadn’t cleaned up thoroughly? Is her intelligence still lowered? [I can’t detect that, but since she hasn’t caused you trouble for so long, it should be cleaned up.] Number Nine also seriously studied He Muman’s angry face for a while before continuing, [Look, she’s only fourteen this year, and she’s General Pingyuan’s daughter—proud and arrogant.
You gave her a hard time, she definitely can’t forget it.
Maybe she’s been cramming all month just to challenge you and redeem herself today.]
Qu Weichen: “…”
Qu Weichen’s expression grew complicated.
He Muman had been preparing for a month? But she hadn’t been slacking off either.
Under Old Demon Xu’s pressure, she’d improved rapidly.
Even though her lower body’s circulation wasn’t fully open yet, she could already handle a dagger with ease.
He Muman saw that Qu Weichen hadn’t answered for a long time and just stared at her with a complicated look, so she assumed Qu Weichen was scared.
She thought, “A refugee is a refugee.
Coming from such a remote village, she’ll never be presentable.” She raised her chin high.
“Are you in or not?”
“Now?”
He Muman saw her ask this and thought she was really scared, so she nodded immediately.
“Of course now! If you’re too full and want to digest, we can do it in an hour.” She said the “one hour later” part loudly, feeling like she was being extremely kind.
Waiting an hour was fine too—she could gather more spectators and make a bigger scene, embarrass Qu Weichen, and by extension, embarrass the Prison Hall—even if Qu Weichen wasn’t even a guard there yet, she was still someone the Hall Master favored, which made her different.
“Let’s do it now.” Qu Weichen said, picked up her used dishes and returned them, then headed for the big arena set up for students.
She was planning to take a nap, so the sooner this ended, the better.
But since Tu Weierxi and the others weren’t here, she wondered if they’d be mad about missing the fun when they heard about it later.
“Heh.” He Muman saw Qu Weichen walking ahead and wasn’t angry, thinking she was just putting on a brave face.
She recalled all the new magic she’d learned—close combat, defensive, explosive—and had already planned out her spell combos for the match.
She could now silently cast all the basic first-level spells, not even needing to say them out loud.
As for close combat, even though she hadn’t awakened as a warrior, she still knew some basic moves.
Her staff was especially well-made—ordinary weapons couldn’t break it.
She’d use it for defense and cast spells at the same time.
Once she unleashed her combo, if she didn’t beat Qu Weichen into bed for three months, she wouldn’t be worthy of her surname! She’d practiced this routine with the guards at the general’s mansion many times, so nothing would go wrong.
The cafeteria drama was really about to start.
The students who’d overheard quickly finished eating and hurried after them.
…
“They’re fighting? Qu Weichen and He Muman are fighting again? He Muman challenged her? On the arena?”
“When did this happen… Now? Damn, hurry up, I want to see!”
“He Muman is the daughter of the Pingyuan Army, right? They say a tiger father has no dog daughter.
Last time Qu Weichen ambushed her, but now it’s a fair fight on the arena.
Who knows who’ll win.”
“Isn’t He Muman a mage? Why does she have to pick on a first-level warrior? If you ask me, even if Qu Weichen wins, it’s not that impressive.”
“Not that impressive? Then why don’t you go fight He Muman? Aren’t you a first-level warrior too?”
The news spread like wildfire, sparking a lot of discussion.
Of course, most students just wanted to watch the show.
Some weren’t interested and focused on their training—in their eyes, watching this was a waste of time compared to taking a nap.
Meanwhile, Tu Weierxi and her three elf friends had packed up food from the cafeteria and gone back to the dorm to try new magic.
Gexifei thought she could cast second-level spells and might be able to advance to a second-level mage, so they gathered to try it out.
If it worked, they’d go to the Mage Association for a new rating—the subsidy for a second-level mage was double that of a first-level! Gexifei succeeded, and Tu Weierxi, Olorna, and An Xiaonan all used defensive magic to block the power.
They hadn’t even finished celebrating Gexifei’s advancement when they heard a commotion outside the human dorm.
They thought something good had happened, but when they asked, they found out Qu Weichen was fighting He Muman again?
“I’m definitely buying a communication stone soon.
How could Qu Weichen not call us for something this fun? Then again, it’s probably He Muman who picked the fight.” Tu Weierxi didn’t bother celebrating anymore, grabbed her friends, and rushed out the door.
“Let’s go, let’s go, hurry up and watch! If we’re late, we’ll miss it!”
…
Qu Weichen hadn’t expected the arena to cost a hundred yuanlang to use.
She resigned herself and paid, then turned to He Muman and suggested, “Just fighting like this isn’t very interesting.
If I win, you give me five thousand yuanlang.
If you win, I’ll give you the same.
How about it?”
“Heh, five thousand?” He Muman was full of disdain.
“Typical of someone from a small village—five thousand is all you can put up? If we’re betting, let’s go big.
How about fifty thousand yuanlang? If you lose and can’t pay, you can be my dog and kneel to me every day.”
“And if you lose, you’ll be my dog?” Qu Weichen smiled faintly, her tone turning cold.
She didn’t say more, just gestured, “After you—let’s get on the arena.”
The referee for this match was a teacher Qu Weichen didn’t really know, but she didn’t know many teachers at the academy anyway, so she didn’t care.
She stood on the arena, stretched a bit, and activated her “qi,” instantly entering combat mode.
He Muman also stepped onto the stage, her staff especially eye-catching.
The gem at the tip was crystal clear, with faintly visible runes inside.
The staff itself seemed to be made of some special ancient wood, with natural patterns.
“Begin!”
He Muman immediately started chanting silently in her mind, staring at Qu Weichen, gripping her staff tightly and ready to counterattack.
When Qu Weichen charged, she planned to block with her staff—
The dagger in Qu Weichen’s hand spun in a circle as she thrust it, the tip arcing before she pulled it back.
While He Muman was still stunned, Qu Weichen stepped to the right, her left-hand dagger flicking upward to strike one end of the staff.
At the same time, her right-hand dagger disappeared into her storage, and she channeled “qi” into her fist, slamming it down on the other end of the staff.
He Muman’s hands went numb, and she couldn’t even hold onto her staff.
Qu Weichen’s strike sent the staff spinning out of her hands.
He Muman had never experienced anything like this.
How long had it been? The match had just started! Of course, Qu Weichen wasn’t about to let her go.
Before He Muman could react, Qu Weichen swept her legs out from under her, knocking her down.
As He Muman tried to get up, Qu Weichen casually threw her left-hand dagger, the small silver blade spinning through the air and landing in the arena floor—right next to He Muman’s ear.
“You lost.
Want to keep playing?” Qu Weichen turned to the teacher acting as referee.
“This match should be over—”
“Fireburst!” A blast of intense fire erupted instantly.
Qu Weichen instinctively rolled aside, but was still caught by the edge of the explosion and thrown to the edge of the arena.
He Muman hadn’t stopped chanting! The match was clearly over, but the referee hadn’t declared a winner and let He Muman attack while Qu Weichen was letting her off? Relying on her combat instincts, Qu Weichen dodged in time, but was still singed by the blast—her clothes torn, her back slightly burned.
But even then, the referee didn’t end the match—A flash of ruthlessness appeared in Qu Weichen’s eyes.
Ignoring the pain from the fireburst, she leapt out before the smoke had cleared, charging straight through the lingering heat toward He Muman.
