by Feng Yue
Faced with Abraham’s questioning, Ye Qingxuan only said that it suddenly entered his mind when he opened a notebook in the library.
This worried Abraham. He could not understand why any master from the School of Mind would hide such an odd melody in his notes, and imprint it into someone’s consciousness through a mark.
The materials for a music sheet that could transport memory and imprint a mark were close to none. He could not comprehend why anyone would put something like that in a page of ordinary notes.
“Black Friday” was a music score from the School of Mind. It was considered to be at the Musician level, but if one separated the measures, it was possible to be a practice piece for Rhythm level too.
Analyzed by Abraham, its five measures could be paired with different music notes to create five different effects.
First, the melody would evoke the listener’s negative emotions, causing him to lose control. Then, guided by the melody, aether would influence and control the enemy’s senses. He would become a disabled person who could not see, hear, or feel. It was a superb composition with a wide range of uses.
Interpreted by Abraham, if the five measures were connected, it could also activate a hidden effect. But no matter what he tried, he could not find it. It probably required a unique playing technique and instrument.
Abraham became even more worried. He could not think of a reason as to why Ye Qingxuan insisted on learning such a mysterious piece.
But to Ye Qingxuan, practicing Black Friday was the most important task at hand. Of course he had to practice! Why would he not practice it? When he tried playing it for the first time, he realized that the eternally sleeping Jiu Xiao Huan Pei actually had a reaction!
Ye had been ecstatic then, practically jumping up and dancing. He had a premonition that he would be able to truly awaken Jiu Xiao Huan Pei when he finally learned the piece.
He had grown up hearing about the zither that had accompanied his father. Apparently, it was a treasured instrument passed down through generations. He did not fully understand how the zither had turned into that, despite it always being in the case. But the most important task at hand was to awaken and learn it. Its help in controlling the aether would be the best way to climb to the top of the musician levels. It would make up for the lack of “sense.” Then he would be able to grasp the complex notes easily, break through the student level and reach the Rhythm level.
Knowing how much of his troll his father was, new clues were sure to appear after unlocking Jiu Xiao Huan Pei.
—
“You’re moving too fast. What if your foundation isn’t good?” Abraham tried to warn Ye Qingxuan. “You’ve only learned half of the forty-eight music notes of Equal Temperament. If you want to enter Rhythm level, you need to at least learn all of them and practice for a few more years.” He asked, “All you care about is speed. What if you lose control?”
Ye Qingxuan shook his head. “Professor, you know my situation. I’m different from students who only rely on ‘sense.’ My foundation is built on the experience of people before me, so I’m okay as long as I memorize them all. And after learning your translation method, I’m much faster at deciphering basic syllables and creating concise structures.
“I don’t like to use sense to control the aether, so if I need to cast runes, I only need to choose the right syllables based on the aether’s reaction. Even if it’s a situation with no previous record, I can still calculate and create new syllables based on the environment and rules. Unless I miscalculate, there’s no way I will lose control. And anyway, compared to that senior, I’m not that fast, right?”
—
Hearing this, Abraham only shook his head. “His situation is different.”
Remembering the rumors around school, Ye Qingxuan was suddenly curious. “Did he really go from the student level to the Rhythm level in one month?”
Usually, if one relied only on talent and ‘sense,’ it was a long and hard journey. From learning runes to complex notes and measures, and then finally getting to Rhythm level, the process required blood, sweat, and tears. A regular student needed three years. If he was smart and worked hard, he could do it in two.
But then years ago, a guy named Charles destroyed that rule. He took only one month to reach Rhythm level and pass the Academy’s examination. He had shocked many people then and became known as the Academy’s hope, Anglo’s future master, and even a candidate for a saint. But then ten years passed, and yesterday’s genius was still stuck between the Rhythm and Musician level, and had turned into a useless failure who liked drinking and running around naked…
Ye Qingxuan really felt bad for him.
“It wasn’t one month,” Charles corrected Ye seriously from the corner of the room. “It was two days.”
Crash.
That was the sound of Ye Qingxuan’s jaw hitting the floor. He almost jumped onto the piano in shock. “How many days?!”
“Two days.” Abraham sighed and scratched his head. “More precisely, it was one and a half. I was a bit busy then and had to squeeze out time to teach him.”
“Professor, stop joking!” Ye Qingxuan’s eyes almost popped out of his head. “One and a half days? And you had to squeeze out time?”
“That’s right.” Charles, with an encyclopedia on his head shrugged helplessly. “You know, I used to be a genius.”
Ye Qingxuan tried to put his eyeballs and jaw back into place. It took a long time before he could finally accept this truth. He slumped into the chair.
“Only two days?” he murmured to himself. “I suddenly feel like I’m a failure. What should I do…why do they all say one month? Because they don’t want to scare people?”
“…I didn’t pay attention when I filled out the declaration record and wrote it wrong.” Charles’s expression filled with regret. “Then I realized I couldn’t change it, so it stayed like that.”
Ye Qingxuan almost spat out blood but he kept it in. “Then why are you still stuck on Rhythm level? Senior, are you accumulating experience to make headlines?”
“Yeah, right!” Charles rolled his eyes. “Look at the History department’s sad state now. Who would wait if it were possible to get some glory and money?”
“Then nothing else makes sense.” Ye Qingxuan did not believe him at all. “You need to learn music notes, syllables, and musical pieces for Student, Rhythm and Musician levels respectively. There are only technical difficulties, but no obstacles or challenges. There shouldn’t be any trouble if you practice and work hard! Senior, could it be that you haven’t learned a complete piece yet?”
“Psh! What’s a musical piece to me?” Charles smirked. “I learned a few on my way home from the test ten years ago. I would’ve requested the Musician level test that day if I wasn’t scared of being experimented on.”
“…” Ye Qingxuan could almost feel the blood spray out of him. “Seriously?”
“Actually, no one can surpass Charles’ talent in the musician world,” Abraham nodded, his expression helpless, “but for some reason, there would be problems with every piece he put his hands on. All the techniques and melodies are correct, but there would always be some strange effects…”
“Strange effects?” Ye Qingxuan was in a daze.
“It’s complicated…” Not sure how to explain, Abraham’s expression was puzzled.
“Professor, he won’t understand if you just explain it.” Shaking his head, Charles walked over to the piano. “Let me demonstrate. Junior, don’t get scared.” As soon as he finished, the sound of glaciers shattering shot through.
—
It felt as if they had suddenly been transported to the tundra of the Asgard Sea. Countless icebergs crashed into each other, creating crisp and vigorous sounds.
The overwhelming power forced Ye Qingxuan into shock. But quickly, his expression turned to fear. “William Tell Overture? Senior, are you trying to burn down the building?”
William Tell Overture was a musical pie
ce from the School of Revelations. Ranked by the sacred city, it was one of the most renowned pieces at the Rhythm level. It was way above the abilities of those at the Musician level.
But this piece could call forth wild aether, transforming into a torrent, flooding the world. Blazing fire would fall from the sky, the burning souls of heroes would devour the enemy, destroying them on the spot!
The master who composed this work of art had created it out of despair and fury when his country had been invaded, and his home burned down. He had called forth the souls of heroes to lead his people and destroy the invaders. But he died from exhaustion on the eve of victory. Without a doubt, his soul had assimilated into the music. As soon as it entered the second movement, a real iron legion would appear…
The wild aether surged in from all directions. Abraham had secretly used his highest authority to make it easier for the aether to group and create Musician level effects to help Ye Qingxuan practice. But this effect at the Musician level was enough to obliterate an entire army.
Before Ye Qingxuan’s wide eyes, the burning aether transformed into red-hot flames. They gathered in the empty air, gradually taking shape. In the next moment, as the majestic overture raised in intensity, the effect came into shape. Next, the army of souls would come from the sky!
Ye Qingxuan was ready to interrupt Charles’s performance, but Abraham stopped him, gesturing at him to look closely.
Boom!
Flames exploded and a figure appeared gradually. It solidified and was almost complete!
Thud.
It fell on the lid of the piano and made a soft noise.
“…Wait, something seems to be wrong?”
The thing called forth by the majestic music stretched lazily and rolled around on the piano, purring happily. It was a gray-white…cat?!
“A cat?” Ye Qingxuan rubbed his eyes and realized that it was not a hallucination. Charles had really summoned a lazy and annoying cat!
Soon after, there was another thud, and something else fell from the sky. Ye Qingxuan stared, falling into a daze.
The small thing was yellow, had big ears, a thin tail, and an innocent expression. As if it had just woken up, it smacked its lips and rolled on the piano. With its wagging tail, it was definitely cute. It was a…mouse?
“What the f*ck?!” Before Ye Qingxuan could even finish, the cat and mouse went wild!
95 A New Legend
As if seeing its mortal enemy, the gray-white cat instantly exploded in anger. Growling, it flew at the mouse. The mouse fled, scrambling around the small piano room. The big cat chased the mouse crazily. The yellow mouse was not weak, and kept throwing things at the cat.
Sometimes, it was a great chase. Other times, they were entangled together or beating each other up. But for some reason, neither of them were injured at all. Instead, everything fragile around them was destroyed.
The water pitcher was shattered, the wooden floor was ripped up, the wall was covered in paw prints, the carpet was covered in scratches, the framed picture on the wall fell with a crash, and even one of the piano legs broke. Like a tornado, the cat and mouse destroyed everything, turning the overture into a comedy. When the music ended, the cat and mouse disappeared. The classroom was in ruins.
Charles was calm while Ye Qingxuan was completely in a daze. Abraham left shaking his head, unable to look at his room.
“So you see now, right?” Charles’s hands left the piano. “No matter what I perform from the School of Summoning, it will turn into this. The Emperor Waltz, the Fourth Fantasy Impromptu…there are no exceptions. But it’s gets easier when you get used to it. I kind of like the cat and mouse now. I’ve named them Tom and Jerry. Aren’t they cute?”
Ye Qingxuan felt his forehead. He was not hallucinating, but it was still hard to believe. “Why don’t you try music from the School of Modifications?”
Charles shrugged. “The instrument would explode.”
“School of Mind?”
“It’ll be like I’m drunk, and I’ll run around naked somewhere…haven’t you seen it?”
“Yeah,” Ye Qingxuan wiped the cold sweat off of his forehead. “School of Illusions?”
“The listener would see a hallucination of a muscular and tanned man wearing a black trench coat and shades. He would open his hands and see a pink pill and a green pill…”
“…Revelations?”
“The listener would return to the past and discover that humans evolved from monkeys.”
“…” Ye Qingxuan could not bear to ask anymore. It was a painful history full of blood, sweat, and tears that no one else would believe.
Seeing his face, Charles knew that he understood the pain and held onto his shoulder, his eyes reddened. “All these years, I ruined whatever I learn. No matter what instrument it is, it’ll explode in my hands. But despite this, I’ve still passed the sacred city’s level ten examination for instruments. You must work hard too, junior.”
Ye Qingxuan shook at those words. The sacred city’s level ten examination for instruments was infamous for being a difficult, precise, and hellish test.
“What did you do?”
“…the triangle.” Charles gazed up at the sky, his eyes full of tears. “Only the triangle doesn’t explode.”
“Senior, I don’t know why but I want to cry.” Ye Qingxuan suddenly had the urge to hug Charles and sob with him. If Ye Qingxuan had been in that messed up situation, he would have given up long ago. He had not expected Charles to be so strong mentally, and so determined. After all those years, Charles had turned from a respected and famous genius to the embarrassment of the academy, but he still continued living happily.
“Ha, you don’t have to cry.” Charles patted his shoulders. “Anyway, it’s getting late. You should go sleep now. According to my calculations, you won’t be able to learn this piece in a short time.”
Ye Qingxuan sighed, understanding what he meant. Unlike single notes, the notes in and interval’s connections and changes become extremely tight when put together in a measure. The relationship between the notes created an interval, and intervals created measures, and two or four measures could become a phrase. With each advancement, the precision for manipulating the aether would double. For Ye Qingxuan, that was as difficult as rowing a boat through angry waves, or galloping on a wild stallion. He would be completely dragged around by the aether and lose his own tempo. Even if he used his professor’s translation method to find the best grouping method, he still needed a lot of work over a long period of time.
After all this time, he had barely managed to play the first measure and still made mistakes. He did not wish to be like Charles and play every piece smoothly like flowing water. Just the simple goal of being one hundred percent accurate and successful would need at least three months of practice. He envied Charles’s and Bai Xi’s natural talent.
Bai Xi was not as messed up as Charles and did not like to learn, but the few times she went to class, it was as relaxing as a walk in the park. Sometimes she would fall asleep during class but still learn the material after flipping through the book.
Thinking about that, Ye Qingxuan felt a wave of hopelessness. “Whatever. I’ll just wait until I’m rich, and then I’ll buy a bunch of rune stones and make it work for me.”
Charles could only laugh at this. “Junior, you look good, and you have pretty dreams too.”
Ye Qingxuan scoffed. “Who knows, maybe a giant pile of rune stones will fall from the sky when I’m walking.”
“Psh! That possibility is even smaller than if I woke up on King Arthur’s hidden treasures…”
“Whatever, I’m not talking to you anymore.” Ye Qingxuan rolled his eyes. Ready to sleep, he turned back before leaving, “Oh right, do you know where I can buy marbles?”
“Marbles? Why?”
“I promised it as a thank you gift.”
“Oh, I’ll take you tomorrow afternoon. I’ve finished all my alcohol.” Charles yawned and sighed, “The quality o
f my sleep is getting worse these days, I keep having nightmares. Could it be that another girl is stabbing my voodoo doll?”
“…”
—
The next afternoon, Ye Qingxuan carefully packed a map of Avalon, and reminded Bai Xi to take Old Phil and get him from some ditch if he went missing. And then, taking a deep breath, he finally went out with Charles!
“Senior, are you sure you’re reliable?” Ye Qingxuan looked around with every step he took, scared that Charles would take him to some weird place again.
“Don’t worry, I’ve been walking this path for five or six years. I can find it even with my eyes closed!” Charles walked in front, full of confidence, while Ye Qingxuan still was not convinced. There was no way he could feel relaxed after seeing that guy’s talent at leading! Was there anyone else who would take their junior to the cafeteria and end up at the Avalonian police station?! Just explaining to the police that he had been lost brought Ye Qingxuan close to tears. In the end, he could only go home when Bai Xi came with proof from the Academy. And Charles, on the other hand, had crawled out from the girl’s dorm. He had been so close to being discovered and beaten in public!
“It’s okay, there’s Old Phil if you do get lost.” He patted Ye Qingxuan’s shoulder but suddenly remembered, “Have you seen Old Phil recently?”
“No, maybe he went running around again. Why?”
“…Nothing.” Charles’s expression changed. “You know, after Hariti disappeared, there’s a new member of Avalon’s top ten legends now?”
Ye Qingxuan suddenly had a bad feeling. “No way.”
“Yes way. The new legend is a mysterious dog,” Charles said, slightly scarred. “All the kids in Avalon know not to walk by themselves, otherwise an evil dog will jump out of nowhere and scare them half to death, and steal their valuables…
“Two days ago, when the Yunlou ambassador group was leaving, the royals hosted a banquet. All the officials were talking and suddenly, a dog with a drumstick in its mouth jumped out. And in front of everyone, it bit the Crown Prince’s leg and made him pee his pants. Before anyone could process what had happened, the dog ran away. Apparently, its judgy eyes had created some emotional trauma for a lot of people. The Crown Prince is still hiding in the sheep pen…