by Feng Yue
The following day, people gathered in the auditorium. It was a drowsy afternoon and sunshine fell from the skylight. In the silence, only the voice from the podium could be heard. Almost all of the students in school were gathered there, and there were clear distinctions among them.
The red clothing of Modifications; the yellow of Revelations; the blue of Summoning; and the School of Royalty, which was a branch of the School of Summoning and had the least number of students, were clad in white with gold thread sewn in their cuffs.
Only the graduating students would be given the uniforms unique to their school by their professors. They occupied the positions at the front. Their expressions were slightly nervous and troubled. The test of the school anniversary was also one of their graduation trials. If they could not pass, it was very possible that their future would be full of obstacles. After so many years of practice, their future relied all on this.
Whether they were going to train at the border with the Garrison Corps, travel the nations as a minstrel, or join the Royal Orchestra that countless people dreamed of, there was no doubt that it all depended on the Academy’s endorsement and recognition.
It was said that in the past few years, the principal would not play fair and use this as an excuse to hold back a group of people’s diplomas for half year. He only let them go after the Queen inquired about it by charging twice the amount for exam make-up fees. Everyone hoped that this tragedy would not happen to themselves.
-
Ye Qingxuan did not want to attend this kind of large meeting at all because he was not involved and it was a waste of time. But seeing as he had a senior who had applied for graduation every year but had never succeeded, and the fact that concertmasters must attend, he pinned on the badge he had thrown to the bottom of his suitcase and arrived late.
After arriving, he found that the concertmasters had to sit in the front row. Feeling the gazes from the school leaders at the podium, it made him feel particularly uncomfortable. But it was inevitable since his white hair was too eye-catching.
Beside him, the disdainful and exceptionally cold senior concertmasters seemed unwilling to acknowledge his appearance. He could not be bothered to talk with them and get jinxed either.
It was only after he took his seat that he found that he was not the latest. Another concertmaster came late too and crossed through the aisle very calmly. He sat beside Ye Qingxuan as if nobody else was around.
“Richard?” Ye Qingxuan recognized him.
Unlike the others, Richard’s school uniform was pure black. His look was still cold with eyes that always seemed to be looking for mistakes. It made people particularly dislike him.
“Long time no see. I’m really honored that Concertmaster Ye still remembers me,” Richard responded emotionlessly.
Of course Ye Qingxuan remembered him. It could be said that the people from the school’s executive office were unforgettable—they all looked the same. Moreover, when Richard was in the cafeteria, his words had been cold, but he did have a hint of kindness, which was rare. But Ye Qingxuan still had not expected that he was also a concertmaster. After a polite smile, Ye Qingxuan no longer spoke, but heard Richard’s voice.
“Talk?” Richard had a subtle look in his eyes.
Ye Qingxuan sighed and suddenly felt helpless. “You won’t ask me about the same d*mn gossip, will you?” He had really been ruined by Lola. Why did everyone want to ask about that sort of stuff?
“What gossip?” Richard shook his head, his eyes emotionless. “We at the executive office don’t care about gossip …”
The long-lost feeling of being touched came to Ye Qingxuan instantly. As expected of the executive office to not be part of such vulgar things.
Then Richard drawled, “We like to catch people on the spot, with both the criminal and the evidence.”
“…” Ye Qingxuan was speechless. So these guys knocked on doors to arrest people? With tears rolling down, he said, “I’m innocent.”
“We’ll decide if you’re innocent or not.” Richard spoke to him with a meaningful tone, “Relationships between teachers and students are forbidden in the academy. I hope that Concertmaster Ye won’t give us the chance.”
Ye Qingxuan suddenly felt indescribable grievance. So he had not done anything, but was already on the executive office’s naughty list. Was he just waiting to get locked up? It was hard to describe how he felt during the transition from the disgrace of the academy to the infamous lewd player.
As he sighed and was about to explain, he saw Richard signaling him not to speak. “Sh, the most important part is coming.”
At the podium, Sydney’s long and boring speech had finally ended and he looked at the audience with an enthusiastic expression.
“Next, let’s welcome the former president of Student Union, sixth grade concertmaster, representative of the School of Royalty, Gavin Adrian, to give a speech on behalf of all the students who will take the graduation trials!” With that, Sydney took the lead and began clapping. Offstage, cheers rippled through the crowd, along with wild applause. The sound made Ye Qingxuan’s ears hurt.
Some girls shouted the name wildly, their faces excited. Ye Qingxuan looked around in confusion and found that only he was not moving. He quickly began clapping half a beat later.
Under everyone’s gazes, the man seated at the very left of the first row rose. He nodded toward the crowd and went to the podium. He looked to be in his twenties and was still very young. His eyes were azure, and his posture elegant and charismatic.
The School of Royalty’s white uniform on his body complemented his looks beautifully. Even someone like Ye Qingxuan who never cared about the aristocratic demeanor had to admit that Gavin was indeed worthy of the title of the glorious bloodlines. He was born to be a noble. If he put on armor and rode a horse, it would probably be the picture of a legendary knight. No wonder so many girls screamed when they saw him. Who did not like Prince Charming?
But at the podium, Gavin happened to glance at him. His eyes grew colder and he furrowed his brows.
“Much thanks to the school for allowing me to speak on behalf of everyone.” At the podium, Gavin began to speak. His low and gentle voice had a mature huskiness to it and was full of charisma. The whole hall quieted down instantly, listening attentively to his voice. But in the seats, Ye Qingxuan was confused.
“Who is he?” Ye Qingxuan asked quietly. “He seems impressive.”
“Gavin, sixth grade concertmaster, president of the student council last year, is the new star of the Adrian family,” Richard responded. “I thought you knew him.
“I feel like I should know him too.” Ye Qingxuan shrugged. “He looked pissed when he saw me. Did I accidentally offend him?”
Richard was speechless for a while because of Ye Qingxuan’s shamelessness. He asked, “Do you still remember Banner? The one who really hates you and even arranged for others to mess with you before his retreat? Banner is this guy’s brother.”
It dawned on Ye Qingxuan. He looked at Richard with admiration. “You really know everything! Are you the biggest gossiper?”
“That’s what the executive office does,” Richard said lightly. “There’s always a source of information that others don’t know.”
Ye Qingxuan curled his lips and looked at the stage. “It sounds like he’ll help his brother deal with me? I feel stressed now.”
“It’s possible, but he doesn’t have that time.”
“Why?”
“He joined the School of Royalty two years ago. Starting at the musician level, he went through more than six refinement ceremonies, and I heard he entered the Resonance level a few months ago. The Royal Music Division thinks highly of him, and he’ll be recruited directly after graduation. He’ll be too busy to deal with you before he leaves. And what excuse will he have to meddle in your affairs after he leaves?”
“That sounds right.” Ye Qingxuan nodded. “I trust you.”
Indeed, Gavin did not have time to
pick a battle with him, but just looking at his pile of titles, it was easy to see that, even if he himself did not have the time, someone would do it for him if he said the word. Ye Qingxuan’s head hurt at the thought of this possibility. He had no time to waste on these silly things.
“How annoying,” he muttered.
“Would you like to consider joining the executive office?” Richard suddenly asked. “You get paid and you can also avoid a lot of trouble.” It was the second time. It was the second time that the executive office had recruited him.
Ye Qingxuan sighed. “Are you that short on staff?”
“There’s people everywhere, but it’s hard to find the right one.” Richard looked at him, “I’m going to apply for study abroad. Before I go, I want to add some new blood into the office.”
“Sorry.” “Ye Qingxuan shook his head.” I don’t have time.”
Richard was silent for a long time. He sighed as if sorry and handed a card to Ye Qingxuan. “If you change your mind, you can come to this address.”
“Okay.” Ye Qingxuan accepted the card. On the stage, the speech was finally coming to an end. Everyone’s voice died off as they waited in anticipation.
It was finally here! The first trial of the anniversary would be announced soon! Under everyone’s earnest gazes, Gavin held up the sealed envelope in his hand. He opened it in front of the people, pulled out the letter and slowly unfolded it. He was shocked for a moment, frowning slightly. Everyone held their breaths instantly.
“Next, the first trial of the anniversary will be announced.” Gavin paused. He raised his head and announced, “Mimicry!”
In an instant, the whole auditorium burst into shocked cries. Like an explosion, the voices rumbled, faintly mingled with wails and sighs. “Are you kidding?!” Among the graduates, some were about to bury their faces and sob.
In the back of the room, Charles whistled. Since he could not graduate, he came just for the drama. “As I said before, it won’t be easy.” He shrugged and shook his head while sighing.
Mimicry could be said was a skill that all musicians must master. As the name implied, mimicry was to simulate the appearance of other substances through a variety of methods by the use of aether. When one delved into the deepest parts, he would even be able to transform the material.
There were Modifications musicians who specialized in this skill. One of their graduation trials was to transform a finger-sized piece of iron into gold by change of elements.
But the trial’s difficulty this time was not that high. After all, gold refining would take an experienced musician more than two months. Therefore, this trial was intended to assess the musician’s own ability to use the environment, as well as their own camouflage skills.
According to the principal, musicians were the pioneers of the Dark World. Thus, one must have the ability to survive in the dark world filled with dangers. Therefore, the Requiem enchantment would be officially activated tomorrow during the school anniversary and transform the entire school environment.
At that time, the entire school would become a huge examination room. The students participating in the graduation trial would have to turn themselves into all kinds of unmoving objects through mimicry and hide well…
Next, the cruelest round would begin.
184 Before the Trial 2
Next, the cruelest round would begin. All participating students had to find the graduating students. Before the trial, all students had sixty points. If they wanted to pass, they needed to get at least one hundred! Every wrong find deducted ten points. If they failed six times, they were out. Fifty points were awarded for one successful find. If a graduating student was caught five or more times consecutively, he would fail the trial and be out. If he was not caught by visual mimicry of objects, it was possible for their points to double.
The crowd instantly formed two groups…
It could be imagined that by the time the sun rose the next day, the familiar campus, the same environment, the warmth and peace would never be seen again. This would become a terrifying battlefield. A cruel war would begin. But…
“Isn’t it just hide and seek?” Ye Qingxuan finally reacted.
“I guess?” Richard rose and patted his shoulder. “Remember not to cheat. The executive office will be maintaining order the entire time. Thanks to the school board, you’re one of our top suspects.”
Ye Qingxuan suddenly felt weak. Other concertmasters had the best times of their lives, but he became the top suspect? It was depressing. And what was wrong with this school anniversary? Tests in rumors had everyone face off each other until a winner of the school was created. Why did it turn into this here?
And to encourage the students to tear each other apart, the academy had also prepared all sorts of prizes and gifts. The first five students could go into the Cave of Sleep in the Jianlan Underground Palace for a weeklong meditation period. They could also use their credits in exchange for more time…
Hearing this, Ye Qingxuan’s eyes grew red with desire. The Cave of Sleep was one of the Requiem enchantment’s cores. There, a vast magnetic vortex captured aether constantly, used up the massive amount of aether, and performed Benevolence, the overture of the Requiem.
If one meditated here, he could easily resonate deeply with the aether. Apparently, the meditation effect would shoot up incredibly fast once in there, like a wild dog off its leash. It was the best location for meditation.
If Ye Qingxuan could enter, he could fill in the foundation built with his rune stones. He also had a few handwritten drafts from saints that he had taken from the library. That was the most important!
Those were all classic scores from the School of Revelations. There were twenty-four in total and needed at least one year to learn at the regular speed. With the interpretation method, the time could be reduced to half a year, but if he had an environment like the Cave of Sleep, he could roughly understand it all within seven days.
After the most difficult obstacle, he would just need to keep practicing and woodshedding. No matter what, he had to work for this important chance.
-
Ye Qingxuan decided to look through information of past school anniversaries from the library for preparation. But at the very back of the auditorium, he saw a sighing and grieving crowd. They were probably the seniors who were not good at visual mimicry and were hopeless now. Ye Qingxuan recognized a few. They were all Charles’ comrades.
One of them was a girl. Ye Qingxuan remembered Charles crushing on her seriously before, but it ended without any results. After all, who would date a failure? Now, Charles stood beside her, comforting her softly.
According to him, he lacked experience in every field except for failing classes. After getting stuck in the Rhythm level years ago, he had never passed again. Now, all his friends were graduating. He was probably the saddest now, right?
Ye Qingxuan sighed and walked forward.
-
At the back of the auditorium, the gloomy girl hung her head, her eyes red. She probably did not have much confidence for this test.
“Don’t worry, Heather,” Charles consoled her softly. “There’ll be a way out of every dead end. If you hurry and practice ‘visual mimicry,’ you can still make do. I have a lot of experience. If you…”
“I know. Stop yapping,” Heather interrupted, her expression annoyed. “Whatever, I’m just like this and can’t learn anything. I’m not a ‘genius’ like you!”
“But it’s still good to be prepared.” Charles’s voice had weakened and he hung his head. “I just wanted to say that I have some notebooks. If you hurry and look through them, your grade won’t be that bad.”
“Don’t I have your department below me?” Heather glared at him. “No matter how bad I am, I won’t be as bad as you.”
“…” Charles froze, his face growing red. “You—you can’t say that.”
People around them laughed mockingly. Some people seemed to make comments. Charles stuttered, try
ing to reply, but in the end, he hung his head sadly and did not try to explain.
He had just wanted to say that he had some resources and notebooks that were written by himself. Heather would have no problem if she looked through them, but Heather was right too. He could not even help himself. Maybe he should not have come.
“Senior, let’s go.”
Charles heard a voice beside him. The white-haired youth stood before him, blocking the mocking eyes from him with a neutral and cold expression.
“What’s the point of talking with these failures?” Ye Qingxuan said lightly. “It’s a waste of time. Let them fend for themselves.” His voice was gentle, but each clearly enunciated word made the gleeful and mocking expressions turn uglier.
“Failure? What are you talking about?” The eyes of Ryan, Heather’s boyfriend, darkened. “At any rate, we’re your seniors. Do you not know what ‘manners’ are?”
“I was just telling the truth.” Ye Qingxuan looked down and toyed with the concertmaster badge on his chest. Looking up, he asked, “What, you don’t agree? If you don’t, get a concertmaster badge and show me.”
“You Eastern b*stard…don’t go too far.”
“Eastern b*stard? Do you still remember the ninth line of the second chapter of the school rules?” Ye Qingxuan chuckled. “What do you call me when you see me, no matter the situation?”
There was a long silence. The people stared at each other. In the end, Ryan squeezed out the words with a dark expression, “Concertmaster Ye.”
Someone beside them forced a smile and tried to soften the tension. “Sorry, Heather didn’t mean it that way. She just feels stressed.”
“It’s okay. I’m not the one you were annoying.” Ye Qingxuan scanned the group. “Go back and study well. I know you’re all good kids, so be good and obedient.”
“You!” Ryan clenched his fists as his breathing grew heavier.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean that. I’m a bit stressed too.” Ye Qingxuan slowly straightened his collars and bent down to look at Ryan, then whispered in his ear, “If you’re upset, you can hit me…coward.”