Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  Alarms sounded continuously on students as their points were cleared and they were forced out. After clearing out a batch of totally unqualified graduating students, the rest of the students were just trying their luck blindly. They started looking through the flowers and trees for those that they had missed. And some had actually been found, so the crowd’s determination was activated!

  With this mess, no skills or plans were useful. Everyone just relied on their luck. At first, Ye Qingxuan had been worried for Charles, but when he investigated every location according to their plan and finally found Charles, he was not worried at all anymore, but…

  “Senior, your transformation is a bit…” Under the blazing sun in the empty square, Ye Qingxuan shielded his eyes and looked up at the fountain. He looked at the naked statue in the fountain…

  The statue had a symmetrical body of golden proportions. It had chiseled features and the realistic face turned to the side to stare at the sky. Its eyes were persistent and powerful. It was clear that a famous artist had made it, making one feel as if he had returned to the beginning of the golden era.

  But for some reason, if one looked too long, one would think that the statue’s smile had a vulgarity that one could not put a finger on…

  186 I’m Going to Ven

  The scorching sun,

  On the quiet square,

  Fountain, youth and naked man.

  The most shameless poet would not be able to such a wretched poem!

  “Senior, what the h*ll is this?” Ye Qingxuan sighed. But the statue was silent and gave no response. It was as if Ye Qingxuan had guessed wrong. “You want to keep pretending?”

  Ye Qingxuan looked around. Finding no one, he decisively approached the statue and kicked its crotch harshly.

  “Ow!” The statue’s face twisted instantly. A trembling voice sounded near Ye Qingxuan’s ears. “Junior, spare me please!”

  “Spare your *ss.” Ye Qingxuan asked softly, “We looked for so many places and positions last night so why did you end up in this wretched way?”

  “The real hermit lives in the bustling place. That’s the saying I’m following.” Seeing Ye Qingxuan prepare to kick him again, the statue waved hurriedly. “Fine, fine. The other places were all occupied, even the stone ghost statue on the wall! So I can only take the risk…”

  “Senior, you’d better change places as soon as possible. That group of guys started to take pictures already. If you get beat up, even I can’t save you.”

  “Okay, okay. You don’t have to worry about that. I’m smart. The first round should be no problem…It is just that the graduation design is a bit difficult.” Charles clenched his teeth. “But you didn’t have to kick that hard! You were going to ruin my mimicry!”

  Ye Qingxuan’s lip twitched. “Sorry, I’m in a bad mood.”

  “Where’s Bai Xi?” Charles looked behind him, “Where did she go?”

  “…” Ye Qingxuan shook his head wordlessly and turned to say goodbye, “Senior, may God bless you. I’m going now.”

  “Oh, wait!” Charles was taken aback. “Where are you going?”

  The youth had already walked away and waved without turning back. A frustrated voice came from afar, “I’m going to vent!”

  -

  The conference room was on the second floor of the auditorium. The entire academy’s aerial view was projected on the wall.

  Countless small black dots could be seen moving, as well as many red spots sprinkled in like stars. Red dots constantly lit up, burst, and disappeared. These were the mimics that had been discovered.

  But there were more black spots that were fading. They moved aimlessly like confused flies before eventually disappearing completely. The students had used up their credits and were eliminated.

  Beside the aerial display was a ranking list with different names flashing on it, showing the change in credit. The credits on the list were constantly changing, rising and falling at every second, showing the fierce competition.

  In the conference room, all the teachers stared at the list, looking for a familiar name, and nervously watching the scores rise and fall. Occasionally, their gaze would fall onto the girl in front, and become awed.

  At the very front, the girl sat primly and looked at the map on the wall in silence. She did not say a word. After such a long time, she looked colder, and had more of the royal dignity, making the people dare not to offend her.

  “Your Highness, what do you think of this?” Maxwell asked quietly beside her.

  After a moment of contemplation, the girl replied softly, “This was unexpected. I had thought that there would be some one-on-one battles to pick the strongest. Now, it seems a little showy.”

  “Your Highness Mary, are you speaking of the boorish bracket competitions?” Maxwell shook his head. “Since this is a school, it is better to keep it like a school.”

  “Shouldn’t a musician’s school teach its students what a musician is?” Mary asked in reply. “They should be ready for the future.”

  “Actually, I thought so too.” The principal reluctantly shook his head. “At first, I wanted to let them to go through some hardships and experience early on what real fighting and pioneering are like. Let them grow with the strictest standards and real combat. But seeing so many young faces, it felt too cruel…They’re still a bunch of kids. And to me, so are you, Your Highness.”

  Mary looked at him puzzled, but the principal laughed. The guy picked up a bottle of champagne from nowhere. He opened the bottle and poured expertly, stuffed a glass into her hand, and clinked glasses with her.

  “We can talk about the future in the future. We don’t have to put everything at the present, do we?” Maxwell raised his glass, his features animated. “Since it’s the anniversary day, let’s see it as a holiday and have some fun.”

  Mary looked at his smile in silence, and the coldness and frost in her eyes melted slightly. “Then I shall do what you say, Mr. Principal.” She took the glass and sipped it lightly. It was a little sour.

  -

  As time went on, the trend in the rankings became clearer. Some people were happy while others were not. The professors from Revelations were practically happy enough to start whistling. Of the top one hundred, more than fifty were Revelations students.

  The School itself was skilled at exploration, detection, and searching for specific items. A slightly flawed mimicry was riddled with flaws to them. This trial was a gift for them.

  Seeing names squeezing into the top ten one by one, the Revelations professors grew happier and happier. But beside them, the Modifications’ expressions darkened more and more.

  Ingmar gazed intently at the names on the list, watching Bart rise step by step with animated expressions. His efforts on Bart had not gone to waste. This child had suddenly become enlightened recently and so his performance was outstanding. He even showed the potential to catch up with Banner. He was going to be in the top ten—almost! He was so close…

  Ingmar clenched his fist and stared at the rankings, until Bart’s credits flashed and jumped over the red line. He could no longer resist the urge to wave and cheer quietly. Bart succeeded!

  As long as he had the upper hand in the first round, he could get into top five in the second round with a bit more effort. By then, he would be able to enter the Cave of Sleep. Through the special strength of the Cave, he would quickly reach the threshold of the Musician level, and enter ‘Deva’s Induction.’ If he could then establish the core of Revelations, then it was foreseeable that Bart was going to be the most promising one of the School of Revelations

  Noticing his excitement, a bearded man from Modifications pursed his lip and muttered, “Another phony from the Revelations.”

  “So far, it seems that the School of Revelations is taking the lead.” The principal glanced at the rankings. “The other schools are lagging behind a bit.”

  Mary thought for a while and asked, “I remember that the head professor of the Revelations is Mr.
Ingmar, who worked out the Babylonian riddle, correct?”

  “It is me.” Hearing this, Ingmar rose and bowed. He could not help but grow excited at the thought that even the second princess had heard of his name.

  “Ten years ago, Mr. Ingmar became the famous dark-age historian. Your research of ancient music theory is for all to see.” Mary nodded approvingly. “I didn’t expect for you to return to the Academy and continue producing so many outstanding students. It’s really admirable.”

  Ingmar disguised the pride in the eyes and lowered his head in reservation. “To give one’s knowledge to others is also one of the responsibilities of a musician. Of course, the most important thing is to pick out the material that can be crafted, rather than working on deadwood and mud…” He glanced behind him secretly, but found that the man with a single arm was writing intently with his head down and had not heard Ingmar’s words.

  “Mr. Abraham.” Ingmar’s eyes turned cold. “No offense, but are you writing something important? So important that you can forget your manners before royalty?”

  Abraham looked up blankly and froze. He quickly put down his pen. “S-sorry, I just suddenly had some ideas about interpretation, so I couldn’t help but write down it.”

  “Is that so?” said Ingmar coldly. “Then you must write it down well since there aren’t many ideas that support your absurd theory. But Her Highness came to visit on behalf of the Queen, so you’d better think about how you’ll explain your disrespect of royalty to Her Highness…”

  Abraham looked at the girl and finally processed everything. Somewhat flustered, he lowered his head.

  Mary noticed his steel prosthetic limb and seemed to recall something. She was a little taken aback, but soon shook her head. “The School of Revelations pursues inspiration, so this is normal. I hope Mr. Abraham’s interpretation method will soon have results and I anticipate hearing of them.”

  Seeing that the reckless Abraham was let go so easily, Ingmar could not help but scoff. “You should thank Her Highness for her forgiveness. You might not be so lucky next time.”

  “Since Her Highness has forgiven you, then learn from your mistake.” The principal waved to Ingmar, motioning for him to move on. Then he asked Abraham, “I remember that your students are also taking part in this trial?”

  “Yes, one graduate and two freshmen this year.” Abraham sighed, “I’m afraid they won’t do well.”

  “Don’t be too pessimistic, Abraham.” The principal patted him on the shoulder. He seemed to laugh as he said, “You can’t be sure until the last minute.”

  There was the soft sound, like a blister popping. On the aerial display, a red dot representing a graduate student quietly dissipated. At the bottom of the list where no one would notice, a name moved up quietly.

  There was another sound and the name rose again.

  Then a third sound…

  -

  Boom! The door at the front of the central building collapsed and crumbled. Everyone in the courtyard looked back in astonishment at the white-haired youth who walked in from outside. “The material is wrong. Go and take the class again” he said.

  The white-haired youth holding the school badge pursed his lips, looking coldly at the dispersing iron door. “How can you use mimicry when you don’t even know what material iron is?”

  Ding. The badge made a crisp sound as fifty more points entered it, but Ye Qingxuan did not even check. Instead, he walked straight toward the crowd.

  “The Eastern guy…” someone remembered him for his notorious actions at the academy and exclaimed softy. Seeing him coming towards them with a rude expression, the crowd rustled.

  “What do you want?” Someone stood out to stop him. But seeing Ye Qingxuan’s pair of cold eyes, they froze and stuttered, “Private fights are—are banned on anniversary day!”

  “I’m sorry, but you’re in my way.” Ye Qingxuan glanced at him and patted him on the shoulder. “Excuse me.”

  “Oh, oh.” The student subconsciously moved to the side and watched as Ye Qingxuan walked past. Behind Ye Qingxuan, the people saw his posture, thought of the bad rumors about him and they shivered. What was the academy bully, the demon from the East going to do?

  But the Eastern guy stopped before them and suddenly said, “You know what? Most of Anglo is near the sea, so most places are influenced by the ocean currents and belong to the temperate climate.”

  “Huh?” The crowd thought they must have heard wrong and did not understand what he was trying to say.

  187 Shopping

  “When the School of Royalty was established centuries ago, they transported alder, elm, Populus euphratica, white birch trees and much more from all over to make the campus green and ensure spring all year long…” Gazing at everyone’s confused expressions, Ye Qingxuan suddenly kicked the sapling beside him. “But there weren’t any indus trees, which had spread from the East two hundred years later!”

  Crack! The tree trunk trembled and the tree was suddenly uprooted. It wanted to run and unbelievably fast. But the youth was even faster and raised his badge. Light flashed from the badge and landed on the trunk. With a shake, it disappeared.

  Ding dong…The badge vibrated. Fifty more points were now his.

  Everybody was completely shaken. They had never imagined that a graduating student was hiding right behind their butts! Ye Qingxuan gazed at them and stated, “The moral of this story is that illiterate people who don’t even know about botany don’t deserve to graduate.” With that, he turned to leave.

  There was a clatter in the hall in the distant, like something being kicked over. The people could not help but shiver. They looked over, but could only hear, “A trash can? How can there be such a clean trash can? Your mimicry isn’t up to standard. Go take this class again.”

  “…What’s wrong with him?”

  Everyone stared blankly at each other in confusion.

  “Should we go look?” someone made the suggestion that they would deeply regret in the following months. But—f*ck—they actually agreed!

  -

  Hum… There was a quake in the clouds and the expressions of all students in the enchantment changed. In the campus, someone in the volunteer crowd furrowed his brows and pressed something invisible in the air. A faint tune spread in all directions and reported back.

  “Hurry, there’s only ten minutes. The enchantment’s going to change again.

  “Ten minutes is enough.” Banner raised his head. His eyes were emerald and the vertical pupils trembled. His body burned with glowing flames. His lower body was a gold lion and his tail had a dark green hook like a scorpion. Beside it was a youthful musician who had the same face but an entirely human body. There were two Banners, but their companions did not find it strange.

  Seeing that Banner had called forth the manticore, his friends sighed in relief. Banner waved and the lion roared, galloping away instantly in the campus.

  The manticore was the phantom beast unique to the Adrian family. Its talent was high sensitivity to the breaths of living creatures. Even with the double blockages of the requiem enchantment and mimicry, it could still sense all living things around it. Compared to others who had to use music scores and other methods, Banner undoubtedly had the biggest advantage. Furthermore, his brother Gavin had given him his former confidant to help in this trial.

  Banner had broken into the top three in a few short hours.

  “As expected of Gavin’s brother,” an upperclassman at the front looked at him from afar and murmured. “His manticore is already humanized and he’s just gotten into the Musician level.”

  Humanization was a phenomenon unique to the School of Royalty. This school was a new branch of the School of Summoning. It was different in that Royalty had inherited the theories of Arthur, the most powerful Summoning musician. Because of this, it was also known as the Anglo School.

  All phantom beasts summoned by Summoning musicians were demons created by the broken pieces of their consciousness a
nd raised in their minds. The School of Royalty abandoned most beasts and focused on those that fit themselves the most. They developed the beastliness of these demons in their minds and gave them their characteristics, allowing it to be continuously refined.

  In the end, it would practically become the beastly version of the musician. A well-experienced musician could allow himself to temporarily have some of the beast’s characteristics. But the other characteristic of the School of Royalty was that the beast could be from a different school than the musician! Those who liked destruction and creation would study Modifications on the side, those good at observation and predictions would study Revelations…

  Taking advantage of the fact that the phantom beast came from the same source and heart, the two of them had an effect of more than two.

  In the School of Royalty, there were also secret sublimation rituals that could make the phantom beast also study from the School of Summoning. Through these rituals, the musician could create a frightening wave of beasts whenever and wherever. This belonged to the secret occupation of the School of Royalty. Because of its feathering abilities, they were referred to as the “descendants of the phoenix.”

  “Looks like the School of Royalty is going to groom him next.” The upperclassman Cullen stared deeply at Banner. It seemed that the new Adrian power could not be stopped. Five years later, the family would have two musicians. If both became descendants of the phoenix, the School of Royalty would be the playground of these two brothers. With Gavin’s skills, he might even be the concertmaster of the Royal Musician Division in fifteen years.

  The humanized manticore roared once again. It rushed out from a collapsed library, a trembling dictionary in its mouth.

  “Very good.” Banner took the dictionary and placed his school badge on it. The dictionary crumbled and vanished with a flash. It was yet another idiot who thought he could turn into a book and hide in the library to hide from the searches.

  “Number thirty-seven,” a student helped Banner count.