Xie Shi’an stared at the forum, waiting from morning until afternoon, but still, no one replied to his post.
Just as Xie Shi’an was about to edit his post, a knock echoed at his bedroom door.
Ji Xun appeared at the entrance and invited him, “We managed to book an advanced training room. Do you want to come train with us?”
With only a few days left until the practical assessment, training room resources were extremely tight lately, and advanced training rooms were nearly impossible to book. Ji Xun had only managed to grab one through sheer speed.
Xie Shi’an replied, “I might not have time. I have to go to the botanical garden to volunteer this afternoon.”
Knowing that school volunteer reservations couldn’t be canceled, Ji Xun said, “Then we’re heading out first. If you finish up and want to come over, feel free to find us at the training room.”
Ji Xun sent Xie Shi’an the room number before leaving with the other classmates.
In the Botanical Garden
Xie Shi’an headed to the botanical garden to complete his volunteer hours.
The botanical garden was quite quiet; aristocratic students rarely came here. Aside from volunteers, the only people who usually visited were sculpture class students collecting gilded wood leaves.
The park was peaceful, filled only with the sound of the wind, bird chirping in the trees, and the distant murmur of flowing river water.
Carrying his tool box, Xie Shi’an followed the route Butler Owen had taken last time and began injecting nutrient solutions into the trees.
Each tree had different requirements—some needed daily injections, while others needed them once a week.
Opening the nutrient tube, injecting, repeating the process over and over.
It was a monotonous task, yet peaceful.
When Xie Shi’an finished this section and stepped out of the grove, he immediately spotted the giant golden gemstone tree on the lawn.
A breeze blew, rustling the gemstone tree leaves, and the soft golden foliage shimmered on the branches.
Underneath the canopy, a massive, fluffy snow wolf squatted on the grass next to a human figure.
The person wore a black-and-white everyday formal suit and was slightly bent over, grooming the fur on the snow wolf’s head. However, the snow wolf was so large that even while squatting, its fluffy body almost completely blocked the person next to it.
When Xie Shi’an saw who it was, he was slightly surprised, never expecting the aloof Disciplinary Department senior to pet and groom a fluffy animal.
Walking under the tree canopy, Xie Shi’an bowed and saluted: “Senior Si Xiu, good afternoon.”
Not far away, Si Xiu withdrew his hand, straightened his gloves, and returned the greeting: “Good day.”
Sensing the approach of an unfamiliar presence, the snow wolf, which had been resting on the ground, instantly sprang up. Its fluffy body hid behind Si Xiu while it poked its head out, letting out a few low growls at the stranger.
Si Xiu reached out, placing his palm gently on top of the snow wolf’s head, and said to Xie Shi’an, “Sorry, it’s a bit afraid of strangers.”
“It’s fine, I just got to the botanical garden recently and I’m still getting familiar with things.” Xie Shi’an squatted halfway down, opened his tool box, took out a bone snack from the inner compartment, placed it on the grass, and pushed it toward the snow wolf.
The snow wolf looked at the bone, then turned its head to look at Si Xiu, seeming somewhat hesitant.
Carrying his tool box to the other side of the trunk, Xie Shi’an injected a tube of nutrient solution into the bark while asking, “Senior, are you here to collect leaves?”
“Mhm.” Si Xiu lowered his head, lightly touching the snow wolf’s ear.
Given permission, the snow wolf darted forward, snatched the bone snack in one bite, and crunched down.
“When I came last time, I asked Butler Owen, and he said silvery-white leaves are quite rare,” Xie Shi’an said, putting away his nutrient bottle and looking up at the massive golden tree overhead. “I wonder when white leaves will appear.”
Si Xiu looked up at the canopy and said, “New leaves have already grown.”
“Huh?” Xie Shi’an searched eagerly, moving a few steps to the side until he stood beside Si Xiu. Sure enough, nestled deep among the layers of golden foliage, he spotted a silvery-white leaf.
Yet the newly sprouted silvery-white leaf was so tiny, buried layer upon layer beneath the surrounding golden leaves, that it was nearly invisible.
Staring up at the leaf, Xie Shi’an asked, “Do we just wait here until it falls?”
Si Xiu hummed affirmatively and replied, “It might fall, or it might enter its maturity stage.”
Xie Shi’an asked again, “Butler Owen mentioned that sculpture class uses the leaves, but when I selected my courses earlier, I didn’t see that class. Can’t we choose it?”
“You can only select it in your second year.”
Xie Shi’an nodded. Remembering that Senior Si Xiu was a third-year student, another question popped into his mind: “Senior Si Xiu, you’re a third-year. You must have experienced past assessment races before. What were they like?”
He continued, “I transferred here not long ago and haven’t taken a single practical combat class yet. With the assessment coming up so soon, I’m a bit nervous.”
Recalling the past two years, Si Xiu said, “I’ve never participated in the assessment. I took a leave of absence.”
“I see…” Xie Shi’an reached out, pressing his palm lightly against the tree trunk. “This year’s assessment is so fierce. The forum is practically about to erupt before it’s even started.”
Aware of the forum posts as well, Si Xiu frowned slightly and remarked, “They seem to place far too much importance on the effect of the royal wish.”
“It’s a royal promise, of course it’s important,” Xie Shi’an could understand it. “But right now, I don’t even know how to get points. The rules only say you need a hundred points to pass.”
Si Xiu explained, “Points are bound to fierce beasts. As long as you control your mental power well, getting a hundred points won’t be too difficult.”
The assessment location was the planet of Karonis, a small satellite planet near the Asaph system. Seventy percent of this planet was covered in green vegetation, but it was crawling with fierce beasts and featured an extreme climate, making it unfit for habitation.
However, such an environment was ideal for training. Later on, the Asaph Empire dispatched troops to take over and converted the planet into a specialized training ground.
This time, Luoxi Academy’s assessment would take place in a valley on Karonis. The school instructors had already tagged all the fierce beasts in the area, binding a point collar around each beast’s neck. Students simply needed to snatch the collar from a beast’s neck to earn a point.
These beasts possessed high destructive power but low intelligence. As long as students utilized mental power to slow the beasts down, they could successfully snatch the points.
Regretfully, Xie Shi’an sighed, “Too bad my mental power is rather poor. I chose close-quarters combat.”
To Si Xiu, close combat and ranged combat made little difference. He simply noted, “Close combat tests basic skills more thoroughly, so your point-gathering speed might be a bit slower.”
Nearby, the snow wolf had finished eating its bone snack. It looked back up at Xie Shi’an, slowly trotted around him in a circle, and fixed its gaze intently on the tool box beside him.
Bending down, Xie Shi’an fished another bone from the box, fed it to the snow wolf, and said, “Even so, I want to get first place.”
One hundred points was far from enough; he wanted the top spot.
Si Xiu turned his head slightly and asked, “Because of the wish reward?”
In reality, the wish reward couldn’t change a family’s status quo, nor would it hold much political utility.
The royal family would only fulfill such a wish under the premise of not breaking rules and balance.
Looking at the fluffy snow wolf before him, Xie Shi’an tentatively reached out, placed his palm on top of the snow wolf’s head, and said slowly, “First place gets an afternoon tea invitation from His Highness. I want to meet the Crown Prince.”
The snow wolf lifted its chin. When Xie Shi’an touched it, its ears twitched slightly as if unaccustomed to the close presence of a stranger, but it ultimately seemed to compromise and stopped resisting.
Si Xiu’s gaze fell on the snow wolf as he said, “If you simply want to see members of the royal family, there will be plenty of opportunities.”
“You can’t see them at all. This is probably my only chance to get up close and personal with the Crown Prince.” Feeling somewhat hopeless, Xie Shi’an squatted down again, trying to wrap his arms around the snow wolf.
Yet against the snow wolf’s massive, fluffy frame, Xie Shi’an looked exceptionally small. Even wrapping both arms around it, he could barely hug its head.
The snow wolf was huge, warm, and felt like hugging a marshmallow when pressed against it. Resting against it, Xie Shi’an began muttering, “Only first place gets to see the Crown Prince…”
Turning his head and burying his face into the snow wolf’s fluffy back, Xie Shi’an started talking nonsense out of desperation: “I’m going to kidnap the snow wolf! Then message the Crown Prince that he has to come see me! If he doesn’t come, I’ll tear up the ticket!”
Accustomed to Xie Shi’an’s wild rambling by now, Si Xiu calmly turned around, continued observing the silvery-white leaves on the tree, and remarked, “The Crown Prince appears at the opening ceremony every year.”
“The opening ceremony?” Xie Shi’an lifted his head, his dark hair a total mess from rubbing against the snow wolf’s fur.
He hurriedly opened the forum to search for the keyword opening ceremony and actually found plenty of posts confirming that the Crown Prince did indeed attend.
“The opening ceremony isn’t until next semester, that’s way too long,” Xie Shi’an sighed again, pressing his head back against the snow wolf and gently rubbing its ears. “I still need to win first place this time and go on a date with the Crown Prince.”
A warm breeze blew past once more, and a golden gilded wood leaf drifted down, landing softly on the lawn.
Si Xiu bent down, picked up the fallen golden leaf, and corrected: “It’s afternoon tea.”
“Close enough, same thing.” Xie Shi’an stood up, dusted off his clothes, and neatly smoothed down the snow wolf’s fur as well.
He was going to win first place.
And then, go on a date with the Crown Prince.
Back at the Villa
By evening, Xie Shi’an finished his volunteer work and returned to the dormitory.
His volunteer hours had reached ten, meaning he could head to the Disciplinary Department next time to clear his deduction record.
Because he had spent the afternoon petting fluff in the botanical garden, Xie Shi’an felt quite relaxed. However, upon stepping into the villa, he found the atmosphere in the first-floor living room unusually oppressive. Four or five boys sat silently on the sofa with grim expressions, while Xia Zuo comforted them from the side.
“Take a breather, everyone calm down first. Things are special right now, we won’t run into this again.”
“Are you guys hungry? You must be exhausted after working all day, want something to eat?”
Xia Zuo was kept busy, bouncing from comforting one person to the next.
Passing by, Xie Shi’an glanced at the boys on the sofa, then looked at Xia Zuo, silently questioning what happened.
Before Xia Zuo could speak, Ji Xun, sitting nearby, started venting angrily:
“We finally managed to book that training room, and as soon as Senior Iderson showed up, he snatched it away!”
“They’re second-years who need to train, so why can’t we first-years train? If that’s how it is, the school might as well forbid first-years from participating entirely!”
Hearing these words, remembering Ji Xun mentioning the training room earlier that afternoon, and hearing the name Iderson, Xie Shi’an could roughly piece together what had happened.
Xia Zuo picked up the teapot, poured cups of black tea, and soothed them, “Calm down, everyone. Our target right now is passing the assessment; let’s put other matters aside for the moment.”
Xia Zuo had classes today and hadn’t gone with Ji Xun’s group to the training room in the afternoon, only learning later that Ji Xun’s room had been “borrowed” away by Senior Iderson.
Though the seniors called it “borrowing,” it was essentially snatching.
The academy’s training rooms were tiered, and the advanced training rooms could fully simulate combat terrain, requiring students to race against time and clicking speed to book them.
Iderson’s team hadn’t secured a slot for an advanced training room. However, upon arriving at the facility and seeing that an advanced training room had been snagged by first-year juniors, they simply walked right up and demanded to borrow it.
“Help a senior out, juniors. You guys only need to scrape by with a hundred points anyway, but we seniors are different—we’re under a lot of pressure.”
“Exactly, and we won’t shortchange you juniors either. We’ll pass some points your way during the assessment first.”
“Besides, there are middle-tier training rooms downstairs anyway. Booking those should be more than enough for you.”
The seniors rolled in with an overwhelming presence, not even giving them much time to negotiate before taking over the control console and kicking Ji Xun and the others out.
Although the unwritten rule of the assessment was for first-years to yield to second-years, Senior Iderson and his group had gone so far as to bully first-years out of their own training rooms.
“When the time comes, I’m giving all my points to Senior Tu Li! I don’t care who wins, as long as those guys don’t!” Furious, Ji Xun opened up the forum and added, “And the betting pool—I’m putting all my contribution points on Senior Tu Li!”
A prediction event had opened on the forum as a form of minor entertainment, predicting who would win first place in the assessment.
However, predictions required students to wager their contribution points. Good performance in classes, homework, or exams earned contribution points, which could then be used to buy items at the workshop.
“A betting pool?” Intrigued, Xie Shi’an hopped onto the forum to take a look.
Currently, the person with the highest support rate in the predictions was Iderson, followed by Colton in second, and Tu Li in third.
Xie Shi’an checked his own contribution point balance. Perhaps because he was a mid-semester transfer who hadn’t participated in any exams or turned in homework yet, his current balance was zero.
Leaning over to Ji Xun, Xie Shi’an saw that Ji Xun was about to wager all his contribution points and quickly stopped him: “Wait, wait, wait, leave a few contribution points for me! What if I end up winning first place?”
Seething with anger, Ji Xun submitted Xie Shi’an’s name in the prediction pool and wagered ten contribution points on him.