Chapter 94
Chapter 94
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 94 – Lan Qi Is Truly a Good Student
2024-05-22 – Author: Poor Xixi
The morning sunlight of the royal capital slanted down, spilling across the magnificent campus of Ikerite Academy.
It was another day full of hope.
On the balcony garden of the first floor of the Sage Institute dormitory, lush green vines climbed along the wooden railings, their leaves shining with vitality. Neat rows of elegant potted plants lined the base of the rails.
The fragrance of flowers mingled with the fresh scent of soil. A flock of little birds chirped happily on the wooden terrace, sometimes hopping onto the stone tiles nearby, singing with such energy it was as if they were celebrating the arrival of a new day.
The two-week vacation had flown by.
Today, Lan Qi would finally return to the Sage Institute’s classrooms and resume his normal studies.
Even getting out of bed in the morning had become a little difficult.
Over the past two weeks, Lan Qi had mainly moved between his dormitory and Talia’s home.
Most mornings, he trained intensively under Talia’s supervision in card-crafting.
When working at Talia’s house, his card-explosion rate dropped significantly.
He eventually realized that every time a card blew up, and he thought disaster had struck, it was only thanks to Talia’s prearranged protective wards that nothing went wrong.
The earlier “scares” were merely Talia’s way of forcing him into a fully immersed state.
She also advised Lan Qi that once back at the academy, his recent card-crafting practice should focus mainly on sealing magic. For the official Cardmaster Registration Exam, she suggested he pick a sealing magic card as his project.
Though sealing magic wasn’t Talia’s strongest specialty, Lan Qi would need to study much of it on his own.
As for the “hairstyle transformation magic,” she had already begun analyzing the original “magical beast fur processing magic” and promised to share progress when she had results.
But since that spell originated from the Fourth-Tier Shadow Realm, even if they managed to craft a functioning card, the finished product would still be Tier Four—far beyond Lan Qi’s current reach.
So, Lan Qi bought his own protective warding array and set it up in his dorm, transforming his storage room into a card-crafting laboratory.
Every afternoon he buried himself in sealing magic studies, even inventing a new type of magic card. At night, he took short breaks to practice running.
Talia had told him it was crucial to be good at both sprinting and endurance running—otherwise, he’d be too easily caught and beaten to death.
Lan Qi didn’t quite understand why someone as gentle as him would be chased down…
But he trusted Talia’s teachings.
After all, he now firmly believed in the effectiveness of “demon-style education.”
Through his recent research and by consulting professors at the academy, Lan Qi discovered why so few people specialized in sealing magic: its structure was extremely complex, and its limitations enormous.
It was effective only when used by a higher-tier caster against weaker opponents. Against someone of equal rank, it produced at best a weak or short-lived seal.
Any sealing magic that violated this principle demanded extreme costs to function—sometimes even life itself as the price for sealing an enemy.
“To ignore the level restriction of sealing spells… I’ll have to start with small-scale sealing effects first.”
Lan Qi muttered to himself while feeding the little birds on the balcony that morning.
Though fully awake, his mind was still immersed in the sealing magic he had studied tirelessly the past two weeks.
Nearby, the Great Poet of Love quietly watered the flowers.
She occasionally helped Lan Qi as an assistant during his card-crafting sessions, so she’d learned a bit about sealing magic too.
Sealing enemies weaker than oneself held little value. And to craft a card that could seal a stronger foe—or even seal a person outright—would likely require nothing less than an Epic-grade magic card.
That wasn’t something Lan Qi could hope to achieve anytime soon.
Still, she thought: if one day Lan Qi mastered sealing magic and could banish an enemy’s key card mid-battle… wouldn’t that be the ultimate way to “confiscate their smile”?
“Good luck, Lan Qi. You absolutely must become a Super Confiscator!”
The Great Poet of Love finished watering, crouched, and patted Lan Qi on the shoulder with her blessing.
“...?”
Lan Qi stared blankly at her.
She only pressed her lips into a small smile, shook her head, then dispersed into orange light that flowed back into his body.
On that flower-scented balcony, Lan Qi tilted his head, puzzled for quite some time.
After tidying up his uniform, Lan Qi finally left the dorm and made his way to the long-missed classrooms.
A true good student must never miss a single class without reason. It was both a sign of respect toward one’s teachers and a model of diligence for peers.
At the heart of the Sage Institute stood a three-story stone teaching building. Its dark façade carried the hues of aged limestone. Stone pillars, arched windows, intricate carvings, and polished wrought-iron railings all bore the unmistakable marks of Victorian style.
The corridors radiated an atmosphere of scholarship, as if whispers of ancient sages still lingered there.
Following his familiar path, Lan Qi stepped into the classroom and immediately caught the sound of classmates chatting.
“Our dormitory building… no idea which group’s renovating, but we keep hearing explosions in the afternoons.”
“Strange, since contraband isn’t supposed to be allowed inside the dorms.”
“Even the dorm manager seems spooked—applied for new fire-safety equipment recently.”
When they noticed Lan Qi’s arrival, everyone’s gazes turned toward him.
Their looks weren’t exactly reverent, nor fearful. It was more like they had discovered a rare new creature, species: “Lan Qi.”
Unbothered, Lan Qi walked naturally across the tiered rows to his usual seat at the back.
Just sitting down and taking in the familiar view, he couldn’t help but sigh—two weeks ago, in that dreamlike academy, he had opened his eyes in almost the exact same position.
Any student in the front row who tried cheating would be caught instantly by his “Eagle of Justice” gaze.
But then Lan Qi shook his head. He realized he was back in hell. This was Ikerite Academy.
“Good morning, Huperion.”
Lan Qi turned with a smile to greet her.
“Good morning.”
This time, Huperion responded calmly.
During the days Lan Qi was absent, she had still attended class diligently, alone as always.
Now with Lan Qi here, she finally had a companion beside her.
“How have these days been?” she asked, gazing at him.
She had sensed Lan Qi was very busy, and thus hadn’t gone to find him.
“Fulfilling and real.”
Lan Qi laughed heartily.
Between immersing himself in card-crafting and occasionally receiving visits from classmates knocking on his door, he had truly experienced the lively feeling of campus life.
“Lan Qi, did you… turn down a lot of team invitations?” Huperion asked, a little guiltily.
She had already heard about it.
Several teams had approached Lan Qi, offering generous terms to recruit him.
But Lan Qi had refused them all.
She knew—it had to be because of her.