Chapter 4: Violent Recruitment
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 4: Violent Recruitment
But the more things were like this, the more anxious I became.
I just didn't let any of it show on my face. I did my best to maintain a deadpan expression so no one could tell what I was thinking.
However, my hands became increasingly restless until I finally gave up and prepared to open a game to kill some time.
No matter the occasion, gaming was always the best choice for stress relief.
And so... Game, start!
But after playing for a while, I found it dull. The development of this world was a bit lopsided—why hadn't the gaming industry progressed at all?
If the protagonist of any other novel had transmigrated to a world with an underdeveloped gaming industry, they’d have bound a system and started dominating the gaming circle by now, right?
Meanwhile, ever since I arrived in this world, I’d done nothing but take crap at home. It really was a pathetic failure.
I scrolled through my phone pages listlessly. There were no fun games and no good novels to read. I really didn't know what the point of having this phone even was.
Bored, I tapped on my memo app. The stuff recorded in here was actually quite intense—it was my diary.
But then again, who actually keeps a diary nowadays?
What is a diary for?
To record one's life, of course. If a day has nothing worth remembering, a diary seems to lose its meaning.
Despite that, my memo app was packed with entries, though they were all intermittent.
Every single one was a record of some painful, powerless memory.
My endurance has grown higher now, and I have fewer emotional breakdowns. In a life that is otherwise calm yet full of episodes, my favorite thing to do when I have nothing else going on is to click through these and see how much I still remember of what I wrote.
Right then, the high-speed train I was on pulled into a station. I watched the crowds outside blur past as the train gradually slowed down. Unfortunately, this wasn't my final stop.
I originally thought this would just be a brief interlude mid-journey, but then a terrifying commotion erupted outside the station, sending the people out there scrambling for cover in a panic.
The noise drew me to the window. I pressed against the glass and looked out. A blurry figure flashed past, followed closely by another person in pursuit.
Oh... it was a battle between Transcendents!
After the initial surge of excitement, I began to worry about the safety of the train I was sitting in...
"Don't worry. It's just academies fighting over a student. I didn't expect them to still be at it even after reaching the station. Haven't they settled it yet?" Sister Bai noticed my shift in mood and comforted me, before grumbling a complaint to herself.
"Fighting... fighting over a student?"
This was the first time I’d seen an academy recruitment drive cause this much of a ruckus!
If you ignored the possibility of being caught in the crossfire, this was way more exciting than anything I’d seen online!
Moreover, this was a duel between Transcendent powers. The invisible forces in their hands were causing horrific destruction to the surrounding environment.
I had originally wanted to use Spirit Vision to observe. After all, even on the invisible energy plane, one could observe energy fluctuations when using Spirit Vision to peer into the Inner World. In that view, almost any form of expression would be visible, though looking for too long tended to fry one's brain.
Unfortunately, they were moving too fast. By the time I reacted, they were already out of sight.
"Um... Sister Bai, is it really okay for them to do that?" I asked, still a bit worried.
"Relax. The damage they cause will be reimbursed by the academies. The fight is about to end."
Just as Sister Bai finished speaking, the sounds of fighting outside seemed to die down.
"It really stopped! Sister Bai, how did you know? That's amazing." I spoke with a hint of pleasant surprise, taking the opportunity to flatter her a bit.
"Their battle was already nearing its end. The fact that they were brought all the way to the high-speed train only means the one snatching the student has a bit of a wicked sense of humor. She wanted the other party to watch as she boarded the train and left, completely powerless to stop her." Bai Yu seemed to enjoy my flattery; a faint smile played on her lips as she explained.
"Huh? There are people like that? Which academy is she from?" My lip twitched slightly. That person's sense of humor was a bit much.
"Which academy could it be? The Witch Academy, of course. Every year around this time, the ones who fight the hardest to snatch people are always from the Witch Academy." Sister Bai explained bluntly, looking as though she was entirely used to it.
"Ah... I mean, do they really just snatch people that directly?"
I still found it hard to believe. Were the Senior Sisters of the Witch Academy all that fierce and proactive?
I subconsciously looked at Sister Bai, wondering if she had ever done something like that...
"Why are you looking at me? Of course that's how you snatch people. The more primitive the method, the higher the efficiency. I suspect those two probably have some history. Camping a spot to snatch a student is a pretty ridiculous way to get revenge."
"Ridiculous indeed..."
I leaned against the window, watching the situation outside. Because of those two, the stop time for this station had been extended. I bet the staff here were cursing their heads off.
Just as I was about to say something else, someone walked into our carriage. She had a confident, even slightly smug smile—or she would have, if she didn't have a seemingly unconscious... boy tucked under her arm.
I couldn't even link her to the person who had just been fighting outside.
"Bai... Sister Bai, she's coming over!" I said instinctively. No way, right? Was she in the same carriage as us?
"Of course she is. This carriage is a designated area for academy specialists. Didn't you notice that it's just been the two of us in here this whole time?"
Sister Bai explained patiently.
My eyes widened as I listened. Did people from Transcendent academies really have this much privilege?
I’d never heard of this before.
"Hmm? A mana reaction? Oh! I didn't expect to run into someone from the Witch Academy here. Haha, are you a Senior Sister?"
After the lively and cheerful older girl carrying the other person entered the carriage, she immediately scanned the area. Consequently, she quickly discovered the presence of both me and Sister Bai.
Her expression had initially been a bit guarded, but she seemed to sense something and immediately came over happily to call her "Senior Sister."
Even I was surprised. How did she recognize Sister Bai as a Senior Sister from the Witch Academy?
"Yes. Good work. Have a seat over here." Bai Yu didn't say much, merely offering a word of acknowledgment for the other's act of snatching a freshman.
Wait... when you encounter something like this, you comfort them by saying "good work"?
"Then I won't stand on ceremony." This Senior Sister acted like we were old friends, coming right over to the seats next to us. She settled the "genius" she had snatched, carefully buckled his seatbelt, and only then sat down herself.
"Hello, Senior Sister. My name is Deng Xiaonan. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"I am Bai Yu. You can just call me Sister Bai." Bai Yu gave her own name. From start to finish, Sister Bai spoke with the attitude of a higher-tier Senior Sister addressing a junior.
She also seemed to be signaling that she wasn't interested in getting too close.
"Right, right, Sister Bai. Haha. So, are you also out here to pull in students?" Deng Xiaonan glanced toward me, asking curiously, "Your methods are truly brilliant, Senior Sister. To be able to persuade a new student to follow you voluntarily?"
It was obvious this future Senior Sister had mistaken me for a student Sister Bai had abducted. If only that were true—it would mean I actually had some value worth snatching.
In reality, I was just a filler person who had been lured by a single phone call and had come running all on my own...
Thinking about it was a bit depressing.