Chapter 172 : Chapter 172

Chapter 172: Meeting the Ex-Girlfriend Again

“I surrender! I surrender!”

Ruan Fu, in the midst of the sea of fire, watched helplessly as her hair curled under the high temperature, and the hem of her skirt turned to ash in the heatwave of the flames.

After checking her remaining magic power source and her spellbook, she decisively chose to surrender.

Without any hesitation.

Just by seeing such a terrifying spell in this match, her trip was already worthwhile.

After Ruan Fu announced her surrender, the referee hurriedly stepped forward to intervene.

A vacuum area that insulated against the heatwave enveloped Ruan Fu, protecting her from further continuous damage.

And I immediately dispersed the spell's effect, but the environmental changes brought about by the spell wouldn't disappear just because the spell was gone; they would linger for a while at least.

“Are you okay?”

I stepped forward and asked with concern.

However, seeing her lively and energetic after deactivating her transformation spell, it seemed there wasn't a major issue.

This was the good thing about transformation spells; injuries sustained during the transformation would be weakened to a certain extent upon reverting back.

But specific types of damage weren't necessarily the same, such as mental damage, or spell backlash, and so on.

This spell backlash wasn't just a mental power backlash, but also a backlash from the spell itself.

After all, this was a transformation spell, a method of transformation closely related to one's own body.

“I'm… I'm fine. Anyway, thank you for showing mercy.”

Ruan Fu quickly waved her hands, gesturing for me not to get any closer when I was still far from her.

If this was considered showing mercy, she still felt it was best not to get close to this person.

Following the referee's loud announcement of my victory, a cheer erupted from the arena, but it wasn't as enthusiastic as before.

After all, no matter how many you watch, a crushing victory lacks passion.

The opponent surrendered right after a hundred-point-cost spell was cast.

How could that not dampen the excitement?

But this didn't mean the audience wasn't excited.

This was the second contestant, after Tan Han, confirmed to possess a hundred-point-cost spellbook.

But at this moment, I was already a seasoned contestant, no longer someone influenced by the passionate and soaring emotions of the crowd like on the first day.

So I quickly walked to the backstage rest area.

The audience's cheers for you are all fake.

If you take them seriously, that's when you should be laughed at.

What you truly deserve are the ones who still remember you after you've left this arena.

Besides, I never forgot my original intention: the Newcomer Competition was just an interlude on my path as a Transcendent.

Taking it seriously would mean I've lost.

And now, my only thought regarding the Newcomer Competition was that elusive spellbook that improves learning efficiency.

Teacher Ji Niang wouldn't trick me with such a cheap excuse, would she?

Although, Teacher Ji Niang never made any promises to me.

Then, what followed was the tedious wait for the afternoon matches to begin.

It was a bit boring, but I still had many things to do.

At this time.

Inside the private box of Aphrodite Academy.

“That, that person just now, her name is Yang Yuehan, right?”

“Is there a problem? Beibei, do you know her?”

Seeing Yao Beijuan's excited tone, the male elf beside her stepped forward, placed a hand on her shoulder, and asked comfortingly.

“No, I don't know her at all… Also, get your hand off me!”

Yao Beijuan slapped his hand away with disgust, as if brushing dust off her shoulder.

“Alright.”

After being rejected so heartlessly, the male elf's pointed ears drooped down, but he didn't vent any emotions verbally because of the rejection.

“The power of that spell just now was a bit terrifying. Those restless fire elements almost covered the entire arena.”

“Maybe it's just for show? The sea of fire wasn't that powerful. The opponent was just being dramatic, surrendering at that level. If it were me, I would have shown her what elven archery is!”

The conversations in the private room couldn't be suppressed by a single 'quiet' from Teacher Ai Li'er.

She had already checked that there were no surveillance devices or magical means here, so there was no need for her to be so strict.

Besides, this was how watching a battle was.

Everyone had different opinions on combat, so discussions were naturally unavoidable.

But her focus was still on Yao Beijuan.

The batch of students she was leading naturally centered around her.

The thing Yao Beijuan's talent awakened was a seed, but it wasn't an ordinary seed.

And this was the first Seed of Destiny Aphrodite Academy had discovered after Tan Han.

But now, it was not the only one.

After a comprehensive investigation of Yao Beijuan, the academy found many clues and ultimately designated Yao Beijuan as a “candidate Child of Destiny”.

Because she did not obtain the greatest destiny that was gathered in the college entrance examination ritual, a ritual that spanned the entire world.

But even so, she had an “eye-catching” performance in the college entrance examination ritual, which was the most important part of the ritual: the “score”.

Her college entrance examination score was a monumental leap compared to her usual grades.

So, through this anomaly, the academy located several other students whose talent awakenings were also this kind of seed.

After confirmation, these were indeed Seeds of Destiny that had not been nurtured by destiny.

This discovery instantly shocked the upper echelons of Aphrodite Academy.

Of course, they also made a decision in an instant.

And they also confirmed that this abnormal situation was likely related to the Abyssal Demon race, though how the other party interfered was unknown.

At that time, all the Transcendent Academies were competing for Tan Han, but Tan Han herself had registered for Holy Angel Academy.

So, Aphrodite Academy decisively gave up on Tan Han and did not get involved.

Instead, they followed Witch Academy's example and began to poach students on a large scale, with a clear target: those with abnormal college entrance examination scores.

Therefore, this was the year with the most frequent student-poaching incidents.

After Tan Han finally fell into the hands of Witch Academy, Aphrodite Academy took the initiative to contact the other two academies.

Because the other two academies definitely had “candidate Children of Destiny” as well.

Rather than waiting for them to discover it slowly, it was better to tell them directly as a way to gain a favor.

Meanwhile, Witch Academy was still immersed in the joy of having snatched Tan Han so easily and didn't think in this direction at all.

The other two Transcendent Academies did not continue to fight for Tan Han.

Although on the surface they said that Tan Han had already embarked on the path of a witch, in essence, they were persuaded by Aphrodite Academy's concept of a “candidate Child of Destiny”.

In addition, the three major academies were closer to each other than to Witch Academy, so the information was thus sealed off.

But other Transcendent Academies would also have such existences; the news could not be contained.

So, the blockade by the three major academies did not last many days.

Eventually, Witch Academy discovered the anomaly.

After all, the Transcendent Witches of Witch Academy were not fools.

Even if Witch Academy's teaching philosophy was very lax and casual, it was impossible for them to let others hide such important matters from them.

This kind of thing was unstoppable, so many matters were prepared in a great hurry.

This competition, held not long after the start of the school year, was born just like that.

The multi-academy exchange competition was a stage for these Children of Destiny to have a “fair” duel.

And they were also very curious to know how a non-linearly narrated script would unfold.

Even though they knew very well that by interfering with the script, they would no longer be the chess players above the script, but would choose to enter the game, becoming part of the script.

But since interests were at stake, this matter didn't really have much significance.

There always needed to be some external force to ensure the script continued to run.

At least they were their own people, so they could be trusted, right?

At this moment, seeing Yao Beijuan's reaction, Ai Li'er did not scold her as she had before.

Before, it was because she had higher expectations for Yao Beijuan.

But now, it was obvious that the other party had encountered something very important to her.

“Yao Beijuan, come out with me for a moment,” Ai Li'er said softly.

“Okay.”

Yao Beijuan left the boy beside her hanging and followed Ai Li'er out.

In fact, she was a little afraid of this elf teacher, perhaps due to the natural authority a teacher has over a student, or for other reasons.

Moreover, Ai Li'er was also Yao Beijuan's counselor, so she appeared very restrained in front of her teacher.

After they went out, Ai Li'er directly asked.

After all, it concerned Yao Beijuan herself, and would likely lead to various plot branches, so she naturally took it seriously.

“Yao Beijuan, I noticed just now that you seemed quite interested in that girl named Yang Yuehan. Is something the matter?”

“This… it's nothing, really.”

“Why don't you tell me? You don't have to be so afraid of me. I'm your teacher, I naturally won't harm you.”

Ai Li'er tried her best to make her tone less stern than before, but the effect seemed poor.

But she still wanted to guide Yao Beijuan into saying something.

She wanted to see if she was currently at a branching point of a plot node.

“It's just the name. My former deskmate was also called Yang Yuehan.”

“Deskmate?”

Ai Li'er raised an eyebrow.

In a script, no coincidence or fate would be strange.

Since Yao Beijuan said the name was the same as her deskmate's, she naturally had reason to suspect that the other person was her deskmate.

So, she quickly reacted, “Since it's like this, I'll go with you to have a look.”

“Eh? There's no need for that, right? It's too much trouble, and she doesn't look like him no matter how you look at it, right? It's just the same name.”

Yao Beijuan subconsciously refused.

“But aren't you curious?”

With just this one sentence, Ai Li'er made Yao Beijuan change her mind.

She even added fuel to the fire, “Wasn't your former deskmate a boy? So you think she's not the person you know?”

“He… uh… was indeed a boy.”

Yao Beijuan scratched her head, her nervous fingers fidgeting, constantly twirling a strand of her dark hair.

“Hehe, isn't that even better? Actually, I can tell you, Witch Academy also accepts boys, but they turn into girls after enrolling. This is a very common phenomenon at Witch Academy.”

The corner of Ai Li'er's mouth curved.

As expected, there was a story here.

She didn't mind being the elf who pushed the plot forward.

“Eh? Really?!”

After hearing this, Yao Beijuan's eyes widened, filled with disbelief and a hint of excitement and anticipation?

“Of course. Otherwise, why do you think Witch Academy poaches so much talent, regardless of gender, but you haven't seen any males since you came to Witch Academy? There are none,” she continued to explain.

But soon, Yao Beijuan thought of something else, “But based on his grades, he shouldn't have been able to get into Witch Academy…”

“Couldn't get into Witch Academy?”

Ai Li'er quickly caught the keyword.

If his usual grades were poor, yet he could enter Witch Academy through the college entrance exam, then that guy was also a potential Child of Destiny?

This made it even more necessary to go and see!

“Won't we know if we go take a look?”

Ai Li'er proactively suggested, and directly led the way without considering it a bother.

A volunteer senior outside also hurried over to inquire about the situation.

After understanding the specifics, she took on the role of a guide and led them to the contestants' rest area.

“Wait! The contestants' rest area is off-limits to others!”

Soon, they were stopped by the volunteers here.

“Hello, we are the accompanying teachers from Aphrodite Academy, and this is our academy's exchange newcomer representative. We just want to meet one of the contestants. Could you please make an exception?”

Ai Li'er asked very politely.

“No, my duty is to not let anyone other than the contestants disturb their rest.”

“Her morning match is already over. I don't think our arrival will affect her too much. Or if we can't go in, could you please trouble yourself to inform that contestant for us? Just say someone is looking for her here.”

“This… I'll go and try. But if she's unwilling, then it's a no-go.”

After some struggle, the senior had no choice but to accept this suggestion, as it wasn't an unreasonable request.

Before leaving, she asked who they were looking for, and then went in.

However, this senior was also a bit surprised.

The other party was actually looking for Yang Yuehan!

It seemed the other academy was also paying close attention to Witch Academy's genius.

At this moment, I was in the rest area, studying the situation with the spellbook.

I had just used the Protection of the Elemental Spirit in the arena again.

Although it seemed the opponent surrendered before I had a chance to use any other tactics, I still obtained a lot of information that I couldn't get in the laboratory.

For example, what this spell looked like at full power, the range it could affect, and so on.

Currently, it could easily cover the entire designated arena, but the damage it dealt was somewhat disappointing.

Of course, this was also the sea of fire ability displayed by this fire elemental spirit.

It was a means of large-area coverage, good against groups, but a bit useless against single targets.

I had to say, this spirit's attack methods were not of much help to me.

So, now I had a new direction for modding this spellbook.

Increase the elemental spirit's means of utilizing elements!

The elemental spirit summoned by the spell effect was far too extravagant in its control of the elements!

It should be precise and elegant!

I wonder if it's possible to embed another spellbook within this spellbook.

After all, this protection spellbook is so much more complex than the Fireball spellbook.

Adding an internal spellbook structure inside and representing it with runes shouldn't be impossible, right?

When the time comes, I'll ask Teacher Ji Niang if this wild idea has any possibility of being implemented.

If not, I won't waste any more time on it.

But just as I was about to continue, there was a knock on the door of my rest area.

Generally, no one would knock on the door of the rest area unless it was another contestant.

Could it be Ruan Fu?

That's probably unlikely.

When I opened the door, I found that it was the senior who guarded the contestants' rest area.

The very same senior who asked for my contact information but didn't introduce herself, whose name I still don't know!

“Senior, is there something you need me for?”

I asked curiously.

Given the current situation, she wouldn't come looking for me for no reason.

Otherwise, I would just delete her contact information to save her from causing me trouble by not understanding the situation.

“Oh, it's like this. Didn't the academy send out a notice today that students and teachers from other Transcendent Academies would be coming for a newcomer exchange?”

“I know, what about it?”

I tilted my head and asked curiously.

“Just now, someone outside was looking for you. No, it should be some elves looking for you. They are a teacher and a student from Aphrodite Academy,” the senior explained to me carefully.

“A teacher from Aphrodite Academy? What does she want with me? I have no connection with them,” I asked with a frown.

“I'm not sure either, but it seems they're specifically asking for you by name. Do you want to go and see? They're waiting outside right now.”

“Still waiting? Then I'll go have a look.”

I straightened my clothes, smoothed out some wrinkles, and said.

I wanted to see who would look for me for no reason, and from Aphrodite Academy at that.

The moment Aphrodite Academy was mentioned, a wave of anger inexplicably rose in my heart.

Perhaps this academy always reminded me of that ex-girlfriend.

“Thank you, I'll take you there.”

Seeing how cooperative I was, this senior said cheerfully.

At least this wasn't something she had brought upon herself.

When I followed her out, I saw two figures not far away who seemed completely out of place in the entire arena.

Their golden or light-golden hair, tall stature, and the proud aura they exuded, especially their very distinct pointed ears, all indicated their identity as elves.

But the elf standing behind the one who was clearly the elf teacher.

I was instantly struck by lightning.

Even though she had become an elf, that face how could I possibly forget it?

Yao Beijuan?

What is she doing here?

Is she doing so well at Aphrodite Academy that she was brought along for the academy exchange?

The first moment I saw her, I felt as if countless alpacas were stampeding over my head, prompting me to curse subconsciously.

“Grass, the plant that alpacas eat.”

No emotion, no regrets, no joy of reunion.

Perhaps from the moment our relationship was confirmed, it was all just an act.

You did it for fun, while I was ending two lifetimes of being single.

After that, we parted without a word, each going our separate ways.

Seeing you again now, I am no longer the boy I was back then.