Vol 4 Chapter 23.2 (1/2)
Chapter 23 – Eternal Subst.i.tute Puppet (II)
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Ferguson continued, “Secondly, I officially declare that Ye Yin Zhu is not only a Divine Music division student, but that he is also my princ.i.p.al disciple. Earlier, his magic’s apparent advancement from Red to Yellow Rank was because I had gifted him magic equipment to conceal his strength.”
This explanation immediately had everyone in an uproar. Several people thought it was no wonder Ye Yin Zhu could be so powerful. As it turns out, he was actually the President’s disciple. At the same time, the misgivings they held about Ye Yin Zhu’s strength that had skipped ranks were completely resolved. Who would be suspicious of Ferguson, the President of the Milan Inst.i.tution for Magic and Martial Arts and the Chief Court Mage of the Milan Empire?
“Third. The Autumnal Beastmen Harvest War will begin soon. In order to strengthen its students, the inst.i.tution will choose students to join the army and defend against the enemy. Of course, the inst.i.tution will be selecting only the most outstanding student from each division to partic.i.p.ate in this next combat trial.
“Well, the Freshman Compet.i.tion has thus ended. Tomorrow, cla.s.ses will officially begin. I believe that all of you will look at the strengths of these two students who have battled today and will desire to become as strong as them, maybe even surpa.s.sing them after investing a great deal of effort. I want to see our Milan Inst.i.tution for Magic and Martial Arts be the most prominent inst.i.tute for raising even more outstanding, talented individuals.”
After announcing these three items, he declared this Freshman Compet.i.tion to be completely over and that all the students will begin cla.s.ses tomorrow.
Undoubtedly, the Divine Music division became the highlight of the Freshman Compet.i.tion, taking an innumerable amount of people aback. From the first match to the last, this dark horse became the ultimate champion in the end. And as the general of the Divine Music division, Ye Yin Zhu naturally became the new, highly wanted romantic interest. He had clearly used his strength in front of everyone and proven that being a Divine Music Mage was not a trash vocation.
“Yin Zhu, that Violet Bamboo Divine Needle of yours is indeed sharp; it can unexpectedly pierce through my dagger.” Sura was half-reclined on his bed, fiddling with the Violet Bamboo Needle that had stopped his a.s.sa.s.sination of Ma Liang. His face was relaxed as he said this.
It was already approaching evening, and after escaping with great difficulty from the congratulations of others, the two talented individuals could finally relax.
Ye Yin Zhu smiled and replied, “The Violet Bamboo Needle is extremely sharp and tenacious. With a bit of condensed dou qi, its penetration power naturally increases. Your black dagger appears to be excellent, but it’s not very durable. I only wanted to knock it a bit off-course.”
Sura complained, “I’m poor, so how can I have a good dagger? Oh, that’s right, … Yin Zhu, when did you pay respects to the President as a teacher? How come I didn’t know?”
Ye Yin Zhu softly said, “Actually, I paid respect to the President as a teacher following my battle with Nesta that day. It’s just that… in order for the President to help me conceal the fact that I skipped a rank, he told me I had to become his disciple.” To Sura, he felt there was no need to hide anything. After today’s match earlier, Sura’s emotional outbreak had become eternally engraved into his mind; it would be impossible for him to forget it. Apart from Zi, Ye Yin Zhu already considered Sura to be his best friend.
Sura giggled, saying, “It seems that the President is indeed very fond of you. So, this next frontline war, are you partic.i.p.ating?”
Ye Yin Zhu replied, “I should be. Teacher told me to prepare. Sura, is it no longer a peacetime? From what teacher said, we’re going to war with the beastmen?”
Sura rolled his eyes, saying, “Ye Yin Zhu, from now on I’m calling you Ye Bai Chi1. There are many things you don’t know that is considered general knowledge. The beastmen races live in the Northern Wasteland, a bitter and cold place. They basically can’t grow crops there, so they can only exploit the natural resources for food to subsist on. Perhaps through trade, they can use the Northern Wasteland specialities to exchange for foodstuff from human countries. During the spring and summer, the vegetation flourishes, and the animals reproduce. It is unlikely for them to have an extremely challenging time acquiring food.
“During the winter, however, the beastmen immediately begin having difficulty with their food supplies. That is why, whenever autumn approaches, the beastmen start dispatching troops; they believe this method is better than negotiating for foodstuffs with the human countries they border with. This is called the Autumnal Harvest War, but the war isn’t very large. It’s mainly some local fights, that’s all. Thus, whenever autumn approaches, the Milan Empire, Ascoli Kingdom, and Florence Kingdom would put together troops to contend against the beastmen and subsidize the damage. We will also be partaking in the battle to defend the border.”
“We? Sura, don’t tell me you are also partic.i.p.ating?” Ye Yin Zhu looked at him in surprise.