31 Observation (1/2)
I left the vault to suspicious whispers from students. They gossiped away, averting their gaze whenever I looked at them. Leaving the library, a voice picked up behind me.
”Wait a minute!”
I turned around to see Mouse bolt upright, glasses halfway down her nose.
”Oh! It's you,” she pushed up her glasses, ”You need to register that book.”
Her tone was much more authoritative now she knew I wasn't a noble. I handed her the book, and she looked it over in confusion.
”This… um… did Mr Yin give this to you?”
I gave her a little nod, and she sighed and sat back down behind her desk.
”Ok, this time is an exception, but please remember to check out any other book that you take.”
”Thank you, Mouse.”
”Young man, do not call me that!” she slammed her hands down, furrowing her brows in anger, ”My name is Miss Xiao! Even if Mr Yin's your mentor, you don't need to pick up his bad habits!”
”I'm sorry Miss Xiao, I thought your name was like Crow's…”
”Oh!” she relaxed a bit and blushed slightly, ”You know Sir Crow! Now, that's a real gentleman. I hope you grow up like him, not Mr Yin.”
Her sudden change in demeanour surprised me. Perhaps Crow was a bit of a womaniser. After all, he acted very differently when mother was around.
”Thank you, Miss Xiao.”
”No problem! Bye bye!”
I walked back and opened the door to an empty College. I hurried up the stairs to my room, eager to cultivate.
No sooner had I sat down on my bed, than the door swung open again. Dong walked through, a concerned expression on his face.
”Ah, I thought I heard someone come in. Why are you back so early?”
”Um… master said I should cultivate here.”
”Oh dear. He's really not going to give you any help. Look, Oscar,” Dong walked over and perched at the end of my bed, ”I'm really sorry about what happened in the committee.”
”I know you're not the kind of kid Mr Wu said you are, but there are lots of teachers that just don't trust nobility. To be saddled with Mr Yin… I'm so sorry.”
His words were comforting, but easily said. Dong didn't seem malicious, but I didn't trust him to stick his neck out for me yet. For now, I wanted to know a bit more about master.
”What's master like?”
”I guess you only just met him. He has a bit of a reputation in this school as an anti-social hermit,” he placed his hand by his mouth, lowering his voice, ”there are even rumours that his best friend is a server construct!”
A server construct? Was that Xiaogui? Xiaogui seemed very real to me… but he did mysteriously disappear in a pretty open room.
”He spends all his time in the vault. Speaking of which, did you see it? What was it like? No-one's allowed in there but him!”
”It was super cool, there were books and blinking lights everywhere…”
”Is it true that Mr Yin lives there? Does he have a room in there?”
Dong leaned in, eagerly awaiting my answer. I thought about sharing with him, but… he seemed quite gossipy. I didn't want to besmirch master's name on a whim.
”I dunno. It was just a vault.”
Dong seemed disappointed with that answer.
”Did you get a cultivation technique at least?”
”Yeah, master helped me find a cool one.”
”How strong is it?” Dong's excitement picked up again, ”If it's in that vault it must be Rare, maybe even Epic grade!”
”Um… I dunno. It just sounded cool.”
”Ah, sure,” he peaked behind my back, catching sight of the book, ”it's quite plain isn't it. Is that really the strongest…”