95 A New Legend (1/2)
As if seeing its mortal enemy, the gray-white cat instantly exploded in anger. Growling, it flew at the mouse. The mouse fled, scrambling around the small piano room. The big cat chased the mouse crazily. The yellow mouse was not weak, and kept throwing things at the cat.
Sometimes, it was a great chase. Other times, they were entangled together or beating each other up. But for some reason, neither of them were injured at all. Instead, everything fragile around them was destroyed.
The water pitcher was shattered, the wooden floor was ripped up, the wall was covered in paw prints, the carpet was covered in scratches, the framed picture on the wall fell with a crash, and even one of the piano legs broke. Like a tornado, the cat and mouse destroyed everything, turning the overture into a comedy. When the music ended, the cat and mouse disappeared. The classroom was in ruins.
Charles was calm while Ye Qingxuan was completely in a daze. Abraham left shaking his head, unable to look at his room.
”So you see now, right?” Charles’s hands left the piano. ”No matter what I perform from the School of Summoning, it will turn into this. The Emperor Waltz, the Fourth Fantasy Impromptu…there are no exceptions. But it’s gets easier when you get used to it. I kind of like the cat and mouse now. I’ve named them Tom and Jerry. Aren’t they cute?”
Ye Qingxuan felt his forehead. He was not hallucinating, but it was still hard to believe. ”Why don’t you try music from the School of Modifications?”
Charles shrugged. ”The instrument would explode.”
”School of Mind?”
”It’ll be like I’m drunk, and I’ll run around naked somewhere…haven’t you seen it?”
”Yeah,” Ye Qingxuan wiped the cold sweat off of his forehead. ”School of Illusions?”
”The listener would see a hallucination of a muscular and tanned man wearing a black trench coat and shades. He would open his hands and see a pink pill and a green pill…”
”…Revelations?”
”The listener would return to the past and discover that humans evolved from monkeys.”
”…” Ye Qingxuan could not bear to ask anymore. It was a painful history full of blood, sweat, and tears that no one else would believe.
Seeing his face, Charles knew that he understood the pain and held onto his shoulder, his eyes reddened. ”All these years, I ruined whatever I learn. No matter what instrument it is, it’ll explode in my hands. But despite this, I’ve still passed the sacred city’s level ten examination for instruments. You must work hard too, junior.”
Ye Qingxuan shook at those words. The sacred city’s level ten examination for instruments was infamous for being a difficult, precise, and hellish test.
”What did you do?”
”…the triangle.” Charles gazed up at the sky, his eyes full of tears. ”Only the triangle doesn’t explode.”
”Senior, I don’t know why but I want to cry.” Ye Qingxuan suddenly had the urge to hug Charles and sob with him. If Ye Qingxuan had been in that messed up situation, he would have given up long ago. He had not expected Charles to be so strong mentally, and so determined. After all those years, Charles had turned from a respected and famous genius to the embarrassment of the academy, but he still continued living happily.
”Ha, you don’t have to cry.” Charles patted his shoulders. ”Anyway, it’s getting late. You should go sleep now. According to my calculations, you won’t be able to learn this piece in a short time.”
Ye Qingxuan sighed, understanding what he meant. Unlike single notes, the notes in and interval’s connections and changes become extremely tight when put together in a measure. The relationship between the notes created an interval, and intervals created measures, and two or four measures could become a phrase. With each advancement, the precision for manipulating the aether would double. For Ye Qingxuan, that was as difficult as rowing a boat through angry waves, or galloping on a wild stallion. He would be completely dragged around by the aether and lose his own tempo. Even if he used his professor’s translation method to find the best grouping method, he still needed a lot of work over a long period of time.
After all this time, he had barely managed to play the first measure and still made mistakes. He did not wish to be like Charles and play every piece smoothly like flowing water. Just the simple goal of being one hundred percent accurate and successful would need at least three months of practice. He envied Charles’s and Bai Xi’s natural talent.
Bai Xi was not as messed up as Charles and did not like to learn, but the few times she went to class, it was as relaxing as a walk in the park. Sometimes she would fall asleep during class but still learn the material after flipping through the book.
Thinking about that, Ye Qingxuan felt a wave of hopelessness. ”Whatever. I’ll just wait until I’m rich, and then I’ll buy a bunch of rune stones and make it work for me.”
Charles could only laugh at this. ”Junior, you look good, and you have pretty dreams too.”
Ye Qingxuan scoffed. ”Who knows, maybe a giant pile of rune stones will fall from the sky when I’m walking.”
”Psh! That possibility is even smaller than if I woke up on King Arthur’s hidden treasures…”
”Whatever, I’m not talking to you anymore.” Ye Qingxuan rolled his eyes. Ready to sleep, he turned back before leaving, ”Oh right, do you know where I can buy marbles?”
”Marbles? Why?”
”I promised it as a thank you gift.”