121 Good Friend (2/2)
Seeing his expression, Abraham laughed, ”The older you get, the more things you worry about, and the more things you fear. When I was young, I kept thinking how great it would be if wasn’t scared of anything, but is that really better? Do you really have to force yourself?”
As Charles thought, Abraham reached over and lifted the robe. ”Did you make this? It’s good.”
Charles shrugged, ”I can’t be a musician, so I can just make these small things.”
”There’s nothing regretful about not becoming a musician. If you are a renowned artisan, you can be respected too. There’s no problem as long as you can live well. There aren’t any rules about what you must do. I had wanted to train Yezi to become a scholar, but sadly, it seems like he probably doesn’t want to. I can only help him in a different way.”
With that, Abraham reached into the air, slowing opening his prosthetic fingers as if grasping something. Then the ”Requiem” enchantment over the academy cracked open.
The omnipresent enchantment in the air began turning secretly. Thick and solid aether rushed through the crack, flowing into the basement. It shimmered with a beautiful glow. A black violin appeared in the black metal hand. The strings vibrated, playing a graceful and quiet melody. The entire world seemed to hush.
Everything stopped rushing around, entering an indescribable peace, as if falling into a beautiful dream. There was no more death, no more uncertainty, no more confusion. Everything returned to a calm state.
This was a fragment of the legendary Wyrmrest Kekkai. It came from the calming Requiem and could make all Musician level scores ineffective—Resonance level music score: Tranquility!
The aether rippled with the melody. Everything in its path fell asleep. Abraham stood within the ripples, conducting the melody. He guided the aether onto the black robe, transforming into music notes.
Layers of complex music scores shimmered on the steel bone structure before dimming. In the end, they disappeared with the melody, reverting back to its original appearance. The music score of Tranquility had been sealed within.
Abraham was not an alchemist from the School of Modifications, but he had used his studies in the School of Abstinence to turn the score into a seal implanted into the robe to become alchemy equipment.
”Compared to professional alchemists, the seal I’ve made can only be used once.” Abraham shook his head regretfully, putting the robe back on the hanger, ”But it should be enough for now.”
Charles felt the power within the robe, discerning it, ”Once the Tranquility Enchantment is activated, everything within ten meters will become a silent aether zone. It’s only for half a minute, but all music scores under the Resonance level, and musicians who haven’t gone past the Barrier of Knowledge will be unable to manipulate aether. No matter what, he can at least stay alive with it.”
Abraham remained silent, glancing at his steel arm. The constantly flashing rune on his inner arm seemed to be reminding him of something. He reached over, feeling the easily-activated rune and the power it held. The ‘music score’ was enough to turn the entire building into ash—that was his shackle.
Abraham looked away, sighing, ”That is all I can do.”
--
Ye Qingxuan awoke from his dream, his entire body sore. The over-manipulation of aether made him nauseous. Jiu Xiao Huan Pei could help him with precise manipulation, but performing complex notes still exhausted him. Even if his father had made Black Friday just for him, he needed to create each interval by himself.
He needed to overlap the music notes and put them into the structure of an interval. It was like putting words into a phrase, phrases into a sentence, and then making a paragraph—that was the ‘measure’ of a music piece. Each measure needed his total focus. If he had not hid in the coffin beforehand in the graveyard, he would have been found easily.
”Hopefully it won’t be so tiring today.” Rubbing his face, Ye Qingxuan climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom for a shower. When he saw himself in the mirror, he almost freaked out.
--
Under the dim light, a white-haired youth stood silently in the shadows, staring at the mirror. There were dark circles under his eyes as if he had a lack of sleep, but his gaze was sharp, like a sword becoming sharper with use.
He no longer looked at the forgotten friendships and indifferences. He was no longer full of enthusiasm. He had received some things and lost others.
Maybe Charles was right. The classroom was where one learned by shedding blood and tears. The best way to learn was pain. Downtown was a good school, even if he learned things he did not want to.
Ye Qingxuan looked at the mirror. After a long time, he sighed.
”Junior, do you think you’ve gotten so attractive that you can’t even recognize yourself?” a voice came from the side.
Ye Qingxuan shook subconsciously. ”Senior, can you not scare me like that?” he sighed.
”I know, I know. It’s annoying to get interrupted when you’re drunk on your own beauty.” Charles came closer. He fixed his hair, his eyes full of adoration. ”To be honest, I get that feeling a lot. How can the handsome man in the mirror be me? Whenever I see that someone can be so handsome, my knees get weak. When I looked at the mirror a few days ago, I almost kneeled down to myself!”
”Senior!” Ye Qingxuan seriously wanted to slap this guy.
”Okay, I know. Shut up, right?” Charles shrugged and patted Ye Qingxuan’s shoulders. ”But Junior…”
”Huh?” Charles played with the soap by the sink and whistled, ”You’ve been out of the shower for so long. Haven’t you noticed that you’re not wearing pants?”
”…” Ye Qingxuan looked up into the sky, sighing. He did not care who was listening to his prayers, but he just wanted someone to strike this guy with lightning.