56 Today, We Are No Longer as We Have Been (1/2)

Ethereal Dao College's Lower Academy Island only broke up for holidays once a year.

Whenever the holidays came, some of the students of Lower Academy Island would remain behind. Most of the students, however, would use the two-month break to return home or to venture out to gain experience and grow tougher.

Among them, many older students went for expeditions or worked with organizations affiliated to the Federation, in a mutually beneficial arrangement. As for the freshmen who had left home for the first time, their priority during the holidays was to go back home.

As the holidays arrived, Wang Baole left the Spirit Cauldron Cave and walked to the Dharmic Armament faculty's mountain peak only to find numerous students carrying their bags, talking and laughing about their memories of home as they stepped onto the cruiser to return.

It was the same as when the new students arrived. As the wilderness held many dangers, every holiday, the Dao College would take on the responsibility of sending and receiving homebound students, taking them to a designated location in the city.

”See you when school reopens, Head Prefect.”

”Head Prefect, we're leaving.”

Before they left, all the students who bumped into Wang Baole greeted him warmly. It seemed as though the respect that they held toward the Dao College's Head Prefect during regular school days had dimmed due to the arrival of the holidays.

Wang Baole laughed and nodded at all the students who greeted him, infected by the atmosphere of the departing students. It seemed that he had lost all his previous longing in the one year he lived at the Dao College, and he missed his parents even more.

Anxious to return home as soon as possible, Wang Baole walked faster. He returned to the cave abode to pack his luggage, threw everything into his storage bracelet, and bought many bottles of Ice Spirit Water.

Ice Spirit Water is the specialty of the Dao College. It tastes different from Ice Spirit Water elsewhere. I should bring more home for Mom to try.

Then he contacted Zheng Liang and used his Spirit Stones to buy many top quality pills suitable for regular people. Once he had settled everything, he stepped out of the cave abode and turned back to look at where he had lived for an entire year. He inhaled deeply and sealed the array formation shut. When he turned around, his gaze was bright.

Home!

He laughed and ran down the mountain. In this moment, it was as if he had forgotten that he was a Head Prefect and had returned to his old self from a year ago. He ran all the way down the mountain, heading straight for the huge hanger at the Green Forest Lake.

The scene was almost the same as when school started. The space was filled with students, with laughter resounding as the students bade each other farewell, stepping onto different cruisers. When Wang Baole arrived, he squeezed through the crowd and immediately heard someone calling him.

”Head Prefect, here, here!” Wang Baole looked up and noticed Liu Daobin waving at him from a nearby hot-air balloon cruiser.

There were many familiar faces with Liu Daobin. All of them were those students who had initially arrived with him from Phoenix City. Du Min and Bunny were among them, having arrived earlier. When they saw Wang Baole, Du Min snorted whereas Bunny smiled at him.

Chen Ziheng was also there. Although his expression was normal at first, he became stiff after seeing Wang Baole. No doubt he was thinking of the harm Wang Baole had caused the Combat faculty and also of Wang Baole's meteoric rise during the past year.

Upon seeing Liu Daobin and the others, Wang Baole hurriedly squeezed through the crowd. His usual status as Head Prefect was useless now as there were simply too many people. Finally, after much difficulty, Wang Baole managed to squeeze onto the cruiser. Just as he wiped his sweat and was about to take out a bottle of Ice Spirit Water, Liu Daobin offered him one.

”Head Prefect, I've already prepared some for you.” Liu Daobin smiled. ”I've even bought some for you to take home to your parents.”

As Wang Baole looked at Liu Daobin, more than ever, he felt that Liu Daobin was indeed capable. Laughing, he patted Liu Daobin's shoulder and drank from the offered bottle.

When Du Min saw this, she turned her head and snorted again. Clearly, she did not like what she was seeing.

As he drank the Ice Spirit Water, Wang Baole looked at the people on the cruiser and then at the faraway mountain peak of the Dharmic Armament faculty. His yearning for Phoenix City increased all the more. However, he was still brooding over an uncertainty, which was… where his father got the obviously halved mysterious mask from, and where was the other half?

This issue had been weighing on his mind for a long time. He knew that the mask was extraordinary, and if other people knew of it, it would invite unnecessary trouble for his family. So, he had restrained himself and did not send a voice transmission to ask about the mask. Instead, he had decided to wait till he returned home and to get the answer by beating around the bush.

Soon, the cruiser began to shake. All the other cruisers in the hanger slowly started to rise, entering the clouds in the firmament, and sped off in all directions.