Chapter 21 - An Unexpected Visit

A week quickly went by since Li Fen entered the Academy, and her time spent here was uneventful for the most part.

Contrary to her initial expectations, she was not immediately put under a teachers tutelage to study the Light Element. Instead, she was treated similarly to an ordinary student, who in comparison was allocated more resources, which came in the form of pills which supplemented her cultivation. The pills were referred to as essence gathering and soul-nourishing pills, which despite their names was a bunch of ordinary, low-quality medicine.

However, they were still assigned an older student who would be available for questioning, and to deal with any possible issues they may have. The one which was assigned to their district was particularly attentive of them due to the importance placed on Li Fen to the Academy.

Although it felt unusual for children as young as six being able to act with such independence within the Academy, it wasn't too strange in this World, as a child's mental age was already beyond their years as a result of being nourished from essence since birth, so Li Fen quickly got used to her new-found freedom.

Still, the main reason why the Academy was lax to the children, was that they will mostly be spending their time cultivating during the initial few years, which meant that their only duties were to follow a basic schedule imparted to them by the Academy, something easily accomplishable to children at this age in this World.

A class on cultivating was also the other unconditional lecture within the Academy, and Li Fen had to participate despite already long starting cultivating, leading to her having to feign ignorance on cultivation.

Randomly picking an advanced cultivation method, she effortlessly deceived the teachers into believing she had just begun refining essence. Zhang Wei personally aided her in this endeavour, enabling her to mimic progression on learning the cultivation art, impressing the teachers and reaffirming the Academy by her demonstration of swiftly developing an understanding of the art within a week.

To ensure her essence remained pure, Zhang Wei imparted her a technique which removed all of the impurities contained within the pills, which was a sizable amount, containing around seventy to eighty per cent of the energy contained within the pill itself.

Although this may have sounded like some sort of divine technique, truly it was not as valuable as one may believe, because it would lead to her cultivation being far slower than another person who consumes a similar amount of resources.

Only a genius who has the utmost confidence within their talent would risk ensuring their essence is exceedingly pure, as to a normal person their lifespan may run out by the time they even reach the next cultivation stage. It was also why, it was pressingly important for her to continue strengthening her Silver Dragon Bloodline, as cultivating will be more and more difficult within the future due to the pureness of her essence.

Otherwise, her cultivation base will continue to grow at a snails base at higher levels, as despite possessing good talent at the moment, in contrast to the top geniuses in this World, she was still a bit lacking. Not to mention to have any hope of defeating the enemies of Zhang Wei in the future, she would have to grow stronger, and the bloodline bestowed upon her was the best choice of doing so.

Thus, Li Fen spent the week cultivating, attending classes and visiting the library. She also met her cousin, Hui Bai a few times during the week, who also seemed to be adapting to the new environment well. Though at the moment they didn't have too much interaction, due to the Warriors and Mages being separated within the early years of the Academy.

Later on, this will gradually change, as both Warriors and Mages are required to work together in the future, meaning that the students are required to be familiar with each other if they wanted to form an effective team in the competitions against other Academies, it also serves as preparation for the future.

Li Fen figured this tranquil schedule would continue until after the week past she disturbed by an unexpected guest.

It was the little boy Wang Jian, who at the moment stood at the entrance of her dorm beaming a smile. An exciting look filled the eyes of Wang Jian, who felt a great sense of happiness at the discovery that Li Fen is now living within the city. To Wang Jian, Li Fen was genuinely his only friend since she was the only one who seemed to neglect his status.

Usually, Wang Jian would feel that around the other boys and girls his age that his father introduced him to seemed childish and were not as intelligent as him. Whereas, Li Fen, in contrast, was the first person he felt mental age was above his own. To him, this was the main thing he desired in a friend, as instead of being the 'leader' type he wanted someone to rely upon.

Wang Jian didn't want to be like his father, who possesses a hoard of subordinates which follow his every direction. He didn't want to have so much responsibility on his shoulders, knowing full well the cost it was to live such a life. His mother constantly reminded him to let his older brother, Wang Guangfu take on the role of the successor like his Father aspired him to so that one of her sons can remain with their family. He hasn't seen much of his father since a young age, which was normal to children in noble households, but this affected Wang Jian in some ways, making him appear introverted and shy.

He hadn't spoken to children much that was his age until Li Fen, thus since he found the way she interacted with him pleasing, and that she wasn't looking up to him for guidance like other children, he felt a longing to cling onto Li Fen from now on. At the very least he could delegate all the responsibilities to her that way, after-all would anyone look up to another for direction, with there being an even more capable option available? These were the thought processes of Wang Jian who felt he had already analysed how he would spend his time within the Academy.

'What is this little fellow so excited about?' Li Fen pondered as she stared at the eager kid in front of her.

Though these thoughts were promptly interrupted by Wang Jian's high voice, "Sorry that I have visited you so late, my mother forbids me from coming out this past week."

A pitiful expression emerged on Wang Jian's face after he denounced his frustrations to Li Fen about how he was wrongly imprisoned in his home, revealing to Li Fen that the boy had seemingly been grounded.

It turned out that Wang Jian's refusal to play with the daughter of a powerful noble who was also an old friend of Wang Jian's mother ended up with him being punished. The little girl it seemed threw a major tantrum at his rejection, ending up for Wang Jian to face some form of retribution to sate the girls' anger at him.

Wang Jian truly felt he was pitiable, after all, what was wrong about refusing to follow around a demanding little girl? She was completely unlike his good friend Li Fen and was a needy child who wanted him to lead her around everywhere.

Li Fen couldn't help but chuckle looking at the constantly changing facial expressions on Wang Jian's face, thinking this was the first time he showed such a side to him. Initially, she placated the boy from his visits as she found him amusing, now she thought her actions were the correct one, after all, where else would she find such a hilarious little fellow?

At least he aided her in putting her mind off the insufferable Silver Dragon, as she did not want her time in this World to be spent just with the arrogant Dragon's voice within her mind.

"Well, then. Why have you come with such an eager look then? Have you got something to tell me?" Li Fen said, making Wang Jian realise he was rambling on, and drifting of what subject he wanted to tell Li Fen.

"Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention it. It is about my training, as you know the Academy does eventually go on trips with the students here to let them gain some experience, but as nobles, we do this much earlier. You have already seen, the Forest local to your Town which I and my brother went to, and I guess you should be able to tell the benefits of it. I just want to make the offer of inviting you to come to such trips with my clan's guards, with your background I know you cannot do this, and the Academy will likely not mention it within a few years so I want to make the proposition to you now. There will not be much action of us getting involved, but I think you may find it useful, of course, this is for the future and not now, though it is still far earlier than what the Academy will let you do." Wang Jian said with a hopeful look in his eyes.

Li Fen in response to what Wang Jian informed her of, quickly pondered the thought in her mind. She guessed it would prove quite useful to her, although it may take a week or two from cultivating and building her foundation, it was still in the future and would grant her access to such a trip earlier than most students. Li Fen knew there were some benefits to it, even if she didn't have to get involved, just by observing techniques, and watching the fights between magical beasts is useful to a newbie such as her. Maybe there might even be a Mage among Wang Jian's guards, and she could witness the first spell she will see in action. She also knew that eventually she will be sent by the Academy to hunt these beasts herself, so it would likely prove useful to her to gain such knowledge in how to effectively deal with them after all.

Speedily summarising the advantages within her mind, she readily agreed to Wang Jian's offer who erratically informed her that they will have a trip within seven months.

After informing Li Fen what he wanted to say, Wang Jian continued to talk with her for a while before promptly leaving at the request of his guards who were under the orders of his mother to bring him home. Just like that Wang Jian left dejectedly before saying farewell.

Now, armed with the knowledge that she will once again be going out within seven months to experience a hunt with magic beasts, she began to prep about how she will use her time within that period.

Making a few quick changes to her schedule, she decided she will make the most of early trip of experience, she knows that this trip would be even more beneficial to her than the last one, as Wang Jian will likely bring Mages and powerful Warriors who have a far greater foundation than her Dad and his friends. She felt the trip will enable her to broaden her horizons, and analyse the techniques used, she also felt it may be useful in developing her martial arts.

After all, she not only has the potential to be a Mage but a Warrior too. Both sides owned there own unique advantages and Li Fen wasn't about to give either path up, especially because she was always greatly fascinated by martial arts in her previous World. Now she can cultivate, not only bringing her martial arts to greater heights but also learn new techniques, what is there not to be passionate about?

Happily thinking about these thoughts, Li Fen began to think ahead, creating a goal in her mind in what she wanted to achieve within the next few years ahead in the Academy. Grinning to herself, her ambition began to rise, leading her to think, why not reach the peak of both paths? The Academy itself was never her final destination, so why should she limit herself, she decided to set a goal that was worthy of the Silver Dragon bloodline itself, to reach the pinnacle in this World, as both a Warrior and a Mage.