Danya

"Good morning, Wuling."

A trace of surprise flashed across Wuling's face. His body stiffened slightly as he turned to look.

"Ahaha, it's you, Xigelika. Good morning, good morning."

"That's strange, Wuling. Why were you talking to yourself just now? Is something the matter? Huh? Why is there so much sweat on your forehead?"

Xigelika stood beside him, holding a textbook. Her pale golden hair fell over her shoulders, and her amber eyes were curious as she looked directly at his temple.

Wuling instinctively raised a hand and wiped his forehead, his fingertips coming away wet.

He groaned inwardly. Abu was floating beside his shoulder, but nobody else could see him. To anyone watching, Wuling had just been standing alone by the roadside, whispering to thin air.

I'm done for. Wuling felt he could change his surname to Jia from now on.

[Hey, hey, you've been caught.]

Only he could hear Abu's voice, which carried a teasing note of schadenfreude. His little body swayed back and forth in midair.

Wuling silently glared at him in his mind, but could only force a natural-looking smile onto his face.

"It's nothing. I was in a bit of a hurry on the way here, so I got a little hot. As for talking to myself... I was thinking about something and started saying it out loud without realizing it."

He came up with a plausible excuse on the spot, and his heart slowed a little. Fortunately, Xigelika hadn't been this close at the time and hadn't heard what he was saying clearly. Otherwise, it really would have been hard to explain.

Xigelika blinked, looking slightly curious, and glanced him up and down. But she didn't press the matter, so she had probably believed him.

"Hey, Xixi, you ran too fast. Wait for me."

A gentle female voice came from behind Wuling and Xigelika.

The two turned to see a pink-haired figure jogging slowly toward them.

Perhaps because she was short of stamina, the figure braced her hands on her legs and rested for a moment after reaching them before she could speak.

"Honestly, Xixi, you said you'd spotted someone you knew and wanted to say hello, but then you ran off so fast."

As she spoke, she turned to look at Wuling.

The moment they saw each other's faces, they both froze briefly.

"Senior, it's you?"

"I didn't expect it to be you, junior."

"Yaya, you and Wuling know each other?"

Xigelika looked at her best friend, then turned to Wuling, her amber eyes full of confusion.

"Mm, we met twice before, once during registration at the start of term and once in the cafeteria. I wouldn't say we know each other very well, but the encounters were pleasant enough."

The pink-haired girl straightened slightly and raised a hand to smooth her somewhat disheveled hair. Her breathing was still a little hurried, and a faint smile graced her delicate features.

"Hello, junior. Let me introduce myself. I'm Danya, from Lahai-Roi. You can just call me by my name from now on."

"Mm, hello, Danya. I'm Wuling, from Jinzhou in Huanglong."

"So you're from Jinzhou, Wuling."

A trace of surprise crossed Danya's eyes.

"Coming all the way from Huanglong to study on the Roi Icefield must have been a long journey."

"It was pretty far, but Star Torch Academy is worth it."

Wuling smiled.

Standing beside them and looking back and forth between the two, Xigelika finally figured out how they knew each other and let out a long "Oh."

"So you've only met twice. I thought you'd known each other for ages. Guess I was reading too much into it."

"Since we've run into each other, let's walk together. We're all headed to the same place anyway."

"Mm."

Wuling nodded slightly and walked beside the two women toward the classroom building.

Danya lowered her eyes and casually brushed her windblown pink hair back with one hand. She walked at a leisurely pace, showing no urgency about getting to her morning class.

Although class was about to start, she remained relaxed and unhurried, with an easygoing, languid air about her. In plain terms, she looked like she wasn't fully awake.

Xigelika, on the other hand, was full of energy. Smiling and chattering away, she told Wuling about things to keep in mind at Star Torch Academy and other matters.

Wuling glanced at Xigelika, then at Danya, and couldn't help wondering how two people who seemed so different had met.

He figured Xigelika must have been the one to take the initiative. With his personality, he could probably become good friends with anyone.

Soon, the main entrance to the classroom building appeared ahead, with students filing into the corridors.

Danya looked up at the building ahead and spoke slowly and briefly. "We're here. My classroom is on the first floor, so I'll be going. See you next time."

"Okay! See you next time, Yaya!" Xigelika waved.

"See you next time," Wuling said with a nod.

Danya nodded gently, then her pink-clad figure walked slowly into the classroom building with the crowd.

Xigelika watched her leave and remarked quietly.

"Yaya's always been so quiet. She's super laid-back."

Wuling watched the pink-haired figure recede and couldn't shake the feeling that she might not be laid-back at all. She was probably just plain lazy.

The two said no more. With light steps, they followed the crowd into the classroom building and headed to their respective classrooms.

By the time he returned to his seat, almost everyone in the classroom had arrived.

The first class of the morning was math, once again taught by Cantarella.

Normally, Wuling would have struggled to stay attentive through the first half, then fought to keep his eyes open through the second.

But things were different now.

After being enhanced by the system, his spirit stat had long since risen to more than three times that of an ordinary adult.

Throughout the long succession of classes, he hardly felt sleepy at all. His mind remained clear and sharp, without a trace of drowsiness.

The complex derivations listed on the blackboard and the long series of formulas entered his mind clearly as he listened.

Whether it was the points the teacher explained or the chains of logic written on the board, he could quickly make sense of them after hearing them once, to the point that he almost never forgot what he saw.

He even had enough mental capacity to spare a little attention to his peripheral vision, discreetly observing what was happening in the classroom.

Five were playing on their phones, two were listening to music, three were distracted, and seven were daydreaming.

With one casual glance around, he clearly perceived what everyone was doing.

The ability to effortlessly pick up so many tiny details surprised him. In the past, just keeping up with the lesson would have taken all his energy. How could he possibly have had any to spare for watching his classmates?

With that thought, Wuling stopped paying attention to it all. Watching people like that didn't feel quite right; it felt like spying.

The morning passed quickly, and it was time for lunch.

As Wuling gathered his books and stood up, he felt nothing but ease and relaxation.

The exhaustion of enduring lessons in the past had been swept away. Being in control of everything, calm and at ease, felt incredibly comfortable.

He had never felt so refreshed. The feeling was truly subarashii.

Suddenly, Wuling felt someone looking at him from the side. He turned and saw Cartethyia staring blankly at him.

She seemed a little lost in thought, her long eyelashes trembling gently. She was still holding an open textbook, and there was an innocent, childlike air about her.

The moment she noticed Wuling turn and meet her gaze, Cartethyia seemed to snap back to her senses. A barely perceptible trace of panic flashed in her eyes, and the tips of her ears reddened slightly. She hurriedly looked away on instinct and pretended to tidy her desk, though her movements were awkward and flustered.

Wuling watched her, a faint trace of confusion crossing his eyes as he wondered to himself.

Just now... how long had she been looking at me?