A few days later.
The annual freshman enrollment ceremony began right on schedule once again.
Wearing the simplest, plainest bachelor's gown, Orn pushed his way forward through the crowd in the plaza. His former noble attire had been gorgeous, but it had never brought him true happiness. It seemed merely to be a price tag marking his flesh, never paying any attention to his heart and soul.
But now!
Orn finally felt truly alive.
His heart was fuller than ever before. He yearned for the unknown, looked forward to an entirely new journey through life, and anticipated every endless possibility of the next second. He had also gained new friends who shared his ambitions.
"I wonder if Reilo has arrived yet?"
Thinking of the companion he had unexpectedly met a few days ago, Orn could not help scanning his surroundings. Unfortunately, there were simply too many people here, and he could not find the figure he was hoping to see.
Filled with a longing for higher degrees and an anticipation of exploring more advanced knowledge—or perhaps hoping to build connections and curry favor—scholars from all over had gathered at the Grand Natural Academy.
Most of those pursuing further studies here were nobles from wealthy families. They possessed refined manners, educational traditions, and sufficient gold. Orn was merely the most ordinary member of their ranks.
Every family also hoped to use interactions between their children and descendants to create entirely new social networks for the family's future!
Under the guidance of knowledgeable mentors, noble scholars studied and advanced together, befriended one another, built deep friendships, and laid the foundation for the future power relationships of the duchy. Family marriages formed as a result were also extremely common!
"Junior, anyone can tell at a glance that you're extraordinary. You must be an excellent scholar who studies the Natural Law. You'll definitely achieve great things in the future! This Engraved Inkstone costs only three gold coins. Buy one, get three! Interested?"
Orn, standing amid the crowd, was stopped by a bespectacled senior student with protruding teeth.
Orn could sense the worldly air about her. It had been shaped by the commoner's life of worrying about making a living every day and haggling over every little profit, much like the student named Reilo he had encountered on the road.
Orn examined the unfamiliar senior student who had stopped him.
Far from the conflicts over family interests, he was on an entirely new journey through life. Everything was so beautiful. A calm smile appeared on Orn's face, and even the bucktoothed senior student trying to sell him Engraved Inkstone seemed to become elegant and beautiful.
Orn said, "How did you know that I'm a scholar who studies the Natural Law?"
The bucktoothed senior student's eyes lit up. She pushed up the glasses on the bridge of her nose and smiled. "Buy a piece of Engraved Inkstone, and I'll tell you."
Three gold coins was not a small sum, but compared to Orn's ample reserve funds for the next three years, it was nothing.
"All right."
After a moment's hesitation, Orn took out three gold coins and handed them to her.
Engraved Inkstone was a relatively high-quality energy ore.
Within crystal mines, some high-grade energy crystals often occurred alongside large quantities of ordinary energy crystals. Engraved Inkstone was one of them, and a relatively common one at that. Its price generally fluctuated around five gold coins. Scholars who studied the Natural Law often used it as a consumable Magic Material when guiding energy and engraving energy runes.
"Hehe, here you go!"
However, the bucktoothed senior student handed Orn four pieces of Engraved Inkstone?
The bucktoothed senior student said smugly, "The answer is that I say this to everyone I meet. You just happened to be one of them, hehe!"
Huh?
Orn was stunned for a moment. Then, after thinking it over, he laughed helplessly and pointed at the four crystals in his hand. "But, Senior, I only bought one piece of Engraved Inkstone."
The bucktoothed senior student looked even more pleased with herself. She arched her brows and said, "Buy one, get three! Those are the three pieces I gave you. Don't say I cheated you. Everyone's following the agreement!"
This time, Orn was completely dumbfounded. He then shook his head and laughed loudly, mocking himself for his foolishness.
Orn could naturally distinguish real Engraved Inkstone from fake ones. He simply had never imagined that something like this would happen. When he had received his early education at home, servants had brought him all the materials. Although his tutor had taught him how to identify specimens, he had never taught him these kinds of life lessons. For a moment, the senior student had toyed with him completely.
"I was careless."
Orn was not angry.
After carefully examining them, he found that although the four crystals were not Engraved Inkstone, they were a type of energy ore called Purple Plating. Taken together, the four pieces were not worth much less than three gold coins.
Seeing that Orn had a good temperament, the bucktoothed senior student grew somewhat interested.
"I thought you would be like that fellow just now and start touching your senior, initiating some academic exchange! Hehe. Conflicts in the academy are resolved through scholarly competition, so long as they don't violate the moral contract. Picking a fight with a scholar two years your senior, hehe..."
After laughing happily, the bucktoothed senior student said, "My name is Ailiya. Scholars who know me also like to call me the Crystal Summoner. If you have any academic questions in the future, come find me."
Orn's eyes lit up. "My name is Orn!"
After Ailiya left and blended into the crowd to search for her next target, Orn played with the Purple Plating ore for a moment before casually putting it into the Space Box.
It was only the first official day of the school year, yet he had already experienced something so interesting. He believed that his three-year scholarly career would never be boring.
"Orn! Orn!"
Suddenly, his name rang out from within the crowd.
A look of surprise crossed Orn's face. He rose onto his tiptoes and looked around, searching. At last, he spotted the relatively short figure amid the crowd, waving at him repeatedly and calling his name.
It was Reilo, who had traveled alongside him from the Magic Shadow Forest a few days ago.
"Reilo!"
Delighted, Orn hurriedly squeezed through the crowd and walked toward Reilo.
As a mentor at the academy, Shatuo naturally had no time to teach Reilo individually during the opening ceremony.
Taking advantage of his free time, Reilo had bought a simple, plain gray bachelor's gown. After dressing neatly, he came to the academy plaza to look for Orn, who had traveled alongside him the entire way.
"How have you been these past few days? Has the academy assigned you an introductory mentor?"
Orn looked Reilo up and down in his gray bachelor's gown and complimented him. "That gown suits you very well!"
Compared to Reilo's thin, pale face, Orn's complexion was rosy and smooth. He lowered his head to look at the glass specimen box Reilo was carrying. Several black tadpoles were swimming around in the water inside.
"Mm. The academy has already assigned me an introductory mentor, and I've decided to study the academic field of Evolution's Profound Meaning! I collected these tadpole specimens when I happened to pass by the lake just now. For the next while, I'll observe the process of tadpoles changing into frogs and learn to make frog specimens at different stages."
An excited, satisfied smile appeared on Reilo's face.
During the past few days of studying, Reilo had exclaimed more than once at the wondrous greatness of this world!
Reilo had never imagined that this seemingly familiar world—even the most ordinary things as he understood them—would be filled with wondrous knowledge in the eyes of scholars. Everything he had once known was merely the outward manifestation of the Law of Truth in this world. He himself was so insignificant and tiny.
"What about you? I haven't seen you these past few days. Which class were you assigned to?"
Reilo asked.
"First-year, Class Four. If you need anything, you can come directly to my class and find me!"
Orn could sense the changes in Reilo over the past few days.
Back in the Magic Shadow Forest, Reilo's eyes had been filled with simple-mindedness and confusion. But now, like Orn, he had been shaken by the mysteries of the world's Law of Truth, and his thirst for knowledge had overwhelmed everything else!
Orn continued, "I bought a house in Duo'er District. The atmosphere there is better for studying, and it's also closer to Scholar Street and the teaching buildings. Where do you live?"
The two of them seemed to have become longtime friends, with nothing they could not discuss.
Reilo shook his head and joked, "The academy's housing rent is far too expensive. I rented a house in the Southeast Old District. It's a little farther away, but walking more every day counts as exercise. When my father was alive, he often told me to exercise more. I suppose I'm fulfilling his final wishes now, hehe."
Looking at the cheerful, optimistic Reilo beside him, Orn complained, "We're going to be classmates studying together for the next three years. Why didn't you come to me if you were having difficulties? If I were in trouble someday, would you refuse to help me?"
"How could I?"
Reilo instead became apologetic.
Just then, a group of mentors walked onto the raised platform. The hundreds of scholar freshmen in the enormous plaza gradually fell silent and looked up at them.