Arrival

Pride was in a foul mood today. It was bad enough having to endure all the nagging and reminders from his family, but it was just school—did they really have to send five starships to escort him? Then, after he got off the starship, a whole crowd of people had followed him around to protect him, only for them to be stopped at the passageway. Whenever he remembered the looks from the people at the Space Station—Tsk, what a little kid. He even brought so many babysitters—Pride ground his teeth in anger.

He'd finally managed to shake off those people outside, only to run into this mess as soon as he boarded the transport. Nothing was going his way. Pride stalked over and sat down, ignoring Kangman beside him. After glaring at Alun, he opened the display and adjusted the view to check whether the starships his family had sent to escort him had left yet.

Pride's attitude made it clear he wanted everyone to keep their distance, but someone chose to ignore it completely.

"Ji Pride, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name's Chef Alun, and I'm a student at Qiyao too. That makes us classmates." Alun reached out to greet him, smiling brightly.

Pride didn't even look up. "I don't give a damn who you are!"

Alun showed no sign of realizing he'd just been called a nobody. His ability to filter out insults and shamelessly sidle closer left Xilin awestruck.

Dias had told him ages ago that the higher-education institutions around here were full of oddballs. Today, Xilin was seeing it for himself.

"I watch your fighter-combat videos all the time. You're amazing. You can even pull off those kinds of extreme maneuvers..."

Alun showered Pride with praise, chattering away. Pride still didn't look up, but Xilin noticed the corners of his mouth lift a little. Then he tried to put on his serious expression again, though his ears were practically standing straight up. Xilin figured that if Pride had a tail, it would be sticking straight in the air. Otherwise, after all that gushing from Alun, Pride would surely have told him to shut up.

What a difficult kid. That was Xilin's verdict on Pride.

Kangman gave a quiet snort and turned his attention back to the screen in front of him. It was hard to tell whether he'd meant it for Alun or Pride. Pride was probably so absorbed in Alun's praise that he hadn't noticed.

The others sitting nearby had been paying attention too, and after hearing Alun, they joined in. Pride lifted his chin at their praise. "I've known how to do that stuff for ages."

If Kangman's pride was hidden beneath the surface, Pride's was plain for all to see.

Still, Pride had every reason to be proud. Setting aside his family and background, of the Twin Stars of Qiyao, Kangman leaned more toward theoretical research, while Pride was a practical fighter. His piloting skills ranked among the best of his generation, and he excelled at shooting and armored vehicle operation as well.

Alun regretted that cameras weren't allowed here. Otherwise, he would've taken a picture with these two Twin Stars of Qiyao. It would've been the perfect surprise for his dad.

Alun had mentioned the other Twin Star, Kangman, but the others around them clearly had little interest in this genius from an ordinary background. One reason many people came to Qiyao was that it offered a platform where children from powerful families and organizations could meet more people and pave the way for their future. These young people, born with silver spoons in their mouths, obviously didn't count Kangman among the people they wanted to know, even though he was one of this year's Twin Stars of Qiyao. And Kangman's focus on academics gave them even less in common to talk about. Alun, of course, was the exception.

Kangman showed little reaction to being deliberately ignored. He seemed used to it.

"Could you tell me more about the electromagnetic codes Alun mentioned earlier? Do they use magnetic-field adjustments? How do you make sure the local magnetic field and other factors won't cause interference? Based on the formula..." Xilin was interested in the electromagnetic codes Kangman studied. He'd touched on the subject while discussing things with Yudi, but they hadn't gone into detail. Now Kangman had piqued his curiosity.

Kangman looked at Xilin in surprise. Anyone who could accurately name those formulas had to know a fair bit about the subject. So he didn't brush Xilin off. He turned off the display, pressed another button on the armrest, and took out an electronic Writing Tablet from inside, then began explaining.

The two started with basic sound-wave codes, moved on to optical codes, and then discussed electromagnetic codes. Xilin even wrote down a few simplified formulas he'd worked out with Yudi. Kangman began to see him in a new light, and the academic discussion made him more animated. Kangman had a completely different attitude toward people with real expertise...

Pride's attention shifted to Xilin and Kangman's discussion too. Though his eyes remained fixed on the screen in front of him, his mind wasn't on it. He didn't understand much of what Kangman was saying, but he could follow some of it.

Alun, who'd been chatting animatedly with the others, caught sight of Xilin and Kangman huddling together out of the corner of his eye. He glanced over, and when he saw the Writing Tablet covered in formulas in Kangman's hand, he looked at Xilin with admiration. Formulas were indecipherable gibberish to Alun.

When the Transport Aircraft landed on Seven Luminaries Star, the new-student guide in the Qiyao Handbook instructed everyone to apply for a Qiyao Card. Here, you needed Qiyao's dedicated card to buy things or ride public transport. Savings Cards and the like from outside were useless as soon as you left the port.

After applying for a Qiyao Card with his identification and admission notice, Xilin transferred the money from the card Aifulan had given him. Since he was a new student, he got a scarlet Qiyao Card. Once officially enrolled, he could apply to upgrade it if his academic credits reached the required level. Qiyao Cards came in seven ranks: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple. Each rank granted different privileges on Seven Luminaries Star. Upgrading was up to the students themselves.

Qiyao was a relatively independent place. And it wasn't the only one—some higher-education institutions in the B Star Zone and military academies in the C Star Zone had similar systems.

Kangman was going to visit an old professor. He'd originally invited Xilin along—the old professor was always welcoming to people in academia—but Xilin declined. He had his own plans, and he wasn't a pure academic researcher.

After turning down Alun's invitation to go register together, Xilin slung his lightly packed travel bag over his shoulder in the baggage compartment and walked out of the port. Two luxury flying cars were waiting by the entrance. Pride walked over with his chin raised, tossed his small bag to one of the people there, and got into a car.

It seemed the kid had some serious connections. He could openly enjoy special privileges even at Qiyao. No wonder everyone in the cabin had treated Pride so obsequiously. Nobody had said outright who Pride was, but they'd probably figured it out for themselves when Alun mentioned some things about him.

Xilin turned away and paid them no more attention. He went to a shop near the port that sold Communication Equipment and bought a wrist-mounted communicator. Seven Luminaries Star had its own communications network and signal-receiving equipment, so devices brought in from outside the planet wouldn't work. You had to buy new ones there.

Xilin didn't plan to register right away. Registration would remain open for another six or seven days anyway. Out of habit, he intended to visit several important places on Seven Luminaries Star himself first. After buying a map of the planet, he boarded the magnetic-levitation Global Train.