Seventeenth Chapter Arrival

Pride was very depressed today. He could tolerate the nagging and instructions from his family, but sending five starships to escort him to school was a bit much. After disembarking, a large group of people followed him for protection, only to be intercepted in the corridor. The thought of the looks from the people on the space station – "Tch, such a child, bringing so many nannies" – made Pride grit his teeth in anger.

After finally shaking off the people outside, he encountered this situation again as soon as he entered the cabin. Everything was going wrong. Pride stomped over and sat down, ignoring Kangman beside him. After glaring at Alun, he opened the display screen, adjusted the view, and checked if the starships sent by his family to escort him had left.

Pride's attitude was clearly distant, and anyone could see it. Yet, someone completely ignored it.

"Ji Pride, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Kief Alun, and I'm also a student at Qiyao this year. We're classmates." Alun extended his hand in greeting, smiling happily.

Pride didn't even look up, his tone sharp. "Who do you think you are!"

Alun, however, showed no self-awareness of being called "a nobody." His ability to automatically filter words and his thick skin in pushing forward were truly astonishing to Xilin.

He had heard from Dias before that there were many oddballs in the higher learning institutions here, and today he was truly enlightened.

"I often watch your fighter jet combat videos. You're amazing. You can even perform those hyper-maneuverability moves..."

Alun's praise flowed like a torrent. Although Pride still didn't look up, Xilin noticed the corners of his mouth twitch slightly, before he quickly resumed his stern expression. However, his ears were perked up. Xilin felt that if Pride had a tail, it would be wagging furiously. Otherwise, after Alun had been chattering for so long, Pride wouldn't have shown any intention of stopping him.

A rather peculiar child. This was Xilin's conclusion about Pride.

Kangman let out a soft snort and then stared at the screen in front of him. It was unclear whether the snort was directed at Alun or Pride. Pride was likely immersed in Alun's praise and didn't notice Kangman's snort.

Besides them, the other people sitting around had also been paying attention to this side. Hearing Alun's words, they joined the conversation. In response to the praise from those around him, Pride lifted his chin. "I learned those things a long time ago."

If Kangman's arrogance was hidden, Pride's arrogance was blatant.

However, Pride did have the capital for his arrogance. Setting aside his background and identity, if Kangman of the Twin Stars of Qiyao leaned towards theoretical research, Pride was the practical combat type. His fighter jet piloting skills were among the best of his peers, not to mention his outstanding abilities in shooting and armored vehicle piloting.

Alun regretted that photography equipment was not allowed here. Otherwise, he would definitely take a photo with these two Twin Stars of Qiyao. It would surely be a surprise for his father.

Although Alun also mentioned the other person of the Twin Stars of Qiyao – Kangman – the others around clearly had little interest in this genius from an ordinary background. Part of the reason for coming to Qiyao was that it provided a platform. Children from large families and powerful factions could meet more people here to pave the way for their future lives. These young people, born with golden spoons in their mouths, clearly did not include Kangman in their circle of acquaintances, even though Kangman was one of the Twin Stars of Qiyao this year. Furthermore, Kangman's focus was on academics, which gave these young people even less common ground. Of course, Alun was an exception.

Kangman did not show much emotion in response to the deliberate neglect, as if he were already accustomed to it.

"Can you explain the electromagnetic cipher that Alun just mentioned? Does the electromagnetic cipher involve fine-tuning the magnetic field? How do you determine that the magnetic field of the location and other factors won't cause interference, according to the formula..." Xilin was somewhat interested in the electromagnetic cipher that Kangman researched. He had brought up this topic when discussing it with Yudi, but they hadn't delved deeply. Now, it had piqued Xilin's curiosity.

Kangman looked at Xilin in surprise. Anyone who could accurately quote those formulas clearly had some understanding of the subject. Therefore, Kangman did not give Xilin a cold shoulder. He turned off the display screen, pressed another button on the armrest, took out an electronic writing tablet, and slowly began to explain to Xilin.

The two of them discussed everything from basic acoustic ciphers to light ciphers and then electromagnetic ciphers. Xilin also wrote down the simplified formulas from his discussion with Yudi, which made Kangman look at Xilin with new eyes. When it came to academic research, Kangman became even more excited. For people with genuine talent and knowledge, Kangman had a completely different attitude...

Pride's attention was also drawn to Xilin and Kangman's discussion. Although his eyes were still fixed on the screen in front of him, his mind was elsewhere. Even though he didn't understand everything Kangman was saying, he could grasp some of it.

Alun, who had been chatting enthusiastically with the people around him, caught sight of Xilin and Kangman "whispering" out of the corner of his eye and glanced over. Seeing Kangman's writing tablet filled with formulas, he looked at Xilin with admiration. Formulas were like gibberish to Alun.

After the transport plane landed on the Seven Luminaries Star, according to the newcomer guide in the Qiyao Handbook, they had to obtain a universal card for the Seven Luminaries Star. Here, purchases, transportation, etc., all required the exclusive Qiyao card. External savings cards were useless once you left this port.

After obtaining the Qiyao card with his identification and admission notice, Xilin transferred the amount from the card given to him by Aifulan onto the Qiyao card. As a new student, Xilin's Qiyao card was crimson. After officially enrolling, if his academic credits reached a certain level, he could apply to upgrade his Qiyao card. The Qiyao card had seven levels: crimson, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple. Different levels had different permissions on the Seven Luminaries Star, and upgrading depended on their own efforts.

Qiyao was a relatively independent place. Not just Qiyao, but some higher learning 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 originally wanted Xilin to go with him. The old professor was quite fond of people who pursued academics, but Xilin refused. He had his own plans, and he wasn't purely an academic researcher.

After declining Alun's invitation to go report together, Xilin walked out of the spaceport with a lightly packed travel bag on his back. As soon as he emerged, he saw two high-end hovercars parked at the entrance waiting for someone. Pride walked over with his chin raised, tossed his small bag to one of the attendants, and got into a hovercar.

He hadn't expected this kid to have such a deep background, to be able to openly enjoy privileges even in Seven Luminaries. No wonder those people in the cabin had treated Pride with fawning respect. Although no one had explicitly stated Pride's identity, they had likely figured it out themselves when Alun mentioned a few things about him.

Xilin turned his head away, no longer paying attention. He went to a shop selling communication equipment near the spaceport and bought a wristband communicator. Seven Luminaries had its own dedicated communication network system and signal reception equipment, so communication devices brought from outside the planet couldn't be used here and had to be purchased separately.

Xilin didn't plan to report immediately. The reporting period would last for six or seven days anyway. Following a hunter's habits, Xilin would first personally visit several important locations on Seven Luminaries. After buying a planetary map, he boarded the magnetic levitation global train.