Dilia

The two arrived at the dormitory and met their future boss, Yale, who, just as described in the original book, was busy tinkering with exercise equipment.

Upon seeing Lin Feng and Reynolds, his eyes lit up, and he ran over excitedly. "Haha, you must be my roommates! I've been waiting for a long time; I'm the only one here right now. Let me introduce myself. My name is Yale, and I suppose you could say I'm from the Holy Union."

"What do you mean 'suppose you could say'?" Reynolds curled his lip. "I'm Reynolds, from the O'Brien Empire."

"I'm Lin Feng, from the Fenlai Kingdom of the Holy Union," Lin Feng said with a smile.

"Ah, Reynolds, Lin Feng, it's great to meet you! Hey, put those exercise tools over there," Yale said, turning to bark orders at his servant.

"Exercise tools?" Reynolds blinked his large eyes at Yale. "Yale, what are you using those for? Are you planning to be a warrior?"

Yale wrinkled his nose and chuckled. "Even though we are noble mages, we still need to build a good physique, right? Otherwise, how are we going to attract beautiful women? There are plenty of beauties among the mages. Especially the female mages at the Ernst Institute; they aren't just pretty, they have class. Being able to brag to others that you have a girlfriend from the Ernst Institute is a huge status symbol."

"Uh..." Reynolds was speechless.

Lin Feng, however, found it rather amusing. A ten-year-old kid talking about girlfriends made Lin Feng, a transmigrator, feel a sense of absurdity. But he also knew this was the world of Coiling Dragon, not Earth. There was no concept of being "underage" here; as long as you had the ability, getting married at three wasn't much of a problem.

Reynolds and Lin Feng stated their ages, and upon hearing them, Yale's eyes lit up. "Me? I'm ten this year. Haha, but I'm not small anymore. My brother was already ** at twelve, so I need to prepare early."

"What does ** mean?" the innocent little Reynolds asked a very silly question, but Lin Feng would not be as naive as he was in the original book. Just kidding—as a top-tier university graduate, even though he hadn't had a girlfriend and had remained a virgin before transmigrating, his understanding of ** was far beyond what people in this world could comprehend.

After the three chatted for a while, George, the second of the 1987 brothers, returned. Seeing George's appearance, Lin Feng found it quite funny; he hadn't expected ten-year-old George to be about the same height as eight-year-old Reynolds, nearly half a head shorter than him.

After talking for just a short while, the bond between the four brothers grew much closer.

The four brothers of dormitory 1987, along with the God-Eater Rat Beibei, took a thorough tour of the academy and gained a general understanding of the entire campus. That evening, the four of them feasted at a luxurious hotel not far from the dormitory area, though they only drank fruit juice.

The next day, February 9th, was the official start of the school year.

There were no classes that day; formal lessons wouldn't begin until February 10th. February 9th was just for attending the academy to listen to the advice of the leadership. A hundred children, the youngest six and the oldest only twelve, sat in a classroom that could hold hundreds. They didn't even know who the leaders speaking on stage were, and the children dozed off one by one. Once the opening ceremony ended, they all left happily.

The curriculum at the Ernst Institute had classes for 28 days of the month, with only the last two days off.

Earth-style magic was from 8:00 to 10:00 AM, fire-style from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM, water-style from 2:00 to 4:00 PM, wind-style from 4:30 to 6:30 PM, lightning-style from 7:00 to 9:00 PM, and light-style from 9:30 to 11:30 PM. Because the Ernst Institute was affiliated with the Radiant Church, it did not offer dark-style magic courses.

However, most students were single-element, so they only needed to attend two hours of class a day. Furthermore, these classes were optional; if you wanted to listen, you could, and if you didn't, no one forced you.

On February 10th, at 8:00 AM, Lin Feng arrived at the first-year earth-style classroom.

After the instructor and students introduced themselves, Lin Feng began his first lesson at the Ernst Institute. But after listening to one class, Lin Feng decided he would never attend earth-style classes again. While the earth-style instructor's strength was decent, he couldn't compare to Doehring Cowart at all; their understanding of earth-style magic was worlds apart. Moreover, Lin Feng was already at the level of a fifth-rank mage, and listening to the first-year instructor explain basic magic knowledge felt like torture. It was like a university student being forced to sit in kindergarten with a bunch of little kids; unless you experienced it, you couldn't understand the feeling.

Lin Feng also attended the fire-style and water-style magic classes, but he found these were much the same as the earth-style; only the element differed. The basic principles of magic could be understood through the atomic theory he had learned in university, and his understanding was even more detailed and thorough than what the instructors provided.

Therefore, Lin Feng decided once again that he would only occasionally attend water-style and fire-style classes. There was no need to attend every single session.

For the upcoming wind-style magic course, Lin Feng arrived early. He was somewhat excited; the original heroine of the Coiling Dragon story was about to appear, and she might even become his future wife. Thinking of this, Lin Feng felt a surge of heat in his heart. In his past life, he had spent all his time studying, and in his spare time, he only read web novels; he never had time for romance. But in this life, in the world of Coiling Dragon, Lin Feng wouldn't be so foolish as to obsess only over cultivation and become a boor who didn't understand the beauty of romance.

"Hello, everyone," a handsome youth with long golden hair said with a smile. "I am a sixth-year student, Trey. From today on, I will be responsible for your wind-style magic instruction. I live in dormitory 0298; if you have any questions after class, you can come find me."

A sixth-year student was a sixth-rank mage, someone who could apply for graduation at any time. They were qualified to instruct first and second-year students.

"Before we begin, let's all introduce ourselves," Trey said with a smile.

This was the most basic part of the first class of the term, and the students went up one by one to introduce themselves.

As the students took the stage, Dilia, whom Lin Feng had been looking forward to, finally stepped up.

He saw a sweet-looking little girl with golden hair walk slowly to the podium. She gently tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and smiled. "Hello everyone, my name is Dilia, and I am from the Yulan Empire."

After her brief introduction, she walked off the podium, but Lin Feng's gaze followed her figure until she reached her seat and sat down.

Although Dilia was just a young child like Lin Feng, she was sweet-looking with delicate, cute features. Especially when she had tucked that lock of hair behind her ear on stage, that touch of charm made Lin Feng decide right then and there: Dilia, just you wait, I will definitely win you over.

Perhaps it was fate; Lin Feng, with his different soul in the same body, found that he had fallen for this green, young girl the moment he saw her. Could this be love at first sight? The feeling was truly not bad.

Dilia naturally noticed the gaze Lin Feng had fixed upon her. Following the gaze, the moment she saw the owner of those eyes, Dilia suddenly had a very strange feeling. She felt that in this life, she would be unable to escape his grasp.

The moment she felt this subtle sensation, Dilia's pretty face flushed red, and she lowered her head, acting shy.

Seeing Dilia's reaction, Lin Feng couldn't help but chuckle. She really was just an immature little girl!

During this class, Lin Feng and Dilia spent their time exchanging glances. Seeing that Dilia was a shy little girl, Lin Feng's playful side kicked in, and he frequently teased her with his eyes. Dilia, because of that inexplicable feeling from earlier, was extremely curious about Lin Feng; although she was very shy, she still mustered the courage to look up at him from time to time.

After class, Lin Feng didn't leave immediately. Instead, he walked over to Dilia, boldly reached out his hand, and smiled. "Hello, Dilia, my name is Lin Feng."

For a pure, innocent girl like Dilia, Lin Feng decided it was better to take the initiative. After all, he was a man—a man with the mental maturity of someone in his twenties. If he were to wait for Dilia to express her love first like in the original book, that would be too spineless. Besides, since he had already decided to marry Dilia in the future, there was no need to go through the arduous marathon of a romance that Lin Feng and Dilia had in the book. It was better to win her over early and be at ease. Although Lin Feng didn't plan to follow the example of Yale's brother and become ** at twelve, establishing a relationship with Dilia before they turned twelve was perfectly fine.

Although Dilia was shy and startled by Lin Feng's boldness, she was kind-hearted and already had a good impression of or curiosity about Lin Feng. Therefore, after a brief struggle in her heart, she shyly extended her delicate hand and shook Lin Feng's.

"Hello, my name is Dilia."

"From now on, we're good friends. I'll save a seat for you in class tomorrow," Lin Feng said, shamelessly defining his relationship with Dilia as "good friends" upon their first meeting.

Lin Feng was simply making an announcement, not asking for her opinion. After saying this, he left, leaving Dilia standing there in a state of shock and shyness.

"How could he be like that? He didn't even ask if I agreed. Should I... should I listen to him?" Dilia was conflicted. "Forget it, that's a problem for tomorrow. I'll think about it tomorrow!"

Unable to make a choice, Dilia escaped the problem by leaving it for the next day.

Meanwhile, Lin Feng, who had strode out of the classroom, chuckled to himself: "Heh heh, 'good friend' and 'girlfriend' are only one word apart. Dilia, oh Dilia, you are destined to never escape my grasp."

Spring passed and autumn came; in the blink of an eye, Lin Feng had already been at the Ernst Institute for over half a year.

During these six months, Lin Feng's strength had seen a leap in progress, with both magic and battle qi showing gratifying improvements. After half a year of diligent cultivation, Lin Feng's magic had reached the sixth-rank level, though there was still a significant gap before reaching the seventh rank. As for his battle qi, it lagged behind his magic, having only advanced from a third-rank warrior to a fourth-rank warrior.

Of course, in these six months, Lin Feng's greatest gain wasn't in his personal cultivation, but in his romantic life. Because of Lin Feng's deliberate approach and Dilia's curiosity about him, their relationship progressed day by day. After half a year of effort, their romance was basically confirmed. Lin Feng believed that if he asked Dilia to be his girlfriend now, she would definitely agree, but he never did so. The reason was simple: the social norms of this world were at play. Lin Feng still felt it was a very strange thing to make a girl not even ten years old his girlfriend.

Ever since Doehring Cowart had accepted Lin Feng's guidance, he had fallen into a state of frantic closed-door cultivation. During these six months, he only occasionally came out to give Lin Feng pointers on his cultivation, and he didn't show his face at other times. This left Lin Feng feeling both helpless and fortunate; with no one to manage him, he could spend his time outside of cultivation flirting with Dilia without any restraint.