Chapter 3

He nodded with difficulty. He disliked lying, but Grandpa Lei had repeatedly warned him not to forget this line.

"Doesn't that settle it? Think about it. You were originally just a concubine-born son with no standing at all in the Yi Family. Yet Fields, the Lord of Dead City, rescued you from the Misera Empire, and Lei Wang, the Great Mage of the imperial capital, personally spoke on your behalf. Those two are influential figures in the Thunder Eagle Empire, and they have close ties with the Thunder Family. Fields in particular may be human, but he also enjoys great prestige among the beast tribes. The chiefs of many tribes call him brother." Aslan narrowed his eyes, clicked his tongue twice, then shook his head.

"In the long run," Aslan continued, "the Yi Family has offended quite a few Orc tribes. That was why Saguli Academy later opened enrollment slots for beastfolk students, but it has not achieved much so far. We still hate the Yi Family. Now that Fields is protecting you, if the Yi Family can use your connection with him to restore relations with the beast tribes, it will bring nothing but benefits. After all, that also aligns with the Thunder Eagle Empire's national policy."

Lin Hanxuan nodded. Aslan's analysis made everything suddenly clear to him. He really was a clever Lion Tribe man.

"Even if we only look at the immediate future, your status in the Yi Family will surely rise steadily before long. You might even take the third seat among the younger generation," Aslan said. "Even if you truly were worthless, the Yi Family would not dare neglect you with two Great Mages so close to you. But at least for now, no one has realized your value, because you have yet to gain the support of the other Yi Family members. Think about it—if you were Yi Junshu, would you not make your move now? Would you wait until the clan head discovered how important you were? By then, it would be too late."

Hearing this, Lin Hanxuan suddenly stopped walking. The smiling face of the red-robed youth appeared in his mind. Was that why he cared so much about me too? Lin Hanxuan wondered.

Seeing Lin Hanxuan stop so suddenly, Hal quietly spoke a name. "Yi Junze! Aslan, I guarantee Yi Junze is even smarter than you."

The waning moon hung low in the west. Saguli Academy's freshman dormitory, Room 106—

The green Goblin lay sprawled on his single bed, twitching from time to time. It was close to midnight, and Hal had long since entered the land of dreams. The injury on his leg had already healed after treatment from a healer, leaving not even a trace of broken skin. In his dream, Hal was fighting three hundred rounds against the Atmospheric Spirit summoned by Qito—the impression Goblins usually gave was that they were simple creatures with clear likes and dislikes, and this trait was even more obvious in Hal. He could boldly contend with enemies despite the gap in strength, like when he ambushed Mamol in the forest. He could also risk his life to save his friends, like when he helped Lin Hanxuan evade the air blade and got injured himself. Hal's mind was now filled with thoughts of what moves he should use if he encountered that Atmospheric Spirit again. He had spent the entire day simulating the battle without tiring of it, and even in his dreams, he was fighting the air.

Lin Hanxuan lay on his own bed, watching the stars in the night sky through the three holes in the roof. From time to time, Hal's battle cries reached his ears. It was not that the academy was mistreating Lin Hanxuan and Hal by deliberately making them live in a broken room. In fact, no one else had discovered the holes in Room 106's roof yet. Mischievously, Lin Hanxuan spun Hal's Amber Bracelet on the bed. After two turns, the bracelet lost momentum and fell onto the soft blanket. Hal normally never let the bracelet leave his body, but Lin Hanxuan had forced him to take it off before bed. The previous night, Hal had slept with it on, fought Qito in his dream, and used a spreading attack... then three holes appeared in the roof. Fortunately, the freshman dormitory was a single-story building with no floor above it. Otherwise, the matter would have been difficult to smooth over. Still, the three holes in the roof had to be patched up sometime, lest anyone discover them.

Lin Hanxuan repeatedly put on and removed the bracelet, doing so several times. Feeling a little stifled, he placed it on the desk beside the bed and lay back down, fingering the necklace around his neck. After a while, he realized he still was not sleepy at all. He thought he might as well summon Kubaka while Hal was asleep and practically test the method of sending him back to the Rotting Swamp. He had spent the past few days training his spiritual power. It was time to assess the results.

Lin Hanxuan quietly slipped out of the room, walked down the stairs to the grass nearby, and took the Brown-Crested Feather Fan from his spatial ring. He had to admit that this beginner's feather fan could not compare to the Seven-Treasure Feather Fan at all. It was a pity Grandpa was not at the academy, or he would have liked to borrow the Seven-Treasure Feather Fan for a look.

Lin Hanxuan cleared his mind and began using his spiritual power to search for the place in this area where energy was thinnest—this was the key to the Balance Summoning Technique. Ordinary summoners used spiritual power to manipulate a certain element, gathering and condensing it before using a catalyst to summon an Elemental Spirit. For example, Fields summoned Alef, the high-ranking fire spirit, through a torch, while Qito summoned an Atmospheric Spirit with the help of a Sky Gem. Proper use of catalysts could save a summoner considerable effort. The principle of the Balance Summoning Technique was somewhat like borrowing force against force. All energy generally existed in a relatively stable state, and without outside interference, an energy storm might not occur even once in tens of thousands of years. The Balance Summoning Technique disrupted that stable state in places where energy was scarce, causing the surrounding energy to rush over and fill it.