Ready for School

A few days later, the Huo Family finally confirmed that Huo Hai had indeed lost part of his memories—and a very large part at that. Fortunately, he still remembered his own family. As for everyone else, forgetting them was no great matter. After all, Huo Hai was still young.

As the Huo Family's eldest young master—and its only young master—even if he had lost his memories, or even gone mad, he would still be the Huo Family's future ruler. That day, Huo Kai came before Huo Hai and said with a solemn expression, "Little Hai, there is nothing we can do about your memory loss. But there are certain basics you cannot afford not to know, so we have decided to send you to study."

Study? What was this supposed to mean? Huo Hai's head was full of question marks. He knew that at a time like this, it was best not to ask too many questions.

"Very well. Since you have no objections, it is settled. Starting today, you will attend the academy with the other children of the Lineage and learn some fundamentals and common knowledge. As for everything else, that can wait until later."

With that, Huo Kai left. Huo Hai shook his head helplessly. "Sigh, I still don't even know what this world is like, and they're making me go to school. Heavens, I finally graduated with great difficulty—how come I still have to go to school after changing worlds? Can't I spend more time cultivating spirit arts?" Compared to blood energy, what Huo Hai liked more was cultivation.

Before he began cultivating, he had not understood. He thought sitting alone in one place without moving, like an idiot, required tremendous perseverance to endure. But after he started cultivating, Huo Hai no longer thought so.

He drew spiritual energy into his body and constantly tempered himself, able to feel himself growing stronger every moment, his body ascending. And that exquisite sensation made one unable to stop; it was simply more pleasurable than doing that sort of thing.

Now Huo Hai understood why some experts could sit there cultivating without moving for years, even decades. Cultivation was actually so pleasurable. Not only did it make one feel good, it also strengthened one's power. With power came status, and with status came everything. Given the chance to cultivate, who would leave it untouched?

But his father had decided, so there was nothing he could do. "Forget it. I'll see what exactly they teach in that classroom. Maybe it'll deepen my understanding of this whole world." Huo Hai shook his head and began cultivating again.

Who knew how long it would take before he could enter the Spirit Blood Realm? It seemed he would have plenty of time to waste. Reaching the Spirit Body had already taken several years. To reach Spirit Blood now, no matter how diligent he was, would probably still take several months.

Time passed as Huo Hai cultivated through the night. Early the next morning, the maid woke him. "Young Master, Young Master, wake up quickly! You still have to go to the academy later." At the mention of the academy, the two maids' expressions became somewhat strange.

"Yes, I still have to go to the academy." Huo Hai muttered to himself. He had gone to sleep very late the previous night, but thanks to cultivation, he was in excellent spirits. He did not notice the expressions on the two maids' faces. With their assistance, Huo Hai got dressed, ate dinner, and then headed toward the academy with his pageboy. Why did he need a pageboy? Because he had many books to carry.

"A young master's life really is nice. Back on Earth, probably not many people were qualified to enjoy a life like this. I wonder what they'll teach later. Could it have something to do with cultivating spirit arts?"

Huo Hai suddenly recalled all those novels and animated shows he had once seen about magic academies and the like. If it were like that, it would be wonderful. With incomplete memories and only having just begun cultivating, Huo Hai had many questions he urgently wanted answered.

A few minutes later, led by his pageboy, Huo Hai arrived outside the academy. This academy belonged to the Huo Family itself, and it served the children of the Huo Family's direct line, branch lines, and even some collateral relatives. As for the children of servants, they could only become pageboys. They were not qualified to enter the academy.

After arriving, Huo Hai found that quite a few pageboys were already there. They gathered at the entrance or lay against the windowsills, waiting to listen to the instructor's lessons. As servants, they only had the right to sit in on lessons this way.

Seeing this, Huo Hai could not help feeling a trace of pity. "Sigh, they really are pitiful. If this were Earth, even the poorest people could at least attend elementary school." On the Spirit Realm Continent, after all, only a small number of people were qualified to receive an education.

Suddenly, Huo Hai violently shook his head. "Why would I think something like that? Didn't I want to become a bad person? What should a bad person do upon seeing something like this? Remain indifferent? No, that's not it. Right, I should go over and mock them, rub salt in their wounds." Huo Hai thought for a long time before finally remembering what a bad person ought to do.

But just as Huo Hai was about to act, he saw the longing and worship in those pageboys' eyes. The words he had intended to say were immediately swallowed back down. Huo Hai was not inherently rotten-hearted, and he could not bring himself to do it.

"Forget it, I'll let you off today. I'll come back another day when I have the chance." Muttering to himself, Huo Hai gave up on his so-called bad-guy act and entered the academy. The moment he walked in, all the students inside turned their eyes toward him. Huo Hai's scalp went numb. Then it was no longer merely his scalp that went numb—his face filled with frustration and shock.

"Who—who can tell me what is going on? Am I supposed to study with these children?" Huo Hai finally understood why his father's expression had been so strange that day, and what he had meant by learning common knowledge.

Damn it, this was not learning common knowledge at all. This was practically preschool enlightenment! Looking at those little faces, their owners were as young as three, while the oldest were no more than six. This body of his was fourteen or fifteen years old, at least. In this world, he was already considered an adult. Was he really supposed to study with children who had not even grown up yet?

"Hey, is that the new one? Isn't he a young master of the main branch? Why is he here?" Children's mouths could never stay still. Adults might not casually gossip, but what child would think that way?

"Yes, yes, I heard about it too. It seems Young Master Huo Hai was injured for some reason and lost his memories. Even the things we are learning have to be relearned by him." Beside them, a cute little girl spoke with a smug look on her face.

Hey, hey, you there—you may be cute, but why is your mouth so nasty? What did she mean, injured and lost his memories? What did she mean, even the things they were learning had to be relearned? Were they showing off their superiority right in front of him? Huo Hai was practically cursing his mother in his heart. He felt that he could barely remain here for another moment.

But soon, he encountered something even more detestable. A cute little boy looked at Huo Hai, his eyes full of sympathy. "Ah, so the eldest young master is so pitiful. He wasted so many years."

"Yes, yes, so pitiful." That one sentence immediately stirred the children's sympathy. Children were probably the most compassionate creatures in the world. Every gaze turned into one of pity mixed with sympathy.

Huo Hai felt as if he were going mad. "Bastards, I don't need your pity. No, that's not right—I don't need you to pity me at all. No, that isn't right either." Huo Hai became thoroughly tangled up. He could neither hit nor scold these children. Though he aspired to become a villain, even villains had a bottom line. How could he casually bully children?

Thinking of this, Huo Hai immediately felt he could not stay any longer. So he turned and walked outside. But the moment he reached the entrance, two guards stopped him. The two men blocked the doorway and would not let Huo Hai leave.

"Young Master, the master has ordered that you may not leave before the lesson is over. Please do not make things difficult for us. For the sake of helping you recover your lost memories sooner, please endure this little grievance." The two guards spoke as if they were deeply aggrieved, but neither showed the slightest intention of stepping aside. Their cultivation was higher than Huo Hai's.

"You really won't move aside?" Huo Hai's expression changed. He charged at them a few times, but could not get out.

The two guards exchanged a glance, their expressions becoming even more bitter. These were the same two men who had gone out with Huo Hai to capture spirit beasts before, and now they had been assigned to watch him. "Young Master, please do not make things difficult for the two of us. If you leave today, the master will surely break our legs." Young Master Huo Hai was easy to talk to; they would not have dared speak this way to anyone else.

"You—you really won't move aside... Fine, then I'll move aside." Once Huo Hai confirmed that he could not get out, he immediately deflated and returned to the academy. At this point, the instructor had not yet arrived.

Some of the children in the academy gathered together to talk, while others flipped through books made of special leaves, reviewing what they had learned yesterday. Huo Hai had no desire to mingle with these children. He had already been over twenty in his previous life. In this life, this body was fourteen or fifteen, and he also had some memories.

All told, his mental age was probably already over thirty. How could he lower himself to sit with these little brats? With nowhere to vent his pent-up anger, Huo Hai began looking around.

Suddenly, inspiration flashed in Huo Hai's eyes. "Right, didn't I say I should start by doing small bad things? Then I'll use this as a trial run. This world probably doesn't have these tricks." A great many scenes of students pranking teachers suddenly surfaced in Huo Hai's mind. Many of those scenes had been learned from television, while others had come from computer books.

Thank television, thank those delinquent people, for teaching us so many ways to prank teachers. If I didn't recreate them in this world, wouldn't I be letting down my identity as a transmigrator? Huo Hai felt as though his whole body were about to burst into flames.

Once he thought of it, he acted. Under the gazes of all the children, Huo Hai began busily getting to work.