Word Spirit

"The exam is over. Good thing I was here to save your paper in time."

Angers caressed the ten sheets of white paper covered in draconic script as if they were priceless treasures. Beside him, Manstein belatedly realized that Li Lin had answered every single question, and his eyes filled with admiration and surprise.

"How did I do, Principal?"

"There were originally only eight questions. We added two more specifically for you and Xia Mi. You nearly used up every recorded 'Emperor' fragment the school had."

Angers smiled. "You answered all of them. If every answer is correct, then congratulations—you'll become the only S-Rank student currently enrolled at the school."

Hearing that, Li Lin looked at the wrecked projection room, where damaged tables and chairs lay everywhere. He realized that he had fallen into a Spirit Vision just now.

A Spirit Vision was like a dream. Once he woke up, all that remained was a hazy, indistinct impression, like looking at flowers through fog.

Manstein noticed Li Lin's gaze and was deeply moved. After all these years, Cassel College finally had a freshman who knew to cherish public campus property before the Disciplinary Committee could issue a penalty notice.

He showed concern at just the right moment. "Are you worried about these chairs? Don't worry. The damage was caused during your Spirit Vision, so the school won't make you pay for it."

In truth, Li Lin was judging from the extent of the damage in the projection room what kind of Word Spirit he had awakened. He had heard that students who awakened their bloodline during the 3E Exam would feel an irresistible urge to "confide" in others, but he felt no such impulse. Instead, every movement he made let him sense earth elements flowing along the surface of his body.

Caught off guard by the professor's words, Li Lin could only go along with the topic and thank him.

Angers patted Li Lin on the shoulder, draped an arm around the school's newest S-Rank student, and led him out of the projection room. Then he signaled for Manstein to take Li Lin and Xia Mi away.

"Your performance today exceeded my expectations. The Information Department has already begun analyzing the exam footage. In about an hour, they should be able to identify the corresponding Word Spirit from the draconic language you recited. Remember to extinguish your Golden Eyes before you leave."

The principal reminded them from behind.

Li Lin did as he was told. Once Dragon Blood began flowing through his body, igniting or extinguishing his Golden Eyes was as easy as fastening a collar button.

But when Li Lin saw Xia Mi standing so close by, he immediately realized a crucial problem.

Since the Dragon-Slaying Binding System had synchronized Xia Mi's reaction to the "Emperor" and then purified Li Lin's bloodline to a degree comparable to Astartes surgery—

Then it stood to reason that Xia Mi's bloodline rank after the exam should also have been S-Rank.

Yet Angers had explicitly said that only Li Lin had answered all ten questions.

The moment that thought surfaced, Li Lin quickened his pace and left the teaching building.

He caught up with Xia Mi. Just as he was about to ask about her exam results, he met her incomparably complicated gaze—confusion, surprise, and unwillingness all mixed together.

"Li Lin? What is it?"

The young girl's voice was so soft that it resembled the faint, thin whimper of a cat badly frightened.

"Did I almost hurt you after entering the Spirit Vision?"

Li Lin noticed Xia Mi's strange reaction.

"Hmph?" Xia Mi habitually wanted to snort disdainfully, but she really did seem to have been frightened. Her tone rose halfway before turning dejected.

"Not really. Don't apologize to me. It's not like you scared me."

Xia Mi spoke quietly, but her eyes remained fixed on Li Lin's face, as though she wanted to see through his flesh and determine what sort of monster lay hidden beneath it.

After considering it for a moment, Li Lin asked, "Then did you mess up the exam?"

"I wouldn't call it messing up..." Xia Mi could tell that Li Lin was deliberately avoiding the matter, so she tried hard to steady herself. "I answered eight questions. That definitely gets me an A-Rank."

"You really didn't answer all ten?"

"No."

Li Lin did not think too deeply about it. After all, he had yet to truly figure out where this system had come from.

Considering that Xia Mi was in a somewhat bad mood, Li Lin could only go chat with Professor Manstein nearby.

Manstein was extremely excited at the moment, holding his phone as he shared the good news with his old friends.

After all, of the two preparatory students under his care, one had become the only currently enrolled S-Rank student in the entire school, while the other was among the rare few A-Ranks on campus. Both also possessed considerable combat experience.

But before Li Lin had taken more than two steps, Xia Mi attacked from behind without warning and forcefully shoved his shoulder.

"Where are you going?"

"Uh... to chat with the professor."

"Aren't we still going to the Student Union banquet? We can't go dressed in school uniforms. Come on, I'll take you to pick out a suit."

Xia Mi had somehow already returned to her usual playful, smiling self. She pushed Li Lin away from Manstein.

To attend a banquet, one needed proper formal attire, as well as a female companion who could hold her own.

To be honest, this was Li Lin's first time seeing Xia Mi in formal dress.

When Xia Mi boldly called herself "beautiful enough to shame demons," she had not been exaggerating.

When she walked out of the clothing store, even the saleswoman stared in stunned silence.

The elegant long dress outlined the girl's delicate, graceful figure. Its skirt was pale in color, like the first ray of morning light falling upon a lake in spring—soft, restrained, and perfectly balanced.

She held up her skirt and sat beside Li Lin. With only a slight turn of his head, he could see Xia Mi's bare, slender, gentle shoulder and neck. Her collarbones dipped lightly inward, as if moonlight had fallen there and lingered, unwilling to leave.

Her dark coffee-colored hair had been lightly pinned up, with only two curled strands hanging before her chest, further highlighting her flawless face, still touched with a hint of youthful innocence.

She wore no unnecessary jewelry, yet she radiated a charm worthy of being called "a calamity to nations and their people."

Even Li Lin, who claimed to have maxed out his resistance to Xia Mi's allure, could not help looking at her for a while longer. Then he swiftly noticed the dress's sole flaw—

"Why did you pad so much? It looks kind of strange."

At that, Xia Mi instantly bristled. She reached out and messed up Li Lin's hair, which the stylist had plastered full of mousse, then ran off to wash her hands.

"Obviously! How could we possibly have time to order a custom-fitted gown? I just picked a dress that was barely the right size!"

Xia Mi had originally possessed a slim figure where she could see her toes just by lowering her head. After an emergency stuffing of sponge and cotton, she now had a false front armor.

Li Lin sat on the sofa and bickered with Xia Mi for a while before his phone suddenly rang.

He immediately abandoned Xia Mi, pulled out his phone, and looked through the Word Spirit information sent by the Information Department.

[This Word Spirit possesses special properties. Like No. 80, "Iron Flow," it belongs to the Bloodline Origin of the King of Earth and Mountains. It is said that within a domain created by a First-Generation Species, "Iron Flow" can control all metal elements within its range, using them to attack or construct, or extracting the metal elements from a target's body and depriving it of the energy needed to sustain life.]

[Word Spirit Name: Rock Flow. Discoverer: Chimaki Saishai.]

["Before Sasaki Kojiro used that sword to cut down a flying swallow, there had once been someone capable of using a blade to imitate the weight of mountain ranges."]

["Rock Flow" can activate earth elements within its domain and alter their direction of flow, changing the shape of rocks or controlling them to attack.]

[Executive Department Message: Upon receiving this notice, please report to the Executive Department for a Word Spirit test before the end of this weekend.]