Enrollment

"It was the Northern family's child's turn. Her name was Huang Yu. If it was a girl, call her 'Toph.'"

"Towering cliffs and distant mountains like lotus flowers... What a fine name."

The little girl with clouded eyes spat disdainfully, rolled up her sleeves, and climbed onto the arena.

Dressed in a classically ornate white gauze gown, she pushed through the sand barefoot and walked up to the boy.

She tilted her head, her expression puzzled as she "looked" at this peer who was "exactly like" her.

"Oh, you're Toph too."

"You could understand it that way, but my parents hoped I would become a gentleman whose outward appearance matched his inner nature." The boy assumed a stance similar to Toph's.

Toph suddenly burst into laughter.

She possessed a wild arrogance, brazenness, and crudeness that the boy lacked.

"Sounds like too much trouble... Whatever! As long as I beat you, I'll still be the greatest Earthbending Master in the world!"

As her words fell, she took a bold step forward. The instant she raised her hand and threw a punch, the entire arena and the ground beneath it shattered. Dozens of tons of rock surged from the earth, and she kicked them toward the boy opposite her, whose Earthbending had failed—

A pitch-black shadow rapidly swallowed her vision. The stench of soil and the thunderous roar of trembling earth and stone engulfed her consciousness in an instant.

Wait, where was my Earthbending?

Fuck.

Li Lin shuddered all over and sat bolt upright, only to be quickly pressed back into his seat by Xia Mi beside him.

"Hey, did you have a nightmare?"

Xia Mi leaned close to Li Lin's ear and spoke in a low voice.

The vibrations of the plane descending from high altitude slightly distorted her words. Li Lin felt his head buzzing nonstop, unable to tell whether it was the instincts of a country bumpkin flying for the first time or because he had crashed headfirst into a small mountain in his dream.

"You could call it a nightmare."

Li Lin answered Xia Mi quietly.

After all, suddenly dreaming of a gender-swapped version of himself, only to be instantly defeated by her without any Earthbending, was an utterly terrible feeling.

Yet in the dream, Li Lin could clearly sense the active earth elements around him.

Perhaps his Earthbending had never vanished. After being reborn, he simply needed to learn how to control it in an entirely new way.

Then the concept of a "Word Spirit" suddenly surfaced in Li Lin's mind.

He had heard that many Word Spirits could generate domains, allowing their users to manipulate certain elements within those domains to some extent...

At that thought, he turned bright, intent eyes toward the beautiful girl beside him.

Whether I can awaken a powerful Word Spirit through the system depends entirely on your performance in next week's exam, Xia Mi!

Xia Mi grew a little embarrassed under Li Lin's blazing stare. She kept brushing at the ends of her hair and teased him with a hum, "You'd better have been having a nightmare."

As she said that, she lightly kicked Li Lin's calf.

"And don't you dare use me as material for your dreams!"

"Putting aside the fact that I didn't dream about you at all, even if I had, wouldn't I get to decide what you were like in that dream?"

"Ohoho... Now that we've left our high school classmates behind, on this plane bound for a foreign land, has Mr. Topasa L. L., Cassel College's future Executive Department ace, finally been unable to restrain his pervert instincts?"

As expected of the heroine famed throughout Zhongguancun, she could casually toss out dirty jokes like that without the slightest air of a delicate beauty.

Li Lin rubbed his aching ears and did not continue the topic. Joining Xia Mi in dirty jokes would only give the little girl an excuse to toy with him until he was utterly confused.

He opened the window shade and looked out at Chicago International Airport, which was gradually coming into view, imagining what Cassel College might be like.

Back in the preparatory class, he had often heard the teachers boast about the school's excellent environment, outstanding faculty, dragon-slaying experts everywhere, and alchemical equipment as common as stray dogs. Li Lin had long yearned for it. Before the plane even landed, his hand was already on the seatbelt, itching to get off.

After failing several times to tease Li Lin, Xia Mi gave up in frustration. She dug the copy of the "Enrollment Guide" out of her little backpack and found a phone number at the very end.

"Contact Professor Manstein after arrival. He will meet you at the airport and safely take you to Cassel College—Your college secretary, Norma."

Xia Mi read the printed note beside the number aloud, then nudged Li Lin with her elbow.

"Hey, Little Li, the plane's about to land. Ready to come cling to powerful legs with me?"

"Yesterday I was still Lord Li, and today I'm Little Li. So I'm supposed to abandon my family fortune and go serve as a eunuch beside the emperor?"

"What if the emperor is Wu Zetian? With that face of yours, you might not even need to castrate yourself. You could directly become Her Majesty the Queen's personal male favorite."

"There was only one Wu Zetian in history, and she was already sixty-seven when she became emperor." Listening to the flight attendant's announcement, Li Lin unfastened his seatbelt, pretended not to know Xia Mi, and got up to leave.

"Not every famous Little Li was a eunuch. There's Leonardo DiCaprio too."

One sentence from Xia Mi pulled Li Lin back again. In the end, he was softhearted. On second thought, leaving the little girl all alone on the passenger plane did seem rather pitiful.

He took the initiative to help his childhood sweetheart carry her suitcase.

With a Mixed-Blood's physical abilities, Xia Mi did not need anyone to help carry her luggage. She was simply calling Professor Manstein and had no free hand at the moment.

The two passed through immigration together and stood beneath the blazing sun at the waiting area outside the airport.

"Where's the professor?"

Xia Mi was the first to give in. She ran behind Li Lin, squatted down, and hid in his shadow.

Li Lin also took out his phone, preparing to call Professor Manstein. At that moment, he saw a bright, round gleam flash across the cypress-lined road ahead, dazzling enough to make it hard to keep his eyes open.

Professor Manstein, dressed in a suit and leather shoes, hurried over to Li Lin and Xia Mi. He took the initiative to shake hands with the two preparatory-class students.

"Sorry I'm a little late. Today is freshman enrollment day, and this year brought quite a few troublesome young people. I've been swamped in the Disciplinary Committee."

The professor spoke precise Mandarin. Everyone at Cassel College spoke Mandarin.

After exchanging greetings, Professor Manstein briskly walked ahead to lead the way.

"Why didn't you leave the work of receiving freshmen to the upperclassmen? We came from the preparatory class, so we probably don't need a special introduction to the history of the dragon world, right?" Li Lin followed closely behind, carrying Xia Mi's suitcase.

Hearing Li Lin's question, Professor Manstein adjusted his tie. The World Tree school emblem on his collar was particularly conspicuous.

"Your upperclassmen have no time to leave campus. Every club in the school has been preparing for recruitment these past few days. Besides, your arrival timing is particularly inconvenient. School rules require freshmen to complete all enrollment procedures before entering the academy. Whether it's signing documents or reviewing contracts, I need to be present to supervise."

"Oh, and from now on, I'm your mentor. I'm also the director in charge of the school's Disciplinary Committee. You're still young, after all. If you encounter any difficulties with your studies or daily life at school, you can come talk to me."