"It doesn't matter. For now, at least, I'm still interested in Cassell College's purpose-slaying dragons." He closed his eyes and continued meditating.
Fingel shrugged it off. "Come on. Once you graduate from our school, there's nothing else you can do anyway."
"What about you?"
"Huh?" Fingel was baffled.
Lu Mingfei repeated himself. "You've stayed here for eight years. Why?"
"Me? I failed my classes. If I could graduate, I'd head straight to the Cuba Branch. The girls there have long legs and big boobs," Fingel said breezily.
"Failed your classes? You used to be an A-rank star student." Lu Mingfei opened his eyes again and gripped the sword hilt beside his pillow.
The Red Sky Sword, a gift from Nono's friend, had cleared customs through Cassell College's shipping procedures and arrived by helicopter that evening.
After learning a little about dragons, Lu Mingfei had already guessed that it was an alchemical blade.
"I told you, that was ages ago," Fingel muttered.
Then his expression suddenly changed. A faint clink reached his ears, followed by a barely audible rush through the darkness, as though a razor-thin line were slicing through the air.
It wasn't his imagination!
Fingel's hair stood on end, his scalp prickling. He sprang nimbly upright, relying on his keen instincts to evade the invisible blade in the darkness, and landed on one knee at the foot of his bed. At the same time, he caught sight of his attacker.
Faint moonlight filtered through the window, barely illuminating the room.
Lu Mingfei had leaped from his bed, holding the sword in a reverse grip with one hand and slashing as though he were wielding a dagger.
His movements were eerily light and swift. The leap and the sound of his sword came almost simultaneously, and he made no unnecessary movements, keeping the noise to a minimum.
"Hey, junior!" Fingel truly hadn't expected Lu Mingfei to act so decisively and hastily called out.
He was beginning to wonder whether the owner of those eyes he had seen on the train that day had possessed Lu Mingfei.
Lu Mingfei slowly straightened and put away the Red Sky Sword.
"There's one important point: your bloodline doesn't deteriorate. So even if you're a loser, you couldn't have become one by wasting away like this." His tone was level, as though the man who had launched that vicious attack had vanished, leaving only a roommate chatting late into the night.
"That was your reason? If I hadn't dodged, wouldn't I have become a real loser who died for nothing?" Fingel stared at him.
"I trust you." Lu Mingfei shook his head.
He really did trust Fingel. He had ever since Fingel faced his Golden Eyes on the train.
Back then, Fingel had acted like a coward, but his physical reactions, gaze, and speech had held up far better than Ye Sheng's or Aki Shutoku's.
Years ago, Fingel had not merely been A-rank. He had been anything but an ordinary A-rank.
"All right, all right, I'll tell you the truth." Fingel pressed one fist to his chest and raised his other hand as if swearing an oath. "I've been repeating years for my girlfriend."
Lu Mingfei blinked, feeling a little awkward.
He had assumed this senior he had picked up would give some unusual reason-revenge, perhaps, or some special training he needed to complete as a warrior.
If that had been the case, Lu Mingfei would have been willing to help.
But love...
Unfortunately, the Elden Lord sat alone upon his throne.
"I believe you," Lu Mingfei said earnestly, then climbed silently back into bed.
"You're not going to ask anything else?" Fingel watched him suspiciously, afraid he might use his senior to test his blade at the slightest disagreement.
"If you're still lying to me after all that, then forget it."
Lu Mingfei sighed.
"Junior, why do I get the feeling you've got a story?" Seeing that Lu Mingfei had calmed down, Fingel immediately perked up, scenting gossip.
Lu Mingfei lay on the soft bed, his thoughts as still as water.
"I'm going to sleep."
"Damn it, now I won't be able to sleep!" Fingel scratched his messy hair.
Chapter 16: Flame
Lu Mingfei's 3E Exam was scheduled on the second basement level, in what looked like a laboratory. Most of the equipment had been removed, leaving only a desk in the center of the room. Cold incandescent light filled every corner.
At the entrance stood Pazzi, whom he had met before, and two unfamiliar men: a burly bald man and a man with a ravaged face pushing an oxygen cylinder.
Following the bald man's directions, Lu Mingfei sat down and looked at the blank paper and pencil on the desk.
The bald man wore a stern expression and spoke with brisk formality. "I'm Manstein, your proctor for this exam. Don't attempt to cheat. We have well-established measures to prevent it!"
Perhaps realizing that Lu Mingfei was his only audience, he said no more and left the room. The heavy iron door slowly closed with a sound like a hydraulic press.
With a heavy bang, the door sealed, leaving Lu Mingfei alone in the empty room.
Lu Mingfei recalled what Fingel had explained over the past two days. The 3E Exam was abbreviated EEE, short for Extraction Evaluation Exam, a bloodline assessment. Its main purpose was to evaluate students' draconic bloodlines. Those with dragon blood resonated with Dragon Script, producing an effect called "spirit vision," in which draconic characters naturally appeared in their minds. This ability was extremely important to them. Those with dragon blood possessed supernatural abilities called Word Spirits. Within their "domain," words they spoke in Dragon Script became a kind of rule. Language was therefore the tool dragons used to exercise their powers. Students who lacked sensitivity to Dragon Script usually had inadequate abilities and would be downgraded after the 3E Exam. Those who performed too poorly were ordered to withdraw.
Upon entering the exam room, candidates received only a blank sheet of paper and a pencil, with no instructions. The college played recordings of chanted Dragon Script mixed into loud music. For those with dragon blood, the script resonated with their minds, producing spirit vision. Dragon Script was pictographic, and Hybrids would usually "see" incredible scenes.
Lu Mingfei picked up the pencil. The speaker mounted in a corner of the room had already begun playing pounding rock music.
Outside, the three men stood silently in the laboratory's narrow corridor.
"This laboratory was used by the Equipment Department to research biological bombs. Miniaturized Refined Sulfur Bombs were attached to inconspicuous creatures such as cockroaches. The cockroaches' heads and brains had all been removed through precision surgery, and equally precise electrode control systems were connected to their remaining nervous systems. By simulating biological signals, we could direct them into cracks inaccessible to humans and carry out assassinations or surprise attacks." Manstein broke the silence first, explaining the room's original purpose.
"Unfortunately, we couldn't solve the problems of miniaturizing the refined bombs or supplying the little cockroaches' biological energy needs," the man beside him added. He was Professor Schneider, head of Cassell College's Executive Department.
If Cassell College's students were dragon slayers in the making, the Executive Department was a blade already honed for killing dragons. Schneider was the swordsman whose hand held its hilt.
He and Manstein both belonged to Cassell College and stood in subtle opposition to Pazzi.
Their attention was focused both on the readings transmitted by several sensors inside the room and on the silver briefcase in Pazzi's hand.
But the secretary who answered directly to the Board of Trustees showed no interest in joining the conversation. His one visible ice-blue eye seemed truly frozen.
Lu Mingfei listened closely. Sure enough, beneath the pounding music, someone seemed to be chanting softly-something like a curse, yet also like a hymn.
He picked up the pencil and closed his eyes, trying to resonate with that low voice, but felt nothing.
Could I really not be an ordinary Hybrid? He felt none of what Fingel had described-the sensation of being summoned by a mighty sovereign.
Maybe I really would have to consider knocking out those men outside, raiding the library for information, and making a run for it. Over the past two days, he had tried entering the library, only to be turned away because he had no student ID.
As his thoughts wandered, an endless wind suddenly blew toward him from far away, carrying a crackling sound.
"Brother, time to wake up." Lu Mingze's voice broke the surface like a stone striking water, drowning out everything. The rock music, whispers, and wind all faded beneath it.
Lu Mingfei's eyes snapped open, and his breath caught.
He stood in a place he knew all too well. The searing heat in each breath rushed into his mouth and nose, stinging his windpipe and lungs.
His mind reeled.
An enormous stone cauldron seemed to stand at the very summit of the heavens. Above it, clouds glowed burning red; below lay impenetrable mist. Around the cauldron, iron chains broad enough for four or five people to walk abreast were anchored to its sides. Their other ends extended down into the depths of the mist, vanishing at the limits of sight like roads through the sky.
"Brother, is this the place that left the deepest impression on you?" Lu Mingze stood beside him.
Whether this place was a spirit vision or a dream Lu Mingze had created no longer mattered.
An old story had finally stirred from its ashes. Everything Lu Mingfei had refused to remember had caught up with him from those distant snows, like a vengeful ghost crawling out of an old friend's grave.
Without speaking, he slowly took a few steps forward and sat cross-legged at the cauldron's edge. From this angle, he could see inside, where red flames burned like a turbulent ocean.
This was the Giant's Flame, powerful enough to threaten the Erdtree, burning without pause since the war of those mythic tales.
"Brother..."
"I really need some quiet right now."
Lu Mingfei pressed an index finger to his lips and frowned at Lu Mingze. Firelight danced red across one half of his face, while the other lay hidden in shadow. Something burned in his eyes.
It wasn't his Golden Eyes. Perhaps it was the reflected firelight, or perhaps it was his soul.
Lu Mingze felt the tsunami of emotion surging from this somewhat unfamiliar brother. Like an obedient child who had been reprimanded, he walked over and sat beside him.
Two tiny figures sat close together at the edge of the enormous flaming cauldron, listening to the fire burn.
Beyond that, there was only the endless wind. It blew down from the red clouds, warm and smelling of smoke, then swept toward the depths of the mist where the chains disappeared.
An unknown stretch of time passed before Lu Mingfei's emotions settled. He knew he was still sitting in that cold room. What lay before him was merely a fragment drawn from his memories.
No matter how real the dream feels, I've dwelled on the past long enough.
"Lu Mingze, what did you mean when you said last time that you'd trust me for once?" Lu Mingfei looked at Lu Mingze, who sat beside him on the cauldron's edge, swinging his legs like a truly carefree child.
"Brother, you were the one who called me here this time, too." Lu Mingze narrowed his eyes, watching the flames inside the cauldron. "This is your spirit vision. I'm deeply honored to appear in the spirit vision of the brother you are now."
Lu Mingfei felt helpless. The boy seemed incapable of understanding plain speech and never answered anyone's questions.
"How do I wake up? Aren't I supposed to draw Dragon Script during a spirit vision? Am I asleep in the real world?" He stood and frowned, asking more concrete questions.
"That stuff doesn't matter. I'll write it for you. I guarantee you won't lose your S-rank title." Lu Mingze's mention of S-rank seemed tinged with disdain and mockery. "Don't be in such a hurry, brother. It's not often I get to peek into your heart."
My heart? Lu Mingfei tilted his head back and gazed at the thick clouds filling the sky. He didn't think his heart was worth peering into. He was an imperfect king, whose road to the throne had held no glory, only death and tragedy.
"Brother, do you think you can change everything?" Lu Mingze spoke again, his voice quiet and distant. "Fire represents anger and destruction. Someone with a heart like this must want to change something."
Change something?
Lu Mingfei frowned.
He did want to change something. But before, he had been bound by the Golden Order. Though a god, he had also been a prisoner, powerless to do anything. Now that he had returned to this world, he had yet to understand his situation. If there was something he wanted to change, a figure flashed through his mind...
"Tell me, why would someone willingly accept a fate of destruction? Why regard destiny as a divine gift that even a king is powerless to defy?"
He sighed softly in sorrow.
Lu Mingze's eyes widened slightly.
The clouds parted with the king's anger, revealing the colossal presence above them-a golden tree that seemed to blot out the sky over the entire world, the symbol of a god's will. Red flames were consuming it, and endless ashes and sparks drifted down like snowflakes.
Lu Mingze couldn't help marveling. "So this is your world, brother? I've finally seen it."
Lu Mingfei stared upward for a long time, then exhaled deeply, as though releasing the turbulent tide of his thoughts. Then he shoved Lu Mingze, who looked thoroughly pleased with himself, into the Giant's Cauldron. Watching the figure plummet, he said flatly, "Time for this dream to end."
The boy had come purely to pry. From beginning to end, he hadn't answered a single question.
As Lu Mingze fell, an unrestrained smile spread across his face.