Tang Wulin sighed, walked briskly over to Xu Qing, and said sincerely, "Xu Qing, thank you for speaking up for me today."
Xu Qing waved a hand, his expression calm. "It was nothing."
After that, they parted at the dormitory entrance and headed toward their respective rooms.
Xu Qing soon returned to his dorm room. He pushed open the door to Room 101, but it was still empty.
Where was everyone?
Had they not arrived yet?
A little puzzled, he turned and walked to the dormitory entrance, then asked the middle-aged dorm supervisor, "Sir, may I ask why I'm still the only person in Room 101?"
The supervisor flipped through the registration records and replied, "Well, room assignments are random. Your luck wasn't very good, though. You're currently the only person assigned to that room."
Just me?
All right!
Being on my own was pretty nice, too.
After all, he went to Parallel Earth every day.
After thanking him, Xu Qing returned to his room and tidied and rearranged it a little, making the whole room somewhat more comfortable.
Afterward, Xu Qing found Gu Yuena, and they went to the intermediate division's student cafeteria together.
The intermediate division's student cafeteria occupied a small building beside the main teaching building. It had three floors and primarily served students from all six years of the intermediate division.
The younger students in the first and second years ate on the first floor.
However, one thing Xu Qing felt like complaining about was that the cafeteria only had dining tables, without any chairs.
It was exactly the same setup as Shrek Academy.
They wouldn't even let people eat a meal in comfort.
The cafeteria had three serving counters: Meal A, Meal B, and Meal C.
Meal C was completely free, Meal B required partial payment, and Meal A had to be paid for in full.
Of course, the food offered at the three tiers also differed greatly. Meal A was the best, followed by Meal B, while Meal C offered cheap steamed buns.
After Xu Qing and Gu Yuena arrived, they each got a serving of Meal A and began eating. Xu Qing had originally wanted Meal C, since there was plenty to fill him up, but Gu Yuena dragged him over to the Meal A counter.
In the end, Gu Yuena paid. There was no helping it; ever since she had made contact with Di Tian and the others, she basically hadn't lacked money.
Under everyone's dumbfounded gazes, Xu Qing and Gu Yuena finished their lunch.
There was no helping it. After his bloodline awakened, Xu Qing's appetite had grown as well.
It would have been one thing if Xu Qing alone ate a lot, but there was also a female dragon beside him.
Between the two of them, they ended up eating quite a lot. Still, with steamed buns to fall back on, Xu Qing wasn't worried about not having enough to eat.
After eating and drinking their fill, Xu Qing greeted Tang Wulin, who was making a bet with Zhou Changxi, then left with Gu Yuena.
That afternoon, Xu Qing was waiting in boredom at the academy gates when, before long, a figure came running out of the academy.
"Sorry for the wait."
It was none other than Tang Wulin, who spoke with an apologetic expression.
"It's fine! Let's go!"
Xu Qing said with a smile.
Their first destination was the alchemy... no, that was wrong. Once more: it was the Blacksmith Association.
Of course, before the two of them came to Eastsea City, Mang Tian had also given them the address of his workshop there.
It would make practicing convenient for them.
He had also instructed them beforehand to join the Blacksmith Association. After all, neither of their families was well-off. Once they joined the association, they could earn money while learning to cover their future expenses.
Since neither knew where it was, Xu Qing hailed a soul-powered "DiDi."
Tang Wulin had initially wanted to refuse, but since Xu Qing generously offered to pay, he didn't.
Soon, a soul-powered taxi pulled smoothly to a stop in front of them.
They opened the doors and sat in the back seat.
Xu Qing looked at the middle-aged man in the driver's seat and said, "Sir, the Blacksmith Association, please."
The driver nodded without answering.
Tang Wulin shut the door, and the car drove smoothly toward their destination.
Xu Qing was looking around the car's interior when he suddenly caught sight of the soul-powered screen in front of the driver out of the corner of his eye. He tilted his head slightly for a glance, and the corners of his mouth immediately twitched involuntarily.
Seriously, was he that desperately horny?
He quietly reminded him, "Sir, watching this while driving isn't very appropriate, is it?"
Curious, Tang Wulin followed Xu Qing's gaze. The instant he saw what was on the screen, his cheeks flushed, and he hurriedly shut his eyes in embarrassment.
"Kids, it's not what you think! This... this is just my home's soul-powered surveillance feed." The driver slowly pulled over to the roadside and hastily explained.
Xu Qing was stunned. This guy seemed to have it pretty rough~
He gave a dry cough and began, "Sir, if you want to get by in life..." He stopped himself midway through.
The driver wiped his face, switched off the surveillance feed, composed himself, and started the car again.
The atmosphere in the car remained quiet and awkward throughout the journey. Tang Wulin kept his head lowered, not daring to spare the soul-powered screen up front another glance.
Soon, the car stopped outside the Blacksmith Association. The two got out, doing their best not to think about the driver's situation.
Once they had composed themselves, they looked toward the building in the distance.
The building was about thirty stories tall and gray all over, with an enormous hammer emblem at the very top.
Pretty easy to recognize. That was Xu Qing's first impression of the building.
After looking it over briefly, the two walked through the glass entrance together.
As soon as they entered the lobby, a glass wall ten meters tall, bearing a relief of an enormous golden hammer at least eight meters high,
appeared before them.
The two young women in gray business attire at the reception desk soon noticed the two children entering.
The eyes of one sweet-looking young woman lit up slightly.
What adorable children!
After marveling inwardly, she asked curiously, "Little brothers, can I help you with something?"
The gleam in her eyes felt rather strange to Xu Qing, but he still said, "B-big sister, hello. We're here to see Grandmaster Cen Yue for a blacksmith rank assessment."
"Grandmaster Cen?!"
The smile immediately faded from her face.
Beside her, the other young woman, who had a shapely figure, stepped in to smooth things over. "Little brothers, please wait a moment. I'll check whether Grandmaster Cen Yue has time right now. By the way, did you contact Grandmaster Cen beforehand?"
Xu Qing replied, "Our teacher is Mang Tian. He contacted Grandmaster Cen earlier. You can ask him."
Hearing this, the young woman nodded, her expression turning a little more serious. She immediately picked up the Communication Soul Tool and dialed Grandmaster Cen Yue.
"Hello, Grandmaster Cen. There are two children downstairs here to see you. They say their teacher is Mang Tian and that he spoke to you in advance."
Whatever the reply from the other end was, the young woman repeatedly voiced her assent. A moment later, she ended the call, turned to Xu Qing and Tang Wulin, and said with a gentle smile:
"All right, Grandmaster Cen knows you're here. He asked me to take you upstairs now."