Working-Student Status

"All right."

Lu Yuan's answer was soft, falling into the dim yellow glow of the oil lamp.

Shen Moxin's eyes widened slightly behind her glasses, and she nodded. Without another word, she pulled a few yellowed forms from beneath the table and filled them out with a stub of charcoal, the tip scratching across the paper. "A working-student application needs a guarantor. I'll sign it. Tomorrow morning, go to the Working-Student Management Office on the east side of the academy. Bring this, along with your Spirit Hall awakening certificate."

She pushed a note bearing her personal seal across the table.

Lu Yuan took it, folded it, and tucked it close to his body.

"Life isn't easy for working students." Shen Moxin finished the last line and looked up at him, her voice even. "There are lots of chores, and your time gets broken up. The regular students look down on you, and some instructors can't be bothered with you either. But at least you'll be able to stay in Nuoding City, attend the large lectures, and enter the most basic library."

She paused.

"And there's this place, too."

Lu Yuan grunted in acknowledgment.

There was nothing to hesitate over. This was the only ladder he could grab hold of right now.

Early the next morning, on the east side of Nuoding Academy.

Several rows of low, gray-tiled buildings were crowded together, with a wooden sign reading "Working-Student Management Office" hanging by the entrance. The lettering was blurred. A musty smell hung in the air.

The line was short: seven or eight youngsters in patched coarse-cloth clothes, their faces sallow and thin. Occasionally, a youth in a smart academy uniform passed along the main road beside them, casting a glance their way with undisguised contempt.

Lu Yuan took his place at the back.

The man in charge was a gaunt middle-aged man with drooping eyelids and black dirt packed beneath his fingernails. He leafed slowly through Lu Yuan's certificate and Shen Moxin's note.

"Blue Silver Grass," he read aloud, the corners of his mouth turning down. "Innate level half."

He hadn't spoken loudly, but the children in line all heard him. Someone gave a low snicker.

The man tossed the certificate back. "Assistant Shen's guaranteeing you? Fine. Room C, bed by the window-the wind comes through there, so put up with it yourself in winter." He tossed over a rough wooden tag. "C8. The daily chores are posted at the warehouse entrance. Check them yourself. Miss the time and you deserve to go hungry. The working-student allowance is paid at the end of each month: ten Copper Soul Coins."

With that, he waved him away.

Lu Yuan picked up the wooden tag and turned to leave.

Room C was tucked away in the farthest corner, low and gloomy. When he pushed open the door, the smell of sweat and damp rushed at him. Eight wooden plank beds were crammed into the room, their bedding dingy and gray. The paper covering the window beside his bed had several holes, and the cold wind whistled through them.

The bed by the door was already occupied by a short, plump boy, who was clumsily making it. He started when he saw Lu Yuan enter, then gave an awkward smile.

"H-hello. My name's Wang Shuo. My Martial Soul is a wooden stick." He scratched his head. "Are you new too?"

"Lu Yuan. Blue Silver Grass."

Wang Shuo said, "Oh." There was no real contempt in his eyes; if anything, he seemed to feel they were in the same boat. "Blue Silver Grass... I-I heard it's not easy to cultivate. But it's fine. We're working students. It's good enough that we can stay."

He was talkative, chattering on about which village he came from. Lu Yuan listened quietly as he deftly made his bed. The bedding was damp, so he discreetly circulated a trace of Soul Power, warming his palms slightly as he slowly dried it.

Wang Shuo didn't notice and kept talking. "...I'm going to the kitchen this afternoon. I heard we have to peel two hundred potatoes. I'm clumsy with my hands..."

Once the bed was made, Lu Yuan took his homemade notebook from his bundle, opened it, and wrote on a blank page: Working-Student Management Office, Room C, daily chores, monthly allowance of ten Copper Soul Coins. Damp environment; take care to protect belongings from mold.

His pen paused, then added another line in small writing beside it: Wang Shuo, wooden stick Martial Soul, level-two Soul Power, honest and straightforward.

He closed the notebook and looked out the window.

Beyond the low wall, the bell tower on the main campus sounded a long, lingering chime. The morning classes had begun.

The working students' open lecture was held in the evening, when the sky was not yet dark.

The class took place in an old auditorium at the edge of the main campus. The desks and chairs were dilapidated, and dust covered the floor. Twenty or thirty working students had come, sitting scattered about, most with exhaustion written across their faces.

The lecturer was a gaunt old man in his fifties, surnamed Wu, dressed in a well-worn academy robe. Standing at the lectern, he opened a thick book with curled corners.

"Today's topic is the third key point of the Basic Meditation Method: the heavenly-cycle path for guiding Soul Power." His voice was dry. "Make sure you all remember it. Soul Power starts from the dantian, ascends along the governing vessel, passes through Baihui, descends along the conception vessel, and returns to the dantian. This is the Lesser Heavenly Cycle. Run it nine times, and you can feel a slight increase in Soul Power."

He picked up a piece of chalk, drew a crooked line on the blackboard, and marked the names of several acupoints.

Some working students strained to keep their eyes wide open, secretly tracing the path with their fingers on their desks. More of them looked lost.

Lu Yuan sat in a corner of the back row and opened his notebook.

Holding the page down with his left hand and a pen in his right, he recorded the "standard" heavenly-cycle path word for word as Lecturer Wu described it. His handwriting was neat.

But anyone who looked closely would have found a line of even smaller, nearly illegible annotations at the edge of each entry.

"Ascending the governing vessel, passing through Baihui-Soul Power rises too quickly here, easily causing the mind to scatter. A brief nourishment point should be added at the 'Niwan Palace.'"

"Descending the conception vessel, returning to the dantian-the circuit is direct, but energy loss is approximately fifteen percent. Adding a secondary Soul Power vortex at the 'Shanzhong acupoint' could recover some of the dissipated Soul Power."

"Run it nine times-an inflexible number. Using the 'sensation of Soul Power circulation reaching saturation' as the stopping signal would be better."

He wrote swiftly.

Lecturer Wu was still reading straight from the book. "...Remember, the path must not be changed. This is the optimal route established by countless predecessors. Alter it without authorization, and at best your Soul Power will fall into disorder; at worst, your meridians will be damaged."

Lu Yuan's pen paused, then lightly drew a thin line beneath the words "optimal route."

In his mind, the complex Soul Power models from his previous life churned silently. They collided with the crude, rigid "standard path" before him, but struck no sparks, leaving only a quiet sense of absurdity.

This was monopolized knowledge.

He lowered his eyes and continued recording, continued annotating.

The class dragged on. After finishing the heavenly-cycle path, Lecturer Wu began discussing "resonance between Soul Power and Martial Souls," a topic he treated in even vaguer terms. The working students began to yawn.

Lu Yuan sat up straight throughout.

He wasn't just taking notes; he was listening and observing. He listened for gaps in Lecturer Wu's words and observed the working students' bewildered yet eager gazes.

Occasionally, he raised his eyes toward the lectern.

Lecturer Wu seemed to notice his gaze. Once, while discussing a "case of a Beast Martial Soul's Soul Power running wild," he glanced toward the back row and met Lu Yuan's eyes.

The child's eyes were too calm.

Unlike the other working students, who were drowsy or bewildered, he seemed to be... scrutinizing him?

The faintest trace of discomfort passed through Lecturer Wu. He looked away and continued reading.

Lu Yuan lowered his head and added another annotation to his notebook: "The 'rampage' symptoms described in the case match the early signs of an energy backlash caused by conflicting Soul Power attributes. The lecturer attributes them to 'weak willpower'-an error."

When he finished, he closed the notebook.

The class came to an end.

The working students filed out as if granted a great pardon, dragging their tired bodies along. Wang Shuo came over and asked quietly, "Lu Yuan, d-did you understand all of it? I think I got that heavenly-cycle path mixed up..."

Lu Yuan handed him the notebook. "I copied it down. You can look at it."

Wang Shuo took it and flipped through it. His eyes lit up at the sight of the neat, clear notes. "That's great! Thanks!" He smiled in his good-natured way, failing to notice the small writing in the margins.

The two joined the stream of people leaving the auditorium. It was dark now, and the academy's Soul Guidance Lamps had been lit. Their light was soft, but it illuminated only the main road. The corner where the working students lived remained shrouded in gloom.

Wang Shuo held the notebook, reading as he walked. Near the warehouse, he suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right, they paid the allowance today! I almost forgot! I'll go get it. You head back to the dorm first."

With that, he turned and ran toward a small window on the side of the warehouse.

Lu Yuan nodded and continued toward Room C. After a few steps, he paused slightly.

From the open space behind the warehouse, piled high with discarded odds and ends, came the faint sound of voices berating someone in low tones.

"...I-I really only have this much..."

"Ten Copper Soul Coins? Who are you fooling? Didn't they just pay the working-student allowance? Hand it over!"

"Th-this is my food money for the month..."

"Food money? Missing a few meals won't kill you! We're a little short today, so we'll borrow it!"

The voices grew louder, mingled with the muffled sounds of shoving.

Lu Yuan stopped in the shadow of the corner.

He looked over. At the foot of the warehouse's rear wall, three youths in regular student uniforms had surrounded Wang Shuo. Their leader was tall and freckled, and he had Wang Shuo by the collar.

Wang Shuo staggered as they shoved him, clutching a small cloth pouch so tightly that his fingers had gone white. His face was full of terror.

The freckled youth lost patience and reached for the pouch.

"You refused the toast, so now you'll drink the forfeit!"

Wang Shuo clung to it, whimpering like a cornered animal.

Lu Yuan watched, his fingers curling involuntarily.

Wind blew over the low wall, carrying the faint aroma of food and the sound of laughter from the main campus. Behind the warehouse, there was only labored breathing and the bullies' vicious laughter.

He stood in the shadows without moving.

Several options flashed through his mind: turn around and leave, pretending he hadn't seen anything. Or find the man in charge? But by the time he found him, Wang Shuo's allowance would be long gone.

Or...

His gaze fell on the pile of discarded odds and ends in the corner: a few rusty iron rods, half a torn burlap sack, and a pile of dead vines covered in stiff bristles.

The freckled youth had already snatched the pouch and was weighing it triumphantly in his hand. Wang Shuo sat slumped on the ground, shoulders sagging, eyes vacant.

Lu Yuan drew a very quiet breath.

Then he stepped out of the shadows.