Holy Light Academy had over a thousand years of history. Countless great warriors and mages had originated from this institution, and now…Suo Jia was lucky enough to become a part of it.
Wearing dark blue mage robes, Suo Jia silently entered the classroom. Nobody paid attention to him, and he didn't bother them either. He walked to the corner of the classroom alone and quietly sat down, waiting for the class session to begin.
This was Suo Jia's first class in school. Sitting around him were many amazing geniuses from other areas. After all…everyone here had been specially selected out of millions of people. If they didn't have the talent, they would not have the qualification to be sitting here.
After surveying his surroundings, Suo Jia realized the strange truth that out of his entire class he was... he was actually the only male student! The other hundred students were actually "all the same color"; all of them were young girls! Within the classroom, a subtle smell of flowers floated about; no, the smell of it surpassed that of flowers.
Water arts are favored by females, and is under their domain! With regards to water mages, women will always be more blessed than men! This is similar to the idea of how men are more blessed with fire arts than women. What excites earthly people the most about this is that all men with the fire attribute are mighty, powerful, and formidable warriors, while all women with the water attribute are tender, loving, and charming.
After a long time, a woman in her 20s walked in with indescribable daintiness, wearing a purple mage robe, and carrying a magic book in hand. As she walked in with a sweet smile, the entire classroom became silent in a flash. Lightly placing the magic book down on the podium, the instructor asked, "Before I begin class, I would like to ask everyone a question. What exactly is the greatest difference between a mage and a warrior?"
Hearing the question, all the girls began to noisily chatter, answering the question all at once. Some said that the difference was in the limitation of the types of attacks, others said it was the strength of attacks, while there were those that didn't answer at all. However, not a single individual could clearly, with concrete reasoning, correctly answer the two largest differences.
Helplessly wrinkling her brow, the lecturer gave up and answered in a heavy voice: "Let me explain it to all of you then. The largest difference between a warrior and a mage is distance. From today on, I would like you all to remember that to be able to maintain the distance between you and the enemy is the foundation of being a mage. Close combat is within the warrior's realm!"
Listening to the lecturer's words, Suo Jia's eyes lit up in excitement. Hear that? Warriors were still the coolest; mages were under the warriors' realm. The warriors were so majestic and formidable. As a man, if he could not become a hot-blooded warrior, he would regret it for the rest of his life!
Suo Jia pondered for a bit, as the lecturer with indescribable beauty continued: "As long as you widen the distance, then…no matter how powerful the warrior, they can only be reduced to our target. Thus…as mages, we only have two goals: to learn how to evade, and to learn strong magic. It's that simple!"
As the female lecturer's voice fell, all of the girls started chatting again. Straining his ears, Suo Jia could hear the surrounding girls discuss: "Aye, we totally don't want to fight with those males, how crude. Mages are still the best, to be able to beat them up with magic from afar."
Sigh…
Hearing the thoughts of the girls around him, Suo Jia laughed bitterly. For such hot-blooded fights to be insulted so easily… Using a cowardly method like hiding from far away and throwing magic spells out, these girls would really never understand the passionate feelings attained by warriors.
"Pa pa pa!" After clearly clapping a few times, waiting for all the girls to quiet down, the female lecturer continued, "Okay students, we will be spending the next ten years together. I hope that everyone will study diligently, build harmony together, and help each other out."
"Ten years!" After hearing the lecturer's words, Suo Jia inhaled a cold breath. Originally, he had thought that he could graduate after learning for only a single year. After hearing the teacher's words, he realized that it actually took a time period of ten years!
Suo Jia clearly understood that the thousand gold his family paid could not be ten year's worth of tuition. In this world, such cheap things did not exist. If he wanted to continue learning after a year, he would have to pay another thousand gold. To Suo Jia however, this was an impossible task.
Originally, Suo Jia had planned it all out. After graduating, he would definitely work hard to earn money, buying his mother a spacious and cozy house just like their previous one. With this turn of events, he wasn't even sure where to find money for next year's tuition, let alone be able to buy a large house .
Even though Mother was constantly saying that he should just study diligently and not worry about money, Suo Jia, although still a child, was not dumb. He knew that if they had the money, Mother would not be living in such a dark and cramped house. Even if Mother could endure it, she definitely would hate to see Suo Jia suffer too.
In a daze, the first day of classes had passed just like that. Leaving the school grounds, Suo Jia rushed home with heavy emotions. As soon as he pushed open the door, he was suddenly met with an alluring smell. He looked over disbelievingly, and saw a piping hot plate of barbecued meat placed in the middle of the wooden table.
Looking at the enticing barbecued meat, Suo Jia could not help but swallow his saliva. He could not remember how long it had last been since he had eaten such savory barbecued meat. Why had his mother been willing to spend the money today?
While he was contemplating, Suo Jia's mother noticed Suo Jia and smiled. "Come quickly Suo Jia, let's celebrate properly!"
"Celebrate?" Suo Jia gave his mother a puzzled look. He could not think of any occasion worth celebrating. He still complied however, and walked in front of the table to sit down.
Seeing Suo Jia's puzzled expression, the woman laughed. "There are two things to celebrate today. The first is celebrating Suo Jia attending school, and the second is celebrating Mother finding a job!"
Hearing his mother's words, Suo Jia's heart raced. He knew very clearly that with a job, they could earn money, and with money, their lifestyle could be maintained.
The woman had already placed a few pieces of the barbecue in front of Suo Jia, and tenderly said, "Eat quickly Suo Jia, while it's still warm. You are currently growing and need the nutrition, so eat a bit more."
Although his nose was smelling the barbecue's fragrance, his eyes were fixed on his mother's delicate hands. In his memory, her tender and lovely lily-white hands were soft and satiny, so smooth that no wrinkles could be seen. Now however, Suo Jia clearly saw several blemishes on his mother's fingers.
Stunned, Suo Jia unconsciously asked: "Mother, how did you find a job? Why are your hands…"
Hearing her son's words, the woman was shocked as she looked at her own hands. As if suddenly realizing something, she quickly withdrew her hands behind her back. With a charming smile on her face, she narrowed her eyes, shook her head, and replied: "Nothing happened, nothing at all. Mother only helped some people wash their clothes. It gives a salary of 1 gold a day!"
Although his mother's words were light, Suo Jia's thoughts swarmed inside his head as he heard these words. What kind of horrible experience was this, washing clothes in such cold weather? A gold a day was in fact not a small amount, but nobody would ever give away money for no reason. If you cannot do anything to deserve the money, then nobody will give any to you.
Tears quickly began to blur Suo Jia's vision. Eyes filled with glistening tears, Suo Jia's heart could not help recalling the images of his mother's delicate and beautiful hands now covered in scratches. How could a gentle and beautiful woman like his mother, who was meant to be pampered and loved, do such rough work?
Suo Jia knew that his affinity with water was inherited from his mother. As a woman with water affinity, his mother's beauty was irrefutable. In fact, all women wjth water affinity can never be ugly; they are all women with charming looks and clear expressions. Women with water affinity represent beauty itself.
Many men had chased after his mother in past years, despite knowing that his mother was married and had a child. Although he didn't really understand, even though many men chased after his mother, his mother's love for his father was too deep, and she never considered accepting any of them.
However, it was surprising to see that a once delicate and beautiful woman would actually live this type of lifestyle, working hard for the sake of a better life and for Suo Jia. This made Suo Jia's heart grieve, and he couldn't quite come to terms with this.
Suo Jia really wanted to stop his mother from continuing this job. However, just as the words were about to reach his lips, Suo Jia could not actually say the words. If the job wasn't done, then how could their lives continue? Unless he earned money himself, on what basis could he stop his mother?
Tormented, he grabbed the hands being held behind his mother's back. His large tears fell drop by drop onto her blemished hands, and looked at the hands that were now covered in angry red scratches. At this point, guilt and helplessness hit, and Suo Jia wished that he could grow up quicker. The truth remained however, that he still an 8-years old child.
After a while, Suo Jia said in a heavy voice, "Mother, I hate Father."