One of the girls raised her hand and asked: "Teacher, what is a shared world?"
Getting what he was aiming for, old man coughed while putting on an air of an old scholar once again and continued.
Xun Feng: "A shared world is a place that has many connections to the outside world. As far as I'm aware, several organizations at our level have the access to this little world, however only our connection is permanent thanks to the green tower. Others can come in here every once in a while but we can come and go as we please. But don't let that trick you into thinking this world is ours or that it is safe. This is no different than the main world aside from its size. The Spirit Energy in here is as abundant, if not even more condensed than in the outside world precisely because it's smaller. Does anyone know what that means?"
In a blink, a young boy stood up intending to answer that question among the other twenty four. His voice seemed thin and almost girlish but it had a charming tinge and was pleasing to listen to - "Teacher, that should mean that Spiritual Life here is particularly developed, r-right?"
Xun Feng nodded in the kid's direction as his face became serious and then he slowly clarified the meaning further.
Xun Feng: "That's right. Spiritual Life - in other words, Spirit Beasts, Spirits themselves and nature here is particularly stronger and more troublesome to deal with than in the main world. Since you're far too weak now, we won't be exploring much of this world but worry not, there is a controlled area under protection here that will be more than enough for all of us to spend time. Beasts in this area are rather harmless and survive by absorbing energy from their surroundings. You can play with them if you want - or rather, if you succeed in approaching them since they don't really like company of others."
One curious little girl with big eyes innocently asked: "Teacher, are there no other people than us here?"
Lan Yao chuckled a little and then took over instead of Xun Feng;
Lan Yao: "No, we are the first ones to come here. As teacher Xun said earlier, many places in the main world connect to this miniature world but the world of adults is a little messy and complicated, that is why we're the first ones to come here. You can even say this entire world belongs to our Crimson Star Academy, for now at least."
Xun Feng cleared his throat and sat down cross-legged in front of the children. The distance between himself and them was only a short few meters.
Xun Feng: "Now, we have something important to talk about. This old man noticed something rather troubling at the awakening ceremony so it is a pressing matter to solve before we go on with learning about this world."
After a slight pause, he said in a serious tone of voice: "A third of you all are humans. Another third are Spirit Beasts in human form and the last third are Spirits."
The surrounding air became stiff after the old man said this line. It was a common knowledge that three races don't mix together since the Three-Calamity Great War. The fact that someone found about their identities usually meant slavery or death.
Asura Ryuu and Asura Tenka stood up from the middle of the crowd and came forward, closer to old man.
Asura Ryuu: "Teacher, if anything happens to any of my brothers and sisters and I find it related to the academy, you will lose a disciple and will gain an enemy. Oh, by the way, the two of us are Spirit Beasts."
Asura Ryuu's eyes turned cold and empty, devoid of any emotions. A trait he carefully cultivated in one of his lives filled with bloody wars and slaughter. If his Spirit Sense was vast enough, he could even draw a little of his slaughter aura out, but so far it wasn't going to happen anytime soon.
Looking at those lifeless eyes resembling a cold abyss, Xun Feng became stunned. Lan Yao's face was plastered with disbelief at the scene she witnessed. A six-year-old kid could make such a serious face, that was no joke. Not to mention the resolve with which he revealed that him and his sister weren't human. She found herself at a loss for words.
Xun Feng, meanwhile, regained his calm and laughed sarcastically: "Wow, scary. Relax, little dragon. I knew all along about all of you. You're forgetting that I'm a prophet."
Asura Ryuu's eyes regained their usual calm and cheerful aura as he and his sister bowed slightly and returned to their previous place among the crowd. Others, however, didn't really relax because they were intelligent enough to figure out that they are trapped in this world and the opposite party knows about their existence. It was a perfect place to kill without any witnesses. Everyone knew how beneficial Spirit Beast's body and its contents were.
Asura Ryuu noticed a curious and reverent gaze on himself and traced it back to one of the little girls among the crowd. It was none other than the princess. He grasped this chance and waved at her with a smile and then extended his hand: "Hello, I'm sure you know already but my name is Asura Ryuu. Would you mind telling me yours?"
Princess became flustered and her cheeks turned red when suddenly approached like that, even more so by someone her age who didn't bother being overly courteous to her but spoke in a friendly manner - "A.. a-ah! M-my name is Xingyue. Long Xingyue. Long stands for Dragon, Xing means Star and Yue means Moon."
Asura Ryuu: "Oh, a dragon among the stars and moon. What a beautiful name. Would you mind being friends with me?"
Long Xingyue's excited voice rang out: "R-Really?! Can we be friends for real?"
Asura Ryuu smiled and lightly grasped her hand, not wanting to get too forceful in case she was shy and make her uncomfortable;
Asura Ryuu: "Of course! I already said that all of us are brothers and sisters, that naturally means we are all friends too!"
Long Xingyue's eyes focused somewhere in the distance as she unconsciously mumbled: "I... finally made a friend."
Realizing that she said that aloud, her ears turned bright red along with her cheeks, while her head dropped down to avoid the gaze of others. All of this happened while everyone was silent so everyone witnessed the scene and after that came cheerful laughter fueled by twenty young children. Asura Ryuu sat down back on his place and glanced to the side at Asura Tenka who had a smile on her face. He winked at her and then both of them laughed with others.
Just that little event was enough to break the previous tension in the air as if Xun Feng's statement wasn't important. That was a very profitable situation in Asura Ryuu's opinion. Not only did he get a bit more friendly with Princess, everyone who was curious about her learned her name and came to accept her as a normal girl like themselves instead of looking at her only through the worthless title. And the tension disappeared as well. It all came out well.
Well, maybe not all...
Asura Tenka's voice appeared in his mind: 'Ah, little charmer has already set his sights on this poor girl. Looks like I'll have to protect her from your evilness.'
Asura Ryuu: 'Whaaat? I'm not evil, just being myself. Also, our elder brother is the one who you need to protect her from, if he gathers the courage, that is.'
Asura Tenka: 'Huh?'
She thought about it and figured out who Asura Ryuu referred to. She secretly stole a glance at Xun Bao, their elder brother, and surely enough, his eyes were burning with passion and something he didn't know of yet - love.
Asura Tenka: 'Well how surprising. I didn't see little lazy guy be his fired up ever. Hahaha, this will prove to be a useful advantage.'
Asura Ryuu: 'You're already plotting how to tease him, aren't you?'
Asura Tenka: 'Hey! That sounds like I'm the only one scheming here, aren't you the same?'
Asura Ryuu: 'Hehe, of course. I already have full control over teasing resources. This is just a new addition, he...hehe..Naahahaa... *cough* anyway. Our teacher is getting lonely.'
The laughter died down by the time the two had their little silent conversation and everyone's eyes returned to Xun Feng, only now the unease present in the air was much less than before, almost being completely gone.
Xun Feng: "Ah, youth. Anyway, let me finish what I wanted to say before you start cursing and threatening me. Aside from you all, there are three people who know about this - Me, Teacher Lan and that little pest."
"Who are you calling a pest, old man? Did your old bones stop hurting from last time? Wanna have another go at sparring?"
Just as he was about to continue, an enchanting voice with a hint of teasing intention came from the nearby gathering of trees. After a few moments, a beautiful girl with Sapphire blue scales, two horns and a tail filled with sharp scales came out, carrying a basket with fruits hung on her tail.
Xun Feng: "Tch. A mere young Qilin is boasting before this bag of old bones. Don't you have any shame in sparring with an old man?"
"Fufu~ no, not really."