Jessica and I walked over into the two-storey Dormitory A where we were met with a reception hall just attached to the main building.
We signed our names as the new students of Room 1 and verified by presenting our Academy Tokens. The receptionist made a copy of our basic informations. Before we were left to submit to our room, she pointed to the wall beside us and read aloud the words written on the paper on the wall. Her words seemed as if she was definitely not reading that for the first time; more like she was even reciting those very words.
"Dormitory A rules. Rule 1, never bring a boy to the dormitory. Rule 2, never return from the outdoors by midnight, and, finally, Rule 3 — no fighting in the dorm. You try any of these and your monthly allowance would be cut half for the whole of that month. And by the way, your other roommate is already in."
I was known in my previous school as an outlaw, I just hoped it wouldn't rub off here; be a good girl, Steph, stick to the rules. You can do it. But about Rule 3...
"You may leave." After saying those words, Receptionist A simply returned to the files she was looking into before Jessica and I had arrived. She had this stone cold expression that gave one the concept that this middle-aged woman hadn't smiled in ages.
Shrugging off these thoughts, we headed for Room 1, neither of us mentioning anything concerning the "other roommate".
The passage of the lower floor was bustling with students. But not so many. This floor alone had just a total of six rooms. Some older students could be seen amongst the freshmen, exchanging words in all enthusiasm.
"So this is Room 1, it's actually the first room here." Jessica pointed towards a room with an open door that we advanced towards as we stepped into the passage. She was actually pointing at the calligraphy above the door that exhibited the room number.
I nodded, silently.
Together, we walked into the room casually.
It was quite a large room. It had three beds, two large study desks and lamps, and four chairs. At the moment, there was a total of four girls within. Three of them looked like they were in their late twenties, while the last one was about the age of Jessica and I.
The moment we stepped in, they definitely noticed us and shot us curious glances. They observed us, just as we did.
"Hi, we were directed to Room 1," Jessica said.
The three older girls smiled at us.
"Welcome newbies," one with an horse-black hair said.
"We're getting acquainted with your roommate here, but she doesn't seem to know how to speak much," another with a blond hair said, pointing at the slim girl that sat on one of the beds without a single expression on her face.
The girl just shrugged.
The last girl who had a conspicuous, crooked nose then said, "We are your seniors. This was our room. We're staying here one last time. By tomorrow, all three of us would be moving into the Intermediate Academy of the Gifted."
'Oh, that explains it.'
We introduced ourselves. The seniors all had their auras blaring off, so we could tell just how powerful they were. Even though I couldn't recognise the cultivation realm, one thing was clear. They were ten times stronger than me.
The girl with the blonde hair, Zhang Lu, looked at me then asked, somewhat surprised, "Are you a cultivator?"
The others looked at me and also observed me. Before I could respond, Jessica said, "It appears she's using a secret art to rein in her cultivation."
They stared at me, surprised. I also was surprised. Now that it was mentioned, it seemed that everyone I'd encountered never had their cultivation reined in. Could Teacher Kira's technique actually have been a secret art?
"It's a secret art taught to me by my teacher," I said.
They all nodded in awe.
"It's really hard for one to give out a secret art. She must really have a good opinion of you."
I nodded, shyly.
"May we see your cultivation level?" one of them asked.
"Sure," I said.
'Whoosh!'
My cultivation began to rise all the way to Transcendent Mortal realm.
"Impressive," Jessica said. She looked kind of surprised, probably not expecting we were in the same level.
Zhang Lu began sniffing the air. Kong Yingyan, the black haired girl, noticed this and quickly asked, "Lu'er do you sense something peculiar?"
Zhang Lu stood up and closed her eyes. She immediately opened her eyes, locking them with mine.
"Y-you... just who are you?"
I was confused.
"You don't have to pretend. I'm from the Beast tribe. I'm a demi-human, and I can smell it when there's an extremely strong expert around. You have an overwhelming beast aura... just what are you? What's your Gift? Are you from the Beast Hall, as well?"
Such a smartie. She could tell so much just by sniffing around.
"Demi-human?" I asked rather. I remembered Founder mentioning that word before.
"Are you from Planet Arerat?" she asked.
I scratched my nape awkwardly, not knowing how to respond.
She was thoughtful for a moment, before saying, "Try to suppress me with your aura."
My eyes lit up. I could do that. As long as I have evil thoughts, I could emit some killing intent.
My formless true essence began to wrap into poison. The crooked nose girl quickly raised her head and pushed the other two aside, while stepping in front of them.
"Impossible! How can you have the Innate Poison bloodline?"
I shook my head. "I don't. I just have a very powerful killing intent."
I couldn't tell them anything about my bloodline or formless true essence, so this was the best excuse.
"This..."
Everyone in the room were startled. Even my roommate seated at the other bed alone raised her head when she noticed the killing intent. Immediately I looked into her eyes, I sensed danger in my body. It was as if an alarm system had been turned on. She stood up and unleashed an aggressive aura. Her body began emitting black, lethal, poison gas.
"Condense your killing intent into a ball, the way you do with your true essence, and shoot it at me."
That was all she said. She spoke so slowly that I felt as though that was her first time speaking after a long time. Her words had some kind of force that compelled one to do exactly as she'd said. It was easy. Dorothy had taught me, once.
After making the ball and shooting it at her, she didn't make any significant move. What she did was accept the lethal energy. I smiled within myself. Since she willingly accepted it, then I could just manipulate her the way I did Black Frost.
But...
I was wrong.
Immediately it entered her body, I lost control over the lethal energy, and it began to move according to her own will. To my surprise, instead of causing damages within her, it was actually repairing her body.
The crooked nose senior noticed this and said, "You have the Innate Poison bloodline?"
This girl nodded nonchalantly. She then stared at me in the eyes and...
Dropped to her knees and started coughing hard. With my sharp eyes, I was able to catch the droplet of blood that'd to the ground from her nose.
"Impossible," said the pale-faced girl.