"I understand." Huiqing nodded obediently, her countenance much better than before.
"Then…have a good rest." Fenhua said after some hesitation. He didn't want to see her off so soon. Who knew the bridge from the army camp to her quarter would feel so short?
Had he known before, he would have not bothered with improving the pathway for increased productivity of the camp. But on another hand, his quarter was just opposite to hers. She certainly didn't have to know that…for now.
He didn't want to scare her off yet.
"Yeah, you too." Huiqing said with pursed lips. His impression in her heart had gotten from the moment he decided to let her pursue her dream of brewing potions and contribute to the army.
Fenhua gestured at her with his eyes to enter the quarter, clearly unwilling to leave before watching her enter safely with his own eyes.
Huiqing turned helplessly. Her heart filled with a new kind of warmth, one she had not felt for a long long time. A faint smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
—--------------------------
In the refreshment room,
"This is probably the only place worth visiting here." Lilling commented, tugging Lanying's hand.
'So there's finally a place this girl likes?' Lanying blinked a few times without moving.
Bai Lilling felt a bit awkward under her gaze. She did complain a lot..but it was reasonable ok? Nothing wrong with having high expectations from an elite academy like Brightstone. This naive lady on the other hand was satisfied too easily.
"You coming with me or not?" She urged again.
Lanying gave in. She followed behind her to see what she was so excited about.
After running for a while, the two of them finally stopped at a desolate corner of the balcony, away from the murmurs of the other freshers in the hall who were enjoying the refreshing drinks and pastries.
"Gorgeous right?"
Lanying's eyes followed the direction of her index, as the floating bubbles entered her eyesight.
It was truly a stunning sight. On the dark night sky bubbles varying in sizes floated around each other. At first glance it might appear random, but when looked at carefully one would notice a beautiful complex pattern of rotation.
So well controlled that not the tiniest bit of change was noticeable in the patterns, Only a mage with gravitation as their essence would be able to create something like this. And even then decades of mastery would be required. Not to mention controlling patterns was a whole different field on its own. Mages weren't even skilled at this.
It would truly be a feat if someone alone created this artefact. But that was not possible right? A team of experts were probably assigned for this.
Lanying wondered to herself.
"You are also impressed right?" Lilling patted her own chest, satisfied with her reaction.
"And guess what?" She whispered a bit dramatically this time.
Lanying scrunched her brows. "What?" She asked naturally, not bothering to tone down her voice to a whisper.
Annoyed by her lack of cooperation Lilling sighed.
"Aye..the guy who entered…I mean the guy who gave a speech just now? Apparently his father, the previous ruler, built this."
"Alone?" Lanying's eyes widened.
"Exactly!" Lilling almost shouted out loud before toning down her voice as she could feel a few burning curious gazes on her back from the crowd of others from her batch.
—------------------------
'Oh? So this is what impresses you? Nothing too difficult then.' The slender silhouette standing at the corner of the dark corridor joining the balcony and the refreshment room raised his brows in amusement. His playful smile didn't reach his eyes, as he swirled the drink in his hand.
Placing the half empty glass inside his inner space, he walked towards the two of them quietly. So quiet that Lilling jumped back when his voice startled the two of them. Lanying looked around uncomfortably. She had already noticed him when he was about to reach both of them. But she pretended to not care. Lilling was with her too…He won't dare be too frivolous right?
"Greetings, Bai Lilling right? We would be batchmates in the future. Mind allowing me to have a chat with your companion?" Changmin asked her politely.
"Well since we all will be in the same batch, why bother with the one on one chat? I can just stay here right?" She replied back, winking at Lanying.
Lanying was stunned. They just met yesterday. She didn't expect her to stand by her side and even understand her discomfort.
"I have heard that Bai Yicheng has been sick for a long time. If the Bai family fails to get their hands on the Yuanshen roots, then…."
Bai Lilling's lips quivered. She hatefully stared at the man in front of her before leaving resolutely. She didn't have the face to even look back at Lanying.
—--------
"Isn't this against the academy rules?" Lanying stared at him.
Changmin conveniently ignored her question, countering her with a different one, "You think this is impressive?" He pointed his fingers at the floating artefact.
"Yeah of course. Your father made this right? Aren't you proud?" Lanying asked curiously.
"Wait no, you are dodging the question! You went against the academic code of conduct!" Her voice was indignant.
"I can afford to, don't worry about me. But for now..do you want to see how to create something similar?" He asked.
"Now? What do you mean? You can create something like this?" Lanying dropped the code violation topic, clearly distracted by the second half of his words.
Changmin had a complex look on his face. Without replying back he held her hand spinning her around and holding her by the waist. He extended his free hand towards the open sky.
"Look carefully." He whispered against her ears.
Three rays of light flashed from the tip of his fingers.
'The three essence!' Lanying's eyes widened in shock.
She looked up only to see the rare concentrated look on his face as his lips were parted, uttering inaudible whispers.
She turned her focus back to the front. The rays tangled with each other, gracefully. The particles gathered joined in front of her eyes, eventually giving birth to a few almost translucent spheres.
Finally as he swung his wrist and flicked his fingers the smaller spheres started to spiral around the bigger one. It lasted for a few seconds before they finally colluded into the centre particle, disappearing into thin air.
Lanying was yet to recover from the daze. A feat like this…altho it was unstable and short-lasting was clearly admirable for someone in the first grade.
Changmin spun her again, to face him. "Impressed?" He asked, lowering his face down to hers, their breaths intertwining.
Lanying felt an odd sense of suppression. She moved away her face in vain, not releasing he was still holding her.
He brushed away the stray hairs framing her face. As he tightened his hold on her waist, she felt her heart hitch. Her rational mind was telling her to move away from there at that instant. But her body was paralysed with a strange emotion. Fear? or something else? She didn't know.
"Now you don't want to admit, huh?" His thin cold lips almost grazed past hers.