Long Kongkong said with a grin, "The girls in your class are really nice, all very kind."
Long Dangdang also smiled and casually said, "Starting from next week, you should stick to your classes at the Knights Academy."
"What?" Long Kongkong widened his eyes.
Long Dangdang said, "Next week, we'll begin trying to release the elements. Tell me, what are you going to release? Do you even have any?"
Snap! Long Kongkong felt like his heart had broken and his happiness was gone...
"Just honestly study at the Knights Academy, at least it's not as easy to expose yourself there." Having said that, Long Dangdang flipped his hair and turned to leave.
"Ahhh! The waters of Soaring Dragon Lake, my tears... Older brother, you have to help me! Help me figure out, how can I comprehend the elements?"
"Alright! Whenever you can use magic, you can start attending classes. Even just one element is fine."
Their home was some distance away from the Temple Academy. They lived in the city center. Fortunately, Soaring Dragon City wasn't very large. It was already late when the two brothers finally walked through their front door.
"Dad, Mom, we're home!" Immediately upon entering, Long Kongkong shouted.
Soon, a delicious smell hit them. Ling Xue quickly rushed out and hugged Long Kongkong, "My precious son, you weren't wronged at school, were you?"
"Nope. Everything is going well! I'm now the class leader. How awesome is that?"
"My son is the best."
Long Dangdang pulled Long Kongkong away and rushed into his mother's arms, "I'm the one who's most tired! I have to keep up disguises on both sides."
"Hmm, my Dangdang is the best." Ling Xue affectionately rubbed her son's head.
"Move over!" Long Kongkong hurriedly squeezed over.
"Get Lost!"
"Alright, alright, group hug." Ling Xue chuckled and opened her arms to hug both sons. She felt as if she was hugging the whole world. It had to be said, her twin ten-year-old sons were already only half a head shorter than her.
"Eh, you two little rascals are back?" At this moment, they heard the voice of Long Leilei from outside.
Wearing a priest's robe, he walked in with a broad smile. However, his two sons clearly didn't have any intention of getting close to him and stayed by their mother's side.
"Dad, why is it that whenever I see you in your priest's robe, I get a feeling of you being sanctimonious?" Long Kongkong said with a grin.
Long Leilei casually replied, "That's because your skin is itching again."
Dinner with the boys was always abundant. Watching the two sons gobble down their food, Ling Xue's eyes curved into crescents from her laughter.
While eating, Long Leilei observed his two sons. After a week apart, both seemed to have changed, mainly in terms of temperament. Long Dangdang's change was expected, having started formal magical training and increased his spiritual power, so a change in temperament was normal. What surprised him was that Long Kongkong too showed notable changes. The laziness in his eyes was still present, but there was also a dashing and spirited flavor to it.
"Tell me, what have you gained this week?" Long Leilei asked with a smile.
Long Kongkong nonchalantly replied, "Not much, just gained three spirit furnaces, some subsidies from the Magic Temple and Knights Temple. See, we each got a storage ring. This thing is really convenient, so satisfying."
"What?" Long Leilei and Ling Xue practically said in unison.
"Subsidies! The Magic Temple gave us necklaces, magic staffs, scrolls, and such. The Knights Temple gave us inner armor, knight's sword, shields." explained Long Kongkong.
"Not that. I was talking about the first part of your statement." Long Leilei, excited, stood up with his hands on the dinner table.
"Oh, spirit furnaces! We got three, two from the Magic Temple and one from the Knights Temple. But, the Knights Temple asked us to visit on the weekend, I'm not sure if they're going to give us another one." Long Kongkong said grinning.
"You shut up! Dangdang, you say it. Is what Kongkong said true?" Ling Xue, aware of her younger son's unpredictable behavior, turned to her relatively more reliable elder son.
"Yes, it's true," Long Dangdang answered.
"Mom, what do you mean by that? Don't you trust your Kongkong anymore?" Kongkong came up and grabbed his mom's neck in a hug.
"Quiet down, we're discussing something serious," Ling Xue slapped him, her expression becoming serious.
Compared to their father's beatings, the brothers still feared their mother more. After all, she was the head of the house.
Long Leilei eagerly asked, "What kind of spirit furnaces are they?"
"The Magic Temple gave us the Divine Lotus and Elemental Vortex Spirit Furnaces, while the Knights Temple gave us the Holy Diversion Spirit Furnace," Dangdang informed him.
Long Leilei started to shake with excitement, "Good...good...good..."
When he looked at Ling Xue, there was a noticeably softer gentleness in her eyes.
"Hahaha... The things I couldn't get in the past, my sons have now brought back to me in double. It feels good, really good! Haha..." Long Leilei suddenly burst out into laughter, "Even if I get demoted, it's worth it. After all, once a spirit furnace is absorbed, you can't spit it back out. Haha..."
Suddenly, he seemed to realize something, "Wait! The Holy Diversion Spirit Furnace, being the signature piece of the Knights Temple, requires at least a hundred points of spiritual power to absorb. Kongkong, can you do it?"
"I absorbed it. I went for him. I had to test it," Dangdang told him.
"You alone absorbed three spirit furnaces? Is that even possible?" Long Leilei was amazed.
"No, I absorbed two. Kongkong absorbed the Elemental Vortex Spirit Furnace."
"Elemental Vortex Spirit Furnace? I've never heard of it before," Long Leilei asked. "Can you explain it to me in detail?"
And then Dangdang explained everything about the gifts from both the Temples and the details about the spirit furnaces.
After hearing his narration, Long Leilei couldn't help but sigh, "These guys from the Temple really do know how to treat people well. They are so generous when they meet a genius. So worth it...
Then he turned to Kongkong, "Since you've received the Elemental Vortex Spirit Furnace, you also have hope. Although I don't know how much your spiritual power will increase in the future, you should test your innate spiritual powers every month to see if they are growing. If they are, perhaps you can become a genius like your older brother."
Kongkong instinctively rolled his eyes - who wanted to become a genius? He just wanted to chill and do nothing.
"Dad, what we're currently learning in the academy is pretty basic, so it's easy to keep our cover for now. But before long, when the Knights Academy starts battle drills, it'll be hard to keep the secret, since I can't continue to sub for Kongkong there. As for the Magic Academy, they're starting to teach some elementary magic, and since Kongkong can't sense elements, he can't take my place there either. So, I have an idea."
"Stop right there!" Kongkong suddenly jumped up and rushed at Dangdang. He knew his older brother too well - whenever Dangdang said he had an idea, it meant he was about to cause trouble.
Long Leilei easily caught KongKong, "Go on, DangDang."
DangDang spoke seriously, "Dad, you and Mom wanted to send DangDang to the Temple Academy so that he could learn something useful, right? In that case, we certainly can't expose our secret identity swap. KongKong's inner spiritual power may be slow to increase, but since I've absorbed the Holy Diversion Spirit Furnace, we can temporarily explain away his low inner spiritual values by saying that the spirit furnace absorbed a lot of his spiritual power. So as long as he works hard on his outer spiritual power, he should not fall behind his classmates. We can come back home every weekend, and I suggest that we should enhance his training in this area."
Long Leilei looked at DangDang with satisfaction, "DangDang, you've truly matured. You have the bearing of an elder brother. What you said makes sense."
KongKong flared up in anger, "What sense? Dad, you have no idea how he treats me in the academy! Every night he abuses me and forces me to train. If I don't, he beats me. I'm so pitiful!"
Long Leilei's eyes brightened even more, "Good job, DangDang, that's the right way to do it."
Turning to his younger son, Long Leilei's face broke into a smile, "KongKong, your weekends of despair are about to begin."