I laughed and said, “That’s right. I came here to attend the Royal Knight Academy. I’ve never seen earth dragons before. They are truly impressive.”
The soldier wore an expression of reverence and respectfully said, “In the future you will surely become a member of the Earth Dragon Corps.”
Walking into the Xiuda city, everywhere in the city was bustling with noise and excitement. I only asked once and heard the directions to the Royal Knight Academy. Arriving at the academy’s gate, just as I was just about to enter, a guard barred the way.
He politely said, “Hello sir, may I ask who you are looking for?”
I promptly said, “Hello, I am a graduate from the Aixia Kingdom’s Royal Intermediate Magic Academy, on behalf of Principal Lao Lun Di to come and look for your academy’s principal Li Ke Wen.”
“So you actually came from Aixia Kingdom, I’ll bring you to go see the principal.” He said straightforwardly.
“Then I will thank you.” He explained to another guard, then brought me inside the knight academy. The first thing I saw entering the gate were a pair of statues of swift, noble horses. It seems that these are the knights’ emblem. The guard and I turned seven corners and moved through eight school buildings and several large training grounds, arriving at the corner of the academy. This environment is truly good. It was like a small forest; you rarely see so many plants growing. At the center of the forest, there was a small courtyard, at the center of the courtyard there was a small room. Without even being nearby, I heard people talking.
A bold and angry voice said, “How are you so stupid? Don’t use inflexible strikes, use what you’ve learned creatively. If you continue to practice so inflexibly you will forever be unable to become a radiant knight. Damnably stupid.”
A different bright and respectful voice replied, “Yes, Teacher.”
“It’s like I’m with an idiot. Come, again.”
I asked the guard, “What is this all about?”
The guard smiled saying, “The Great Principal is teaching his disciple. Let’s go over.”
In my heart, I was somewhat terrified, “Will it be alright if we disturb them?”
Just as I let out my voice, the bold voice from the small, inner courtyard pieced it, “Who is it? Did I not command to disallow anyone casually disturb me?”
The guard respectfully said, “Great Principal, Aixia Kingdom’s Great Lao Lun Di has sent a person to come find you.”
“Oh? Quickly come over.”
I entered the courtyard with the guard. There were two people inside. One was an elderly man with a height exceeding two meters and a dragon’s beard. He was wearing tight fitting warrior’s clothing and held a wooden sword. At his side was an adolescent that appeared not much different than me. He was a bit taller than me. His upper body was bright red and displayed strong, rugged muscle. It seems that a moment ago they were exchanging blows with wooden swords.
I quickly walked in front of the old man and deeply paid my respects. I lowered my head and respectfully said, “Teacher Li Ke Wen, Hello. I am Zhang Gong Wei, a graduate from the Aixia Kingdom’s Royal Intermediate Magic Academy. I was entrusted by Teacher Di to come and meet you.”
Teacher Wen looked from head to toe and said with a smile, “Lao Lun that old fellow, I thought he had already forgotten about me. You’re his disciple? Even now there are still people that are willing to learn his lousy light magic. It seems your aptitude is not bad but it isn’t equal to my learned martial skills, haha.”
A very straightforward character, however his words made me somewhat embarrassed. Neither humbly nor arrogantly, I said, is “Teacher Di’s light magic still quite ferocious. Like your martial skills, they each have their own merits. Excuse me, this student cannot put this off any further. Here is a letter from Teacher Di. Please look at it.”
Teacher Wen took the letter and said, “Don’t speak so formally. It is awkward for me to hear. I’ll look at what Teacher Di wrote.” He quickly finished reading the letter and once again looked at me from head to toe. Looking at my straight hair, he finally said, “Old Di wrote that he had much confidence in you, said you were a magic genius. I don’t know how much of a genius though.”
I didn’t dare reply, fearing a reply would badly excite the fiery temperament of the old man. It was actually his apprentice that helped me out of the predicament. “Master, a guest arrived, won’t you invite him into the room to rest? You’re frightening him.”
“Hehe, right. You youngsters will be very intimate in the future, huh? Walk. Let’s enter the room. Guard, you can return.”
We entered the wooden room. Teacher Wen inquired from me how Teacher Di was doing. From his questions, I felt that he and Teacher Di had a deep friendship.
Teacher Wen said, “Oh that’s right. I still haven’t given you an introduction. This is my disciple, Dong Ri Huo. He’s half elf. He’s a kid that keenly feels teacher’s temperament, hehe.”
Dong Ri felt a bit embarrassed by Teacher Wen’s words. I nodded at him, saying, “Hello. Please take care of me in the future.” He gave a warm smile in return.
60
Volume 3: Chapter 16 – Physical Training
“Come on, let’s chat while we eat.” We arrived at the principal’s exclusive dining room. At first, I was a bit nervous and ate the food bit by bit. But when I saw what Teacher Wen looked like when eating, I felt that my previous image was simply too elegant.
Teacher Wen had one foot up on his chair and was noisily, madly scooping up food into his mouth, making food fly all over the place. Dong Ri gave me a sheepish smile. I heard Teacher Wen’s voice: “Zhang Gong, why aren’t you eating. Quick, eat some more.”
After hearing Teacher Wen’s encouragement, I’ll definitely be blunt. I started sweeping up food like a tornado. From morning until now, I’ve only eaten some traveling rations. I’ve been hungry enough to die for a long time. Now it was their turn to be dumbstruck. In the short time Teacher Wen wasn’t paying attention, I’ve already cleared off more than half the food on the table.
“Wah, this kid. Has Lao Lun been starving you so much, that you came over here to balance it out?” Teacher Wen teased me.
Now that I’ve already started eating, I can’t resume being polite. I’ll eat until I’m full before I’ll consider it again. With my mouth full, I answered with a muffled voice, “Teacher Wen, if you don’t hurry up and eat, you’ll be hungry later.”
“Ah! Dong Ri, eat quickly. He’s eating too fast, we won’t get anything to eat if we don’t hurry up.”
How can we still chat while eating like this, it’s literally just like a competition. By the time all the food was cleared, I reckon I was the only one who was full. Teacher Wen grudgingly said: “Looks like we need to make more food in the future. Old Di sent me a rice bucket.”