Volume 3 - CH 1

Location: Atlantis

Time: 8:30am

The first Saturday from the day I moved into the dorm had arrived.

“Chu, someone is looking for you.”

Early in the morning, when I was still nesting in my bed, someone kept knocking on the door outside my room with “tock tock” sounds.

It was senior’s voice. I immediately bounced up from my bed, not daring to lay there any longer, and rushed to open the locked door, “Who!?” I noticed that senior was not wearing his black robe, he was wearing his casual clothing plus jeans. He looked relatively more relaxed.

“Mikayla and the others.” Senior glanced at me, “I asked them to wait at the hall.”

Miao Miao? Looking for me so early in the morning?

I ran into my room, grabbed my clothes, and ran out again, “Senior, lend me your bathroom.”

Ever since the day I discovered the weird thing in my bathroom, I’ve never ever used my own bathroom. I borrowed senior’s bathroom day after day. Who would be able to bathe and do their business in that freakish place?! Especially when I always felt the model can move. Every time I looked at it, there were some changes.

If this wasn’t the school’s dorm, I would have used a quick-dry glue to seal the bathroom door so it wouldn’t be able come out.

“When will you get used to your own room?” Senior snorted twice, but he still walked back to his own room, and opened the door to allow me in.

Senior’s room was just like what he had said before, the exact same layout, but senior’s room… was abnormally clean, there was nothing inside, there was only a set of a table and a chair in the living room, not even a television could be seen inside.

He normally doesn’t watch television to pass his time?

After living here for a week, if I wasn’t watching television then I was playing with the computer, and then spent a whole period of time to finish my homework. But after all that, I still felt really bored.

The only difference between our rooms was the bathroom. There was no damn model in senior’s bathroom.

But I think it’s possible that it’s in his bedroom, because I’ve not seen his bedroom before.

After I finished cleaning up and came out, I saw senior holding onto a book while sitting on the small chair in the living room. On the book were words I completely couldn’t read.

“The hostel prepared breakfast, the school’s restaurant should be closed today, so you guys can eat in the hall.” When I stepped out, senior said me, but his eyes never left the book.

“Alright, thank you.”

I quickly rushed back into my room, changed to my sport shoes, grabbed my backpack, and ran out of the room.

Don’t look at anything, don’t look at anything. I rushed down the stairs with the speed of running in a track and field race.

To be honest, for this whole week, this was how I went up and down the stairs because I was very afraid of being dragged away by some unknown object as soon as I stopped moving.

As soon as I reached the bottom of the stairs, as expected, I saw Miao Miao and the other two who in the hall, each standing at a different spot, inspecting the black dorm’s hall.

Ryan was looking at the picture of the screaming woman, but unexpectedly, the person inside didn’t rush out and scream at him.

The first one who saw me was Miao Miao, she revealed her big signature smile, “Over here, over here!” And waved, “We came to find you to go out and play.”

Go out and play again? I had always thought these few people were really bored, and sure enough, I was right.

“This is the first time we entered the Black Dorm.” Miao Miao’s big shiny eyes were looking all over the place, “This place really is different from the general dorms, the people who are living here are really terrific.”

I think so too, because this place is simply just a huge haunted mansion.

“The spiritual energy here is very strong, especially when I felt there might be the presence of Gates of Hell…” Chifuyu turned around, and the first thing that came out of his mouth was a bunch of weird words that made me feel like pounding him to the ground, “Over at this side, we call the Gates of Hell as Extreme Yin Gate. If one does not have the power to repress it, one might suffer heavy injuries, and will be especially susceptible to being cursed. No matter how many times the person is reincarnated, he won’t be able to escape from the curse.

Black lines were falling down on my face. Don’t tell me you came so early in the morning just to tell me I’m living on top of a Yin Gate which might curse me till I die!?

“The weather today is very good…” Ryan issued an enigmatic sentence.

“Yang Yang, you haven’t been to the shopping street nearby the school, right?” Miao Miao got straight to the point.

I shook my head, I really haven’t been there before. It should be said that, I don’t even know what in the world lies outside the school’s main gate.

“Next week there will be a basic course, Yang Yang didn’t you choose that course too? It’s called Mausoleum.” As soon as Miao Miao finished her sentence, I immediately remembered it, it was the only course I was able to choose to take together with senior. Because it seemed like he had tons of work recently, he didn’t attend the first nor second class. Since the teacher only did some introductory explanations about the mausoleums around the world, I had almost forgotten about the matter of senior choosing the same elective, “In Mausoleum next week, we need to bring explosive charms or something to protect ourselves with, since we are starting on-site training lessons.”

To be truthful, Mausoleum is really an extremely boring class. I was practically confused and shocked when I attended the first few classes. I had totally no idea what he was teaching.

Come on, I could even fall asleep in Chinese lessons, how could I listen to what kind of dead people were buried here and there a thousand of years ago.

…That’s not right, wait a moment, just now Miao Miao said that next week we were supposed start on what lessons? On-site training lessons? And we need to bring something to protect ourselves!?

I had a very bad premonition.

“Chifuyu and I need to buy crystals for sacrificial incantations, and Yang Yang can come and take a look, too. They’ll also be useful in classes.” Miao Miao grabbed my hands and smiled happily, “Since all of us are going together, want to ask senior if he wants to come as well? Shopping together with everyone would be more fun, right?”

I started to suspect Miao Miao’s target was actually Senior.

* * *

“After leaving the school gates, there will be malls along both the left and right side of the road.” Miao Miao, who became the guide, told me.

After we left the Black Dorm, we went through a few layers of school buildings and finally reached the gate.

While I was listening, I seemed to have heard a strange sound coming from above, and it was coming from the location of the narcissistic clock. But no matter how curious I was, I forced myself not to look up.

“The shopping street to the left side is the mall we generally visit. If we continue onwards, we will reach the Earth Beast’s village, but I recommend you to not continue onwards. Earth Beasts are very hospitable creatures, so there is a chance you won’t be able to come back.” Chifuyu pushed his glasses, and started on his detailed explanation, “The shopping street to the right side, generally has less students there because the Cosmic Gate is linked there. There are many people, who come and go, thus making it extremely chaotic. But inside is the dark street, where it’s possible to purchase some amazing stuff.”

Sounds like the shopping street to the right is absolutely a forbidden-to-enter area for me.

“Crystals can be bought in any general store, so Yang Yang, which mall do you want to go?” Miao Miao asked.

“Go to the one on the left.” Walking behind us, senior, who was invited to go out, suddenly raised his voice, “The shopping mall on the right is still too advanced for you guys to enter, so all of you better go to the left.”

He was the absolute commander. As soon as he uttered that sentence, everyone present didn’t dare to refute. Even Ryan, who was obviously very excited about the right street earlier, didn’t even dare to say anything.

“Then let us go to the left shopping street.” Miao Miao pulled my hand (actually, I think she’d rather pull senior’s hand, but she didn’t dare to), and said to us.

And so, a group of people mightily started to move out.

I thought the so-called left shopping street would be really far away, since the school was so freaking huge, but in the end we only walked for a while… Roughly about ten minutes or so, I started to hear loud chaotic noise from not too far away.

It’s just that, the loud chaotic noise… was very weird.

Extremely weird!

“Left shopping street’s limited time special offer, Quillan’s Shop skull powder is only three Karl per hundred grams today. One free dried cat claw with the purchase of skull’s worth of powder, come and get it!”

An extremely loud voice suddenly came from above my head, almost causing me to be shaken until I started feeling dizzy.

The shopping street in front of me eyes left me stunned until I stopped walking.

This, this, this… This is simply just a larger version of the traditional market my mom goes to every morning!

The street was built from gray cement, there were also flowery plastic canopies hanging on top of the shops, and people were everywhere… From most of the people who were just walking around, there was now loud noises mixed among them.

Senior patted me on the shoulder and motioned to me to look up. It’s only then that I saw a big radio station at the office on second floor. There was a girl with bunny ears flipping through the data in her hands, and beside her seat were several microphones jumping around. All of a sudden, the wires formed a knot and they fell down together, the “bam, bam, bam” sounds, which were coming from the loudspeaker I couldn’t see, were echoing throughout the whole market.

“Left shopping street’s sale, Quillan will be releasing simple and convenient explosive charms, so you won’t need to trouble yourself with drawing at home. With one in your possession, the navigation will last forever: twelve pieces in a bundle, a dozen for only fifty Karl, and it comes with one free voodoo doll.”

What the hell was a voodoo doll!? My sight left the bunny girl who was broadcasting at second floor and I looked up at the sky. I understood, all of these aren’t real…

Then I froze, there was something that suddenly flew past my sight, I was very sure that something was definitely not a bird!

“Someone help me catch that flying chicken!” There was a scream coming from the crowds, and then I saw a person… The person was probably a human, but he has two heads, one on the left and the other on the right, screaming.

The thing that went past my sight escaped even further.

It looked like a… meatless chicken, with only its dark white skeleton left. I thought it was chicken, because when the two-headed person screamed, he called it a chicken, and the skeleton chicken disappeared without a trace.

The left shopping street was in a messy bustle, I could hear all sorts of sound of people bargaining.

With a bam, senior gave me one smack behind my head, “Everyone’s already gone and you’re still here, daydreaming.”

I didn’t know when Miao Miao and the others had disappeared, leaving me alone at the entrance of the market.

“Ah, if it’s like this, it would be better if I go back first.” I immediately turned around and walked away.

This market was not normal, at least in the traditional market there was still a pork shop, this market didn’t even have a pork shop.

As soon as I turned around, I saw a strange scene. A mutated alien, who didn’t look anything human, was holding onto a human bone while grinding it in his booth. He put the grounded powder into bags, followed by a bunch of people rushing to purchase them. On top of the alien’s booth was written “Quillan’s Shop”

Senior grabbed onto my collar, and dragged me away with a Godly and infinite strength, “Buy the crystals first, then go and look for something else.”

I absolutely didn’t want to go, ahhh!!!

But it was obvious senior was going to disregard the voice in my mind. He grabbed onto me directly and squeezed into the crowds.

“Boss, give me two bones!”

A “thud” sound attracted my attention.

I finally saw a pork shop, correction, it’s a cat meat shop. A meat shop selling giant cat meat.

I’ve had enough!!!!

* * *

I suspected senior could become a good assistant for a housewife who was making a killing in the market. Because while he was dragging me, he could still miraculously avoid crashing into people, and in a short period of time he dragged me into a more vacant street, “We’ve arrived, it’s here.”

Then I saw a shop, not too big nor too small, there were shining objects everywhere. Miao Miao and Chifuyu were already inside, but I didn’t see Ryan at all.

There were many crystals on the shelves. Below the crystals were price tags, and most of them were in some Karl (KR) currency I’ve never heard before.

“It is this world’s common currency.” Senior was picking up a pure red crystal that was faintly giving off highlights while inspecting it, “If it’s converted to your currency, it’s approximately one KR for about thirty USD.”

Then if it’s in New Taiwan dollars (NT), wouldn’t that be around one thousand NT!?

I finally understood why the bounties of the jobs were so high, it was because the consumption was also high, and so was the cost.

The object senior was still inspecting was worth ten KR, I was very afraid that it would suddenly slip and drop into pieces.

“Yang Yang, you want to choose one, too?” Miao Miao came over and asked me, on her hand was a small crystal tray. The tray was filled with five to six different colors of crystal balls that were about the size of half of a palm. There were also crystal cones, and each of them were of pure colours faintly giving off a beautiful light.

“No, no, I don’t need it.” I’m so sorry but I’m too poor.

“But in Mausoleum class, this is a necessary item.” Looking at me with surprise, Miao Miao said, “Teacher said everyone should at least have one crystal cone. In case we accidentally activate an ancient seal, we would still have the means of protecting ourselves.”

…I glanced at the crystal cone that was closest to me, with the price of five KR dollars. Five thousand NT dollars, my heart started to bleed.

“Yang Yang still doesn’t know how to use sealing incantations, so he doesn’t need to prepare it, right?” Chifuyu, who had unknowingly appeared beside us, said, “Even if it was prepared, he probably won’t be able to use it. Not to mention if something were to happen, there’s still something called a teacher who will be there, so just let him deal with it.” He pushed his glasses, and said naturally.

‘So the teachers are actually f—ed to death by you kids.’ This was the first thought that came to my mind.

Senior took the glass tray provided by the sales girl, looked at the items on the shelves, and picked a few items. I saw him taking a few tetrahedron crystals and threw them onto the tray. Those tetrahedron crystals looked really familiar… Weren’t those similar to the one that turned into powder during the time when I was using spiritual language in the Worm Planet!?

I covertly looked at the price tag… To be honest, I wanted to pretend I didn’t see it. Such a small and tiny tetrahedron crystal actually costs tens of thousands!

Mom! Was there a mistake!?

“The price of crystals for sacrificial incantations was basically a lot more expensive compared to the other crystals, because there were some unknown forces inside these crystals. The more pure-coloured and beautiful it is, the more expensive it is. The ones from this shop can only be considered ordinary.” Senior came over and told me that, “These crystals can’t be found in the human world, even if the appearance is the same, they couldn’t cultivate pure quality crystals with high magical power.”

Indeed, I noticed the crystals in this shop were all slightly glowing, which was rather different compared to those I normally saw in the past.

That light, I had no idea how to describe it. There was a unique faint light surrounding it, neither too much nor too little, extremely beautiful, rather like the crystal’s wings in general.

In the past, the crystals I had seen on the streets, how do I put this, it didn’t give off a different feeling similar to the crystals here.

“Crystals for sacrificial incantations are mostly cultivated by Elf or Fairy Clans, they are types of nature guardians.” Chifuyu stood at the other side, and picked up the cheapest one I saw earlier, “Just like this one, due to the heavier burden of the more expensive items, they have this type of lower quality products. This crystal is not something cultivated by an Elf, this should be a fake made by another race. Although it’s still usable, the effect is not as good as those Elf-made crystals.”

There are different types of crystals? For me, the crystals I was looking at, were sparkling and twinkling. I simply couldn’t determine which type was good and which type was not.

But I’m very certain senior’s crystals were all top-quality products, not because of my feeling, but because he was a very picky person. I guess he wouldn’t let himself be inconvenienced by buying lower quality products.

With a “bam” sound, senior gave me a slap behind me head, “Who are you calling picky!” So frightening.

“… My brain made a mistake.” What else could I say?

“You don’t have to buy for now.” Senior said, “Even if you want to activate the crystal for sacrificial incantation, it’s still not the time yet. You don’t know any incantations.” He put a red crystal cone on his tray again.

I guess that’s true, at most after buying it, I’ll just treat it as a decoration? Letting me use these beautiful things was really a waste of money.

* * *

As soon as we came out after finishing our shopping, we found Ryan, and he was talking to a person I’ve never met before.

The person was rather weird, wearing a grey cloak that covered his body, head and face. Other than his moving mouth, I couldn’t see his appearance.

Ryan was nodding and then frowning, when he noticed we had already came out, he greeted the person and quickly walked over, “I’ve heard it has been rather chaotic recently, seems like it’s the same even for the right shopping street.” He nodded his head at senior and said, “Seems like the “time” has finally arrived. There are already some illegal things that started to come in, wanting to spy on us.”

Time has finally arrived?

“Our school will hold it once every three years, a large-scale joint competition with all the other special ability schools.” Miao Miao smiled as she explained to me, “Seems like this year, it will officially start in winter. Around October, the selection of the schools which will qualify for the tournament will be held, only the first five would be chosen to participate in the joint event.”

Large-scale joint competition? Something similar to a sports competition? Wait a moment… She just said “all the other special ability schools”? So this meant this abnormal school was not a one of a kind, right!?

This sudden fact made me stunned, my mind was empty, not sure of what I was supposed to be thinking of.

“The previous top three schools respectively proposed similar huge treasures able to shock this world, as the reward for the top three schools. There will also be a very generous award, so even for the selection of qualified schools, one can already feel the competitive flames.” Chifuyu crossed his arms and explained, “In the last competition, our school was first. I heard the seniors who represented our school each had their share of the high-priced bounty. Also, the school got one of the treasures, and it seems like the treasure was later given to those seniors for some management matters and applications.”

It sounds pretty good doesn’t it? If there were awards, it sounded really good.

In the past few years I had also participated in the major sports competitions every time, and the classes that won will be awarded by the school. Some snacks and beverages will also be given out, I guess it’s probably that kind of event.

“But every time, on the eve of organizing this event, this kind of thing will happen.”

I turned around, and saw Ryan taking out his black illusionary weapon. In an instant, the dual knives fell on the floor issuing a heavy sound, “Just now, the person came here specially to tell us to be careful.”

The pedestrians all around us saw him taking out his dual knives. All of them were very experienced and moved backwards.

I saw a shadow on the ground, just like a big circle, and was nailed to the ground by Ryan as it twisted in pain.

…Twisting? The shadow was twisting!?

“Minor character.” Chifuyu and Miao Miao backed off to one side. Senior dragged me, who was currently in a daze, by the collar to one side where there’s no shadow to enjoy the cool air.

Ryan curved up a strange smile. In the next second, he tied up his hair into a ponytail, suddenly upgrading from a tramp to a sharp-eyed master once again.

“To the one who came here to spy, be ready to be dealt with.” Then, the shadow on the ground suddenly started screaming.

The whole market started to shake.