The morning sun slanted over the royal capital, bathing the magnificent campus of Ikerite Academy in light.
It was another day full of hope.
On the first-floor balcony garden of the School of Sages dormitory building, verdant vines climbed along the wooden railing, their leaves gleaming with vibrant green, while elegant potted plants lined the deck below.
The fragrance of flowers mingled with the scent of fresh soil. A flock of small birds chirped on the open-air wooden balcony, occasionally hopping onto nearby stone tiles and singing with lively zest, as if celebrating the dawn of a new day.
The two-week break had passed in the blink of an eye.
Today, Lanqi was finally heading back to the School of Sages' academic building to resume regular classes.
Even getting out of bed that morning had been a bit of a struggle.
Over these two weeks, Lanqi had spent most of his time shuttling between his dormitory and Talia's home.
He basically spent every morning undergoing high-intensity card-making training under Talia's supervision.
While staying at Talia's place, his card explosion rate had dropped significantly.
Only later, when he did blow up a card and thought all was lost, did he discover that Talia had set up a protective barrier long beforehand.
Scaring him earlier had merely been her way of pushing him into a state of total immersion.
Similarly, Talia had instructed Lanqi that upon returning, his recent card-making practice should focus on studying Sealing magic, and that he should craft a Sealing-type magic card for his registered card maker exam.
She was not particularly adept at sealing arts, so much of the Sealing magic would require Lanqi to research it on his own.
As for the "Hairstyle Transformation Magic," she had already begun analyzing the principles of the original "Demonic Beast Fur Processing Magic," and would share them with Lanqi once she made progress.
However, because this spell originated from a Tier 4 Shadow World, even if crafted, the fully effective finished product would be Tier 4, so Lanqi could not yet take part in making it.
Thus, Lanqi had purchased a protective barrier set of his own and installed it in the card-making laboratory he had converted from a storage room in his dorm.
Every afternoon, he put in overtime delving into sealing arts, even developing a new type of magic card in the process. In the evenings, after a short rest, he would go out to practice running.
Talia had told him that he had better excel at both sprinting and long-distance endurance, or else it would be all too easy for someone to chase him down and beat him to death.
Though Lanqi didn't understand why a kind soul like himself would ever be hunted down, he still trusted Talia's guidance.
After all, Lanqi was now a firm believer in the demon race pedagogy.
Through Lanqi's research over the past few days and his consultations at the academy, he discovered that very few people specialized in Sealing magic. It had an extraordinarily complex compositional theory, along with severe limitations.
Either a higher-tier caster had to use it against a lower-tier enemy to produce a potent seal, or it could only inflict a weak or fleeting seal against an enemy of the same tier.
Any sealing art that defied this principle demanded an exorbitant price to trigger and take effect—some even required sacrificing one's life to seal an enemy.
"A sealing art that ignores tiers... I'll have to start with minor sealing functions first."
Lanqi murmured to himself on the morning balcony as he fed the birds.
Although he was completely awake, his mind was still occupied by the sealing arts he had been immersed in over the past two weeks.
Quietly watering the flowers beside him, the Poet of Great Love cast a glance his way.
Lanqi occasionally summoned her to act as his card-making assistant, so she too had acquired a basic understanding of sealing arts.
Sealing enemies of a lower tier had little practical value. Meanwhile, if one wanted to ignore tiers to seal the magic cards of a stronger enemy—or even seal the person entirely—a magic card capable of achieving that would probably have to be Epic grade at minimum.
It was not something Lanqi could hope to create on his own in the short term.
Still, imagining Lanqi mastering sealing arts in the future, banishing an enemy's key magic card in the middle of battle... that certainly sounded like a wonderful way to wipe the smile off an opponent's face.
"Keep at it, Lanqi. You have to become the ultimate Banish Saint."
Having finally finished watering the flowers, the Poet of Great Love crouched down, patted Lanqi's shoulder, and offered her blessing.
"...?"
Lanqi stared blankly at her.
With a suppressed chuckle, the Poet of Great Love shook her head and dissolved into orange motes of light, returning into his body.
On the balcony bathed in bird song and floral fragrance, Lanqi tilted his head, thoroughly bewildered for quite a while.
...
After tidying his clothes, Lanqi left the dormitory building and headed toward the academic building he hadn't visited in a while.
A truly good student must never skip a single class without reason; it showed respect to one's teachers and set a positive example for others.
At the heart of the School of Sages' grounds stood a three-story stone teaching building. Its dark exterior walls bore the classical tone of limestone, while the stone pillars, arched windows, intricate carved reliefs, and meticulously polished wrought-iron railings were all deeply stamped with the hallmarks of Victorian architecture.
The hallways were steeped in an academic atmosphere, as though one could faintly hear the whispers of ancient sages.
Following the familiar path, Lanqi stepped into the classroom, greeted by the chatter of his classmates.
"I don't know who's doing renovations in our dormitory building, but you can always hear explosions in the afternoon."
"Contraband isn't even allowed into the dorms, so it's really weird."
"The dorm manager seems pretty spooked. He even applied to the school recently to purchase an extra set of fire-fighting equipment."
Noticing Lanqi's arrival, they immediately turned their eyes toward him.
Their gazes held neither worship nor fear, but something in between—more akin to the feeling of discovering a new, rare species known as "Lanqi."
Lanqi made his way down the stepped aisle and naturally took his usual seat in the back row of the classroom.
Just sitting down and looking at the view ahead made him sigh with feeling—two weeks ago, in that dreamy academy, he had opened his eyes in roughly this exact spot.
Any student in the front rows trying to cheat could never escape his eagle eye of justice.
Then Lanqi shook his head, realizing that he was back in hell; this was Ikerite Academy.
"Good morning, Hyperion."
Lanqi turned his head and greeted Hyperion with a smile.
"Good morning."
This time, Hyperion responded to him candidly.
During the days they hadn't seen each other, Hyperion had come to class conscientiously every day, alone as always.
Now that Lanqi was here, she finally had a companion beside her once again.
"How have you been these past days?" Hyperion asked, looking at him.
Sensing he was busy, she hadn't gone looking for him.
"Fulfilling and real," Lanqi replied with a bright laugh.
Not only had he spent each day immersed in card-making practice, but classmates had also knocked on his door to visit from time to time, giving him a genuine taste of lively campus life.
"Lanqi, did you turn down invitations from a lot of teams?" Hyperion asked with a hint of guilt.
She had already heard.
Quite a few teams had approached Lanqi, hoping he would join them and offering generous terms.
Yet Lanqi hadn't agreed to a single one.
She knew it had to be because of her.
Chapter 93