Chapter 18 (1/2): A False History

Qiu Meng felt exhausted as she walked out of the trial grounds. Just as she was about to give out, she suddenly noticed a glow emanating from the back of her hand.

She looked down. There, a faintly glowing seal had appeared.

The seal was shaped like a bow, radiating a pale golden light.

“Hmm…”

Qiu Meng blinked. She raised her hand to take another look.

“It looks like… this must be the seal for completing the trial, right?”

But just as she was about to touch it, a jolt of pain made her arm tremble.

Qiu Meng’s face paled slightly, and her shoulders involuntarily hunched.

‘I have to… get to the infirmary quickly…’

She looked out at the trial grounds. Beyond them lay a wide corridor made of marble and quartz. On both sides of the corridor, several blue portals were arranged in sequence along the walls.

Each portal had a corresponding number floating in front of it. Some were still lit, while others had already dimmed.

Just as Qiu Meng had taken a few steps out, she saw a woman wearing a long, aristocratic-style coat emerge from behind another door.

The woman’s coat had a speck of dust on the hem, a light cloak draped over her shoulders, and she carried a short rod that resembled a pointer.

“Hello…?”

Qiu Meng greeted her hesitantly.

The woman noticed her too.

She first glanced at the bow-shaped seal on the back of Qiu Meng’s hand, then looked at the leather gauntlet hidden under her sleeve. Her eyebrow arched slightly.

“A student from the Physics Department? Out this fast?”

Just then, another door opened on the opposite side.

A man with round-rimmed glasses, clutching a stack of academic test papers, leisurely walked out.

He wore a long robe and round-rimmed glasses, with slightly disheveled brown hair.

But his demeanor didn’t seem to be that of an ordinary scholar.

He looked at Qiu Meng, his gaze immediately landing on the seal on her hand.

“A bow-shaped seal?”

The scholar pushed up his glasses.

“Did you pass the physical trial using a crossbow?”

Qiu Meng was taken aback.

“Who are you…?”

She tried to raise her hand to point, but the moment she moved her left arm, her expression shifted.

“Umm… well, I really think I need to get to the infirmary first.”

“Hold on.”

The scholar stepped closer. His gaze was no longer on her face but fixed entirely on the sleeve crossbow structure on her wrist.

“That weapon of yours is quite interesting.”

Qiu Meng instinctively took half a step back.

The aristocratic female examiner also approached.

On her chest was a badge reading Examiner No. 208, with the name “Ni Leida” written on it.

It seemed she had just finished testing candidate number 208.

She looked Qiu Meng over from head to toe and muttered under her breath:

“She doesn’t have any decent magical fluctuations, yet she has the seal for passing the physical trial on her hand… interesting.”

Qiu Meng looked at these two people. A very clear, ominous premonition was welling up inside her.

One of them looked like the type who would throw a student into a magic array just to observe the reaction.

The other looked like the type who would treat the student themselves as a magic array to be studied.

Both were dangerous.

But the scholar seemed completely unaware of his own dangerous aura. He continued,

“Little miss, if you plan on using that sleeve crossbow as your primary weapon, you’re still lacking.”

“Huh?”

“The advantage of a sleeve crossbow lies in concealment, finding the right moment for a surprise attack…”

Then the scholar pointed at her wrist.

“It shouldn’t be your main weapon. The correct usage is to prepare a conspicuous weapon, use it to draw the enemy’s judgment, and then use the sleeve crossbow as a hidden tool.”

Qiu Meng lowered her head to look at her sleeve crossbow, then at her empty waist.

“But… if I could swing those conventional weapons, I wouldn’t have to rely on just a dagger.”

“That’s true…”

The scholar nodded very seriously.

“But you still need to choose a weapon that can sustain a frontal stance, and figure out how to conceal this sleeve crossbow better. Otherwise, if you run into an experienced opponent, they’ll know at a glance that your killing move is hidden in your sleeve.”

Qiu Meng silently committed his words to memory.

It did sound reasonable.

Ni Leida, arms crossed, clicked her tongue softly.

“This Academy hasn’t had a student who seriously uses bows, crossbows, or hidden weapons in over forty years, right?”

The scholar nodded.

“After all, those weapons were born in the Holy Kingdom Era. Back then, magical devices hadn’t completely replaced mechanical structures, so there were many children learning these skills.”

He paused, his voice dropping a little.

“Unfortunately, most of the professors who understood this craft died in battle during the Dark Decade. In the subsequent United Kingdom era, magic developed too quickly. These things were naturally classified as outdated technology.”

Ni Leida shrugged.

“Who still plays with this stuff, anyway?”

Qiu Meng said in a small voice,

“This isn’t ‘stuff’… This is a gift my mother made for me…”

“Your mother…? Little miss, does your family have some kind of lost technique?!”

The scholar’s eyes suddenly lit up.

Qiu Meng: “…”

The scholar took another step forward.

“But more than the exam, you need to supplement your knowledge of weapon usage. Come with me. I’ll take you to the library, and I can observe your weapon while I’m at it.”

“Huh?”

Qiu Meng looked up hesitantly.

“Now?”

“Of course.”

“But my arm…”

“You can get treatment anytime. But losing a child as unique and talented as you would be a great loss for the Records Department.”

The scholar said it quite naturally.

The expression on Qiu Meng’s face instantly turned into one of someone looking at a madman.

Ni Leida also made a strange face.

“Bookworm, are you forgetting she just finished her exam? And her arm looks like it’s about to fall off, doesn’t it?”

The scholar lowered his head to seriously examine Qiu Meng.

“She looks fine to me.”

“…Just as the scholar was about to continue his argument, a figure emerged from the direction of the Physics Department trial grounds.”

Seeing the person, the scholar smiled and said,

“Oh, if it isn’t Roger… why are you so dusty?”

He was wearing light armor covered in dust, the hem of his clothes singed by flames in a small spot, and a heavy greatsword was resting on his shoulder. Although he had voluntarily surrendered earlier, he looked like he hadn’t been seriously injured. At most, he just had mixed feelings.

As soon as Roger came out, he saw Qiu Meng being blocked in the hallway by a scholar and Ni Leida.

Qiu Meng suddenly realized that this was the examiner who had just overseen her trial. His name was Roger.

Her eyes lit up instantly.

She looked at Roger with a pleading expression.

Roger sighed.

“What are you two doing here?”

The scholar answered proudly,

“I’ve found a new research direction!”

Qiu Meng felt a chill run down her spine.

‘I… I’m a research subject…?’

Roger frowned.

“Don’t give the kid a hard time. She can’t even use magic. Letting her go with you is basically turning her into a test subject, isn’t it?”

The scholar was silent for a moment, then rubbed his hands together.

“Fine, I’ll do it for your sake.”

He said, then turned back to Qiu Meng.

“At least tell me later how your weapon feels in combat, like if there are any places where it’s awkward to use.”

“Of course! I’ll even pay to buy a merchant guild-made weapon, and you can use it to compare. Then you can give me a comparison report or something. All of that is very valuable to me. Have a good rest, I’ll be going now.”

“Hey… you!”

Before Qiu Meng could finish, the scholar had already turned and left. After walking a short distance, he flicked his fingertip.

A star-shaped mark slowly became invisible on the corner of Qiu Meng’s clothes and then vanished quickly.

She finally breathed a sigh of relief, then immediately turned to Roger.

“Um… could you tell me where the infirmary is…?”

Roger pointed to the corridor on the right.

“The infirmary is at the end.”

“Okay.”

Qiu Meng nodded and hurried off towards the infirmary.

Roger watched her retreating figure, his brow slowly furrowing.

Beside him, Ni Leida looked at Roger with confusion.

‘What’s up with this old man… Why does he care about her?’

‘In the Academy, most students think of Roger as the type who’d tell you to keep fighting as long as you’re not dead.’

‘But this time, why is he so concerned…?’

At the same time, Roger was thinking about their fight and her technique. He murmured,

“I hope she doesn’t drop out too soon.”

***

Qiu Meng endured the pain all the way to the infirmary door.

“Finally made it…”

She reached out to push the door.

The next instant, speckles of starlight suddenly flickered around her.

“Huh?”

The starlight wasn’t falling from the ceiling. It was spreading from the edge of her clothes. Dot-like silver lights scattered like grains of sand, rapidly connecting into a fine crack in space.

Before Qiu Meng could react, a hand reached out from within the crack.

The hand grabbed the edge of the crack and slowly emerged.

Then an arm.

Then half a shoulder.

Then, the scholar who had just left squeezed his way out of the spatial crack.

Qiu Meng froze completely.

“What the hell?!”

The scholar, as if completely unaware how terrifying his entrance was, looked down at the sleeve crossbow on her wrist, a look of intense interest on his face.

“Hehe, little miss, how about lending me that weapon for some research?”

“A pervert!!!”

Instinctively, Qiu Meng kicked.

THUMP!

Her foot landed squarely on his face.

But his face disappeared from the spot as if swallowed by water, the next moment popping out of another spatial crack beside her.

The scholar was still grinning.

“Good reflexes… little miss, let me just have a good look, hehehe~”

Qiu Meng’s eyes widened.

“What kind of weird old man are you?!”

“Lu Xien.”

The scholar pushed up his glasses.

“Head of the Records Department, part-time lecturer for some theoretical courses, and occasional examiner. Not a weird old man, a scholar.”

“You just crawled out of my clothes!”

“Spatial mark teleportation. The anchor point was just a tiny bit too close.”

“…!!!!!”

Lu Xien looked around, seeming to just remember something.

“Oh, right. This is the infirmary. You came for treatment.”

“You finally remembered?!”

“Then I won’t disturb you any longer.”

Qiu Meng was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when Lu Xien sat back down on the edge of the bed and snapped his fingers.

CLICK.

The lock on the infirmary door clicked shut automatically.

An isolation barrier extended.

“How about this.” Lu Xien pointed to the treatment curtain in the middle. “You get treated over there, and I’ll just look at your weapon from this side of the curtain. Right next to you, I won’t take it away. That works, right?”

“No way!”

Qiu Meng retracted her left arm to her chest. Even that small movement made her wince in pain.

“This was made by my mother. Unless my mother agrees, I’ll never give it to you!”

Lu Xien made a troubled face.

“A mama’s girl… that’s a tough one.”

“That’s not the issue with being a mama’s girl!”

Lu Xien took off his glasses and casually brushed back the slightly messy hair from his forehead.

Strangely, without his glasses, he didn’t look like an old man at all. His face looked to be about thirty, but long hours of staying up, researching, and being unkempt made him look like an elderly man.

Qiu Meng was stunned.

“Huh?”

Lu Xien shrugged.

“I just holed up in my research lab for two months. Don’t be so surprised. A few months goes by in a flash. Letting me research it for a little while will be over in a flash too.”

Qiu Meng stared at him for two seconds.

“No!”

“Really not?”

“No!!”

“I can write an IOU.”

“No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“I can promise not to take it apart.”

“You just crawled out of a spatial crack. I don’t believe your promises.”

Lu Xien was silent for a moment.

“Fair point.”

Just as the atmosphere was tense, a knock came from outside.

Knock knock.

Lu Xien perked up his ears.

“Oh, someone’s here.”

He glanced at Qiu Meng, then at the sleeve crossbow, a look of deep regret on his face.

“Oh well. Fate will bring us together again… But little miss, you’re so small, yet your body is so developed. I’d love to study that too~”

With that, he leaned back against the wall, and his entire body vanished into it like a drop of water sinking into a lake.

Qiu Meng stood there, silent for a long time.

Only then did she whisper,

“I absolutely do NOT want to meet that person by fate!!!”

—

Meanwhile, outside the Records Department.

Ni Leida pushed open the door. She had intended to ask Lu Xien for some historical materials to look up information about that child who couldn’t resonate with magic at all but could still use the magical sleeve crossbow.

But the Records Department was empty.

“Not… where is he?”

Ni Leida frowned.

“Where did that old coot run off to this time?”

She rolled her eyes. A supposedly reasonable inference quickly formed in her mind.

“He didn’t fall into a drain again, did he?”

The next moment, a spatial fluctuation shimmered behind her.

Lu Xien stepped out of mid-air.

Ni Leida’s shoulder jerked in surprise, and she immediately spun around.

“You old coot, what’s with the shoe print on your face?”

Lu Xien touched his face.

“Picked a slightly inconvenient position for a friendly conversation.”

Ni Leida narrowed her eyes.

“Oh? This time, did your head pop out of the floor first and get stepped on, or did you just pop out of someone’s clothes?”

“The second one, more or less.”

“You really have no sense of decency for your age.”

“I’m not old.”

After saying this, Lu Xien’s gaze fell on the book in Ni Leida’s hands.

“What’s that you’ve got?”

“Materials related to that kid.”

“Let me see.”

Before Ni Leida could react, the book had been whisked away by Lu Xien from a distance.

“Hey!”

She reached out and grabbed his tie.

“You think you’re just going to walk away? What am I supposed to eat?”

Lu Xien looked down at the tie she was holding.

“Can’t you be a bigger person?”

“Don’t call me your elder. How old would I have to be to be your elder?”

“Fine, you’re rough with your hands and petty besides.”

Lu Xien snapped his fingers, preparing to teleport.

Ni Leida immediately summoned Water Shackles. Silver-blue water flowed, locking his wrist and tie.

Lu Xien raised his hand and activated Flame Prison.

The water vapor instantly evaporated.

The next second, he had vanished from Ni Leida’s sight, leaving only the untied tie floating gently down to the floor.

Ni Leida looked down at her now-empty hand, then at the empty bookshelf.

“The person in charge of the Records Department stealing the records books himself?”

She was silent for a moment, then finally sighed.

‘I’ll have to go borrow books from the Student Council…’