The blissful weekend life dissipated the moment she returned to school on Monday.
When Xuan Xi walked into the Class A classroom, she immediately sensed something was off. Students were gathered in small groups, whispering among themselves. Some were passing around a piece of paper, others typing rapidly on Communication Stones, their expressions serious.
Xuan Xi walked to her seat by the window in the back row and flipped open her notebook. She habitually glanced toward the front row by the window, but the familiar silver-white figure wasn’t there.
Xuan Xi paused for a moment, scanning the classroom with her gaze. Then she saw someone she recognized weaving through the rows of desks, heading toward the back. She walked slowly to the last row and sat down in the seat next to Xuan Xi.
Usually, Veralis sat there. Now Sigge had taken the seat. ‘They couldn’t have had a fight, could they?’ Xuan Xi thought with unease. If those two actually argued, she would end up having to help both sides.
“Veralis asked for leave.” Sigrdrífa sat down next to Xuan Xi, placing her notebook on the desk, her tone as calm as ever. “So I’ll sit here for this class and take notes for her.”
Xuan Xi watched her sit down, watched her place her pen beside her notebook, watched as Sigge never once looked at her the entire time.
“How did you know Veralis asked for leave?” Xuan Xi asked.
Sigrdrífa opened her notebook. “She messaged me and asked me to take notes for her.”
“Why didn’t she just message me?”
Sigrdrífa looked up, a helpless expression on her face. “…Do you have her as a friend? How was she supposed to message you?”
Xuan Xi opened her mouth to respond. She still didn’t have Veralis as a friend. Since the start of the semester, the friends she had added could be counted on one hand: just Elsa and Sigrdrífa.
Veralis had never asked for her friend code, and she had never asked for Veralis’s either. Even though they sat in the same row, saw each other every day, talked every day, they had never added each other as friends. It was indeed a strange thing when you thought about it.
Xuan Xi lowered her head and flipped open her notebook, but the corners of her lips couldn’t help curling into a smile.
“What are you smiling about?” Sigrdrífa asked.
“Nothing.” Xuan Xi said. “I just think you seem pretty happy that Veralis asked for leave.”
Sigrdrífa’s pen scratched across the paper, as if she had slipped. Without changing her expression, she scribbled over the mark and started writing again. “Not at all.”
“Then why did you sit over here?”
“The front row was too noisy.”
The front row could never be noisy. Because the teacher was strict, it was always quiet there. But Xuan Xi didn’t call her on it.
Elsa turned around from the front row, about to speak, but when she saw Sigrdrífa sitting next to Xuan Xi, she shut her mouth. Her gaze bounced between Sigrdrífa and Xuan Xi a couple of times before she decided to share her information with Xuan Xi.
“Did you guys know,” Elsa said in a low voice, a hint of unease in her dark green eyes, “something big happened at the academy these past few days.”
“What big thing?” Xuan Xi asked.
“A high-grade Mystery Realm Trial went wrong. An exploration team went missing in the realm for three days and was only rescued yesterday. Three people were seriously injured, and one of them is still unconscious.”
Sigge’s pen paused on the paper. “Mystery Realm Trial? That Dragon Tomb one?”
“Not the Dragon Tomb. It’s another realm, in the wasteland to the east, called Echo Valley.” Elsa lowered her voice even further, barely a breath. “The key thing is—they found something in that realm that doesn’t belong to the Western Dragon race.”
“What something?”
Elsa handed over her Communication Stone. The screen showed a blurry photo of carvings on a stone wall. The lines were rough and ancient, like some kind of totem or script. Xuan Xi stared at the photo for a few seconds and felt her heartbeat suddenly quicken.
She had seen similar patterns before, in the diary of Sigge’s elder. That was Eastern Dragon script.
“This carving… was found in the realm?”
“Yes. The rescue team took the photo at the last location where the missing team stayed. They say this carving wasn’t originally part of the realm. It was carved only in recent years, which means someone has been staying inside during that time.” Elsa took back the Communication Stone. “The academy has already locked down the news, but you know how it is—the more you lock something down, the faster it spreads.”
Xuan Xi sat there, replaying the carving in the photo over and over in her mind. Those Eastern Dragon characters. In a realm within the Western Dragon Domain, there were traces left by the Eastern Dragon race.
The bell rang. Cecilia Windwalker walked into the classroom, short black hair and sharp eyes. She stood at the podium, scanned the students in the room, and without any preamble, spoke directly.
“I know you’ve all heard about the Mystery Realm accident.” Her voice was not loud, but every word nailed itself into everyone’s ears. “The academy is investigating. I’ll inform you all when there are results. Until then, I don’t want to hear any irresponsible speculation or rumors.”
The whispered chatter in the classroom instantly vanished.
“Now, class begins.”
Cecilia turned around. With her fingertip, she used wind elements to write a line of words in the air. The characters hung suspended, glowing with a pale blue light.
“Today’s lecture is on the composition of this world.” Her gaze swept across the classroom. “Every one of you here is a dragon, and most of what you’ve been exposed to since childhood is dragons. But I want to make it clear—this world doesn’t have only dragons.”
Xuan Xi flipped open her notebook and wrote “Composition of the World” at the top of a blank page.
Cecilia drew a simplified map of the world in the air. Lines formed by wind elements floated above the podium, pale blue light outlining the contours of continents, the boundaries of oceans, and the spheres of influence of various races.
“This world is divided into four major regions.” Her finger pointed at the westernmost part of the map. “To the west, the territory of the Beast Tribe. The Beast Tribe is split into several major clans, with the Wolf Clan, Bear Clan, and Eagle Clan being the largest. Their physical strength ranks among the highest of all races. They revere power, bloodline, and battle glory. Most of you belong to the Western Dragon race. We share the western continent with the Beast Tribe. Although conflicts between dragons and beastmen occur from time to time, over the past few thousand years, a delicate coexistence has formed. We don’t get along, but neither side can wipe out the other.”
A few low murmurs arose in the classroom. The Beast Tribe—the other half of the western continent’s masters. The Dragon race occupied the northern mountains and skies; the Beast Tribe held the southern plains and forests. The two races occasionally cooperated, occasionally fought, but most of the time, they just minded their own business.
Cecilia’s finger moved to the northern side of the map. “The Northern Ice Fields lie in the extreme north. The environment there is harsh. No major race has settled there, only a few scattered primitive tribes. Not worth focusing on, so I’ll skip over it.”
Her finger moved to the southern side of the map. “The Endless Forest in the south is the territory of the Elf race. Elves have extremely long lifespans and excel at archery and natural magic. They keep to themselves and rarely involve themselves in the continent’s conflicts. But never mistake that for weakness.”
Xuan Xi’s pen wrote down “Elf race.” That was a name many dragons had only heard in legends—it was said their arrows could pierce a dragon’s thick scales, and their high-level magic could even stop time.
“The vast plains in the east are the territories of the Human Kingdoms.” Cecilia’s finger stopped over a large area marked “Human Kingdoms” on the eastern side of the map. “Humans are the most numerous, fastest-breeding, and most aggressively expanding race in this world.”
The classroom fell silent for a moment.
“Humans don’t have a dragon’s scales, a beastman’s strength, or an elf’s magical talent.” Cecilia’s tone held no contempt; she was simply stating facts. “Their bodies are fragile to the point of being easily broken, and their lifespans are as short as morning dew. But they have one ability that no other race possesses—extremely high learning capability. Humans can learn a dragon’s Breathing Method, a beastman’s combat techniques, and an elf’s natural magic. Although it takes them dozens of times longer to learn these things, they are not afraid. Humans learn everything, are willing to learn anything, and that is what has driven their technology and power to develop at breakneck speed.”
She paused.
“A hundred years ago, the Human Kingdoms’ territory was only one-third of what it is now. It has expanded to its current size in just over a hundred years—the blink of an eye in a dragon’s lifetime. Meanwhile, our Dragon race’s territory has not expanded by a single inch in those hundred years.”
The classroom was silent, the only sound the wind rustling through the leaves outside the window.
“Finally, and most importantly.” Cecilia’s finger moved to the center of the map. “The Central Continent is the most chaotic place in this world. It does not belong to any race. Dragons, beastmen, elves, humans—all have footholds there, but none can overcome the others. There is no law, no order, only fists and interests.”
Xuan Xi looked at the area in the center of the map, a patchwork of overlapping colors like a piece of cloth dipped in different dyes. Each color tried to cover the others, but none succeeded.
A student raised a hand. “Teacher, you talked about the Beast Tribe, the Elf race, the Humans, and the Central Continent. What about the Eastern Dragon Domain? Doesn’t the Eastern Dragon race count?”
The classroom fell still for a moment. Xuan Xi’s pen stopped on the paper. Cecilia glanced at the student. Her finger moved away from the Central Continent, tracing an arc through the air, crossing the Storm Sea, and landing at another spot on the map.
“The Eastern Dragon Domain lies on the other side of the Storm Sea, facing the Human Kingdoms across the water. The Eastern Dragon race never shares territory with any other race. They believe: all under heaven belongs to the king. Their territory belongs only to themselves. That is why I did not include it in the ‘four major regions’—the Eastern Dragon Domain is not on this continent.”
The classroom fell silent again. The Eastern Dragon Domain—no dragon was unfamiliar with the term, but very few truly understood it.
“Teacher, what’s the difference between the Eastern Dragon race and the Western Dragon race?” another student asked.
Cecilia’s gaze swept across the classroom, pausing for a moment between the first row and the last. “Are you sure you want to hear?”
No one said no.
“The Eastern Dragon race and the Western Dragon race were once of the same origin, but they diverged so long ago that they have become two completely different branches.” Cecilia’s fingertip traced the outline of an Eastern Dragon in the air—a long, slender body, no wings, five claws, coiling among clouds. “Their cultivation system is not based on elements but primarily on Spiritual Qi. Their social structure is not like the Beast Tribe’s clans or the Western Dragon’s families, but more similar to the Human Kingdoms’ dynastic system. They have their own script, their own cultivation methods, and a complete civilization system that is staggering to behold.”
A few low murmurs arose in the classroom. Dynasty—a term that felt both foreign and distant to Western Dragons, who were used to dozens of families ruling their own territories.
Elsa raised her hand. “Teacher, then are the Eastern Dragons stronger than the Western Dragons?”
Cecilia looked at her. “Stronger or weaker depends on the angle you measure from. The Eastern Dragon race’s Qi System far surpasses the Western Dragon race’s Elemental System in terms of healing effects and sustained combat. However, the Western Dragon race’s elemental breath is far more destructive in a frontal battle than anything the Eastern Dragons can match. The two types can only be said to have their own strengths.”
She paused.
“But one thing is certain. Three thousand years ago, the Eastern and Western Dragons were one family. Three thousand years later, the Western Dragons have split into dozens of large and small families, constantly fighting each other. Meanwhile, the Eastern Dragons remain a complete, unified dynasty, centered on the Five Main Direct Bloodlines.”
No one in the classroom spoke, quietly awaiting the teacher’s next words.
“Their dynasty reveres the Azure Dragon Clan as the highest, with the other four bloodlines as support. The supreme ruler of the dynasty is called the Dragon Emperor, inherited by each generation of the Azure Dragon’s direct bloodline. Below the Dragon Emperor is the Council of Elders, composed of the heads of each bloodline, with layers of enfeoffment, orderly and structured.”
Cecilia retracted the wind elements. The map and dragon silhouette in the air slowly faded.
“But you don’t need to know too much about the Eastern Dragons. Just know that on the other side of the Storm Sea, there exists a dragon civilization older, more unified, and more complete than ours.” Her gaze swept across the classroom. “Perhaps one day, some of you will go there. Perhaps you will never go. But knowing of their existence is the first step to understanding this world.”
She paused.
“That’s all for today. Class dismissed.”
The usual post-class chatter did not immediately erupt. Students sat in their seats, some lost in thought, some staring at the words they had written in their notebooks. Xuan Xi sat in the back row, staring at the words “Eastern Dragon Domain” on her notebook. Her pen hovered above the paper, not moving for a long time.
Sigrdrífa sat beside her, amethyst eyes fixed on the blackboard, saying nothing. But her hand, under the desk, where Xuan Xi couldn’t see, gently grasped Xuan Xi’s hand.