“I absolutely don’t want to have anything to do with this person!!!”
After waiting half an hour to confirm that the Inverse Person was gone, Qiu Meng felt at ease and walked to the healing array in the medical room.
She had originally thought this array would be like the medical equipment from her previous life, transfusing blood. But when she stepped onto the pale green circular formation, she found that it used mana to permeate her body and slowly repair her wounds.
After a short while, her left arm, which had been hurting so much she could barely lift it, gradually regained feeling.
“Phew… I can finally move it now…”
Qiu Meng’s expression was complicated.
‘Hmm… but what do I do next?’
‘Even though the trial just ended and I should go report in… it’s already 1:30 PM… I should go grab something to eat first.’
‘After all, this is a brand new academy life… Since I’ve already passed the exam, it shouldn’t be a big deal to look around the campus a little, right?’
Qiu Meng quickly convinced herself and stepped out of the medical room.
As soon as she walked down the corridor a short distance, she ran into Sailafei.
That silver-haired student council member was leaning against the corner of the hallway, holding a document bag in her hand.
Seeing Qiu Meng, she first confirmed the other’s complexion, then looked down at the name on the document bag.
“You’re Qiu Meng?”
“Mm… that’s me.”
Sailafei pulled out a piece of paper stamped with the academy’s crest from the bag and handed it over.
“This is your admission letter.”
Qiu Meng was stunned for a moment before quickly reaching out with both hands to take it.
The parchment bore the blue-silver emblem of the Magic Academy, with small anti-counterfeit runes flowing along the edges. Her name was written in the middle, and below it was her department.
Physics Department.
‘I really got in!’
“Thank you!”
She carefully put the admission letter into her bag.
Sailafei waved her hand.
“Why thank me… Thank yourself. You got in with your own hard work. Take good care of this. If you lose it, you’ll have to ask the President to issue a replacement.”
She paused, as if recalling something painful.
“I don’t want to work overtime.”
“Is there a map here?”
Sailafei pointed to the back of the letter she had just put away.
“The back.”
Qiu Meng quickly took it out again and flipped it over.
Sure enough, the back of the admission letter was a simple campus map. It marked the teaching building, medical room, cafeteria, training ground, dormitory building, and library, along with several areas highlighted with red triangles and small text.
Written next to them: Freshmen, please do not approach.
Qiu Meng stared at the map for a while and found it much more complex than she had imagined.
The buildings within the academy weren’t laid out like a university from her previous life. Instead, they were distributed along canals, water courts, towers, and old magical defense axes. Many corridors seemed to lead somewhere, but going around would just return to the starting point.
Some areas were clearly very close, yet could only be reached through a teleportation array.
“Hmm… where should I go next?”
Qiu Meng muttered quietly.
Sailafei glanced at the time.
“It’s almost 2 PM now… About time to grab something to eat.”
With that, she turned and left.
Qiu Meng watched her back, then looked down at the map again.
“Cafeteria… where was the cafeteria again…”
Before she could figure it out, she randomly picked a direction that seemed to lead to the main building and started walking slowly along the map.
Before she got far, she spotted a familiar red-haired figure.
Liuna was standing at the other end of the corridor, holding a small map herself, her brows furrowed.
The moment their eyes met, both were momentarily stunned.
Qiu Meng reacted first, looking at her with a hint of curiosity.
“Hey, you passed too, right?”
Liuna put her hands behind her back and lifted her chin slightly.
“Mm.”
Qiu Meng thought for a moment and asked, “How was your exam? Mine was a bit tough.”
At the mention of the exam, Liuna’s expression immediately soured.
She recalled that examiner wearing an aristocratic coat, with a strange accent, who hadn’t held back at all.
She gritted her teeth lightly, silently marking a grudge.
‘That person…’
‘When I get the chance, I’ll pay it back twofold!’
On the surface, Liuna just let out a sigh.
“I’m… just wandering around.”
Qiu Meng blinked.
“I see. I’m looking for the cafeteria.”
She held up her map, her expression serious.
“It’s just that this map is a bit complicated… I can’t really read it.”
Liuna nodded like she had found a kindred spirit.
“I think so too.”
She unfolded her own map, ready to compare routes with Qiu Meng.
And then—
She stepped into thin air.
“Huh?”
The red-haired girl tumbled down the staircase beside her.
Qiu Meng stood there in silence for two seconds.
“Who reads a map while walking down stairs…”
Despite her speechlessness, she quickly chased after her and helped Liuna, who had fallen onto the landing, to her feet.
“Are you okay?”
Liuna’s face was flushed, either from the fall or the embarrassment.
“Ah… I wasn’t watching where I was going…”
Just as Qiu Meng helped her up, footsteps came from below the stairs.
Ailuwei was walking up, holding a bread stuffed with thick meat patties and vegetables. She took a bite, looked up, and saw Qiu Meng supporting Liuna, both of them stuck in a rather awkward position on the stairs.
From the fall, Liuna’s skirt had gotten a bit disheveled.
The scene was suddenly very delicate.
Ailuwei stopped.
“Hmm?”
Her gaze lingered on the two for a moment, her expression gradually turning disdainful.
“Tch… you two…”
Qiu Meng didn’t catch on yet.
“What’s wrong?”
The next second, Liuna finally realized her skirt was out of place. Her entire face turned crimson.
“Eek!!!”
She immediately straightened her skirt and quickly sat down to the side.
And Qiu Meng finally understood why Ailuwei had given them that look.
The air was silent for a moment.
Then she chose the simplest way to handle it—run.
“I-I have things to do! I’m off!”
She had barely run a few steps when she collided head-on with a girl with silver-purple hair.
“Ah!”
Both staggered.
The silver-purple-haired girl stepped back two paces, steadied herself, and held her forehead.
“Ow… ow ow…”
Qiu Meng quickly bowed to apologize.
“Sorry!”
With that, she continued her escape.
The silver-purple-haired girl stood there, stunned.
“Oh… it’s fine…”
Before she could finish, her luggage, caught by inertia, slid down the stairs behind her.
The suitcase was quite large, its dark leather shell wrapped around a metal frame, with several magical fixation straps tied around it. It rolled down the stairs, gaining speed, heading straight for Liuna, who had just sat up.
Ailuwei reacted quickly, immediately stepping aside to avoid it.
Liuna didn’t even know what was happening before the suitcase slammed into her abdomen.
“Ugh!”
She bent over, clutching her stomach.
The silver-purple-haired girl’s face went pale. She immediately rushed down the stairs.
“Hey, you—!”
But she was running too fast, tripped over her own feet, and was also tripped by Liuna’s gun, sending her flying forward.
To make matters worse, a heavy greatsword was strapped to the suitcase.
The fixation straps came loose during the fall, and the greatsword slid out with the momentum, its blade landing squarely on Liuna’s head with a thud.
Liuna collapsed on the spot.
By then, Qiu Meng had already run far away and had no idea about the chain of disasters that had occurred behind her.
Ailuwei stood on the stairs, finishing her last bite of bread, silently watching the chaos before her.
The silver-purple-haired girl also rolled all the way to the bottom of the stairs, but luckily Ailuwei reached out and steadied her, preventing her from kissing the ground.
“Ah, thanks…”
The girl had just thanked her and stood up, and was about to turn and get her luggage when she accidentally stepped on Liuna’s hand.
Liuna, who had been unconscious, was jolted awake by the pain.
“…!!!”
“S-sorry! Sorry, sorry!”
The silver-purple-haired girl quickly crouched down, flustered, to check her hand.
“Um, would you mind if I take a look?”
Liuna sat on the ground, her right hand still trembling, her expression like she was half-dead.
“It’s fine… go ahead.”
The girl looked at it carefully, then let out a sigh of relief.
“It’s okay, just a little dirty…”
Liuna: “…”
She completely didn’t understand what this person was worried about.
After confirming Liuna’s injury wasn’t too serious, the silver-purple-haired girl immediately stood up to sort out her luggage.
“Right, the luggage…”
She frantically straightened the suitcase and shoved the scattered clothes and books back in.
It was clear she was more worried about not having her room prepared and getting some strange label from her roommate than about having just bumped into someone.
“I’ll be going now… I’m really sorry!”
With that, she pushed the suitcase and hurried away.
Liuna sat on the stair, watching her retreating figure. After a long pause, she managed to say:
“She sure left fast…”
Just as she tried to stand up, she noticed the greatsword lying on the ground.
That person had forgotten her weapon.
Liuna sighed.
“Unbelievable…”
She reached out and grabbed the hilt, only to nearly pull herself down.
The weight of this sword was almost comparable to the greatsword Rosa used to wield.
She put in an enormous effort to barely lift it.
“Is this person Rosa’s long-lost sister?”
She gritted her teeth and stood up.
But when she mentioned Rosa, her voice unconsciously dropped a little.
Soon, however, she forced her attention back to the present.
‘I have to… return this sword to that person!’
Greatsword in hand, she chased after the direction the silver-purple-haired girl had gone.
After walking for a while, Liuna realized she was lost.
Ten minutes later.
She confirmed she was completely lost.
She was sure she had only taken two turns, walked for a bit, then turned left… yet in front of her stood an unfamiliar tower.
The tower was built behind the water court, its body made of white stone and bronze magical arrays. At the entrance, there was no student nameplate like in the regular dorms, only a heavy magical door.
Liuna stared at the door, hesitating.
“Huh… is this it?”
She stepped forward and pushed.
The door didn’t budge.
“Hmm… can’t open it.”
She was about to give up when she noticed a small panel by the door. The panel was engraved with many complex symbols, resembling some kind of identity verification device.
Liuna remembered seeing similar structures at the dormitory entrances along the way.
“As expected from a high-class city dormitory!”
She fiddled with it for a bit, then tried injecting a little mana.
To be precise, it was the residual reaction of Natural Essence within her body.
A pale green light lit up along the panel’s lines.
Click.