Chapter 8: The Dazzling Beast of Midsummer
In the morning, golden clouds emerged in the sky outside the window, a unique beauty created as the morning sunshine illuminated the clouds from below.
Occasionally, the sound of flapping wings passed by outside. Hexia sat in the dormitory's living room, with a large spider dozing off on a book on the big table, its body curled up. There were plenty of books beneath and beside it, which were originally in the room, while she also had a brand-new one next to her, with a feather inside that resembled a flame.
The Extreme Flame Bird Feather, from the Natural Sequence 6 Extreme Flame Bird, was very rare and could be used to make certain Transcendent items, Spiritual Medicine, or to promote some low-rank bird-like Transcendent creatures to a flame-related Profession.
As it was a gift for the new students, it would be particularly precious. The books and feathers given out every month afterward might not be as rare. However, such events were often like lotteries. Hexia read notes left by upperclassmen, and someone had mentioned that they had once received feathers of the Sixth Rank for two consecutive months.
"I'm so envious of this guy. —— from the 203rd session, bushy-browed"
"During my four years at the academy, I've only gotten a Sixth Rank feather once, the rest were mostly Fourth Rank. —— from the 215th session, Red Cane"
The two lines below were comments written by later students on top of the notes from previous ones. These notes not only contained records from those students but also various comments written by subsequent students, which could sometimes be quite interesting.
As for the book next to Hexia, it was titled "The Homeland of the Snow Wing Sparrow," which vividly detailed the life habits of the Transcendent bird species Snow Wing Sparrow, their direction of advancement, and the touching story of how they were first discovered and bred; the content was so engaging that it was easy to read through without even realizing it.
Students living in the Ring Bird Wind Tower would receive a book each month, along with a special feather tucked inside. Many of the books were related to birds, but there were also books on the habits of other Transcendent creatures, often including stories of those animals and experiences of constant selection and trials during their upbringing, slowly letting people understand the past, comprehend the difficulties, and accumulate wisdom.
After settling into the dormitory, Hexia was immediately captivated by the existing books in the room, and almost the entire morning passed in this manner. It was not until around noon, when she felt a bit hungry, that she remembered to eat something.
Upon reaching the kitchen and starting the pre-set parameters, a sound of ignition soon came from within. After waiting for a few minutes, a steaming serving of bread with a side of fried pork chops and vegetable sticks was ready to serve.
The dormitory kitchen would automatically store a small amount of food ingredients, making cooking convenient, but due to the limited variety of ingredients, the dishes were not very diverse. If one desired something special, they would need to go to the Upper Gate seventh-floor restaurant, or look elsewhere within the academy.
Each dormitory restaurant in the academy offered a different style of catering. For instance, the lakeside boathouse specialized in seafood dishes, while the forest treehouse had an abundance of fruits, and the Ring Bird Wind Tower was renowned for its baking and egg dishes, such as various styles of cakes, egg tarts, and bread.
The school encouraged students to dine in different dormitory restaurants to foster interactions and exchanges, which were also prerequisites for the slow formation of 'bonds' and friendships.
Attracted by the aroma of the food, the sleeping spider woke up, jumped down from the table effortlessly, crawled along the wall to the kitchen, and then perched on Hexia's head, eyeing the lunch she had just served.
"Hmm, I almost forgot I need to feed you, big guy." Hexia held the plate with one hand and patted the spider with the other. She then placed the plate down in the living room and ordered another serving. Discover hidden content at empire
While enjoying the warm bread, Hexia cut small pieces of the fried pork to feed the large spider in front of her, watching it chew slowly and savor the taste. In reality, the creature could go days without eating and be perfectly fine, but it would always come running for a share whenever it saw Hexia eating.
Originally, the spider's owner should have been Botis, but after spending so much time with Hexia, it gradually forgot about its own master. Eventually, Botis simply handed over this 'rebellious child' to Hexia to care for, having kept it in a suitcase until today when it was finally let out.
Originally, there was also a small white snake that had always been around Hexia, but recently, the snake had entered some kind of hibernation mode. According to Botis, it would probably be a few months at least, or even a year, before it would wake up again, so Hexia didn't bring it with her.
She thought she would see it again when she returned to Payin City for the holidays, just before she left.
After lunch, Hexia prepared to go downstairs to stroll around the Academy, as there were still many places there that were new to her.
Upon closing the door, Hexia came out with the giant spider. There were no elevators within the Ring Bird Wind Tower, so she had to descend the stairs. Just as she wondered how the upperclassmen dealt with this issue, she saw three students in white and green uniforms leap straight down from the viewing gallery of a floor above, passing by her side, and dropping into the base of the tower, then landing as lightly as feathers.
This... Hexia blinked, it must be some kind of spell formula similar to lightening one's weight to allow for a gentle descent; unfortunately, she had not learned it yet.
No wonder there were no elevators in the high tower, but how did they get up, then? Did they all know flying-related spells? Those spell formulas were said to be quite difficult to use, and without a Transcendent Profession related to flying and airflow, it would be very strenuous.
With such small questions and curiosity in her mind, Hexia descended from the tall tower, opened the personal terminal in her hand to browse the Academy's map, thought for a bit, and then headed towards the forest treehouse.
She had lived underground since she was young and rarely had the chance to go to the forest, so she also wanted to take this opportunity to have a look.
Walking down the hillside caressed by a gentle breeze, birds could occasionally be seen flying across the sky, along with students riding on their backs; on the ground, many students rode on animals, and in the distance, a huge elephant played by a pond, sucking up water to spray on itself, creating large splashes that scared two squirrels drinking water into quickly jumping away.
After walking along the lengthy mountain path, Hexia slowly entered the sun-dappled forest, where it was much cooler than outside, and there were even more birds. Occasionally, a deer or two walked through the woods.
As she followed the stone path through the forest, the delicate sound of bell chimes and hand drums emanated from the other side of the woods, accompanied by a tin whistle playing along with a singing voice.
Filled with curiosity, Hexia parted the forest's shrub branches bit by bit, and took steps towards the source of the music.
At the tail end of summer, the golden sunshine pierced through the leaves, shining down on the grassland within the forest, where a cute, blonde elf girl danced, lifting the hem of her white dress with scattered flowers. With a cheerful smile on her face, her dance was lively and bouncy, moving with the music, while two fiery-red foxes danced alongside her, leaping with movements reminiscent of encircling flames.
Surrounding the center of the meadow, a student leaned against a tree strumming guitar strings, while on the other side, two girls shook hand drums and bells; a boy sat on an adjacent large tree blowing the tin whistle. Besides them, a large deer lay under the tree, its eyes slightly closed—appearing to be sleeping, yet also seemingly enjoying the rare music.
Not wanting to disturb the harmonious scene, Hexia stood in the bushes under the tree shade, watching their dance and listening to their singing, until after more than ten minutes, the music gradually ceased.
"It's beautiful, isn't it? Such a dance... That dancing elf girl is one of the legends of this generation's academy, 'The Dazzling Beast of the Height of Summer,' Brigitte," a familiar voice came from behind Hexia.
(BGM:Orchelia's vox)