Chapter 68: All Kinds of People and Things (1)

Even the day after the ball, Jiang Zhe still couldn’t connect the beautiful and gentle girl he met at the ball with Ravia. After all, memory could distort the truth.
“Huff, puff!” The sound of Allen swinging his heavy sword filled his ears. After what seemed like a long time, Allen stopped, placed his knight’s sword in a corner, and picked up a dry towel from the back of a chair by the long table. Wiping the sweat from his body, he looked at Jiang Zhe with a smirk and said, “Hey, what are you doing here so early in the morning?”
“Thinking,” Jiang Zhe replied, lying back in the chair and gazing absentmindedly at the sky outside. “Allen, do you think that girl from yesterday… was Avi?”
Allen gave Jiang Zhe a amused look, turned toward the bedroom, and said jokingly, “How should I know? I suggest you stop asking. You didn’t even invite her to yesterday’s ball. If you keep asking now, do you think she’ll be nice to you? Not to mention Ravia—any girl would be annoyed by this.” With that, he came back out, holding a glass bottle filled with water. He tapped Jiang Zhe on the back, set the bottle on the long table, and shrugged. “There’s no water in the room. Hurry up and use your… whatever it is.”
Watching Allen’s strange gestures, Jiang Zhe licked his lips, feeling a bit thirsty too. But boiling water using fire elements wasn’t such an easy task.
“Can’t you just use a stove?”
“A stove?” Allen widened his eyes in disbelief. “Do you know how long it takes to boil water for three cups? Twenty minutes, got it? Twenty minutes for three cups of water. Besides some pretentious Scott, who has the time for that? Some so-called rule… hurry up!”
Glancing at Allen speechlessly, Jiang Zhe pointed at the glass bottle. After a brief silence, bubbles appeared in the water, and soon it began to boil…
“See? It’s still fast, right?” Before Allen could finish speaking, there was a crack—the glass bottle shattered.
“Whoa!” Allen jumped back quickly, staring at the broken bottle on the table with a strange tone. “Hey, are you trying to kill someone?” He pointed at the boiling water scattered across the table and the clearly red glass shards.

“I told you about this a few days ago, right? I can’t control things like this. If you ask me to melt this bottle, I can do that, but asking me to boil the water inside… I’m only half sure!”
“Great,” Allen said, shaking his head as he glanced at the messy long table. He then spread his hands helplessly and said, “The last bottle for boiling water—fine, let’s just die of thirst!”
Just then, there were a few knocks at the door. Allen went over to open it and, relieved, said to the person outside, “Thank goodness you came…”
“What’s wrong?” Raviya entered the room, holding several books. She glanced at Allen, then at Jiang Zhe, and when she saw the messy table, she showed a amused expression. She said to Lisa beside her, “Lisa, could you go to our room and get a water bottle?”
Lisa also saw the table and said cheerfully, “Sure!”
While Lisa was gone, Raviya and Jiang Zhe fetched two dry towels from the bathroom. She tossed one to Jiang Zhe and used the other to wipe the boiling water on the table. As she wiped, she suddenly stopped, turned to look at Jiang Zhe, and asked curiously, “Why are you staring at me like that?”
“Uh,” Jiang Zhe snapped out of his thoughts when reminded by Raviya. He stirred the towel in his hand and asked hesitantly, “Avi, yesterday…”
Glancing at Jiang Zhe, Raviya continued her work and said lightly, “If you want to say something, just say it. Why be so hesitant?”
“Okay,” Jiang Zhe said softly, squeezing the towel in his hand. “I wanted to ask… where were you last night? I mean, did you go to that party?”
“A party? What party?” Raviya wiped the table while saying lightly, “No wonder I kept feeling noisy somewhere yesterday…” She paused, then looked up at Jiang Zhe with a hint of sarcasm. “Why are you asking this?”
Glancing at Ailan, who was snickering nearby, Jiang Zhe hesitated for a moment before frowning and saying, “Uh, it’s like this… I met someone at the party yesterday… well, someone who looks a lot like you. So I wanted to ask…”
“Hmph,” Raviya hummed softly as she carefully cleaned up the broken glass on the table. “A woman? Is she pretty?”
Recalling what had happened the previous day, Jiang Zhe nodded awkwardly and said, “Pretty… uh, very pretty, but…”

With her back to Jiang Zhe, Lavia showed a hint of inexplicable pride in her eyes, which vanished in an instant. Then, she said expressionlessly, “Sos, do you think it’s very rude to talk about another woman’s beauty in front of her?”
“Huh?” Jiang Zhe was stunned and asked in confusion, “Weren’t you that woman? Red hair, light red pupils… How could I possibly…”
“Sos,” Lavia interrupted him, turning her head to look at the boy seriously, “I assure you that while you were dancing with another girl, I was reading in my room. Is that explanation enough?”
“I can vouch for Avi!” A clear voice rang out as Lisa walked in carrying a glass bottle. She frowned at Jiang Zhe and said, “You really went too far by going to some dance party by yourself…” Suddenly, as if she remembered something, she stuck out her tongue and said, “Sos, you’re so bad!”
“No, I…” Jiang Zhe tried to explain, then frowned at Lavia and said, “But it really does look similar…”
“Dude,” Allen stepped forward, his eyes gleaming with mischief as he patted Jiang Zhe’s shoulder and chuckled, “With so many people in the academy, it’s not strange to meet someone who looks similar, right? As far as I know, there are at least twenty or thirty people in the school with hair like Lavia’s!”
“What about the eyes? How do you explain that?”
“Well…” Allen hesitated for a moment, scratching his head, “The lighting at the dance party was so dim; maybe you just misjudged?”
“Is it possible to misjudge?”
“Then maybe there’s another girl who also has light red eyes like Lavia?”
“Is that… possible?”
“Think about it yourself…”
Jiang Zhe frowned at Lavia, then recalled the girl from last night. He had a vague feeling that it was definitely the same person, but he was also confused—after all, the girl from last night was much gentler than Lavia…
Confused, Jiang Zhe looked at Lavia hesitantly and asked, “Last night… you really didn’t go?”
“Didn’t I already say?” Lavia tossed the wet towel in her hand to Allen and said expressionlessly, “I assure you that while you were dancing with another girl, I was reading in my room!”
“Mm-hmm, Lailira and I can vouch for that!” Lisa nodded repeatedly.

Could it really be that I made a mistake? Jiang Zhe was full of confusion, but there was no sneer in his eyes like there was in Lisa’s. At that moment, the clock hanging on the wall chimed a few times. Jiang Zhe looked up, as if struck by an idea, and said to the three of them, “I have something to attend to, so I’ll be out for a while…” Immediately, Ravia stopped gathering the pieces, and with a mocking tone, she said, “In a hurry to accept an invitation from some pretty girl?” Perhaps sensing something, Allen said cheerfully, “It’s kind of an invitation, but it’s not from a girl… it’s from Casper Rollins!” “Casper Rollins?” Ravia suddenly raised her head in surprise. “If I remember correctly, he’s in the sixth grade. What’s going on?” “Someone challenged him,” Allen said, patting Jiang Zhe’s shoulder with a smile. “Right, buddy? Well, I hope you don’t come back seriously injured… hehe!” “You jerk!” Jiang Zhe rolled his eyes and swatted Allen’s hand away, annoyed. “If I were you, I’d stay in my room quietly these next couple of days. You’re the enemy of the whole school!” Then he turned to Ravia, shrugged, and said, “Don’t worry. I don’t think he has any ill intentions toward me…” “Do you think I’m worried about you?” Ravia glanced at Jiang Zhe irritably. “Go now and come back soon. I didn’t come here to clean your room. There’s a lot to learn today!” “Okay, okay…” Jiang Zhe scratched his head awkwardly and headed for the door. “Thud!” As the door closed, Lisa hopped over to Ravia. She hesitated and said, “Avi, it doesn’t seem right to deceive Thos like this…” “How am I deceiving him?” Ravia sat on the sofa irritably, biting her lip. “I didn’t say anything wrong. When he was dancing with another girl, I was indeed reading in my room. You and Lailira can both testify for me!” “Yeah, yeah…” Lisa looked at Ravia awkwardly, then suddenly seemed to remember something and leaned in to whisper a few words in her ear. Immediately, Ravia’s cheeks turned red, and she stood up awkwardly, saying, “Enough, Lisa. Go help heat up some water… Allen, you guys really are something. As soon as Scott leaves, can’t you even provide basic things like water?”

“Hey, it’s not my fault…” Rubbing his head, Allen tilted his head and looked out the window, saying irritably, “That guy’s gone. It’s… kinda boring, indeed.”
Meanwhile, Jiang Zhe was walking toward the playground on the west side of the ancient castle.
Jiang Zhe’s impression of Casper Rollins was based only on his encounter last night. In his opinion, this senior seemed like a decent person, as evidenced by his ability to calm down the fight that night. Otherwise, even Jiang Zhe wouldn’t have had a chance to get away from those dozen or so seniors.
Other than that, Jiang Zhe knew very little about this person. Hmm, he seemed to have heard his name a few times from Professor Hodde?
From a distance, Jiang Zhe saw what appeared to be a person standing on the playground. If nothing went wrong, it must be Casper Rollins.
Sure enough!
When Jiang Zhe approached him, the senior took out a pocket watch from his pocket, glanced at it, and said with a smile, “You’re 15 minutes late… I’ve been waiting for you here for 15 minutes. Shouldn’t you say sorry, junior Sos?”
Jiang Zhe shrugged nonchalantly and said, “I remember you only said it was lunch break yesterday, without specifying a time. So, I’m not late!”
“Wow, wow,” Casper seemed a bit surprised. He shook his head at Jiang Zhe and said with a laugh, “Alright, alright. You’re not late. Then… let’s start!”
“Start?” Jiang Zhe looked at Casper in confusion.
“Of course,” Casper said teasingly, looking at Jiang Zhe with a smile. “Didn’t I say it yesterday? You can consider it my challenge to you. You can’t possibly think naively that I called you out just to chat, right?” With that, he raised his right hand, and a fully red glow spread from his body, creating a barrier about twenty yards around him.
Frowning at the barrier around him, Jiang Zhe said in a low voice, “What do you want to do? Is it because of yesterday?”
“Yesterday?” Casper was momentarily stunned, then covered his forehead in amusement and said with a light laugh, “No, no, no. I don’t take that matter to heart. Even if someone wants to cause trouble for you and that junior Allen over last night, it definitely can’t be me… Actually, I’ve wanted to test your strength for a long time. It was the same during the last competition, but sadly, you withdrew from that competition…”
“I participated in that competition just to keep a promise…”

“I think I can understand, so… that’s why I called you out specifically!” With that, Casper spread his hands, and flames erupted from the palms of both hands. Frowning at him, Jiang Zhe whispered, “What exactly do you want to do?”
“It’s simple!” Casper glanced at the flames in his hands, smiled slightly, and said in a deep voice, “Let’s have a contest!” As he spoke, he suddenly pointed at Jiang Zhe. After about three to five seconds of silence, a burst of flames exploded behind Jiang Zhe, and the intense shockwave nearly made him stagger.
“This is…” Turning his head in disbelief, Jiang Zhe widened his eyes and murmured, “Flame Flash?”
“Surprised?” Casper shook his head while looking at the flame on his index finger. “Your advisor is Professor Hodde, right? He’s the one who taught you Flame Flash, isn’t he?” Turning to Jiang Zhe, he said earnestly, “Maybe you have a misunderstanding. Flame Flash isn’t some mysterious magic at all. At least half of the students in our sixth grade can use it!”
Stunned, Jiang Zhe thought for a moment before whispering, “Is it speed?!”
“Yes!” Casper nodded in approval. “Strictly speaking, Flame Flash isn’t a magic spell but a technique that goes beyond the principles of magic. It’s not mysterious at all. There are quite a few students in our higher grades who can use this technique. But if used properly…” He shook his head with an indescribable expression. “I think no one inthe wholeRyox Academy, except Professor Hodde, can do it—includingyou, junior Sos!”
“…” Frowning at Casper, Jiang Zhe whispered, “What are you trying to say?”
“What am I trying to say?” Casper smiled slightly and shook his head. “Nothing! I just want to fight!” With that, his lips moved, and a flame shot toward Jiang Zhe like an arrow.
“…” Jiang Zhe instinctively dodged to the side. At the same time, he formed a fireball in his right hand and, with a casual gesture, sent it flying in a strange arc toward Casper’s right side.

“Although it’s just a fireball, few even in the upper grades can cast it at such speed. But using it against me—isn’t that a bit insufficient?” As he spoke, Casper raised his left hand and, to Jiang Zhe’s astonished gaze, casually stopped the fireball heading for him. Immediately afterward, Jiang Zhe felt he could no longer control the fireball with his mental power. Looking closely, he realized the fireball had been broken down into its most basic elements.

“Reverse elemental decomposition—you’re familiar with this, right? You can do it too!” Casper smiled slightly before saying in a tone filled with mystery, “Be careful, junior Sos!”

Hearing these words, Jiang Zhe felt an inexplicable sense of alertness surge within him.

Suddenly, with a whoosh, Casper vanished from his spot.

Instinctively, Jiang Zhe raised his right hand and snapped his fingers, but soon his brows furrowed tightly.

“Flame Flash? As expected, I was right—you still haven’t fully mastered this technique. The speed difference is too great!” As he spoke, Casper suddenly appeared to Jiang Zhe’s right, raised his right hand, and three waves of fire rushed toward him like fire dragons. The next moment, he vanished again, and without warning, a burst of flames erupted where he had been.

Teleportation? Damn it!

Unable to strike, Jiang Zhe could only run to dodge while using Flame Flash to scatter the three waves of fire.

Suddenly, he sensed ripples of magic behind him.

Behind me!

Jiang Zhe spun around and was shocked to see Casper smiling at him. Then, a ring of fire waves spread from his waist, and a powerful repulsive force blew Jiang Zhe several yards away, slamming him hard to the ground.

“Wow wow, is that it? How disappointing!”

Hearing Casper’s mocking words, Jiang Zhe quickly got up from the ground and dusted himself off expressionlessly.

“Oh? Are you getting serious now?” Casper, standing in the distance, smiled slightly before saying in a mysterious tone, “Well then, I’ll get serious too!”

No one would have thought that Jiang Zhe, who once shone brightly in competitions, would now have little chance to fight back against this upper-grade student like Casper—even Jiang Zhe himself hadn’t expected it.

In just a few minutes, the magic Jiang Zhe used failed to even touch the edge of Casper’s clothes. On the contrary, despite his high resistance to fire, he began to feel burning pain in his body.

“Bang!” As expected, Jiang Zhe was once again repelled by the opponent’s fire ring spell and slammed hard to the ground. The pain radiating from his back, along with the sense of powerlessness to inflict any harm on his opponent, made him feel terrible.
“Phew, that was dangerous. I’m not wearing any robe to resist magic!” Casper shrugged and glanced at Jiang Zhe, who lay not far away. He stepped forward, smiled, and extended his right hand as if to help Jiang Zhe up.
Glancing at Casper, Jiang Zhe didn’t move—or rather, he was in a terrible mood at that moment.
Once, only Professor Hodde could make him feel this powerless, but now…
“Don’t underestimate the strength of those in higher grades, junior Sosu,” Casper said casually, pulling back his hand. He sat down next to Jiang Zhe and smiled. “See?”
Frowning at Casper sitting beside him, Jiang Zhe hesitated and asked, “Do… do you know Professor Hodde?”
“Of course,” Casper shrugged and smiled. “When I first entered Riox, Professor Hodde was my mentor. But sadly, I didn’t meet his standards. In other words, I wasn’t talented enough…” He turned to look at Jiang Zhe and whispered, “Do you know where you lost?”
“…” Jiang Zhe remained silent.
“Your attack methods are too limited,” Casper said as if talking to himself when Jiang Zhe stayed silent. “I remember a magician saying: One spell is enough to defeat your opponent! But before that, many spells are needed as preparation. Especially when the two sides are evenly matched, it’s crucial to conserve your own stamina and magic while exhausting the opponent’s. That’s the key in a magician’s battle! And in our fight just now, haha, do you understand now? A magician isn’t a living target like a boulder for you to unleash your magic on freely. If you can’t hit your opponent, even a thousand or ten thousand fireballs won’t work. On the contrary, I only used a few fire waves and fire ring spells to defeat you… By the way, I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
Seeing the sincerity in the other’s eyes, Jiang Zhe shrugged, sat up, and shook his head.

“That’s good,” Casper said seriously, patting the dust off Jiang Zhe’s back. “I know a bit about you. Well, you don’t like magic used for defense, so the only thing that can serve as a defensive measure is that over-the-top Fire Bear illusion. Good heavens, that’s too extreme…” He shook his head, took out a small booklet from his pocket, and tossed it to Jiang Zhe. Standing up, he brushed off the dust on his clothes and said with a smile, “This is for you. Don’t tell anyone, especially Professor Hod!”
“Hm?” Jiang Zhe looked at Casper in surprise, then flipped through the booklet and exclaimed in amazement, “This is… Flash?”
“Isn’t it exactly what you need right now?” With a smile, Casper reached out and pulled Jiang Zhe to his feet, then whispered with a laugh, “I heard that Professor Hod has been training you one-on-one but hasn’t taught you Flash, right? Hehe, master it secretly and give Professor Hod a ‘surprise’!”
Frowning at Casper, Jiang Zhe asked hesitantly, “Why… why give this to me?”
“Hmm,” Casper thought seriously for a moment before shrugging and saying, “Why? I don’t know either. Maybe I just think Flash suits you better. I have to admit, your barrage of fireballs is a threat to anyone, but if you don’t have a way to dodge attacks, at best you can only delay the battle. Master Flash and try to speed up its use as much as possible. You’ll realize just how terrifying this skill is… Also, don’t underestimate magic. Just like Flash, although it seems simple in theory, mastering it isn’t easy at all! Consider it a favor from an upper-year student to a junior!”
Looking at the booklet in his hand, Jiang Zhe asked hesitantly, “I heard… you’re going to Salonia?”
“Yes!” Mentioning this seemed to excite Casper a bit. He said excitedly, “Do you know? Holy Light isn’t just a simple element—it’s the result of combining the light element with faith. It’s kind of like a composite element, right? So I’m wondering, among the elements in the world, which ones are basic and which ones are composite? Elements like fire, wind, light, and darkness, which have no fixed form, can they be further combined…?” He stopped speaking, glanced at Jiang Zhe, who was confused, and his enthusiasm faded. Shrugging, he said jokingly, “You’ll understand when you reach sixth grade…”

Looking at the booklet in his hands, Jiang Zhe hesitated. He instinctively didn’t want to owe anyone a favor, but he really needed to master this spell. After all, as Kasper had said, Professor Hodde clearly wouldn’t teach him this spell at this stage. Seeming to notice Jiang Zhe’s hesitation, Kasper patted his shoulder and said with a smile, “Don’t worry. These are just some notes. Don’t think that just by reading them you’ll be able to master teleportation. It’s a special type of spell involving spatial magic knowledge—it’s not something that can be learned so easily. You’ll need to find more materials. Of course, I won’t help you with that!” He paused, then, looking at Jiang Zhe’s dust-covered robe, added with a smile, “Consider it compensation for the cost of cleaning this robe!” After hesitating for a moment, Jiang Zhe nodded and said sincerely, “Thank you!” “Hey!” Kasper chuckled and waved his hand. “Remember to ‘shock’ Professor Hodde. Oh, and remind junior Allen to stay indoors as much as possible these days. There are many seniors who want to give him a good lesson—he’s now the public enemy of all the boys in the academy!” “Hah!” Hearing this, Jiang Zhe couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, that’s it then. Maybe we’ll meet again in the future!” Watching Kasper walk away, Jiang Zhe shrugged, put the booklet in his chest, and headed toward his dormitory. Meanwhile, lying lazily on the sofa in his dormitory, Allen glared at the teacup on the table and muttered, “That bastard Scott—does he even know that his departure has caused us so much trouble…” “Can you blame him?” Ravia sneered, giving Allen a mocking look. “If anyone’s to be blamed, it’s you and Thors for not even being able to handle the simplest things. I’m really impressed by you!” “No, no,” Allen said angrily, as if he hadn’t heard Ravia. Clenching his fists, he added, “Next time I see that bastard, I’m going to punch him hard…” Then he lay back on the sofa again and said lazily, “Sigh… It’s really boring now that he’s gone…” “No one’s arguing with you anymore, are they?” “Yeah…” Allen replied with a drawn-out tone, tapping his fingers on the table. Tilting his head, he asked, “When do you think that bastard will come back?” “Didn’t Thors say it? Once the matter with Gallek is settled, once Scott thinks his grandfather is safe…”

“Then when will that be? That guy Sos can even blow up bottles just by boiling water…”
“Then why don’t you go yourself?”
“Okay, okay, that guy Sos is right; it’s my fault. Is that fine?” Allen sighed, looking at the slightly displeased Ravia in a conciliatory manner. “It’s really boring without him around…” Suddenly, his eyes lit up as he sat up straight, full of enthusiasm. “How about we go to Galk at the end of the year to find that bastard?”
No sooner had he finished speaking than there was a snap. Jiang Zhe pushed the door open and entered, looking surprised inside. “What Galk?”
“It’s just going to Galk…” As he spoke, Allen noticed the dust on Jiang Zhe’s clothes and chuckled. “Hey, what happened to you?”
“Sos?” Ravia stood up, looking at Jiang Zhe in surprise with concern. “Did you really fight that Casper Rollins? Damn it…”
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Jiang Zhe interrupted Ravia, taking out the booklet from his pocket and handing it to her, shrugging. “Didn’t I say? I don’t think he has any ill intentions toward me. He asked me to come out just to give me this…”
“He gave you something and you ended up covered in dust?” Allen said with a smile.
“Yes,” Jiang Zhe replied irritably after glancing at Allen. “By the way, he also warned you to stay indoors these days!”
Allen shrugged awkwardly and, glancing at the booklet he was flipping through, asked curiously, “What’s this?”
Ravia glanced through it briefly and exclaimed in surprise, “Flash? That’s a magic spell that can only be learned in the sixth grade…” She then began to read it carefully.
Taking advantage of this moment, Jiang Zhe poured himself a glass of water, took a sip, and said to Allen, “I just heard something about Galk. Are you planning to go there to find Scott? Please, there’s a rebellion going on in that area right now!”
“And so what?” Allen shrugged nonchalantly. “Anyway, I, the battle mage, will protect you all then!”
“You? Protect us?” Jiang Zhe almost choked on his water. Shaking his head, he said irritably, “Professor Hode will never agree to that!”
“That’s why,” Allen said with a smile, looking at Jiang Zhe, “we’ll go secretly then!”