NOVEL NEXT Chapter 63: Back to school
Uncle Hei, told me that I didn’t have to make more arrays. I was causing too much trouble anyway - It was not my fault! -
They already dispatched another array maker to replace me so we all went directly to the city. This time, we used a magic transportation device that was faster and more luxurious than array master Kui’s boat.
This boat was big enough to take all the guards, the victims and us. We arrived in only a few hours. I finally met the Li trio, I was happy to see them. Grandma Li cried a bit. I felt lucky we did not tell her what happened to me during the trip or it would have been worse.
Li Yao was jumping - literally - when he saw me and Li Bo hugged me. They looked fine, Li Yao grew a bit taller and leaner. When I asked, he said that the training gave him some muscles. He was proud to show off his arms. Li Bo grew also taller, he gained another level in cultivation and loved school.
I introduced Li-er and his mother to everyone and we went to my courtyard to clean up a room for them. I made sure they had everything they needed for the next few days and bid them good night
I had to go to school tomorrow - I completely forgot that - so I went to sleep early as I had dinner at the boat
I have slept a lot in the last 3 days and I woke up before Li Yao came in the morning. He was surprised when he saw me already awake. After I was clean and well fed, he pushed me to go to the garden for a session of plant boost.
I went to school early, I met Sui-er who came to farm early so I followed him while chatting. He told me that students were so motivated with farming that all available fields were full of them.
Rich kids who loved farming, figures.
Everyone was busy with winter preparations and there was not much gossip at school except who learned array, alchemy and who had the most points…etc. I found out that I was the first in ranking because I made level 2 arrays a few times. We chose to meet for lunch at the cafeteria this time to try out some new recipes that Sui-er’s dad approved
I did not put my name on any classroom but the dean told me I could go to any today. He also told me that there was no space for me to do alchemy in school. The alchemy rooms were popular at school and fully booked.
I looked at the scheduling and decided on teacher Wei’s lessons on ‘Spiritual roots theory and practice’
There was an extra spot available but I had to sit with someone else at the same desk but I did not mind. I waited until everyone was seated to take the last available one. There were two sets of books on the desk.
I greeted my new desk mate, I had never seen him before. He ignored me. He had a gloomy vibe that was not due to his black clothes...
I followed teacher Wei’s lesson seriously. I did not agree with the less spiritual root you had the better it is for cultivation but that was my own theory. She gave some nice exercises using the spiritual roots to practice with. I knew and used some during my downtime these last few weeks.
The students were back to avoiding looking at me during lessons. I was wondering why. When it was time to go for lunch. I said my goodbyes to my desk mate with a smile but he did not answer again so I just left.
Cafeteria was, surprisingly, crowded. Sui-er was waiting for me at the corner. He came early to order food and pick a good spot. I learned from him that the cafeteria became popular since they had a new menu. When I checked, I laughed. The popular dishes were the ones I gave recipes to Grandma Li a few weeks back. That must have been uncle Huai’s doing.
Sui-er already ordered for me. I got meat curry with rice. Healthy enough for uncle Qin and still yummy. It was one of the recipes I shared with him when I went to purchase the goods last time. While eating, I narrated my experience at different villages. I skipped the danger part but confided about trying the green stone wine and me getting hungover. Sui-er laughed a lot.
Only I would try, for the first time, the only wine that spiritual energy could not clear.
I also talked about how hunter villages were and how most hunters lived. Most of all, how everyone was thankful for the help and how much they worked hard to survive. By then, some schoolmates were listening and asking questions. The plants they were growing and the pills they were making would be send to those villagers
I explained how some of them were borrowing points to afford them. The makeshift schools in each village were sometimes missing paper and ink. students would use sand or soil to practice writing but they were still motivated to learn more - I had given all the paper of low quality I bought earlier. No one accepted the good quality ones -
I hoped some of my schoolmates would open their eyes and be thankful they were studying in the city.
Answering over eager kids was tiring and I was happy that lunch ended at last. I promised Sui-er’s to go to his home tomorrow to buy the goods I pre-ordered and forgot to take before my trip. Today was not good as I had to let aunt Yan know before going, I was scolded enough yesterday in the magical boat to not notify her.
Afternoon self study was more interesting. When it was my turn to be checked by teacher Wei, she told me that I did a good job setting the main path for my meridians. Next step was thickening the path before creating secondary ones. She was surprised that all 3 roots increased in size and confirmed I have done it on purpose. Cultivation was a personal choice so even if masters and teachers helped and made suggestions, they usually didn’t force any method or path. She left it at that and let me sit back.
I saw that my desk mate was drawing an isolation array. Someone was most likely teaching him outside of school. I asked him if he needed help. He hesitated a bit then said yes.
“My problem is when making a smaller one, sometimes it fails after a few minutes,” he said.
“Even if you put enough spiritual energy into it?” I asked. He nodded
“Could be a calculation issue, the difference between a small range and a bigger range is to calculate the correct amount for spiritual energy to infuse. Not enough would not activate the array which is not your problem. Too much might overload it after a few seconds. Because you said it takes a few minutes to fail, then you are putting in just a little more energy than necessary. Your calculation must be off by not much. … When you calculate, do you round up the numbers?” I asked
“Round up?” he asked. Fractions were not taught in this school.
“Forget it, how about taking a different approach. What size do you want your array to be?”
“About this big” He showed by pointing with his hands. It was a circle around a meter and a half in diameter.
“I see the problem” I said “The easiest way is to add an increment to your range so 1 Zhang11 Zang is 3.58 meters, 2 Zhangs and so on. It would be easier to calculate” I suggested
“But I wanted it to be just big enough for me. I am trying to be efficient in using my energy” He complained
“Then let me guess, you know how much energy you need for 1 Zhang but you need less so you remove a little bit of energy for half a Zhang calculation. Correct?”
“Yes this is what I was trying to do”
“If you really want to make the range to be exactly what you showed me then you need to learn to calculate with fractions” I took out a book I bought sometimes back at a mundane store “This book here explains fractions. You can have it. Too bad we don’t learn this subject at school but if you target efficiency, you need to understand it. If you have questions let me know”
“Thank you student Bai”
“I…I just wanted to let you know that the students are avoiding looking at me, not you. I am student Hei”
“Oh, are you acquainted with Official Hei?” I asked
“He is my granduncle. I moved to this city few days ago and some rumors were circulating about me so everyone is avoiding me now”
“No worries. Before you, I was the black sheep of the school. Just remember that even if you do not care about rumors, you should be straightforward if they are false or it could affect you in the future” I learned it the hard way