Chapter Forty-Four: The Genius Mage-Warrior

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Night had fallen. The caravan pulled to a stop beside the main road, lighting several clusters of campfires. The people who had labored all day inside the carriages now emerged one after another to rest.

Xu Wen did not leave his carriage; among all the carriages, his was by far the most comfortable and spacious. When hungry, he nibbled on dried rations; when thirsty, he ate fruit; when tired, he simply lay down to rest, spending entire days with a book from his storage ring in hand, never once feeling weary.

“Hey, you lazybones!”

The curtain was lifted from outside. Three young girls squeezed in one after another—it was Xiang Nan and her companions.

Jin Yu glanced at the intermediate magic tome resting on Xu Wen’s knees and looked rather surprised. Earlier, they had all assumed he had slept the whole day away in the carriage.

“You really are diligent.”

“Hah, nothing better to do. Just reading to pass the time.” Xu Wen shut the book and, only then noticing someone was missing, asked, “Where’s Xie Zhan?”

“Hmph! Don’t mention your friend who forgets his friends for a pretty face—he’s busy buttering up the girls from Silan Academy right now, doesn’t have time to come over.” Xiang Nan snorted in irritation and sat down beside Xu Wen. As she absently stroked the wind fox’s pelt, her eyes lit up. “So soft! You two should try this!” She beckoned for Jin Yu and Shi Ya to sit on the plush cushions. All three girls seemed thoroughly astonished.

“No wonder you don’t want to get out and walk around after waking up. If it were me, I wouldn’t leave either.”

Jin Yu lazily stretched out her legs and reclined, instantly voicing a thought that resonated with the other two girls:

“…How unfair! We, the adorable disciples, are squeezed into a hard, cramped carriage with two senior sisters, and yet such a spacious place is left for Senior Brother Xu alone. Master really is heartless.”

“Exactly! There’s hardly any room, you can barely sit, let alone stretch your legs—it’s just not fair!” Shi Ya echoed her complaint.

As soon as Xiang Nan sat down, her gaze was drawn to the fresh peaches and grapes on the tea table, their colors inviting. She turned a pitiful look toward Xu Wen.

“…There’s even fruit.”

Xu Wen could only shake his head helplessly. They sounded like they were suffering so much, but these fools—why hadn’t they thought to stash some for themselves in their storage rings when they were feasting last night?

“Ha! I knew Senior Brother Xu was the best! Here—let me offer you the biggest one!”

“At least you still have some conscience left.” Xu Wen accepted the peach and lifted the window curtain to look outside.

Several bonfires had already been lit. Besides the disciples and guards of the Hortonklin family, more than thirty unfamiliar young men and women sat in two groups at some distance. To Xu Wen’s surprise, Xie Zhan was among them, seated close to a girl, chatting as he glanced repeatedly toward the carriage. The moment Xu Wen lifted the curtain, Xie Zhan spotted it.

Xie Zhan’s eyes seemed to brighten. He whispered something to the girl beside him, then got up and left the group, prompting the rest of the young people sitting around the fire to look their way.

Yet what surprised Xu Wen was that the gazes from the Silan Academy students were not at all friendly.

Then it struck him—Xie Zhan had gone to “charm the girls” on someone else’s turf. If this were back on Earth, the local boys would have beaten him up already; no wonder those students looked at them that way.

The front door opened, and Xie Zhan climbed in.

“Oh, you’re all here too?” He made himself right at home, plopping down and reaching for the fruit on the tea table.

“You think we’re all like you, forgetting friends for romance? You haven’t checked on Senior Brother Xu all day, yet the moment you step out, you’re chasing after the city lord’s daughter…”

“Xiang Nan, don’t try to sow discord between brothers. How could I forget Brother Xu?” Xie Zhan hurried to clarify. “Besides, I wasn’t chasing after ‘Aileen.’ I just happened to run into an old friend who was with her, and we used to live together, so I couldn’t help but go say hello. And anyway, she’s the precious daughter of the Blackwater City Lord—a Three-Star Junior Thunder Swordswoman and a Two-Star, Eighth-tier Thunder Mage… What am I, compared to that?”

Xu Wen had intended to let the two bicker, but at the last part, he couldn’t help but ask,

“Silan Academy has such a young mage-warrior? How old is she?” Mage-warriors—those who trained both the martial techniques and the magic of the same elemental class—were rare indeed.

Jin Yu blinked and looked at him. “Only fifteen. They say she’s the greatest magic-martial talent Silan Academy has seen in a century. Senior Brother Xu, are you interested?”

“Fifteen?” Xu Wen’s expression showed a hint of surprise, ignoring the latter part of Jin Yu’s words. In his view, for a fifteen-year-old girl to master both disciplines and progress so far—genius was an understatement.

“Brother Xu, you really do seem interested in her,” Xie Zhan said, not noticing the subtle glances exchanged among the three girls. “I mentioned you while chatting with my friend earlier. Aileen knows you reached the strength of a Two-Star, Eighth-tier Fire Mage in just three months of training and beat Lan Yanlie in the arena. She seems quite interested in you and asked me a lot about you. The two of you—one, the city lord’s daughter of Blackwater; the other, the foster grandson of a Hortonklin family elder—are both prodigies. A perfect match! Why not go over and introduce yourselves?”

As Xie Zhan spoke, Xu Wen’s expression suddenly turned odd, and he blurted out,

“Is she pretty?”

“Uh…”

Both Xie Zhan and the three girls were stunned. They hadn’t expected Xu Wen to be so blunt.

Recovering, Xie Zhan dropped the joking tone and nodded thoughtfully.

“She’s supposed to be very beautiful. From what I’ve heard, she’s the secret crush of all the male students at Silan Academy. Plenty of senior noble students have pursued her openly, but they were all defeated by her. If you’re truly interested, Brother Xu, I think you have a real chance—once you make a name for yourself at the Azure Cloud Academy…”

“Make a name, my foot.” Xu Wen rolled his eyes, cutting off Xie Zhan’s grand speech. He lifted the curtain slightly and peered outside. Several of the Silan Academy youths kept shooting him hostile looks. “No wonder their eyes are like daggers—so I’m the imaginary romantic rival they’ve decided to hate, not you…”

The four of them finally understood the meaning behind Xu Wen’s words.

“Hmph, it’s their own fault for lacking ability. If they want Aileen’s affection, they should earn it themselves. What good does it do to keep everyone else away from their secret crush? Cowards, the lot of them!” Xiang Nan’s fiery spirit was as unyielding as ever.

“Aileen is beautiful and so powerful—Senior Brother Xu, don’t you want to go down and get to know her?” Shi Ya asked, eyes shining with curiosity.

Xu Wen smiled mysteriously, opened his book again on his knees, and replied, “No, a Three-Star mage-warrior would never be interested in a Two-Star Fire Mage. Going over now would only invite humiliation… I bet that girl would love to see us from the Hortonklin family make a fool of ourselves before Silan Academy. Do you really think I’d let them have their way?”

His words left Xie Zhan and the three girls utterly speechless.