Chapter 178
“Who’s Mica?” while traveling on this round piece of marble, Jason asked.
“It’s not a person, and not an AI either. ” Tonya giggled: “It’s just a command to use these traveling tablets. This is one of the products of the collaboration between Martin House and Anderson House, they actually learned from the smartphones in the civilian world.”
“Yeah, I recognized the pattern, but this is way cooler.” Jason looked around as the marble tablet brought them through between the major buildings - there were some small pavilions along the way with other students reading or chatting inside. They could also see some younger students practicing flying spells on an empty ground nearby.
“If you go from here and straight down the route, you will reach the public training ground.” right after the marble tablet made a turn, Tonya told Caroline and Jason: “In the academy, all of us are encouraged to practice combat skills on the training ground in a friendly manner. We are also allowed a monthly hunting quota in the school’s hunting ground, which applied to audi students as well - so if you would like to taste some magical wild game and sharpen your skills, you could go do some hunting.”
“Interesting, but isn’t that a bit risky for some students?” Caroline asked: “What if the animals hurt the students?”
“The academy has people maintaining the species and population of the hunting ground, to make sure that there’s no beasts and animals that are too dangerous. Also based on their progress in their training, each student has only access to parts of the hunting ground. You can go check it out with the hunting department and go through some tests to see which areas you qualify for.”
“Oooh, I might wanna go there next.” Caroline chuckled: “What can we hunt there?”
“Oh, there’s a lot, we have Highland Snow Elk, Shape Shifting Boar, even some carnivorous plants if you’re so inclined. ” Tonya scratched her head and answered, seeming like she was not quite sure of her answer: “To be honest I am not too familiar with it - if you would like to know I can bring you to the administration and ask.”
“No worries, I can go by myself. Just show us our living quarters.” Caroline waved her hand.
The marble tablet continued to move, after taking the turn, and soon it made another left turn, heading straight towards a building that looked like something that was floating in the air and hidden by a huge piece of cloud.
“Is that the place? It’s kinda … strange.” Jason said.
“Yes. It was the latest building on the academy campus, and thus it has the latest designs.” Tonya smiled brightly: “It’s actually pretty brilliant design, you’ll see when you get close enough. It has a special obscuring spell around its perimeters, and people far away will only see a huge piece of cloud. Only when you get really close, or when you are well-trained in seeing through illusions can you see its inside.”
“Yeah, I kinda can see something inside: are those floating land and houses in bubbles? That’s very interesting!” Jason pointed at the top of the cloud.
“Ooh, not sure if that one’s taken, I want that one.” Caroline pointed at a bubble with a mansion and a lake.
“Wait? You can see the bubbles through the clouds?” Tonya’s eyes widened and appeared genuinely surprised: “That’s… so surprising! Where did you say you get your training from ?”
------------------------------------
“Hello there, Mr. Lun Wang.” on the Anderson Plaza, the shorter, chubbier and younger version of Jianmen got off a flying gourd and was greeted by another girl wearing a golden and purple brooch and a light blue robe: “Hope you had a nice trip. My name is Dolores and I am Professor Atkinson’s assistant. Is this the first time here?”
“Yeah, first time at your fine institution. ” Lun Wang, or Jianmen said while smiling: “Thank you for giving me the chance to visit.”
“Oh, you’re most welcome.” the girl nodded as she saw Jianmen shrunk the gourd and put it on his waist: “Let’s head directly to the place you’ll be staying at, and then visit your lab! I believe Professor Atkinson will be here tomorrow, so you’ll be able to start your research pretty much right away.”
“Thank you! And I heard I will be staying in the same building as the audit students right?”
“Yes. And you’re sure you don’t want to request for your individual accommodation? We could easily make that happen. And you can easily have access to more testing and experiment facilities.”
“It’s okay, I’m here to research the magic of faith and flow, there’s not much need for experimentation anyway. Plus I’d like to meet more people here as well.”
When both Jianmen and Dolores went on a floating marble tablet, three young men flew to their side using their special black leather shoes with a golden wing shaped symbol on the side.
“Hey, Dolores! Fancy seeing you here.” the leading young man appeared to be a bit frivolous and arrogant: “How’s your research with Professor … what’s his name? Matkins? Atkenzie?”
“It’s Professor Atkinson.” Dolores was smiling, but when she saw the three young men, her face immediately turned emotionless and distant: “And what brings you here?”
“Nothing, I just finished the enrollment.” the leading young man of the group didn’t even acknowledge Jianmen: “And I figured I’d like to take these new shoes for a spin, you know, these new hovering shoes are really good, much better than their previous models.”
“Good, I’m glad you liked them.” Dolores nodded: “I guess uncle Tamil must’ve treated you very well because you got into the Martin House.”
“Well, you know. It’s just the right house for me.” the young man finally turned his attention to Jianmen: “And who are you?”
“My name is Lun Wang, I am a visiting scholar.” Jianmen extended his hand for a handshake.
“Yeah well, so you’re here to collaborate with Professor Atkinson? Does he still have the funding?” the young man did not acknowledge Jianmen’s gesture for handshake: “Dolores, you gotta consider switching to a different focus.”
“It’s my field of study, so it’s not your concern.” Dolores said: “You could just worry about yourself, Andrew.”