Millennium Witch-Book 3: Chapter 208: Renting a Place
“Because I’m deeply in love with ‘civil engineering’.” Yvette Loxivia set down the book and showed a sly, faint smile.
Lucia’s attention was caught by that smile at once. She thought, Yvette is wearing such an utterly forgettable face right now—toss it into a crowd and you’d never find it again—so why is her smile still so captivating? Is it because it’s such a contrast to how she usually looks?
Keeping her expression neutral, she went on, “Huh? What did you just say?”
“Nothing—just a little joke.” Yvette reined in her smile and said casually, “Since there are electives, it doesn’t matter much which division you go to. Plus the College of General Studies has the most seats, the lightest workload, and the easiest graduation. Perfect for coasting.”
The Academy of Truth does have nine divisions, but at heart it’s just about choosing a major. Admissions testing is unified with limited slots; after you get in, the number each division takes varies with its faculty strength.
If you score high on the entrance exam, your chances of entering the division you want go up. If you rank low—sorry—you’d better be ready to accept reassignment, and the worse your rank, the higher your chance of being reassigned to the College of General Studies.
Yvette was taking the exam to start from the ground level, learn step by step about the Academy of Truth as a student, and prepare for future optimization and reforms. Whether those changes would happen or not, she certainly wasn’t here to bully kids, so of course she’d pick the most low-profile division.
Besides, it involves continental history and the humanities, which will help her understand this world more deeply.
“You came to the Academy of Truth to coast—” Lucia stared at her, speechless. “Yvette, you’re not joking with me, are you?”
This is the Academy of Truth—people would kill to get in! Sure, Yvette hasn’t passed yet, but Lucia believes she will. With an attitude this lax, it just feels like such a waste, doesn’t it!
“Nope.” Yvette flopped onto the bed draped in white cotton; her chestnut short hair spread across the sheet as she drawled lazily.
“You—” Lucia wore a look of bitter disappointment. She wanted to say more, but then remembered the enormous gap in strength between them, so she switched to a pout and said, “Forget it. You’re already a powerful mage—do whatever you want. Just don’t feel bad when I surpass you later.”
“I look forward to that day.” Yvette closed her eyes and hummed as if drifting to sleep.
At noon the next day, after Yvette got up, she and Lucia went to a nearby diner and ordered a seafood fried rice, happily enjoying lunch—as a seafront city dead center on the Radiant Continent’s west coast, the City of Truth has abundant seafood. It tastes way better than airship meals.
There’s also a river here named after the Legendary Mage’s surname—the Sien River—which cuts the city in two. The southern half is called the Spring District and the northern half the Autumn District; sometimes people just say the south bank and the north bank.
That division actually hides the trick of admissions—at the Academy of Truth there are two admissions cycles each year: Spring Admissions and Fall Admissions.
In spring, the divisions you can choose are the Elemental Sanctum, the Battle Arts College, the Verdant College, the Beast Spirit College, and the College of General Studies.
In fall, they become the Potions College, the Alchemy College, the Formation College, the Reincarnation College, and the College of General Studies.
As you can see, aside from the College of General Studies, the other eight divisions only recruit once a year.
And whether by design or coincidence, the divisions recruiting in the same season are all located in the same half of the city.
Only District Nine, home of the College of General Studies, sits right in the center of the City of Truth. It’s also where the Academy’s core and administrative organs are most concentrated.
“Why is the College of General Studies in District Nine? Shouldn’t such a prime spot go to famous divisions like the Elemental Sanctum or the Battle Arts College?” After lunch, stepping out of the diner and hearing Yvette’s explanation, Lucia asked in puzzlement.
Yvette glanced down at the information booklet. “…Probably because the College of General Studies has a higher proportion of noble scions among its students.”
“Fair enough.” As an ordinary commoner, Lucia was instantly convinced.
Following the pocket map in the booklet and asking around as they walked, the two of them reached the subway station of the City of Truth.
It’s the only subway system on the entire Radiant Continent, driven by magitech.
The fare was 8 copper. These are special local embossed copper coins, more sophisticated—and pricier—than the South Alliance’s standard copper coins. Since the Legendary Mage standardized the gold–silver–copper exchange, here the conversions between copper, silver, and gold are all one to one hundred.
When the train pulled in, Yvette saw that the subway’s design was quite plain. Compared to the Origin Civilization’s bullet trains, the look here was more like a steam engine.
The cars were split into two halves. The front half was reserved for Academy faculty and students—sparse crowds, finer decor. The back half was for the general public; the moment they stepped in, they saw the seat cushions were in tatters, stained with a suspicious yellow tint. Lucia and Yvette looked at each other, and neither dared to sit.
So soon, and she’d already found something to optimize, Yvette thought, secretly resolving to write the Academy Council a feedback letter asking them to replace the public car cushions.
Okay, kidding. Once she’s in the Academy she can just ride the faculty-and-student cars; she can’t be bothered writing a letter like that.
Still, sooner or later, once she fully understands the Academy, she’ll go meet the current dean of the Academy of Truth, the famed Ms. Tertia, and have a proper conversation about the Academy’s development.
It’s said the dean is not only the strongest on the continent, but also one of Rosalyn Sien’s students back in the day. She’s lived from five hundred years ago to now—she’d be Rosalyn’s grand-disciple.
Arriving in District Nine, they exited the subway and found a rental agency to start looking for a place. Spring Admissions doesn’t require advance registration—it’s all same-day signup and queueing—so they’d come today mainly to rent a place.
Before long, with the agent’s help, they settled on a five-story apartment building called Scholars’ Haven on Blossom Street at the edge of District Nine.
The rent was on the high side, but first, it sat at a higher elevation—open the window and most of District Nine lay in view. Second, it was very close to the subway, convenient for going to divisions in other districts for classes. Third, it had everything: a private kitchen and washroom. So Lucia gritted her teeth and agreed to split a double room with Yvette.
Because of that, though, Lucia—who hated owing money—started scouting reliable part-time gigs in the city early, laying the groundwork for future work-study.
After signing a standard lease, paying the deposit and first month’s rent, and receiving the receipt and temporary keys, by the time they moved in with their luggage it was already evening.
Through the window they could clearly see streetlights flick on one after another, stretching to the distant horizon like a glittering bridge of light.
Piling the luggage on the floor, Yvette did another circuit of the room.
For a relatively high-grade apartment, the furnishings were complete: table and chairs, sofa, wardrobe, bookcase—everything in place. The sitting room floor even had a rug washed so stiff it crackled. Considering that many budget apartments don’t even have private bathrooms, this was already luxury to the extreme for ordinary students.
Of course, if she wanted, she could easily rent something better—or even buy a big villa in the core district—so long as someone would sell. But her current identity is just an ordinary student from a backwater little country; there’s no need to be that ostentatious and wasteful.
And Lucia insisted on splitting costs fifty-fifty. If they bought something too expensive, she’d practically have to sell herself to Yvette—Yvette wouldn’t mind, but Lucia definitely would.
Lucia pushed open the window and gazed at the night for a while, when she felt a poke in her back. She turned to see Yvette, who had produced a notebook from who-knows-where, handing it over. “This is for you.”
“What is it?”
“Your family’s 《Red Lotus (combat art)》,” Yvette said.
“Huh?” Lucia froze for a second, then flipped through the notebook. The incantations were very familiar, though some details were different.
“Your father, Mr. Sterling, also gifted me 《Red Lotus (combat art)》. I made a few optimizations—it should help with your entrance exams,” Yvette said.
After Eamon Sterling entrusted Lucia to Yvette, she took the chance to ask him for an original copy of 《Red Lotus (combat art)》, and Eamon readily agreed.
Of course, Yvette didn’t truly need it—one glance and she basically understood it. She just needed a pretext to make it reasonable.
The real reason was to upgrade Lucia’s combat art so she’d not only sail into one of the Nine Divisions—the Battle Arts College—but also become the brightest prodigy of her cohort, and even those before and after, paving the way for her future path inside the Academy of Truth’s system.
After all, the Academy of Truth is what Yvette cares about most in this world. The promising junior she’s set her sights on ought to rise here, then become a rising star the whole world pins its hopes on.
But Lucia clearly failed to grasp her good intentions; her first reaction was a look full of confusion and doubt.
She hadn’t said anything yet, but that didn’t stop Yvette from reading the line in her violet eyes—yes, that line: Are you messing with me?
.
!
Book 3: Chapter 208: Renting a Place
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