Charlotte nodded, her brown hair bouncing with the movement.
"It was him. He said that the room numbers are completely random and that you shouldn't ask him to change them. In the past few days, many people have asked him to change rooms, and he was so annoyed that he almost threw the apprentices who asked to change rooms away." She fiddled with the edge of her sleeve as she spoke, not meeting his eyes. L
Hearing this, Ralth pinched his brows with a headache. His shoulders slumped slightly.
This is a bit troublesome, he thought. There are always many inconveniences when living with a woman. How would they change clothes? When would they use the toilet? And what would people think if they found out?
But since the magus had already said that the rooms could not be changed, and especially if that magus was the skeleton with the flaming eyes, he had no choice but to obey. The last thing he wanted was to be thrown from the airship for complaining.
"Okay." Ralth sighed, his exhaustion catching up with him. "Hello Charlotte. I'm Ralth from the Gessian Territory." He gave a small, awkward bow, the way he'd seen nobles greet each other.
Charlotte smiled, seeming relieved. "Gessian? I've heard it's beautiful there. Green fields and forests, right?"
"Parts of it," Ralth said, setting his bag down by the other bunk. "Mostly it's just farms and orchards."
In fact, Charlotte had lied.
The rooms on the airship can actually be changed, but the method of changing rooms was somewhat rough. Her eyes darted to the window as she remembered what she'd seen in the past few days.
As long as you can get someone to agree to switch rooms without causing any loss of life, the admissions magus will not interfere with your behavior. And "agree" often meant "be forced to agree" among the stronger apprentices.
In the few days since Charlotte entered the airship at the first pickup point, several violent conflicts have occurred one after another in the corridors when the ship was docked or moving slowly. The sounds of fighting and shouting had kept her awake at night, huddled in her bunk.
And these violent conflicts are often accompanied by one thing that made her blood run cold just thinking about it...
That's robbery and brutal attacks.
Magi do not stop these crimes, as they see them as minor incidents. As long as no one died they didn't care. One magus who looked very much like an ape even watches them with great interest, laughing from the shadows when weaker apprentices are cornered by stronger ones.
This further encouraged the evil thoughts of some people in the airship. The lack of consequences made the bullies bolder each day.
Fortunately, the airship is flying at high speeds most of the time, and no one can leave the room during this time due to the magical turbulence in the halls. This safety measure had become Charlotte's only protection.
This allowed Charlotte to hide from the beasts in the corner room. Her original roommates had been taken or had changed rooms days ago, leaving her alone until now.
But Ralth's arrival brought danger to her. If those beasts knew that there was a delicious prey hiding in the corner of the airship, the next time the airship slowed down, it would be Charlotte's day of suffering. She had seen how they looked at her during meal times.
So she had to stop Ralth from changing rooms. A single person watching her back was better than being alone, even if he couldn't offer much protection.
And Ralth was good-looking, handsome, and weak. He didn't seem like the type who would or could hurt her.
Years of malnutrition made Ralth look extremely weak, and his thin body looked like it could be blown down by a gust of wind even with clothes on. His hands showed calluses from farm work, but none of the scars or thick knuckles of someone who fought regularly.
Charlotte was confident that she could resist Ralth's invasion if he turned out to be like the others. The small knife hidden under her pillow gave her additional comfort, though she prayed she wouldn't need to use it.
"How long have you been on the airship?" Ralth asked, breaking the silence as he examined the room.
"Five days," Charlotte replied. "They picked me up from Enhi Province in the north.
"You're from the south, right?"
"Yes," Ralth nodded. "I didn't realize we'd be traveling so far to collect students."
Back to the present, Ralth entered the room fully and closed the door behind him with a solid click. The sound of the lock engaging gave him an odd sense of security.
The room wasn't very big, only about 11 or 12 square meters, with walls of the same polished wood as the corridor. There was a small cubicle in one corner which should be the toilet, separated by a thin wooden partition.
The layout is also very simple, with two bunk beds on opposite walls, a two-meter-long table between them, two wooden chairs with straight backs, and a magic lamp on the ceiling that glowed with a soft yellow light.
These are all the decorations for the whole room. There were no windows, which made Ralth feel slightly claustrophobic.
There were only him and Charlotte in the small room. The space felt even smaller with two people in it.
Young boys and girls, at the age of first falling in love, are locked in a small room. The situation would make any adult raise their eyebrows with concern.
The boy had delicate features and the girl was petite and cute. Their eyes met across the small space and then they immediately looked away, both suddenly finding the floor very interesting.
It seems like this scene should be somewhat ambiguous....
"I'll sleep on the upper bunk bed," he said firmly, pointing to the bed above where Charlotte sat. "If you change clothes, let me know and I will avoid it. I'll turn to face the wall or step outside if the ship isn't moving."
Ralth said this indifferently, turned around, took off his shoes, and climbed onto the upper bunk. The mattress was thin but still more comfortable than the straw pallet he'd slept on most of his life.
He has more important things to do right now than flirting with a girl. Like figuring out how to survive whatever tests the magic academy would put them through.
Sitting on the upper bunk, Ralth opened the three books in the bag one by one. The pages were made of a material finer than any paper he'd seen before, and the ink seemed to shimmer slightly when he tilted the pages toward the light.
Ralth couldn't understand any of these three books. For a farmer, being able to write his own name was considered knowledgeable. The symbols looked like drawings of insects and birds to his untrained eye.
However, Ralth knew the black one was a dictionary as Trakk had told them earlier. Besides, It had columns of words with longer explanations beside them, just like the dictionary he'd once seen in the village elder's house.
Then he remembered the Felsan Cube.
Could it help him with this?
["Magus Dictionary"]
[Information: Magus Text]
[Cost: 10 mental power]
[Learn?]
Ralth felt a flutter of excitement in his chest. This could be the answer! But the mental power cost was high - two thirds of what he had.
Ralth put the dictionary in his pocket and made a decision.
"Learn," he thought firmly, directing his will toward the cube.
In an instant, Ralth felt as if his head was hit by a sledgehammer, and everything in front of his eyes went black. The pain was intense but brief, like a lightning strike through his mind.
"Are you okay?" Charlotte's voice came from below, concerned. "You made a strange sound."
But Ralth couldn't answer. He was already unconscious, his body slumped against the wall.
After an unknown amount of time, Ralth woke up from his sleep. His mouth was dry and his head throbbed with a dull ache.
The room was pitch black at this time, as if it had already been night. The magic lamp had been extinguished, leaving only a faint blue glow from the symbols on the door.
"Hiss, don't be so reckless when learning next time," Ralth muttered to himself, rubbing his temples to ease the pain. His head felt twice as heavy as normal.
Fortunately, he was on the airship this time, and the surroundings were very safe. If he were in other places, Ralth would simply put himself in danger by passing out like that. Anyone could have robbed him or worse.
Entering his soul space with a thought, Ralth saw that a ball of white light jumping up and down had been waiting on the Felsan Cube for a long time. It pulsed with a gentle rhythm.
Fusion of the white light, this time Ralth did not have the illusion like when he merged the Tiger Forest Sword Technique, he just felt as if he remembered a lot of things. It was like waking up and suddenly
remembering a dream in perfect detail.
Ralth decided to check the Felsan Cube:
---
[FELSAN CUBE - ]
- Current Level: 1 (Locked Potential Detected)
- Energy Reserve: 1% (Absorb more magic to advance)
- Next Unlock:10% Energy Accumulation Required
Functions (Unlocked)
- 🔹 Energy Absorption (Passive)
- Converts ambient magical residue into gradual mind & body strengthening.
- 🔹 Knowledge Extraction (Active)
- Absorbs skills & information from magically infused objects.
- 🔹 Mana Absorption (Active)
- Converts tainted magical energy from artifacts into usable power.
Locked Functions
🔹 ??? (10% Energy Accumulation)
🔹 ??? (25% Energy Accumulation)
🔹 ??? (50% Energy Accumulation)
🔹 ??? (100% Energy Accumulation)
—