Chapter Thirteen: The Next Mission

Deer Institute · Cafeteria

"Where were you assigned?" Xia Xiu asked curiously, looking at Camille as she nibbled on her soybean paste noodles across from him.

"Oh, I was assigned to Blackwood Dormitory, a double room." Camille quickly swallowed her noodles and replied.

"I see, a double room," Xia Xiu said, appearing thoughtful.

Generally, new students were assigned to three-person or two-person rooms to encourage them to form social circles. The reason he had been assigned a single room was likely due to his Heavenly lineage; it was rare for individuals of the Heavenly lineage to be left outside the influence of the Sanctuary.

"By the way, I wanted to ask, what major are you planning to choose?" Camille asked, pretending to be casual.

"We have a week to prepare for choosing a major. The Deer Institute's Think Tank requires us to understand the corresponding basic Thaumaturgy concepts according to their regulations before we can make a choice. The reason the Think Tank wants us to read those excerpts is so that new students can quickly construct a foundational framework of the Thaumaturgy world and gain a general understanding."

"As for now, there's no rush to make a decision," Xia Xiu said, not answering her question directly.

"Oh," Camille replied, sounding rather disappointed, though she quickly adjusted her mood and said to him with excitement, "This is my first time coming into contact with the other side of the world; everything is so fresh to me. The miraculous floating city, the academy that cultivates the extraordinary, the lineages that connect to the Aether..."

The more she spoke, the brighter her eyes became, while Xia Xiu listened quietly to the young girl's excited confiding.

A "Muggle" who possessed the [Empathy] trait before even connecting to a lineage was worth his time to befriend. Investing some non-material emotions and time to gain the friendship of a potential star—there was no way he could lose.

A gentle smile appeared at the corners of Xia Xiu's mouth as he said to her, "What is your lineage connection percentage right now?"

"Let me check. 15%. Cinderella said I won't be able to communicate with the Ocean of Aether until three days from now, and only then will the Deer Institute grant me authorization so I can truly link to the lineage," Camille replied after glancing at her AI sprite.

"Cinderella is the name I gave my sprite," Camille added in a soft whisper.

"Cinderella, huh..." Xia Xiu remarked.

"Yeah, I loved that story when I was a kid," Camille said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"The Deer Institute is a major lineage that encompasses all five states, but it is quite advanced in its development of the 'Blue Book.' However, choosing which state to specialize in is a matter for the Thaumaturge themselves. You should learn more about the Five Major States to make an informed decision."

"Mm."

After a while, both finished their dinner, placed their trays in the dishwashing sink, and left the cafeteria together.

"Well then, goodbye. I wish you sweet dreams tonight," Xia Xiu said, bidding farewell to the shy Camille beside him.

"..., you too." It was only then that Camille snapped back to reality, realizing she and Xia Xiu had reached the intersection between Anderson Dormitory and Blackwood Dormitory.

At the intersection stood a massive Douglas fir; to the south was Blackwood, and to the north was Anderson.

The two parted ways there. Camille, feeling somewhat dazed, followed Cinderella’s directions to her dorm room, 233. The room was quite spacious, with two bedrooms and a living room. One detail caught her attention: the door and threshold of room 233 were larger and higher than the others. She vaguely sensed who her roommate would be.

"Yo, we meet again! My name is Ushas," a two-meter-tall, three-eyed woman said with a warm smile as she looked at Camille.

Camille squeezed out a pale smile and replied, "Ca... Camille..."

Anderson Dormitory · Room 404

[Beep—]

Xia Xiu passed the authentication for room 404 and walked inside. He set down the suitcase he had been carrying, took off his shoes, and hung his trench coat and hat on the coat rack in the room.

Xia Xiu took a quick stroll to familiarize himself with the environment, then began to relax. He slumped onto the sofa in the living room, resting his arms on either side, looking somewhat decadent and lazy.

Joining the Deer Institute was the first step of his goal completed. Next, he would steadily advance his strength. According to his plan, his primary task at the Deer Institute was to obtain the four major seal imprints of modern Terran Thaumaturgy standards.

The Four Major Seals were the cornerstone of modern Terran Thaumaturgy; they corresponded to four types of ARad fields. Most non-[Trait] type Thaumaturgy casting required the use of these four seals. To convert Thaumaturgy into a solidified [Trait], these four seals were also necessary. They were the most fundamental extraordinary knowledge a Thaumaturge needed to master.

In his previous life, players only needed to complete corresponding tasks to learn the Four Major Seals, after which the game template would display "Learned."

But now, as a transmigrator, Xia Xiu did not have a game template. Although the player templates and other interface settings in the game were essentially lineages, they were, in essence, a universal system that allowed one to learn something with a simple "beep" upon completing a task or meeting a condition.

Lineages might look like a system, but their true essence was a tool created by the people of Terra to observe the [Ocean of Aether] and anchor their own existence.

*Learning, huh.*

Xia Xiu lazily rubbed his brow. One of the experiments he conducted in his previous life was collecting the books from the "Chronicles of Terra" and attending lectures. From this, one could see that Xia Xiu’s brain was wired differently than most.

The reason he could understand and read the Terran language after transmigrating was that he had painstakingly learned it from scratch while playing the game in his previous life. He had once found a [Language System] in the corner of the game’s interface settings and noticed a [Real-time Translation] option. Out of curiosity, he had turned it off.

Good heavens, the NPCs' speech and the Terran text instantly turned into gibberish he couldn't understand. Even more interestingly, the players' voices also turned into gibberish in his ears, though the players had a peculiar accent distinct from the locals, making their gibberish sound unnaturally stiff. Later, after he had mastered Terran language, he could hear a thick "translation flavor" whenever players spoke. It was no wonder the Terran locals caught players so easily.

After learning the language, he had pored over a vast amount of Terran history, discovering many interesting details. However, whenever he tried to learn something academic, accidents would always occur to prevent him.

"I’ve settled down in Terra now; I have official residency. For heaven's sake, please don't throw any more curveballs at me," Xia Xiu muttered to himself. The luck he had in his previous life—which felt like that of a cursed loner—had left him with quite a bit of psychological trauma.