Drifting Ice (4200)

Your apprentice cloak and numbered badge?

The white-haired elder suddenly frowned.

"Cloak? Badge?" Xu Nan was completely baffled. He searched the whole room from end to end.

There was no cloak or badge the elder had mentioned.

"Sigh. After all, you've only been in the academy for three days..." The elder shook his head and walked over, slowly extending his staff.

A trail of black patterns spiraled down from the head of the staff all the way to the tip. He tapped the wall lightly.

A faint black glow spread outward, and something began to emerge from the previously empty wall. Half a second later, a cloak materialized, hanging before it.

On the right chest of the black cloak was also a brass badge engraved with Charlie Tang, Number 1008...

Only then did Xu Nan walk over and notice that there was also a recess in the wall for the apprentice ring to be inserted. He hurriedly took down the cloak, draped it over his shoulders, and fastened the straps.

"Let's go..." The elder turned at once.

Xu Nan stepped over the threshold and was just about to close the door when the owl by the window called out again.

"Go on, go on. I'll take good care of the house!"

With a helpless shake of his head, he closed the door.

Xu Nan turned and quickly followed, but the elder stood to the side waiting for him, his long staff lightly planted on the ground.

Beside the elder, a crimson maw, eerily like a flower in full bloom, writhed faintly. Faintly visible within it were a series of downward hollows, and hidden inside those hollows were the sand worm's ferocious fangs.

"Don't be afraid. This is a modified burrowing worm carriage. It won't hurt you. You can think of it as a tool..."

While the elder was explaining, Xu Nan had already stepped briskly onto the crimson maw and jumped straight onto the tongue elevator.

Feeling the soft, sticky sensation beneath his feet, he wasn't all that afraid. He simply found it somewhat novel.

"Oh... very adaptable... calm and steady..."

The elder gave Xu Nan a silent assessment in his heart.

Xu Nan's performance could already be considered excellent. The dozen or so apprentices the elder had taken in before had all been terrified of the burrowing worm carriage.

A few refused to enter no matter what, and one plump little fellow burst into tears and fled in disgrace.

But no matter how much they did not want to ride the worm carriage, they still had to obediently get in before him. A few unruly ones were knocked unconscious on the spot and thrown into the sand worm's mouth, while the plump fellow who ran several hundred meters away had his footing suddenly vanish and was swallowed whole by the sand worm.

He was now lying in the eighth carriage, trembling all over.

Ring-a-ling, the elder shook the bell at his waist.

The burrowing worm carriage received the command; the tongue elevator slowly sank, and Xu Nan's view gradually darkened.

He could feel himself descending, and then he was suddenly flicked away by the tongue and tossed into a small cavity.

The next moment, a faint red glow dispelled the darkness.

Xu Nan looked around curiously. It was a cramped space of roughly four square meters. In front, behind, left, and right were all writhing flesh walls, glowing red. The muscles upon them surged like waves, uneven and lumpy.

Behind him was a flesh-and-bone chair.

Xu Nan sat down at once and found the seat extremely soft, fitting the human body like a sponge.

Boom, boom, boom...

The entire space suddenly trembled. The burrowing worm carriage had presumably started moving. A faint sound of drilling and excavation reached Xu Nan's ears; this flesh wall even had soundproofing.

He looked around and discovered a black rune on the right-hand wall. He tentatively touched it.

Whoosh... the sound of flowing water came from within the wall.

The next instant, the entire flesh wall turned transparent like glass, and the scene outside became clearly visible.

Soil, rocks, and roots flashing past at high speed.

Then, abruptly, the view opened up. Outside was a sea of flowers, where blossoms of purple and crimson swayed gently in the breeze. Above the flower field, a great mass of white dandelion tufts drifted like clouds.

At the heart of the sea of flowers, several buildings stood.

"This isn't... that mutated flower garden..." Xu Nan's thoughts returned to before. When he had been pursued by the guardian monster, he had passed through here. Beneath the roots of those beautiful flowers and grasses lay nothing but bleached bones, and the dandelion tufts above were not lovely at all, but poisonous insects and vermin.

A girl suddenly entered his view. Dressed in an apprentice cloak, she walked lightly toward the sea of flowers.

"Rune artifact manufacturing and artifact usage center..."

Xu Nan read the words from a sign in the distance.

The instructor here was probably Professor Flowersea, a grandmaster of artifact use, with a score of one hundred ninety-five in artifact usage.

Rumble, rumble, rumble...

The burrowing worm carriage continued to descend, the view turned dark again, and on the right the soil slid by at high speed.

In the next few minutes, the burrowing worm carriage stopped several times along the way, dropping off at least a dozen apprentices. They belonged to the disciples of different professors within the Mirodalen Academy.

Thud, thud, thud...

A burst of knocking suddenly sounded on Xu Nan's left.

Then the flesh wall split open, and a huge tongue reached in, spreading flat across the ground like a red carpet.

"Arrived already..." He stepped onto the tongue.

In an instant, he was delivered to the surface. The elder outside pointed toward the distance with his finger and said to Xu Nan,

"Your escort is over there. He'll naturally tell you what to do next. I... ah, this old man won't be going over. I still have other matters to attend to for now..."

The elder coughed a few times, and before Xu Nan could speak, he jumped into the sand worm's mouth. The bells jingled and clattered.

The burrowing worm carriage's maw closed at once and sank away, drilling into the mud in a flash. No one knew where it had gone.

"Why run off so quickly..."

Xu Nan turned around, his pupils contracting slightly.

Before him lay a basin-like terrain, ringed on all sides by towering peaks, with a lake enclosed at the center.

Around the lake, vines and dense grass flourished, full of vitality. A quiet black flagstone path stretched silently toward a tranquil pavilion by the lakeside.

Xu Nan walked all the way over, admiring the scenery.

He glanced down at the lake and immediately understood why it was called Blue Crystal Lake. Beneath the clear water were clearly visible geometric crystals, each exuding a deep blue glow.

A white bird strolled slowly along the shore, its claws disturbing the water and scattering sunlight into rippling fish-scale patterns.

A cool, damp breeze blew over him, carrying the scent of plants and a faint trace of perfume?

By now, Xu Nan had reached the pavilion.

A gaunt figure stood with his back to him, dressed in a black cloak so that it was impossible to tell whether he was male or female.

"Hello, may I ask..." Xu Nan began cautiously.

Suddenly, the cloaked figure turned around, the hood falling away to reveal a delicate and noble pale face.

"You must be the junior disciple? I am Ice Drift."

Xu Nan froze slightly, stunned by the overwhelming beauty before him. This woman named Ice Drift was breathtaking in every respect: face, bearing, and voice.

In the sunlight, Ice Drift's faintly pink cheeks were smooth and flawless, her brows slender and long, her nose high-bridged. Though her expression was blank, the corners of her full lips naturally lifted, as if she were smiling ever so lightly at all times.

Her face was not perfect, however, for beneath one eye there was a blood-red scar. Yet it only added to her allure, an indescribable combination of seductiveness and sharpness.

"Hello, I am Charlie Tang, Number 1008."

Xu Nan came back to himself and quickly said.

"Then that's right. You are the teacher's tenth disciple, and also the fourth one still alive now. I am your senior brother, Ice Drift..."

Ice Drift said with a smile, the corners of his lips like peach blossoms.

He had not expected the person who came to greet him to be the first disciple of the Holy Apostle Omega. Wasn't that practically the future leader of the Mirodalen Academy?

"Wait!? Senior brother??!"

Xu Nan looked up abruptly, his face full of disbelief.

"Yes. I am your senior brother."

Ice Drift nodded seriously, his eyes like shimmering water narrowing slightly.

"..." Xu Nan studied him carefully at last and finally noticed the protruding Adam's apple beneath Ice Drift's slender neck.

"What are you looking at?" Ice Drift blinked.

"Cough... nothing. I just think Senior Brother is too handsome. You must be very popular with girls..."

Xu Nan was the sort of person who liked telling the truth. Whenever he met someone, he would praise them a little; both sides would feel pleased. That was how he had handled the two younger fellows before.

"Hahaha, the first half is true enough. It's a pity I am not very popular with girls. Boys, on the other hand..." Ice Drift said halfway, then coughed several times and changed the subject.

"Tang, the teacher is waiting for you. I'll take you over first. And while we're at it, I'll explain the rules on our side..."

Ice Drift held out a hand toward Xu Nan.

He wore a pair of black gloves marked with a symmetrical five-pointed star in blood red.

"Take my hand."

Xu Nan grasped it and followed Ice Drift out of the pavilion, walking straight along the black flagstone path and into the lake.

A circular air barrier wrapped around the two of them, preserving the air on one side while blocking the water outside.

They were still walking on the flagstones. This black path had actually been laid all the way along the lake bottom, faintly leading toward the center of the lake. Xu Nan looked up, feeling as though the world were separated from him by a layer of frosted glass.

The underwater world was very quiet, with only their footsteps.

A lion statue lay crouched beneath the water, and not far away were three swan statues clustered together. Then came a marble fountain and several tall pillars.

Xu Nan suddenly felt that these things might have been built even earlier than the formation of Blue Crystal Lake. Perhaps an underground river had changed course and flooded this sunken area...

"We're here."

Ice Drift pointed ahead at the cave with his other hand.

The two of them walked inside. The cave floor sloped downward continuously, and Xu Nan was almost running the whole way.

After advancing for several minutes, they suddenly left the water and emerged beside a vast square platform.

Xu Nan glanced diagonally upward and saw a cave opening two people high, with lake water faintly rippling beyond it.

Some force was keeping it out.

Leaving the platform, Xu Nan entered a passage.

He suddenly had a strange sense of familiarity, and after a little thought he knew why. The passage in front of him was exactly like the one in the ruins he had explored before, except that this one was pristine and free of moss on the walls.

Moving forward, when they reached a certain corner, a mystic ring user in a black cloak came face to face with them. He glanced at Ice Drift beside Xu Nan and immediately lowered his head and hurried away without saying a word.

Xu Nan felt puzzled but remained silent.

Half a minute later, they ran into the same situation again.

Xu Nan finally could not help asking, "Se... senior brother, why do they all look so afraid of you..."

"Oh, really?" Ice Drift narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Actually, it's because they once had crushes on me, and later, after learning my sex, they couldn't bear the embarrassment."

As soon as he finished speaking, a middle-aged man's scolding voice came from the passage ahead: "Matthew! You're not allowed to go to the core area to look for Ice Drift again! Do you know that madman studied mutated runes until he even mutated his own body? His body gives off a scent that is intensely attractive to men. If you stay with him too long, you'll fall madly in love with him! You're already showing mild symptoms..."

"But I can't control myself..." a young voice said in painful struggle.

"Then I'll lock you up. A week of isolation should fix it! Good thing you didn't touch his skin, or you'd become completely his dog..."

As soon as the middle-aged voice finished, there was a bang, as if he had shut the door. He simply locked his disciple inside the room and, no matter how desperately the disciple knocked and begged, never opened it again.

"Stay in there for seven days. I've prepared water and food for you. Don't blame your master. I'm only doing this for your own good. Back then, I accidentally touched..." He sighed. "Alas..."

This master also seemed to have a sorrowful past.

"..." Xu Nan silently looked at Ice Drift, staring at that flawless side profile and feeling that there was something uncanny about him.

Ice Drift turned and met Xu Nan's gaze.

He smiled faintly, very alluringly. The whole passage seemed to brighten, and a faint dark fragrance drifted through the air.

"What, Tang? Are you afraid?"

"Afraid isn't quite the word. I just think Senior Brother, you have rather wicked tastes, and you're certainly ruthless. To actually use your own body to study mutated runes..."

Xu Nan shook his head. He had already realized he was immune to Ice Drift's effect. The Holy Bone Mystic Ring was damn impressive...

"Hm? That's interesting..."

Ice Drift discovered that Xu Nan seemed entirely unaffected.

He swept Xu Nan from head to toe, as if taking a fresh look at this junior disciple of his. After a brief hesitation, Ice Drift removed his glove, revealing a slender, elegant hand.

He slowly raised a finger and pointed, the motion extremely unhurried.

Seeing that Xu Nan showed no intention of dodging at all, Ice Drift touched a finger to his forehead. Yet Xu Nan still looked at him with clear and steady eyes, pure and unclouded.

Well, to be fair, there were still some thoughts in there. Xu Nan wanted to build a good relationship with this highly placed senior brother of the sect, and after they became familiar, he would ideally learn a few moves from him.

A madman studying mutated runes? Then he must also be a genius at studying mutated runes! As the leader of the Mirodalen Academy and the tenth apostle under the White Saint, how could Omega possibly take a lunatic as his first disciple?

Unless Ice Drift's astonishing talent was enough to suppress all shortcomings and firmly secure his position as first disciple.

"You're fine?!"

Ice Drift blinked in disbelief, pressing his entire cold palm against Xu Nan's forehead.

"Why would I not be? But, Senior Brother, your hand really is cold, like a block of ice." Xu Nan seized Ice Drift's slender hand and smoothed his own hair again.

"I..." Ice Drift did not pull his hand away. He felt a warmth he had not experienced in a very long time.

Ever since the moment his failed study of mutated runes had caused his body to change, no one had dared to touch him for more than ten years. At this moment, he felt an inexplicable emotion swell within him.

"Tang, I'll take you to the core area to meet the teacher right now. When we get there, your room will be arranged next to mine. If there's anything you don't understand, you can come ask me. I'm usually there..."

Ice Drift held Xu Nan's large hand, extremely warmly.

"That would be too awkward," Xu Nan said.

"What's awkward about it? I don't mind..."

"All right then. I'll trouble Senior Brother, then."