章 24: The Orientation Ceremony
His hands paused for a brief second before gathering a part of her waves and combing it gently.
"Which Strandtamer?"
His sudden slightly husky voice tickled her ears. Twisting her neck in slight discomfort to ease the sensation, she spoke, "Mixture of celestial moonblossom stem and serpentwood petal."
If she looked straight at the mirror at that moment she could notice the amazement in his eyes.
Changmin continued combing the middle part, a slight 'mhmm' escaping his lips.
'No wonder, that man chose her as the heiress. But it's of no use An Feng, she is far too naive to deal with me.'
"There you go!" He said, lowering his face to her shoulder, he held her shoulders.
She looked at their reflection in the mirror. As his smile fell on her eyes, she averted her eyes. With a frown and mild pout she commented, "Don't you think you are taking too much liberty now?"
"Ah indeed, my bad!" Changmin answered with a chuckle, letting go of his hold on her.
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The ceremony hall,
An Lanying looked around the grand hall in awe. The magnificent gate, sculpted with dragon heads on both sides, rose to the high ceilings. Adorned with countless reflective surfaces, the ceiling emitted an luminous glow that wasn't harsh on the eyes. Beneath the soft ambient light of the floating chandeliers laid a breathtaking marble floor. She looked down in surprise, as each tile subtly transformed into a new shape as she stepped on them and they were back to their original shape as soon as she stepped on the next one.
Changmin's eyes were fixated on the woman who resembled a curious child examining the new world around them.
'So much excitement just at this? I wonder how she would react if she enters the palace?' He tried to imagine her expressions at the Corridor Of Enchantment?
Several students had gathered at the centre of the ceremony hall already. Some were still entering. Lanying noticed almost everyone entered on their own. She seemed to be the odd one out among them. She embarrassedly cast a glance at the man beside her. "You can go do your own thing, I should gather with the others."
"Oh?" Changmin raised his brows amusingly.
"In that case, I will leave you to yourself then." He walked towards the stage. Basked in a golden light it looked outworldly. Elaborate twisted vines of ivy winded their way from ground to the bottom of the centre of the stage, making it sway in a peaceful slow rhythm. floral adornments seemingly unfazed by the passage of time adorned the edges of the stage, emitting an intoxicating fragrance.
A man in a royal blue robe went up the stage, as he swung his magic wand in the air once to perform the teleportation skill, leaving the students in awe. Teleportation was one of the high level magics, hard to learn and harder to master.
"Good morning, students, from today onwards you will officially embark your journey on mastering your core essence and spell. We often tend to take our inherited essence and magical skills as granted. But should we?"
An Lanying intensely listened to the words of the scholar. He seemed relatively younger than the ones she had encountered till date. His enthusiastic voice somehow cheered up all the freshers.
The man, Xu Zhenyu took a brief pause to let his words sink in the impressionable minds.
"Close your students. Take a deep breathe in andd…out. Yes. Now imagine the same world but without any inherited spell. No control over the core elements of the universe. No way to light up a fire at your will. No way to teleport to where you want to at a whim. No way to gather wind to dry yourselves when it rains."
The freshers along with Lanying did as the man instructed. There was something so authoritative and convincing in his tone that they could paint a vivid imagination of the dull world he spoke of.
It was devoid of any spells, any mana and any magical power. The people in that world could only be helpless in front of a voracious fire, they could only drown as the unforgiving ocean waves chased them, they could do nothing when the raging wind turned into a storm and ruined their roofs.
They opened their eyes as the man snapped his fingers. For the first time in their life they could appreciate something so natural. They were relieved at the same time. Relieved that they belonged to this real world and not the one the scholar spoke of.
Lanying looked at the man on the stage with admiring eyes. She didn't expect a scholar from Brightstone to have such a view towards magic. She expected a stricter ceremony. One where he would speak of their lesson plans, disciplines and morals. But he didn't.
The man's sharp eyes swept across the hall. He laughed out loud, shocking the students, who all had curious expressions.
"Well well fret not. For now at least we are in this world of magic." He uttered with a tinge of humour.
"I just expect all of you to appreciate what you already are gifted with. In this elite academy, you will encounter at least one person your age who will make you feel as if you are lacking. As if you are behind your peers. But the journey of mastery need not be filled with self loathing. Be grateful to what you already possess and strive to do better. Because you could have been born in a world without magic. But you weren't. So why let go of the opportunity to create the best out of this gift?"
The students were all moved by his words. Even before entering this academy, most of them had tried their best to excel at their elements. In the process they forgot to appreciate what they had achieved. By the time they were done with the entrance examination they felt more of a relief and less of an excitement.
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