Commanding Wind and Cloud

Long long ago, quite a number of mages deeply held that it was of no use for mages to learn military knowledge.

But more often than not, the cases of the mage dispatch being detected and suffering from a sneak attack by the enemies had become a common scene in the war in both the Demon and Zence Empire.

Mage troops without strong commanding capabilities would nine out of ten times end up being wiped out on the whole in case of a sudden and deadly sneak attack.

While those mage troops possessing excellent commanding proficiencies could deploy a wise and poised command at such perilous moments, to fend off the enemies’ attack until the rescue dispatch came or directly beat them down.

Drawing lessons from these totally different outcomes of the war with or without commanding provisions, no mage would say that military knowledge was of no use to them.

The mage student suddenly rose up from their seats together, bowed at the instructor standing on the pulpit, and then sat back to pack up their belongings.

The instructor pulled open the classroom door and slowly walked out carrying a tall stack of textbooks. Passing by Qian Jin and Tence Matten, the instructor forced an astonished look for there being two warrior student in the mage division’s domain.

The mage student who had finished tucking away their belongings started to walk out of the door in groups of two or three amidst laughter, either discussing questions or chatting.

The spacious classroom was quickly emptied, with Gabriella being the only existence, who was tidying up her things slowly and in silence. No one in the class was willing to hang around with her. Seen from a distance, she looked so remote and desolate, as if she was the only person in this world.

Catching sight of Qian Jin, the mage student passing by showed a vigilant look, while when then noticed Tence Matten, they softened their facial expressions. Some of them even nodded their heads as a greeting to Matten.

Qian Jin looked at Tence Matten through the corners of his eyes and wondered what a set of systems the Principal had created, which allowed this person to be welcomed everywhere he went and produce such a strong competitive relationship between the mage division and the warrior division.

A mage student directly walked to Tence Matten, bent over and made a bow, "Master."

Oh? Qian Jin had to stop walking into the classroom, dwelling on the background of Tence Matten. Generally speaking, Class One in each academy was set as the class of the highest level. And the word, "master", was invariably addressing the superior by the retinues. How did Tence Matten succeed in absorbing a pack of mage students of the same grade as him as his retinue?

What an influential person he was! Qian Jin looked back at Tence Matten. According to Duren Burg, the common practice of Punitive Expedition Academy was recruiting junior fellow students as the retinue by the senior ones who abounded in both strength and influence, while the peer students of the same grade generally treat each other in a lofty manner.

To take in mage students from Class One as the retinue, the abilities of Tence Matten had gone beyond Qian Jin’s expectations.

Qian Jin walked into the classroom, and cast a look around the neatly placed desks and chairs. Head lowered, Gabriella was tidying her belongings quietly, filling the entire room with intermittent clatters made by things clashing with each other.

With all things tucked into the school bag, Gabriella raised his chin, just to feel a little throttled and release a scream filled with surprise and excitement, "Ah..."

Qian Jin really desired to take off Gabriella’s hat, to have a look at the face hidden behind it. But he wasn’t allowed to and had to imagine the expression shown on her face at this moment.

"Qian...Qian Jin..."

"Em." Qian Jin nodded his head, took a gentle step forward, opened his arms and embraced Gabriella as soft as he could. "Long time no see."

"Um..." Gabriella’s voiced sounded a little nervous. "Long...long time...no see."

Qian Jin took over the heavy bag grasped in Gabriella’s hands, while Gabriella made no objections. Through all these days staying together, they had developed a deep understanding of each other. More often than not, Qian Jin would carry the heaving things on his own shoulder. Though today Gabriella’s schoolbag was not cumbersome, he still carried it on his back out of habit.

Shoulder by shoulder, they walked to the door of the classroom. Several mage students who hadn’t left gazed at Qian Jin in sheer surprise, and then put on a scornful look that indicated lust for rumor and gossip.

Over the first month after Gabriella’s matriculation, this type of scornful look was frequented by her on a roughly daily basis. Nearly all student coming from influential families throughout the nation had dropped in to have a look at Gabriella, the hearsay unprecedented genius of all generations.

There were also students and influential groups out of Punitive Expedition Academy coming incessantly to visit Gabriella. Even the Central Mage Union in the Holy Capital sent a dispatch of people to have a look at this young Supreme Master claimed to be unrivaled.

However, all the visitors came upon with diametric excitement and left frustrated.

A Supreme Mage who owned indescribable talents? None of the visitors caught a sense of that. What they had seen was just a mage student with ordinary fortes and abilities.

"I really do not understand why the Principal attached such heavy importance to her."

"Definitely. If the resources she was provided with were granted to me, I might have already become a Supreme Mage."

"Stop boasting. How could the realization of a Supreme Mage be as easy as you have imagined?"

"But however stupid I am, I would have achieved better performance than this silly girl if I were given these resources."

"That’s true..."

"What was our Principal thinking about on earth? The aggregate of resources given to the number two and number three students on the Hundred Battle Ranking List doesn’t reach half of what she has possessed...for what?"

"That’s right. She even wasn’t qualified to be listed on the Hundred Battle Ranking List of the mage division, for what reason was she given such a wealth of resources?"

All kinds of voices, purposefully raised high, came from the remaining mage student, as if they were targeted to exasperate Gabriella

Qian Jin found that Gabriella’s head was lowered to the greatest extent as if she could screen out all these nasty voices by doing so. One of her hands was grasping Qian Jin’s sleeves hard, for fear that he might be provoked to release an attack all of a sudden.

"This person will soon regret having wasted his time to see this so-called genius."

"That’s right. Hehe..."

"The end-of-term assessment for the first semester is approaching. I bet no one wants to team up with her."

"Sure. We cannot see such an intriguing thing next semester."

"It’s such a pity that we never knew what the face covered under the hat looked like even until she drops out of school."

"Must be very ugly? Or else she won’t be covering it all day long."

"Cannot agree more. She must be disastrously ugly."

"It’s hard to say...maybe she is an unrivaled beauty or so..."

"Are you serious?"

"No, I’m just kidding."

"So what the hell are you talking about?"

"Can’t I make a joke?"

Qian Jin stopped and felt the heavier pulling force Gabriella imposed in grasping his sleeves. She begged in a mournful way, "Let’s go, please. I don’t care about them..."

"How can I allow them to satirize you like this?" Qian Jin looked at Gabriella with a blank look and guessed that it was not the first time for Gabriella to suffer such insults today. To hold a jealous sentiment toward others was more than normal, but to add to others’ pains and sufferings because of grudge was inhumane.

"I..." Gabriella took a deep breath while keeping her head lowered as before, "I have to defeat them by myself."

On hearing this, Qian Jin lifted his hand and scratched his head. Looking timid and feeble, this girl had an iron-and-steel will inside, which could be seen from her performance in that very duel.

"The problem is that..." Qian Jin twisted his lips, "The problem is that I feel extremely unhappy and irritated to see others treat my friend like this. To defeat so many people must be exhausting. What about lending me some?"

Lend? Gabriella was caught dumbfounded. How could this kind of item be borrowed and lent?

Tence Matten kept nodding his head at the poignant mage student and said to himself that it was quite wise for him to have come to Punitive Expedition Academy. The introduction of the law of the survival of the fittest had really boosted the students’ awareness of competing and infused tremendous vitality to the previously decadent atmosphere of the school.

Against the background of limited resources, everyone had to try really hard to become stronger and obtain better academic performance to surpass others for acquiring more and better resources.

However, there was one person who was independent of this jungle law. However poor grades she got in the examinations of magic proficiency, she was still given the largest proportion of resources.

"You guys." Qian Jin felt that Gabriella was trying to drag him away by grasping his sleeves, so he rotated his wrist to seize her hands into his palm, by doing which Gabriella was stimulated to shiver her body, while the cold hands got immediately burnt-hot and the blood flowing under her skin got extremely accelerated. "Hasn’t it gone too far to bully a little girl?"

A look of astonishment showed on these mage student’ faces, mingled with a touch of sarcasm.

"What do you mean? Do you want to display gallantry in front of a girl?" One plump mage student with an estimated weight of 200 pounds slowly walked out of the crowd holding a magic wand in his hand. The mage’s medal decorated with eight stars on his chest was extremely eye-catching. He mocked, "Are you a new student? Which family do you come from? Why do you stand out for her having not seen how she looks like?"

"Me?" Qian Jin deliberated for a short while, "she is a friend of me in the Torrent Battle Fort. You talked too loud just now. Now, apologize to her, and I will let go of everything."

"Apologize?"

After exchanging a look at each other, these mage students burst out laughing aloud, as they had heard too funny a joke requiring them to apologize to such a low-ranking female mage. What was funnier was that such an insane request came from a warrior student.

Tence Matten suddenly unfolded his fan with a crisp sound and waved softly in front of him. With a mesmerized look, he lifted his hand to stop his retinue who were about to join the fight and said faintly, "Just remain standing here, provided that you do not want to be hospitalized or miss the examination."

"Hospital? Lie on the bed? My master..." The mage student looked at Tence Matten bemusedly. He himself was, after all, a Level 7 Mage, with certain defense capabilities at emergencies.

"Luci, you come down to check it out." Tence Matten waved his folding fan gently, and said in sheer confidence, "Qian Jin is new here, so he may not know that the relationship between the mage division and the warrior division has become as edgy as that of fire and water, due to the instigation of the Principal."