By eight in the morning, I headed to the university. Approaching the ornate gates, I saw signs indicating where to find the admissions committee.
The committee was divided by departments. First, you underwent an interview at the department you wanted to enter; if you met the parameters, they gave you a pass for the theoretical part of the exam. The queue for the Shadow department was small, about thirty people. After standing for almost an hour, it was my turn.
"Hello, please present your educational document."
I placed a folder on the table and started taking things out.
"Hello, sorry, I've accumulated a bit here"—I took out the first document—"here is the educational document."
I reached back into the folder.
"This is a recommendation letter from the Bo City Hunter's Union"—I handed over a few more stapled sheets.
"These are documents on completing and passing pharmacist exams from the Hunter's Union."
"Quite impressive. It says here you're an Intermediate Hunter; show your ID," said a tall, thin magician with a topknot and a goatee in traditional Chinese clothes—a sort of sage.
I pulled out my badge with my name and rank engraved on it.
"Excellent. Anything else to please me with?"
"Immediately after school, I broke through to the Intermediate level."
"Well done, that's a very good result!" the old man said. As if I didn't realize he had already determined that. He surely knew I was an Intermediate Magician as soon as I joined the queue. "Haven't undergone the second awakening yet?"
"Spirit element."
"Unexpected!"
"If only you knew how surprised I was myself!"
"I understand you. My name is Yi Long, I am the dean of the Shadow department; you can call me simply Dean Yi. As an Intermediate Magician, I am enrolling you by priority right into the preliminary campus. You must study there for one year, then you'll move to the main campus. No need to take exams; consider yourself enrolled. Attendance at the induction ceremony is mandatory; after that, you'll be assigned to a dormitory. Spend these two months of vacation on cultivation; I want to see that by the start of the school year, my department has a magician capable of releasing a Shadow Spike. If any problems arise during the vacation, call me"—he gave me a business card—"any questions left?"
I sat there a bit stunned. After a second of silence, I asked:
"And the exam? I was preparing."
"Intermediate Magicians under twenty are accepted into the preliminary campus without an exam. It's called priority enrollment. Any more questions?"
I shook my head.
"Then I'll take all these documents to show other deans and the principal what kind of students are coming to me. Li Kai, you're free until September 1st. Welcome to Mingzhu University!"
I stood up and bowed to the admissions committee as is customary here. Traditions are sacred. Under the surprised gazes of applicants in line behind me, I went outside.
The day had only just begun and I didn't know what to do, so I decided to visit the Hunter's Union.
"Hello, I'd like to update my profile information."
The man at the reception nodded to me warmly.
"Hello, what specifically?"
"Shadow—Intermediate level, first tier; Spirit—Basic, first tier."
"Alright, the information has been entered into the database."
"Is there a team I can join, or orders for a solo hunter?"
"At the moment there are two teams requiring members. Would you like to review them?"
"Yep."
The first team was quite experienced and worked mostly in the wilderness, staying there for long periods. The second consisted of newcomers and took orders near the city and its outskirts. I chose the second.
Calling their captain, we agreed to meet in a cafe near the university in half an hour.
In the cafe, I ordered breakfast and was waiting when a young guy approached me.
"Hi, are you Li Kai?"
"Hi, yes. Are you Sun Wei?"
"Yes, that's me. Nice to meet you."
We shook hands, and he sat down across from me.
"On the phone, you said you're an Intermediate Shadow Magician, first tier. And a Spirit element, Basic."
"Yes, that's right. I just got into Mingzhu and have nothing to do until the school year starts. Decided to hunt."
"No way! Just got in? The school year hasn't even started?"
"Priority right for Intermediate Magicians; they accepted my documents immediately."
"Amazing!"
Our breakfast was served.
"Have you worked as a hunter before?"
"Yes. I joined the union back in school. On the team, I was responsible for scouting and cover. Sometimes I took separate scouting missions."
"Fought monsters?"
"I have."
"Excellent! Listen, our whole team are students from Mingzhu's main campus. I'm a Fire and Wind magician—Fire at Intermediate, Wind at Basic. Then there's Dong Pan, an Earth Intermediate and Water Basic. Next is Xu Li Rin, Ice and Water, both at Intermediate. Park Chu Ho is a Lightning Intermediate and Wind Basic. And finally, Hou Xu, Light at Intermediate and Healing at Basic. As you can imagine, we lack control against monsters. Park Chu Ho's lightning helps, of course, but it's not enough. Besides, if you're good at scouting, that will help a lot too. We recently took an order to reduce the population of Demonic Boars and ran into a Leader; we barely escaped but almost died. The team nearly fell apart. We've been together a long time; only Hou Xu is new, with us for about a month. I think if you join us, we can challenge even a weak Leader."
"Sounds good. What are the shares?"
"Equal shares for everyone so there's no resentment. But we all work hard without slacking."
"Agreed."
We shook hands and continued breakfast.
"Where do you live?"
"Rented a house five minutes from the uni for the whole summer."
"Really? We all live in the dorm. How about this: since you live alone, let's have a small party to get to know each other."
"Sure, but the apartment is small and there's only one bed. If you stay over, bring sleeping bags."
"No problem. I'll contact the guys then. Plans for today?"
"None."
"Let's meet at 6 PM then, we'll discuss everything."
"Alright."
For the rest of the time, I visited an auction house and bought two multi-use vessels for Servants and one for a Leader; if we get lucky, we can make good money on souls. I also updated my equipment and portable mini-lab—pharmacy work requires various tools. I spent the evening shopping and returned home by six.
"You've geared up well," Sun Wei told me.
"Yeah, I didn't say right away: I'm also a pharmacist."
"You're a man of many talents! Meet Dong Pan, Xu Li Rin, Park Chu Ho, and Hou Xu."
He pointed to each person in turn. Dong Pan was slightly chubby with a simple face. Xu Li Rin was a tall, thin brunette with sharp features. Park Chu Ho was a brunette with childlike features and a small chest. Hou Xu was slightly shorter than me, a bleached blonde with a decent chest and a cute face. The team captain was a quite tall, thin guy with brown hair.
"Hi everyone, my name is Li Kai."