Chapter 314: The Room

"It's fortunate I'm not staying on this side. Although you two chose your rooms first, you didn't pick well in the dark." Luo Qi sat at the window of Majiang's room, looking at the row of large trees outside. The tree wall was no more than two meters from the window, and a patch of green grass filled the empty space.

Luo Qi looked around and said with a smile, "This window is quite good for your eyesight. If you take off your glasses and sit by the window more often when you're free, your vision might recover."

Majiang grinned and said, "Thanks. This room is so small, even if the view from the window is good, can you really sit still in the room?"

Majiang and Du Zhengyi were both sitting on the floor; Luo Qi felt a bit of schadenfreude, as their long legs had finally become a burden.

The door was pushed open, and a young girl walked in, looked around, and nimbly stepped around the two men on the floor. "The hair tie I left in the bathroom is gone. Do you know why?"

"Oh, I know," Luo Qi said hurriedly. "The bathroom here is actually communal, so it's best not to leave personal items inside; otherwise, who knows when they'll cycle back."

"Oh," Guan Xinyue said, annoyed. "That's just great. My only few personal items are gone again."

"What things?" Majiang pushed up his glasses and asked, not understanding. "What do you want?"

"I want to tie up my hair," Guan Xinyue said, then added a casual complaint, "My hair is too long, and the style is terrible."

"Oh, I see." Majiang stretched out his finger and drew a circle in the air. A simple rubber band appeared in the air, and he reached out to catch the falling rubber band and handed it to Guan Xinyue.

Guan Xinyue sighed, "Thanks. You Mages really are the essential best friends for living at home or traveling, and for killing or arson."

Luo Qi laughed, "They aren't very good at skincare products; they can't make things with unknown ingredients. But you can go ask the duty manager in the lobby; he has quite a few plants in his hands and might have extracted some herbal essences."

"You just said those Highland Mages have stored hundreds of thousands of plant seeds?" Du Zhengyi asked him.

Luo Qi nodded, "It's astonishing."

"Hundreds of thousands?" Guan Xinyue hadn't heard what Luo Qi said earlier and was shocked now. While tying her ponytail by hand, she said, "Our biology teacher said the total number of plants on Earth is around five hundred thousand."

"Kawai said they have around four hundred and seventy thousand types of plant seeds," Luo Qi said. "If he isn't bragging, he has the seeds of a whole planet. Is he a super squirrel?"

Everyone laughed, and Du Zhengyi said rather seriously, "Highland Mages never brag; they are all serious people."

"How serious?" Luo Qi asked.

Guan Xinyue spoke first, "I think they are a bit like monks, don't you think?"

"They don't have idol worship," Luo Qi replied, then turned to Du Zhengyi for confirmation, unsure. "Right?"

Du Zhengyi nodded affirmatively, "Mages have no gods."

"Then why do they live here? Although I've only seen one Highland Mage, I feel like his every word and action has meaning," Guan Xinyue asked curiously.

"Full of a sense of ritual?" Luo Qi used a different term to summarize.

Guan Xinyue nodded at him, "Yes, that's exactly how I feel, and they are very mysterious. Although Mages themselves are also mysterious, after spending a long time together, you realize you are just people with some other characteristics, and you still live the lives of ordinary people. But Highland Mages seem to deliberately make life very mysterious..."

"As if they treat mysticism as a life goal, making the rest of us Mages look particularly secular," Luo Qi interjected.

"Yes," Guan Xinyue nodded in agreement again.

Majiang said indifferently, "They might be a bit mysterious, but they have always had a good reputation and have always been very friendly. To be honest, they are much better than us. I've never heard of Highland Mages being involved in any rebellions, wars, or High-Reaction Mage incidents. Oh right, their Medical Magic is quite good. Since I'm here on a business trip, I hope to seize the time to learn more from them."

"Brother, you don't seem to like Highland Mages?" Luo Qi asked Du Zhengyi. "But at that time, you also agreed that we should come here to seek refuge with the Highland Mages."

"The territory of the Highland Mages is a neutral ground," Du Zhengyi said dryly.

"So it's suitable for taking refuge," Luo Qi guessed, associating this with the fact that Du Zhengyi's serious profession was capturing High-Reaction Mages. "Do they harbor High-Reaction elements here?"

He thought of that mysterious figure again.

"No," Du Zhengyi said, "They aren't that stupid."

"Then why?" Luo Qi pressed for an answer.

Du Zhengyi glanced at Majiang, and the two exchanged a look. Majiang laughed, "Highland Mages don't believe in gods and don't have clear idol worship, but that doesn't mean they don't have faith."

"What do they believe in?" Guan Xinyue asked. "Could it be resisting oppression, equality for all, distribution according to need..."

"Stop, stop," Luo Qi interrupted Guan Xinyue. "I think I remember now; I've heard a little bit about it too."

Du Zhengyi nodded boredly, "Right, they don't believe in gods because they think that as long as they cultivate diligently, they can become gods themselves."

"That's it, I think I heard my grandfather mention it," Luo Qi said.

Guan Xinyue said with realization, "Oh, no wonder Du Ge doesn't like them; they are simply obsessed."

Majiang said, not very convinced, "Actually, we should have a more open perspective. After all, no one can prove that the Highland Mages' way of thinking is incorrect; they do have many unique aspects. At the very least, they are particularly prone to producing Great Mages. Didn't Pei Shu also send Luo Qi to the Highland Mages for training?"

On this point alone, Luo Qi suddenly realized that Du Zhengyi did not quite agree with Pei Shu.

"Have you had contact with Highland Mages before?" Luo Qi asked Du Zhengyi.

"When I was a child," Du Zhengyi said with disgust. "I came here once, probably equivalent to attending a summer camp."

Luo Qi thought about this place; it probably wasn't a place suitable for children to live. "Were you with the children here?"

"Mm, they were all particularly precocious children, both boring and annoying," Du Zhengyi said.

Luo Qi's mouth fell open, "There are children more precocious than you? Then you must have felt you met your match when you were a child, right?"

Majiang laughed out loud, and Guan Xinyue also lowered her head to giggle.

Du Zhengyi rose from the floor and stood up. He didn't say anything, turned around, pulled open the door, and walked out.

Luo Qi panicked a little and asked Majiang blankly, "Brother Jiang, what did I do? Did I step on a landmine?"

Majiang waved his hand with a smile, "It's nothing. Highland Mages and Battle Mages are always naturally incompatible. He must have only been willing to come here for your sake; he feels uncomfortable everywhere here."

Luo Qi felt guilty, "I'll go see where he went."