Chapter 19: Female Writer and Tuition

【You have come into contact with 'Whisper'.】

Just by glancing at that exquisite snuff bottle, it deeply attracted Xia De.

Xia De had seen more exquisite things in his own world, but at this moment, he felt that he must possess this. Fortunately, the woman's voice pulled his thoughts back to the normal track, and Dr. Shi Nai De only smiled at Xia De's loss of composure:

"Even if it is a Poet-level 【Relic】, it will have an influence on ordinary people, so the Church and the Academy will contain and control 【Relics】 as much as possible. However, you really recovered very quickly... After I open it, you will fall into a dream. The dream will last 7 minutes and 23 seconds, and you will understand the past and present of the Academy in the dream, which will help you believe what I said."

"Is the time so precise?"

Xia De asked, and then under the doctor's guidance, leaned slightly on the back of the sofa, making a posture conducive to a nap.

"Almost every correspondence Ringed Shushi who joins St. Byrons has to confirm the information they obtained through this 【Relic】. It has been used countless times and has never made a mistake."

The doctor laughed.

This kind of "never" sentence structure made Xia De a bit worried instead. But he didn't say his feeling in his heart, so he signaled the doctor to start.

"Okay, please prepare—"

The doctor got up, covered his mouth and nose with a wet towel to prevent himself from falling asleep, and at the same time made a backward posture:

"Start."

The lid of the bottle was lifted, and seven-colored smoke rushed out, and Xia De immediately lost consciousness.

Xia De had a dream. In the dream, his soul left his body and rose to the distant high altitude, looking at the prosperous steam city in the gray fog, looking at the steam factories spewing thick smoke in the distance...

Then he flew toward the north, crossing cities, mountains, grasslands, and forests. Finally, he saw snow-capped peaks, and behind the highest peak, he saw the extreme northern great ice sheet.

Perhaps it was just a moment, perhaps it was a few hours or even days, the sky in the extreme north dimmed. In that dark night, under the seven-colored aurora, behind the shining glacier mountain range, a huge building complex appeared.

This was a strange dream he had never had before. After waking up, Xia De only remembered that he was walking in a huge academy, strolling in an ancient castle, looking up at the stars at the top of a spire. He shuttled through tiered classrooms with rows of seats, looked for herb formulas in the basement, and checked the list of 【Relic】 containment in the library...

Mysterious, ancient, profound, secretive—that was St. Byrons Comprehensive Academy, but it was also a gathering place for mysterious people. Behind the glaciers in the extreme north, it had stood from the distant past to the present.

When he opened his eyes, his vision was still a bit blurry, and the doctor's appearance became clear on the opposite sofa. He was busy covering the lid of the snuff bottle and putting this Poet-level 【Relic】 back into the box.

"How is it? Now you know the Academy really exists, right?"

After putting away the snuff bottle, the doctor asked Xia De with a smile. Xia De sighed with some melancholy, actually missing that strange dream a bit.

"It is indeed true; what the doctor said is indeed true."

Even if it was just a dream, this special dream was enough for Xia De to make the correct judgment.

"The only side effect of this Poet-level 【Relic】 is that it has a very slight addictive nature."

Dr. Shi Nai De's voice was very soft, and there was a strange power in his voice, as if he wanted to use this to pull Xia De completely back from the world of dreams:

"Forget that dream, Xia De Hamilton. But sooner or later, you will, as a Ringed Shushi, go with us, take a steam train to the city in the extreme north, walk across the ice sheet under the aurora, spend the long night huddled together in a snowstorm, assist in climbing the highest glacier together, and then, enter there—St. Byrons Comprehensive Academy, the Ringed Shushi's... My dream is to obtain a lifetime teaching position at St. Byrons after being promoted to the Tenth Ring in the Academy. Xia De, if you like it there, then join."

That dream, both real and illusory, made Xia De take some time to recover. When the doctor formally asked for his opinion again, this time, Xia De nodded without any hesitation:

"Yes, I hope to join the Academy and become a correspondence Ringed Shushi."

A smile from the heart appeared on Dr. Shi Nai De's face:

"Then congratulations, Xia De, please allow me to call you that. You are about to become the fifth Ringed Shushi in our group. Please wait, Miss Dorothy Louisa came just now; she will preside over the enrollment ceremony with me. I can introduce you to each other and also let her know that I am not always that unlucky. The enrollment ceremony requires at least two people in the group to be present to prevent the newly enrolled Ringed Shushi from being deceived."

Even though the doctor had been very enthusiastic since he visited No. 6 St. Deran Square this morning, his enthusiasm actually continued to increase at this moment:

"Oh, Louisa is a fourth-year correspondence Four-Ring Shushi, and her main job is a novelist. I know you just 'woke up' from blindness and ignorance, so you probably haven't read her works, but she is quite famous. Her two short stories, 'Snail's Dream' and 'Midsummer Night's Wish,' won the Kingdom's Literature Award three years ago, and she was even received by His Majesty the King together with 35 other winners."

"Actually, you don't have to mention the total number of winners that year."

The door was pushed open, and the blonde lady seen just now stood outside the door. She was still dressed like that, but she looked a bit angry:

"Doctor, is it necessary to say all the unimportant information every time you introduce your friends to others?"

It seemed that the atmosphere of the four-person correspondence Ringed Shushi group where the doctor was located was quite good; at least everyone was friends, and Xia De was very happy about this point. But Xia De also guessed that perhaps this blonde writer lady had been listening to the conversation outside the door just now.

"As expected, it's impossible for everyone to have no vigilance."

He thought silently, preparing to get up and say hello.

The doctor avoided answering the blonde girl's questioning and smiled, signaling Miss Louisa to sit down:

"Detective Hamilton has already agreed to my invitation, and now our group finally has five Ringed Shushi."

"Doctor, did you really not use any strange relic that overdraws luck?"

She doubted, but still walked in and reached out to Xia De:

"Dorothy Louisa, novelist, also a part-time reporter."

Miss Louisa looked very capable, so Xia De also stood up and shook hands lightly:

"Xia De Hamilton, a detective, I suppose."

"This profession is quite good."

As they talked, the two sat down again. The doctor coughed, signaling that he was going to talk about things:

"Xia De, please allow me to call you that. For the last thing before formal enrollment, I need to talk to you about tuition."

Xia De was stunned in his heart, and the joy in his heart was dispelled by the pathetic reality again. He blinked:

"Yes... tuition."

He realized that when the doctor introduced the Church and the Academy, he didn't mention the important shortcomings of the Academy. After all, the Orthodox Churches absorbing members definitely wouldn't want money.

"The school's fees are charged by grade, so wait a moment..."

Dr. Shi Nai De took out a document from the bookshelf behind the desk, while the blonde girl didn't speak but looked at the two with interest.

"This is the fee standard. Because we are correspondence, we won't talk directly to the Academy, so the Academy made these documents to prevent the group leader from charging indiscriminately... I heard that this kind of thing was very common hundreds of years ago." ===== CHAPTER 20 =====