piratefiction Chapter 20 Ancient Capital
Chapter 20 Ancient Capital
There is a safe route on the road from Zhoucheng to the ancient capital; it is one of the few safe railways.
Most cities lack roads for vehicles to travel between them, and ordinary people in some smaller cities may never be able to leave their birth city in their entire lives.
Only hunters and military mages travel between cities for extended periods.
Because of the scarcity of railways, high-speed rail tickets are very expensive. There are only a little over 200 second-year students in the school. Originally there were more than 300, but they were advised to drop out due to the academic year exams.
According to past practice, only students in the top classes can participate in study tours. One reason is that they don't have the money for tuition, and the other is that if there are too many people, accidents are likely to occur.
This time, only the top students will go to the ancient capital. The students in the regular classes cannot go to the ancient capital. However, after the incident of slaying the Dark Night Lion Dog, the students in the regular classes can also participate in the study tour. They will go to the Ya'an territory of Zhou City to see the local demon - the Dark Night Lion Dog.
The elite class is not just a trip to the ancient capital. The school has limited resources and can only provide substantial financial assistance to a portion of the students. The school believes that most of the students in the elite class can leave Zhou City, go to better magic academies, and become more powerful magicians.
Most students in the regular classes are unable to leave the city and choose to stay in Zhoucheng, with only a small number managing to leave through their own efforts.
This isn't just the school's subjective opinion; they have data, and this data doesn't lie—this is the actual situation.
There are many magicians but few magical resources, and no school can support so many students at the same time.
The top class is not managed by a single teacher, but by the three students with the best performance in the first grade class.
Class 7's homeroom teacher is Lin Tian, Class 4's homeroom teacher is Xue Yue, and Class 3's homeroom teacher is Zhang Fei.
They jointly manage the elite classes, lead regular study tours, and also work with two of the school's vice principals.
They have some acquaintances in the ancient capital, which makes things much easier for them.
There are five teachers and 33 students in total.
Su Ming, Liu Qi, Jiang Shaoxu, Han Bing, Zhou Qiong, and others were all on the list.
The minimum standard for the elite class is to have mastered six stars; without six stars, one cannot enter the elite class.
Only a very small percentage can unleash magic.
The high-speed rail is no different from what I remember, except that it is powered by magic.
They were wearing school uniforms, their faces still showing signs of immaturity. This was the first time most of them had left Zhoucheng, and even Han Bing was leaving for the third time.
Everyone was very excited. They had been seeing pictures of the ancient capital's prosperity online and had been wanting to go for a long time.
Everyone is looking forward to the seven-day trip to the ancient capital.
"What do you think the spirits of the ancient capital are like? Can they withstand my fiery breath? I don't think they can. I tried it a few days ago, and the temperature was... wow."
"The dead are afraid of fire and light. Fire can be very harmful to the dead, and most dead cannot withstand it."
"Speaking of undead, they are the weakest type of demons. They are corpses and have the weakest attack power. I think once I learn water defense, I can stand still and let them hit me without any problem."
"..."
Once on the train, some people kept talking non-stop. The carriage was quiet except for their chatter. As they talked, these people actually started to think of the undead as easy prey.
Some even believe they can kill the undead with their physical bodies alone, thinking they are just a bunch of corpses and not very useful.
Several teachers tried to stop them, but because they were bored on the high-speed train, the group started chatting again a few minutes later.
Su Ming shook his head. He still had a sense of awe towards demons and would not easily underestimate any demon, but after listening to it for a long time, he couldn't help but feel that the spirits of the ancient capital were like this.
Everyone else on the bus, except for a few knowledgeable people, felt the same way. The key point is that these people spoke eloquently and their analysis was logical and well-founded.
"Su Ming, don't listen to their nonsense. The dead are terrifying. Be extra careful if you encounter them." Jiang Shaoxu sat down next to him. This seat originally belonged to Liu Qi, but she had driven him away.
Liu Qi now sat with a sullen face beside the ice.
Han Bing remained silent with a sullen face, unable to attract any attention from the scenery outside the window, his eyes fixed on the seat in front of him.
Su Ming and Jiang Shaoxu are in front of us.
"Heh, as expected of a little kid, he doesn't even know how terrifying the undead are."
The carriage was large; only a portion of the passengers were from their school, while the rest were from outside the school, including many powerful mages.
One of the men, who looked very old but was unusually short, couldn't stand it anymore. He stroked his duke's beard and adopted a senior demeanor, scolding, "What do these students know? Do they even know what undead are? The toxins those things carry will kill you if they even scratch your skin. And fire? Your fire isn't even enough for them to take a sauna."
The dwarf was also a hunter mage, having spent a long time in the ancient capital, and always held the undead in awe.
He could tell at a glance that this group of people were second-year students, all in the same class. Some of them could use magic, while others could not, so they could only be second-year students. And second-year students had only been exposed to magic for a year, so what use could a level one fire spell be?
The short man, relying on his seniority, was extremely boastful, which displeased the fire-elemental student. He had mastered fire in just one year, making him a true genius—young, talented, and utterly unbearable to be mocked like that. He immediately retorted:
"This guy is awesome! I wonder what level of cultivation he has."
The short man had been waiting for these words. He stroked his duke's beard, sat up straight, tilted his head back slightly, closed his eyes, and slowly said, "I am not very talented, but I can use Explosion for fire magic."
Explosion—that was a level 3, early-stage fire magic. Fang Ming's expression immediately turned grim.
The younger man, being older, had the right to look down on the younger man, but he was only a beginner-level 1 mage, while the other was a 3-level mage, and a fire mage at that. The younger man's statement that his fire spells were ineffective against undead carried a certain authority.
A discussion immediately broke out in the carriage. A level 3 beginner mage still had some weight to it. Among the five teachers, only two vice principals were level 3, and the three homeroom teachers were only level 2 mages.
The short man thoroughly enjoyed the awe-inspiring gazes around him, and then put on his senior's airs: "You students can't just hide in your ivory tower. Go out and see the world, see the demons and monsters. Only then will you realize how cruel your world is. Even a powerful mage like me is often powerless to change his own destiny."
"Pfft..."
Next to Su Ming, Jiang Shaoxu couldn't help but laugh. She bent over and spoke very softly, so the short man didn't hear her.
"You look down on a beginner level three mage?" Su Ming looked at Jiang Shaoxu strangely.
"No, no, Level 3 is pretty impressive, it's just that I can't stand his phrase 'as powerful as I am'."
"The ancient capital is a metropolis with many powerful mages. A level 3 beginner mage is very powerful in Zhou City, but not in the ancient capital. There are many mid-level and high-level mages in the ancient capital." Jiang Shaoxu's knowledge was far superior to Su Ming's.
"That's normal." Su Ming could understand. Ancient capitals are large cities, so it would be strange if there weren't any mid- to high-level mages.
After the short man's outburst, the carriage quieted down considerably, and the students all shut their mouths. However, they still looked down on the undead, thinking that the undead were nothing special.
Zhoucheng is not far from the ancient capital. The high-speed rail is fast, and it only takes a little over an hour to reach the ancient capital.
Su Ming looked up at the city wall that stretched like a mountain.
The area inside the city walls is the inner city of the ancient capital, while the area outside is the outer city. The outer city is also surrounded by city walls, but they are not a unified whole and are not connected. The inner city walls, on the other hand, form a single, continuous wall that completely encloses the inner city.
Most of the time, it serves as a tourist attraction. The Ancient Capital Academy, the headquarters of the Ancient Capital Hunters' Alliance, and the Ancient Capital Magic Association are all located within the inner city walls.
Further away is the Ya'an border, and the outer city area belongs to the An border.
The mages of the ancient capital would keep the dead outside the outer city walls.
Don't be fooled by the large gaps between these city walls; these gaps will be filled in times of danger. This requires a powerful earth mage to do, and the undead always need a place to vent their frustrations.
Even if it were repaired, it would still be smashed again, so it was simply left unrepaired. The area around the gap is uninhabited, serving as a buffer zone, so the number of undead that could rush in wouldn't be too many, allowing them to be dealt with one by one.
The high-speed rail station was located in the outer city. Su Ming and the others got off one by one. They were there for a study tour, and the school had already contacted the people from the Ancient Capital Academy in advance.
The students have seven days to decide their own itinerary, and the teachers will determine the next steps based on the students who will be picked up by the ancient capital academy.