The fellow disciples lowered their heads to look at him, glancing a few more times before finally asking, “New disciple?”

That’s great! Since he had never been to the academy, no one recognized him, so he was mistaken for a new disciple. Lin Zhusheng’s eyes twitched, and he said no.

The fellow disciples realized, “So, you’re the one who has never been to the academy?”

In a way, he was quite famous. Lin Zhusheng had a clearer understanding of his own persona as a king and nodded, saying yes.

Inside the room, the teacher began the formal lecture. While the teacher’s lessons were undoubtedly important, the issue of food and warmth was more pressing at the moment. After sleeping on a chair for a night, his energy levels were quite pitiful. He decided to pause the lecture and have breakfast first.

He pulled out a fruit from his sleeve and generously shared it with his fellow disciples who were in the same boat. The disciples clearly had no intention of listening to the lecture either, and after receiving the fruit, they squatted down together.

Squatting against the wall, he relaxed like a lump of mud, while this fellow disciple still had arms and legs.
【Song Ming’s Favorability +2 (30/100)】

“Crunch—”

After taking a bite of the fruit, when the notification popped up, Lin Zhusheng turned to look at the fellow disciple beside him.

The disciple was named Song Ming, LV3, and among the many LV1 disciples, this level stood out significantly.

He didn’t remember this face, or rather, he didn’t remember most people’s faces, but he was familiar with this name, having walked through related plotlines before.

Due to a common habit among gamers, he clicked through the plot and dialogues, skipping them manually, and now he only knew that this guy was a jack-of-all-trades disciple in the outer sect, with the talent to go to the outer or even inner sect but had been stuck due to a loophole in the rules. The specific reason was unknown, and he had forgotten the solution.

If he had known it would come to this, he definitely wouldn’t have skipped any plot or dialogue; at least he could have grasped the current situation.

…Well, maybe he would still skip, but not so ruthlessly.

Perhaps because of the two extra points of favorability, Song Ming took the initiative to strike up a conversation, saying, “I thought you were here to escape.”

He had run over from a distance, panting, with his hair disheveled, clothes in disarray, and his complexion pale, with dark circles under his eyes, as if he had just escaped from somewhere. When he took the fruit, he even wondered if this was the last food for a person.

Lin Zhusheng didn’t understand and looked up, “Escape?”

Before Song Ming could respond, Lin Zhusheng realized something and thought it was about his clothes. He looked down at his outfit and earnestly defended, “This is a form of artistic recreation, the theme is breaking free from outdated thinking constraints.”

He was spouting nonsense with a serious face. The little cat hidden in his clothes couldn’t take it anymore and jumped out, running far away.

This kind of talk was still too advanced. After thinking for a while, Song Ming finally realized he was just talking nonsense seriously. He paused, wanting to say something, but his attention fell on the cat, asking, “Is that your cat?”

Lin Zhusheng said it could be considered so, “Its name is… um, Snowball.”

The suddenly named little cat felt like someone was scolding it and sneezed from a tree in the distance, its small body not having a single white hair.

Not understanding the connection between the name and the cat, Song Ming was confused: “?”

Lin Zhusheng didn’t intend to explain further. After finishing the last bite of fruit, he made a pause gesture, saying, “Let’s not chat for now; I need to listen to what the teacher is saying.”

Finally, the lump of mud was willing to leave the wall, standing up and poking his head out of the window to look at the teacher who was still talking non-stop inside.

Song Ming also stood up from the ground, glanced around the room, listened for a while, then bent down, resting on the windowsill, asking, “Are you a good student?”

“How could I be? If I were, why would I be here with you?”

Confirming that the teacher was only talking about the content from the book, Lin Zhusheng felt relieved and turned back with a smile, “I just need to observe whether it’s worth listening.”

The conclusion was that he still had to learn on his own. The teacher was starting over again, and the pace was very slow. With the test for becoming an outer sect disciple less than half a month away, there was simply no time to waste.

Learning was up to him; the academy could only be used to accumulate class hours. The teacher didn’t even look their way, probably knowing he was just there to kill time, so he was left to roam free. As long as he was present, it didn’t matter if he didn’t listen.

When he smiled, his brows and eyes would unconsciously relax, and the early morning sunlight filtered through his messy hair into his eyes, making his light-colored pupils shine brightly, filled with laughter.

Since he was bent over, they were at the same level, and the distance was a bit close. Only then did Song Ming notice that the eyes on this otherwise unremarkable face were unexpectedly bright.

His smile was also surprisingly infectious, without any awkwardness of trying to please; his eyes were purely filled with genuine disdain for studying.

In the end, he couldn’t help but smile back, casually tossing away the weeds he had been fiddling with in his hand, saying, “You’re quite fun.”

He had heard others guess before that the person who never came to the academy must be quite dark and introverted, afraid to show up in front of others.

The guesses and reality were completely unrelated, two extremely opposite extremes. One shouldn’t jump to conclusions about personality; at least in this moment of not studying, this person looked completely unrelated to darkness.
【Song Ming’s Favorability +3 (33/100)】

“?”

The favorability points increased inexplicably, even higher than the delicious fruit he had given. Lin Zhusheng looked around, puzzled, not understanding the principle behind it.

Not wanting to think too much about it, he took it as a compliment and humbly said thank you.

The academy’s lectures lasted nearly half a day. He squatted outside, watching his brick while chatting quietly with this newly acquainted disciple. Later, feeling that this was affecting efficiency, he grabbed Snowball back and waved his hand, letting the person and cat play by themselves.

With a little cat stuffed in his hands, seemingly rejected, Song Ming’s eyes widened in disbelief, realizing that the person beside him was indeed holding a book and not looking this way anymore, accepting reality. He adapted quickly, picking up a piece of foxtail grass from the ground and idly teasing the cat.

That’s fine; even though they couldn’t chat, having someone to bask in the sun with felt pretty good.

The sun moved across the sky, warming people up. As noon approached, the noise in the classroom gradually rose.

A class that lasted nearly the entire morning finally ended, and the disciples streamed out, chattering. Some formed groups and headed straight toward this side.

“Song brother, why are you late again today?”

“Haha, if you don’t study hard, you won’t pass this test again. We’re still waiting for you to help us once you enter the outer sect.”

People gathered around, all smiles, but their smiles didn’t quite reach their eyes. The cat that had been playing with the foxtail grass suddenly slipped away through the gaps in the crowd. Song Ming stood up, looking around, and found that the people who had been there were already gone, along with the book that looked like a brick.

Snowball suddenly running away startled the people around, causing them to scatter a bit. Someone called out, “What just went by?”

With his furrowed brows relaxing again, Song Ming leaned against the wall, smiling without answering, his gaze drifting over the crowd to look inside, and sure enough, he saw the figure of the person who had just been beside him, now talking to the teacher.

“We’re meditating this afternoon; would you like to join us, Song brother?”

The people around began to speak again. Song Ming tossed away the grass in his hand, responding perfunctorily a couple of times. When he turned back, only the teacher remained in the room.

Lin Zhusheng approached the teacher to make his presence known and to ask about the scope of the test.

He then received the bad news that there was no specific scope for the test; anything he had learned could potentially be tested.

After digesting this bad news for a while, he originally wanted to greet his new acquaintance, but his new friend was quite popular, surrounded by many people, so he chose not to disturb them and left first.

The moment he stepped out of the academy, a notification sound rang in his mind, and a task prompt popped up:
【Side Quest: Help Song Ming become an outer sect disciple, time limit 14 days】
【Reward: Orange-grade stamina recovery bracelet x1】

He paused, turning to glance back at the classroom, his eyebrows raising.

What a generous reward! The game accessory levels range from blue, green, orange, red, to purple, and normally, the early rewards are mostly blue and green, with green being quite rare. This time, they actually gave an orange one.

Fourteen days is plenty of time; there’s no rush.

Mainly, he wasn’t even sure if he could complete it. He didn’t understand anything and had forgotten how he solved it before. Objectively speaking, this task seemed quite precarious.

It was still early, so he set the task aside and strolled toward the mountainside.

The academy was far from where he lived, and since he had never been there before, now that he was here, he decided to explore a bit more.

The mountainside was the main area for disciples to hang out, and there were many more people than when he was pulling weeds down the mountain, finally creating a lively atmosphere. Where there are people, there are businesses, and a street of shops was set up here.

The first thing he saw was a place selling food.

As long as disciples brought back demon beasts, the people in the sect’s kitchen would select edible demon beast meat for cooking and then sell it to the disciples at very reasonable prices—just a few silver coins for a big bag, making it a great deal.

Not to mention the spiritual energy contained in the demon beast meat, the important thing was that he finally didn’t have to live like a wild man, gnawing on fruits every day.

Thanks to a kind senior brother, he had over a thousand silver coins in hand, so he bought several big bags, one of each kind.

The seller was happy to meet such a straightforward customer, helping him pack the items with a smile that revealed wrinkles, and afterward, he kindly waved, saying, “Welcome to come again next time.”

Equally enthusiastic, Lin Zhusheng hugged his things and waved back politely, saying goodbye.

After leaving the stall, the little cat finally poked its head out of his clothes, sniffing at the paper bag.

His backpack was already full, so he could only carry things in his hands, physically burdened as he walked. Lin Zhusheng looked down at the little cat, pondering, “Should I get a box?”

It was inconvenient to keep everything in the backpack, but food and herbs would spoil if placed directly in the room. According to game mechanics, keeping them in the backpack or a box would prevent spoilage.

The little cat said, “You can find wood to make one yourself, or you can buy one in the shop that opens after you reach level 2.”

It blinked and suggested, “I think buying from the shop is better.”

Lin Zhusheng didn’t agree immediately, asking, “How much does it cost in the shop?”

The little cat shyly smiled, “It costs 100 silver coins.”

“……”

With half-open eyes, Lin Zhusheng succinctly replied, “I’ll go chop some wood.”