192 Another Crisis

The setting sun, withered vines, old tree, evening crows, and a heartbroken man at the horizon.

"I heard that you were caught by that white haired guy?" a crow asked quietly, standing above the old tree in the backyard.

"Yeah." The tree’s branches trembled as if it was reminded of a nightmare. It asked in a hoarse voice, "And you?"

"I was caught too." The crow was heartbroken.

"Me too." The withered vine asked in a low voice, "How many times for you?"

"Twice. You?"

The withered vine was quiet for a while before replying, "Three times."

The crow looked at the withered vine pitifully and raised its wing to pat the vine. "Don’t be sad. I heard someone was caught four times." The old tree burst into tears, and the crow was shocked. "Bro, what’s the matter?"

"The guy who was caught four times was me."

"That’s sad." The crow shed tears of sympathy.

The withered vine nodded too. "Yeah, really sad."

"Don't worry, it’s all over." The three fellow victims huddled together in the cold, crying on each other's shoulders. "It's all over now."

But footsteps and voices could be heard faintly in the distance. "How many did you get?"

"Not even one. I even got points deducted because I damaged the scene." The girl’s voice sounded a little disappointed. "There's only ten left."

"Well, then I’ll look for a few to let you raise it a little."

"Great!"

In the distance, the last glimmer of light was about to disappear. It was a sign of the arrival of the long night.

When the white moon rose to the sky, everyone was relieved for some reason. The f*cked up first day was finally over.

"Students, I am so pleased!" The excited principal at the podium whistled, ignoring Her Highness who was beside him, and the gloomy Sydney and other coaches behind him.

"Everyone did great today! Chef? Chef! Add a chicken leg to everyone’s dinner to replenish their energy!" Maxwell waved widely and increased the benefits for all of the students.

Unfortunately, no one cheered because they were all exhausted. But Maxwell was not in a hurry and instead gave a mysterious smile. "Next, I have good news to announce…In order to help everyone keep up the good work in the next two rounds of trial, the royal family prepared a prize for first place in today’s trial."

Maxwell paused. Looking back at the girl behind him, he smiled. "The prize is a complete set of materials needed for the sublimation ritual! It includes the resonance rails unique to the School of Anglo, and the highest quality aether crystals. It can turn any music movement into a Heart Mark, and allow the musician to accept the knowledge during the sublimation ritual!"

The audience was silenced instantly, followed by an explosion of noise. Everyone’s eyes grew wild, but more people were lamenting about their unluckiness, forcing them to be so far behind.

The jealous eyes that fixed on Ye Qingxuan in that instant were almost too much for him to bear.

Among the secret rituals mastered by countless musicians, the "sublimation ritual" was undoubtedly the most popular one. It was highly sought after due to its excellent effects and near-absence of side effects.

The recipient in a "sublimation ritual" would submerge his mind in the aether ocean and fall toward the Originator.

This was the optimal opportunity, close to Deva sensing. In one short hour, the recipient would gain as much in music theory and power as others would in several months. The sublimation rituals held by different schools were never the same. The School of Anglo had a special sublimation ritual. It lasted the longest and practically took an entire night.

By consuming huge amounts of material and aether, the musician’s strength would be improved as well. The effect was three to four times that of a regular sublimation.

Many rhythm level musicians sought ‘inspiration’ to no avail, but received inspired during the sublimation ritual. Then under the Deva sensing, they stepped into the third stage and officially entered the musician level.

It was also the best way for ordinary people who had limited talent and found it difficult to improve. It must be known that a sublimation ritual was practically the only hope for the majority of students to become musicians! The ordinary man could not afford its high cost and precious material. Even an elite family would feel the loss too…

Furthermore, this time, the royal family had also provided the aether crystal, resonance rails and other treasured materials to produce the Heart Mark.

The Heart Mark! This was a creation unique to the School of Mind. It was an alternative modeled after the once-in-a-lifetime ‘nirvana’ that Scepter level musicians of the School of Mind experienced.

As the name implied, the Heart Mark was passed on by the heart, rather than words. Its purpose was to pass down the feelings of a music score and allow instant acquisition of the score. The musician could skip months and years of studying and practice, especially since some music scores above the Resonance level chose its owner!

If a musician could not comprehend the spirit of the music score, he could be stuck even after decades of hard work, but if a musician studied with the Heart Mark, he could directly obtain the sentiment and essence left by the creator, thus omitting the years of practice.

It was just as Ye Qingxuan had inherited his Heart Mark through the notes left by his father; however, Ye Lanzhou was so unique in his accomplishments of the School of Mind that he could even attach his Heart Mark in his signature for fun.

The Heart Mark even contained compounding pieces of music, hiding Moonlight within Black Friday. The precision of the structure and law, and clearness of the music theory was jaw-dropping.

For most musicians, the inheritance of a Heart Mark depended on one’s fate, so there was no need to emphasize its preciousness. There was no doubt that Ye Qingxuan was most likely the one to gain this opportunity since he had an absolute advantage over Banner in second place, with four thousands points between them. Therefore, those envious eyes were basically understandable.

Ye Qingxuan looked at the principal helplessly. Why did the principal have to roast him like that?

But Maxwell was not done enjoying himself and added another remark. "At that time, I’ll invite a musician with unmatchable skills in alchemy to hold the ritual. The music scores needed for the Heart Mark will be provided by the library. The recipient can choose any Resonance level score!"

Boom!

Ye Qingxuan practically saw fire falling from the sky. Now, all the students in the academy seemed to be ignited by the sudden prize. If they were warm before, they were frenzied now. A resolute look flashed through everyone's eyes as they looked in Ye Qingxuan’s direction. Irreconcilable hatred was written all over their faces!

This included the cold eyes from Banner behind him. The sublimation ritual was not a big deal for the Adrian family. Gavin had used it many times. It was also the reason why Gavin could enter the Musician level. But the Resonance level music scores from the library was a different story…

Even if one did not speak of the highest level saintly scores and the symphony of predestination, any score that entered the Resonance level was worlds away from other scores. Before this, a musician was on his own, but after resonating with the Devas, his power would be completely incomparable.

The feeling of danger behind him made Ye Qingxuan smile bitterly. "What is this? The disgrace of the academy is now the enemy of the academy," he thought.

"Then next, all we have left to speak of is tomorrow’s trial…" The principal pretended to cough and stopped! The old man was pretending to keep everyone in suspense.

Several coaching members of the school board looked at each other. In the end, they looked at Sydney at the same time. His expression grew distressed immediately. Helpless, he followed the principal’s plan and asked, "Mr. Principal, do you already have plans for tomorrow’s trial?"

"That’s right." Maxwell patted Sydney's shoulder in satisfaction and said, "Since it's the school anniversary, we should continue Anglo’s glorious tradition!"

"Eh?!" It was not only Sydney who felt a bad premonition.

Maxwell smiled happily. "Let’s...play soccer!"

Sydney: "..."

Coaches: "..."

Students: "..."

Silence—dead silence. Everyone was stunned and they looked at each other, speechless. Much later, someone asked quietly, "Soccer?"

"That’s right, soccer!" Maxwell waved excitedly. "We should get some exercise since this is the campus of youth! The Royal Academy of Music aims to develop all-around students, so how can there be no sports?!

"So, let’s play soccer! Kick in your youth! Kick in your style! Kick in a new era of the Royal Academy of Music!

"I had originally planned to suggest to the royal family that we hold a musician soccer game and invite Burgundy, Asgard, Canaan and even the Eastern Imperial College to participate…Sydney what do you think of this proposal? Isn’t it good?"

"What do you think about this proposal? Could it be called a proposal? It was completely decided already!" Sydney thought. "What else can I say?"

"I support it, I support it." Sydney could only nod. Wiping his cold sweat, he quietly looked at the princess who was still calm, and said in a low voice, "Think long-term, Mr. Principal. Long-term!"

Sydney was afraid that the principal would digress and propose more troublesome things. If Maxwell wanted soccer, then it was soccer. At most, everyone would just play along and kick some balls.

"Oh, there's one more thing I forgot to say," Maxwell added. "The soccer I'm talking about is the kind where you can use music scores."

Use music scores…how the f*ck was this soccer?!

"Is this killer soccer?!"

His words stirred the crowd. Everyone’s expressions changed. Ye Qingxuan tried to imagine the scene, but found that he could not because his imagination was limited this time. For some reason, he just felt very uneasy.

But in the crowd, Bart seemed to think of something. He suddenly laughed, overwhelmed with joy. He pointed at Ye Qingxuan full of schadenfreude.

"Haha, you’re dead meat, Ye Qingxuan! You’re doomed, you know? No one can save you now…"

Ye Qingxuan froze for a moment, but quickly understood where the uneasiness came from. He met Charles’ eyes and could not help but curse.