560 Chapter 560: Vermillion City

Pushing up my glasses, I studied the single-room apartment that Dad had helped me rent. Obviously we weren't rich so we had to settle for a cheaper option. That said, it wasn't the cheapest. The place was clean, modern and nice. It had a private bathroom, a kitchen and a single bedroom. It was much better than the dingy, dirty shared apartments that poorer students would rent.

But it wasn't the luxurious studio apartments or condominium styled places that the richer students could afford. It was somewhere in between. Given the circumstances, I couldn't complained. To be honest, I was actually quite happy.

Privacy! I was going to have my own privacy! Yay!

Moving my luggage in, I began to unpack and settle in. I had already spoken to the landlord and confirmed that the payment had been made earlier. With everything done, I could rest for now. Checking out my new bed, I flopped down on it and lazed for a bit. For no reason, I went onto the Webnovel forums.

Sometimes I felt unmotivated to do anything, just like a sloth. Speaking of sloths, I dreaded to go to the forums because of a certain sloth there…some of his comments just made me laugh. He would act arrogantly and talked down to other posters in a condescending manner, and then make comments like, "Learn to be humble. Lack of humility is what irks me on this forum the most." The fuck? Did you look at the mirror, you arrogant prick? You were the last person to be talking about humility.

And then he would call others rude, despite him being condescending and insulting. He really should change his name to HypocriticalSloth. I wouldn't deny that he was motivated to write, but the amount of arrogance and rudeness he displayed on the forums was astounding.

Grimacing, I moved away from the Webnovel forums. I spent too much time arguing on the damned forums. I decided not to respond to the guy or he would start bashing me for being salty or for humble bragging or whatever nonsense. Or he would ignore me because I had "lost the right" for him to respond to for my "insulting" comments. What a hypocrite. Tells other people to be humble while behaving like an arrogant prick. Accuses people of being rude and insulting while talking down to them in a condescending manner.

Maybe he would show up later and start berating me, only to be eaten by a monster. That thought brought a smile to my face.

Just when I closed the window for Webnovel forums, I received a call from an unknown number. Blinking, I tapped the green button to receive the call.

"Richard! It's me, Tang Yue!"

"…who?"

I didn't recognize the female voice at all. The caller sounded agitated.

"Tang Yue! I was your teacher when you were still enrolled in Jing Tian Academy…"

Actually, I decided to hang up. No matter how you looked at this, this had to be some sort of scam call. I shouldn't have wasted my time with this nonsense.

"W…wait!" The person named Tang Yue sounded desperate. "I'm here to request for your help! I've heard a lot of good things about you from Feng Hai and also from Teresa Taylor in Saint Teresa Academy! They said that you would be a good person for the job!"

"What job?" I asked, intrigued despite myself. I would double-confirm this with Feng Hai and Headmistress Taylor later to ensure that this wasn't a scam but for now I decided to give her a chance to speak.

"I require a summoning mage," Tang Yue explained. "I am from the Justice Council of mages. I have some official business that I need to take care of, and I require someone with summoning magic to help me with my mission. I need you to investigate a criminal mage who has murdered a lot of mages."

"…" This was starting to sound suspiciously like a web novel I had read before. One with a comic and animation adaptation. Also, I didn't see why anyone would request a summoning mage for an investigation mission. This made no sense whatsoever.

"I'll give you star maps and a spirit stone as rewards for the mission, if you successfully complete the task."

"Star maps?" I repeated incredulously. "Why would I need star maps for?"

"To draw your star circles, to cast your intermediate magic. I know you're now an intermediate mage."

I immediately hung up. Yup, this had to be a prank call. She was a fraud. Either that or she was in the wrong story. Magic here didn't work by dawing star circles, nor were we categorized into basic, intermediate and advanced mages.

If this Tang Yue wanted a more versatile mage, she had better go to another universe.

A few seconds had only passed before she called me again.

"Wait!" she shouted before I could hang up. "If you do this, I can help you awaken a new element! Given that you're the protagonist, I'm sure you'll awaken two new elements!"

I hung up again and blocked her number. After that, I contacted Feng Hai and Headmistress Teresa Taylor, and the both of them assured me that they had never heard of anyone called Tang Yue. I even sent an email to Teacher Ruff Fielding, and he told me that nobody of that name was ever employed as a teacher in Jing Tian Academy.

"What the fuck is going on here?" I asked, doing my best to refrain from clutching my head and not yell into the ceiling. Foruntately, I had blocked this Tang Yue's number, so she wouldn't be able to call me for a long time now.

I spent the rest of the day unpacking and sleeping for a bit, and then I resumed training. There was nothing else to do while waiting for the entrance ceremony of the university, which would be in a few days. I had gone early to prepare myself. I needed to familiarize myself with a new place and get used to the new city before I could officially begin my days in Vermillion University.

After dinner, I received a call from someone I did know. Tapping the call, I watched as Henry Porter's elderly face showed up in a holographic window.

"Sir," I greeted him. He grinned and nodded at me.

"It's been a while, Richard. How have you been?"

"All right. What about you, sir?"

"Good, good. Oh, and before you ask, Lilith is good too. I'm sure she'll be happy to see you again. She will be attending Vermillion University as well, so you will have plenty of opportunities to meet."

I had no doubt about that. There wouldn't be any other university Lilith would enroll in. I was confident that she had passed the entrance exam to the university with her own abilities rather than rely on her family connections to get in. Everyone recognized Lilith's fire magic, after all. Those who didn't would be disabused of the notion that she made use of her family's status to get past everything. Her soul beast was incredible.

I still remembered fighting against it.

"Oh, I called you today to ask about your major."

"Huh?" That was a weird question to ask. I was pretty sure Henry Porter already knew what I was majoring in. "Didn't I already tell you, sir? I plan to major in history and literature."

"Not that, ha ha!" Henry Porter chuckled good-naturedly. "I'm sorry for not being clear. I know you're in the history and literature department for the theoretical component. I was referring to your magic major. Or combat major."

"Oh, right."

"As you know, mages in Vermillion University usually specialize in a single combat major. Some of the more talented ones double major in two different types of magic or elements. I heard that you haven't made your choice yet. Are you deciding on a single major or double major."

"Single major, sir."

I didn't have time to spend on a double major. It would require a lot more commitment and resources – resources that I didn't have. I wasn't confident that I had the time or energy to split between two different elements. I preferred to focus on one. And even then, if I chose a double major, I would still need to choose a home department. A home department was where I would devote most of my time and attention to, so I couldn't make the choice lightly.

Some readers would begin yelling at me in the comments section about how I was stupid to not double major, but I couldn't care less. This was my life, my major, my time and my decision. I wasn't going to call them stupid for majoring in computer science or engineering or whatever. Most of those scolding me and throwing insutls probably only had one major in university (assuming they made it there or were old enough to attend university), so they really shouldn't be throwing stones at me. If they couldn't do it, why were they expecting me to do it?

"Hmm. So what magic are you going to major in? I heard that you learned ice magic in Saint Teresa Academy, and continued to hone it even back in Jing Tian Academy. Is that why you haven't made your decision yet?"

"No…uh, I plan to enter the summoning department."

"Oh…" Henry Porter smiled warmly as he stroked his chin. "That is very much like you. Good to hear that you've already decided. Make sure you fill out the application form and confirm it online. Don't wait until the last minute to do it!"

"Understood, sir."

I had completely forgotten about it. Actually, I didn't even know we were supposed to declare a magic major. This worked differently from high school. For some reason, because of my previous life, I thought that university majors referred to the theoretical stuff and thus I believed I had settled all my paperwork once I had declared the humanities as my major. I didn't expect the magic major to exist as a separate requirement.

I had to get used to the way things were handled here.

"Thank you for the reminder, sir."

"No problem, no problem at all. I'll see you next week then, when the semester begins!"

"Yes, sir!"

With that, I hung up and glanced outside the window. The scenery of Vermillion City at night was amazing, with so many skyscrapers and stuff. It had a different flavor to it, unlike the almost suburban and rich districts of Flandor City or the relatively small buildings that dotted the poorer Jing Tian City.

Vermillion City was a true metropolis, and while it did lack in some grandeur compared to Flandor City where rich nobles resided, it was still quite the spectacular sight. The city that didn't sleep. Lights continued to dot the landscape.

Shaking my head, I drew the curtains and prepared to go to bed. No, before I went to bed, I must first get all the application forms done online first and declare my magic major as well. There was much to do over the week.

Stretching myself before sitting opposite my computer, I braced myself for my journey into university.