Silent Crown

“No, I was just trying to confirm something strange,” Ye Qingxuan replied quietly as he reached behind Edmund.

In that silent moment, someone put a heavy thing in his hand.

Edmund was stunned. He rubbed his eyes, trying to see the thing in Ye Qingxuan’s hands more clearly. It looked familiar, like a brick taken from the wall.

It was blue-gray with sharp ridges. It fit perfectly in Ye’s palm and had substantial weight.

In his ear came the youth’s voice, “I couldn’t believe it at first, but…”

Immediately the thing started moving. It rose from his palm and sliced through the air in a powerful and beautiful arc. It was suddenly grasped in a stone-like hand that dropped from the sky.

For a moment, time was at a standstill to everyone.

They watched as Ye Qingxuan rose, and pushing off from the table, he raised his hand and the brick. He hurled it forward.

As it whistled through the air, the ridges of the gray brick and its shadow grew bigger in Edmund’s eyes. It grew bigger and bigger, until it took up his entire eye.

Boom!

There was a muted sound, and then the gray brick was deeply buried in the boy’s fat face. It left a perfect rectangular mark. Following it was a force that had been built up and unleashed full power on his face.

Under the dazed gazes, Edmund’s body moved backwards. He flew past the second row and crashed into the students in the first row.

In the silence, Ye Qingxuan loosened the uniform’s annoying tie and let out a long breath. Quietly, he said in awe, “I can’t believe the rules don’t include punishment for fights!”

He stood on the table and looked down at the gaping elite boys. There was a strand of red on the gray brick. Two drops of blood landed on the floor and expensive table.

Laying on the broken pieces of the table, Edmund finally started screaming while rolling on the ground.

“My face, my face!” He clutched his flattened nose. His already fat face had swelled with a purple bruise. The tears from the pain would not stop falling either.

“Kill him! Kill him for me!” he yelled at his friends. “That b*stard dared to hit me! He needs to pay!”

—

On the side, Bai Xi looked at Charles, who had returned. That b*stard had come back from somewhere with a brick, a bottle of alcohol, and two door bolts. He had kept another brick for himself, but Ye Qingxuan took it. So now he only had half a bottle of brandy.

Seeing how Ye Qingxuan fought, Charles could not help but whistle.

“Oh, so you didn’t really run away.” Bai Xi patted his shoulder in praise. “I was wrong about you.”

“Please, ask the upperclassmen and see when I ever ran away from a fight!” Charles shoved a bolt into her hands. Like a ruffian, he proclaimed, “You think that the title of the academy’s most attractive boy just fell from the sky? No, I won it through fights! Just watch for my killer move later!”

He jumped into the messy fight with the door bolt in hand before he even finished talking. He was almost mistaken by Ye Qingxuan as a sneak attack and was hit with a backhand brick.

“Oh crap, junior, it’s me! It’s me… Ah, why are you so deadly?”

—

The entire classroom was thrown into chaos. Bai Xi used her short height to her advantage and made successful sneak attacks. But it was a little worse for Ye Qingxuan. Other than the first two moves, the trained elites easily saw that he did not fight often and was taken down.

After Charles thought for a moment, he lay down on the ground and screamed, “Help! elites are beating people up!”

The skinny guy chasing him was confused. He had just been hit by Charles’s bottle, but before he could even react, Charles was on the floor. Had he finally become his family’s knight and learned the so-called nerve reflect, not having to fear sneak attacks anymore?

“Where’s the justice? Elites are killing people!” On the ground, Charles poured red ink onto himself and rolled around. “My leg! My leg! I can’t feel my leg… Oh God, I’m paralyzed. Save me. I want to die!”

“Hey, idiot, that’s your killer move?” Bai Xi suddenly did not have the brainpower to process any of this. She just wanted to cover her face and pretend she did not know him.

More and more people were dragged into the messy fight. With more students getting hurt accidentally, this strange conflict grew in size.

The commoners were already upset that the elites purposely picked on others today. And the brash elites were not the type to swallow their anger. They rolled up their sleeves and jumped in.

No one expected the first lesson on the first day of school to turn into a group fight.

“This is an accident, Sir. An accident!” Gritting his teeth and face ashen, Ben explained to Lancelot in the room above the classroom, “Sir, two black sheep were causing trouble…The commoners are always so vulgar! I will lock them up later.”

Lancelot’s expression was still calm as he gazed down at the chaos. He only shook his head. “They are just a group of young people. It’s good to have so much energy.” But the dissatisfaction in his voice was enough to make Ben want to explode.

The first lesson had been planned so carefully to show to the Queen’s messenger. But it had been ruined by the principal for no reason, and now this type of thing happened. It was like pouring a bucket of stinging medicine into his eyes!

“Amazing, this makes me reminisce my childhood.” The administrator whistled, satisfaction all over his face. “Group fights are a part of learning too.”

But then came a sound that changed everything.

Someone was communicating with the aether and chanting runes!

“This is…getting big.” Shock flashed past the administrator’s eyes.

—

The mess in the classroom was still chaotic.

No one noticed that Edmund had climbed up. With difficulty he stood up, supported by the wall. He glared at Ye Qingxuan’s backside with his swollen eyes full of murderous intent.

“You d*mned…street scum!” He spat out a broken tooth, his bruised face full of hate. “You angered me first!”

Opening his mouth, he began chanting a standard note. The obscure voice was like icicles bumping into each other. They overlapped in the air and turned into the crisp shattering of porcelain.

The first to react was Charles. He turned around in shock and stared in Edmund’s direction.

He knew this string of standard notes. The melody was the sign of the School of Modification’s standard rune Frost!

Unlike the other schools, even the most basic of Modification runes were unbelievably powerful. Extraction was targeted toward metals. If it was placed on a human, it could deplete half of one’s body’s liquid in an instant. Frost was targeted at temperature, and if modified onto one’s limbs, it would turn into assassin’s favorite technique: Frozen Touch.

Just a touch was enough to kill a large area of skin cells. If it reached a vital organ…the consequences were frightening.

But the short chant was already over. He did not even have the chance to interrupt it.

There seemed to be sunlight on Edmund’s hand, radiating coldness, as if he had a thin silk glove on. The designs on the layers of frost were chilling.

“Use your next life to repent!” he growled and charged toward Ye Qingxuan, his hand raised toward his face.

Ye Qingxuan turned around and saw Edmund’s fierce expression. He suddenly understood something and could not help but laugh.

“Idiot…” In that last moment, he sighed, “Idiot!” Banner, observing coldly from the side, could not help but mutter, “Idiot.”

Above the classroom, the administrator laughed while clutching his belly.

—

Under everyone’s shocked eyes, the Frozen Touch covered Ye Qingxuan’s face. The entangled frost designs glowed immediately.

In the silence, someone yelped, afraid to watch.

But Edmund froze. Because the aether suddenly disappeared in that moment!

He looked at his hand in shock, not understanding what had happened. He saw that familiar gray brick appear in his vision again.

It grew bigger, bigger and bigger…Bang!

With a wild roundabout, a broken piece of brick flew at Edmund and crashed onto the floor.

In the suffocating silence, Ye Qingxuan tossed the other half of the brick. Shaking his head, he sighed.

“The entire academy is enveloped with Requiem. Other than special practice rooms, not even Resonance Musicians have the power to make any effect. This is clearly said clearly in the student handbook. Why don’t you read it?”

“Kill him! Kill him!” Humiliated, Edmund lay on the ground, screaming in a choked voice. “Kill him! Why aren’t you moving…The Rossi family won’t let you get away with this! My brother won’t let you get away with this!”

Ye Qingxuan froze. “You mean there are more idiots like you?”

“You wanna die?!” Edmund tried to crawl over and tackle him in anger.

“Enough!” Ben roared outside the door.

The chaotic classroom fell silent instantly. Everyone stopped reflexively and turned to see the angry Ben, feeling unsettled.

“Someone come take Edmund to the doctor’s office.” Ben looked at the youth on the floor, and commanded a few students to take him away.

Looking at the blood on the floor, he glared at Ye Qingxuan. “Such a young age and already so cruel to your classmate. How did you pass the character test?”