Back at the Magic Academy, Zidi breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that she was safe for the time being.
This magic academy has seven legendary mage towers, and there are several passages inside the academy that can lead to sixteen and a half planes.
This is one of the best magic schools in the empire.
Zidi was able to study here because her father spent a lot of money.
The escape at the birthday dinner was like a dream.
Perhaps because of his reputation and face, the Lord of Garden City did not take this opportunity to attack. Her father also continued to support Zidi's high living and education expenses without interruption.
Zidi's life seems to have returned to its former tranquility.
However, she understood that a huge change had occurred in her heart.
She never used the money provided by her father every month, and she began to be self-reliant.
There are roughly three categories of students in the magic academy.
One type is the powerful, and superior blood naturally gives them noble status.
The second category is children from rich families, and Zi Di is one of them. She has low bloodline, low qualifications for practicing magic, and limited lifelong achievements. However, her mentor accepts her as an apprentice and can get a large supply of money. The research and practice of magic are of great importance to her.
The resource consumption is very huge.
The third category is civilian children with outstanding qualifications. Most of these students have outstanding mental power. They have been screened through the empire's selection system. There are also excellent seeds of blood mutation. If these students can grow up smoothly, they can often become college students.
Even the mainstay of the empire.
Zidi no longer uses the funds provided by her father, which makes her mentor very dissatisfied.
A large number of tasks are distributed every day in the academy, mainly for civilian students. Zidi is only a bronze-level magic apprentice. The scope of tasks she takes is very narrow, and it is very difficult to complete the tasks.
But she relied on these tasks to survive with difficulty.
This was certainly not enough for her to be self-sufficient, and her situation became increasingly difficult.
She no longer had exquisite clothes, and began to compete with other students for tasks with higher returns. Sometimes she was so tight that she had to go hungry.
Her plight became known.
Her former playmates and best friends all stayed away from her, and some even ridiculed her, never missing any opportunity to ridicule her.
Some male students kept hinting to Zidi - you don’t have to live such a hard life. In fact, your conditions are good. You can make good use of your own natural resources, and you can easily exchange for a lot of resources. Sometimes, even beyond your imagination.
Without exception, Zidi sternly refused these hints and obscure requests.
She discovered another side of the world.
The once glorious, peaceful, noble and solemn Magic Academy showed a blood-drenched cruelty in her eyes. The mage towers intersected to form a special jungle.
The law of the jungle, the law of the jungle, is also prevalent here.
In this jungle, every life has its own way of survival.
The strong stay alone, the weak stay together.
Zidi is certainly not a strong person, and at the same time, it is difficult for her to be accepted by a group of weak people.
Zidi is like a canary in a bird's nest on a high branch. She suddenly fell to the bottom of the jungle. The jungle at the bottom is dark and lightless. If she wants to survive, she must seize every ray of sunlight.
Every portion of food and water.
Beings as weak as her, looking at her like a canary, naturally have feelings of repulsion, wariness, and schadenfreude.
She stumbled and suffered constantly.
In the process of struggling to survive, there are many temptations and traps.
The hints from the male students never stopped, and the funds in her account accumulated more and more over time... These all reminded her that as long as she gave up some seemingly insignificant things, she could regain her glory and regain her glory.
Standing on a high branch now, you can enjoy the relaxation and scenery.
But Zidi never wavered.
Her determination sometimes surprises herself.
Slowly and with great difficulty, she gained a foothold in the highly competitive college, learned to be self-reliant, and became self-sufficient.
"I can finally rely on my own hands and my own labor to support myself!"
This sense of accomplishment made her physically and mentally happy and filled her with pride.
But at the same time, she also felt inferior and discouraged.
The harder she works, the more she feels her own potential is poor and her future prospects are bleak.
According to her mental strength and bloodline, her highest achievement in life is only the black iron level!
This means that in this unique jungle, despite her lifetime efforts, she will only be able to get out of the mud and reach the trunk of the tree. She can't even climb the lowest branch.
Although Zidi has known this for a long time. But now, she feels the despair in it even more deeply.
She began to understand why her peers around her, some of the female students who were extremely sarcastic and difficult for her, chose to trade their bodies for a relatively easy and superior life.
Understanding does not mean agreement.
As an extremely beautiful college beauty, Zidi's persistence and personal efforts make her unique and even more charming.
More and more suitors appeared around her, but they were all rejected by her with a strict attitude.
After her mentor repeatedly hinted and stated that it was ineffective, he finally lost patience and deprived her of her status under his command.
Zidi can only continue to live in the academy as an ordinary student.
But instead she gradually became like a fish in water.
Her smart mind, keen insight, and connections established with her good reputation, eloquence, and skills allowed her to seize small business opportunities one after another.
At the pier in the early morning, the fish market has already opened.
Zi Di was walking in casual clothes.
The fishy smell that she once hated so much now doesn't bother her at all.
She has come to the fish market many times, and every time she comes to buy tuna.
Tuna is a large category of fish, which can be subdivided into yellowfin, bigeye, bluefin, albacore, bonito, etc.
Zidi can always choose the best quality tuna. This is the result of her inquiries, the use of the library's rich collection of books, and the experience of purchasing again and again.
There is a tutor in the college who loves to eat tuna and issues such tasks almost every day. With her hard work and strength, Zidi stands out from many competitors. Although the tasks are not very rewarding, the advantage is that they come almost every day.
Soon, through sharp eloquence, Zidi lowered the price to the lowest limit and purchased enough tuna.
Just as he was about to leave, there was sudden noise and noise not far away.
Zidi looked around and saw two bronze-level fishermen arguing.
She immediately understood that this was a competition for the identity of the fish king. Almost every day, fishermen in the fish market would compete with each other to be the fish king of the day.
For fishermen who have obtained the status of Fish King, their stalls will always receive the most attention. Often, in less than half a morning, all the fish in the stalls will be sold out.
The rules for competing for the fish king are very simple, it is simply to compare the weight of the single fish caught this morning.
But today's situation was a bit complicated, so a dispute broke out.
A fisherman who originally won the title of Fish King discovered that there was a person hidden in the large sea fish he caught!
The unfortunate man who fell into the water was dying, with most of his body still in the fish's belly.
When the originally failed fisherman saw this situation, he immediately said that the weight of a person cannot be added to the body of a fish.
But the fisherman, who was originally confident of winning, firmly stated that the man who fell into the water was the food in the belly of the big fish and should be regarded as the weight of the fish! When he caught it, he also overcame the weight of the big fish and the person together, which was very difficult.
Other fishermen sneered at this statement. With such a man stuffed in the belly of a big fish, it must move slowly. This is the key to being caught.
Both sides insisted on their own opinions and argued endlessly, and the onlookers were divided into two groups, each supporting one person.
But Zidi saw that the drowning man was in bad condition and shouted: "No matter what, we should save people first."
"Hey, this is a barbarian, there's nothing he can do to save him!" The crowd didn't take it seriously.
If it were a pure human race, everyone might still be able to rescue him, but the barbarians mainly live in the Frost Continent and are a foreign race.
Zidi couldn't bear it. Seeing that the barbarian was about to die, she hesitated for a moment, then took out the potion from her arms and poured it into the barbarian's mouth.
The old barbarian woke up, but he was screaming and unable to communicate. He was actually a madman.
Some people made fun of Zidi, saying that this healing potion was worth a lot of money, but it was used to save a madman, and there was no reward at all.
Zidi sighed, she just couldn't bear it and went to save him, not with any intention of repaying him.
But she didn't refute anything, but bowed her head and left.
She doesn't attract attention.
Because every time she goes out, she uses a transformation potion to temporarily change her appearance. Otherwise, with her original appearance, she will be the center of attention wherever she goes.
As the days passed, the crazy old barbarian gradually became a scene in the fish market.
He was as skinny as a stick, with disheveled hair. Although he was crazy, he was a very small threat. The fishermen regarded him as a target of teasing, and they teased him every day for fun.
However, although the old barbarian was crazy, his instinct to eat was still there. He barely survived by eating raw fish organs abandoned in the fish market.
Zidi comes to the fish market almost every day. Sometimes she can see the old crazy barbarian, sometimes not. More often, Zidi will bring some food to give to the old crazy barbarian.
One day a few years later.
She found the old madman Barbarian sleeping soundly in the corner of the alley of the fish market.
Just as she placed the food in front of the old crazy barbarian, the old barbarian slowly opened his eyes and said in fluent common language: "Thank you, young and kind lady."
Zidi was shocked.
The old barbarian took out a roll of animal skin paper from his arms.
"I'm getting more and more awake."
"This is the potion formula I made. It is the potion of our barbarian tribe."
"Please accept it, young lady. We barbarians always repay kindness."
Zidi took it and was quickly attracted by it.
"Although these formulas only use the physical properties of the herbs themselves and are not considered magic potions, they are very rare. There are only one or two copies in the library. Thank you..."
Zi Di raised her head and stopped talking in astonishment.
Maybe she was too obsessed with these potion formulas, and the old barbarian has disappeared.
For the first time, she realized that this was an old barbarian with a story.
The impact of this small and medium-sized adventure became more and more obvious in the years after Zidi.
The more Zi Di studied, the more she discovered that the potion on the animal skin paper was of a different system from the magic potion. Although it was obviously a summary of the experience of the barbarian tribe and lacked the research and meticulous spirit advocated by magicians, it had considerable practical value.
high.
Zidi's previous tutor was best at alchemy. In addition to her main magic practice, Zidi also took an elective course in a branch of alchemy - pharmacy.
A few months later, Zidi's research began to yield some results.
A year later, these results are increasing.
The good reputation of some ordinary potions she sold began to spread among ordinary citizens. Some students even gave up the expensive magic potions and chose Zidi's barbarian potions because they were short of money.
"When I graduate, maybe I can open an ordinary pharmacy store in the city." Just when she began to look forward to the bright future of this career, a piece of bad news suddenly came.
Father is dead!
When she first heard the news, Zidi's first reaction was that she couldn't believe it.
"Maybe this is just a way for my father to lure me back home?"
In these years, she has never been back home.
But then, letters from Fat Tongue and many other elders came one after another, telling her the cruel fact.
Endless grief overwhelmed Zidi.
Although Zidi hated her father, she never really thought that one day she would learn of his death.
"He is my only relative in this world." Zi Di shed tears.
The feeling of loneliness, confusion, and insignificance swept through her heart like an endless wave.
Although Zidi has become self-reliant over the years, she can now rely on herself and live independently in this city.
Although in these years, she has not spent any money sent by her father.
When her father truly died, she realized his true position in her heart and in her life.
Although she turned against her father and hated him, she also loved him deeply!
In the following months, the Wisteria Chamber of Commerce was in turmoil and fell into violent civil strife. The powerful people quickly divided up the Wisteria Chamber of Commerce's property. A large number of chamber members changed their ways and actively or forced to defect to others.
There are many letters to Zidi, and most of them are to persuade Zidi to stand up and protect the legacy left by the old president. Because according to tradition and the laws of the empire, she is the only heir to the Chamber of Commerce.
But Zidi turned a deaf ear to it. She hunkered down in the magic academy and never went out. She had given up on the fish market mission that she had persisted in for several years.
She knows that the Magic Academy is her safe haven, the only place that can protect her and give her safety at this stage.
Finally, within a few months, a gluttonous feast among many forces slowly came to an end.
The Wisteria Chamber of Commerce has almost only a name left, and most of its valuable properties have become the property of others.
The once glorious super chamber of commerce, a giant with a strong tendency to catch up with and surpass the six traditional chambers of commerce, has completely fallen into the dirt in just a few months.
There are people who sigh and lament, there are people who are afraid and fearful, there are people who add insult to injury, there are people who are indifferent bystanders...
Finally, after everything was settled, Zidi left the Magic Academy.
During this time, she was hiding in the magic academy.
Now, she needs to attend her father's funeral.
"Xiao Zidi, no, don't feel guilty. You are right to do this. Those who persuaded you to come out before have ulterior motives and want to use you to gain more benefits." Fat Tongue led a team.
Troops and horses came to meet her.
"But, be careful. The big crocodiles are full, and the vicious piranhas are still wandering in the muddy water."
After traveling in a low-key manner for several days, Zidi and his party arrived at the small town at the foot of the mountain.
The town is full of joyful atmosphere. A circus comes to the town, bringing one of the few entertainment activities in the year to the townspeople.
Clowns, fireworks, colorful balloons, puppet shows, brown bears stepping on barrels, dancing monkeys, and flute-playing snake dancers from the East.
Zidi's carriage moved slowly through the crowded crowd.
There was silence in the carriage, and sadness surged in Zidi's heart.
There are two distinct worlds inside and outside the carriage.
When Zi Di opened the curtains and raised her eyes, she could see the manor on the hillside.
It used to be her home, and the manor doesn't seem to have changed much.
Her mind flashed back to her childhood, her life in the manor, and this town. Every year when the circus came, she would also visit it accompanied by the guards.
Even a smoking parrot in the circus could amaze and fascinate her at a young age.
Now, she's back.
She has grown up, regardless of age or experience.
The beautiful manor in the past exuded an atmosphere of sadness. The mysterious circus in the memory could no longer bring the surprise and touch to Zidi.
Everything has changed.
The motorcade slowly passed through the busy city. Under a simple stage converted from a carriage, a group of children were sitting around. A puppet show was being performed on the stage, and it was the story that Zidi loved to hear when she was a child.
——Princess, Demon and Knight.
Hearing those familiar lines, Zidi recalled the time when she and her mother visited the small town together.
"Mom, the devil is so hateful. I want to defeat it! I am very good at fighting it. The gardener's son is two years older than me, so he is no match for me."
Her mother smiled and said: "My little princess, fighting is not what a lady should do. Don't worry, you don't have to take action, you will have your knight, and he will protect you throughout your life."
"My knight?" Childhood Zidi's eyes flashed, "Where is he?"
"Well... Mom doesn't know for sure either. But what is certain is that he will definitely appear in your life."
"Mom, what's in that tent?"
"That's the fortune teller's tent."
"What is divination? I want to see it."
"It's too late, wait until next year when mom brings her here, okay? My lovely little princess, it's time for us to go home and sleep. Be good."
"Oh..." Childhood Zidi lowered her head and answered reluctantly.
The convoy finally reached the end of the street. After this, there was a mountain road. At the end of the mountain road, there was the manor.
A blue tent stands at the end of the street.
This is the fortune teller's tent. It is deserted and deserted, in sharp contrast to the other stalls in the circus.
Divination is a type of prophecy and a very profound field of magic.
However, most of the folk fortune tellers are swindlers and deceivers. Perhaps because they come to the town every year, the townspeople know the fortune tellers in the circus and have no interest in patronizing them anymore.
"Stop the car, I want to get off." Zi Di suddenly became excited and spoke.
She got out of the car and left her escort outside the tent.
The light in the tent was dim, seeming to deliberately create a mysterious atmosphere.
Zidi looked at the furnishings in the tent with great interest. With her sharp eyesight trained over the years, she immediately identified many fake herbal medicines and many counterfeit magic instruments.
She was disappointed but not surprised.
"Guest, what do you want to divine?" asked the fortune teller.
Only then did Zidi cast her gaze.
The fortune teller is an old woman with deep wrinkles and a dark blue nine-pointed star painted on the center of her forehead.
She sat down casually: "Please tell me, when will the knight in my life arrive?"
The fortune teller began to fumble for the obviously imitated crystal ball on the low table, and began to murmur in a voice that was difficult to hear and perhaps even difficult for her to understand.
The fortune teller began to frown and her voice became more and more urgent. She seemed to have encountered an incomprehensible dilemma.
suddenly!
Her whole body twitched, and her eyes suddenly rolled up, leaving only the whites of her eyes exposed.
There was bright red blood flowing from the corners of her eyes, nostrils, mouth, and ears!
She cried out in horror: "Ah...ah!"
"I saw...I saw your fate..."
"There is no knight in your destiny!"
"Only, only...ah!!! A beast, no, a monster!"
"monster!!!"
Zidi was startled and stood up subconsciously.
The guards outside the tent heard the noise and immediately got in.
The fortune teller was lying on the table, with white eyes in his eyes. He stretched out his old hands like strange claws and grabbed Zidi.
The guards immediately stepped forward, and one of them had already drawn half of his sword.
"Stop, don't make a fuss. This is just an alarmist trick." Zidi calmed down and laughed.
She tossed a silver coin and dropped it on the low table.
"for you."
“Nice performance.”
She turned and left, followed closely by her guards.