Elite Mages' Academy

Chapter 172: Rumors At The Cafeteria

Department Head Song did not pick up the phone, so Xiao Lin could only look for another way. After thinking for a moment, he immediately called the second year senior Chen Yu. He had no choice. He knew way too few people.

Chen Yu picked up the phone very quickly, it being a weekend. After the magical display lit up, Chen Yu looked visibly surprised as he measured Xiao Lin with a strange look. He said curiously, “You’re back?”

Chen Yu was from the student council and was temporarily in charge of the first years, so it was no surprise that he knew of Xiao Lin going to Judge Academy. However, he was not high ranking enough to know why Xiao Lin went, and he obviously knew nothing about what happened after that.

Even though that was the case, it was enough to cause Chen Yu to be extremely envious. It was the New World and was also the most prosperous city of the colonists: New Washington. Even Chen Yu had very limited opportunities to go to the New World.

“Yes, I just got back this afternoon. I want to meet the dean, but I don’t know how to contact him.” Xiao Lin was not too familiar with Chen Yu, but when he saw that the man seemed distracted, he could not help but call out, “Senior Chen?”

“Oh, I apologize.” Chen Yu snapped back to reality, suppressing his envy as he smiled. “Just call me Chen Yu, everyone does. What were you saying earlier?”

Xiao Lin felt a little strange. He remembered Chen Yu was not so friendly to him the first time they interacted, but he did not dwell on it, repeating the earlier question.

The smile on Chen Yu’s face stiffened as he could not help but uncomfortably furrow his eyebrows. “You want to meet the dean?”

“Yes, I do.” Xiao Lin nodded.

“The dean is usually very busy, and spends most of his time in the New World since he needs to deal with a lot of matters there personally. Can’t the student council solve your issue?” Chen Yu said. What he really wanted to say was, ‘Who do you think you are? Do you really think you’re so important as to see the dean after just going to the New World once?’

The deans in that world were very different from the ones back on Earth. The dean of Dawn Academy was equal to a governor or even a minister back on Earth. He was not someone a new student could meet whenever he felt like.

However, Chen Yu did not expose his thoughts, since he remembered that the student union president had requested that he immediately report back if Xiao Lin returned. After some thought, he continued, “This isn’t something I can decide, but I can forward your request to the student union. However, don’t hold too much hope. Meeting the dean isn’t so easy; he’s got very limited time.”

Xiao Lin was ecstatic and hurried to thank Chen Yu, but he had already hung up.

Xiao Lin was not sure the dean would be willing to meet him either, but he had too many questions about the New World after returning which Department Head Song could not answer. He did not trust anyone else, and the most important was his anger at being held under house arrest by Harry. Even if he did not suffer physically, it was still something he could not just let go.

Xiao Lin was still a member of Dawn Academy, and Judge Academy at least owed him an explanation.

After tidying himself up, he headed to the buffet hall on the top floor. The seductive fragrances caused him to hurry. The food in New Washington was not bad, but he felt that western cuisine was boring, and a far cry from Chinese cuisine. Furthermore, he did not even have western food in The Final Land.

Evening was peak meal hour. Xiao Lin had just sat down with his plate when plenty of people noticed him, especially those from Class Seven. How could they forget their class monitor when there was only half a month left until the third monthly examination, after all.

A few of them walked past Xiao Lin and immediately had shocked expressions, asking him, “Monitor Xiao, didn’t you quit school?”

A friend next to him nudged him before smiling and adding on, “No, it’s just that we heard that you had returned to Earth. Why did you return so quickly?”

“Quit school?” Xiao Lin remembered the two of them were from his class, but he had awkwardly forgotten their names. It could not be helped. Their class was never particularly united, and he had been gone for so long.

The two of them stood awkwardly in silence.

However, that was enough for Xiao Lin to piece things together as he said calmly, “Did Wang Dalin say that? Did he say that I was gone for so long because I had been sent back to Earth by the school?”

It was not a secret within the student union that he had gone to New Washington, but it was quite a secret to these new students since they did not have the authority to know anything.

Xiao Lin could just imagine how the rumor was formed.

The first week he left, no one probably noticed anything.

The rumors probably started from the second or third week, since it would be expected that people would talk when their acting class monitor had disappeared for so long. At that time, someone probably started the rumor that Xiao Lin had been expelled.

No one might have believed it at first, but Xiao Lin was still missing for over a month, so more and more people would believe the rumors as they circulated, up until it became the truth in their eyes. They might have thought Xiao Lin did not say anything to save himself some face.

However, Xiao Lin was there, and the rumors were dispelled just like that. It would be natural for everyone to feel some awkwardness.

Xiao Lin remained calm, changing the topic. “How did our class do in the second monthly examinations?”

“The task this time was a pursuit in some canyons. We needed to escape the orcish pursuit, but we did not get any good results. In the end, less than 10% of us completed the compulsory task.”

“The test was actually very simple, much easier than the first month’s examination. The other classes all had at least a 50% completion rate, but our class had the worst results of the whole year.”

The two of them had angry looks on their face. It seemed like they were likely one of those who did not pass. They might have even lost 10 years of their lifespan from dying.

“It was way too chaotic!” one of them said after hesitating. “Everyone had their own opinions and strategies; no one wanted to give in. In the end, the situation was too messy and we wasted too much time. The orcs ended up catching up to us, and only the more skilled ones managed to fight their way out.

Xiao Lin was speechless after hearing their accounts, but he could understand the chaos. Even in the first examination, the class split into two because of differing opinions, and that was even with him acting as a monitor in the mix.