After the encounter with Liu Jian, the girls and I entered the Recreation Campus as planned. The Yu sisters both had plenty of money in their Space Locket, so there was no big deal there.

As we ate, we discussed various topics, but mainly focused on our new life here at this university starting tomorrow. None of us here have actually been to an university before, so naturally we were both clueless and curious. I imagined it would be quite different from high school, given how we were all technically formal adults now.

Naturally, while it gave us a lot more freedom, with it came certain strict rules you cannot break. That was contradictory, but the truth was, I had no doubt this school was quite unforgiving. Although there weren't many rules, if you broke one, there was a high chance you would be instantly expelled.

I wasn't too worried about this, however, since I had a feeling Liu Jian would try and keep me in the school. The same, however, could not be said for the girls. If anything, he will try to get them kicked out to lessen the amount of allies I have and make it easier for him to target me directly.

That said, I could always threaten him, saying that if any of the girls drop out, I will as well, but… this was a last resort plan. Liu Jian was a problem, but this university was good — I didn't want to give this opportunity up. The amount of high-quality spells and cultivation resources here were unparalleled, so in a sense, entering this school was both a blessing and a curse — it was just up to me which one it ended up being in the end.

After returning from lunch, we headed for the dormitories. The receptionist there recognized us and stood up, waving over to us to get our attention. We noticed this, obviously, and walked over to see what she wanted.

"Good evening," she said, smiling warmly.

"Likewise," I replied. "Anything you need?"

"Ms. Qi registered you all already earlier today," she explained. "I just wanted to let you know your rooms can be unlocked by simply pouring mana into the doors."

"Wait, what?" Feng Mian interjected. "When did you get our mana signatures?"

"They were recorded from the moment you set foot in this place," the receptionist explained. "You just didn't realize it."

Well… this was quite problematic. If Liu Jian got to inspect my mana… shit.

"It's fine," I quickly put an end to the conversation. "Thank you for letting us know."

"No problem. Don't go wandering around at night, okay? It's not strictly forbidden, but good rest is required for consistent good grades. Besides, I'm sure you don't want to be late on your first day of school tomorrow."

I nodded. "Mhm. One more thing — is there any form of… uh, surveillance in the rooms?"

I made an act of scratching my head awkwardly and averting my gaze, hinting at something embarrassing. This way, the receptionist would think I was asking this question because I wanted to do certain things with the girls with me.

Qing Yue, noticing my intentions, played the part perfectly. She blushed and clutched my arm, hiding herself behind me.

The receptionist blinked, then giggled. "Hehehe, that was cute. No, no, no… as long as both parties agree… you can go at it all you want. The walls are also completely soundproof, so feel free to… you know, let out all your passionate cries."

"I-I see, thank you!" Qing Yue yelped as she turned as red as a tomato, acting out her role perfectly.

The receptionist laughed as we walked away, leaving behind the final message of:

"Don't forget to use protection!"

*****

- Inside the Dormitory Room -

I sat down on the couch, deep in thought.

"Uh… Xuan Kai, was that little act downstairs really necessary?" Feng Mian asked, sitting down beside me.

"Of course," I replied. "If I didn't ask using that as context, I couldn't be sure whether or not she was telling the truth."

"Hehe, Big Brother Xuan Kai, how did you like my performance?" Qing Yue smirked smugly and snuggled up closer to me.

"It was praiseworthy," I replied. "Normally, Mei Gui would be the only one who can understand my intentions without me saying anything, but it seems you are all improving."

I patted Qing Yue's head as she smiled happily, hugging me back.

"Master," Mei Gui interjected.

"Yes?"

"I have used Third Eye to scan every inch of the room. No hidden surveillance equipment were found."

I blinked. "It can do that?"

"Yes. I may have just forgotten to mention it before, but… I apologize, Master."

"No, no, there's no need, it's just…" I sighed. "Now I feel stupid, you know? That whole act downstairs was utterly pointless."

"It was a little amusing, at the very least," Yu An Yan laughed. "You know, you have surprisingly good acting skills for being so cold and neutral all the time, Xuan Kai. I don't think I've ever seen you truly laugh out loud, only chuckles and snickers from time to time."

"Well, I just have yet to see anything that can truly make me laugh that hard," I replied, stretching my arms. "Still… I'm slightly worried about Liu Jian."

"Why?" Feng Mian asked, then quickly added, "Apart from the obvious, of course."

"It's about what that receptionist said downstairs," I muttered. "If all of our mana signatures were recorded without us even knowing, then what if Liu Jian gets his hands on mine, Obsidia's, Mei Gui's, or Flaria's? He'll definitely be suspicious about the Chaos power inside it."

"He may be suspicious, but he cannot ascertain just what kind of energy it is, no?" Obsidia raised an eyebrow as she leaned against the wall. "Although, like you said, this will definitely make him suspicious of us, it's not like he isn't already. I don't think this is all too big of a deal."

"That would be true… if he only looked at mine. Don't you see the problem here?" I sighed. "Your mana signature has Draconic energy in it. The same theory could be applied to Flaria, who has the Golden Phoenix Bloodline within her. If words gets out that there's a Dragon and Phoenix here in Fragment… we would be hunted down. Thus, Liu Jian can use this as blackmail to threaten us."

"I see… I didn't consider it that far. However, the solution to that is simple," Obsidia closed her eyes calmly. "Bird. You can do it too, correct?"

Flaria transformed into her human form from her tiny bird form and glared at Obsidia. "What, hide our beast blood? Yeah. But call me 'bird' again and I'll fry you, lizard."

"Hmph. You can try."

"You…!"

"Okay, okay, break it apart," I sighed, intervening before things got out of hand. "What is this about hiding your beast blood?"

"Us high-tier Magic Beasts who possess intelligence can hide the beast side of us," Obsidia explained. "Changing into human appearance is just one part of that. We can also hide it from our mana signature, our blood, and even our scent for those with special nose tracking abilities."

"I see… then hurry up and do that. Liu Jian probably already knows you are a Dragon and Flaria is a Phoenix, but you can test your own mana signature in front of the public when the time comes to disprove his claim."

Obsidia and Flaria both nodded and went to work, closing their eyes. After a few seconds, they opened them again.

The other girls and I blinked in surprise.

"D-Done already?"

"Yeah," Flaria snorted. "What, were you expecting a full-on transformation?"

"No, I just… ah, whatever. That's not the point." I cleared my throat. "Let's just get ready to sleep early… according to Ms. Qi, the welcome ceremony will be at 7 AM tomorrow."

"I'm still not completely used to adjusting back to the normal time zone after spending so long in the Fortress…" Lan Xiao Su complained. "I'll try my best to sleep though!"

"Nya, what abyout the beds?" Amane tilted her head and asked. "Are they all set nyup alweady?"

Qing Yue hopped off my lap and checked this room's bedroom, where four beds lay, one in each corner.

"Yep! They're all already set up," she called out to let us all know.

"Sweet. Then, everyone go to their respective dorm rooms for now to use the bathroom there to shower," I instructed. "The three rooms are all connected as we requested, so just split up evenly. We have ten people — three in one room, three in another, and four in the final one."

But suddenly, we heard a knock on our door. Everyone froze.

"Who could it be, at this time…?" Lan Xiao Su wondered aloud.

Narrowing my eyes, I got up and headed for the door. There was no peekhole, unfortunately, so I had to actually open it to see who it was.

And when I did, I saw a girl that definitely should not have been here, after what happened earlier.

"… Xiang Peng?"