Chapter Ch58.2 - Divination
translator: xiin
editors: apricot & juurensha
Sure enough, many of the students in the cla.s.sroom were staring dazedly at the platform. Some of them were still alert––Wei Yan was looking coldly out the window, the tarot deck in front of him still intact. It was obvious that he was a firm atheist.
Sitting near him was the textbook counter-example, Thin Fire. At this time, he was leaning so close he was practically sticking his face against the platform, wishing that he could hold this instructor’s hand and ask him to read the career line on his palm.
To one side, Caesar and Red were chatting together enthusiastically.
At first, Wu Jin had thought that it was because Caesar’s interest in metaphysics was really not high, but after thinking for a moment he realized that it was more that Caesar’s ability to have a wandering mind during cla.s.s was too high.
On the podium, the divination master Sinra had finished his opening speech and gestured for the trainees to take a look at the deck of cards in front of them.
“The tarot deck, which originated in the 15th century, came into widespread use from the 19th century. It is not only a tool for divination, but also a tool that can be used to inspire the mind. By the 31st century, this mystical card system has extended into thousands of branches, including the flower shadow tarot, cat tarot, and crystal tarot. However, for the next two weeks, I suggest that you focus mainly on the Waite tarot–-which is precisely the deck of cards in front of you.”
“Its creator is a famous member of the Golden Dawn a.s.sociation, Edward Waite.”
Zoe and Wu Jin exchanged looks.
Regardless of what the rules were for the upcoming round, it was obviously crucial to memorize the meaning of these cards.
“78 tarot cards are composed of 22 major arcana and 56 minor arcana. The major arcana are used to ill.u.s.trate the overall fate trajectory. From the top down, there is The Fool, The Magician, The High Priestess… we’ll be focusing on these 22 major arcana for this course.”
“Minor arcana are divided into four suits: wands, pentacles, swords, and cups. Each suit is divided into numbers from A-10 and also contains four court cards…”
The lesson pa.s.sed by in a flash.
In the second cla.s.s, the divination master taught them one of the most basic patterns.
All the trainees pulled out three cards and laid them out one by one, representing the past, the present, and the future. The cla.s.sroom was full of noise as everyone struggled and racked their brains to interpret the cards based on the instructions.
“We’ve already been given quite a lot of clues.” Zoe pondered as he looked through the instructions, “The remaining question is, what will the tarot deck represent during the game?”
Wu Jin nodded, “And there’s also the hint from ‘Finding you, sheltering you’. Perhaps we’ll only know when we enter the arena––just like the previous game.”
Zoe nodded, then seemed to sense something as he looked beside Wu Jin.
Caesar and Red, who had k2018;formed a team to solve the problem’, were busy having a lot of fun.
“A pair of threes!” Caesar slapped down two cards.
Red quickly followed up with, “A pair of sixes!”
Caesar was gleeful, “Four fours! You’re bombed!”
Red laughed loudly, “Four aces! I’m bombing you back!”
Zoe: “……”
Two minutes later, the White Moonlight team voted swiftly, and pa.s.sed the decision to confiscate Caesar’s 56 minor arcana cards with two votes in support and one abstained vote.
Caesar had no choice but to learn how to understand the cards, but his understanding of the meaning of the cards was a mess. He took the ‘Death’ card to be a knight, ‘The Moon’ as ‘The Sun’, but was very good at reading ‘The Lovers’.
However, the entire deck only had one ‘Lovers’ card.
Caesar thought for a moment and then suddenly slapped the table. He borrowed Wu Jin’s ‘The Lovers’ card, another from Red, and put them together with his own to form a row of three. He then dawdled and began to record a short video:
“Baby, we’ve been together for nearly two months. Today, your Caesar learned divination in cla.s.s! Let’s flip the cards and read them. The past is–– ‘The Lovers’. Flipping the card for the present––eh, it’s also ‘The Lovers’. For the future––oh hey, it’s still ‘The Lovers’…”
Zoe’s expression was bemused. Fools really were fools. How many things had they already confiscated? Yet he still managed to play around and amuse himself.
Red, who was to one side, was deeply moved by this. He clapped Caesar’s shoulder vigorously, “Brother, you really care about your wife! How meaningful!”
After saying so, he turned to look at Wu Jin, “Little Witch, how about you lay one out too? I have another set of cards here! I’ll gather four Lovers cards for you, and after taking a video, we can send it to––”
Wu Jin was bewildered, “Send it to who…”
On the other hand, Caesar was glaring, “How come you have two sets of cards?!”
Red explained, “It’s because I signed in for someone else and obtained another set.”
Caesar: “Hurry up, give me another one. We’ll put them together and send a photo of ‘The Lovers’ four leaf clover to my wifey––”
The two divination cla.s.ses were finally over.
Upon leaving, Sinra gave everyone a small gift––a 40% off discount coupon for the Centaurus Divination House.
Red had lazed around for two cla.s.ses and was basically no better than Caesar. Their complacent expressions made it clear that they weren’t bothered by the fact, and Wu Jin had no choice but to make two copies of his notes for them to review.
The training schedule for the third round, besides divination cla.s.s, was mostly focused on firearm training. Compared to two weeks ago, Zoe was very much relieved when it came to Wu Jin’s situation.
––To be able to come out of special training and graduate with full marks in a situation where only close-combat gun fights were used meant that Wu Jin would no longer be at a disadvantage in most situations.
When the few of them headed back to rest, Zoe suddenly thought of something.
“Caesar, that 600 PB of material that you’ve been h.o.a.rding… give Little Witch some of it. Our little friend can’t find any resources.”
Caesar laughed meaningfully, and patted Wu Jin vigorously, “Little Witch, just tell me directly! Your brother will take care of you!”
The roots of Wu Jin’s ears were red as he protested, “I wasn’t looking for––”
However, Zoe shushed him before telling Caesar to pa.s.s it over secretly. He couldn’t let Secretary Qu find out and destroy the ‘friendship between men’.
At the entrance to South Tower, the two of them said goodbye to Zoe and Wen Lin and returned to dormitory 701. Caesar suddenly looked cheerful, “Red was promoted to C last time. Doesn’t that mean he’s moved to the South Tower?”
Wu Jin’s eyes brightened. He had also thought of something and nodded enthusiastically.
The two of them looked at the list of empty dormitories, but the one nearest to them was still only on the third floor.
Caesar was regretful, “They will break up the bedroom arrangements again after two more rounds. Let’s see if we can kick out that flirt. Little Witch, who do you want to live with––?”
Wu Jin’s small curls were fluffy with happiness. A figure appeared in his heart, but he didn’t say it out loud.
By the time the two of them returned to their dorm, Wei Yan had already settled in the living room a long time ago. The 78 tarot cards were laid out on the table in the living room, and his gaze was blank as he memorized the cards, like a robot who was inputting data into a magnetic strip.
Wu Jin greeted him, and Wei Yan nodded mechanically in response.
Wu Jin felt that Wei Yan didn’t seem to be as distant or antisocial as before. He liked staying in the public area that was the living room rather than being holed up in his room, would occasionally watch dog blood idol dramas, and would respond when greeted. He would even solemnly issue a challenge when defeated in a game.
It seemed that what he lacked wasn’t emotion, but the ability to express it.
Wu Jin froze suddenly as several seemingly unrelated things vaguely linked together in his mind.
Loss of emotions, R-Code, treatment, MHCC banned drugs, Floating City, gene industry.
After entering his room, Wu Jin twisted the lock on the door and opened up his terminal.
“Floating City, R-Code” had no related entries.
“R-Code, MHCC mind calming agent”––two search results suddenly came up from a certain paid search engine.
Wu Jin was just about to take a closer look when there was a knock on the door from outside. .
When he opened the door, Caesar poked his head inside and gave him a crafty smile, “Little Witch, open up your terminal and accept the transfer. Your brother’s put together a bunch of little videos for you!”
Wu Jin was stunned and anxiously said, “I don’t––”
Caesar waved his hand in a grand gesture, “We’re all brothers, there’s no need to thank me! What kind of thing does Little Witch want to see? Oh, oh, I don’t think you’ve ever seen girls, or you can start with same s.e.x ones; those might be less stimulating!”
Juurensha: …I guess Caesar’s actually bi? Otherwise why does he have gay p.o.r.n.
xiin: maybe n.o.body cares anymore in 3018 so he just has everything…? Little Witch’s accidental stumble into p.o.r.n is hilarious though…
also, i’ve picked up a new novel, Glory [e-sports]. i’m suuuuper excited for it~ Glory’s hilarious and sweet and gaming! gaming! gaming! plus it’s by Long Qi… i’ve been wanting to translate a novel of theirs for ages. it’s about a little lunatic energizer bunny MC who ran away from the e-sports world two years ago only to get dragged back by the great demon king ML so that they can kick b.u.t.t everywhere ? click here for the novelupdates page~