Chapter 396: The Construction Is Completed
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
That same day, after breakfast, Baiyi led his students to the finished academy; once there, they met up with Eom village’s fairies, who were all excited. As soon as Baiyi and his students stepped out of his private teleportation portal, they spotted a humongous gate behind them. There was a nameplate on the gate, with nothing written on it.
This gigantic gate was like no other. It did not resemble a door, neither was it an electronic gate; it was an arch — beautifully crafted from trees — which greatly resembled a gated entrance. Beyond the gate was a lush pasture filled with beautiful flowers. The sight was a beautiful one to behold. The arch could very well be mistaken for the entrance to a vast garden beautiful enough to make people want to visit.
Inside this beautiful garden was a huge, neatly-sculpted, cube-shaped stone slab. Its surface was smooth and without any engravings. This was because the academy’s name was still undecided.
“So pretty! Everything is so pretty! Gosh, if this is its gate, then the academy itself must be a wonderland!” Little Mia mumbled with a dreamy expression as she shuffled closer to Baiyi.
“The interior will look a tad bit different; you’ll see. But, first, you need to know that the exquisite entrance we see today is much better than the design in the first blueprint. This is thanks to the hard work of our fairy friends. Hence, we should all be thankful to Nydore and her people,” Baiyi announced, giving due credit to the fairies for their contribution.
“Oh, it’s no big deal, grandpa. This was a project that we took on willingly,” Nydore replied humbly as she and Mia played with a sabercat cub — the only sabercat to survive Eom Village’s destruction.
A few months had pa.s.sed since the fairies of Eom Village moved there. After getting used to their new abode, which was smaller than the Eternal Tree Ocean, their uneasiness subsided, and they began to live in content. They were able to find a spot deep in the woods, far away from the Academy, to build their new village.
As aforementioned, compared to the sheer ma.s.sive size of the Eternal Tree Ocean, the Micro realm seemed small. However, after recovering their tranquility, the fairies got busy with other activities. It did not take long for their attention to s.h.i.+ft to Baiyi’s new academy, which was being constructed at the time.
“Everyone wants to pitch in, grandpa. It’s the only way we can think of to repay your kindness,” Nydore had said to Baiyi, seeking his permission.
As Baiyi welcomed all efforts to beautify the academy, he instantly agreed. However, he warned Nydore to ensure that the fairies were mindful of their interaction with the human constructors; he did not want any skirmish, however trivial, to break out.
After that, Nydore, the fairies, and Mr. Bear, who were all green thumbs, embarked on their venture to beautify the academy. They were all naturals at gardening, and with the help of Mr. Bear’s mysterious nature powers, they smoothened the academy’s grounds, which had been marred by the construction. In a few months, the land within the academy was turned into something akin to a ma.s.sive garden. It was as though it had undergone decades of reforestation efforts.
This handiwork of Mr. Bear and the fairies was astonis.h.i.+ng. The leader of the human construction team was so impressed that he extended to them an invitation to collaborate on future construction projects.
The fairies declined the offer, which upset the human a little, but no skirmishes broke out. Both groups were reserved around each other, so no unpleasant issues arose in the period they had to work together.
As both groups spoke different languages, they rarely tried to communicate with each other. However, after the fairies arrived at the Micro realm, the male construction workers began to visit red light districts much often than before. The breathtaking beauty of the fairies may have had a hand in that development.
“Why isn’t there a name engraved on the slab?” Tisdale suddenly asked.
“That’s because I wanted to carve the name in front of you all,” Baiyi replied. He raised his hand, and a tiny rune began to burn at the tip of his index finger. A bright ray shot out from the rune and struck the huge slab, carving two characters on its smooth surface.
It was the word ‘university’ written in Chinese Hanzi, not in the writing systems belonging to this world.
The characters were written in standard Chinese calligraphy. Their strokes perfectly showcased the writer’s acute penmans.h.i.+p, as well as give a sense of his a.s.sertive and indomitable character. The characters were so aesthetic, one would think they were written by a famous calligraphy artist.
Of course, this was not Baiyi’s own writing. If anyone saw his writing, they would think that a couple of drunk worms had crawled across the sheet of paper. Hence, he had decided to develop a special spell for this occasion. It allowed him to write his characters in a sophisticated style of writing.
“Ehh? Am I the only one who can not read these words?” Laeticia asked, scratching her head. “Mr. Hope, what do these words mean?”
“These two characters are p.r.o.nounced ‘da’ and ‘xue’. It’s written in the special characters of my hometown. ‘Da Xue’ means ‘University’, which is a large, prestigious inst.i.tution for higher education,” Baiyi answered.
This was the name of the academy. ‘Da Xue’, not “University of X” or “University Academy”.
As the Voidwalkers could not agree on a name, they decided to settle for a word that did not originate from their world. After all, foreign words always sound cooler — something that could not be said for the names they had come up with it.
‘Da Xue’ seemed perfect. The academy would offer specialized, advanced education that covered a wide range of subjects; did this not make it a university in its own right? This name also paid homage to one of the most important principles in the book ‘Great Learning’: ‘man must first learn to refine his own morality before setting out to refine the world to harmony.’ [1] Baiyi and the other Voidwalkers felt that this principle enn.o.bled the academy.
Baiyi was quite pleased with the name, and the other Voidwalkers did not oppose it. Who knows what the comment section would think about it. [2]
“‘Da Xue’? Is this a new word? Did you just say that it means a big school offering specialized courses?” Nydore muttered to herself, p.r.o.nouncing the word using the accent native to her kingdom. After repeating the name a few times, she smiled. “Hee hee. This is such a nice name!”
“Mm-hmm. Glad that you all agree.” Baiyi nodded his head in satisfaction. He walked in front of everyone and spread his arms wide open. “Now, why don’t we take a look inside Da Xue…”
Suddenly, a 3D model of the academy appeared in the sky, formed by Baiyi’s mana. Blue names hovered above each building on the model. There was also a blinking red dot denoting the group’s current position within the academy.
With the 3D map hovering over his hand, Baiyi took his students on a tour through the brand new, beautiful, harmonious, tranquil, and appealing academy [3]. It was the poster building for brilliant artisans.h.i.+p.
The academy’s buildings were spherical in shape, and Baiyi’s group was standing at the center of the complex. This was because Baiyi’s private teleportation portal deposited its users at the heart of the university, making walking to other parts of the academy convenient.
The central plaza, which was close to the entrance, was a beautiful little garden. Its roads were paved with green marble tiles, which connected to other parts of Da Xue. There were trees beside the paved roads, which had been beautifully trimmed into different shapes. Some even had direction signs on them, which pointed directions to various facilities. The group soon noticed that Guidance Formations, which projected 3D blueprints similar to the one above Baiyi, spread along the paved paths. There were there to ensure that no one got lost within the complex.
Whether or not all of this would help the kind of people who got lost the moment they stepped out of their homes, remained a mystery.
Beneath the trees planted by the sides of the paved paths were long benches, making the entire central plaza resemble a serene recreational park.
As soon as the group exited the central plaza, their gazes locked onto a complex of huge buildings. These were the lecture facilities and laboratories. Farther down the road were the students’ dormitory, magical cultivation grounds, and other facilities. When one walked past these buildings, they would reach the outer layer of the academy; once there, they would find a temperature barrier covering the entire academy. This barrier adjusts the temperature to levels comfortable for its human inhabitants.
The entire academy complex resembled a pizza, with each slice containing different facilities, and the central garden-like plaza being the middle of the pizza. Every section was linked by paved paths. If the destination one sought to reach was too far, they could use any of the short-distance teleportation portals within each section to travel to and fro.
Baiyi’s office and residence were situated at the northern part of the academy, close to the fairies’ new village. This arrangement was for the fairies’ security benefit. Baiyi wanted to prevent students from causing trouble for the fairies.
Mia and the students would live in a new residence built around Baiyi’s residential area. As growing girls, their need for privacy could not be underestimated; hence, mini chalets were built for each of them. The instructors joining from outside would have their own mini chalets.
After all, the entire realm belonged to Baiyi. Its land ma.s.s was too vast to house only an academy, so he was free to use the other areas as he saw fit.
“This really is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to!” Little Mia cried out earnestly. “It’s so different from other academies I’ve seen! It’s just so special!”
“Oh, we’re going to be so happy staying and studying here,” Tisdale said with a chuckle.
‘Mm-hmm! Seeing one’s daughters expressing their content is always satisfying,’ Baiyi thought. ‘At least, all that money was well spent.’
Baiyi was quite fortunate to have Vidomina’s father donate building materials and cover a part of the construction fees. With his private funds alone, Baiyi would have been unable to build an academy of this magnitude.
Whenever Baiyi remember how much it had cost to build the academy, he felt that the tuition fee he had set was, in fact, too cheap. He knew that it would take him a long time to get returns on his investment, but once the academy became renowned throughout the realms, he could decide to accept students whose parents were willing to sponsor the academy in exchange for the children’s enrollment.
“Now then, G.o.dfather, when will Da Xue open to the public? When that happens, we’re gonna throw a big party!” Vidomina suddenly said. “In fact, let’s make the opening ceremony super amazing!”
Baiyi’s expression quickly changed (ᅌᴗᅌ* ). “Uh, maybe, no. I mean, I don’t really like festivities… The less festive a day is, the better it is for me. Ever notice that I no longer attend festivals with you girls?”
“Aww, so it’s a no? Hey, now that you mention it,” Attie began, a little ruefully, “What a shame that you didn’t join us the other day, master. That National Day celebration was such a blast!”
With that, Da Xue’s grand opening came a step closer.
[1] Cultural fun fact! Da Xue usually means ‘university, but it’s also the name of an important book in Confucianism (in this instance, the word Da means ‘great’, and Xue means ‘learning’). The book mainly stresses learning as the foundation of all the other great virtues by emphasizing on a quality called “Investigation of Things” (格物).
[2] The author wants you all to let Baiyi know what you think about the name!]
[3] Now, now, what do we have here…? Tsk tsk, Author-san.