Mature Fantasy Power Invasion

Chapter 23

Tuesday morning, on the open floor of the first-year teaching building at Yuanyue Academy. A crowd of students had already gathered outside the courtyard, nervously eyeing the corridor.

A massive blackboard stood out starkly against the surrounding tiled walls.

At the moment, its surface was completely blank.

"It's almost time, right?"

"Seriously, I'm so nervous."

"Ever since the academic office got a new director from Longguo, the efficiency's skyrocketed. It used to take a whole week—now it's out by Monday!"

(*) Longguo is a fictional country name similar to "Dragon Nation" in Chinese.

Strutting down the corridor, a pink-haired girl in a JK-style uniform walked confidently, silencing the crowd's chatter.

(*) JK-style refers to a Japanese high school uniform style typically worn by girls.

She carried a giant roll of paper in her arms, followed closely by two student council members.

"She's here! The secretary is bringing the 'Royal Bulletin'!"

"Lady You'an Lina, please, I'm begging you—don’t email my parents this time!"

"Sending grades to parents is like feeding them supplements—except it’s poison!"

Cries and groans echoed around as You'an Lina approached the blackboard, seemingly unfazed.

The scene looked like something out of ancient times—a government envoy arriving to distribute relief surrounded by desperate villagers.

Hearing the commotion, You'an Lina beamed, gave a thumbs-up, and shouted,

"Everyone! It’s okay! Even if you didn’t do well, with your parents’ loving encouragement, you’ll definitely improve next time!"

"Yamehro!!"

(*) "Yamehro" is Japanese for "Stop it!" or "Cut it out!"

"Nooo!!"

It felt like a death sentence had just been handed down.

Yuanyue Academy required students to provide their guardian’s email address upon enrollment. Normally, the school used it to invite them to major events.

But it also served to deliver students' grades, semester evaluations, and other updates.

These communications were handled jointly by the student council and the academic office.

Unmoved by the students' distress, You'an Lina turned and began posting the grade list.

The two student council members stepped forward to help, unrolling a massive sheet that spanned the entire first-year class and hanging it on the blackboard.

Watching from the second floor, Yan Huan sipped black tea while standing beside Yinggong Tong.

He yawned, trying to shake off his drowsiness with caffeine—unsuccessfully.

As the scene unfolded below, Yan Huan chuckled and said,

"Sure enough, You'an Lina is perfect for this job."

Yinggong Tong turned from the railing and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, since this kind of task usually makes people hate you. Thankfully, everyone likes You'an Lina—she’s too popular."

The grade sheet was gradually revealed, fitting perfectly onto the giant blackboard.

As names appeared, the crowd collectively held its breath.

Yan Huan: 499, Rank 1

Yinggong Tong: 491, Rank 2

Yaqiao Mu: 474, Rank 19

An Le: 457, Rank 41

Aishili Garcia: 441, Rank 56

You'an Lina Shihuaiya: 398, Rank 107

Bai Yi: 292, Rank 152

Aruiya Spencer: 66, Rank 178

The five main subjects were Reading, Writing, Math, Social Studies, and Science.

Including transfers, there were 178 students in total this semester. The perfect score was 500.

"Ah! Lao Gao, are you okay?! Don’t faint!"

"Hahaha! I made it! I actually made it!"

"You beast—made it into what?!"

Grade day always brought out the wildest reactions from students.

These antics were their way of masking the emotional rollercoaster—some basked in joy, others sank in despair.

In Linmen, while test scores weren’t everything, Yuanyue Academy still placed considerable emphasis on them.

Although the education system was unified, schools in Linmen differed drastically in philosophy and standards.

Some schools had vastly different educational goals.

For example, high school students in the southern district led carefree lives—maybe their biggest concern was the occasional STD screening at the community clinic.

In contrast, the two schools in Jinghe District—Yuanyue and Xiuzhi Academy—clearly aimed to shape the next generation of the elite, hence their rigorous demands.

"President, you're first again. Congrats."

Yinggong Tong clapped softly for Yan Huan, her voice calm but sincere.

Yan Huan smiled faintly, not even glancing at his score. His eyes were scanning further down the list.

He was looking for the two known modifier users in his grade.

Bai Yi and Aruiya Spencer...

After scouring the top of the list and finding nothing, he finally spotted them—both huddled at the very bottom.

Bai Yi’s low score made sense.

Due to her idol activities, she rarely attended school. If she had free time, she’d show up. Otherwise, she was always on leave.

That was why, when Yan Huan saw her using the modifier last week, he didn’t recognize her immediately.

Plus, she spent half the math exam doodling ghosts for Zhou Bin—judging by her score, it didn’t look like she finished the test.

Losing points in math was expected.

And then there was Aruiya Spencer—the blonde.

Total score: 66.

That’s about 13 points per subject. Yan Huan could only think—

'Poetic grip.'

(*) "Poetic grip" is likely a sarcastic or slang expression for something that’s impressively bad.

Even if you guessed the same letter for all the multiple-choice questions, you’d score higher. She was nearly a hundred points behind the second-to-last. What was going on with her?

Maybe she was wearing a lucky 666 charm.

"Alright, everyone! The bulletin will be taken down later today, and your grades will be emailed to you. *Waaaahhh!*"

You'an Lina shouted from below the blackboard, hands on her hips.

But with teary eyes, a forced smile, and trembling limbs, she looked more comical than confident.

One glance was enough to tell—she had bombed the test too.

"Hahahahahaha!"

"Secretary You'an Lina, even you have days like this?!"

"You’re the lowest-ranked in the entire student council!"

"It’s fine! You’re cute, so we’ll still vote for you next year!"

Hearing that, You'an Lina didn’t cheer up. Instead, she pouted and burst into tears.

"Waaah! Being chosen just because I’m cute—why can’t I feel happy about that?! I’m just the student council’s mascot!"

The courtyard erupted in laughter, while Yan Huan and Yinggong Tong shook their heads from the second-floor balcony.

Just then, a bespectacled female teacher approached them with a smile and said,

"Yan, Yinggong, please come with me. The Principal would like to see you."

"..."

Yan Huan and Yinggong Tong exchanged a glance, withdrawing their attention from the chaos below. Neither had any clue what that old monster wanted this time.

"President Yan, Vice President Yinggong, I'm delighted to see that under your leadership, the student council achieved nearly perfect results last semester."

Principal Hermis sat on the sofa, his face blooming like a chrysanthemum as he smiled at the two of them.

'This guy definitely got bribed again.'

Yan Huan and Yinggong Tong exchanged subtle glances—they were clearly thinking the same thing.

"It was all thanks to the team's support and everyone cooperating with our projects."

Yan Huan replied with a polite smile, glossing over Hermis's exaggerated praise.

"More importantly, Principal, why did you call us here so early in the morning?"

"Here’s the situation."

Hermis gestured to his assistant, who handed him a stack of documents. He passed them to Yan Huan and the others, saying,

"Top companies like Ye International and Gold Lion Group have expressed strong interest in our students’ development. They've offered a batch of summer internship slots across various departments. Take a look at the details later."

The documents included company profiles, grade quotas, and other information.

As Yan Huan flipped through them, he quickly grasped their significance.

Many students lacked personal connections. These internships could give them a competitive edge in school applications.

That was why Yan Huan had taken part-time jobs to study at Yuanyue in the first place—for exactly this kind of opportunity.

With that in mind, Yan Huan looked at Hermis and asked,

"So how do we decide who gets which slot?"

"First, submit an application to the student council. Before the end of the semester, the student council will forward the list to the principal's office for review."

Reviews generally focus on three key areas: GPA, participation in student public affairs, and conduct records.

These records are jointly supervised by the Academic Office, Student Affairs Office, and Disciplinary Department—three independent administrative bodies—and cannot be altered at the student council's discretion.

"Understood. We'll inform the students about this later."

Hermis smiled and nodded, then turned to pick up another sheet of paper.

For some reason, watching him pick up that sheet gave Yan Huan the feeling of witnessing 'Jing Ke presenting the map.'

(*) Refers to a Chinese historical story where an assassination attempt was hidden within a diplomatic gift.

"There's one more thing, Yan. Past student councils tried to organize academic support, but since it was voluntary, the results weren’t very effective."

Academic peer support involves high-performing students, under the guidance of the student council, helping those with lower GPAs.

But realistically, since participation is voluntary on both sides, it rarely works.

After all, why would top students bother? And struggling students don’t want to embarrass themselves in front of their peers.

So—

"This year, the Academic Office hopes the student council can lead a pilot support initiative to revive the program."

Hermis slid the paper toward Yan Huan—it was a list of students.

"Specifically, forcibly placing a few severely underperforming students into study groups as examples. This may encourage top students to help out, with the incentive of priority in scholarship and resource evaluations."

The blade hidden in the map was now revealed.

No wonder Hermis handed over that sheet first—this was his main objective.

Sitting nearby, Yinggong Tong raised her eyebrows slightly. She glanced over the list and noticed several well-known surnames in Linmen.

She more or less figured out the school board's scheme but said nothing—waiting for Yan Huan to respond.

Yan Huan had only planned to go through the motions—he didn’t want to offend the principal.

He’d promote the initiative, mention it briefly, and leave the actual implementation for later.

But as his eyes scanned the list, two familiar names immediately stood out.

"'Bai Yi'—suggested for inclusion. 'Aruiya Spencer'—forced inclusion."

Spencer’s name was even highlighted in red.

'Oh?'

Earlier, they mentioned using the promise made to Spencer as leverage.

Now, wasn’t this the perfect opportunity?

Perfect—everything had fallen into place.

Yan Huan's gaze lingered briefly on those two names.

Yinggong Tong could more or less guess what he was about to say. But after waiting a while, he still hadn’t spoken.

She couldn’t help but look over.

And she saw Yan Huan staring blankly at the name "Aruiya Spencer," as if hesitating.

That name—

Still unsettled by the golden-haired girl who had shattered her Room Barrier with a single kick, she had looked into it last night.

Aruiya Spencer—that was the name of the girl.

Why would the President show such a strange expression when reading her name?

What exactly had happened?!

What happened between them yesterday afternoon?

"President?"

Growing anxious, Yinggong Tong quickly called out to Yan Huan.

"...Understood. I'll go inform the students shortly. I’ll handle this."

'V-volunteering to take care of it?'

Hermis blinked at the smiling Yan Huan, then grinned even wider.

"That’s great then, Yan. I’ll leave it to you. Contact me anytime if anything comes up."

"..."

Yinggong Tong's pink lips parted slightly, her hand subconsciously gripping her skirt.

First it was that “Ye Shiyu” older sister. Now it was Spencer.

If the President’s gentleness toward Ye Shiyu was because he saw her as family—

Then what about this golden-haired girl?

Her personality was clearly awful. It was hard to imagine her getting along with the President. So why had he hesitated?

'No, Yinggong Tong, don’t overthink it.'

'Maybe the kind and gentle President just wants to help struggling students.'

'Even if he tutors her personally, it’s no big deal, right?'

'This is all normal—'

'Normal—'

Just as she was about to breathe a sigh of relief, her pupils suddenly contracted, and a surge of anger flared inside her.

'Normal, my foot!!'

'Why am I thinking like this all of a sudden?!'

'Where did that thought even come from?!'

"Alright then. I’ll leave it to you two this morning. Head back to class."

"Yes, Principal."

Yan Huan stood up with the documents, but Yinggong Tong remained seated, prompting him to raise an eyebrow.

"Yinggong?"

"Huh?"

Snapping back to reality, Yinggong Tong hurriedly stood up.

"Sorry, President."

But deep inside, her intuition told her one thing.

That Spencer girl had definitely done something sneaky to the President.

Following behind Yan Huan, Yinggong Tong’s expression turned cold—almost murderous.

'Calm down—'

'Calm down, Yinggong Tong.'

She tried to reassure herself internally.

'Success comes with secrecy. Failure comes with exposure.'

'I must hide it. I mustn’t lose composure.'

'Whatever—Ye Shiyu, Spencer—it doesn’t matter. If I just stay quiet and scheme in secret, avoid revealing flaws...'

'One day, the President will be someone only I can see—someone no one else can take away.'

'Mine alone!'

*Achoo!*

Class 1-C, classroom.

Spencer sneezed, accidentally knocking over the house of cards she had carefully built on her desk.

"...Who's cursing me? Could it be Santa Claus found out I cursed him last year?"

Rubbing her chin, Spencer considered what seemed to her the most plausible explanation.

But soon after, she gave up thinking about it.

She pouted slightly, clearly a bit upset.

Since yesterday, one thing had been bothering Spencer.

For some reason, it wasn’t just her classmates—everyone around her seemed to dislike her.

She had only transferred in a day ago and hadn’t done anything.

When she tried to start conversations, people would reply awkwardly with a few polite words.

When she asked for help, they pretended not to hear and made excuses to leave.

During free play in basketball class, she tried to form a team, but her classmates avoided her, so she had to play alone.

After class, everyone was supposed to return the ball together, but since she was new, she didn’t know that.

One by one, her classmates left without telling her.

So she returned to the teaching building, found no one there, and embarrassingly went back to return the ball—only to find the door locked.

That’s why she got so angry she kicked the door open—only to catch Yan Huan and that girl doing something suspicious inside.

Even though she now had dirt on him, Spencer was still incredibly annoyed.

*Ding ding ding~*

As the class bell rang, the math teacher, Zhou Bin, entered Class C's classroom.

Zhou Bin—nicknamed the “Model Math Teacher”—was known for his uncompromising strictness.

But math was a rigorous subject, and he taught it exceptionally well—at least, that’s what Yan Huan thought.

This semester, he taught first-year Classes B, C, and D, as well as one afternoon elective math class.

People from Longguo are competitive in everything, and for some reason, Linmen parents especially trusted Longguo teachers in math.

(*) Longguo = "Dragon Country," often used as a poetic name for China.

At the moment, Zhou Bin was wearing a loose, dark blue T-shirt that stretched tightly over his slightly bulging belly.

A cross hung around his neck, his left hand was wrapped in red talisman paper, and a string of prayer beads adorned his right wrist.

With the blessing of these items, even his bald head, gleaming under the sunlight, seemed to radiate a sacred Buddhist glow.

"Amen, may blessings be boundless, Amitabha."

'Please bless me and help me escape the ghost that appeared last Friday.'

Zhou Bin rubbed the red talisman strap on his wrist with his fingers. Then, suddenly abandoning his usual stern demeanor, he forced out an extremely awkward smile and said to the students below,

"Dear students, good morning. Let's take out our textbooks and turn to page fifteen, okay..."

"......"

Everyone stared wide-eyed, dumbfounded, as they looked at Zhou Bin standing at the podium.

It was as if they were seeing a monster pretending to be Zhou Bin.

Still wearing that awkward smile that never reached his eyes, Zhou Bin pushed up his glasses and repeated,

"Dear students?"

"Oh, oh, oh..."

Zhou Bin seemed to believe that last Friday’s paranormal incident had happened because he was usually too strict, and the students' accumulated resentment had manifested into a vengeful spirit.

Everyone obediently took out their books—everyone except Spencer, who remained standing in a daze.

She glanced at the textbook everyone else was using, then rummaged through her own backpack.

A quick glance inside revealed: comics, a laptop, snacks, and a power bank.

She smacked her forehead.

'Looks like I forgot to bring my book!'

Folding her arms, she looked around and noticed the seat next to her was still empty.

The student who sat there hadn't returned to class yet—whereabouts unknown.

That person was... someone named An Le?

A girl with, as Spencer recalled, a very impressive chest.

Spencer immediately spotted the textbook on An Le’s desk. After a moment of hesitation, she casually reached over and took it.

Following Zhou Bin’s instructions, she flipped to page fifteen. The content looked like ancient runes to her, and she tilted her head.

Then she leaned in close and began carefully reading the lines.

A few seconds later, Spencer’s little face scrunched up, looking like her brain was about to short-circuit.

Then, she let out a big yawn and slumped in her seat.

Sleepy.

And really bored.

She listlessly spread An Le’s book flat on the desk.

Unexpectedly, that simple motion caused a bookmark tucked inside to slip out.

"Eh? What’s this?"

Spencer tilted her head, curiosity lighting up her eyes.

She picked up the stiff, crumpled bookmark and read the crooked, childlike handwriting on it:

"Yan Huan and An Le will be together forever."

The handwriting in the first and second halves looked different, suggesting it was written by two different people.

Spencer stared at the words. Her previously bored expression suddenly froze.

Then, slowly, her eyes widened as the expression melted away into surprise.

(End of Chapter)

(*) Note for line 204: "Amitabha" is a reference to Amitabha Buddha, often invoked in Chinese Buddhism for blessings and protection.

(*) Note for line 214: The idea that resentment can turn into a ghost or spirit is rooted in East Asian folklore.