IRM Chapter 76

The small courtyard had excellent privacy. The fence directly facing the door was more than half a person’s height, so unless one happened to be an orc warrior with an average height of two meters three, it was generally impossible to see the scene inside the courtyard.

By the same logic, Ji Chi couldn’t see clearly who was standing at the door at this moment. From his angle, he could only see an overly lush head, with dense brown curly hair gently swaying in the wind without a single gap visible.

Ji Chi felt it was a bit strange. He didn’t immediately open the door, but asked through the fence, “May I ask who you’re looking for?”

“Haha!” A familiar voice laughed at the door and said, “I’m sorry, I mean no harm. I’m the resident of 222 next door. I’ve been cultivating all the flowers and lawns in this area. If you don’t mind, may I explain some tips for caring for flowers to you?”

Ji Chi opened the door a crack and stuck his head out, genuinely sighing with feeling, “Headmaster, the lawn you cultivated is really flourishing.”

As he spoke, his eyes kept moving upward, fixed on Harvey’s wig, which was even more luxuriant than the lawn.

Harvey was quite casual near his own home. He didn’t easily use a god’s power, just treating himself as an ordinary middle-aged man who loved flowers and plants and was a bit vain about his appearance. He came to his new neighbor’s door to say hello, hoping to build a good relationship so that the flowers and plants he had personally planted around the area could grow healthily.

Of course, it didn’t matter if the relationship couldn’t be established. As an ancient god, he was not so weak that he couldn’t even protect a patch of flowers and plants. There weren’t many people left in this world whom He couldn’t sanction.

The above was Harvey’s thinking before the courtyard gate opened.

When he met those black eyes, all the confidence firmly grasped in his hands shattered instantly.

“Why is it you?!” Harvey’s expression went blank, and even his wig lost its luster.

Ji Chi smiled with squinted eyes and extended his hand, “How was Mr. Harvey’s day today? I’m Ji Chi, the new resident of 223. Please take care of me in the future~”

Harvey looked at him with a stiff face, not really wanting to “take care” of Ji Chi. He always felt that nothing good came from encountering him.

“Ji Chi, who’s outside?” Brandon came out and asked, “The voice sounds so familiar! But I don’t know anyone with brown hair… Hello, Headmaster Harvey!”

The young master reflexively greeted him and reflexively focused his gaze on Harvey’s head.

Harvey’s face darkened, and he indignantly pulled off his wig—in front of people he knew, wearing a wig would only make things more awkward.

Sure enough, as soon as he revealed his shiny bald head, the two little bastards’ gazes immediately moved away from his head in disinterest, and they looked at his eyes with obedient expressions on their faces.

Harvey touched his head, finding it incomprehensible. “…You almost blew up the royal palace, and they still gave you this?”

This question was directed at Ji Chi, but the young master’s eyes widened. “How did you know it was Ji Chi mmph—”

Brandon’s mouth was covered by the quick-handed old butler. The old butler smiled with deep vigilance hidden within, apologizing to Harvey, “I’m sorry, Headmaster sir, we’ve disturbed you.”

For some reason, cold sweat kept seeping out from the old butler’s back. He had heard of Headmaster Harvey’s name but had never seen him. Today’s sudden encounter gave him the illusion of facing an insurmountable chasm.

A warrior’s keen perception was clamoring danger, urging him to flee from this place quickly.

Ji Chi shrugged. “Before setting off fireworks, they wanted to detain me. It wouldn’t make sense not to give some compensation.”

Harvey sneered at him. “Too pathetic, too pathetic. Although I really hate the inexplicable sense of superiority from people from other worlds, you’re at least one of the true gods. Shouldn’t you have a bit more dignity?”

Ji Chi leaned sideways against the fence and swept back his soft, silky, fine black hair, smiling without genuine mirth. “No choice. After all, even gods can’t solve all troubles…”

Sparks flew from their gazes as they stared at each other.

The next second, they simultaneously withdrew their eyes, and the time that had frozen during their verbal sparring began to flow again.

The old butler finally fully straightened his back. Seeing the changes in their expressions and postures within that instant, his eyes became even more grave, with a hint of shock and confusion.

While he was in a daze, the young master he had been restraining had already broken free, running forward cheerfully with bright, sparkling eyes as he looked at Harvey. “Headmaster! I heard Ji Chi applied for auditing qualifications at the Engineering Academy through you. Can I also apply for the Warrior Academy?”

Hearing this, Harvey looked at Brandon’s small frame doubtfully. He didn’t dislike people who yearned for progress; in fact, he hoped more than anyone to see multi-professional badges blooming across the entire continent.

But after all, he was still an academy headmaster, and his concern for students had long been ingrained in his instincts.

Harvey said hesitantly, “Becoming a warrior isn’t that simple. Among the seven major divisions, the Warrior Academy has historically had the highest mortality rate. Are you sure you want to…”

The young master wasn’t frightened in the slightest; there was even a hint of joy in his expression. “I’m sure! You have to believe me—if I don’t go to the Warrior Academy for training, my mortality rate will be even higher!”

The young master couldn’t wait to educate Harvey about the Countess’s various atrocities.

Harvey looked at him speechlessly. You mortals are really strange…

It was getting late. This afternoon’s trip had satisfied most people.

Ji Chi received the gift he most urgently needed, and Brandon also obtained Harvey’s permission, preparing to give his all for the Warrior Academy’s entrance examination.

Only the old butler didn’t feel quite right. Everything had been very normal, yet for some reason, he still hadn’t emerged from the illusion of being controlled by someone.

The usually meticulous and rigorous old butler accidentally knocked over a decoration on the carriage, drawing Brandon’s puzzled gaze.

However, the young master didn’t think too much about it. When the carriage returned to the academy entrance, he said goodbye to Ji Chi. Just as Ji Chi was about to jump down from the carriage, Brandon grabbed his elbow.

“What’s wrong?” Ji Chi looked back at him with amusement. “Don’t be afraid. Go home with peace of mind. Your mother can’t hurt you.”

Can’t hurt you temporarily. He calculated the young master’s remaining armor value and added silently in his heart.

Brandon’s shoulders slumped, and he wrinkled his face. “It’s not that… I just wanted to say, go back and clarify things with Evan soon. It’s not good to drag it out.”

Brandon spoke seriously. Though he usually seemed spoiled and temperamental, toward people he truly cared about, the young master was like the warm firelight in a winter hearth, always able to warm the depths of one’s heart inadvertently.

Ji Chi put away his smile, lowered his eyes, and answered, “I know.”

When he returned to the dormitory, it was already close to midnight. Evan hadn’t come back yet. In the two-person bedroom, only the magic lamp by the bed was glowing faintly, illuminating the entire room with a dim, warm light.

Ji Chi lit all the lamps in the room. He sat at the alchemy table and flipped through engineering texts for a while. The obscure words entered his eyes and floated out from the top of his head, leaving no trace in his mind for a long time.

He gave up, put the book into his magic bag, and got up to tidy the clutter on the alchemy table.

The crystal glassware scattered haphazardly on the alchemy table clinked against each other, producing continuous crisp sounds that covered the sound of the door opening and closing.

When Ji Chi, in his flurry, finally stuffed the magic frog that had suddenly run out back into a bottle, he noticed the figure reflected on the smooth bottle surface.

Ji Chi found a book to press on top of the bottle to prevent the magic frog from escaping again, then turned around to face Evan calmly. “Evan, you’re back.”

Evan had been standing by his bed for a long time. He hadn’t changed his clothes, just silently watching Ji Chi.

Seeing that Ji Chi had noticed his return, Evan lowered his eyes and began to unfasten his dark blue magic robe. “Have you already found a place to live?”

The Magic Academy actually didn’t restrict where students lived. After each little mage obtained admission qualifications, they would be assigned a dormitory room. As for whether you actually lived in the dormitory, the academy didn’t want to and couldn’t manage it.

But even so, few little mages were willing to move out. First, because the houses nearby weren’t affordable for ordinary people, and second, because most little mages’ homes were very far away, making the commute far too troublesome.

So at this moment, for a commoner lad who had been held back a year to want to move out seemed particularly suspicious.

But Evan seemed completely unsurprised, his tone as gentle as usual.

Ji Chi was startled. “Yes… when did you know?”

Evan smiled at him. Under the lamplight, the edges of his light golden hair seemed to glow. “Since last week, you’ve been putting away directly all the books you’ve finished reading, the potion bottles you haven’t used, and the minerals you’ve collected.”

These were details that even Ji Chi himself hadn’t noticed. He recalled and found that it was indeed so.

Ji Chi had also been a young master for over twenty years. His food, clothing, shelter, and transportation had all been properly arranged by others, so he wouldn’t pay attention to where things were placed. But during that time, he had been thinking he might move out, so he unconsciously prepared, not expecting that Evan had seen it all along.

Ji Chi came back to his senses and smiled with curved eyes. “Yes, it was only confirmed today. What about you? Want to live with me? There’s still plenty of space…”

“No need.” Before Ji Chi could finish, Evan cut him off first. He had already changed into a soft shirt and lowered his head to fold his robe neatly. “I’ll stay in the dormitory. It’s more convenient here.”

Ji Chi and Evan had been inseparable for more than half a year. This was the first time he saw Evan showing a somewhat resistant attitude toward him. He couldn’t help but ask, “Why? That place…”

“No need.” Evan suddenly looked at him expressionlessly. He seemed to realize his tone was too stiff, lowered his head, and softened his voice to refuse. “I’m sorry. Thank you for the invitation, but I also have my own matters.”

Ji Chi stopped talking. He didn’t notice that the magic frog behind him had long since stealthily pushed open the book and escaped. He turned around and put the empty bottle into his magic bag. “Alright, then I won’t return to the dormitory tomorrow.”

Evan said nothing, just silently finished tidying up and buried his fluffy head into the soft quilt.

Ji Chi glanced at the small lump on the bed and suddenly chuckled softly. Before turning off the magic lamp, he asked very quietly, as if speaking in whispers, “You know we’ll always stand by your side, right?”

In the stuffy, pitch-black quilt, Evan closed his eyes, his body slowly curling up.

Starting the next day, Ji Chi began his grand moving project in full swing. Every day when he went to training class, he always carried a string of magic bags on him.

The game backpack couldn’t fit the miscellaneous items, so the cheap and convenient magic bags were obviously the best choice. Although they were a bit conspicuous, one shouldn’t demand too much about these minor flaws.

From the gap between the third and fourth magic bags at his waist, Ji Chi struggled to pull out his wand and began his daily routine of slacking off in training class.

Joseph glanced at him several times and couldn’t help but stop his demonstration, asking in a heavy tone, “What are you up to now? Are you trying to learn to fly from the colorful birds?”

Colorful birds were a very stupid species of bird in the southern swamps of Saint Trilley. They liked to hang all sorts of useless decorations on themselves, and whenever they flew up, they always made clanking noises.

The little mages imagined that scene and burst out laughing.

Ji Chi was in a good mood and didn’t bother to argue with him. “I was wrong. I won’t dare do it again tomorrow.”

Today was his last trip moving. More than half the dormitory was now empty, leaving Evan dazed for quite a while every time he returned.

Joseph rarely saw Ji Chi being so agreeable. He looked at him suspiciously several times and spent the entire training class in confusion.

As soon as class ended, before Joseph could speak, Ji Chi dashed toward the academy gate, his extreme speed almost leaving an afterimage in place, making Joseph’s Swift Technique look like mud in comparison.

Joseph got a face full of wind and sand. Standing in place, he cursed angrily in a low voice, “That little bastard!”

At Ji Chi’s usual speed, it only took about ten minutes to get back to his new place.

Ji Chi pushed open the courtyard gate and looked at the brand-new yard, a shallow smile appearing on his face.

Over the past few days, under Harvey’s pained gaze, he had shoveled away all the useless flowers and plants in the courtyard, clearing out an open space of nearly thirty square meters. It was barer than Harvey’s bald head and even cleaner.

Ji Chi stood before the open space, thinking he could finally take out and use the thing that had been gathering dust in his backpack for so long.

Name: [Forge House]

Quality: [Legendary]

Item Description: [A house carrying full inspiration and memories, can be carried anywhere, can change into any form according to the terrain. This is an engineer’s paradise]

He reached out and clicked on the Forge House icon in the semi-transparent backpack column, moving it onto the open space.

His vision blurred for a moment, and the originally island-sized forge house gradually shrank and transformed, settling just right on the cleared land.

The house with a small attic looked like an ordinary little shed from the outside. The outer walls were even snow-white and could form a matching set with the main house next to it.

Ji Chi hooked the corner of his mouth with satisfaction and walked to the Forge House to look around carefully.

Although this house had a front door, it was just a fake door frame. To actually enter, the house’s owner needed to set up a teleportation array themselves. The previous Phaestus had set the teleportation array at the foot of a statue.

Ji Chi obviously wouldn’t set the teleportation array in such a grim location. He directly moved the teleportation array next to the front door of the house. Since teleportation arrays were usually invisible, this way could both conceal the real entrance and wouldn’t seem too strange.

After setting up the teleportation array, Ji Chi wandered around inside the Forge House for a while and soon discovered that the change in the exterior form of the small house hadn’t affected the interior space layout. He looked with satisfaction at the fully equipped workbench and the packed bookshelves, pulled out an engineering text he hadn’t read yet, and sat down cross-legged on the spot.

In the long time to come, this small house would accompany him, going further and further on the path of an engineer.