Dangdang’s mother had left the money with Fan Li. After counting it, she found a total of 850 Fulumen—enough to sustain her for a while, but she couldn't touch it. As soon as the sea-exit ban was lifted, she would have to leave this place, and she needed to give all the money to Dangdang before she went. Otherwise, with Dangdang’s silly personality, the girl would probably be wailing from hunger in no time. Thus, she tucked the money away at the bottom of her trunk, intending to give it to Dangdang in installments once the girl’s pocket money ran out. She would have to find a way to earn her own living expenses.
The next morning, Dangdang’s mother boarded a long-distance speedboat to return to her hometown. Dangdang bid her mother farewell, her eyes crying themselves into two large walnuts.
Soon after, Fan Li began receiving elective course manuals from various colleges. According to the instructions, she needed to purchase her own textbooks. She went with Dangdang to the school’s bookstore to find what they needed. When she saw the prices, she rubbed her eyes in shock, thinking she was hallucinating—the cheapest book among them, *Life Arcane Engineering*, was 9 Fulumen and 99 Drops.
Based on the transportation and grocery prices of the past two days, books in the sea were roughly fifteen to twenty times more expensive than books on land.
Fan Li had always held the concept that "knowledge is priceless." She would agonize over a hundred-yuan meal, but she wouldn't even blink when buying a hundred-yuan book. In the world of the sea races, however, knowledge was literally priceless.
Checking her wallet—which looked bulging but was actually filled with small-denomination coins—she confirmed she couldn't afford all the textbooks and silently returned them to the shelves.
"You want to buy new books? That’s too expensive. Buy second-hand," Dangdang suggested.
Dangdang pointed to several copies of *Life Arcane Engineering* tucked further back. Each spine had a glowing sticker with second-hand prices written in different handwriting. Knowing so much about discounted books, Dangdang was truly herself.
However, even the cheapest ones here were half-price, which was still unaffordable.
"Tsk tsk, as expected of the top college in Luoya University." Dangdang waved a second-hand copy of *Complete Collection of Dolphin Vocalization Songs* that cost 1.99 Fulumen. "The books for your Arcane Department are way more expensive than ours."
Fan Li soon discovered why the textbooks were so pricey.
She casually flipped through *History of the Sea Races* and found that the images inside were dynamic, like a series of paper-based GIFs. When she reached out to touch a picture of a Livyatan whale, a 3D projection of the creature appeared about 35 centimeters above the book. It swam in place, opening its mouth to devour a smaller whale. Not only that, but a sperm whale appeared beside it for the student to compare their similarities and differences.
Fan Li poked the Livyatan with her other hand. To her surprise, it let out a cry and suddenly flipped over to bite her finger. she jerked her hand back before remembering it was just an illusion.
Books with 3D projections and interactive features... they were advanced and luxurious. It was only natural she couldn't afford them.
She found the most important textbook, *First Level Arcane*, and flipped through it. How should she put it? The feeling was probably like a first-grader opening a calculus textbook. To an ordinary sea dweller, Arcane was a basic subject they encountered from primary school, but to a human, it was an entirely new system of knowledge. Forget learning it—after reading just a few lines of the technical terms, her head began to throb violently as if it were about to explode.
Fan Li leaned against the wall, gently shaking her head to clear the residual pain, and clutched her forehead as she went home to rest.
A weekend stood between her and the official start of school. She spent those two days watching the news, learning how the sea world operated, and searching for any traces of the human world.
Due to the moon's tidal pull, the sea races also placed great importance on the rotation of the sun and moon. Since ancient times, their method of calculating years, months, and days had been identical to the land, but they called Monday through Sunday: Buko Day, Oda Day, Senti Day, Sephi Day, Mither Day, Jante Day, and Gath Day. It was said these seven names were abbreviations for their faith, the "Seven Progenitor Gods of the Holy Sea."
On Buko Day at 9:00 AM, a two-hour Potions lecture began. The classroom could hold three hundred people, looking somewhat like a condensed version of the Beijing Workers' Stadium. Tiered circular seating extended to the corners of the room, but one end of the oval was open, housing a lectern and a massive bone-carved whiteboard for slides. Stained-glass windows refracted the faint light of the sea, and from time to time, schools of fish or giant creatures swam past, leaving fleeting shadows on the floor.
Fan Li arrived at the classroom at 8:30 AM, only to find it already packed with students.
This was the first day of class. The Potions instructor was the Dean of the Arcane Academy, so the freshmen were all buzzing with excitement and eager to attend.
The front row seats were empty, but after a moment of hesitation, Fan Li swam to the fourth row and found an empty seat. Just as she was about to sit down, a girl from the Hunter race looked up at her and placed her bag on the seat.
Fan Li had no choice but to swim to the front row. Two female students were lounging lazily over their desks, their books open but unread as they whispered to each other. Their wrists were slender and white, and their long hair flowed like thousands of silken threads, forming two golden waterfalls down their backs.
Fan Li took a seat one spot away from them.
Both girls looked annoyed at being disturbed. The girl closer to her turned her entire body away, propping the back of her head with her hand as she gracefully toyed with her long hair. The other girl peeked at Fan Li, looked down at her tail, up at her ear-fins, then back down at her tail. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she laughed, "Did I walk into the wrong classroom?"
"You didn't. This is the Potions classroom." The first girl stretched deliberately, speaking with a thick Holy Capital accent. "Ugh, so boring. When will we run into Professor Buko Yega? I’ve passed his office several times and never seen him."
"He seems busy with family matters, so he rarely comes to school. You can only see him during his lectures."
"True, his professorship is just a hobby. I heard he’s the third child of the Suzerain, with only two older sisters above him. He’ll probably inherit the Suzerain’s seat later, right?"
"No, he doesn't seem to want to stay in the Red Moon Sea. I heard he always wanted to go to St. Yegana, but he was forced to stay in Luoya until he grows up."
In truth, neither of these girls had ever met Buko Yega, nor did they know anyone from the Buko clan. However, they were surrounded by Hunters and Oceanids. By letting these conversations be overheard—especially by the "bait-girl" next to them who lacked self-awareness—they felt a sense of superiority.
Regrettably, Fan Li understood none of it. She was simply holding a newspaper Mr. Hong didn't want, studying the geography of the sea regions while enduring the second day of her three-month sentence.
"So what has he been busy with at home lately?" the girl continued.
"Busy with his grand-uncle’s wedding. Did you forget? Buko Ni is about to marry 'Miss Bubble'."
Hearing this, the girl thought of Miss Bubble’s indignant self-defense in an interview: *"I am an Oceanid, but I am not after my fiancé’s status. We are simply in love; we have done nothing wrong. Besides, I have good looks, a decent family background, and I’m a student at Luoya University. My fiancé and I are a match. I don't understand why some people attack me, or why there is still racial discrimination in this day and age—is it so hard to admit someone else is excellent? Could you do better than me at my age?!"*
The girl felt like vomiting at Miss Bubble’s power-hungry hypocrisy, which only fueled her hatred for Oceanids. She glanced back at Fan Li as if looking at a pile of filth. Unable to bear it any longer, she pulled her friend up and swam to the front row on the opposite side.
Fan Li felt she had disturbed them and was debating whether to move to the back when Lina, the "Tough Princess," and several other Hunters entered the classroom.
Entering through the main door under the gaze of three hundred people, Lina showed none of the nervousness others felt. Instead, she put one hand on her hip and waved to the entire class with her other hand, swimming slowly toward Fan Li like an A-list star on a red carpet.
"Morning, Fan Li." Lina looked down, her back straight, giving off a very condescending vibe. "Have you made up your mind?"
Fan Li reluctantly put down her newspaper and shook her head.
"If you haven't decided, what are you doing sitting here? Move!" With that, the Tough Princess tried to yank Fan Li out of her chair.
Fan Li quickly shrank back, dodging her hand, and swam away from the seat. Several snickers and bursts of laughter erupted around them. The Tough Princess unceremoniously took Fan Li’s seat and pulled her handsome boyfriend to her side. Cupping the back of his head, she engaged him in another blatant tongue-kiss.
"I’ve waited for you so long; isn't my patience great?" Lina smiled slightly. "Today is the last day. Go to the back and take your time thinking."
Under the gaze of countless eyes, Fan Li silently swam to the back—by the standards of contemporary Chinese college students, this was the "High-Level Sunny Spa Sleep Zone," located in front of the "Early Departure Zone" and "Late Arrival Zone," and behind the "VIP Leisure Chat and Gossip Zone." However, she was pushed away by four or five people until she had no place to sit.
She remembered back when she was being voted "Triple-A Student." When the teacher mentioned "Fan Li," a sea of hands would go up. During breaks, classmates wouldn't go to the class representatives but would line up to wait for her to solve their problems. Her father would often have the housekeeper prepare meals to host her friends at home...
This was the first time she had been collectively ostracized. It didn't feel good.
In the human world, even someone from a poor background could look respectable through hard work and attention to dress. The sea world was cruel; one’s background and species were immediately obvious from physical traits.
Finally, amidst a sea of hostile glares, she saw Liuxiang raise her hand and wave.
She swam over quickly and sat in the spot Liuxiang had saved for her, letting out a sigh of relief. "Thanks."
"That’s just how it is when an Oceanid is thrown into a pack of Hunters. You’ll get used to it."
Just then, a male student sitting in front of them turned around and whispered to Fan Li, "You were just in close contact with the Sea Gods. How did it feel?"
As Fan Li was wondering where the Sea Gods were, Liuxiang gave a look of disdain. "Have you never seen a Sea God before?"
"I have. My dad’s boss has several Sea God friends. But this is the first time I’ve seen Sea Gods our age—and two blonde beauties at
