Ma Qiu ultimately chose Magic Linguistics.
The reason for choosing this discipline as his research direction for the next three years of his life was not out of a particular passion; it was because Ma Qiu seriously thought about one thing, and that was... his strengths.
For soone who barely t the admission requirents of Atlantis University, he was actually quite lacking, so the question before him was what he could do, not what he wanted to do.
He had heard that entering Atlantis University did not an that one was safe. The university implented strict entrance and exit policies. Since it was recently established, the "strict entrance" might still have so leeway, but "strict exit" was indeed being enforced.
Therefore, if one performs too poorly at Atlantis University, they might be directly expelled.
Ma Qiu absolutely did not want to be part of that group.
Thus, considering his own linguistic ability, choosing Magic Linguistics as his research direction might be the best option.
With that, Ma Qiu submitted his application and began his university life.
...
At the beginning of university life, Ma Qiu’s biggest impression was that Atlantis University was too sparse.
Yes, too sparse.
The university was extrely vast, with seven or eight stone buildings just for accommodation, each one ticulously designed to accommodate thousands of people.
However, it wasn’t until a month after the sester began that only a small portion of these stone buildings were occupied.
During the day, one could still see so activity and feel the campus was adequately populated, but at night, the campus beca eerily quiet. Wandering on the paths of the university, one could feel chills, resembling a graveyard.
This was due to the fact that there were too few people in the university, and the university itself was too large, like scattering a few beans in a pot, there was a sense of loneliness.
This situation did not last long, as Ma Qiu recalled that after about two months, changes started to occur gradually.
As the weather ward, and winter left with spring arriving, groups of new faces erged suddenly from every corner of Atlantis University like mushrooms after a rain shower.
From their conversations, Ma Qiu vaguely understood that these individuals had passed the university’s new qualification exams. The new exam cycle was more difficult, but the number of participants was larger, so the number of new admissions was no fewer than before.
With this, the university finally started to feel sowhat normal, at least no longer making people afraid to wander outside the dormitories at night.
And this was just the beginning.
A few months later, more and more new faces arrived like torrential rains in the sumr, continuously pouring into the increasingly crowded dorms, making them visibly overcrowded.
In fact, not only the dormitories but also the library, cafeteria, and classrooms, every place was packed with people.
On one sweltering morning, after Ma Qiu glanced at the length of the despair-inducing queue in the dining hall, he had an afterthought realization that those days of fewer people were likely gone forever.
Subsequent passage of ti repeatedly proved Ma Qiu’s thoughts.
The surge in sumr numbers was not the first ti, nor would it be the last. Following the sumr surge, the phenonon seed to repeat almost every month, even as autumn arrived and temperatures dropped, with no sign of "improvent."
Gradually, Ma Qiu’s perception shifted from initially "why are there no people," to "why is there people everywhere," the entire person full of resentnt.
Actually, Ma Qiu was not alone in his resentnt; almost every student at Atlantis University shared the sa sentint.
After all, they ca here to learn profound knowledge, not to play "crowding gas" every day.
The university administration obviously understood this situation, and several new stone buildings were constructed in a short ti to alleviate the nearly explosive population pressure.
Yet, the construction speed of university stone buildings could not keep up with the pace of student increase. When all "unplanned areas" within the university were utilized, the entire Atlantis University was nearing the edge of being overcrowded.
Just as Ma Qiu was starting to wonder if he might get squashed the next ti he went to the cafeteria, Atlantis University’s first branch campus was established unexpectedly in the new district of Atlantis.
In Ma Qiu’s view, subsequent developnts were like a term favored by the Magic Biology students—"infectious"—as soon as Atlantis University’s first branch campus was established, the second branch campus and the third branch campus quickly followed, then ca the fourth branch campus, the fifth branch campus...
At last, Ma Qiu was no longer certain how many branch campuses Atlantis University had actually founded.
Speaking of these branch campuses, not every one of them was as large or grand in scale as the main Atlantis University campus; so were rely a relatively large courtyard with two small stone buildings. These branch campuses didn’t replicate all the disciplines of the main campus and then recruit students anew, but simply separated one or several disciplines to operate independently.
As a result, the branch campuses each had their own specialized nas—for example, Atlantis University’s first branch campus was also known as Atlantis University School of Magical Chemistry, while the second branch campus was called Atlantis University Magic Physics College.
Amid a series of nearly reactive rapid changes, Ma Qiu spent his first academic year at university.
During this year, he heard that many things were happening externally as well.
For example, so people tried to sabotage the construction in Atlantis City, but ended up being turned to ashes by a few city wizards who united to cast spells, summoning flaming teors.
In another instance, a thief group joined forces to extensively plunder rchant caravans within Shalin territory, but was wiped out completely by a Shalin Black Armored Cavalry Captain leading his ghostly Black Armored Cavalry subordinates.
Also, for unknown reasons, one day, many residents of Shalin loyal to Sika Kingdom rose in rebellion, causing significant damage. However, the rebellion dissipated swiftly after the mysterious appearance of Shalin’s Vice Lord—Lord Moli Wizard.
Moreover, due to so unknown conflict, several lords from territories near Shalin suddenly gathered soldiers and wizards to approach Shalin. Eventually, even the Military God guarding Reef Rock Castle—General Soron—was alerted and rushed with his guards to the site, trying to prevent the worst-case scenario.
And how was this matter resolved?
It’s heard that the powerful and usually elusive true lord of Shalin—Lord Richard the Wizard—made a rare appearance.
After showing up, Lord Richard the Wizard didn’t do anything particularly special. He simply went to the border, holding an Energy Ball, having a brief conversation with a few lords. During the conversation, the Energy Ball’s size ballooned crazily, and by the end, it rivaled a small mountain. The lords took one glance and decisively withdrew, and since then, Shalin was never again harassed or threatened by neighboring lords, at least on the surface.
These were fairly legendary stories, unavoidably distorted in transmission. Since Ma Qiu hadn’t seen them personally, he didn’t find them completely real.
Besides these, there were other things that seed more genuine and tangible.
For instance, for unknown reasons, Shalin, initially short on food, suddenly experienced a surge in food production, leading to a plumt in prices, satisfying its consumption needs and extensively selling outside of Shalin in exchange for other resources. Consequently, the price of bread in Atlantis City dropped by thirty percent in just a few days, with at and fish also following suit.
In contrast, so peculiar creations, due to the influx of external rchants, were being continuously bid up in price at the Atlantis market. Ever-lit fireballs tripled in price, magical boxes that played music when wound doubled, and pocket watches that could emit sounds at set tis quintupled, often sold out at sky-high prices.
Only Lady Jianna of Seventh Street maintained consistent pricing, fair to both old and young. For just one silver coin, one could enjoy a sumptuous dinner with her, and so beneficial exercises for health afterward—and Ma Qiu wasn’t sure why he knew this.
But either way, the year passed swiftly.
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