Lu Li glanced back at his tail, now longer than his body. He looked just like the Flowing Cat.
From his low vantage point, every object in the bedroom seed gigantic, and the door lood like a fortress wall.
Lu Li returned to the pile of clothes and retrieved the Book of the Apocalypse from a pocket, but the figures were too large for him to carry in his black cat form.
Pacing across the floor, he acclimated to his new body. Aside from the unusual perspective, the transformation didn't cause him any discomfort or awkwardness. He shoved the clothes and the figures under the bed, leaped onto a chair, and used it as a springboard to jump onto the desk. He wrapped his tail around a potion vial and then sprang back to the floor.
Click.
The door creaked open, and a black cat that seed to flow like liquid slipped through the gap. With its tail, it lowered the potion vial to the floor, then coiled its tail around the doorknob and pulled the door shut.
Thud.
The bedroom was plunged into silence once more. Even a black beetle that crawled uncertainly from the pile of clothes made no sound.
...
Lu Li padded along, keeping close to the curved wall.
Students he passed regarded him with curiosity, so even trying to get closer, but Lu Li always darted away just as they reached out to touch him.
As he approached the common area, he heard the sound of hurried footsteps behind him.
"Hurry back to your rooms. You as well."
Professor Haig and a prefect urged the students behind them onward as they continued forward.
"Professor Haig, there's a black cat," Prefect Grant remarked, pointing at Lu Li, who was pressed into a corner.
"I didn't see anything... It's probably just sothing from the middle courses that got out. Pay it no mind," Professor Haig said, casting a fleeting glance in his direction before hurrying toward the library.
Lu Li quickened his pace slightly, following them.
Wrapped in his black cloak, Professor Haig swept into the library like a great bat. He clapped his hands loudly to get everyone's attention and announced:
"Students majoring in mysticism, divination, and alchemy, who have reached the third level, are to follow ."
The rest of you are to return to your rooms. Do not go out tonight.
"Did sothing happen, Professor Haig?"
"I haven't eaten yet..."
The students began to gather their books, while the first-years peppered him with questions.
"The Seeker Spirit is on a lower level, but it could co up at any mont... Food will be brought to your rooms... Yes, it's an evil spirit... Don't worry, Winsirt, you're safe as long as it doesn't see you... The Academy of Giant Trees is perfectly safe, of course. No creature can get in here, except for an evil spirit... If you run into it and it asks you a question, just say, 'I don't know'."
Professor Haig patiently answered the students' questions. Just as the commotion in the library began to die down, a cry rang out from the entrance.
"He's gone! Lu Li isn't in his lounge!"
"What is it?" Professor Haig frowned, his gaze fixed on the frightened student who had just run up to him.
"I don't know. I knocked for a long ti, but there was no answer. The door wasn't locked, so I opened it... He wasn't there!"
Professor Haig surveyed the fresh wave of panic spreading through the students and forced his expression to relax.
"Don't worry. Mister Lu Li is a legendary exorcist; he knows how to avoid an evil spirit..."
Alright, students. Everyone back to your rooms now.
As the students evacuated the library, no one noticed a singular black cat flowing against the tide of departing students toward the second-floor staircase. Even the doorkeeper paid it no mind.
On the dimly lit second floor, in stark contrast to the high alert below, middle-course students were still present.
As he padded past the tables, Lu Li overheard two students whispering about the commotion from the first floor.
"The Academy of Giant Trees is too protective of the junior students."
"Yeah, they make you forget the dangers of the apocalypse. That's exactly what happened to Korell..."
After crossing the second floor, Lu Li calmly ascended the steps to the third.
The doorkeeper's gaze lingered for a mont on the potion vial coiled in the cat's tail, but he did nothing.
The third floor was to the second what the second was to the first: even darker. It grew dimr with each ascending level, and one would likely need an oil lamp just to read the spines of the books.
It was strange, considering that proper lighting was hardly an insurmountable expense for the Academy of Giant Trees.
The senior students, shrouded in long, hooded cloaks, kept to the shadows. They exuded a vile, indistinct, and repulsive aura, not unlike that of an anomaly.
As he crossed the library, Lu Li spotted a passage leading to the next level. It was a dark, deep shaft with no visible bottom.
This was the entrance to the academy's lower levels.
Safely out of the library, Lu Li felt he couldn't trust anyone for the mont, now that his location had been compromised. His only option was to navigate by the junior professors' offices on the canopy level, so he headed that way.
The potion vial coiled around his tail proved to be a great help. It marked him as soone's property—a student's or a professor's pet—and saved him from any trouble.
But while he had avoided the attention of the students, Lu Li soon found himself pursued by another being.
The Seeker Spirit.
It took the form of a woman in tatters. Her long dress, covered in filthy stains, had long since lost its original color and was riddled with what looked like bite marks. From beneath the hem, a pair of toeless feet peeked out. Her shoulders were slumped, and her arms hung unnaturally at her sides.
The woman, her face hidden by a curtain of hair, stood before Lu Li and rasped:
"Tell , where is Long..."
"ow~"
After all, Lu Li was just a cat.
But if the Seeker Spirit had pressed him further, he would have had to drink the potion to regain his human form and answer.
And the experience of having to find his clothes while naked was not one he cared to repeat.
Fortunately, Professor Haig had been right: the Seeker Spirit was not particularly dangerous, and its ritual was simple.
The Seeker Spirit left Lu Li be and drifted aimlessly down the corridor, as if searching for soone.
Lu Li watched the wandering, harmless spirit until it vanished from sight.
As he padded down a corridor just off a large hall, Lu Li felt a grim wind sweep through, carrying with it a clamor of voices.
"Clear out sector seven of Kab Street, reward is one-third of a course credit!"
"A third of a credit? Let
guess who's crazy: you, , or the professor who posted this mission."
"It's a clearing zone! All we have to do is make one sweep and last until noon to get a third of a credit!"
"Don't even think about it. I'm not taking that kind of risk for a few points..."
After leaving the hall that appeared to lead outside the Academy of Giant Trees, Lu Li spent so ti searching for the alchemy classroom.
Setting down the potion vial, Lu Li reached out with his tail and turned the doorknob.
Click—
The door wasn't locked.
The room was cluttered with all sorts of objects, giving it an air of organized chaos. A fire crackled in the hearth, and a cauldron hanging over the flas bubbled and boiled. The room was empty.
The door swung shut behind him. Lu Li scanned the room before hopping onto a chair. He coiled his long tail around his body and waited for Professor Kris.
He didn't have to wait long. Just as the bubbling in the cauldron grew noticeably louder, the door swung open.
Professor Kris entered, removing her wide-brimd, veiled hat and hanging it on a rack.
"Professor Kris."
Lu Li said, forgetting he was still a cat. All that ca out was a soft "Mrow~."
"Oh, what an adorable kitten! Just a mont, please."
As if just now noticing him, Professor Kris exclaid in delight, her hands flying to her cheeks. She walked over to a corner wardrobe, opened it, and began to remove her clothes.
Lu Li averted his gaze. His feline eyes reflected the dancing flas and the bubbling cauldron.
Shortly after the rustling of fabric ceased, a sudden, dull thud echoed from in front of the wardrobe. It sounded as if a sheet of skin had just fallen to the floor.
What had she been taking off?
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