Handling two waves of ’attacks’ in a short time made Jiang Yu feel a bit exhausted.

"I need to find a refreshing drink."

She linked arms with the warlock, slowly walking around the dance floor, not in a hurry to dance. She pointed to the gathering of warlocks under the wall on the other side: "You can wait for me there, chat with them for a while..."

Zheng Qing looked in the direction the witch pointed.

"Them... I don’t seem to know any of them." He muttered, his expression slightly hesitant — although at the First University he had already participated in many social events, at those venues, he was always with known partners and had never had the experience of casually chatting alone among a group of strangers.

This made a strange image of a duck barging into a group of fire chickens, noisily chattering, inexplicably pop into his mind.

Of course, the more important reason for his hesitation was that he was Su Shijun’s rumored husband, yet today, he had come to Shanglin Garden with another witch. In his impression, Councillor Su was very popular among young warlocks in the wizarding families, and Zheng Qing was worried that if he approached proactively, he might be treated as a heartbreaker or a philanderer and get jumped by some emotionally charged warlocks.

But this was a reason he really couldn’t explain to the witch.

"Just smile at people you don’t know... It can’t go wrong."

Jiang Yu seemed oblivious to the distress on the boy’s face and encouragingly patted his arm, appearing to think of something, she pulled out a stack of small cards from her pocket: "Well, if you’re really lacking confidence, you can take a look at this first..."

Zheng Qing accepted the stack, quickly flipping through it. It seemed to be a pile of business cards, with each card recording the name, clan, portrait, specialties, hobbies, and taboos as well as key interpersonal relationships of a young wizard — Zheng Qing believed that any broker in the Wandering Bar would gladly pay a hefty price for them.

"...Many young wizards attending the Shanglin Garden Spring Hunt are from outside the school, so you might be unfamiliar with them. These cards can help you integrate into their circles as quickly as possible."

The witch briefly explained the purpose of the cards while slightly intensifying her tone: "In occasions like the Shanglin Garden Spring Hunt, every hunter worth knowing is present... In a few months, you’ll be graduating from the First University, you can’t be as indifferent to everything as you were in school..."

This tone was very much like the nagging of a parent.

Zheng Qing forced a laugh, shook his head, and dispelled those strange thoughts from his mind, studying those small cards. Suddenly he noticed something odd: "Why is there only information about warlocks in these cards?"

As soon as he spoke, he knew he was in trouble.

As expected.

The witch narrowed her eyes, looking him up and down, her tone carrying a rare sarcastic edge: "Ha... Which witch did you want to meet?"

She emphasized the word ’which’ heavily.

The young scholarship student seemed like a startled quail, shrinking his neck and shaking his head like a rattle.

Jiang Yu glared at him irritably and poked him on the chest.

Zheng Qing thought she was about to warn him again.

Unexpectedly, the witch’s tone suddenly changed, reminding him: "I remember you have a Gold Merlin Medal? Wear it now... Right there. The circles of warlocks are different from witches. A Gold Merlin Medal will earn you respect from all the boys... At least you won’t get beaten up as soon as you meet... Hmm, also wear your academy badge properly. It will help you ’filter’ your chat partners proactively."

"Does the academy badge have such magic?" Zheng Qing turned out the round square-hole badge from Jiuyou Academy, resembling a copper coin yet crystal clear, a hint of surprise appearing on his face.

The witch sighed heavily.

"No, it doesn’t."

She helped him adjust the position of the badge, firmly patting his chest: "Just seeing the Jiuyou Academy’s badge, wizards who don’t like Jiuyou will pretend not to see you... This is good for everyone."

...

...

Jiang Yu was completely right.

It turned out that the filtering power of the Jiuyou Academy’s badge was truly astonishing.

Perhaps this was also related to the identity of the young wizards attending the Shanglin Garden Spring Hunt—they mostly came from various sizes of wizarding families, and it was well known that Alpha Academy in the First University had the most aristocratic disciples. The relationship between Jiuyou People and Alpha People was not very pleasant.

In short, when Zheng Qing, wearing two badges, mustered the courage to squeeze into the warlock group, many people, at first glimpse of his Merlin Medal, showed a hint of admiration, but upon seeing the other Jiuyou Academy badge immediately withdrew that admiration, stiffly turned their heads as if seeing a cloud of air.

Zheng Qing suspected many had already recognized him but were constrained by the surroundings, unable to act at will, so they intentionally ignored him to express dissatisfaction.

Similar to him.

Every warlock in the dance floor wore a badge on their chest, but Zheng Qing didn’t recognize most of the styles, though he could vaguely guess many were family crests, engraved with different family emblems.

In comparison, his Gold Merlin Medal stood out prominently.

"It’s beautiful, isn’t it?"

When these random words reached Zheng Qing’s ears, he was standing under the skull of a Chi qiu beheaded at Changbai Mountain, distractedly listening to some unknown young hunter endlessly imparting forest hunting experiences, his mind drifting elsewhere.

"What?"

Zheng Qing turned around, startled, to see beside him stood a tall warlock with curly hair, green eyes, and healthy bronze skin. His face looked vaguely familiar, but Zheng Qing was sure he didn’t know him.

"It’s beautiful, isn’t it?" The tall warlock raised his fruit wine and clinked it with Zheng Qing’s glass, noting the thick joints and heavy hair on his fingers.

Zheng Qing thought he was talking about his Gold Merlin Medal.

"Oh, it’s just luck."

Rarely complimented, Zheng Qing instantly perked up, recounting the story he’d repeated many times weeks ago: "At that time, everyone was trapped in Walter’s black magic barrier, only I was lucky enough to move... Fortunately, Walter had already been heavily wounded by several major wizards at the school... So, when it comes down to it, I just grabbed a huge bargain..."

The tall warlock nodded repeatedly, with a serious expression.

Until Zheng Qing closed his mouth, he pointed to the dragon’s skull hanging obliquely above the wall. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"I meant that thing is beautiful."

He corrected himself, then noticing Zheng Qing’s awkward expression, he quickly added: "Of course, the Merlin Medal is not just beautiful, it’s stunning beyond description."

"Thank you." Zheng Qing gave a dry thanks.

"Sorry, I wasn’t clear earlier." The warlock shook Zheng Qing’s hand, introducing himself: "Michael Tabo... I’ve heard about you from Dylan... He’s my cousin."