After the first weekend following the class assignments, Xuanxi actually slept in until she woke up naturally. When she opened her eyes, the sun was already high in the sky.
She stared at the sunlight outside the window for several seconds before her consciousness slowly returned.
Today was the weekend. Since coming to the Dragonborn Academy, she had hardly ever experienced a real weekend. The previous weeks had been filled with training, and the only difference between weekends and weekdays was that the training sessions were longer.
But this weekend was different. The class assignment results were out, the uproar of the assessments had settled, and she finally had a complete weekend with absolutely no plans.
No training, no classes, nothing that she had to do.
She turned over and faced the direction of the screen, but discovered that there was no sound of breathing on the other side.
Xuanxi sat up and walked around the screen. Hildegrifa’s bed was made perfectly, the blanket folded like a square block of tofu, the pillow placed squarely in the center. On the desk was a tray containing bread, milk, and jam, with a note pressed beside it.
Xuanxi picked it up and looked at it. “It’s a rare weekend today, no training. Get some more sleep.”
A smile curved at the corners of her mouth. “Get some more sleep” — those words coming from Hildegrifa carried a strange sense of incongruity.
That person who got up before dawn every day to do elemental detox and only slept six hours a night was actually telling her to sleep in.
She folded the note and placed it under her pillow. It was the weekend, no training. So what should she do? Oh right, didn’t they say yesterday that they would go out and hang out today?
She picked up the communication stone and opened the contact list. Hildegrifa’s name lay quietly there, like some kind of silent waiting.
Xuanxi stared at the string of numbers for a moment, her finger hovering over the input field. Finally, she typed a line of text. “Any plans today?”
She sent it. She stared at the screen for a few seconds and felt her heartbeat quicken a little. There was an indescribable feeling of… anticipation.
The communication stone vibrated once. “No.”
Xuanxi stared at those two characters for a second, thought for a moment, then typed another line. “Then how about going out? I haven’t explored the Academy’s surroundings yet.”
This reply came even faster. “Okay.”
Xuanxi looked at that “Okay,” put down the communication stone, and began to wash up and change clothes. What should she wear? She opened the wardrobe and looked at the few sets of clothes inside.
She suddenly realized a problem — all her clothes were dark-colored: dark cyan, dark gray, black. There were only two styles: training clothes and casual clothes. And she only had two sets of casual clothes — one was being washed, the other she was wearing.
Back in the Border Town, she had never cared about what she wore. Helasi’s Blacksmith Shop always smelled of iron filings and charcoal ash, and anything she wore would get dirty. But today, she suddenly cared. She cared about Xige’s opinion.
In the end, she still put on that dark gray casual outfit because she had no other choice.
She looked at herself in the mirror. The dark gray clothes made her look like a stone covered in moss. Not exactly pretty, not exactly ugly. That would do.
When she walked out of the dormitory building, she found Hildegrifa already standing at the door waiting for her.
Her silver-white hair wasn’t tied up today, gently fluttering in the morning breeze.
She was wearing a light-colored casual outfit — the first time Xuanxi had seen her in anything other than training clothes or the academy uniform. For a moment, she felt it was a bit unreal.
That S-Rank Young Lady who could pierce targets with lightning light on the training ground was now standing in the morning light in casual clothes, looking like a beautiful landscape painting.
“Have you been waiting long?” Xuanxi walked over.
“No, I just got here too.” Hildegrifa’s gaze lingered on her face for a moment, then shifted away. “Let’s go.”
The two walked side by side along the academy’s main road. On a weekend morning, the academy was very quiet, with only a few early-rising students passing by, casting curious or awed looks at them.
Xuanxi no longer minded those gazes because she had gotten used to it. Besides, with Hildegrifa, this young lady, beside her, being noticed was normal.
“Where to?” Hildegrifa asked.
“Just around the academy, that town at the foot of the mountain,” Xuanxi said. “I went there once before enrolling, but I didn’t have a chance to look around properly. Elsa said there are a lot of nice shops there.”
“Do you want to buy something?”
Xuanxi thought for a moment. “I don’t know… I just wanted to go for a walk with you.”
Hildegrifa glanced at Xuanxi and didn’t ask any further.
From the academy gate to the town at the foot of the mountain, it took about a twenty-minute walk. The academy had built a special path for this, winding down along the edge of the Floating Peak.
Xuanxi walked along the path, looking at the clouds in the distance. Suddenly, she felt a very strange sensation. She had been at the Dragonborn Academy for over a month now, but this was the first time she had calmed down to look at this place.
Before, her eyes had only held the training ground, the dormitory, the cafeteria, the library. Those places had made up her entire world. But now, she saw more — she saw the forest below the clouds, the distant horizon, the full expanse of the sky.
It was vast. The world was truly vast.
“What are you thinking about?” Hildegrifa’s voice came from beside her.
“I’m thinking about how big the world is,” Xuanxi said. “I haven’t even figured out this academy yet, and I already think it’s huge. But standing here, the academy is just a small part of this peak. This peak is just a small part of the Dragon Domain. And the Dragon Domain is just a small part of this world.”
She paused. “I’m too insignificant.”
Hildegrifa was silent for a moment. “You’re not small. You’ve only just begun. When we grow up, our perspective will change too.”
“You always talk very concisely,” Xuanxi said, tilting her head.
“As long as the meaning gets across.”
“But everything you say makes a lot of sense.”
Hildegrifa did not reply.
The town at the foot of the mountain was especially quiet on the weekend morning. The shops along the street had just opened not long ago, and the owners were wiping windows and arranging goods.
Xuanxi stood on the main street, looking around. “Last time I came, I went straight to a snack stall and then returned to the academy. I didn’t look around at all.”
“Then let’s take a proper stroll today.”
The two walked slowly along the main street.
Xuanxi found everything novel: the weapon shop’s outdoor rack held all kinds of swords and blades, glinting coldly in the sunlight; the potion shop’s window displayed colorful bottles and jars, with labels reading “Healing Potion,” “Strength Potion,” “Agility Potion”; and at the bookstore entrance, discounted old books were piled up, their covers covered with a thin layer of dust.
“I didn’t see this bookstore last time,” Xuanxi said, stopping in front of a bookstore and looking at the shelves through the window.
“It’s newly opened,” Hildegrifa said. “I think it opened last week.”
Xuanxi glanced at her. “How do you know that? Have you been here?”
Hildegrifa didn’t answer. She pushed the door and walked in, Xuanxi following behind her.
The bookstore wasn’t big, but it was very clean. Wooden shelves extended from the floor to the ceiling, each layer filled with books. The air held a mix of old paper and woody spices.
Xuanxi slowly looked through the shelves, her gaze sweeping over row after row of spines: Dragon history, elemental theory, combat techniques, magic arrays, Eastern and Western cultural exchange. Most of them didn’t interest her or were beyond her understanding. Her fingers stopped on a thin book.
The cover of the book had no illustrations, only a line of handwritten text: “Eastern Myths and Legends.”
Xuanxi pulled the book off the shelf and opened the first page. The writing was hand-copied, not particularly neat, but every character was legible.
The first line read: “Pangu split heaven and earth apart, and his body transformed into the myriad things. The Eastern Demon Race was born from Pangu’s essence blood.”
Her heartbeat quickened by one beat.
Pangu split heaven and earth and transformed into the Eastern Demon Race. She noticed that the book wrote not “dragon race” but “demon race.” Did that mean that besides the dragon race, there were other species in this world?
She stood there, flipping through the book page by page. The content wasn’t much, probably only a few dozen pages, but each page was like a small window, allowing her a glimpse of a world she had never encountered.
Nüwa mending the sky, Fuxi drawing the trigrams, Shennong tasting herbs, Huangdi fighting Chiyou — those names she had never heard before, those stories she had never read. But holding them in her hands, she felt her own bloodline growing slightly hot.
“Are you going to buy this one?” Hildegrifa’s voice came from behind her.
Xuanxi snapped back to reality and realized she had been standing on the same page for nearly ten minutes.
Yes.
She took the book to the counter. The owner was an old dragon with graying hair, wearing reading glasses, repairing a damaged ancient book. He glanced at the book in Xuanxi’s hand, then at her face.
“Little girl, are you from the East?” His voice carried a hoarse gentleness.
“No,” Xuanxi said. “I grew up in the West.”
“Oh.”
The owner nodded, took the book, and flipped through it.
“This book was consigned by an Eastern traveling merchant. It’s been sitting here for half a year. You’re the first person who wants to buy it.” He wrapped the book in kraft paper, tied it with hemp string, and handed it to her. “Read it well. Eastern things are hard to find in the West.”
Xuanxi paid, hugged the book, and walked out of the bookstore. Hildegrifa followed behind, saying nothing.
“Didn’t you buy anything?” Xuanxi asked.
“Nothing I wanted.”
“Then you accompanied me in shopping for so long?”
Hildegrifa looked at her. “I told you. I have no plans today.”
No plans meant that “accompanying you in shopping” was today’s plan.
It was almost noon, and the streets gradually grew more crowded. The aroma of food wafted from all directions, tugging at Xuanxi’s stomach. A slight growl came from her belly, and she instinctively pressed her hand against it.
Hildegrifa’s ears twitched. “Hungry?”
“…A little.”
“What do you want to eat?”
Xuanxi thought for a moment. She had been eating cafeteria food for over a month now. Although the taste wasn’t bad, even a feast of delicacies would get tiring if you ate it every day.
Today, she wanted something different. Her eyes swept across the street and finally landed on a familiar direction — the small stall at the corner with red lanterns. The Eastern snack stall.
“That one.” She pointed.
Hildegrifa followed her finger and looked over, then nodded.
The two walked to the stall. The owner was still that middle-aged woman, her black hair tied into a bun, wearing a simple Eastern-style outfit. When she saw Xuanxi, her eyes brightened. “It’s you, little girl. The one who bought osmanthus cake last time.”
“You remember me?” Xuanxi was a bit surprised.
“I remember. Your eye color is very special.” The shopkeeper smiled, her gaze pausing briefly on the heavenly fate mark under Xuanxi’s right eye, just like the bookstore owner had. But the shopkeeper didn’t ask. She just smiled and said, “What would you like to eat today?”
Xuanxi looked at the items on the stall: candied hawthorns, osmanthus cakes, mung bean cakes, red bean cakes, glutinous rice balls, dragon’s beard candy. Many snacks she couldn’t name, along with some hot foods: wontons, noodles, dumplings.
“Two bowls of wontons,” Xuanxi said. She turned to look at Hildegrifa. “Can you eat spicy?”
“Yes.”
“Then both bowls with extra spice.”
The shopkeeper laughed in acknowledgment, turned, and started working.
Xuanxi and Hildegrifa sat down at a small table next to the stall. The table was very small, and they sat face to face, their knees almost touching.
The wontons were served. In a white porcelain bowl was clear broth, with over a dozen small wontons floating on the surface, the wrappers so thin that the pink filling inside was visible.
Scallions and chili oil floated on top, red and green, looking appetizing enough to make anyone hungry.
Xuanxi picked up a spoon, scooped up a wonton, blew on it, and put it in her mouth. Hot, fresh, spicy — three sensations exploded on her tongue simultaneously. Her eyes instantly lit up.
“Delicious,” she mumbled indistinctly.
Hildegrifa watched her, then lowered her head and began to eat her own bowl. Her movements were much more elegant than Xuanxi’s — gently scooping, blowing twice, putting it in her mouth, chewing, swallowing. The entire process was silent, without making any sound.
When Xuanxi took her third bite, she looked up at Hildegrifa.
“How is it?”
“Not bad.”
“Just ‘not bad’?”
“Very good.”
Hildegrifa added two more words.
Xuanxi laughed. She knew that going from “not bad” to “very good” probably required some distance.
The two ate their wontons facing each other without saying a word. After finishing, Xuanxi went and bought two sticks of candied hawthorns. She handed one to Hildegrifa and started munching on the other herself.
The hawthorn inside was sour, while the sugar coating outside was sweet. The sweet and sour mingled in her mouth, so delicious that she squinted her eyes.
Hildegrifa held the candied hawthorn and stared at it for several seconds, as if studying its structure.
“You’ve never eaten one?” Xuanxi asked.
“No. I rarely eat this kind of sweet.”
“Try a bite.”
Hildegrifa hesitated for a moment, then opened her mouth and took a small bite. The crisp sound of the sugar coating breaking was very clear. Her expression underwent an extremely subtle change.
“How is it?”
“…A bit sour.”
Xuanxi laughed out loud. “Candied hawthorn is supposed to be sour. Hawthorns are naturally sour. They’re wrapped in sugar; the sweet and sour together make it delicious.”
Hildegrifa took another bite, this time a bigger one. She chewed a few times and swallowed.
The two stood at the street corner, each holding a stick of candied hawthorn, like two ordinary girls. Not two dragons whose true forms could destroy heaven and earth, but just two girls going shopping and eating snacks on the weekend.
Xuanxi suddenly felt that moments like this were precious and rare.
After finishing the candied hawthorns, Xuanxi remembered her other goal for today: buying clothes. She only had two sets of casual clothes — one was being washed, the other she was wearing. Tomorrow she’d have to wear the set that wasn’t dry yet. She needed to buy some new clothes.
“Do you know where I can buy clothes?” she asked Hildegrifa.
Hildegrifa looked at her. “Don’t you have enough clothes?”
“I only have two sets.”
Hildegrifa was silent for a moment. “Follow me.”
She led Xuanxi into a small alley. The alley wasn’t wide, and the shops on both sides were smaller than those on the main street, but quieter and more refined. In front of a shop with a wooden sign, she stopped, pushed the door, and walked in. Xuanxi followed behind her.
The moment she entered the shop, her first reaction was: these clothes were too beautiful. They were not something a poor dragon like her could afford.
Silk, gauze, embroidery, knotted buttons. Dark cyan robes embroidered with silver cloud patterns, moon-white skirts adorned with pale pink plum blossoms. Every piece of clothing here was like a work of art.
Hildegrifa walked to the rack, her fingers gently gliding over rows of clothes. Finally, she stopped in front of a dark cyan robe. She took it down and handed it to Xuanxi.
“Try it on.”
Xuanxi took the robe. The texture was much softer than she had imagined. Silk slid through her fingertips like flowing water. She took the robe into the fitting room. When she came out after changing, she stood in front of the mirror and didn’t even recognize herself.
The dark cyan robe complemented her dark cyan hair. The silver cloud patterns shimmered faintly under the light.
The dark blue piping outlined her waistline. She didn’t look like a blacksmith’s adopted daughter — she looked like… she didn’t know what.
Hildegrifa stood behind her, looking at her in the mirror. Her amethyst eyes shone especially brightly under the light.
“Beautiful,” she said.
Xuanxi looked at the price tag on the hanger. The number made her pupils contract. “Too expensive.”
“I’ll pay.” Hildegrifa was already walking toward the counter.
“No, this is too generous.”
“You treated me to wontons.”
“Wontons cost almost nothing?”
“That was wontons.” Hildegrifa turned her head to look at her, her amethyst eyes carrying a seriousness that brooked no argument. “This is clothes. You treated me to wontons, I’ll treat you to clothes. It’s the same.”
Xuanxi opened her mouth to argue, but found she couldn’t refute it. Because of Hildegrifa’s tone — it was that kind of ‘I’ve already decided, and you arguing is pointless.’
“Then you have to let me pay you back sometime.”
“…Fine. Pay me back later.”