8 Grey Mage

Reminder : there are 12 levels of cultivation 1. grey, 2. yellow, 3. green, 4. blue, 5. purple, 6. orange, 7. red, 8. black, 9. gold, 10. white level 1, 11. white level 2 and 12. white level 3.

Wu Liang Hui sighed as he laid heavily back on Bai Hu Ya's broad muscular chest. The warmth of Bai Huya's body contrasting with the cool surrounding waters in the wooden tub. His limbs felt like jelly and his eyes drooped ever so slightly. Going three rounds early in the morning following a sleepless night would do that to you. The gentle trickling of the water as Huya wiped his body was the only noise in the room. Wu Liang Hui absent mindedly wrapped and unwrapped Huya's snow white hair round his fingers. He watched in a daze as the evidence of their activities were slowly dissolved in the magic waters. This is the post sex bliss that everyone talks about. He sighed again, he didn't want to leave but classes would be starting soon. Though he was struggling to follow along with the rest of the class but as a researcher he lived to be a student for life, one should never stop learning. Another sigh, in all his 46 years he never expected the day would come when he would rather laze about instead of studying.

Bai Huya gently raised Liang Hui's hips allowing himself to slip out from Liang Hui's warm tight depths with a slurpy pop. Wu Liang Hui bit his lip failing to hold back his moan, a wave of longing washed over him. Huya lifted him out of the bath and placed him on his wobbly legs. He chuckled as Liang Hui sighed once again, the pout on his lips visible as they were standing face to face. He quickly got Liang Hui dressed and shoved him out the door with books in hand before he caved to his desires once more. As much as Bai wanted to spend the whole day buried in the tight hot depths of the cute mage he didn't want to interrupt his studies. Especially having noticed that there was something wrong with his cultivation. Wu Liang Hui was barely a grey level mage and his body refused to store mana long term. Bai, out of pure generosity and kindness, has spent every waking moment since they met three days ago pumping his mana into the mage only for it to dissipate in the time taken to just drink a cup of tea, completely wasting all of his efforts. Bai Huya sighed, his ears drooping as he thought it over while getting dressed himself then decided to head out as well. He had promised to pay an old acquaintance a visit when he had the time, and maybe they might know how to help the little human mage.

As Wu Liang Hui thruged begrudgingly to the lecture hall he couldn't help but notice that all of his fellow disciples were buzzing about something. Perking up his ears to listen to their chatter he came to know that over the weekend when he was locked up in his room for "self study" an accident occurred. Apparently a powerful warrior broke into the sect and attacked a group of senior disciples. "Oh no, how unfortunate," he said to himself in monotone when he heard who the seniors were. It was Choi Hua Jai and his gang, the group of seniors who made it their job to harass Liang Hui. They weren't even from the mage department but still made the trip to the Mage Hall from the Heavenly Warrior Peaks, the eight peaks of the mountainous region that housed the warriors of the Lightning Sword Sect.

Then he tsked, he had just thought of the idea to poison them and someone had beaten him to it, "Guess I'll need to wait until they're feeling better to deliver my gift." He was evilly grinning to himself at the open class door when he was shoved from behind into the class and onto one of the class work tables. The edge of the table stabbed him just under his ribs causing him to drop to his knees in pain. A group of students filed into the room ignoring his pained groan. The leader of the group smirked at Wu Liang Hui before turning back to his conversation.

"Choi Qui San!" Ming Fang, another disciple stomped in behind them angrily. His friend, Qi Dai silently walked in next to him and bent down to help Liang Hui, "Are you alright Chi Bai Cai?"

Wu Liang Hui grimaced at the name more than pain in his ribs as the plain yet honest looking young man helped him up. "It's fine," he sighed. There was really nothing he could do about the Chois, the older brother had it out for him because of Wang Yoyo and the younger was just an all round asshole. Choi Qui San terrorized the whole class with exception to only the few disciples that made up his entourage. They were treated like lackeys instead. The class lecturer turned it all a blind eye however as he was the 5th Elder's grandson. Liang Hui sighed as he took his seat at the back of the class. He wished that he could describe Qui San as a hideous ghoul with a face that only a mother could love, but the bastard was handsome. Unfortunately the only thing horrendous about him was his personality, he even smelt great, like flowers with a hint of herbs.

Lecturer Ji walked in and everyone quieted down. He introduced the assignment for the day. They were to make a yellow level potion called Mellow Heart Potion, it was used to calm one's mind while cultivating so as one could avoid deviation when leveling up. The lecturer passed out the dreaded assignment sheet, Wu Liang Hui groaned. He had lost count of the amount of times that he asked the lecturer to explain what to do to him only to be told kindly that everything he needed to know was on the hand out. The lecturer always delightfully informed him, and the rest of the class that his assignment sheets were compiled in such a way that even a child would be able to follow them. This always resulted in the others staring at Wu Liang Hui with pity in their eyes, some disdain. It was all so frustrating.

Liang Hui curiously fiddled with the ingredients laid out in front of him. The largest of the three strange items looked like a clear glass ornament in the shape of a lotus pod with red seeds called a Jade Lotus Pod. It felt cold to the touch. The next was the Calming Spirit Flower, a seven petal violet colored flower, but the one that really confused Wu Liang Hui was the live worm called the Snow Worm. It was as long as a finger and resembled a marshmallow. Turning away from the squirming worm on his work desk he looked over at his peers. It seemed that the first step was to remove the red seeds from the pods. Ming Fang was struggling to remove the seeds with a tiny knife, his forehead littered in cold sweat. Qi Dai was already crushing the seeds into a fine powder using a small, black stone mortar and pestle. He was one the two the only green level mages in the class, the other was a tiny meek looking boy covered in bandages named Lin Sha. Everyone else was either grey or yellow. Lin Sha was also struggling but that was because he had a pile of Jade Lotus Pods in front of him that he was doing his best to remove the seeds from, courtesy of Choi and his collection of boffons. They were busily discussing a flyer that Choi Qui San brought to show off. Ming Fang and Qi Dai shared a look.

"They'll regret it when the exams start," Ming Fang tsked.

Wu Liang Hui paused his people gazing to squeak, "Exams?" This was the first time in his life that he felt so unprepared.

"Don't worry too much, as mages are extremely rare, failing the exam only affects whether or not you attract the attention of one of the five peak masters. The sect won't kick you out but your future growth might be stunted for lack of direction," Qi Dai said in his signature monotone, seemingly trying to comfort him. Liang Hui forced a polite smile as he had long come to realize that the young man was like a robot incapable of understanding human emotion and really meant him no harm.

"Hmph, don't lump me in with you sorry lot my grandfather has already arranged for me to become the 3rd Elder's disciple," Choi Qui San

His entourage burst out in excited chatter. The 3rd Elder, Yu Hua Tai was the head of the five peaks that make up the Mage Hall. She was also the only Black Level Mage on the whole continent. Becoming her direct disciple was the goal of all young mages. Wu Liang Hui whistled under his breath, truly nepotism at its finest and then he thought, no wonder the Lightning Sword Sect can claim the title as the number one sect. This thought made him think back to Old Li who was friends with the sect leader and he wondered how impressive was that old man.

"Why would the 3rd Elder accept you as her disciple, you're just a yellow level mage?"

Choi casually dusted his shoulder, "Grandfather has arranged for me to take the Burning Spirit Pill."

Everyone in the classroom went silent, Liang Hui looked around in confusion, "What kind of pill is that?" He had gotten used to being treated like a country bumpkin and has since felt comfortable asking whatever questions came to mind.

"At this point why is he even here," one of Choi Qui San's entourage rolled his eyes at him and whispered, if you can call it that, to Choi Qui San eliciting a smirk from him, "does he even have a brain?".

Ming Fang sneered at them, "The Burning Spirit pill is one of the few pills anyone under purple level could take to raise their level, if lucky one can even skip a level."

"Yea but it can have bad side effects and lead to a cultivator never growing past orange level," Qi Dai said matter of factly.

"As all of those silly little things are already settled I can now spend my time focusing on what matters," Choi flipped the sleeves of his robes silently dismissing what Qi Dai just said and turned back to his adoring fans. He held up the flyer and once again they all listened to him with wrapped attention go on and on about being a part of some upcoming competition that his brother would be taking a part of. Most likely hoping he might help them somehow in the future totally forgetting the fact that he was a self centered ass.

Ming Fang rolled his eyes and turned back to de-seeding his lotus pod mumbling to himself about nepotism. Qi Dai also refocused on his potion this time crushing the violet petals of the flower in the mortar, which surprisingly resulted in a golden liquid.

Wu Liang Hui rolled his eyes, he had no time to play with these kids, he needed to increase his cultivation. He hasn't forgotten about the stipulation that the system told him about, he needed to be at least one level below his body from his first life and seeing as the white level prize, the demi plane, was from his first life, he had a lot of work to do.

Wu Liang Hui was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice Lecturer Ji had called for everyone to bring him a sample of their potions. Lecturer Ji walked to the back of the class where Liang Hui was seated and knocked on the desk to get his attention. Liang Hui snapped out of his thoughts in embarrassment, he was slowly becoming a delinquent student he thought as Lecturer Ji told him off about time management. Wu Liang Hui profusely apologized about slacking off in class and Lecturer Ji, taking pity on him, decides to let him take the ingredients back to his room to work on the potion on his own.

With a sigh Wu Liang Hui collapsed onto the old wooden chair that was in his room like the old man he was. Marking his hundredth sigh for the day. He was both depressed and relieved as Bai was nowhere to be found when he returned. A scribbled note was left in his place on the desk, Wu suspected it was left so as he would not be alarmed. However it only made him depressed as he could not decipher it. Ruffling his hair in frustration he summoned a book from the demi plane. He decided to focus on his studies while Bai was absent.

The book he summoned was an old picture book, an encyclopedia of herbs. Liang Hui was using it to document in English, all the different herbs Lecturer Ji showed them in class. Then, in a notebook he transcribed what he observed the other students doing when preparing the potion, focusing mainly on Qi Dai and Lin Sha. When he was done he leaned back with a yawn stretching his back. Wu Liang Hui spotted a plate of mandarine slices on the desk next to him and instinctively reached for it. Before he could take a bite he paused, he didn't put out any study snacks.

Wu Liang Hui nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Bai Huya. He was sitting on the bed behind him sipping on tea and reading a book. Liang Hui's eyes almost popped out of their sockets, he spinned around to double check and sure enough the encyclopedia was nowhere to be found. No, he knew exactly where it was. He rushed over to the bed to try in vain to hide the book but they both knew it was too late. Bai had already seen everything, the crest on the book that matched the tag on his ear and worst of all the notes he had scribbled in English. When he got near Huya simply handed the book back. No questions, no weird looks, just calm. Wu Stood there stunned, was he not curious?

Bai Huya finished his cup of tea, reached for a cloth sack that was on the nightstand next to the teapot and then pulled out a white crystal. Liang Hui looked on in silence as Bai took his hand only finching when he pricked his finger. "What are you doing?" Bai Huya looked up at him with a calm look in his eyes, like he saw him truly for the first time, he had solved a mystery. He placed the crystal into Wu Liang Hui's hand that was now bleeding and wrapped it in his own. Liang Hui felt the crystal in his hand heat up as it emitted a bright light. Then it hit him like a truck. Energy so strong he felt like it was going to choke him but before he could even panic it was gone.

[[Congratulations you've just unlocked your Soul Power, 1000 exp]]

[[Congratulations you are now a Grey Mage, 200 exp]]

Wu Liang Hui felt like he might actually choke now, 1200 exp? All he did was hold a crystal and he got so much exp. He wanted to immediately open up the lucky spin.

"So he was right," Huya said, pulling Liang Hui back to the present.

"Who?"

"Don't you have something to say to me?"

"....uh...no?" Wu Liang Hui watched him confused on where to even start the story as Bai looked at him with a raised brow. ".....maybe later, I just-"

Bai pulled him down onto his lap for a kiss, "Later then." He flipped Wu Liang Hui onto the bed and started to remove his clothes, the unknown magical crystal tossed haphazardly on the floor. "It's time for you to cultivate," he said with a wicked smirk. All Wu Liang Hui could do was hold on to Bai tight as the durability of his inner walls were once again tested. He didn't even get the chance to appreciate Bai Hya's new white robes or ask him where he got them.