Skinning

Anana looked at the dazzling red light blooming in the crystal ball before her, feeling a surge of joy in her heart.

Actually, long before she even set foot in the Olifendo Academy, her father had secretly arranged for someone to test her, so she already knew she possessed a considerable amount of magical potential.

However, having it officially confirmed by the academy's crystal ball at this very moment, with the light genuinely reflecting in her eyes, the thrill of this achievement was a completely different feeling.

"There seem to be quite a few promising seeds among this year's new students," Mian muttered to himself as he watched the crystal balls light up one by one in front of him.

"But no genius with talent as outstanding as yours." A crisp voice rang out behind Mian without any warning.

"Senior Delyan!" Mian turned his head in surprise. "What brings you here?"

"A mere junior like Mian dares to speak to me in such a tone? I was just passing by to take a look, is that not allowed?" Delyan unceremoniously rubbed Mian's head hard, messing up his hair. "Also, mind your address; you need to call me Instructor now!"

She had successfully graduated from the academy last year and had chosen to stay on, becoming a young instructor.

She and Mian were students from the same branch of the academy, and Mian had even been recommended by her, so they interacted quite a bit. For Delyan's graduation thesis on the application of fire magic as a core power source for golem flight propulsion, Mian had also put in a lot of effort helping with the experiments.

"Senior Delyan..." Mian's voice was full of helplessness. He tried to salvage his disastrous hairstyle but could never manage to act tough in front of her. "At least leave me a little dignity as a senior in front of the new students..."

"Hmm? That little girl is a fire type, and her magical talent isn't bad at all." Delyan ignored Mian's complaints. Her eyes lit up as she strode forward, taking the initiative to invite Anana. "Little sister, your fire talent is very pure! Your magical fluctuations are quite active, too. Are you interested in joining our branch later?"

"Eh? Can I?" Anana was initially delighted, but then seemed to remember something. "But, I... I think I still need to think about it first..."

When she left home, her father had warned her to be vigilant out in the world and not to be fooled by strangers.

"Is that so? You're right, you should think it over carefully... But I reckon after you think about it, you'll still come to our branch." Delyan laughed heartily. "After all, in terms of the depth of fire magic heritage and teaching faculty, our branch is definitely the strongest! Plus, Principal Wolund is also the head of our branch..."

"Alright, Senior Delyan, the testing process for the new students isn't completely over yet! Please don't cause trouble here." Unable to bear it any longer, Mian pulled Delyan away. "If you need anything, come find me later, thank you!"

"Mian, you were cuter when you first enrolled." Delyan sighed. "Back then, you looked so obedient and easy to bully... Ah, though I guess you still are."

"Senior Delyan, please stop bothering me!"

Delyan waved her hand and, with a string of cheerful laughter, her figure soon disappeared around the corner of the corridor, tactfully leaving before Mian could truly get angry.

Anana blinked, looking in the direction Delyan had left, full of curiosity about her future academy life.

"Alright, everyone, please continue to follow me."

The entrance test for Olifendo was still the same old three-part set: magical talent, motivation for enrollment, and character and temperament.

No one was eliminated in front of the owl in the second round, but in the third round, facing the foul-smelling green-skinned goblins on the training ground, several wealthy young ladies obviously found it hard to accept.

"We haven't even started learning magic yet, how are you expecting us to kill goblins?"

"Exactly! My brand-new robes will get dirty!"

"And that thing is just too disgusting. What's the point of dealing with such lower lifeforms? This is simply not something a lady should do!"

Mian did not give these young ladies a good look. He scanned these pampered new students, his voice not loud, but carrying an unquestionable power that pierced through the noise: "The magical world is not as clean as you think it is, and not everyone will accommodate you. Danger and filth are the norm... If you don't even have the resolve to face the lowest tier of magical creatures, I advise you to leave the academy as soon as possible."

Mian was no longer the greenhorn who let others bully him when he first enrolled. He had already gone to the labyrinths several times with his classmates, encountered life-and-death crises, and narrowly escaped from the claws of monsters.

The idle chatter on the field instantly quieted down.

Anana did not hesitate to step forward first.

She nimbly dodged the goblin's wildly flailing claws, closed in with precision, and with a flash of cold light from her dagger, cleanly sliced open the artery on the goblin's neck. Foul-smelling blood sprayed out, and the goblin fell to the ground, twitching and making gurgling sounds.

After the goblin fell, Anana did not stop. Instead, out of habit, she pressed the goblin's head to the ground, straddled its back, and dragged her dagger from the goblin's scalp down its back...

Squelch—

The subtle sound of the blade cutting into flesh and skin was clearly audible in the silent testing ground.

"Uh... that's enough, student! You've already done very well," Mian hurriedly spoke up to stop her.

"Oh!" Anana finally snapped out of it, slowly rising from the goblin's corpse, and then calmly flicked the blood off her hands.

"Did I pass just like that? That was way too easy," Anana muttered.

Looking at the nearly flayed goblin corpse, Mian felt a chill run down his spine, and the way he looked at Anana changed somewhat.

Back at home, she had long since been sensible enough to start helping her father with his work... Now, she could expertly skin a snow wolf, and she had just about skinned that goblin, too.

To be exact... she had already skinned half of it. The disgusting muscle textures on the goblin's back were already visible.

The gazes of the boys and girls around her age had long shifted from initial surprise to sheer terror, as if they were looking at an unknown, ferocious beast wearing human skin.

Anana the Flayer.

This nickname quickly spread among the new students, and even many instructors heard that a fierce female student had arrived at the academy.

It even reached Wolund's ears.

"Anana?" Wolund muttered the name that Kalinda had mentioned.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just thought it sounded a bit familiar." Wolund picked up his quill and continued tackling the documents on his desk. With the new students enrolling, things had gotten busy again lately.

Anana herself was completely oblivious to all this. She simply looked around curiously, full of anticipation for her upcoming life of magical studies...