Make-up Lessons

At the innermost table of the cafe, besides the little-girl-looking homeroom teacher, there were three young people.

Chen Miemie recognized one of them; it was the class monitor, Yue Junyang.

Yue Junyang's hair was still slathered in hair wax, making him look thirty percent mature and seventy percent greasy.

The two he didn't know, a boy and a girl, were squeezed on one side with Yue Junyang. They sat bolt upright with their hands resting on their knees.

Chen Miemie walked over and plopped down right next to the little girl, Fengling.

He didn't have a choice anyway; the opposite side was already filled with three people.

Chen Miemie reached out directly and patted Fengling's highly dignified head. This was his habitual move when dealing with loli-faced girls.

His action instantly stunned the other four people present.

Yue Junyang's eyebrows twitched slightly, and the eyes of the unfamiliar boy and girl widened into saucers.

This Chen Miemie had some serious nerve, actually daring to poke the tiger that was their homeroom teacher!

Fengling herself hadn't expected this at all, and for a moment, she even forgot to swat Chen Miemie's hand away.

Chen Miemie gave her a couple of pats before realizing something was wrong.

Fengling wasn't a real loli; she was their terrifyingly infamous homeroom teacher.

But since he had already patted her, it was too late to pull back now. So, he decided to play it cool all the way, finishing his greeting with a little pinch of her cheek.

Good, very good, Chen Miemie, you've got guts. It seems I was right to call you in for tutoring. Don't leave later; I'm going to give you some private counseling.

Fengling lowered her head. She was wearing a hat, and the brim obscured the upper half of her face, making it impossible to read her expression.

However, judging from her gritted teeth and heavily emphasized tone, Chen Miemie was probably going to suffer miserably once left alone with her.

Knowing that Chen Miemie had lost his memory, Fengling introduced his two classmates to him.

The boy and girl sitting opposite were Shi Lei and Mian Ruyan.

Chen Miemie, you have amnesia? Hope you get better soon. My name has four stone characters in it, so just call me Stone, Shi Lei said cheerfully.

Hello. Mian Ruyan was more introverted. After a simple greeting, she stopped talking.

Chen Miemie took a good look at Mian Ruyan.

He couldn't help but be vigilant. Anyone daring to be named Ruyan might just possess the bearing of a Great Emperor.

Yo, everyone's here! Sorry, I got delayed on the way. Liu Bo's voice came from behind.

As soon as Liu Bo entered the shop, he ran over and plopped down next to Chen Miemie.

The time was 1:50 PM.

Fengling stood up.

She was the shortest, so to ensure she could look down majestically at her students, she had to stand.

Now that everyone is here, I won't waste words. You all know that this week's Day Without Tomorrow is your graduation exam day. Cramming for the mystical aspects won't do any good now, so today I'm going to tutor you on culture and theory.

Chen Miemie's eyes lit up.

Culture class was great. He liked theory classes; they would allow him to quickly understand this world.

Liu Bo was rather reluctant. Relying on Chen Miemie being between him and Fengling, he thought he was temporarily safe, so he muttered under his breath, What's the use of culture class? Besides, why only call the five of us out of the whole class?

Liu Bo's voice wasn't loud, but the cafe was very quiet at the moment. They were the only occupied table, so Fengling heard his words perfectly.

What's the matter, Liu Bo, do you have a problem? You don't know why I called you guys here? Dead last!

Pfft, Yue Junyang, sitting opposite, laughed out loud.

Liu Bo was afraid of Fengling, but he wasn't afraid of the class monitor.

What are you laughing at? You're here too.

Yue Junyang restrained his smile and said coolly, I am ranked first in culture class. I'm here today to assist the tutor in teaching you.

Liu Bo was unconvinced. What are you so smug about? The anomalies in the mist won't chat with people about culture. Once in the mist, it all comes down to combat ability.

Fengling, standing to the side, had been frowning since Liu Bo's first sentence. Now, she had reached the limits of her patience.

She leaned over at a sharp angle, pressing her calf onto Chen Miemie's thigh for support, and reached past Chen Miemie to flick Liu Bo hard on the forehead.

Liu Bo! You say that as if you aren't dead last in combat scores too!

Chen Miemie: ...

Oh, Liu Bo, you rascal. I thought you just had a weak subject and were only bad at theory. Turns out you're dead last in both!

Oh no! Being so close to Liu Bo, could it be that I'm also a complete failure?

After taking a flick to the head from the homeroom teacher, Liu Bo immediately behaved.

Alright, everyone's time is precious. Let's get to the point.

Today, I will only talk about the most basic and important cultural knowledge. These things are closely related to every one of us, and I hope they will be of at least a little use to you.

You all should have received the Church's message this morning. Starting today, we enter the Eighth Epoch. The new kindred race is the Mist Anomaly species. So, the first question is: what serves as the dividing line for each new Epoch?

Chen Miemie was a total novice. He looked at the others at the table with eyes full of a thirst for knowledge.

The temporary teaching assistant, Yue Junyang, began to play his role:

Our world has two suns and three moons taking turns in the sky, with a hundred cities standing side by side.

The two suns and three moons are the rulers of the world. All species must gain the approval of at least one of them to be accepted by the world and no longer be seen as monsters.

The current seven great races—Humans, Elves, Witches, Yaos, Bloodkin, Spirits, and Phantoms—are the races favored by the suns and moons over the previous seven epochs.

Today, the eighth race has been taken as kindred by the Eternal Moon. This means the world's structure will change, and the masters of the world will shift from seven great races to eight. This marks the beginning of a new epoch and the rise of a new race.

Fengling was very satisfied with Yue Junyang's answer. She smiled first, then added some details:

The First Epoch lasted about 1,900 years; the Golden Sun favored Humans.

The Second Epoch lasted about 2,300 years; the Silver Sun and the Frost Moon favored Yaos.

The Third Epoch lasted about 3,300 years; the Frost Moon favored Elves.

The Fourth Epoch lasted about 1,200 years; the Rainbow Moon favored the Bloodkin.

The Fifth Epoch lasted about 2,700 years; the Silver Sun favored Spirits.

The Sixth Epoch lasted about 4,100 years; the Rainbow Moon and the Frost Moon favored Phantoms.

The recently passed Seventh Epoch lasted 3,783 years; the Silver Sun favored Witches.

Starting today, the Eighth Epoch begins; the Eternal Moon has favored the new Mist Anomaly race.

Chen Miemie didn't dare make a sound, shivering inwardly. Only now did he realize just how massive a thing he had done.

Stone raised his hand to ask a question. Tutor Fengling, shouldn't the Mist Anomalies be the great enemy of all living things? How could they be recognized by the moon?

Fengling had known this question was coming:

In the Sixth Epoch and before, Witches were also part of the Mist Anomalies, hunted by everyone. Those unacknowledged by the suns and moons are called anomalies; once accepted by Them, they become citizens of the world.

Mian Ruyan spoke up weakly, Why are some races favored by two suns or moons at the same time? Does it make them stronger?

It has nothing to do with strength; it relates to the characteristics of the species. Depending on who favors them, a race will have different traits and receive different blessings.

Generally speaking, races favored by a sun are stronger during the day, while those favored by a moon are stronger at night.

"But some races can be further subdivided into many types within themselves, such as demons. Some are active during the day, and some are active at night. They belong to different suns and moons and will not receive double blessings."

Yue Junyang also asked a question. This guy was obviously on a higher level, and the quality of his question immediately went up several notches.

"Mentor, with the arrival of the new era, all cities will begin a new round of arms races. Our Sixiang City should have some special support for our batch of prospective graduates this year, right?"

The four underachievers present had faces full of confusion, completely unable to keep up with the rhythm of this jumping question.

Fengling nodded, secretly thinking that she had chosen the right class monitor.

"They don't quite understand, so I'll explain.

The new era brings not only opportunities but, for the old races, mostly challenges.

For 20,000 years, our world has had a fixed number of 100 cities. Within the boundaries of these hundred cities, people do not fear the fog under the light of the sun and moon. This is the rule of the world.

In the past, some races tried to build a 101st city without authorization, but it was quickly enveloped by the fog, and all living beings in the city, along with the buildings, were wiped out.

The seven great races have carved up the 100 cities. The cake has already been divided. If a new race wants to survive and rise, it inevitably has to snatch from the vested interests of the old ones.

Cities are the foundation of survival that no race can possibly give up. If they were to fight for it, clashes between two races resulting in the direct death of an entire city's population have been common throughout history.

The witches of the Seventh Era are very special. Except for one base camp of the Witch Council, they integrated into the other six races and did not need to pillage everywhere. Therefore, the whole world has been at peace for over 3,000 years, and the strength of the various cities has long become uneven.

Now, if our Sixiang City doesn't want to be treated as a soft target by the new races, we have no choice but to improve our own strength."

Hearing the statement that "witches are very special," Chen Miemie pricked up his ears and quickly asked:

"Witches only wanted one city? And they can blend into the other six races? What makes them special?"

Even Liu Bo knew the answer to this question.

"The other six races rely on reincarnation; whatever you are born as is what you are.

Witches rely on mutation. Some special women among the six races have a very small probability of undergoing witchification. If they survive the witchification process, their race will change, and they will become witches.

On the one hand, the number of witches is relatively small. On the other hand, fundamentally speaking, witches and the races they belonged to before their mutation have a high degree of mutual recognition, and they are often willing to live together."

Just like that, over two hours passed.

Chen Miemie was like a sponge, constantly absorbing the precious knowledge.

Even though Fengling called it a tutoring session, this knowledge was truly, incredibly valuable.

If they weren't prospective graduates of the school, ordinary people might live their whole lives in a daze without ever coming into contact with it.

In this world where mysteries spread, it wasn't necessarily a good thing for ordinary people to know too much.

At the end of the tutoring session.

Seeing that everyone temporarily had no new questions, the little girl Fengling solemnly gave a warning:

"The Eighth Era is the Ever-Moon's first time making a move. The Ever-Moon represents mystery, and there is absolutely no trace of it in history. You are the first batch of graduation assessment students in the new era, so you must be extremely careful."

The muscular waiter walked over holding a coffee pot: "Would you like a refill?"

Fengling waved her hand: "Got it, we are just about to leave."

Faced with this completely disjointed conversation, Chen Miemie was a bit confused.

Liu Bo whispered an explanation beside him:

"Many shops, including this cafe, will stop operating before 4:30 PM if the owner doesn't live nearby. This leaves more than an hour to ensure the staff can get home by 5:30."

Chen Miemie thought for a moment and let out an "oh."

He remembered that in this world, you couldn't wander around outside at dusk.