It was Friday at Haizhou Academy. A warm breeze swept across the sports field, the young green leaves now lush and vibrant. Lu Chen could feel summer fast approaching.
Despite the rising heat, students from the athletics department were still training hard. Unusually, Raiden Ei had joined the fencing team's practice session.
She and Lu Chen exchanged a brief smile as she ran by, which made the exhausted male students around them stare in envy.
With the competition drawing near, even Raiden Ei—who usually skipped group activities—had joined in the routine drills. Otherwise, it might look like she had no sense of team spirit.
Though in truth, she never really did.
Under the sun, Raiden Ei ran effortlessly, not even sweating. She didn't stay with her teammates but raced far ahead, all on her own.
It wasn't that she was anti-social or unapproachable—her stamina was simply monstrous. It seemed like she never got tired, and no one could keep up.
Even the team captain was completely left in the dust. No, not just left behind—he'd been lapped multiple times...
The captain glared at her receding figure, wondering if she was even human.
Lu Chen watched as Raiden Ei disappeared into the distance and continued along the shaded path.
He wasn't there just to watch her run—he was on his way to the music department's lecture hall.
Today was the final day of the job fair. Venti, who had been preparing for this, had already gone ahead. Lu Chen had been delayed a bit due to class.
Even though he trusted Venti completely, he still wanted to stop by and take a look.
Inside the lecture hall, there were only a few applicants left. After all, there was only one position available, and most had already been filtered out by the strict requirements. Haizhou Academy valued quality over quantity and wouldn't lower its standards.
The school was steeped in artistic flair. Unlike its underwhelming athletics department, its music program was overflowing with talent, producing top students for the country's leading art academies.
When Lu Chen arrived, Venti's performance was already nearing its end.
A cheerful, flowing melody drifted out. Following the sound, Lu Chen slipped in through the back door.
Besides the candidates, there were plenty of music students watching. All their eyes were locked on the stage, their expressions filled with admiration.
Strange… wasn't this supposed to be an audition for percussion?
But what Lu Chen heard was a wind instrument.
After squeezing into the crowd, he finally understood—Venti was seated behind a jazz drum set, a row of keyboards to his right, a guitar on a stand to his left… and at that moment, he was flamboyantly playing a saxophone.
Wow. This guy really went all out.
Was he playing everything by himself? How was that even possible?
Venti had chosen a jazz piece—retro and improvisational—demanding high skill, but it suited him perfectly.
Everyone in the room was captivated. Even the school leaders kept nodding, clearly impressed. They were thinking: truly worthy of being recommended by Starlight Music...
If Lu Chen had known what they were thinking, he would've laughed.
If they knew Venti had only been learning for less than two weeks, their jaws would be on the floor.
As the lively jazz number came to an end, thunderous applause filled the hall. Venti gave a polite nod to the faculty, then shot a wink in Lu Chen's direction.
It was as if he was saying, "See that? Pretty amazing, huh?"
As the two walked out of the lecture hall, Lu Chen could feel all the stares following them. Venti had already become a campus celebrity—before even being hired.
His looks probably helped a lot.
Curious, Lu Chen asked how he managed to pull that off. Venti just grinned.
"If you want to stand out when the judges are already jaded, just being good on the drums won't cut it. You've gotta have a hook!"
In Venti's arrangement, the drums just served as a beat. The sultry saxophone solo was the real highlight in the latter half. Cunning as ever, Venti used the bass pedal to keep a steady "thump thump" going while freeing his hands to play the sax. When the sax paused, he even used the spare moment to tap out notes on the keyboard.
The whole thing was seamless—and sounded amazing—so no one stopped him even though it was basically cheating. Lu Chen missed the climax of the performance, but according to the crowd, the whole lecture hall had turned into his personal concert, and everyone had gone wild...
"Blatant deviation from the topic. Writing a short story in an essay. Normally, that kind of paper gets a zero," Lu Chen commented dryly.
"Heh~," Venti laughed, scratching the back of his head.
"But," Lu Chen glanced over, "you really showed master-level multitasking, making full use of every instrument. Let's just hope the faculty here isn't too old-school…"
"Hehehe," Venti just kept grinning.
At that moment, the system notification chimed in.
[Achievement Unlocked: Anemo Archon's Solo Performance]
[Condition: With an audience present, witness Barbatos perform a full modern musical piece using modern instruments.]
[Reward: 200 Primogems, ¥200,000 in real-world currency]
This achievement was similar in spirit to [Anemo Archon's Ode by the Sea], but its conditions were much easier—an audience hearing the performance was enough.
After pocketing the 200 Primogems, Lu Chen suddenly realized—Venti's missions all seemed to revolve around music.
What about Ei? Were hers all food-related?
Not necessarily. Achievements seemed to be randomly triggered. Sometimes Lu Chen earned one without even realizing it. Life was full of little surprises…
After walking Venti to the school gate, Lu Chen headed back to class.
Sure enough, by the afternoon, Venti's story had already spread to the back row of the classroom.
The school's resident gossip duo were whispering about a rumor they'd picked up—apparently, a beautiful new music teacher had joined the faculty.
A beautiful music teacher...
Lu Chen could already imagine Venti causing a stir on campus—charming both guys and girls alike.
But this time, the two gossips weren't fixated on appearance.
Their focus was: this teacher came from Starlight Entertainment—the same company as superstar Gu Cheng!
"Can you believe it? A colleague of Gu Cheng! Do you think he might visit the school someday? I'd die for an autograph!!" the girl said with a lovestruck grin.
"Pfft, what's so great about Gu Cheng? He's just a pretty face," Zhou Yang scoffed. He didn't understand the girls' obsession. In his eyes, his idol Lun-ge was the real deal. Those flashy, makeup-caked pop stars didn't hold a candle.
"You guys are just jealous! So bitter~"
"Hmph, Lun-ge has actual talent!"
"Lun-ge is washed up!"
The two of them bickered loudly, annoying Lu Chen in the seat in front of them. He turned his head away and stared out the window in silence.