Jing Yuan was thirteen.
"Strength test: fail."
"Speed test: fail."
"Effect resistance test… severely fail."
The Cloud Knight officer looked at the frail but strikingly handsome boy before him and shook his head regretfully. "I'm sorry, you can't join the Cloud Knights."
"You're too weak. Go back and train some more."
"Wait, wait! I really want to join the Cloud Knights. It's my dream, please!"
Jing Yuan grabbed the officer's sleeve, only to be met with another rejection. "Besides, we don't take kids. Go home."
"No, I'm eighteen!"
"Isn't that the adulthood standard for outworlders? What can an eighteen-year-old do? You haven't even mastered basic calculus derivatives…"
"No, I really know that stuff!"
"Oh?" The officer leaned down, reciting incomprehensible knowledge. "Then let's test you: f(x) = ln(x) + …"
Jing Yuan: "…"
"What? If you can't even solve a simple extremum shift problem, I suggest you go back to the academy and learn properly before coming back."
"Even I took decades to barely grasp this stuff."
"Go on, don't waste…"
—"Proof: XXXXX (indescribable, incomprehensible analytical process)"
"What?!"
The officer's eyes widened in shock. He clutched his head, his gaze filled with awe, his voice trembling. "You… you solved the problem known as the 'high school killer' in such a short time?!"
"It took me until I was forty to barely pass that!"
"Not only did you solve it decades earlier than me, but your hair is still so thick?!"
"You're practically superhuman! How did you do it in such a short time?"
"You didn't even use scratch paper!"
"Simple."
Jing Yuan shrugged and pulled out a jade omen. "Just hand it to (AI ad space for rent), and in one second, it generates the most detailed solution steps online. Not only that, whether it's office work, papers, or planning proposals, it can…"
Bang!
The officer grabbed Jing Yuan, dragged him out of the recruitment office, and slammed the door shut.
"Tch, a bunch of stubborn fools. If there's a tool available, why not use it? Why make things harder than they need to be…"
Jing Yuan scratched his head. Though he'd expected this outcome, he still felt a pang of disappointment.
He wanted to join the Cloud Knights too!
Unfortunately, he had no talent for martial arts. Otherwise… sigh.
Tap, tap, tap…
At that moment, footsteps approached from behind. Jing Yuan turned and froze in place:
She was a girl who seemed like an exiled immortal, her expression cold as frost, her crimson eyes lending her an otherworldly beauty. The moment he saw her, Jing Yuan knew he'd never forget her.
As the girl passed by, she paused and asked softly, "Um… is this Aurum Alley?"
Jing Yuan pointed to the sign above. "This is the recruitment office."
"Oh, thank you… the recruitment office. So I've circled back. Let me think…"
The girl stared at her jade omen. Under Jing Yuan's gaze, she swayed unsteadily back the way she came, only to bump her head into a wall.
Jing Yuan: "…"
—
"Oh, oh, oh! I've read this kind of plot in stories!"
Bailu raised her hand excitedly. "This is usually how the male and female leads meet! If I'm not mistaken, the next part is you offering to guide her, she feels grateful, your bond grows, and the girl turns out to have some perfectly fitting identity!"
"Like, she's a high-ranking officer in the Cloud Knights!"
Jing Yuan rubbed his nose glumly. "So what if the plot's clichéd? Stories are inspired by real life, you know. This is an eight-hundred-year-old tale."
"Fine, fine, go on, Old Jing, keep going!"
Jing Yuan cleared his throat and continued recounting the story from countless days and moons ago—
As Bailu predicted, when Jing Yuan led the girl to Aurum Alley, she expressed her heartfelt gratitude.
"Thank you so much. I'm terrible with directions and always get confused. Sorry for the trouble."
The girl clasped her hands together, repeatedly thanking Jing Yuan, who was noticeably shorter than her.
"My name is Jingliu, the drillmaster for the Luofu's eight hundred thousand Cloud Knights. If there's anything I can do to help you, I'll spare no effort," she said.
Drillmaster of the Cloud Knights?
Jing Yuan's heart stirred, and he immediately planned his next words—
He put on a shy, awkward expression, scratching his head. "No… no need, big sister. It was just a small favor, no need to be so polite."
Asking directly would seem too calculated, so Jing Yuan kept reminding himself not to rush. If he did, she might grow suspicious.
He had to guide her gratitude step by step…
"Oh, I see. Well, I'll be going then." Jingliu tilted her head, gave a sweet, innocent smile, and turned to leave.
Jing Yuan: ???
Wait, big sister, why aren't you following the script?!
Seeing his golden opportunity slip away, Jing Yuan hurriedly stepped in front of Jingliu, awkwardly saying, "Actually… I do have a bit of a problem. Could you help me out?"
Jingliu: "Don't worry, if it's something I can do, I'll spare no effort!"
Jing Yuan: "I want to join the Cloud Knights, but the recruitment office says I'm too weak… Could you pull some strings to get me in?"
Saying this, Jing Yuan felt deeply embarrassed. After all, openly asking for a "backdoor" favor was mortifying.
But if he didn't spell it out, given the intelligence and emotional awareness Jingliu had shown so far, she might not even catch his meaning.
"You want to join the Cloud Knights?" Jingliu thought for a moment. "Sure, how do I do that?"
Jing Yuan: ???
Aren't you the drillmaster of the Luofu's eight hundred thousand Cloud Knights? And you're asking me what to do?
Do you really just train soldiers in martial arts and do nothing else? Did you climb to this position purely through seniority?
But you don't even look that old, sister.
"…Big sister, don't tease me. You're such a big shot, and you're messing with a kid like me," Jing Yuan said tentatively.
"Huh?"
Jingliu looked puzzled. "Did I do something wrong? I've been with the Cloud Knights for over a thousand years, and my only tasks are training and teaching martial arts. I'm really not good at anything else…"
Jing Yuan: ???
Over a thousand years? Big sister, you really climbed the ranks through sheer seniority?
And you're over a thousand years old, so why do you talk like an innocent young girl…
"Alright, how about this: I'll give you the general method, you try it, and if there's an issue, call me on the jade omen. I'll guide you remotely," Jing Yuan said, helplessly rubbing his forehead.
"Oh… okay, sure, no problem."
…
"So, that's how you joined the Cloud Knights?" Guinaifen asked, slurping her vermicelli.
"Joined the Cloud Knights? Heh…"
Jing Yuan shook his head, a trace of sorrow in his eyes. "You're oversimplifying it."