"That can’t be right. With your talent, it should be easy to find a teacher at the academy."
Andre turned and looked at Rui Qi seriously.
Hearing this, Rui Qi sighed.
"Azure Sky Wizard Academy is where the Qianyuan Wizard graduated. I’m their family’s servant. Without Victoria’s approval, no other Wizard will even give me a second glance."
Rui Qi explained her predicament.
"So that’s how it is. Does that mean you’re returning to the Qianyuan Subcontinent in Victoria’s place?"
A flicker of doubt crossed Andre’s eyes. ’Can a mission like this really be delegated?’
"No, I took this on myself. While I can’t find a teacher at Azure Sky Wizard Academy, I can still make my own decisions about other things. What brings you back this time?"
Rui Qi asked Andre curiously.
A moment ago, when the Magic Energy Flying Vessel was taking off, she had been startled to see many Wizard Apprentices address Andre as "Sir."
’Is Andre’s talent really that incredible?’
’To become an Official Wizard in under five years...’
It was only now, standing face to face with him, that she realized Andre was still a High Level Wizard Apprentice.
"I came back to see my parents." As Andre spoke, his voice was tinged with a hint of sorrow.
"In a few years, I’m embarking on a long journey. By the time I return, my parents will be gone. This trip is to see them one last time."
Andre’s words were quiet, but to Rui Qi’s ears, they boomed like thunder.
"You’re joining the expedition? And in the first wave?"
Rui Qi’s eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at Andre. He simply nodded.
"But you’re not an Official Wizard yet, are you? Isn’t the first wave supposed to be exclusively for those at the Official Wizard Level?"
"Why do you think those Wizards were all fighting over me back then?"
A smile touched Andre’s lips as he pointed to his eyes.
Andre’s reminder made Rui Qi recall the scene that had played out when he first entered the Wizard Academy.
"Oh, so that’s why... but still, isn’t it too dangerous?"
Rui Qi shook her head. Even if Andre’s eyes were connected to the expedition, it was far too dangerous for a High Level Wizard Apprentice to participate.
The Cross-Dimensional Teleportation Array alone would be enough to tear his body to shreds.
"Right now, there’s not much difference between me and an ordinary Official Wizard."
Andre said, looking at Rui Qi. She gasped when she heard him.
At Azure Sky Wizard Academy, she had heard that some of the most promising "seeds" among the apprentices would embark on exceptionally powerful paths.
For example, the Path of Nature, the Path of Rebirth, and others.
’Could the Andre before me have also embarked on such a path?’
Rui Qi pieced Andre’s words together, her mind racing with speculation.
Suddenly, a very bold idea formed in Rui Qi’s mind.
"Could you... could you get me transferred from Azure Sky Wizard Academy to join your Expeditionary Corps?"
The moment the words left her mouth, Rui Qi regretted them. In her current state, approaching someone like Andre, whose life was so completely different from her own, she felt like one of those courtesans who ply their trade in dark alleys.
"Hmm?" Andre looked at Rui Qi, surprised, then shook his head.
"I’m afraid I can’t do that. If you were at White Sea Wizard Academy, it would be easy to have you transferred."
"But you’re at Azure Sky Wizard Academy, and its designated target world for the expedition is different from mine. It would be very difficult to get you moved over."
"’Difficult’ doesn’t mean impossible, does it?"
Rui Qi seized on the key part of his statement. Andre nodded.
"Once I become an Official Wizard, I’ll be able to transfer a few people I know from other academies. It’s one of the expedition Rules established by the major Wizard Academies to increase the chances of success."
"Then when will you break through and become an Official Wizard?"
Rui Qi looked at Andre hopefully. She had had enough of her life at Azure Sky Wizard Academy.
The others who entered the academy with her wouldn’t say anything to her face, but Rui Qi was sick and tired of the rumors whispered behind her back.
On top of that, as soon as she entered the academy, she became Victoria’s servant.
Victoria made her do everything.
If she refused, Victoria’s suitors would make her suffer—both openly and secretly—forcing her to submit and do Victoria’s bidding.
’Otherwise, where would all these scars on my body have come from?’
To Victoria’s suitors, her own talent meant nothing.
After all, Victoria had an Official Wizard backing her.
Marrying the prized descendant of a Wizard was an attractive prospect for these suitors.
But all of this caused resentment to slowly build within Rui Qi’s heart.
Now, she desperately wanted to escape her current life.
And joining Andre’s Expeditionary Corps was the best way out.
"It’s hard to say. A breakthrough could happen in the next moment, tomorrow, or it might still be a few years away."
Andre looked at Rui Qi and shook his head helplessly. ’How do you even explain something like a breakthrough?’
"All right, then." A sense of helplessness washed over Rui Qi at his answer, but it vanished just as quickly.
"I never expected we would meet again on the same Magic Energy Flying Vessel that first brought us here."
"I suppose that means we’re connected by fate. So, for fate’s sake, let me help you a little."
Andre took two vials of a Potion from his Storage Ring and handed them to Rui Qi.
Rui Qi subconsciously took the two vials from him, her eyes fixed dazedly on his hands.
He was wearing four Storage Rings. Four!
She had been in the academy for five years and hadn’t even managed to get her hands on a basic Spatial Bag, to say nothing of a Storage Ring.
Yet here Andre was, wearing four of them. The sheer difference in their wealth left Rui Qi feeling a complex mix of emotions.
"Well, I’ll be going then. I won’t disturb you any longer."
Rui Qi glanced at the book on Andre’s table, and her pupils instantly constricted to pinpricks.
*On the Extension and Destruction of Worlds*. That was a book only Official Wizards were permitted to read.
’Andre can already read books like that?’
Andre nodded. He watched Rui Qi leave his room, then closed the door with a flick of his finger.
After closing the door, Andre’s expression darkened for a moment.
He thought back to when he had first transmigrated. If he hadn’t accidentally awakened his Bloodline, which in turn manifested the Eye of Truth and earned him the favor of Krell and the others...
...his own situation would probably be no different from Rui Qi’s, or perhaps even worse.
Rui Qi was Victoria’s servant. She was treated as inferior at Azure Sky Wizard Academy, but she still had Victoria, and by extension, the King of Qianyuan—an Official Wizard—backing her.
So, no matter how much others might look down on Rui Qi, they still had to consider Victoria and the King of Qianyuan behind her. They had to show her at least a modicum of respect on the surface.
But if he hadn’t made it into White Sea Wizard Academy, he would have been just like those other Wizard Apprentices in the marketplace, struggling desperately in the quagmire of Truth.
Andre heaved a long sigh and returned to perfecting his Origin Technique. It was almost complete.