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墨書 Inktalez
The New Year is just around the corner, and although this is not Liu Guanfeng's first New Year in Knight's Domain, it is his first New Year since starting school.
To celebrate Liu Guanfeng's schooling, his older brother Liu Guanlei took leave from the military to come home. Liu Guanfeng's eldest brother, at twenty years old, is a Deputy Commander responsible for the outer security of Starfall City's Capital City in the Starfall Kingdom. Therefore, he rarely gets to come home. At twenty, he has never been in a relationship, let alone married or had children.
As for Second Brother Liu Guanyu, he is still a student attending the senior department of Meteor Academy and returns home every New Year.
Both brothers dote on Liu Guanfeng because he is the youngest. Although the eldest brother rarely comes home, he always brings back plenty of fun toys and delicious snacks for Liu Guanfeng.
However, what Liu Guanfeng admires most is his father Liu Yong'an. Although the three brothers are children of a City Defense General, they do not exhibit the bad habits typical of wealthy families, thanks to their father's influence. Usually, their father strictly disciplines each of them; if they engage in any wrongdoing outside, regardless of the reason, they will certainly face family punishment.
Due to Liu Yong'an's character, his reputation in the Rain City military is exceptionally high, and every soldier holds him in great esteem.
On the day the eldest brother returned home, he took Liu Guanfeng and Second Brother Liu Guanyu out for a stroll, buying whatever delicious or fun things they saw for Liu Guanfeng. Second Brother watched without any signs of anger or jealousy. When they returned home, their mother often warned them not to spoil their younger brother too much, lest he become spoiled by them.
The eldest brother chuckled and said, "It's fine, Mother. Younger Brother understands. I bought these things for him voluntarily. He hasn't asked me for anything. It’s not easy to spoil him."
Before long, the New Year arrived. The customs here are similar to those in Huaxia: hanging lanterns and pasting couplets. The only difference is that dumplings are not eaten during the New Year because they don't exist here.
On the morning of January 1st, all the servants came to pay their respects and wish Happy New Year to the master and mistress as well as the three young masters. Of course, red envelopes were also part of the tradition. Then Father Liu Yong'an gave Liu Guanfeng four additional red envelopes, each containing two Silver Coins.
Father told him, "You now have attendants; if they don’t give you red envelopes during New Year’s greetings, you wouldn’t have any." So when Liu Guanfeng returned to his courtyard, Bao Rui, Liu Tongniu, Liu Tieniu, and Dai all came over to wish him a Happy New Year. He imitated his father and gave each of them a red envelope.
When they received their red envelopes, everyone was very happy. Especially Dai; this was his first New Year at the Liu Family, and he had never received a red envelope before. So when Dai saw the red envelope, he was so happy that he cried.
From January 2nd to January 5th, Liu Guanfeng's house was very busy because various prominent families, wealthy merchants, and officials from the city came to pay their New Year’s greetings. Naturally, the young masters had to receive them politely from morning till night every day.
On January 6th, their father took their mother and the three brothers to pay New Year’s respects to the city lord, and they stayed at the city lord's house until evening before returning home.
When they got home, their father said to the three brothers, "Starting tomorrow, you can arrange your remaining time as you wish. If you need to bring gifts, you can find Butler Liu Fu; he will take you to the family warehouse to choose gifts. If you want to buy something yourself, feel free to handle it on your own." After saying this, the three brothers took their leave from their father and then bid farewell to each other as they returned to their own courtyards.
The next morning, Liu Guanfeng found Butler Liu Fu and asked him to take him to the family warehouse. Today, he also wanted to pay New Year’s respects to his mentor, so he asked Liu Fu to help him select a few small gifts before leaving home with Bao Rui and the others. They headed straight for the school since Liu Guanfeng's mentor lived on campus; the reasons for that were not something he needed to inquire about.
When Liu Guanfeng arrived at his teacher's dormitory, the mentor happily let the four of them in. At that moment, Liu Guanfeng noticed that there were two other students in the mentor's dormitory who were also his classmates. After paying New Year’s respects to the mentor, they all sat together and chatted.
By noon, three more classmates arrived, and the mentor prepared a sumptuous lunch for everyone. The mentor's cooking skills were indeed impressive; even the Copper Bull brothers were unable to move after eating. After lunch, they continued chatting with their mentor.
The mentor asked Liu Guanfeng and the others, "Do you know about the Campus Competition?"
"Campus Competition?" Liu Guanfeng asked in confusion.
The mentor nodded. "That's right, Campus Competition. It refers to the competition among our five Junior Academies and five Intermediate Academies in Starfall City."
Liu Guanfeng's eyes lit up as he recalled a name he was very familiar with: "City Student Athletics Meet." That should be what it means. Liu Guanfeng looked up at his mentor.
The mentor had no idea what he was thinking. "The Campus Competition is a comprehensive contest that includes Calculation, Calligraphy, Mount combat, and Knight combat. Moreover, Mount combat and Knight combat are divided into individual and team events."
Each competition item will have five participants from each academy. Finally, there will be a Hunting Competition where each academy will send three participants. As for the specific rules inside, they should be announced by the academy after classes resume."
Liu Guanfeng and his classmates listened attentively as their mentor introduced the Campus Competition. When the introduction was over, Liu Guanfeng looked at his mentor and asked:
"Mentor, then our Junior Academy can't compete with the Intermediate Academy at all."
The mentor smiled: "Who said you would compete against students from the Intermediate Academy? It's Junior Academy against Junior Academy and Intermediate Academy against Intermediate Academy."
Liu Guanfeng nodded, "Oh, so the competition content at the Intermediate Academy is similar to this?"
Instructor Chang looked at us and continued, "The competition content at the Intermediate Academy is a bit more extensive than what you have at the Junior Academy. In the Knight's Campus Competition, it is divided into Unarmed Combat and Weapon Combat. Finally, there is a Mount competition where knights participate together, also known as the Junior Knight Tournament."
Liu Guanfeng rubbed his hands and asked somewhat shyly, "What rewards are there for winning in the Campus Competition?"
Instructor Chang smiled, "Of course, there are rewards for winning. The top three in each competition will receive prizes. The rewards are divided into two parts: monetary rewards and material rewards. The monetary rewards have been consistent over the years: six gold coins for first place, three gold coins for second place, and one gold coin for third place.
The material rewards vary each year because they are determined by the emperor, and you can only find out on the day of the competition.
Moreover, the academy that wins will receive a reward of five thousand gold coins along with various Core items, while the second-place academy will receive three thousand gold coins and various Core items.
However, after winning, not only will you receive the rewards from the competition, but there will also be a reward from the academy once you return."
Although first place only receives six gold coins, a normal family's monthly living expenses for three people amount to two to three gold coins. This shows that six gold coins is not a small sum for an average family; it is also significant for Liu Guanfeng himself.
During the New Year, his parents only gave him two gold coins as pocket money. Furthermore, Liu Guanfeng had never earned any gold coins here; he usually relied on his New Year's pocket money and birthday red envelopes or asked his parents for money.
"Then how do we sign up for the competition, Instructor Chang? We are only in First Grade; can the academy use us?" one of Liu Guanfeng's classmates asked.
Instructor Chang shook his head at the speaking classmate: "You speak quite boldly; however, it's a different story for Liu Guanfeng. Last time in the Arena challenge, Liu Guanfeng made everyone in the academy aware that he has a White Dog, which is quite remarkable as it can defeat a Fifth Tier Leopard. If nothing unexpected happens, Liu Guanfeng's little dog should be able to represent the school in the Mount competition.
As for others, you will need to participate in the elimination rounds organized by the academy later on. Signing up is easy; after school starts, the school will organize a registration session where all registered students will participate in elimination rounds organized by the academy. Finally, five students will remain to compete in the Campus Competition."
Unknowingly, they chatted with Instructor Chang for an entire afternoon until it got dark before Liu Guanfeng and others left.
The next day, Liu Guanfeng once again led Bao Rui and four others to Butler Liu Fu's place to select gifts because he was going to visit his good brother Platinum Wen today. Although he didn't dare invite him to his home, visiting his home should be fine. Liu Guanfeng took the selected gifts and led Bao Rui and four others straight to Platinum Wen's house.
Platinum Wen's home was easy to find, and soon they arrived at Platinum Wen's residence. Platinum Wen's family ran a hotel, and behind it was the living space for the three of them and their staff. When they knocked on the door, a sixteen or seventeen-year-old Young Assistant opened it. After inquiring about Liu Guanfeng and the others' intentions, he guided them to the backyard.
After exchanging New Year greetings with Platinum Wen, he brought Liu Guanfeng to meet his parents. They also exchanged greetings with his uncle and aunt, after which Liu Guanfeng presented the gifts he had brought to Platinum Wen's parents. In return, Platinum Wen's parents gave each of the Five People a red envelope.
At noon, the group of five enjoyed an even more lavish lunch at Platinum Wen's hotel. It was impressive how different it was to dine at a hotel; despite being a small establishment, the dishes on the table were no less than those from Liu Guanfeng's home.
After lunch, they chatted and strolled with Platinum Wen until evening when they finally parted ways.
After visiting their homeroom teacher and Platinum Wen, Liu Guanfeng did not leave home again. His older brother returned to the army on January 7th, and Second Brother, who was heading in the same direction, left with him.
Soon, the New Year passed, and on January 11th, Liu Guanfeng returned to school for the remaining half of the academic year.
Back at school, classmates exchanged New Year greetings and discussed some interesting events from the holiday. Everyone seemed as if they hadn't seen each other in years, chatting endlessly until the arrival of Teacher Chang finally quieted them down.
Teacher Chang stepped up to the podium and said, "Dear students, let me wish you a belated Happy New Year! Congratulations on growing another year older. I hope that as you grow older, you will become more mature and dedicated to your studies. Now let's begin class."
Normal student life resumed once again, with daily routines of attending classes, going home, and practicing repeating themselves. The festive spirit of the New Year quickly faded.
About a month into the new semester, all class teachers announced a notice regarding something called the Campus Competition Preliminary. The notice detailed the competition events for the Preliminary Competition and examination methods. Registration would be open for three days at each class teacher's office.
Additionally, Teacher Chang announced that Liu Guanfeng's Mount would be designated as a seed Seed Champion for the Advanced Mount Competition Preliminary Competition.
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