The Spider Queen

Rachel and Sophie lazily walked back to the room suite with a cheerful mood between them.

Luckily, room 105 was only a short ten-minute walk from the cafeteria so the duo soon reached the familiar looking metallic door.

"I wonder if our other two roommates have arrived yet?" Sophie whispered as she scanned her finger on the recognition lock.

Rachel just gave a casual shrug while the door swung open and the pair were assaulted by two furious voices that bellowed out of the room.

"How could you say something so awful?"

"I'm not afraid to fight a mere human"

"Bring it on wolf girl!"

What the hell was going on?

Sophie rushed inside to see a terrifying sight before her eyes that made her blood run cold.

Qiana and a Mendolesa girl were currently facing off against one another with an atmosphere of bloodlust and war between them.

The Mendolesa girl was sharpening her claws menacingly with eerie red eyes that stared down the much smaller Qiana.

Qiana remained steadfast against her opponent and stared unflinchingly back with a defiant expression.

Sophie turned to Rachel and subtly gave a small hand gesture to indicate that they should break up the impending fight.

Just as she was about to step forward, the Mendolesa girl growled and spat out a rapid string of words that left Sophie confused,

"The prince can't hook up with his stepfather It's gross and it makes no sense!"

"He needs to end up with his loyal aide the Duke of Nottingham!"

"It's called 'Daddy Emperor Punishes the Prince' you stupid wolf!" Qiana fired back with a roar.

"And it doesn't matter if they end up together because there is no blood relationship!"

Wait…what?

Sophie was preoccupied with the aggressive atmosphere between her two roommates that she failed to notice that both girls were holding copies of a book in their other hand.

She tried to get a closer look at the title and suddenly a strange expression crossed her face.

This argument was due to a boy love novel??

(A few minutes earlier)

Qiana and the Mendolesa girl were both unpacking their stuff on the respective empty beds in complete silence.

After escorting the lost girl to the room, Qiana avoided all unnecessary contact and just focused on settling down as she planned to take a short nap once the packing was done.

She took out her clothes, some weapons, cultivation manuals and other items before reaching into the bottom of the luggage to take out her prized possessions.

Her parents would have immediately confiscated her books so Qiana had to carefully store them in a secret spot before smuggling them onboard the ship.

She took out a book with a well-worn cover whose faded letters spelled out the title, 'Daddy Emperor Punishes The Prince.'

It was Qiana's favourite novel that she had read hundreds of times.

"Oh, I love that book as well!" came an excited cry. Qiana turned around to see the Mendolesa girl was also holding a copy of her favourite novel and many other similar titles.

Qiana's eyes lit up as she knew that she was in the presence of a fellow fujoshi. The indifferent gaze she directed at the Mendolesa girl suddenly became a lot softer.

"So, who is your favourite character and least favourite character from the book?" Qiana asked.

They both answered at the same time,

"I like Duke Nottingham…. the emperor is just human scum."

"I love the emperor…. Duke Nottingham is nothing more than a sissy boy."

"What?!"

"What?!"

(Back to the Present)

"Why would anyone read such a trashy novel in the first place?" Rachel innocently asked. She rarely read books and preferred watching human reality shows on the virtual net.

Both girls immediately swivelled around and shot poor Rachel identical gazes of rage.

"Um…I don't think we have introduced ourselves yet. My name is Sophie Peterlor and it is very nice to meet you," Sophie attempted to smooth out the tension by giving out an introduction.

The Mendolesa girl just noticed her presence and gave a tiny sniff in Sophie's direction before a contemplative expression flashed across her face.

"My name is Astrid Lockhart and I am going to obtain the first place standing in the university entrance exam," the Mendolesa girl pridefully stated.

Qiana rolled her eyes and just gave a short introduction, "I'm Qiana Abazin…. please don't involve me in any trouble."

"I'm Rachel!" came a joyful call from Sophie's side.

This was the first time that Sophie had seen a Mendolesa in real life and their reputation as warriors was certainly not unfounded.

Powerful bulky bodies with tight compact muscles made them seem like natural predators of all species.

The Mendolesa race was second only to humanity in terms of raw power and some even speculated that their low population was the main reason that they were not number one.

"Sophie, did you obtain the spot of first seed from your school as well?" Astrid inquired.

"No…in fact I was dead last," Sophie said with a laugh.

There were no special advantages given to the top selected seeds once the entrance exam begun so it was not shameful to be ranked near the bottom.

"But why did you ask?"

Astrid approached her slowly and gave her body two large sniffs before muttering softly in her ear,

"You smell like a human mixed with something extremely dangerous."

Sophie frowned internally but her face held a blank expression as she contemplated with Astrid had just told her.

"Anyways it's getting pretty late…Sophie let's hurry up and go to the training hall!" Rachel glanced at her wristband and gave a startled gasp.

Astrid seemed really excited when Rachel mentioned the training hall and her face resembled an excited puppy.

"Can I join your sparring session as well?" Astrid asked hesitantly.

"Sure!" Rachel replied.

The two-person sparring session turned into three as Qiana just indifferently gave the trio a glance before returning to her bed and opening up one of her novels.

The private sparring hall was accessible from the back of the room via a transporter that would teleport the participants to different training environments.

Rachel accessed the hub at the base of the transporter and scanned the list of available training rooms before making a selection.

[Training Room Selected – Room T- 92]

[ Suitable for 4- 6 individuals]

[Preparing Transport…]

A small humming noise was heard as the base of the transporter lit up in a white colour and Rachel stepped on the platform before disappearing,

"I look forward to fighting both of you," Astrid gave a short bow and also walked into the transporter.

Sophie clenched her fists in excitement and eagerly took a step forward.