High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 133: Chapter 57: How to Use Cloud and Mist for Divination_1

There are only two things in this world that can make a wizard awestruck.

One is a book; the other is divination.

A book represents the known, the real, signifies the existence of a wizard in this world.

Divination interprets a wizard’s grasp of the mysterious unknown, the covetousness of time, and the scrutiny of destiny.

With the continuous development of magical civilization, wizards are incessantly using the known to encroach on the unknown, beginning to carry divination through books, striving to transform these awestruck feelings into respect, into a part of daily life.

Despite this, for most wizards, divination remains an elusive and profound discipline.

On the first page of each divination textbook, an admonition is inscribed with a red pen:

Divination must be exercised with caution.

In Zheng Qing’s first divination lesson, the thin divination professor didn’t allow young wizards to open their textbooks. With just a few simple actions, he left a deep impression on everyone:

He started by having the freshmen come up to the podium one by one, stand in front of him for a minute, and perform facereading,

Then, he instructed them to draw a card from the tarot deck on the lecturer’s table, perform card interpretation,

And finally, each of them was to leave him a character on a piece of paper for character divination.

For students with some basic knowledge of divination, the professor allowed them to observe a crystal ball, or burn a small piece of a turtle shell, and describe what they saw and heard.

Using this composite divination technique, the professor provided precise analysis for each student.

From their names, birthdays, to their personalities, hobbies, even their proficient subjects, their New Year’s wishes, and even the specific images of what they fear deep down in their hearts, as well as the issues they had difficulty deciding on, the professor explained one by one during a few minutes of private meetings.

This reverse self-introduction gave every newly admitted college student a soul-shocking experience.

As such, the warning that ’divination must be exercised with caution’ emphasized by Professor Yi JiaZi in the first lesson was deeply engraved in Zheng Qing’s mind.

Thus, hearing that Elena was performing a divination, he immediately became anxious.

Noticing his tense expression, the Gypsy witch couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

”It’s okay,” reassured Elena in a light-hearted tone, ”This isn’t an official divination... it can only be considered a guess in some sense... The divination mentioned by the professor requires supreme magical skills and many auxiliary conditions, and these illusory smokes barely meet the conditions for performing divination magic.”

Although he didn’t quite understand what Elena meant by conditions, Zheng Qing knew the situation was not spiraling out of control.

That truly relieved him.

His little heart couldn’t handle any more surprises today.

”I thought you did divinations with that tarot deck,” he said, swinging the Demon Blood Wine in his hand, trying to seem relaxed as he perched on a high stool.

”The tarot deck is an aid for formal divination techniques, while the smoke can only give some ambiguous choices.” Elena seemed fascinated by the smoke, trying hard to decipher something.

”It sounds like smoke divination belongs to ancient divination techniques?” Zheng Qing seemed thoughtful, ”I always thought this technique only existed in the textbooks.”

Divination in the modern era, has abandoned any differences in schools of thought or regions.

In the ”Wizard World Encyclopedia”, under the divination entry, it only distinguishes between ancient and modern divination techniques.

In comparison to ancient divination, which relies heavily on guessing and fate, modern divination rests more on a plethora of meticulous calculations and countless strict formulas.

Also, in contrast to ancient divination which lacked accuracy, modern divination more closely resembles divine prophecy.

Accurate, comprehensive, reliable conclusions.

So much so that when people mention divination, they subconsciously understand it as modern divination.

Ancient divination has gradually become relegated to historical textbooks and memories from legends.

”Indeed, this is an ancient divination technique,” Elena explained with a grin, ”This kind of secret technique now seldom appears in the lives of wizards... I suppose only traditional wizarding organizations like ours, the Gypsy witches, still have complete preservation of some ancient divination techniques.”

”How do you do divination with this smoke?” Zheng Qing was intrigued by the large cloud of smoke before the witch: ”Can you tell me if you don’t mind?”

”Not at all!” Elena picked up a silver fork from the counter, pointing at the large mass of smoke in front of her: ”Just as you see.”

”There are cumulus clouds, stratus clouds, cirrus clouds; fog includes advection fog, evaporation fog, upslope fog, frontal fog, and so on.”

Elena took a leisure leisurely puff of smoke, exhaled a wisp of light blue smoke, and then gestured at the undulating smoke as she explained

”Simply put: Cumulus represents the negative, indicating a close time; Cirrus represents the positive, indicating a more distant time. Advection fog means stability, upslope fog means hardship, and frontal fog means twists and turns.”

Zheng Qing looked blankly at the rolling smoke, failing to discern any difference between the fickle smokes.

Elena moved a little closer to him to explain more clearly. His nostrils were filled with the fragrance of the Gypsy witch, his mind was blank, and he could only snicker and nod his head dizzily.

”What were you looking at just now?” Realizing that the witch’s explanation had come to a halt, Zheng Qing found a new subject swiftly: ”What were the characteristics of the smoke you just exhaled?”

”There are cirrus clouds and frontal fog, which means that the long-term results would be good, but there could be some twists and turns in between.” Elena winked and a mysterious smile appeared on her face: ”As for what I was looking at...”

”Here is your drink, please take your time.” An attendant of the Multi-arm tribe came over from behind the counter, handed Zheng Qing a mist bee, apologizing: ”We deeply regret the displeasure you experienced. We hope you can accept this.”

”It’s okay, it’s okay.” Zheng Qing took the drink and signaled for the servant to leave.

However, after the interjection, the Gypsy witch seemed to have lost interest in explaining any further. She just stared blankly at the dissipating smoke in front of her, falling silent.

”What was the subject of your divination?” After much hesitation, Zheng Qing could not help but ask again.

Elena pulled another puff of smoke, releasing a plume, remaining silent.

”Sorry, just curious.” Zheng Qing started to feel uncomfortable due to her silence.

”It’s okay.” Elena seemed to snap back to reality, looked up at him, and spoke in a slightly hoarse voice full of laughter: ”What I divined is related to you.”

”Related to me?!” Zheng Qing repeated in surprise.

He pulled at his own collar.

He felt suffocated, as if he couldn’t breathe.