High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 189: Chapter 113 Discussion_1

”That old grouch, he messed up his own lecture but took his anger out on us!”

”Exactly, exactly!”

”He even docked our grades, it’s totally outrageous!”

”Outrageously mad.”

At the canteen during lunchtime, several male students from the Astronomy Class 08-1 were sitting disheartened at the dining table - stuffing themselves with food on one hand while indignantly discussing the outrageous behavior of Professor Tesla on the other.

Zheng Qing was sitting among them, listening to their grumbles. He empathetically stirred the five-bean soup in his bowl and sighed.

In this morning’s alchemy class, the stern old professor had expressed his dissatisfaction at the Astronomy Class 08-1’s lack of understanding and lack of initiative to ask questions in the previous class.

As a result, from alchemist’s principles of conduct to the basic qualities one should possess while learning alchemy, and what the correct attitudes and expectations of a university student should be, Professor Tesla roared for almost half an hour and gave every new student a soul cleansing lecture.

Finally, before class ended, the old professor not only demanded the students to each write the school motto a hundred times, but also casually docked one grade from everyone.

”Be thankful that the school motto is only composed of eight characters...and he only docked one grade,” said Zheng Qing as he scooped a spoonful of beans into his mouth, and spoke while chewing, ”It’s only the first month, work hard now and you can make up for it later.”

”This is just the first month and already one grade is down, man!” Duan Xiao Jian shrieked, ”I haven’t even earned a grade yet, and I’m already in the negatives.”

”Didn’t Old Yao say that an invitation letter gives 0.1 grade points?” asked Zheng Qing, shocked, while poking at the thin, crispy strip in his meal tray, ”I remember you received a few invitations, didn’t you?”

”I lost them.” Duan Xiao Jian blushed unusually and stuffed a big chunk of bread into his mouth, mumbling, ”I had left them on my bed in the dorm, and they just disappeared at some point. Moreover, even if I didn’t lose them, I only received a total of three invitations, which wasn’t enough to plug a hole in my grade.”

Zheng Qing, recalling his own drawer full of invitation letters, smacked his lips but eventually decided against mocking him.

”How could you lose them!” A fat man called Xin, sitting nearby with his face buried in the bowl, raised his head - completely ignoring the soup drooling down his mouth, he lamented: ”If it were me, I’d keep them in my pocket 24/7.”

”Do you really have to eat like this?!”, Zhang Ji Xin, sitting on his other side, bulged his eyes and clenched the dry fruit in his hand, causing it to crackle.

”Or else, are you going to feed me?” Xin the fat man promptly fired a big shot, leaving his opponent speechless.

”Is playing-the-bowl-flowers that powerful?”, Duan Xiao Jian poked Xiao Xiao, who was quietly eating beside him, and asked, ”Is he acting?”

”Try this!” Zhang Ji Xin picked up a piece of croissant from the table, shoved it into Xin’s hand, and threatened, ”This is not a bowl, if you dare drop it, I’ll feed you a belly full of dirt!”

Xin scoffed, lifted the croissant and was just about to stuff it into his mouth.

Then, right in front of everyone, his hand shook violently as if he had been stung.

The croissant, slathered with butter and honey and baked to a crispy golden color, just rolled off into the dust.

”That’s too exaggerated!” Duan Xiao Jian slowly elongated his tune, with a ’you-must-be-kidding-me’ expression, ”It’s a croissant, not a bowl, how could I just drop it.”

”If you don’t believe me, why don’t you try plucking some bowl flowers for yourself.” Xin huffed his displeasure, buried his head back into his large plate and resumed gobbling his food.

”The term ’playing-the-bowl-flowers’ is just a characteristic name given based on its effect. Just like the ’Bai Cao Tang’ isn’t limited to a hundred types of grasses, and the ’Three Flavour Bookstore’ doesn’t just have three flavors.” Xiao Xiao finally put down his food, lifted his head, and gave a little bit of scientific explanation to his ignorant companions, ”So, the curse of playing-the-bowl-flowers doesn’t only target bowls. Precisely speaking, it targets the act of ’eating with hands’ by wizards.”

”So you’re saying, if you don’t eat with your hands, it should be fine?” Zheng Qing was very interested in this detail, ”How does the curse know I’m eating with my hands and not doing something else?”

”Whether the curse knows or not depends on whether you know or not.” Zhang Ji Xin chimed in, ”This I do remember. Many curses activate based on the host’s own thoughts. For instance, if you want to eat, then once you get something edible, you will eat it. That’s when the curse will activate.”

”Bingo!” Xiao Xiao nodded, a look of ’this-kid-is-teachable’ on his face.

”So let’s assume,” Zheng Qing became more intrigued, ”Assume, Xin Fat Man is hungry.”

”You are the fat man!” Xin raised his head full of grievances, ”I’m just a bit husky.”

Zhang Ji Xin exaggeratedly ’haha’ed twice.

”Oh, oh,” Zheng Qing readily relented, remorsefully changing his words, ”Let’s assume Xin Student is hungry. Then, he picks up a croissant. Under such circumstances, if he subconsciously doesn’t treat the croissant as food, or himself as needing to eat...um...like, in his consciousness, the croissant is a piece of paper and his mouth is the paper shredder. This way, the croissant wouldn’t end up on the ground, right?”

”Your mouth is the paper shredder.” Xin Fat Man finally lost his appetite, he pushed away his plate in disappointment, took a handkerchief out of his pocket and began wiping his mouth.

”Outrageously mad.” Xiao Xiao looked at Zheng Qing, a look of horror on his face, ”Are you talking about distorting consciousness? To distort your own consciousness for such a trifling curse... do you even know what you’re doing? As a wizard, there’s nothing more dangerous than distorting your own consciousness. Don’t even think about it!”

”Is it that dangerous?” Zheng Qing looked somewhat surprised, ”I mean, just do a simple self-hypnosis.”

”For a wizard, hypnosis can deceive your senses but not your consciousness.” Xiao Xiao paused to think, then gave an example forcibly, ”For instance, seeing a mountain as a mountain, then seeing a mountain as not a mountain, but the mountain is still there.”

Zheng Qing looked somewhat confused and indicated his inability to understand this example.

”Instead of discussing these confusing things, why don’t you think about what Old Yao’s spell was about.” Finished wiping his mouth, Xin Fat Man impatiently rapped his knuckles on the table, ”Or could someone please finish Professor Li Qihuang’s homework so that I can copy it.”

”If I’m still able to move after this afternoon’s class, then I’ll let you copy.” Duan Xiao Jian groaned and buried his head into Xin’s chest, ”Bro, what do we do, the combat class teacher wants me to be his sparring partner in today’s class!”

Zheng Qing waved at a group of small elves from the canteen.

After they had collected the leftovers from the table, he stretched lazily, let out a satisfied burp, and sighed, ”Blessings in disguise. Who knows, the teacher might see how hard you’re working as the sparring partner and reward you in grades.”

Duan Xiao Jian immediately straightened up,

”Now that you mention it, it is quite possible!”

The young wizard who was simple in mind was immediately full of spirit again.