High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 268: Chapter 192: Where Time is Drained Away_1

”...There is a kind of magical insect called ’Sand Hour’ that can secrete a liquid that extends the lifespan of magical creatures. It might be able to keep these little elves alive...”

”... Don’t get your hopes up too much...”

”... They can only be seen in the depths of Silent Forest...”

”... You are just a freshman, I don’t want you to take unnecessary risks... Only high-level hunting teams have permission to go deep into Silent Forest...”

”...The effectiveness of Sand Hour’s secretion is very short. Professors or researchers at the school will only issue time-limited tasks related to it when needed... Even if only high-level hunting teams are allowed to accept, the completion rate of these tasks is still extremely low...”

Although less than half a month has passed, it seems like a long time in Zheng Qing’s consciousness.

Only some particular ’Anchor Words’ - such as Sand Hour, or life-prolonging - can stir up Zheng Qing’s memory and remind him of his recent experiences from his brief but complicated memory.

Phrases that Professor Li Qihuang once said, one by one, clearly emerge in Zheng Qing’s mind.

Meanwhile, the data from this morning’s check-up for the little elves also pass before his eyes like a flow of water.

Those gradually slipping indicators were weighing on his mind like stones.

But right now, there seems to be a crushing machine humming in his ears, smashing those burdens in his heart all at once!

It’s as if he was relieved of some burden and he felt much lighter.

”You look a lot better all of a sudden!” Lin Guo suddenly murmured in his ear: ”Are you also imaging the good life of catching Sand Hour and selling it for money? That’s so vulgar...”

”You little brat!” Zheng Qing laughed, ruffled Lin Guo’s neat black hair, without further explanation.

But his smile was even brighter.

Lin Guo, displeased, shook his head, evades Zheng Qing’s ’magic claw’, and propped himself back against the old man Ferna.

The old janitor was holding his tall wooden cane, squinting his eyes, leaning against a big tree, listening to the lecture Professor Dorag gave to the young students.

At his feet, May the old hunting dog was lying on the soft lawn limp as a snail with its tongue hanging out.

Even a herb called polygonum multiflorum, crawling across its nose didn’t stir this ’snail’ at all.

Instead, Lin Guo swiftly produced an empty glass bottle from his backpack, got the lively herb into it, and stuff it back into his bag.

The old janitor glanced at him, smiled, but didn’t stop him.

This made Zheng Qing sigh with admiration.

Indeed, at any time, humans’ tolerance for ’brats’ is always a bit higher than any other age groups.

If the Zhang Season Letter of the same recklessness ’stole’ the magical resources from the school, I’m afraid there would be a hefty compensation bill sent to the old Zhang family house at any moment.

In the crowd, Professor Dorag just happened to talk about the encounter of Sand Hour in the magical world.

Despite the ubiquity of time, magic ’time’ perhaps contains more abundant energy, so most Sand Hour can be found in the areas where magical activity is concentrated.

Because every part of Sand Hour is a treasure, the nests these little insects build in the areas where wizards are active often get ’moved’ as a whole by the wizards to more ’safe’ laboratories just after they are formed.

Whether it is because of the proud nature of ’hyperdimensional creatures’, the captive Sand Hour often slowly stops eating, and the queen bee of Sand Hour gradually loses the ability to produce the royal jelly of Sand Hour.

However, once released back into the wild, unbound by magic, these little insects will disappear without a trace in the blink of an eye.

It seems as if they do indeed have the ability to slip away along the time line.

Until now, only in the depths of Silent Forest can these little insect traces be found throughout Buji Island.

”Everyone needs to pay attention.” Professor Dorag raised an arm, rubbing his skinny fingers together.

A line of sand fell from his fingers onto the ground, flowing continuously like water.

”The nests of these magical insects are usually based on the queen Sand Hour, glued together with ordinary quartz grains - which are the sand grains you see. The shape varies slightly depending on the type of sand, and the number of mature insects.”

”Most of the time, the Mother of the Sands creates a circular, shell-like nest that it carries on its back.”

Zheng Qing squinted his eyes.

On one hand, he needed to avoid the sand stirred up by the old professor carefully.

On the other hand, he felt the description of the Sand Hour nest, which Professor Dorag spent a long time describing, seemed quite familiar.

”So, the nest of Sand Hour, it looks like a giant snail,” Lin Guo’s clear questioning voice rang through the crowd. ”Is that correct?”

There were soft chuckles in the crowd.

Professor Dorag’s old face turned red, he coughed twice, nodded, and stuttered for a moment.

Luckily, the old man Ferna was standing by.

As an experienced man, he swiftly sensed Professor Dorag’s discomfort.

So, he began to share the experience of discovering these ’culprits’ with the patrolling members.

”At first, I didn’t realize that a group of Sand Hour had come to the school... I only found some slime trails in the grass while walking.”

”I thought the Red Chain Snakes that recently entered the academy were giving birth, you know, those slippery critters leave this kind of slimy traces everywhere when they’ve just hatched.”

At this point, the old man paused for a moment, seemingly considering whether to expand on this topic.

By this time, Professor Dorag had regained his composure, naturally followed up on the old worker’s topic with a few brief explanations:

”Just like the young student mentioned earlier, you can consider the Mother of the Sands carrying its insect nest as a giant snail - in fact, both their forms are very similar - like a snail, when moving, the Mother of the Sands also leaves very clear trails.”

Lin Guo hugged his backpack in front, pouted, looking very discontent, as if wanting to refute something.

But because the old professor was still talking, he didn’t end up saying anything.

Zheng Qing chuckled quietly.

He vaguely guessed why Lin Guo was upset.

”Of course, as we’ve mentioned before, Sand Hour belongs to the class Insecta, which is fundamentally different from the class Gastropoda to which snails belong. You should pay attention to this... It’s very easy to mix up, so don’t ever get it wrong,” Professor Dorag emphasised.

Zheng Qing let out a breath, feeling a bit of a headache.

Like other old professors, Mr. Dorag always emphasized lots of ’knowledge points’ in such casual occasions, and God knows why the patrol team needs to pay attention to the differences of these insects’ classes.

On the other side, Old Ferna finally gave up on explaining to the young wizards how he discovered the Sand Hour.

He decided to let the young people see for themselves.

After the black-robed assistants had a brief discussion, they finally agreed with the elders.

So, with the patrol team, Zheng Qing finally got to see the place rumored to have been ’drained of time’.

It was between some tall bushes deep in the forest.

A yellow sand pile appeared conspicuously and yet hidden amidst the bushes.

Conspicuous, because in this lakeside forest, where your feet touch ankle-high grass, and trees and bushes grow abundantly around you.

A pile of sand amongst them was striking.

Hidden, because the pile of sand was hidden among a bunch of shrubs, obscured by their dense branches and leaves. If someone hadn’t deliberately moved the shrubs, one would probably not find anything unusual a step away.

Zheng Qing recalled Ferna’s explanation, gazing dubiously at the old hunting dog leading the way at the front of the team.

He was very doubtful about what made this dog overturn the pile of shrubs.