High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 294: Chapter 218: The Professors’ Discovery_1

The vast majority of members in the Wizarding World live their whole lives as ordinary wizards.

They are busy sketching magic circles, extracting herbs, and refining rare metals during work hours; during their leisure time, they launch a fireball or two in the hunting ground, concoct a few potions in the study, and draw several talismans.

Despite their toil, they end up as dust in the wind.

But that doesn’t mean they are incompetent, nor does it mean their abilities are woefully inadequate.

On the contrary, their ability to survive as a formal wizard in this world has proven -- from some perspective -- that they possess a unique gift.

Having a gift means there are differences in abilities, and consequently comparisons arise.

Among ordinary wizards, those who are extraordinarily talented will be admitted to the First University for further study.

This means that they could march further on the path of wizarding.

To march further means to live longer and to become more powerful.

Wizards who have been admitted to the First University, even if they only complete four years of university, can pass the examination for registered wizards and enjoy a life that lasts for hundreds of years.

But every gifted wizard would not be satisfied with such a short-sighted vision.

Their goals are farther and more unpredictable.

Take the Grand Wizards, for example.

The Wizard Alliance’s highest authority has established a standing committee, responsible for handling all kinds of matters in the wizarding world—ranging from establishing diplomatic relations with newly contacted civilizations, to the personnel arrangements of the Four Seasons Management Committee, there’s hardly anything it does not cover.

And the formal members of this standing committee are all the Grand Wizards of the wizarding world.

Therefore, this standing committee is jokingly referred to by wizards as ’the Conference of Grand Wizards’.

The First University occupies more than a third of the seats in the Conference of Grand Wizards, but at the same time, the Grand Wizards of the First University are the ones who most frequently absent themselves from the ’Conference of Grand Wizards’—compared to meetings, these veteran professors prefer to stay in the labs deep inside the campus, exploring various possibilities, hoping to march further on the path of magic.

Now, Professor Emma, a well-known Grand Wizard, has not only come to a meeting room to attend the dull monthly meeting of the Jiuyou Academy—knowing that she hasn’t attended the Conference of Grand Wizards for nearly ten years —but has also solemnly taken out a rune bead.

This uncommon gesture almost immediately attracted the attention of all the wizards in the meeting room.

”Mr. Emma must have something novel to enlighten us.” The fat wizard, whose liquor Old Yao had taken away not long ago, seemed to have forgotten his displeasure, and happily came over.

”Be careful!” His companion, who was standing behind him, quickly grabbed the hem of his robe, stopping the fat wizard’s reckless action.

Although they all belong to the teaching staff of the First University, the gap between the different ranks, such as teaching assistants, lecturers, ordinary professors, and senior professors, is no less than the differences among the four colleges.

Towards Grand Wizards, ordinary professors can’t help but feel a natural awe.

It’s like the reverence of a subordinate to a superior.

After all, the Grand Wizards hold superior status, have vast magical power, and a long lifespan. For most ordinary wizards, including registered wizards, they are beings worthy of admiration.

Professor Emma didn’t seem to care about the small actions among a few ordinary professors.

She swung her stubby fingers back and forth, making the intricate rune on her fingertip spin more steadily.

”I’m really sorry about this, hahaha.” Her loud laughter scared the serving elves into shivering, and even some young teaching assistants showed signs of uneasiness.

”Who wants to comment on this rune?” Professor Emma turned her face and looked at the ordinary professors and teaching assistants who were gradually gathering around. Her tone was very casual.

There was even a bit of warmth to it.

This gave a lot of people great courage.

”A standard rune bead, the ’fire’ essence contained in it is very clear.” A young lecturer seemed to be attending such a meeting for the first time. He was a bit uneasy but bravely said, ”Moreover, the structure of this rune is very stable, it can firmly capture the mood within.”

Other wizards either nodded or shook their heads, but all eyes were fixed on the slowly rotating rune, and no one else spoke.

”Cliche, nothing new.” Emma glanced at him and commented bluntly: ”What do you teach?”

The young lecturer’s face instantly turned pale, standing there in a daze, the courage in his eyes quickly faded away.

”Emblem Studies of the Blood Race.” The poor young man stammered and replied quietly.

”Oh!” Emma slowly nodded and repeated in an insightful tone: ”Emblem Studies of the Blood Race.”

This is an elective course with a small audience. A semester of study can only be exchanged for one credit. It does not require profound magic power or complex magic skills. Only those wizards who can’t gather enough credits for the promotion would choose this ’easy way’.

Correspondingly, the qualification requirements for the professor teaching this course are not too high.

Professor Emma was clearly aware of this and hadn’t put the young lecturer in a difficult position.

”The young man just now pointed out some facts... but he didn’t reach the crux.” Supporting the rune on her left hand and flipping through the textbook on the desk with her right, Professor Emma made a slightly rubbing motion with her fingers. Then, a similar rune emerged in mid-air.

Two three-dimensional runes were displayed for all to see.

”This word! It’s more vibrant than the ’word’ I just carved out from the textbook!” Professor Emma pointed at the rune on her left hand, emphasizing the pronunciation of the word ”word”.

Professor Yi gave a slight nod.

Old Yao hid his gaze behind the slowly rising smoke from his pipe.

”Rune is a kind of written language. It firstly conveys an idea, and secondly, it acts as a symbol. You see, although I just chose a standard rune from the textbook - its strokes are almost equal in thickness, the structure is completely rational, all the gaps are almost perfect - there is still something missing.”

”It’s just a symbol, not a ’word’.”

”As an entity expressing wizard thoughts, the emotional power buried within the rune determines its power. An emotionless word is not a real word. Just like a man, an emotionless person is nothing but a walking corpse.”

The observers agreed enthusiastically with Professor Emma’s explanation and responded fervently.

Except for a few senior professors.

Old Yao exhaled two smoke rings, each encircling a rune. He closed his eyes and carefully felt the difference between the two.

”There is an atmosphere in this rune.” He took a gentle breath, exhaled it slowly and opened his eyes. His gaze seemed exceptionally profound: ”I do feel something familiar in it.”

”Very clear, very strong, very stable!” Professor Yi interrupted his rumination, warningly looking at Old Yao, hurriedly saying, ”Such degree of strokes... it takes more than a decade or two to accumulate. It’s not easy to write.”

”Hehe.” Wrinkles crawled onto old Yao’s face as he chuckled, not revealing what he meant.

”When did you discover... this promising seedling?” Asked Professor Li, his voice barely audible among the group.

”This week.” Professor Emma couldn’t hide the elation on her face: ”It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such spirit... You all should understand my excitement when I discovered this word was written by a young fellow who had just come of age and wasn’t even part of the ’mob’.”

”Quite astonishing, quite delightful,” Professor Yi approved with a nod: ”He’s a rough gem. If polished a little, he will definitely shine brightly.”

The other teachers listened to the senior professors’ conversation but were a little confused.

They felt as if the professors were praising the student who wrote this word.

But it didn’t seem quite right.

”All of a sudden I remembered,” Old Yao crinkled his eyebrows, turning his head towards Emma, ”A fine talent, an excellent ability, and also a freshman... Are you planning to push him into Montelio’s laboratory?”

”I do have that plan, but it’s not going to happen immediately.” Professor Emma shook her head, ”Montelio has high standards. This child can’t even cast a dozen runes. Throwing him over now would just waste his talent.”

”Very wise.” Old Yao nodded, then with a profound look began to analyze the owner of this rune:

”You have four rune classes this week, they are separately given to freshmen from four colleges. If we follow the order, it is Jiuyou Academy, Alpha Academy, Atlas Academy, and Starry Sky Academy. Judging by the validity of the rune you showed, it should be within two days... so this word should belong to a freshman from our Jiuyou Academy.”

Professor Li had an incredulous look on his face.

He used a long sigh to reveal his deepest disdain for Old Yao’s flamboyant performance.

”In Jiuyou Academy, a freshman who is good at constructing runes and has recently gained fame but not among the heroes I mentioned, there is only one guy with a true inheritance from Kunlun.” Professor Yi reasoned, ”It’s a guy named Zheng Qing, from Jiuyou Academy and the Astronomy Class 08-1.”

”Your reasoning capability is growing, Little Yi!” Professor Emma was quite surprised.

”Not really, not really.” Professor Yi JiaZi showed a modest smile.

”He got everyone’s mediums in the astrology class... Recognizing auras is a basic skill for a seer.” Old Yao calmly pointed out, ”Your ’word’ contains Zheng Qing’s aura the most.”

Touching his nose, Professor Yi’s face held no anger for being exposed.

With a mumbling sound, Professor Emma slouched in her high chair. Thinking about something, she suddenly started to chuckle.

Professor Yi lowered his head, pulled out the tarot again, and began to shuffle the cards.

Old Yao clenched his pipe and let out smoke, burying his head in the curling fumes.

The heavy hitters lost interest in talking, and the meeting room quickly fell back into silence.