High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 743: Chapter 91: Nicholas’ Task_1

In this world full of magic, when wizards mention the term ’snowman’, it often holds different meanings depending on the context.

For instance, when adventuring in mountainous wilderness, wizards usually refer to a type of tall, robust, and intelligent creature with dense, snowy white fur and certain magical abilities. Theoretically, these snowmen only live deep within the Himalayas, but due to their ferocious nature, they are often used by the elders to scare young wizards who are just starting their journey. The elders warn the novices to stay alert and not let their heads be plucked by these snowmen.

However, in the Eastern Island Nation, when their wizards mention ’snowman,’ they’re often referring to another kind of elf, known as the Snow Woman. She’s a tall, beautiful elf with light blue hair who usually lives deep within the mountains, adept at manipulating snow and melts in sunlight. These Snow Women enjoy luring young men into the snowy mountains, then kissing them and absorbing their vitality.

On the other hand, in the largest university, after a snowfall, the pupils refer to those with a piece of talisman paper stuffed in their middle and who wobble along with snow flaking off their bodies as ’snow puppets.’

Compared to their distant relatives, these ’snowmen,’ whether in abilities or in intelligence, are clearly inferior.

But even a salted fish has a chance to turn over, likewise, a snow puppet born in the magical world.

Under certain conditions and after magical enhancement, these ’snowmen’ can transform into creatures that surpass normal snow puppets but still retain the appearance of a snowman — the wizards, based on their identical appearance and contrasting essence, have effectively named these creatures ’True Snowman,’ distinguishing them from ordinary ’Fake Snowmen.’

The most fundamental difference between a true snowman and a fake snowman lies in their autonomy.

”A real snowman is actually a kind of quasi-elemental life form,”

”Though it can live independently from the wizard and ice and snow, these snowmen, like their oblivious brethren, still hold an aversion to high temperatures and the sun - however, compared to the ’Fake Snowmen,’ they have slightly more resistance to high temperatures. Not too much, just enough for them to find a shady corner to hide when the sun comes out.”

”Of course, if a real snowman does appear, they wouldn’t find a shady corner in the school. Thanks to the school’s Protection Array, these natural but dull spirits would instinctively stay away from the school and escape to the world beyond the school walls.”

”Perhaps around the icy pools in the depths of the Silent Forest, or becoming servants to an Ice Chilong, or they may even hide in the ice house of a cold drink shop in Beta Town... In any case, real snowmen wouldn’t stay foolishly within the school, expecting mercy from wizards.”

”If they do stay in the school, they are most likely to be dragged into a laboratory by a curious wizard.”

”They might not die, but they certainly won’t be as free.”

Listening to Nicholas’s incessant explanations, the young scholarship student found it very interesting. He sniffed and looked up again at the chubby snowman that had passed them by earlier and was gradually getting farther away.

Perhaps influenced by Nicholas’s introduction about ’Real Snowmen,’ Zheng Qing felt that the plump snowman slowly moving away from him radiated a hint of spirit.

Of course, there’s a greater probability that these are just his illusions.

As Nicholas had mentioned earlier, the conditions for a real snowman to form are extremely stringent - from a specific time, special environment, special materials, to the magic level and skills of the creator, and so on, every factor requires a coincidence and luck. If someone in the school were to strike upon such fortune to form a ’Real Snowman,’ they should go buy a lottery ticket.

Seeing the talkative retainer drawing to the end of his topic, the young scholarship student pulled out his pocket watch to check the time.

”Hmm, it’s late, won’t chat with you anymore.” Zheng Qing waved cheerfully, preparing to bid farewell to Nicholas. ”You should go do your revision...By the way, why aren’t you staying at the library? Has Liu Fei Fei given you a break?”

As he spoke, he paused his departure, a teasing smile creeping onto his face.

It is uncertain when, but the first-year model student of Jiuyou Academy became the tutor for this student who has repeated his grades twice. Whether it is during breaks, morning and evening self-study, or even after school, if Nicholas has any free time, he is always dragged by Liu Fei Fei to do exercises in the library, regardless of wind or rain.

Originally due to different opinions, the two would avoid public scrutiny, but after some events unveiled their relationship, Liu Fei Fei became even more assertive. Many times, she would directly arrange for the both of them to have their meals in the small square outside the library, forcing Nicholas to eat while listening to her recite key points for History of Magic exams.

The male students of Dorm 403 privately discussed that if it weren’t for school regulations, Nicholas probably wouldn’t even get the chance to sleep soundly in the dormitory.

As the saying goes ’fortune favors the industrious’, Liu Fei Fei’s hard work wasn’t in vain.

In a recent midterm evaluation, Nicholas ranked in the upper-middle of his class. Considering that the midterms arranged by the professors were pop quizzes with low requirements, his grade might be a bit inflated. However, if Nicholas were to maintain this momentum, he would surely be free from being a retainer this year.

Upon hearing the taunts from the young scholarship student, Nicholas’s face immediately blushed.

”No, no one said anything about not going...” He stuttered for a while before finally confessing, ”I just came out to find some snowflakes... Liz likes star-shaped pine needle snowflakes. When we were little, every time it snowed for the first time, my mother would find the most beautiful snowflake for her and use a trick to preserve it as a Christmas gift.”

”Now, that task falls on me.”

Listening to his explanation, the smile on Zheng Qing’s face vanished without a trace — he regretted bringing up this subject. Although he didn’t know much, he had heard from various sources that Nicholas’s mother had unfortunately died in an accident, leaving behind Nicholas with low talent and a sick little sister.

Liz was his sister’s name.

Due to various reasons, everyone was reluctant to discuss this matter — maybe because Nicholas’s mother was just a trickster, or because it was related to the death of a classmate’s close kin. After all, it was not appropriate to bring up this topic on most occasions.

Like now.