High School of Demon Hunting

As the end of term approached, the entire sixteenth week at Jiuyou Academy was enveloped in an intangible yet extraordinarily heavy pressure. In addition to the review plans arranged by professors in the classrooms, students could be seen burying themselves in books everywhere in the library and study rooms.

In response, starting this week, the School Works Committee even postponed the closing times of the library and study rooms, and after communicating with Dormitory Supervisor Uncle Ni Wu, they relaxed the dormitory curfew, allowing some students to return to their dorms a bit later.

However, it was the first time that elective class hours were encroached upon by the main class hours.

”Although it’s a compulsory course for the entire school, the content of the practice class determines that it depends on other courses,” Xiao Xiao explained leisurely in front of a bowl of millet porridge, slowly stirring with a long-handled silver spoon, breaking up the rice paste on the surface of the porridge.

As he stirred, he calmly explained, ”...This can be seen from the arrangement of the teaching staff for the practice class. To my knowledge, no well-known professor is responsible for teaching the practice class. If you look at the schedule, you’ll see that almost all the teachers for the practice classes are young teaching assistants arranged by the school.”

The pale-yellow millet porridge swirled under the stirring of the silver spoon, creating a funnel-shaped vortex. Xiao Xiao nodded in satisfaction, put away the spoon, picked up the bowl, and added the final words:

”Moreover, near the end of the term, it’s traditional for the main course to encroach on the practice class time at Jiuyou Academy. You should have been mentally prepared for this after talking with the veterans.”

Having said that, he stuffed the edge of the bowl into his mouth and began to squint his eyes while enjoying the warm, smooth millet porridge.

Tang Dun, standing beside the dining table, looked enviously at the bowl of millet porridge Xiao Xiao was holding and sighed, ”Besides, the final grade for the practice class is calculated using a weighted average. The weights for routine tests during class are slightly higher, followed by the evaluation weight given by the teaching assistants, with midterm and final exams having the lowest weight... It’s said this arrangement is due to the limited time for exams, to prevent students from cramming for the exam scope and neglecting other magics of lower importance.”

”So, for these few weeks, allocating Friday afternoon time to other main courses might yield a higher marginal benefit.”

Zheng Qing held a bun absently and took another bite.

He didn’t care at all about concepts like weight, margin, efficiency.

What he cared about was how he could get injured if the afternoon practice class was gone? What about his plan to stay away from the Qingqiu Club?

”I really want to sit down and have lunch with you guys!” Tang Dun’s gaze circled the dining table, he swallowed, and lamented, ”It’s truly upsetting... I still have to notify seven or eight people, so I don’t have time for lunch.”

”It is truly upsetting,” Zheng Qing empathized, nodding, and instinctively picked up a bun from in front of him to offer to the Monitor, ”Here, have a bun to tide you over... It won’t make much difference in a few minutes. It’s pork with green onions, you’re not avoiding them, right?”

Tang Dun immediately shook his head, but hesitated for a few seconds before taking the bun and biting into it ferociously.

”So, whose class is taking over the practice class this afternoon?” Seeing that Tang Dun wouldn’t be leaving immediately, Zhang Ji Xin also asked a question. Unlike the others’ complaints, he was more concerned about the facts that had already occurred.

”It’s the Fu Lu Class,” Tang Dun chewed rapidly for a moment, swallowed hard, caught his breath, and then said, ”Teacher Zhang from the Fu Lu Class. It’s said that because they missed some classes during Moon Hunting, this semester’s syllabus isn’t completed yet... and during the last monthly test, everyone didn’t perform very well in Basic Runes. Thus, Teacher Zhang specifically sought out Dean Yao and requested additional classes.”

The teacher for the Fu Lu Class was a young lecturer who, it was said, had graduated less than five years ago, but she had passed the Registered Wizard’s assessment during her university years—and was also a beauty—truly a model of both looks and brains.

Because of his outstanding performance in the initial placement test at the beginning of the term, Professor Zhang had a very good impression of Zheng Qing and was not very strict with him regarding his daily coursework or study requirements, even going as far as to be quite indulgent.

Upon hearing that Teacher Zhang had taken the class, Zheng Qing let out a sigh of relief—his third plan would likely take up a lot of time, and he might have to ask for leave halfway through the afternoon class. Originally, this plan was only a backup, but unexpectedly, the second plan had not been implemented before it was aborted.

Luckily, it was Teacher Zhang’s class.

This way, there would be much less pressure when he had to ask for leave.

Tang Dun quickly finished the buns that Zheng Qing had given him and wiped his mouth before leaving with a final reminder, ”Don’t be late in the afternoon, bring your Talisman pen, Talisman paper, and the like... *burp*... uh, I should go buy a bottle of water.”

After speaking, he patted his chest, waved his hand, and hurried off toward the window.

”Get a meal and eat it first! There’s still time!” Xin Fat Man yelled after him.

Then, turning back, Xin Fat Man shrugged his shoulders with some effort, sounding incredulous, ”Is there really someone who works before eating? I can’t understand at all what he’s thinking...”

”Just like we can’t understand how you manage to stuff food in your mouth for twenty out of twenty-four hours a day... where does it all go?” Zhang Ji Xin habitually made a sarcastic comment.

Xin Fat Man was already immune to his sarcasm and didn’t even bother to roll his eyes in response.

”Speaking of which, having Fu Lu Class in the afternoon should make our big scholarship student the happiest,” Xin suddenly recalled something, turned his head to look at Zheng Qing with a teasing tone, ”Teacher Zhang has always favored you, rewarding you with extra credits every class. Gee, if only I could encounter such a teacher...”

”The precondition is that you can recite all the Basic Runes fluently first,” Zhang Ji Xin scoffed at Xin’s dream but also turned to Zheng Qing, suggesting, ”But speaking of which, since it’s Fu Lu Class in the afternoon, I think you could head to Greenhill Mansion earlier to pave the way for us... I think if you ask, Teacher Zhang will definitely give you leave.”

”It’s indeed a good idea!” Xiao Xiao also nodded in agreement.

This suggestion was like a knife, stabbing mercilessly into the heart of the young scholarship student, making his throat burn and almost causing him to spit blood then and there.

”Better not to make it special,” the warlock tugged at the corner of his mouth, showing a forced smile, ”The finals are coming up, and if there’s any change in the exam questions this year, it would be terrible to be caught off guard... I don’t want to walk around campus after exams and have people point at my back saying, ’Look, that’s the warlock who knows all the Basic Runes and still didn’t score full marks on the Talisman Studies exam.’”

”The thought of it is suffocating.”