High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1023: Chapter 85 The Contradiction Behind the Contradiction

The lack of cooperation from the fat man made Zheng Qing’s toast somewhat awkward, but he was also very interested in the speech that just took place in the small square, so he did not continue to tangle with the fat man.

He put down the drink in his hand, picked up a mini croissant from the plate, and while he spread jam on it with a wooden knife, he watched Doctor Xiao leisurely.

Under everyone’s gaze, Xiao Xiao no longer teased and held back.

He took a small sip of green tea, smacked his lips, and started with an idle remark, ”To be honest, today’s speech was somewhat beyond my expectations... Generally, Jiuyou Academy students are ’swift in action but slow in speech’; it’s rare to see someone who enjoys and excels at speaking publicly like this. It’s more typical of the people from the Alpha Academy to do so.”

”Do you know who that student giving the speech was?” Zheng Qing couldn’t help but interrupt and ask.

”Be quiet!” Xin Fat Man waved his hand irritably, interrupting Zheng Qing’s question, and emphasized, ”Our time is limited, I only want to hear the doctor’s analysis of that speech now.”

Xiao Xiao raised his tea cup to Zheng Qing, making a helpless gesture.

Zheng Qing pursed his lips, picked up a piece of fried chicken from the box, stuffed it into his mouth, and swallowed his question back down.

”My analysis is simple. That speech was Lei Zhe taking on Augustus in an arena... The two societies have clearly laid out their parameters, just waiting for the other to reveal a weakness,” Xiao Xiao stated plainly, sipping his tea as he slowly analyzed:

”But to look beyond the surface, the deep-seated reason for the conflict between ’Blood Comrades’ and ’Holy Will’ is actually the contradiction between Jiuyou Academy and Alpha Academy... Or rather, the clash of teaching philosophies between the two institutions, a battle for the hearts and minds of the young wizards.”

”A philosophy exists as a concept attached to individuals.”

”Without wizards believing in a philosophy, it naturally fades away.”

”As is well known, Jiuyou Academy advocates ’justice and equality’ while Alpha Academy advocates ’freedom and righteousness.’ Just as Professor Emma explains to the students of Alpha Academy, righteousness is about giving everyone their due place — a narrow interpretation of this means ’the farmer’s son has the talents of a farmer in his blood, and the king’s son has the king’s talents in his blood.’ Every individual has their own place in this world, and if you want to uphold ’righteousness,’ you can’t let a farmer’s son become a king.”

”This concept of ’everyone getting their due’ is diametrically opposed to the ’equality’ advocated by Jiuyou Academy, and this is the crux of the contradiction between the two academies.”

”From the founding of First University three hundred years ago, such contradictions have existed on this small island.”

”Back then, the primary contradiction in the wizard world was between wizards and demons; conflicts like those within the school seemed insignificant under external pressures.”

”Later on, the birth of dimension theory, the exploration of New Worlds, continuously expanded the living environments for wizards and greatly enriched the wizard world... All these practices unconsciously reduced the contradictions between Alpha and Jiuyou.”

”Until now.”

”The wizard world has been peaceful for a long time. Beyond this world, the massive hunting teams are finding fewer and fewer new Hunting Grounds; within this world, there have been no significant breakthroughs in magic theory for quite some time.”

”When the cake no longer gets bigger, how to divide the cake becomes an urgent issue that all participants need to face,”

Reaching this point, Xiao Xiao briefly paused to catch his breath and smoothly picked out a piece of fried chicken, golden and oozing with oil, from the paper box and tossed it into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully.

Zheng Qing held his cup with both hands, offering tea to the big boss. The other two stared eagerly at the doctor, not even daring to let out a breath.

Xiao Xiao nodded in approval, and after sipping his tea, he continued,

”If we stand at a high enough vantage point, we would find that both Alpha Academy and Jiuyou Academy actually advocate ’elite education.’ The only difference is that Alpha Academy believes ’elite’ is a kind of ’spirit’ that can be passed on, while Jiuyou Academy prefers to sift through the masses, giving more opportunities to ordinary people.”

”Because of this difference, Alpha Academy gained an early advantage in the competition with Jiuyou Academy.”

”After all, the original wizards were a group that placed great emphasis on heritage and bloodlines. Thus, since its establishment, Alpha Academy’s ’talent-dominated’ wizards, with their bloodline inheritances and profound accumulations, have trained batches of highly powerful wizards renowned far and wide.”

”This group of great wizards from Alpha traversed the old and new worlds, controlling the Great Wizard Council, bringing great honors to Alpha Academy. They also influenced generation after generation of young wizards, continually bringing those with talent into the castle.”

”A little earlier, roughly from a hundred to fifty years ago, both Atlas Academy and Starry Sky Academy attempted to challenge Alpha Academy’s position, but regrettably, they lacked a deep foundation, and their challenges ultimately failed.”

”Until these recent fifty to sixty years.”

”After long-term accumulation, Jiuyou Academy has slowly but surely risen in the ranks of the First University with teaching achievements. Whether it’s the number of registered wizards, the number of great wizards cultivated, or related research topics, all are increasing and posing a serious challenge to the traditional status of Alpha Academy.”

”Especially in the past twenty years, more and more great wizards from Jiuyou Academy have entered the Great Wizard Council of the Mage Alliance, and more and more high-level journal cover articles come from Jiuyou Academy. Meanwhile, the progress made by Alpha Academy has been minimal.”

”For instance, we can see the youngest great wizard in the Great Wizard Council, the youngest recipient of the Merlin Medal in the Mage Alliance, and the youngest among the Great Arcana in the magic wand, to name a few. All these honors have gone to Jiuyou... It is foreseeable that in the future, there will be more and more outstanding wizards from Jiuyou Academy, and Alpha will become increasingly inferior.”

Hearing this, Zhang Ji Xin and Xin Fat Man exchanged a knowing look at Zheng Qing, then glanced at Xiao Xiao. While speaking, Xiao Xiao kept his eyes intently on his notebook, chewing on his fried chicken, seemingly unaware.

The young publicly funded student twitched at the corner of his mouth, giving Doctor Xiao a scrutinizing look.

He confirmed the expression; it didn’t look like he was joking.

This gave Zheng Qing the impulse to flip the table—he was clearly listening to a cock-and-bull story about the competition between Jiuyou Academy and Alpha Academy, so how did it suddenly involve him? This was utterly magical!

Just at that moment, the warming talismans posted on the pillars around the small gazebo had burned out. The pale yellow thermal barrier, like a light bulb with a burned-out filament, flashed once weakly and fell into silence.

The cold breeze lurking around the gazebo took the opportunity to swoop in, giving the young wizards, who were eating fried chicken and listening to stories, a thoroughly chilling experience.