High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1072: Chapter 134: Warnings and Suggestions

The Ban Magic Festival’s outing, on one hand, is a tradition derived from customs; on the other hand, it’s also the modern magic community’s transformation of traditional magic in a certain sense, embodying the wizards’ pursuit of wonderful aspirations.

In Xiao Xiao’s words, it’s about changing the scenery, changing the mood.

All this originates from traditional wizards’ preference to hide themselves.

For instance, names must be concealed, with aliases rampant everywhere; addresses must be hidden, not to be known by others; spells must be guarded closely, as they are the foundation of settling down and making a home; recipes also must be kept secret, after all, teaching an apprentice could starve the master. And so on.

Such miserly behavior was born in the difficult ancient times of wizardry and is not entirely without merit. In an era where wizards were few and communication was poor, this self-concealment not only ensured their safety but also allowed wizards to maintain an undistracted focus on their pursuit of the truth.

However, this extremely conservative habit also led to the wizards’ aloof and solitary attitude in dealing with things, making them maintain a certain distance from any novelty or unfamiliar situation.

With the rise of modern magic, these old wizarding habits have gradually improved, but undoubtedly, any revision of tradition is not achieved overnight. Wizards’ characteristic of hiding themselves, even today, is still commonly seen.

This is exactly the situation Zheng Qing is encountering right now.

He was ’picking up’ firewood in the small woods, but unexpectedly, a branch above his head concealed a strange wizard, who suddenly issued a warning:

”Yo yo, this won’t do.”

Zheng Qing looked up and saw the silhouette of a strange warlock sitting on a thick branch not far above his head. He had a head full of tea-colored curly hair, was wearing the black robe of a high-grade student, straddling the horizontal branch, with legs dangling lazily from either side, shaking unconcernedly, not afraid of his shoes falling off at all.

This must be a member of the Guard Team, a fourth-grader Tang Dun had mentioned—thought the young fee-paying student, relaxing his grip on the Charm Gun slightly.

Before the outing, Tang Dun had told everyone that every year when the junior students go out, the school arranges for senior students to act as guards to ensure everyone’s safety. But according to Zhang Ji Xin’s speculation, this kind of guard is more like a restriction, ensuring that everyone is in the right place doing the right thing, to prevent any audacious individuals from taking advantage of the school outing to slip into the depths of Silent Forest and ultimately lose their lives.

”Do you plan to use magic to gather firewood?” The veteran sitting in the tree was not concerned about the little action of the junior below him. He turned his face, looked at Zheng Qing, and wiggled his right index finger: ”That won’t do, that won’t do.”

”Oh, right, right, right.” Zheng Qing grinned, put away his Law book and Symbol Gun, and scratched his head in feigned embarrassment: ”I almost forgot, today is Ban Magic Festival... I got used to it, got used to it. My apologies.”

”Tch.” The veteran chuckled softly: ”Such words... they’re of no use to me... Had you truly used any magic just now, it would be you who’d suffer in the end, not me. I’m just sitting here, giving you a reminder according to tradition, that’s all.”

Zheng Qing looked at the veteran in the tree, filled with suspicion and doubt.

Reason told him that the veteran was just trying to scare him, because there was never anything concrete to caution that using magic on the Ban Magic Festival would bring misfortune. But instinct told him it was better to heed the advice. After all, this is a wizard’s world, where logic and reason don’t hold as much power as magic.

Perhaps seeing the young wizard’s doubtful expression, the veteran in the tree nodded in satisfaction.

”I’ll give you two pieces of advice and one suggestion,” the veteran straightened his back with a look that said you’re about to get a great deal, and then he raised his head to glance briefly at the new leaves scattered among the sparser branches overhead and said succinctly:

”Do not arbitrarily cut down trees in the Silent Forest; it’ll curse you.”

”Do not use spells during the Ban Magic Festival; history will curse you.”

”And one suggestion... If you want to pick up some firewood for cooking, you can follow the edge of the forest and walk a bit further; there are some dead branches and leaves in the depths of the Return Soul Poplar Forest. From this, nature has already shown us ample kindness.”

Zheng Qing nodded repeatedly, but he also voiced his confusion.

”All these trees look so lush; how would I know which are dead?” Zheng Qing touched the slippery moss on an old tree beside him and muttered.

Wherever he looked, he saw a scene bursting with life — sprouting vines and slippery moss sprawling on the tree trunks, and even the dead trees in the forest didn’t show a stark white color.

”A tree covered with other plants is a dead one,” the veteran pointed listlessly at a tree nearby that seemed full of life and said, ”The forest has no room for so much compromise and coexistence. It’s like that Return Soul Poplar over there, with its trunk wrapped in Evergreen Vine; that tree is either already strangled to death or close to it.”

Zheng Qing nodded repeatedly and took out his notebook, recording this seriously.

Before leaving, he couldn’t help but look up at the veteran again, ”Is that true? ...I mean, using magic during the Ban Magic Festival brings misfortune, is it true?”

The veteran chuckled dismissively and glanced at the robe on Zheng Qing, ”The last kid who doubted that failed half his subjects in the final exams. If you don’t believe it, give it a try.”

Of course, Zheng Qing was not willing to bear such immense pressure for a trivial matter and decisively scurried away.

Not five minutes after the young scholar’s figure vanished into the woods, another black figure ’swooshed’ into presence in front of the veteran sitting in the tree, standing on a freshly-cut wooden sword.

Hovering in the air, he appeared as an immortal might when traveling on a flying sword.

”Mind the impact!” the veteran, still sitting on the tree branch without lifting his head, spoke irritably, ”There are dozens of first-year juniors and sisters just a hundred meters away... If you don’t want them to discover you using magic during the Ban Magic Festival, don’t be so ostentatious!”

”Relax, relax, I’m not blind,” the figure in the black robe gestured, striking a pose, ”Look, just made this flying sword from the young branches of the Return Soul Poplar. What do you think? Does it have a bit of a Sword Immortal vibe?”

The veteran lifted his head, gave his companion a blank look and said:, ”You’re lacking the air of an immortal, but you’re full of cheapness.”

”Tsk, you really don’t know how to compliment someone!” The black-robed figure on the wooden sword was dejected for a moment, then rejuvenated suddenly, ”Right, right, how many did you fool today? Did anyone get scared enough to wet themselves?”

”What do you mean ’fool’?!” The veteran was displeased, ”My advice was well-intentioned! It’s an age-old tradition in the wizard world not to use magic during the Ban Magic Festival... Guiding juniors and sisters to follow tradition, how did that become fooling someone? At most, it was a little white lie for their own good.”