High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1144: Chapter 206 Blue Dew Task

Pill ants, also known as blue dew, belong to a species of large ants. In the First University, these pill ants are thumb-sized and grass-green, and they are termed ’Blue Dew’ in the Encyclopedia of the Wizarding World.

Blue Dew enjoys cool environments and has a craving for fish dew and moss. Used in medicine, they can cure heat toxins and sores. Some alchemists also integrate them into certain metals to obtain specific magical effects.

Unlike the large colony sizes of regular ants, Blue Dew typically operates in family units.

Each Blue Dew family consists of one queen ant, three to five male ants, and more than ten young ants. In this respect, Blue Dew has a social structure similar to that of werewolves, naga, and horse-men among other magical creatures.

This type of magical insect is active all year round. They hide in underground caves during the day and climb to the surface in the evening. They mix saliva with clods of earth to build a special ant mound called ’Moonwatch Platform.’ Once the mound is constructed, the Blue Dew climbs onto it in a specific order — typically, the queen stays in the center while the young are allowed only on the edges — where they silently lie, sucking in the moonlight and the night’s yin energy.

Magic Creature Researchers, after long-term observation, noticed that these Blue Dew would arrange themselves into various patterns on the anthill depending on the weather and surrounding environment, patterns that often have many similarities with the basic runes studied by wizards. The mystery therein remains unresolved to this day.

At dawn, the Blue Dew would abandon the anthill they painstakingly built the night before and retreat back underground, only to select a new open, flat grassland in the next evening to continue their enduring moon-watching construction.

The grassland by the lakeside of Bell Lake happens to be a frequent area for their moon-watching activities.

Every few months, the School Works Committee must clean up the traces left by the Blue Dew, and the students who usually violate school rules are then required by the janitors to swing pickaxes and smash those Moonwatch Platforms.

The Blue Dew work hard, and so do the students.

When Zheng Qing arrived at the grassland, he happened to hear a punished second-year veteran complaining nearby, ”These Blue Dew are so annoying, why can’t we ask the school for some potion, sprinkle it on to clean up? We wouldn’t have to work so hard.”

A cost student couldn’t help but smirk — this second-year fellow must be new. His frank laziness would surely earn him a scolding from the veteran janitor.

Though, he somewhat supported the idea of using chemicals.

Sure enough, in no time at all, Hemingway’s raspy roar filled the grassland, ”You rascals! Do you even consider yourselves wizards of the First University! Blue Dew serve as bait for about a dozen magical creatures in the lake, and they also help clear the moss from several hundred trees along the shore. Even the soil mounds they leave behind are Elder Sostanza’s favorite fertilizer for the Botanical Garden.”

”Have you no common sense at all?!”

The second-year veteran was clearly terrified by Hemingway’s roar, his face turning pale as he shakily explained, ”I just feel that there have been too many soil platforms left by these Blue Dew recently... I heard from classmates that there used to be only three to five hundred every month, and cleaning once a week was enough. Now there are over a hundred new ones every day... It’s becoming a chore to clean every few days. It seems like the ecosystem by the lake is a bit unbalanced.”

Hemingway leaned on his pickaxe, adjusted the felt hat atop his head, and squinted as he surveyed the grassland and the calm lake in the distance, his expression slightly softening.

”Recently, there have indeed been quite a few.” The old man nodded. ”But it hasn’t reached the point of ecological imbalance yet. If there’s a hint of such a problem, the school will notify us... It’s good that you thought of this.”

The last sentence seemed like a compliment to the veteran, but the wording was vague enough that the veteran didn’t know whether to show a bit of surprise or continue his earlier panic. His conflicting expressions tangled together, making him look constipated.

”Perhaps it’s because of spring?”

Just as Zheng Qing walked beside the old man, he couldn’t help but interject, ”After the spring thunder, don’t all insects become more active?”

”Blue Dew are different.” Hemingway shook his head. ”Blue Dew is a type of moon-born magical insect, hatching at the beginning of the month, maturing and mating by mid-month, and dissolving at the end of the month. There’s no concept of spring for them. They are active all year round and every month, during the brightest moonlight, is their spring.”

”Like this.” Zheng Qing scratched his chin, feeling his knowledge had expanded slightly.

”Our classmates have discussed it and think it’s because of those guys in the lake.” The second-year veteran couldn’t help but speak up again.

Zheng Qing looked at him seriously, always feeling there was a slight resemblance to Doctor Xiao in his demeanor. The veteran school worker heh-ed, offering no comment on this new perspective.

”Why is that?” Zheng Qing countered.

’Those guys in the lake’ naturally referred to the Fishmen. But Fishmen and Blue Dew were worlds apart; even if Fishmen liked to snack on dried Blue Dew, that had nothing to do with the Blue Dew’s mass proliferation—on the contrary, the Blue Dew’s numbers would actually decrease greatly due to the Fishmen’s voracity.

”Because Blue Dew likes ’fish dew’.” The veteran looked at Zheng Qing in surprise, as if curious why he would ask such a strange question.

Seeing Zheng Qing’s confusion, Elder Hemingway kindly explained, ”The so-called ’fish dew’ is a euphemism, it’s actually Fishman feces.”

Zheng Qing suddenly realized.

In recent days, the Fishmen had been demonstrating and protesting at the lakeside, leaving quite a lot of dung behind. If the Blue Dew liked ’fish dew,’ it indeed made sense why they had been proliferating unusually lately.

After clarifying this, Elder Hemingway finally noticed there was a chatterbox standing among the lawns.

”Speaking of which, are you here to help clean up the lawn?” The old man raised an eyebrow, sizing up the young state-sponsored student with a sidelong glance. The second-year fellow next to him looked hopeful.

”Not really.” Zheng Qing couldn’t help but smile—a smile that immediately turned the veteran student’s head down in disappointment—and said to Elder Hemingway, ”You sent me a note last night, asking me to see you at noon today.”

”Last night?” The old man evidently struggled with his memory, squinting and scratching his head.

”It was about the night patrol at Lakeside of Bell Lake on Saturday evening. I have other matters and might be delayed, so I had requested a task adjustment beforehand.” Zheng Qing carefully added the explanation.

”Ah, that matter.” Elder Hemingway extended his hand, ”The application process with the School Works Committee is all set, right?”

Zheng Qing nodded rapidly.

”Well then, let’s clean up these Blue Dew Anthills.” The older man waved his hand grandly, assigning Zheng Qing a new task, ”Two options, one is to squeeze in whenever possible, execute on-demand tasks, and accumulate five hours of miscellaneous duties by Saturday; the other, you take responsibility for cleaning the Blue Dew Anthills from here to there, ensuring by Friday night that there are no more than one hundred anthills.”

Zheng Qing gaped at the range the old man indicated from ’here’ to ’there,’ drawing a sharp breath of air.

He estimated that the ’task area’ was easily half a soccer field in size.

”I’ll choose the first one.” He made his choice, visibly disheartened.

”I’ve got extra trowel heads over here!” The sophomore veteran called out jovially.