High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2294: Chapter 515: Major Cold

The practical exams in the twentieth week were quite unremarkable.

Zheng Qing felt that he could perform well in most assessments, except for alchemy. The candidates were required to use the Fire Cotton Glue Photo-Art invented by the famous alchemist Archer to take a clear photo of the synthetic beast they had previously crafted.

This photographic technique involved evenly spreading a layer of fire cotton glue on a glass plate, then immediately immersing it in a silver nitrate solution to enhance the plate’s sensitivity. Since the drier the fire cotton glue, the lower the sensitivity, the plate had to be loaded into the camera for exposure while the glue was still wet — a process that only lasted a few minutes. If the photo wasn’t successfully taken before the plate dried, it couldn’t be developed or fixed.

While taking the photo, the synthetic beast crafted by Zheng Qing suddenly became agitated, causing him to fumble and ending up with only a faint trace of moisture from the silver nitrate solution on the glass plate during the final exposure.

As expected, the photo he ended up with was not very successful, only showing a blurry outline of the synthetic beast.

This incident lingered in the mind of the young scholarship student.

Until January 18th, the day of the Great Cold, when all the exams for the semester were over and most students had packed up and gone home, and the members of the Absolution Hunting Team went to the Wandering Bar for a gathering, Zheng Qing was still brooding over this exam.

”I’m so foolish, really.”

The captain of the Absolution Hunting Team raised a warmed cup of Green Bee and clinked glasses with Zhang Ji Xin, sighing listlessly: ”I knew that the synthetic beast would go berserk when exposed to light, but I forgot to add another Soft Leg Curse, and it broke free from the Binding Spell. By the time I tied it back up, the magical potion on the glass plate had nearly dried... In the entire exam, only my synthetic beast got away... I’m almost becoming a joke among the scholarship students...”

The young wizards of the Absolution had heard this less than a hundred times but at least eighty.

”Cheer up!”

The red-faced male wizard, after drinking several bottles of Sea Monster Langmu, now had lips and tongue turned a deep blue, and his face a purplish hue. Hearing Zheng Qing’s complaint, he waved his broad palm, thumping as if trying to pound the young scholar into the bar: ”You should look from another angle... for example, no one else’s crafted synthetic beast is as strong as yours! Thinking of it this way, doesn’t it make you happy?... Cheers for the synthetic beast that could break free from a Binding Spell!”

Gulp, gulp!

Before Zheng Qing could get up from the bar, Elder Zhang Da finished the half bottle of Sea Monster Langmu he was holding, and his face became an even deeper purplish color, as if surrounded by a bluish fluorescence, resembling a distant relative of Xin Fat Man.

As this thought flashed through Zheng Qing’s mind,

Xin Fat Man’s bulky figure squeezed between him and Zhang Ji Xin, and Zheng Qing noted a showy purple rose pinned to his chest.

”Did Linda really say she would come?” The fat wizard anxiously tugged at his collar, his tone tinged with unease: ”Is it possible you got the time wrong...”

”Merlin above, who would wear this kind of formal robe in a bar... People will think you’re on your way to a ball... You know? You look like a Romanian vampire right now!” Zhang Ji Xin flicked the purple rose on the fat wizard’s chest and laughed heartily.

The smooth robe material shimmered with mysterious colors under the dim bar lights; judging by the style and fabric, this robe must have cost the fat wizard quite a bit of gold.

Zheng Qing stared at the rose on the robe for a few seconds, finally murmuring to himself with vacant eyes: ”I’m so foolish, really...”

”Yes, yes, you’ve become a joke among the scholarship students!”

The fat wizard impatiently interrupted the young scholarship student’s rambling and turned to Zhang Ji Xin: ”Has Mr. Zha been struck by some malicious curse or taken the wrong medicine lately? I feel he didn’t use to care so much about his scholarship ’honor’...”

The purplish-faced male wizard shrugged without any comment.

Zheng Qing also silently took a sip of his drink.

Indeed, in the past — even just a few months ago — if such a low-level mistake occurred in the final exam, he would at most consider it a joke, laughing and sharing it with his companions, never to the extent of nagging like Aunt Xianglin for a long time.

But after the exposure of his relationship with Su Shijun and Old Yao’s suggestion of ’graduating early,’ a sudden urgency and an inexplicable ’sense of mission’ surged in Zheng Qing’s heart.

This feeling might be similar to the honor felt by the Clans of the Moon, making Zheng Qing privately feel that he must be diligent and excellent enough; otherwise, many people might be disappointed.

Especially with the recent meeting with Professor Yao.

Although never explicitly confirmed, the long-term subtle influence had led Zheng Qing to gradually realize the true identity of the gentleman — from his familiarity with the school to his immense influence over it; from Old Yao and other professors’ special treatment towards him to the professor’s mentioned relationship with the Forbidden Curse; from ”Entering First University” to the ”Wizard World Encyclopedia”; and so on and so forth, all these small clues have woven a certain definite yet unconfirmed answer in the young scholarship student’s mind.

Perhaps due to the discreet influence of the gentleman, or some intuition as a disciple, Zheng Qing instinctively felt that this relationship shouldn’t be spoken of, lest it disturb the gentleman’s current state of withdrawing from the world, causing him more trouble.

Therefore, since the gentleman did not bring it up, Zheng Qing also pretended not to know.

A tacit secret between the two.

But in their last conversation, Professor Yao displayed an astonishing frankness, to the point of naming names. This frankness greatly unsettled the young wizard, making him feel the urgent need to excel so as to bear the responsibility that seemed ever threatening, and could crush him to pieces at any moment.

This invisible urgency, combined with the subsequent alchemy test incident, brought immense frustration to Zheng Qing.

Thinking of this, he vigorously shook his head, noticing his glass was already empty.

”Did anyone see my bottle?” yelled the captain of the Absolution Hunting Team.

”Maybe you should check under the table,” the fat wizard burped, his face glowing blue: ”As far as I know, you often drop things there... Just like when I was tidying up this morning and found an unopened Christmas gift package under your bed.”

”Why were you under my bed?” Zheng Qing asked in a slurred voice, eyes wide open and half-drunk — a person’s mind is especially sharp when slightly intoxicated.

”Because your sprites hid my shoes under your bed... Maybe they didn’t want me to leave.” At this, the fat wizard showed a thoughtful expression: ”Hmm, by the way, do you feel that the sprites in the dorm have become increasingly ’lively’ lately? Perhaps they now understand the meaning of loneliness?”