High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2753: Chapter 974: Selectable Gifts

The gentle midnight breeze drifted by.

The air seemed filled with the ’old’ and ’dusty’ aura that the master always mentioned, permeating the endless darkness behind closed eyes, making the Black Gem Cat feel suddenly suffocated.

Although it didn’t need to breathe.

It still desperately needed something new to break this suffocating feeling.

”Speaking of the shop—”

The Black Gem Cat perked up its ears, its tail slightly curling in front of it, elongating its voice a bit: ”Why do we have to meet in such a place? What happened to our shop? The San You Bookstore? Did you make a bet with someone and lease out the bookstore contract?”

It did not shy away from speculating the worst possibilities.

The sharp, screeching laugh of the Yellow Flowered Cat pierced its ears, the laugh carrying an indescribable sense of ambiguity.

The leaves on the branch of the Huanglian Tree paused slightly, and the rustling sound in the wind abruptly ceased. After a few seconds, the night wind started flowing again—proving that ’silence’ could indeed be a verb.

”I’m not in the shop right now.”

The master gave a proper answer, yet it was not convincing, after all, Zheng Qing was no longer the clueless child from two years ago. Even newly ascended legends like Old Yao could cross borders to project an image for classes at Jiuyou Academy. There was no reason for a powerful wizard like the master to communicate using only leaves and the evening wind.

”Not in the shop?”

The Black Gem Cat tilted its head, seemingly snorting out these words through its nose.

The breeze blew gently, and the leaves remained silent to show their speechlessness.

”The old man is quite far from us right now.”

The Yellow Flowered Cat took over the conversation, explaining in a rough voice: ”He’s in a very distant, incredibly far place, and might drift even further away from us... Say what you need to, he may not even hear you soon!”

The black cat immediately fell into silence; the just-dispersed suffocating feeling slowly crept back, like a person with their face wrapped in cling film, who had just managed to tear it off, thinking they could breathe a breath of fresh air, only for icy sea water to flood into their mouth and nose the next moment.

He knew the master was leaving.

But he did not expect it to be so urgent.

The heavy night closed in from all directions, and the stars twinkling in the night sky seemed like malevolent eyes, all staring intently at it. It lacked the confidence to face this seemingly orderly, but actually chaos-filled magical world alone after the master’s departure.

Thinking of those who bore malice towards him, the Black Gem Cat couldn’t help but shrink its tail and tuck its paws a bit tighter.

”No need to be so tense.”

The leaves of the Huanglian Tree knocked against each other gently, as if Zheng Qing could see the master smiling lightly with a teacup in hand: ”Before you graduate, at least, we’ll have another chance to meet... Rest assured, before I truly leave, I will arrange everything.”

This last sentence was like a rope.

Making the boy sinking to the bottom feel he could breathe again.

”—So, the gift, then?”

The Black Gem Cat cleared its throat, its tone carrying that peculiar shrewdness of the small-time character: ”Since you think I’m not mature enough and plan to leave me to my devices, I have to make full use of these conditions...”

Because of the lack of maturity, it could blurt out what it wanted to say from the heart.

For instance, the gift.

This was the only thing it could care about now.

The rustling leaves on the branches of the Huanglian Tree made it seem it could see the master chuckling softly.

”This time you get a choice for your gift.”

”What choice?”

”A chance to travel... you can choose to go or not.”

Upon hearing the word ’travel’, the Black Gem Cat immediately furrowed its brows—not because of a tight schedule, he believed if the master wanted to arrange a trip for him, time wouldn’t be an issue of concern.

It frowned because it couldn’t immediately think of what kind of ’journey’ could be considered a birthday gift this year, or possibly the last birthday gift the master would give him.

In the past two years at university, Zheng Qing had indeed visited many places.

For instance, the Secret Garden Minor World participated in during the hunting competition; the standard Otherworldly World involved during the Black Prison incident; the Dreamland; last winter’s global chase aboard the Earth Dragon Express; or even earlier, the treacherous journey at the edge of life and death after the Silent Forest explosion.

To put it mildly, Zheng Qing couldn’t think of any place worth the master taking him.

Thus, after hesitating a few seconds, the Black Gem Cat didn’t make a quick decision, but cautiously asked, ”You want me to choose whether to go... you should at least tell me where it is first, right?”

The night breeze hesitated slightly, causing the rustling of the tree leaves to become intermittent.

But this hesitation only lasted a few seconds.

The master’s voice echoed once again in the Black Gem Cat’s ears: ”—It’s a high-dimensional journey. The advantage is helping you adapt better to the world after I leave.”

The implication being, this trip would make Zheng Qing stronger.

”I don’t quite understand—” The Black Gem Cat completely didn’t grasp why such a journey would have this effect.

The night breeze paused slightly, then stirred anew: ”—On ordinary days, do you ever feel when you wake up in the morning, that what seemed terrifying and magnificent in your dream, appears remarkably ordinary and pale after waking up, wondering why you were so afraid, so excited, or why your emotions fluctuated so much?”

The Black Gem Cat nodded rapidly.

”—That’s because the essence of Dreamland is lower than the real world. In other words, to reality, a dream is a world of lower dimension. Therefore, the intricate plot you think of in a dream seems full of holes when you wake up; conversely, a very subtle stimulus in the real world can result in intense emotional waves in a dream... well, the mechanism of many hallucinogenic magic potions also relies on this principle—by lowering the ’thought’ height of wizards, allowing consciousness to couple across time and space with the dimensions of Dreamland, giving a strong and realistic experience.”

Hearing this.

Zheng Qing suddenly had a vague understanding of the gift the master spoke of.

If the ’real’ self viewed ’Dreamland’, seeing many flaws and loopholes; then standing at a higher dimension, viewing ’reality’, surely one could see even more flaws and loopholes of the real world.

Undoubtedly, this towering perspective would greatly aid in mastering the truth of magic.

The problem is—

”If the intense emotions experienced in Dreamland become pale in reality; would emotions felt in the real world also become pale in higher dimensions?” He keenly connected it to the collection of stories and those solitary elders the master seemed to be ’casually’ mentioning before.

”I told you this kid is sharp!” The Yellow Flowered Cat muttered aside, seemingly a bit annoyed, yet also somewhat pleased.