High School of Demon Hunting

"Sixty percent?"

"How is it only sixty percent?"

"What’s the highest resonance rate you’ve had here? Seventy percent? Eighty? Don’t tell me it’s a hundred! My circle was that perfectly round, how can it only be sixty percent? Is there something wrong with your test?"

Zheng Qing followed behind the Dark-Skinned Wizard, muttering under his breath and questioning in a low voice all the way.

Whether he wanted to take this test was one thing.

Whether he got a high score was another.

The former was just an attitude problem; the latter rose to the level of capability—you can say I have a bad attitude, but you absolutely cannot say I’m not competent!

Especially for Zheng Qing, who hadn’t gotten this kind of "borderline score" once since entering university, and happened to be close to graduation, so an inexplicable, indescribable unease welled up in his heart.

So when Alex took out a stack of forms for him to sign, his expression was resistant and his movements sluggish.

The Dark-Skinned Wizard rubbed his shiny bald head, looking helpless.

He’d never heard that this kid was so sensitive; he suddenly began to doubt whether it was appropriate for the project team to put such a young Wizard on the "candidate" list.

"Sixty percent is a very suitable value."

Alex had no choice but to carefully explain the crux of it: "—The reason we’re having you redo the test this time, on the one hand, sure, has to do with Thomas, since he’s the one who added your name; on the other hand, it’s also because your resonance test result last time was also sixty percent... that’s a very delicate result.

In our project, higher matching isn’t necessarily better—if the match is too high, it’s easy to lose control, or face the risk of what we call ’Assimilation with the Way’; if it’s too low, you can’t resonate with the experimental subject at all—in theory, sixty to eighty percent falls within the most reliable confidence interval. Your value just happens to land right on the threshold of that interval, and it’s done so twice."

He gave the boy a meaningful look.

Zheng Qing suddenly understood in his heart.

No wonder Alex was acting so conflicted.

"So you’re worried that the resonance test using flesh and blood last time might have had an error?" He guessed the biggest reason he’d been summoned.

The Bald Wizard tilted his head in a way that could mean anything, and Zheng Qing honestly couldn’t tell if he was nodding or shaking it.

With some of the knot in his heart untied, he signed rapidly across all sorts of forms while asking with some curiosity, "—How exactly do you use a piece of flesh to test resonance? What is resonance, really? I mean, a piece of flesh has got to be the ’barest’ thing there is, right? No clothes, no messy thoughts. Its resonance should be higher than mine, shouldn’t it?"

"Project secret."

The Dark-Skinned Wizard snatched the signed forms from Zheng Qing’s hands, refusing to explain further, but still reminded him carefully: "According to your matching result, you’ll definitely pass the project team’s screening. If nothing unexpected happens, next week we’ll conduct the eligibility trial. During this period you need to keep your mood cheerful, eat healthily, don’t take prescription Magic Potions, avoid intense confrontations, don’t go out or travel far... Adjust your schedule properly. Uh, you’re still a student, right? Then there probably isn’t much in your schedule that needs special attention..."

"Right now, from Monday to Saturday, I have five major lectures every day, and half of them have to be completed through Time Conversion, so my schedule is extremely tight." The boy tactfully reminded him: "—And the finals are coming up. I have to prepare for my graduation thesis defense... This trial thing of yours, what’s in it exactly? And when is it going to be held?"

Alex gave him a surprised look.

"I remember you’re only in your second year?"

"Yeah."

"Graduating in your second year!"

The Dark-Skinned Wizard rubbed his smooth bald head again, full of emotion. "Young people these days are really something... In all my years at school, I never heard of anyone graduating in their second year!"

"My situation’s a bit different." The boy mumbled vaguely.

"The contents of the eligibility trial are a project secret." Alex’s tone finally grew a little more serious. "The specific time is also a project secret. But you don’t need to worry about injuries or scheduling... if the project team decides to put you on the candidate list, then the corresponding security and Time Conversion will be guaranteed."

...

...

"It’s memory."

On the way back to the dorm, a tiny voice suddenly sounded in Zheng Qing’s ear.

"What?" The boy raised his hand instinctively and touched his ear—then realized the one speaking was the green Little Dragon hanging on his ear—he just hadn’t yet connected what those three words were supposed to mean.

"What?" Walking ahead, Zhang Yu turned back and gave him a curious look.

The green Little Dragon fell silent.

Zheng Qing knew his reaction just now had been a bit abrupt, so he let out a dry laugh. "No, nothing... I just suddenly remembered I still have an assignment I haven’t finished."

"Then hurry up, and don’t stay up too late."

The head of the teaching assistant team patted the boy on the shoulder, then glanced around. They had already reached the depths of Jiuyou Academy. Night had grown dark, and the scattered pinpricks of light in the distance were coming from Dormitory Hill. He pulled his gaze back. "—I’ll see you off only this far. The night shift will be taken over by another team of Guards. Of course, if anything happens, you can contact me directly."

"Thank you, Captain!" The boy agreed obediently and gave a shallow bow.

Zhang Yu didn’t stand on ceremony. He tugged his hood, turned around, and in a whoosh disappeared from the boy’s line of sight. The four Guards who’d been accompanying them also vanished almost at the same time.

Zheng Qing quietly let out a breath of relief and tugged on the green Little Dragon’s tail.

"That was you talking just now, right? What did you mean?"

"Have you no manners?" A somewhat exasperated dragon voice came from his ear. At the same time, there was a sharp crackle; a few electric sparks burst from the tip of the tail and zapped the Warlock’s rude fingertips, making them sting like crazy.

"Tss... sorry!" Zheng Qing sucked in a breath of cold air and shook his hand repeatedly. "I just didn’t hear you clearly just now... You said something like ’ten-something billion’ or whatever, right?"

"I said ’memory’!"

"Oh, oh, memory... What does that mean?"

"Weren’t you asking earlier how they test resonance? It’s through memory."

"Memory? I don’t really get it..."

"With your level, it’s normal not to get it." There was a hint of disdain in the green Little Dragon’s voice, but it still couldn’t help showing off: "How long do you think that test you just took lasted?"

Zheng Qing took out his pocket watch and glanced at it.

"About half an hour?" He did a quick mental calculation.

"Wrong!"

The green Little Dragon denied him smugly. "That kind of misperception is exactly the power of memory... In reality, the time flow in that room was different from outside. I noticed it as soon as I went in! Your test lasted nearly three hours!"