High School of Demon Hunting

"...A few days ago, Teacher Sima from the History of Magic complained to me, saying that someone in her class was doing assignments for other subjects during her History of Magic class, making her feel a sense of career frustration..."

On the podium, Old Yao was giving his weekly summary. When he mentioned this, a low, ambiguous laugh erupted in the classroom, and many teasing glances quietly turned towards the seat of Xiao Xiao.

It’s not that Doctor Xiao had the courage to do assignments for other subjects in the History of Magic class.

It was purely because of his relationship with Sima that this moment resonated with the collective emotion. Old Yao clearly knew what everyone was laughing at and also glanced at the doctor with a smile.

He paused before speaking again.

"—I know, for many of you, the course of History of Magic isn’t very difficult; you can easily get a high score with your eyes closed. But the difficulty of Alchemy or Magic Text makes you feel like there’s never enough time. However, that’s not an excuse for doing other assignments in the History of Magic class! When I was in school..."

Zheng Qing instinctively perked up his ears and gave Old Yao an extra glance.

Evidently, he was slightly surprised to hear that this legendary existence had once ’studied’. But then he realized that Old Yao might have been studying hundreds or thousands of years ago, and in that time span, it wasn’t so hard to comprehend.

The professor, lost in his memories, didn’t care about the mockery from a corner of the classroom and said nostalgically, rubbing his pipe with his fingertips:

"—When I was studying, schools weren’t divided by the traits or preferences of students like they are now, but by major. Back then, there was no Alpha, Jiuyou, or Atlas, everything was under Alchemy Academy, Curse Academy, Magic Potion Academy, Magic Script Academy, Divination Academy, Talisman Studies Academy, etc. The Curse Academy even had more specific majors like Transfiguration, Curse, and Energy Shaping.

Nowadays, students look down on each other as Alpha despises Jiuyou, Jiuyou despises Atlas, Atlas despises Starry Sky, and Starry Sky despises Alpha... We also had such chains of disdain back then. But in our schools, it was the alchemy students who looked down on the curse students, and in the Curse Academy, Transfiguration despised Energy Shaping, Energy Shaping despised Curse, Curse despised Summon, Summon despised Escape Technique. Back then, we all called the Escape Technique students as ’Escape Department’. There was no one below them to disdain, so they could only disdain their own professors."

Laughter erupted once again.

Everyone found it exceptionally amusing.

Old Yao chuckled along and then paused. After the classroom quieted down again, he tapped the podium meaningfully, "—I’m not saying this to amuse you. Quite the opposite, this chain of disdain is very unhealthy, extremely unhealthy... It once caused great losses to the wizards."

He lowered his eyelids, seemingly recalling something, and remained silent for a long time.

The young wizards were also perceptive, holding their breath, sitting upright, and quietly waiting for the professor’s next words.

"...Because of these chains of disdain, young wizards in those days were extremely biased in their studies. Many people didn’t learn even the most basic Escape Techniques until graduation—not to mention the high-level magic like Apparition which involves deep spatial concepts, they didn’t even master very ancient and traditional skills like Water Evasion and Earth Evasion. The consequence? When they encountered danger, this kind of people died the fastest!

Don’t find it funny, the consequences of lacking education in other subjects were also serious—like someone unable to read star maps, getting lost in an ordinary forest for a month; someone mispronouncing Magic Text, meaning to greet the Danube people, but the other party thought he wanted a duel; and some never being able to concoct the most basic antidote, having enough herbs in hand, yet dying from a bamboo leaf green snake bite.

It’s ridiculous to you now, isn’t it? Many great wizards thought the same at that time! Hence, they later abolished specialized departments to create comprehensive academies.

I’m saying all this today to remind you not to neglect any of the compulsory courses the school offers you. Especially those subjects that you study from your freshman year to sophomore year—many even from elementary to large courses—yes, I’m talking about History of Magic! You will truly understand the importance of this course in the future.

In the language of Divination, it is said that ’the future is the reward of everything done now,’ and time is the best amplifier of profit in this process. History of Magic studies the relationship between time and reality. Each bit of effort you forsake now will make you regret it in the future, cursing why you didn’t invest more—do you know? The feeling of missing out is even worse than losing money!"

Zheng Qing highly suspected that Old Yao had lost money on financial investments, hence his final heartfelt words. He just couldn’t figure out what financial product a legendary wizard would buy.

Life insurance?

Just as he was getting lost in his thoughts, a word suddenly uttered by Old Yao made Zheng Qing instantly perk up his ears:

"—Also, there is another matter concerning the ’Quanke comes’ held outside the school by the Aquatic on Friday. There was a minor incident at the market, and there were some unpleasant rumors in the school. I’m here to make a brief statement."

Since he smashed the tools that the Fishman Elder Priest relied on for life, Zheng Qing had been a bit anxious these past two days, secretly counting his assets more than once.

Because it seemed only natural that the fishmen at Quanke would ask their kin at Lin Zhong Lake to demand compensation from him. Even if Danghag sent him a subpoena because it involved ’divine fall,’ ’disrupting public order,’ ’hurting ethnic feelings,’ Zheng Qing wouldn’t be surprised.

But strangely, the fishmen had remained very quiet.

Even on his way to the teaching building this afternoon, passing by Lin Zhong Lake, Iseni, who was sunbathing on the shore, greeted him with a friendly wave.

On the platform, Old Yao solemnly read the school’s official document, attributing the incident to an accidental disturbance, without mentioning the fishmen’s losses or the identities of those involved. Naturally, it didn’t touch on the compensation issue Zheng Qing most cared about.

While the young wizards in the teaching building were worried.

Under the Cat Fruit Tree.

The Black Gem Cat and the White Jade Cat were coincidentally discussing this matter as well—considering the fishmen’s poor reputation, especially their habit of snatching freshmen’s belongings on the lake, Zheng Qing had reason to suspect they were cooking up something bad.

The Witch firmly agreed, suggesting that the boy prepare preliminary defense materials and that Zhongshan’s lawyers were very reliable, and so on.

The Big Fox, who was dozing with one ear upright, overheard their analysis and immediately snorted with laughter.