20: Chapter 20 Magic doesn’t make sense_1 20: Chapter 20 Magic doesn’t make sense_1 The effects of the blood replenishing pill took hold quickly, but they also faded fast.
After resting for a few minutes, Zheng Qing’s feverish sensation significantly subsided.
He pulled out his pocket watch.
It was now ten past four in the afternoon.
Wizards were coming and going in the Four Seasons Pavilion, and the market was still bustling.
Zheng Qing lingered, watching these fascinating sights.
He knew it was ti to leave.
The majority of the items listed on his shopping list were already packed in his grey bag.
He should go ho soon and preview those hefty textbooks.
Then he rembered the upgrade examination Thomas had ntioned.
“Do we have to take an exam to upgrade from the first to the second year?
If I fail, will I be advised to leave?” Zheng Qing stroked the wizardry book in his hand and sighed with lancholy, “I feel like I know nothing.
If I fail and have to go ho, wouldn’t that be a disgrace?”
“At Jiuyou Academy, exams are a basic rule.
So don’t expect to upgrade from the first to the second year without taking an exam,” Thomas cruelly crushed Zheng Qing’s spark of hope, “Of course, there are other ways.”
Zheng Qing’s eyes lit up instantly, he looked hopefully at his interviewer.
“You can choose to transfer to another academy at midterm, provided that your credits et the transfer requirents.
As far as I know, transfer credit requirents are even higher than the upgrade requirents.
And at Jiuyou Academy,” Thomas shrugged, “The majority of ways to acquire credits still involve taking exams.”
Zheng Qing, disheartened, lowered his head and stuffed his law book into his grey bag.
He had heard plenty of stories about transfer admissions from his grandfather.
For example, so universities had first-tier academies, but also supported second-tier and even third-tier academies.
So students with resources but less than exceptional college entrance exam results would enter second-tier academies at the arrangent of their elders.
Then, through maneuvering, they would switch majors or transfer into a first-tier academy.
As a fledgling wizard, however, he didn’t have the ans to operate such high-level projects.
“If you fail the upgrade exam, you won’t be advised to leave imdiately.
The school generally gives students one or two chances.
Of course, such retained students will be required to achieve slightly higher credits when taking the upgrade exam the following year.
I heard there’s a student nad Nicholas at Jiuyou Academy that has remained a first-year student for three years.”
Zheng Qing clicked his tongue.
Failing an exam was already embarrassing enough.
He couldn’t fathom the courage required to re-enroll, face the cuckold stares and whispers, and to sit side by side with younger students for learning.
What kind of pressure that student who had spent three years in the first year must have endured!
“I detest onlookers,” he muttered, “It’s like watching a monkey show.”
“I asked you before, ‘What is a wizard?'” Thomas halted and stared at Zheng Qing with his erald-colored eyes, appearing very serious.
“You said, ‘those who solve problems using supernatural powers.’ It’s a good understanding, but not enough.”
“In history, a great wizard once said: ‘I think; therefore, I am.’ If magic represents mystery, unknown, and power, then wizards possess mystery, unknown, and power.
When they think of sothing, they can make it happen.
This is what defines a wizard.” Looking at Zheng Qing, who seed deep in thought, he added, “You should learn to abandon the previous logic in your mind.
Magic doesn’t conform to logic.”
Zheng Qing shivered.
Thomas’s phrase ‘magic does not conform to logic’ was exceedingly overbearing.
He felt his breath trembling.
Not from cold, not from fear.
But excitent.
“So spend their lifeti only able to swirl a few tiny fireballs; yet so, even at a young age, can create astonishing celestial phenona.
These are disparities in potential.
The University of First-Rate admits you based on your potential.
Beta Town has thousands of tricksters, and so of them can perform tricks that dazzle even real magicians.
But those are just tricks,” he explained.
“You just need to learn how to control your power and why you should do it, rather than accumulating power.
Power accumulation is a lifelong undertaking and won’t greatly advance during a few years in school.
For you, maybe you can’t cast profound spells like others imdiately after joining the school.
But you can understand the professors’ words.
That’s enough.”
Zheng Qing stared at Thomas’s erald eyes and nodded.
Eventually, his curiosity got the better of him, “I always feel like I’ve seen you sowhere before—of course, before today—do you have the sa impression?”
“Wizards typically have a strong curiosity, but we have other matters to consider now,” Thomas diverted his gaze, looking towards the street, “The atmosphere on the street doesn’t seem right.”
Zheng Qing propped himself up on his shoulder, stood on tiptoes, and looked towards the end of the street.
Indeed, the far end of the street appeared rather chaotic.
“The neon lights are flashing!” Zheng Qing squinted his eyes and asked curiously, “Are the neon lights supposed to be on before it’s dark?
The world of wizards is indeed strange.”
Without a word, Thomas took out his brown wizard’s book, flipped it open, and slapped it hard.
A layer of pale blue glow erged around the pair.
Zheng Qing steadied himself and realized what was happening.
In the blink of an eye, brilliant colors spread across the whole street.
It was as if it were the twilight when the street lights just turned on, with neon lights flashing one by one.
All wizards on the street enveloped themselves with these glittering light curtains.
An ear-piercing roar accompanied the colorful flashes, sounding rather urgent.
The ground beneath them gently trembled.
Zheng Qing nervously looked in the distance.
A pair of scarlet eyes was exceptionally eye-catching on the brightly illuminated street.
…
…
Pigs are usually peaceful animals.
They are accustod to piling up lazily and enjoying the warm sunlight after they have eaten and drunk their fill.
Even if you poke them with a stick at that ti, all you’ll get back are so disgruntled grunts.
Wild boars, on the other hand, are dangerous animals.
Canny hunters always say, “First fear the boar, then the bear, and then the tiger.” Wild boars have thick skin and solid flesh.
They are incredibly strong but also reckless and impulsive.
When dealing with cautious tigers, hunters could think of ways to outwit them; when dealing with the reckless boars, there weren’t many good options.
If you accidentally provoke them, these sensitive and stubborn creatures might chase you over four or five hills.
When he was young, Zheng Qing spent so ti each sumr with his teacher in the mountains.
He heard the hunters in the mountains talking about how dreadful wild boars were, which left a deep impression on him.
He had never seen an enraged wild boar.
But with the influence of years of watching television docuntaries, he suspected that the creature roaring and rampaging on the street of Four Seasons Pavilion was an enraged wild boar.
Rage is an irritable state.
Zheng Qing had cald an enraged running bull before.
The best way to deal with them is to calm them down.
He took out a stack of yellow talisman paper from his grey bag.
The Calm Heart Talisman.
Specifically for calming the mind.
It is the cure for all kinds of restlessness, irritability, and dissatisfaction.
This was the talisman that Zheng Qing was best at creating.
When he got annoyed practicing his calligraphy, he would stick one on his forehead, and it always helped.
Back in the mountains, to subdue the raging bull, it only cost him three talismans.
User Comments
0 comments from readers