Chapter 428: Returning to Witch Academy and the Inescapable Monthly Exam
With the completion of the Summoning Ceremony, a flash of white light swept across, and a figure suddenly appeared above the ceremony.
“Um… here… Teacher Ji?” After sensing the Summoning Ceremony was complete, my body had already broken free from the constraints of the summon, and I slowly opened my eyes.
The first scene that came into view was a place I was very familiar with. With a glance, I then saw a figure even more familiar.
It was Teacher Ji.
“Xiao Han, you know how to come back, huh?” Teacher Ji turned her gaze towards me, her tone slightly helpless.
“Teacher Ji, I can’t control whether I come back or not this time. If no one summons me, I won’t be able to come back even if I wanted to!” After roughly understanding the situation, I hastily shifted the blame. After all, this kind of thing surely wasn’t my fault!
“It does seem to be the case. So, if I hadn’t summoned you back, would you have stayed over there for a lifetime?”
“How could that be? I’ve been wanting to come back so badly lately; you’re truly my savior, Teacher Ji!” I quickly exclaimed, “Um… Teacher Ji, is there something specific that you summoned me back for? Or is there something you need my help with?”
After all, I remembered that Teacher Ji was researching Extraordinary Knowledge and usually would stay in that lab for days without coming out. The fact that I was in this office again indicated that Teacher Ji had come out for a reason.
“Of course there’s something, but it’s not related to Extraordinary Knowledge. It’s not to the extent that it can’t proceed without you over there; there are other matters,” Teacher Ji straightforwardly replied, noticing my thoughts.
“Oh, oh.” I quickly nodded, adjusting my posture. I knew that in terms of Extraordinary Knowledge, I wasn’t essential. I then spoke again, “So what exactly is the matter that you summoned me for, Teacher Ji?”
“Well… haven’t you realized that a few months have passed since the new semester began? How many monthly exams have you experienced? I applied for course exemptions for you, but that doesn’t mean you can ignore the exams.”
“Um…” Being reminded by Teacher Ji and feeling her keen gaze, I suddenly felt an overwhelming pressure. After processing that pressure, I quickly realized—was there going to be another monthly exam?
“This is just one semester, right? Count on one finger how many monthly exams you’ve participated in. How many have you skipped? Not going to class, not taking tests—are you really in school? The academy has its own rules.”
“Um… Teacher Ji, then… since there are course exemptions, are there also requests for exam exemptions in the academy?” After being lectured by Teacher Ji, I reflected carefully and considered whether I could apply for exam exemptions given my situation of timely exams versus skipping them.
“Cough…” Teacher Ji chuckled lightly at my question, whether out of amusement or annoyance, I couldn’t tell, “Monthly exams are a means of checking a person’s progress, not a threshold for you to jump over. Is there any meaning in the knowledge tested in the monthly exams? No, at least not much, because it’s stuff you just learned this month, a benchmark to assess your learning outcomes for the month.”
“But with course exemptions, if I still have to be tested on the knowledge learned this month, what’s the point of the exemption?”
“The exemption is meant to save you from meaningless time wastage in class, not to let you learn nothing at all. If you keep this up, if I didn’t know you and your learning abilities, your behavior would seem no different from self-indulgence in others’ eyes.”
“Of course, I don’t need to live in others’ opinions, right?” After all, I wasn’t interested in deliberately showcasing my effort to prove I wasn’t slacking off.
“Just a metaphor, do you understand? Perhaps you don’t need others to understand you, but you also have to realize that the Witch Academy is indeed an academy.”
“But the content taught right now is simply too easy…” I muttered softly, pouting.
“Easy? Then you should take the initiative to create difficulty for yourself. Anyway, this month’s exam, don’t you dare skip it. You’ve already skipped twice; the first time, the Academy Head covered for you, which can be considered helping the Academy Head. This time, it’s similarly placed on the Academy Head’s shoulders, but it’s been a month since the last one—there’s no reason to still be stuck there. The Academy Head isn’t going to cover for you every day for no reason,” Teacher Ji said sharply, her tone resolute.
“Oh, oh.” I nodded repeatedly. After being called over by Teacher Ji, I might as well go to the monthly exam; it didn’t matter much.
Before, I had been thinking about returning to this world, and now that Teacher Ji had summoned me, it was just right.
“Don’t agree so quickly. Also, I have one more thing to tell you.”
“Another matter? What is it?” I was somewhat curious; after all, it couldn’t be anything trivial for Teacher Ji to make a special point to discuss it with me.
“Not a big deal, but since you’ve been absent from the academy for a while, there have been some changes.”
“Changes?” I was slightly puzzled. It couldn’t be that the Witch Academy was expanding, could it?
“Yes, you are the most special cohort. I won’t elaborate on how you are special. In any case, the academy plans to start adjusting the weight of combat power training beginning with your cohort. You know that the first three years at the Witch Academy have fixed course schedules, with very limited resources accessible, at most just some simulated combat; usually, it’s primarily theoretical knowledge.”
“Um… does that mean the academy will start distributing magic sources and spellbooks in large quantities? Or is there a special pathway provided for new students to obtain these resources?” I asked, somewhat surprised.
“Combat power isn’t lacking for witches, and it’s not just about magic sources and spellbooks. However, for you who have just become a prep witch… well, aside from you, the educational policy of the Witch Academy does not measure everything by combat power. After all, academic witches make up a considerable proportion of the academy, but times are changing. In the earlier days of the Witch Academy, students only had one magic source, and there weren’t nearly as many spellbooks as there are now. The evolution of the Witch Academy has changed a lot.”
“So… why is this happening?” I asked curiously, as I had always thought that the training method of the Witch Academy was to strictly filter out ordinary students—better to have fewer than to have many—that kind of approach. But now it seemed the Witch Academy actually cares about its students somewhat.
“Not to mention Tan Han, um… and you. Currently, in the same grade, the new student group has a substantial variation in strength. I’ve heard that Tan Han has given you all her spellbooks?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t touch those spellbooks.” I shrugged, not caring whether Teacher Ji believed me, “So, is this the academy’s compromise? Or is this to cope with the development of the script, aiming to cultivate numerous high-end combat powers?”
“Indeed, the previous educational method of the Witch Academy meant that the new student group wasn’t suitable for any combat exchanges with other academies. You can see that, right? During the Dreamworld Exchange Match, you and Tan Han turned the tide, while the other eight simply acted as embellishments. Yet their strength still left a significant gap compared to you. Moreover, their level of power ranks in the middle among extraordinary academies. The reason they have such strength mostly comes from spellbooks, but anyone given those can achieve similar results.”
“Um… is the academy not planning to center around the Child of Fortune anymore?” After all, at that time, the only Child of Fortune was Tan Han, but now the academy seems to be valuing those who aren’t Children of Fortune… could this be a bit odd?
“Of course, everything revolves around the Child of Fortune. But so what? If all the focus is solely on those Children of Fortune, then they will ultimately just become a group of individuals separated from their peers, enjoying their own self-indulgence. Their stage will always be as small as what they can see. That’s not right; their stage is the entire world. The people around them aren’t mere cannon fodder to highlight their disparities as soon as they appear. The Child of Fortune doesn’t surpass ordinary people simply because we treat them preferentially, but rather they shine with their own brilliance in a completely fair environment. That is the true essence of fortune.”
“Um…” Hearing Teacher Ji say that made a lot of sense to me. Everything should be this way; could there actually be someone who thinks this profoundly?
This perspective is vast!
Yet I couldn’t help but remain curious; this idea surely couldn’t have materialized out of thin air, could it?
“I want to ask, regarding the development of all this… is it the exposure of concepts like the Child of Fortune that has led to some people having inflated attitudes?” I tentatively inquired.
“You noticed? That’s about right; it’s one of the reasons,” Teacher Ji replied nonchalantly, then changed her tone and signaled me to leave, “In any case, as long as you understand, off you go. Don’t skip the monthly exam; go back and prepare well.”
“Got it, got it.” I felt a push that sent me out of the room. I hadn’t expected that after such a long time apart, she wouldn’t be willing to discuss any matters with me. I was also quite curious about the academy’s changes, but it seemed I could only learn through other channels.
Well… it didn’t matter. After being shooed out, I brushed off my clothes. This outfit still belonged to that small world, but here at the Witch Academy, where personal style is pursued, it didn’t seem out of place.
After leaving Teacher Ji’s office, I sighed with relief. The air unique to the Main World felt different from that small world—this place was definitely more comfortable.
However, I quickly sensed another layer of discomfort, which was the suppression brought by the Great Weakening Spell. The stark contrast before and after made it abundantly clear how much this grand spell suppressed the extraordinary, the suppression of extraordinary energy in the environment—it was all-encompassing!
Upon feeling this intense contrast, a glimmer of insight suddenly flashed in my mind, as if there was a somewhat marvelous idea that flickered and vanished.
But I had grown somewhat accustomed to situations like this. With the completion of the Knowledge Tree, it integrated my Memory Shelf and the two most important spellbooks, plus the effect of the Grand Wisdom Enlightenment Spell; I could say that I was frighteningly powerful now!
Even though my methods were the same as before, I could now achieve things I previously wouldn’t have even dared to imagine. In battle, I could quickly develop spells to respond to various situations.
I could never have imagined that such a genius could exist before, but now I achieved it. I can now confidently say that such a genius can indeed exist; this transformation is centered around me, so I clearly understand that the gap between my former self and my current self is something reachable through effort.
Of course, this effort also requires corresponding resources.
After leaving Teacher Ji’s office, I felt a moment of hesitation. Rationality told me that I had returned; I could go to the academy library to search for relevant literature and research on Earth Veins, finding the knowledge I needed to perfect my derived skills from the Knowledge Tree.
But emotion told me I should go back, back to my residence, which is the academy dormitory, and also take a look at how my roommates, whom I hadn’t seen for so long, were doing.
It had been a while, and I missed them.
In the end, both rationality and emotion convinced me; the accumulation of knowledge can happen at any time, and the sedimentation after that is equally important. Changing my way of life can help with such sedimentation; the relationships between people can also promote personal growth. Shouldn’t those guys in the dormitory be considered my friends?
Thinking about it now, I wondered how Dongli Yiren and Senior Sofiry were doing with their planting techniques?
Had Guan Qiuling taken my advice and shifted her focus onto herself?
As for Hong Chanyi… I hope she and Shi Huiyu are well.
And Yu Yatian… I wonder how she’s doing? As a seclusion practitioner, she should have her own thoughts on matters. I doubt she’d be as concerning as the first three.
Of course… what’s even more important is whether Sister Bai has come back. Did she not find me? But seeing that Teacher Ji didn’t mention this to me, she likely hasn’t returned. Otherwise, according to Sister Bai’s thinking, if she couldn’t find me, she’d probably go look for Teacher Ji.
I took out my phone, which I hadn’t used for a long time. As soon as I turned it on, a myriad of messages popped up on the screen.
It seemed quite a few people had been trying to reach me during this period.
Or perhaps it was group chat messages.
When I opened it up, I saw that Sister Bai’s pinned contact still showed no activity, even indicating the other party was unreachable.
Sighing heavily at this, my mood to check the subsequent messages waned. After all, they were messages that had been piling up for who knows how long; it made no difference whether I looked or not.
But in the end, my curiosity led me to keep scrolling.
The number of people on my contact list wasn’t many, and quite a few of them were from group chats and temporary chats.
For instance, class group chats, mutual assistance groups, etc. I also saw a message regarding my class leader position being revoked.
Realizing this was due to my earlier statement to Teacher Ji about not wanting to be class leader, I hadn’t expected so many people would care about this…
But unfortunately, I wouldn’t be replying to everyone individually; I could only dismiss the notification dots one by one.
Eventually, I came across Tu Xingyue; the new class leader appointed by Teacher Ji was her. She had previously been the vice-class leader, but now she had finally been promoted. I glanced at her private message and quickly pulled back the screen.
“Ugh—so cheesy. It’s just a class leader position, no need to be like this, right?”
Then I flipped through the messages from Hong Chanyi and others, but they weren’t anything important, mostly concerning the Summoning Ceremony. They didn’t want to disturb me, so they hadn’t been used.
“Wow, wow… so no one summoned me for so long because they were afraid of bothering me? That idea won’t do.” I shook my head and suddenly found more messages.
“Sofiry? What’s this… oh! About the seeds. Such an important matter, yet… I’ll check it out when I have time. Speaking of which, these fruits should be non-perishable, right?”
After all, there are spells similar to preservation spells. As a planter, Sofiry should know these spells. At the very least, she should have similar means. I’ll take it easy; I think I’ll just send a private message to check on the situation. If it doesn’t work out, then I’ll visit her today to see what’s going on.
