High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 89: Chapter 13 Invitation Letter_1

The Monday afternoon class was a Talisman tutorial.

Being a foundational course for Modern Wizards, the Talisman class was a compulsory subject, which was taught in room 101 of the main lecture hall.

The class was conducted in a sizable tiered classroom.

When Zheng Qing arrived at the classroom, the sprawling space was already filled with students. Because it was a significant lecture, students from other grades of Jiuyou Academy were also attending the class along with the Astronomy Class 08-1. Look around, and all one could see was a crushing mass of people.

From the rear-left of the room, Xin Fat Man waved a victory sign towards Zheng Qing.

With a satisfied grin on his face, Zheng Qing rejoiced.

To evade the pursuit of Li Meng, he let Xin Fat Man take the lead, making it to the room ahead of him, along with other male students, to save seats for him. Then, minutes before commencement, Zheng Qing would sneak into the class through the back door.

This strategy was devised by Xiao Xiao.

According to his explanation, as the class monitor, Jiang Yu had the responsibility to lead by example, and would definitely sit in the front row. Most certainly, Li Meng would sit beside Jiang Yu. If they were to plan their entrance and exit from the classroom diligently, they might not cross paths for a while.

Like this moment.

Unknown faces filled his vision.

With barely a whisper, Zheng Qing slid in beside Zhang Ji Xin, just like a drop of water blending into the ocean, without causing a single ripple.

Satisfyingly flipping his textbook open, he took a look around.

In the back-right corner of the room, Zheng Qing spotted a familiar shape—Nicholas, the ’veteran’ who had led them on a campus tour yesterday.

Nicholas sat alone in the last row, face buried in piles of notes. No one sat next to him.

As Zheng Qing was contemplating whether to get up and greet him, a familiar cry rang out from behind the classroom door, saying:

”The teacher’s here! Everyone, take your seats!”

After a brief commotion, the room rapidly descended into silence.

...

The teacher for the Talisman class was Professor Zhang, full name Zhang Huaigu.

Even though the name had a strong old-fashioned air, Professor Zhang, in actuality, was an elegant young woman.

Unlike Old Yao’s booming and brusque voice, Instructor Zhang spoke in a soft Wu dialect that was pleasing to the ear.

However, Zheng Qing was engrossed in the red card in front of him, entirely oblivious to whatever the earnest female teacher at the podium was saying.

The hood of the red card wasn’t adorned with any lavish designs, merely bearing a calming Talisman in the center. The caption ’Invitation’ was inscribed in yellow ink under the talisman, lending the card a grave yet refined touch.

The base color on the inner face was a pinkish hue, surrounded by mysterious milky-white symbols.

The main text was written in small, regular script with a brush pen, and was remarkably succinct.

”Dear student (Zheng Qing),

The First University Talisman Association will be holding a welcome party followed by an Obon Festival celebration on August 15th at 8 p.m. sharp in Room 301 of the main lecture hall (east), during the 63rd year of the Wuyuan era.

We sincerely invite you to join us!”

- First University Talisman Association (Zhang)”

Zheng Qing examined the text thoughtfully, perplexed.

On his way to the classroom, a polite second-year student had stopped Zheng Qing and uttered some cryptic blessings before furnishing him with this red invitation card.

Because time was not on his side, Zheng Qing received the card with a big smile, lacking any spare time to engage further with the elder student.

Thus, he could only sit and stare blankly at the mute invitation.

”This is an invitation!” Zhang Ji Xin confirmed with a nod beside him: ”I’ve seen similar ones in my brother’s drawer before.”

Zheng Qing knew what an invitation was.

In the first class of the morning, Old Yao had repeatedly emphasized the requirement for each student to obtain at least one invitation during the new student season. Each invitation could be exchanged for 0.1 credits. He had originally worried about how to find one, but unexpectedly, someone handed him an invitation just after he finished lunch.

If this card is the invitation that Old Yao needs, then this 0.1 credit is too easy to get!

”It’s not as easy as you think.” Xiao Xiao shook his head on the other side, denying Zheng Qing’s idea: ”You are a scholarship student, naturally having an advantage over many new students. When recruiting newcomers, the clubs will consider you valuable students first.”

The male students around agreed.

Zheng Qing’s face flushed.

He didn’t like being singled out.

”Also, no matter what you encountered on the special plane or the conflict on the pedestrian street yesterday evening, they have all been circulated in the campus.” Xiao Xiao flipped through his notebook and said slowly, ”You are somewhat famous now.”

”They spread it!” Zheng Qing turned pale and looked at the others.

”They say this year Jiuyou Academy has a male scholarship student who came to school with a broom.” Xin Fat Man turned his head and chuckled.

”But I didn’t bring any broom.” Zheng Qing looked at Xin’s chubby face with a foolish expression.

Xin Fat Man faltered, mumbled a bit, turned his head, and ignored Zheng Qing.

Zhang Ji Xin next to him explained: ”What they mean is, you’re so unlucky.”

Zheng Qing rolled his eyes.

He knew the meaning of the words, but he just didn’t like Xin Fat Man’s smug expression.

”Can an invitation be cheated?” Turning his head to Xiao Xiao, Zheng Qing hesitated and asked, ”What I mean is, since an invitation is worth 0.1 credits. If someone buys invitations from clubs or student unions, can they get a lot of credits?”

”If credits can be bought, so can jade coins. Why would anyone waste jade coins on credits?” Zhang Ji Xin interjected, ”For those wizards who are either rich or noble, the credits are nothing.”

”I can’t deny that there are such behaviors,” Xiao Xiao shook his head and added, ”But this kind of behavior of buying an invitation is very rare. Only some new students who are in urgent need of credits and have a deep background will take this measure.”

”On one hand, the price of purchasing an invitation is very high. Regardless of whether it’s the student union or a club, there are a fixed number of members. Each year, a few veteran students leave, thereby providing spaces for a few new students. The number of invitations is very limited. And each person can only get one invitation from each organization. In short words, even if you win over all student organizations, you can only get a maximum of ten or so credits, which is very uneconomical.”

”On the other hand, if such purchase behavior is detected by the school - in reality, such behavior is very easy to spot - this means a huge penalty.”

”Of course, some students may truly be unable to obtain even one invitation. In this case, they can obtain one or two invitations through some reprehensible means without drawing too much criticism.”

”You certainly won’t have this kind of trouble.” Zhang Ji Xin envied and pinched the red card, sighing, ”You will just be troubled by an increasing number of invitations.”

”If you don’t want it, you can give it to me.” Fat Man Xin turned his head back and tried to flatter Zheng Qing again with a grin.

Zheng Qing resolutely shoved the invitation back into the drawer and shook his head.

If he wasn’t resolute, this fat man would definitely have shown no mercy.

Before the lesson started, as soon as Zheng Qing took out the invitation, Xin Fat Man snatched it.

If it weren’t for the other male students watching him with hawkish eyes, this card would have completely disappeared into the fat man’s flash drive.

Zheng Qing stuffed the grey bag into his pocket, turned to look at Xiao Xiao, and planned to continue asking about the invitation.

But this idea was brutally interrupted.

The classroom was filled with a clear gasp.

Many people let out a desperate wail.

The handsome instructor with a gentle voice on the stage had just spit out two terrible words:

”Exam!”