High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1120: Chapter 182: The Warmth Talisman in the Night

Whether Fishmen belonged to the category of aberrant creatures, Zheng Qing ultimately failed to clarify.

It wasn’t that he was unwilling to learn, or that the question was too hard, but rather that Xiao Xiao was right behind Zhang Ji Xin. If Doctor Xiao found out about Zheng Qing’s question, he would certainly waste half an hour beginning with the history of the Fishmen, interspersing it with numerous stories of battles between Fishmen and wizards, before finally providing an answer that could have been resolved with a single sentence.

And others had no choice but to listen.

Why waste half an hour listening to Doctor Xiao’s ramblings when flipping through the ”Wizard World Encyclopedia” would clear things up in a minute? Intelligent people wouldn’t do that.

Zhang Ji Xin considered himself an intelligent person, so upon hearing Zheng Qing’s question, he immediately raised his voice and diverted the topic.

”Oh, Fishmen, did you say you saw a Fishman?” As he spoke, he even shaded his eyes with his hand and peered into the lake—God knows what use shading his eyes with his hand was in the middle of the night when there was no moonlight—while he quickly took a few steps forward and grabbed Zheng Qing’s shoulder with a bit of force, ”You must have seen wrong, for I haven’t spotted any trace of a Fishman!”

He bit down especially hard on the words ”seen wrong,” his tone almost spiteful.

Zheng Qing only needed a moment of thought to understand the intentions of the red-faced male wizard and scoffed internally. Then he felt the grip on his shoulder tighten slightly, making him feel a bit of tightness in his chest.

”Oh, seen wrong... Possibly what I saw was just a leaf,” the wizard resolutely corrected himself, responding perfunctorily.

Standing in front of them, Su Ya stared blankly at the two men huddling together, talking about things she couldn’t understand, blinked her large eyes, and eventually decided not to bother with their nonsense and turned to look for Poseidon, who had escaped from her arms.

As for Li Meng, she was clueless from beginning to end.

Zheng Qing seriously doubted whether she had heard any of the conversation between himself and Zhang Ji Xin.

Li Meng’s little white cat in her arms, however, looked disdainfully at the two wizards, as if it was about to say ”scum,” which made the young student feel inexplicably guilty for a few seconds.

But he soon realized that he was now a wizard, not a black cat! Besides, even if he were a black cat, why should he feel guilty toward a little white cat? He hadn’t really done anything to Su Ya, and choosing not to listen to Xiao Xiao’s encyclopedia lecture was justified!

While he was giving himself a mental pep talk, several hunters from the Absolution Hunting Team steadily streamed into the pavilion from outside.

”Hiss...” After entering the pavilion, Xin Fat Man shook his cloak, tried to unbutton it, and instantly drew in a chilly breath, ”After all this time, the temperature inside the pavilion isn’t much different from outside. Are you sure you didn’t use the wrong talisman?”

As he spoke, he wrapped his cloak tighter around himself.

”If you don’t trust me, go lean against the post and check for yourself... If you want warmth, stay in your dormitory,” Zheng Qing glanced at the fat man irritably. ”The warming talisman is only meant to provide a bit of wind protection and insulation, not to create a bedroom for you.”

”Hunting team training shouldn’t be too luxurious,” Zhang Ji Xin said, siding with Zheng Qing. ”A real hunting team ought to be able to brave the harsh winds and face the toughest conditions.”

”Our hunting team isn’t officially a team yet; we still have four or five months of probation,” the fat man grumbled, truly leaning against the edge of a post, carefully examining the several talisman papers Zheng Qing had affixed: ”Hmm, they are indeed warming talismans... I guess, you really can’t expect too much from inferior talismans. The effects are too poor.”

Zheng Qing rolled his eyes but didn’t respond; instead, he turned and looked at Xiao Xiao.

”How’s the training going? Has everyone mastered the Kariel Tactics?” He felt that sometimes he should fulfill his duty as the leader of the hunting team, so he tried to make his tone more serious when asking this.

Xiao Xiao was surprised and glanced at the young scholarship student.

”Of course not,” Doctor Xiao sometimes spoke sharply, ”The hunting team is short of two members, how could ’everyone’ master the tactics we just learned today? You must be out of your mind.”

Zheng Qing’s expression stiffened.

The two missing members he referred to were Dylan, who attended evening classes, and naturally, himself.

”I did run with you all on and off a couple of times,” he mumbled, regretting the topic he had brought up, ”I mean, the others... you guys... have mastered it, right?”

Doctor Xiao didn’t speak, only emitted a loud ’hmm’ from his nose.

Zheng Qing figured that it probably meant ’yes’.

A low-quality warming talisman hanging from a column in the pavilion suddenly snapped with a pop, accompanied by a burst of sparks, turning into blue smoke and vanishing into the dark night.

The cold wind seized the opportunity to slip in, making the already chilly temperature in the pavilion drop even further.

Little Fox decisively curled up her big tail, wrapping herself up tightly.

Likewise, Xiao Bai the cat immediately burrowed into Li Meng’s embrace, burying herself deeper and warmer inside.

Xin Fat Man shivered twice—Zheng Qing noticed that fatter individuals seemed to tolerate the cold less. In contrast, Xiao Xiao, who was slimmer, did not react as much, only tightening his cloak slightly.

”Can’t you use some better talisman scrolls? Even if not the best ones, using some standard-level talisman paper wouldn’t hurt, right?” Fat Man howled in the cold wind.

Zheng Qing glanced at him and snorted, ”Having free talisman paper to use is already good enough... Besides me, who else in this university could provide you with so many talismans to use?”

The statement was indeed not wrong.

Besides requiring great skill, talisman painting also needs essential materials like talisman ink and talisman paper. Though inexpensive per piece, considering the success rate of making talismans and their basic value, the cost becomes quite frightening over tens or hundreds of pieces.

Due to his past experience at Hui Zi Ji of exchanging used Talisman Scrolls for blank ones, Zheng Qing had stored quite a few blank scrolls in his box, and most of the talismans he made were drawn on these papers.

Besides a bit of effort and skill, there was almost no cost.

This was one of the benefits Zheng Qing could constantly provide for his own hunting team. Another factor was the many poor-quality talismans produced during the process, which were virtually worthless. Selling them did not bring much money; using them was troublesome.

He simply gave them to his own hunting team for internal use, sparing the heartache of ’professional destruction.’

At worst, while using them, occasionally getting blown up by an inferior talisman or having a talisman go faulty—these were not issues. According to Zheng Qing, being blown up by a talisman could train the hunters’ neural response capabilities, and ineffective talismans were also useful in training. Hunters struck by a dud needed to respond appropriately on their own.

It was just that the young people in the Absolution Hunting Team were easygoing, and since most of the poor-quality talismans made by Zheng Qing were barely satisfactory and hadn’t caused any tragedies, Zheng Qing was still alive.