High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1291: Chapter 38: Cat Fruit is Really a Liquid

Never harbor any hope for good luck in life.

Only then, when good luck does not come your way, will you not feel as devastated.

After Tuesday’s Astronomy class, Zheng Qing gained a deeper understanding of this maxim—Professor Emma did not forget to assign homework to the students of Astronomy Class 08-1, as the young scholarship students had hoped. Instead, the old lady remembered she had not given homework earlier that morning and specially sent a Paper Crane to add assignments for that class.

Zheng Qing couldn’t help mourning for those kids for a second.

Not having something is not the worst.

To have and then lose—such as a weekend without Magic Script homework—is what truly saddens people.

Throughout Tuesday night, including Wednesday, Zheng Qing was frantically doing homework. This included a paper analyzing the structural formula of the Yuan Chen Guardian Spell as requested by Professor Yao, a five-thousand-word Magic Script composition as required by Professor Emma, adding new average lines to the Line Drawing as tasked by Professor Yi, and mastering the new Runes that Teacher Zhang wanted everyone to grasp.

Relative to others, Zheng Qing was a bit more at ease.

After all, he had already learned all the Runes.

Thus, during Thursday’s Magic Potion class, he had more free time to complete the analysis of the properties of the potions assigned by Professor Li, instead of like Xin Fat Man, who had to frantically draw a few Runes inside the desk drawer while attending the Magic Potion class.

”You only need to spend half the time you run to report after class on your homework, and you wouldn’t need to struggle so much,” Zheng Qing, seeing Xin Fat Man sweating profusely, felt a twinge of sympathy, ”By the way, the energy vent of that Thunder Talisman of yours is not sealed evenly; it will leak.”

A leak meant that the talisman could not hold the Spiritual Machine, and its efficacy would greatly decrease.

But for Xin Fat Man, completing homework for the Fu Lu Class was clearly more important than drawing a fully effective Talisman.

”As long as it’s not wrong, it’s fine.”

He waved his hand dismissively, secretly stuffed the drawn Talisman paper deep into the drawer, and while poking a Cat Fruit in front of him, he rolled his eyes at Zheng Qing, ”... Do you think everyone is like you, feeling like the sky’s falling down if they can’t draw a standard-level Talisman? Joking... I’m very satisfied just to fully draw such a Talisman.”

The ginger-colored Cat Fruit was rippled by the fat man’s fingers, trembling in the porcelain plate, causing Zheng Qing to watch with apprehension.

Cat Fruits, formally known as Mobu Li Fruits, are magical plants produced deep within the Mobu Li Valley of the African continent. Because ”Mobu” is phonetically close to ”Cat,” over time, word of mouth gradually changed the name to ”Cat Fruit.”

In today’s Potion class, Professor Li taught everyone a new Soothing agent recipe, and the Cat Fruit was one of the main ingredients of this Soothing agent. Currently, most students were learning how to process Cat Fruit.

Although called ’fruit’ and possessing the characteristics of typical fruits, Cat Fruit is different from most fruits. In ambient temperature and pressure, it hangs on the branches in a liquid spherical form. Occasionally, small insects attracted by the sweet scent of the fruit fall onto the Cat Fruit and then drown in it, becoming nourishment for the growth of the Cat Fruit.

To some extent, Cat Fruit combines multiple characteristics of plants, animals, and inanimate matter, making it a very magical entity.

Immature Cat Fruits are transparent and hang from branches like a clear spring; as time goes on and nutrients become more abundant, the colors of the Cat Fruits gradually deepen from light yellow to ginger yellow, to dark yellow, orange-red, deep red, and even purple-black.

Each color represents different effects and medicinal values.

For instance, colorless Cat Fruits serve as excellent ’Rootless Water’, the best neutralizing agent for preparing most pills; while ripe purple-black Cat Fruits are highly toxic, causing severe internal damage when applied externally, and can even corrode the soul when ingested.

And ginger-colored Cat Fruits are necessary active ingredients for many placebos—a Soothing agent is one of them.

A Soothing agent is a Magic Potion that can be used to calm and soothe irritable moods. It is said that fourth-year graduates consume a lot of this potion. To save the young wizards’ expenses, the school decided to teach the recipe to students as early as the first year, so that they would not have to spend a lot of money buying medicines in pharmacies in the higher grades.

”Stop!” Zheng Qing lowered his voice and shouted, ”Cat Fruit solidifies quickly after being plucked and is very prone to disintegration... Do you want us to lose all our credits for this class?”

Xin Fat Man shrugged indifferently.

”Don’t worry, I may not be as good as you at painting talisman, but when it comes to handling potions, I’m an expert.” Saying this, he extended his thick and short index finger and poked the trembling Cat Fruit from side to side.

Then, to the astonishment of both, the Cat Fruit ’plopped’ into a puddle of ginger-yellow liquid.

It looked just like a puddle of cat urine.

Zheng Qing was quick to react, pressing down on the Law Book with one hand, using a spell to control the spread of the liquid, and with the other hand, he grabbed the largest measuring pipette, striving to collect every precious drop of potion.

At the same time, he looked up at the fat man with an angry glare, ”What are you dazed for? Hurry up and handle the other main ingredients!”

Caught in the wrong, the fat man didn’t say another word, sheepishly grinding the Shu Kui root.

By the time Zheng Qing had collected the remaining Cat Fruit potion, Xin Fat Man had not even processed half of the Shu Kui root on his workstation.

”You could have used Sneezing Grass, which would have been much easier to handle,” the cost student critiqued. ”Why choose the more difficult option?”

Ordinary soothing agents use Sneezing Grass, and if too much is used, the consumer might fall into a deep, irreversible sleep; the advanced version uses Shu Kui root, which can treat many serious conditions, including Werewolf Restlessness Syndrome.

Since there were ’ordinary’ and ’advanced’ versions, there naturally was a hierarchy in the production process.

Sneezing Grass just needs to be cut into one-third of an inch cubes, then placed into a grinder and ground clockwise at a uniform speed for five and a half circles—the resulting juice, clear and free of odd smells, can be used in the potion.

On the other hand, Shu Kui root requires fine chopping with a silver knife, then fine grinding in a stone trough, and only after achieving uniform particle size can it be used. If the particles are uneven, the final soothing agent will not only fail to calm irritability but may also cause the consumer to become frustrated and depressed.

”Because we don’t have enough Cat Fruit Juice,” Xin Fat Man responded weakly. ”Using Sneezing Grass may result in an incomplete reaction...”

Zheng Qing believed this judgment.

”Where is the Doctor?” He turned to ask about Xiao Xiao’s whereabouts.

If Xiao Xiao was in his group handling potions today, they definitely wouldn’t be in such a chaotic situation as before.

”He took a leave to go to the library; he said he remembered a new divination method that might be useful,” Xin Fat Man continued in a very soft voice.

Zheng Qing fell silent.

Lin Guo’s Black Mountain Goat still hadn’t been found.

As the person responsible for divining the goat’s location, Xiao Xiao had been under a great deal of pressure.

”Isn’t it nice to be a top student,” the young cost student finally remarked after a long silence, ”to be able to take a leave casually, never worried about not completing assignments...”

Xin Fat Man rolled his eyes.

Why didn’t I see you being so modest in the Fu Lu Class?