High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1783: Chapter 4 Career Planning

The sparrows outside the window are chattering on the paulownia tree.

The oppressive atmosphere feels very much like a summer storm brewing.

However, under the control of the school’s weather monitor, the storm did not fall on this practical exam day; instead, the sky was filled with a red glow, painting the entire academy in its favorite color.

Zheng Qing stared blankly out the window, watching the originally green leaves being dyed like autumn maple leaves, momentarily forgetting what time it was now.

When he came back to his senses, the other guests in the ward had already started discussing the writing of career planning books.

Zheng Qing also knew about career planning. After entering the sophomore year, the first semester of elective courses included one on career planning, aimed at providing these young wizards with a clear understanding of their professional life after college and a definite goal for their future magic path.

Specifically regarding the ’career planning book’, it’s essentially summer homework for these young wizards. Before the start of the next semester, they need to spend the summer vacation listing their plans and how to achieve their goals.

Originally, this should be a very serious and important matter.

But for these eighteen or nineteen-year-old young wizards, ten, even twenty or thirty years later seem so distant, so unreachable, that many people write this planning book as a ’dream’.

Just like Zhang Ji Xin.

When he talked about his career plan, his face was full of longing: ”...I want to travel the world with a four-wheeled carriage pulled by horses! A pumpkin carriage pulled by rabbits seems a bit too small for me; I still prefer the western style.”

”I thought you would choose to join a hunting team and explore the New World.” Xin Fat Man was quite surprised by the red-faced male wizard’s choice: ”Would your family agree?”

”This is my career plan!” Zhang Ji Xin emphasized without much confidence.

Fat Man looked at his head sympathetically: ”I hope after you say this plan, your brothers won’t beat you until you’re covered in bumps.”

Unlike Fat Man, Xiao Xiao was a bit more supportive of Zhang Ji Xin’s plan.

”A very beautiful wish, but its feasibility is rather poor, and you may not get a good rating from the teacher.” He patiently peeled the apple in his hand, speaking slowly:

”My father told me, there are only two kinds of people in this world who travel the world and make it their home: circus people, and people on the run. I don’t think you’re the kind who likes wearing a red nose, or painting oil colors on your face, using a whip to train monkeys and elephants.”

”Ignorant, clichéd.” Not having gained understanding and support from his companions left Zhang Ji Xin a bit dispirited, but he quickly turned the question to Xiao Xiao: ”What about you? What are your plans for the future?”

”Me?”

The Doctor adjusted his glasses, hesitated for a moment, and sighed slightly: ”When I was young, I went to work at the library with my father and would always see an old man, ordering a cup of coffee, taking a copy of ”The Old Man and the Sea”, sitting under the second window, basking in the sun and drinking coffee...”

”I see, you want to open a library?” The red-faced male wizard had a moment of realization: ”Indeed, it matches your habit. Open a library, and you’ll never have to worry about running out of books.”

”No, I think he just wants to work in a library.” Fat Man seemed more cautious.

”Focus! Focus! Fellow classmates.”

Zheng Qing was interested too, and knocked on the rail beside the hospital bed, interjecting: ”Such a leisurely life, yet all you see is work? I think the Doctor wants to be that leisurely old man.”

Xiao Xiao glanced at the noisy crowd without commenting, and continued: ”...Once, I finally couldn’t help but ask the old man ’what are you reading?’ Actually, I wanted to ask why he didn’t get tired of reading it so many times. Then the old man enthusiastically told me the story of ”The Old Man and the Sea”... it’s indeed an interesting story about an old fisherman named Santiago going out to sea for fishing, not catching a single fish for eighty-four days, and then on the eighty-fifth day catching an eighteen-foot long, fifteen-hundred-pound great blue marlin...”

At this point, Zheng Qing couldn’t help but interrupt: ”You’re straying too far from the topic! We only want to know what job you plan to do after graduation... besides, Santiago caught a great marlin, not a big salmon.”

”Anyway it’s casual chat... don’t you feel my story is inspiring?”

Xiao Xiao adjusted his glasses indifferently, glancing sideways at the patients on the bed: ”I certainly don’t want others flipping through the graduation message book after graduation to leave you a message saying ’he has an ocean-wide broad mind,’ whereas my message is ’he’s a good person, never goes off-topic in conversations’. ”

Xin Fat Man and Zhang Ji Xin silently looked at Zheng Qing, then at the Doctor, and nodded neatly, agreeing he was quite right.

Zheng Qing felt the vein at his temple twitch.

But before he could think of anything to retort, Xiao Xiao immediately turned the conversation back to the main topic: ”...In summary, that conversation left a deep impression on me. After that day, I never drank such good coffee again. So I’ve always thought, when I grow up, I’d open a good coffee shop, right next to the library.”

This sharp turn caught everyone off guard.

A sprite dressed in a white gauze skirt cradled the thick candle, flying under the ceiling to replace the already burnt-out old candle, soon lighting the ward with a hazy yet reassuring glow.

Zhang Ji Xin cleared his throat twice and nudged Fat Man: ”What about you? How do you plan to write your planning book?”

”Me?” Fat Man’s mouth was stuffed with fruit— Zheng Qing highly suspected he visited more for the tasty fruits— making his speech sound muffled:

”I told you on the first day of school, I’ll be a Big Wizard! Big Wizards wouldn’t lack work, right? Even just getting the allowance from the Magic Alliance Conference could upkeep a castle.”

This plan seemed clear but somewhat unreliable. Especially his plan for after becoming a Big Wizard, akin to a king farming with a golden hoe.

Zhang Ji Xin watched Fat Man’s cheeks puff up as he stuffed another piece of pineapple into his mouth, shook his head, then looked at Zheng Qing: ”What about you? What are your plans?... Um, marriage doesn’t count; polygamy doesn’t count either.”

Zheng Qing rolled his eyes.

”I think dentistry has a good future.”

The young cost student laid on the bed, holding his head, gazing at the swaying blue flame on the ceiling, lazily saying: ”Think about it, in the Wizard World there are so many vampires, werewolves, zombies, ogres, and other magical creatures, many don’t have the good lifestyle habits of Dylan, nor do they have his dental insurance.”

”And those monsters often use their teeth, causing them to have tooth wear rates far higher than other magical creatures. This time in Black Prison, more than once I saw those monsters with mouths full of rotten teeth, broken, crooked... makes one want to smash their mouths out.”

”This is a huge blue ocean market with surely broad development prospects. I think our D&K can also try developing in this area.”