High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2179: Chapter 400: Magic Script Class in the 14th Zhou Week

On Wednesday morning, Xiao Xiao braved the biting cold wind to submit the Absolution Hunting Team’s materials for the Winter Hunt to the student council. Due to the unexpectedly long queue, he didn’t arrive at the classroom until 9:15, forty minutes late, with a chill still clinging to him.

The morning was a history class.

The history lecturer was Sima Yangyun.

The short Warlock who was late not only wasn’t punished, but was even warmed up by a gust of ’Radiant Sun and Gentle Valley Wind,’ dispelling the cold from his body.

Faced with the classmates’ giggles and winks, Teacher Sima sneered: ”If anyone in the class can get full marks on every history exam, not to mention being late by forty minutes, even if you skip an entire semester, it won’t matter!”

With this, everyone fell silent.

”So, did you get registered successfully?” When the Absolution Diviner sat down, Zheng Qing looked up at him and quietly asked. Although he had warmed up with magic, Xiao Xiao’s lips still looked a bit pale.

”I’m starving!”

Xiao Xiao didn’t immediately respond to his captain’s question. Instead, he grabbed the spicy soup from the drawer, took two furious gulps, then tore open a paper bag and wolfed down a greasy meat bun in a few bites.

He made no attempt to hide the process, only lowering the volume slightly while sipping the soup.

The teacher on the podium ignored this completely.

”Breakfast was great, thank you.” He poked Xin Fat Man, who was seated in the front row, and sincerely thanked him.

”Don’t talk to me; my grades are terrible.” The Fat Wizard replied with a complicated expression and a listless tone: ”...There’s a wall between us, a thick, impermeable wall.”

”This treatment has nothing to do with grades,” Zheng Qing gently reminded him.

”Then even more reason not to talk to me!” Xin Fat Man emanated palpable resentment.

Doctor shrugged and did not continue to trouble the Fat Wizard, turning instead to Zheng Qing.

”The materials should be fine.”

His mouth was full of buns, with an oily stain at the corner of his lips, and his voice was somewhat muffled due to airflow obstruction, making Zheng Qing subconsciously worry that his tablemate might choke in the next second: ”Absolution isn’t a newly formed hunting team... The submission deadline is 6 PM today, and I was queuing since 6 AM. How could we not get registered? The only issue is that, since our team looks like it’s advancing to the officially registered list, the hunting zone assigned for the Winter Hunt will probably be very near the outskirts... theoretically more dangerous than last year.”

Zheng Qing rubbed his nose noncommittally.

He had reasons to be skeptical of this conclusion. Because during last year’s Winter Hunt, the Absolution Hunting Team had faced several unexpected guests suspected of being Black Wizards—one of whom was a Legendary Level presence—the hunting zone they were in even had its timeline warped once.

Others might not remember the most dangerous situations of that encounter due to time magic, but Zheng Qing remembered it crystal clear. Such danger couldn’t possibly happen to him every time.

”What do we need to prepare? Did the student council notify us?” The young cost student switched to another question.

”No.”

Xiao Xiao adjusted the glasses slipping down his nose due to his lowered head, carefully peeling the fractured shell of a tea egg. With his mouth now free, he responded quickly and quietly: ”Deng Xiaojian—he was pulled by Qi Qinglan to the office to help out—said that the related preparations will be uniformly notified within three days after material registration ends to all hunters participating in the Winter Hunt. But privately, he also mentioned that this year’s process will likely remain consistent with past years, without much change...”

Despite that.

In fact, just one day later, by Thursday noon, the detailed arrangements for this academic year’s Winter Hunt were rapidly issued to each hunting team through class monitors—clearly, this plan reused last year’s framework, as even the color of the printed notice materials and the cover format had not changed at all, making one suspect they used last year’s surplus.

Taking advantage of the break before the afternoon Magic Script class, Zheng Qing briefly flipped through this plan.

Apart from the bureaucratic opening nonsense and the passionate concluding words, the content in the middle was lackluster, almost identical to last year’s.

Hunting tasks were arranged by difficulty level, continuing last year’s range division: the outermost layer (10 to 30 kilometers into the Silent Forest) was managed by the Assistant Team and the fourth-year veterans. However, because this year the Professor Joint Meeting had more personnel, each graduating class would be assigned a supervising professor responsible for overall safety.

The middle layer, responsible for clearing tasks from 1 to 10 kilometers off the Silent Forest’s edge, still used hunting teams as units, with each team assigned a small hunting ground. The appendix in the plan detailed the location of each team’s hunting ground. But unlike last year, this year the School Works Committee would not participate in the Winter Hunt activities; hunting teams would be overseen by their respective guiding teachers.

The innermost hunting grounds were located within campus, including the main campus, various colleges, research institutes, and other areas arranged by the Winter Hunt Office. The targets were relatively easier, such as kappas, water ghosts, eight-eyed spiders, and red chain snakes. As per usual practice, the school would release a few fierce spirits, dwarf wild boars, or ghouls in the area as additional prey.

If last year, being assigned a middle-layer task, the Absolution Hunting Team was still tense, this year when looking at this plan, he felt no danger whatsoever.

”A half-hearted perfunctory effort,” the young cost student muttered, tossing the plan back to Xiao Xiao: ”These tasks... could be completed with eyes closed.”

The Absolution Diviner was basking in the brilliant sunshine outside the window, holding a piece of velvet cloth, and using magic oil to carefully wipe and maintain his scroll of Bamboo Slip Law Book.

Upon hearing this, he glanced at the plan and casually responded: ”If you read carefully once, you actually can find many subtle changes. For instance, the range for this year’s Winter Hunt has significantly expanded compared to last year... Last year’s outermost hunting area was within 10 kilometers of the Silent Forest, this year it expanded to 30 kilometers. Moreover, the supervision of the middle-layer’s hunting teams, mostly done by teaching assistants last year, is now all handled by school teachers. Oh, right, I almost forgot, you might need to visit Greenhill Mansion after class today...”

”What for?” Zheng Qing’s reaction was clearly over-the-top, like a bristling cat.

Xiao Xiao calmly glanced at him: ”If you carefully read the plan, you’d know this year’s Winter Hunt plan’s supplemental reference included the hunting team’s guiding teacher system from the school hunting party... For the sake of stability, I suggest Absolution continue to invite Su Councilor as the guiding teacher... for stability in every sense of the word.”

He pronounced the word ’stability’ particularly clearly.

Zheng Qing’s face turned grim, with no intention of arguing.

”Professor Montreya is here!”

The stick figure drawing on the door weakly announced, then complained in a voice everyone could hear: ”Damn it, it’s obviously a rest day today, and I still have to work overtime... have you ever heard a ghost story about a magic portrait working overtime?”