High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2421: Chapter 642: Intertwined Time

Master Baoyangzi’s magic theory class lasted for a full three hours.

It happened to be the duration of a major class period.

As the clock just ticked past three intervals, the dense array of dials surrounding the ’classroom’ quivered slightly, and the second hands that were ticking away stopped simultaneously.

Then, those clock faces, like thin paper blown by the wind, floated gently down, one after another, returning to the pocket watch in Master Baoyangzi’s hand.

Old Yao’s office returned to its original state.

The two young wizards awoke from the illusion and began looking at their own timers. There was no need for calculation, and Zheng Qing easily noticed that there was still half an hour before the end of their brief ’time travel’.

”Two pieces of good news.”

The elderly wizard from the relevant department tweaked his beard, looked at Zheng Qing and Jiang Yu unhurriedly, and spoke gently: ”The first good news is that neither of you showed symptoms of ’time-space allergy’.”

Zheng Qing silently rolled his eyes inwardly.

There was no need for him to confirm this.

Less than half a year into First University, during the freshman Winter Hunting, Zheng Qing had experienced a brief time reversal. If there were any allergies, he would have ended up in the school hospital back then; later in the North District of Beta Town, one night, Jiang Yu and he had also restored a destroyed street to normal without an incident.

Thus, the result of this first ’good news’ had been determined from the start, and mentioning it now was merely better than nothing.

Being unaware of these details, Baoyangzi continued to twiddle with his beard and said: ”... the second piece of good news is that you two passed the ’relevant department’s’ preliminary review. Later, your ’time converters’ will be approved, and yes, it’ll most likely be handed over by Professor Yao...”

He turned to glance at the dean behind the office desk.

”All good, all good.” Old Yao bit down on his pipe, exhaled a medium-sized smoke ring, and smilingly agreed.

Baoyangzi withdrew his gaze and continued: ”Moreover, remember to carefully inspect the terms on the document before signing for it. If the ’time converter’ gets damaged or lost, the minimum fine is One Thousand Jade Coins, and mind you, that’s the minimum amount!”

Hmm, that’s roughly equivalent to his two months’ worth of Fu Bullet sales, Zheng Qing pondered.

Despite this, One Thousand Jade Coins is still a staggering amount. Not just ordinary wizard families, even smaller wizard families can’t come up with that much cash flow in a short time.

Avoiding bearing such a risk would be best if possible.

Thinking about this, he couldn’t help but glance at Baoyangzi a bit more.

The elderly wizard kept tirelessly reiterating the various risks emphasized many times during the previous theory class: ”If one recklessly alters the original closed timeline during time conversion, causing temporal risks, the Alliance will pursue the user for ’major experimental accident’ liabilities. This isn’t something a fine can settle; black prison time might be a consequence—not something to forget anytime...”

Seeing no intention to stop anytime soon, Zheng Qing finally couldn’t help raising his hand, gently interrupting the elderly wizard’s voice.

”Professor,” the young cost student pondered his words, hesitantly saying, ”Can I not sign? I mean, if I don’t use the time converter provided by the relevant department...”

At this, a flash of understanding passed through the eyes of both Professor Yao and Jiang Yu, while Baoyangzi, who knew little about Zheng Qing, appeared perplexed and somewhat puzzled.

”What do you mean? Have you felt the risk of this magic and decided to forego using the time converter?” The elderly wizard’s eyes lit up; it was the first thought crossing his mind.

”No, no, no,” Zheng Qing waved his hands repeatedly, raising his own silver pocket watch: ”I have a time converter, so I feel no need...”

”Impossible!”

The elderly wizard eyed the seemingly ordinary pocket watch, his expression turning solemn: ”Time conversion is an extremely high-risk and heavily restricted magical behavior within the entire Alliance, its regulation level not under Forbidden Curse, except for the relevant department; no other place could have a time converter!”

As he spoke, he nearly rudely snatched the pocket watch from the young man’s hand.

Zheng Qing’s vision blurred momentarily, almost stumbling to the ground.

Yet, understanding the gravity, he overlooked the rather rude gesture from the elderly wizard, simply watching him eagerly, fearing that the wizard would pull out a regulation from somewhere to confiscate his pocket watch—truth be told, he already regretted taking out his pocket watch. It was merely One Thousand Jade Coins, and even if he broke it, replacing it wouldn’t be difficult!

He had this confidence.

Jiang Yu cast a worried glance at the young man. Privately possessing a time converter is a serious legal offense; she had always assumed Zheng Qing’s pocket watch was declared, but now it seemed it was illegal possession.

For a moment, names of several Judge Dan Hague friends flashed through the witch’s mind, along with considerations of what to write to her Elderly Ancestor.

Meanwhile, Old Yao sat quietly behind the desk, saying nothing, simply puffing on his pipe, exhaling swirls of smoke that obscured his face entirely, leaving his thoughts unclear.

For a long time.

Baoyangzi finally, with a stern face, returned the pocket watch to Zheng Qing.

”I don’t know where you bought this pocket watch,” his expression eased slightly, and his tone tempered a bit: ”But I can confirm this is not a time converter... don’t think that being students of First University exempts you from being deceived by outside merchants... not long ago I heard a student getting duped into buying an ostrich egg as a dragon egg.”

He rambled on, imparting fraud prevention experience to the young wizards.

Zheng Qing deftly pocketed the watch without saying a word, only nodding obediently in agreement.

”Time’s up.”

Behind the office desk, the dean of Jiuyou Academy suddenly spoke up, interrupting Baoyangzi’s one-sided sermon. He tapped the desk and flicked a finger, causing the smoke swirling around his head to disperse, filling most of the room.

Before Zheng Qing realized, he felt a tightness at his waist, his figure unavoidably drawn toward the white-bearded elderly wizard.

Jiang Yu was also pulled along.

The two young wizards stood pressed against the redwood bookcase together, by Master Baoyangzi who was opening a law book.

”Yu said it was not visible!”

Accompanied by the brief incantation, a soundless spell light flashed.

Zheng Qing was taken aback to notice the witch beside him was gradually fading into the air, as he looked down and unsurprisingly saw himself disappearing too.

When only Old Yao was visible in the room, he bit his pipe, extended his hand to the front, and plunged it into the void, giving a gentle pull.

A familiar figure staggered recklessly in front of Zheng Qing.

It was another ’Zheng Qing’.

Alongside, slightly disheveled clothing Jiang Yu was pulled in.

The Zheng Qing before the bookcase suddenly realized, the timeline had reached the node where he was pulled into the office by Old Yao. He felt a small curiosity, wondering if a slight deviation in his reappearance time node—without the precise control like Old Yao—would count as a ’time conversion incident’?

Before he could figure this out, the slightly repressed, annoyed voice of the ’new arrival’ witch broke through the room:

”Professor!”

”Oh, sorry, sorry...”

The dean of Jiuyou Academy, smiling, repeated the previous timeline actions, identical to Zheng Qing’s memories, provoking even further contemplation in Zheng Qing.