High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2422: Chapter 643: Other Risks of Time Conversion

Observing ’oneself’ from the perspective of an outside third party, especially witnessing everything you’ve experienced before, is immensely intriguing.

Strange yet familiar; this was the only description Zheng Qing could think of.

He watched Jiang Yu change into a bright red academy robe in the blink of an eye and return to the office; he observed another Bao Yangzi emerge from Master Bao Yangzi beside the bookcase and stand before ’himself’; he watched the predictable argument between the Elder Wizard and Professor Yao.

The confusion swirling in Zheng Qing’s mind grew ever heavier.

Until a milky white halo rose from the pocket watch, the timeline progressed to when Master Bao Yangzi used the Time Converter and brought Zheng Qing and Jiang Yu back three and a half hours earlier, causing the three figures standing in front of him to suddenly disappear.

Zheng Qing, without blinking, stared at Old Yao behind the desk.

The professor, as usual, waved amiably at him, except this time, the number formed by the cyan smoke above his head was neither ’0’ nor ’1’, but rather a blurred overlapping shadow that seemed to be ’0’, yet upon closer inspection was ’1’.

Slap!

Before the redwood bookcase, Bao Yangzi snapped his fingers crisply, lifting the invisibility curse from the two young wizards who had returned from time travel.

The moment Zheng Qing reappeared in the office, he noticed that the last trace of ambiguity faded from the smoke above Old Yao’s head, turning very clearly into ’1’.

Legendary Wizards are highly sensitive to gazes from any direction, particularly when the gaze of a young student is so discourteous, continuously fixed on him.

However, the professor seemed not to be angry.

”To notice such details, very good.”

Old Yao raised the smoking pipe in his hand to Zheng Qing, his tone carrying a hint of appreciation: ”The timeline in reality holds uniqueness, just as I explained in your philosophy class about the ’Observer Effect’. When you are in a third-party perspective, the timeline diverges, allowing you to simultaneously see the convergence of different timelines; when you leave the third-party perspective, the timeline converges, letting you only see the current happenings... like right now, you are returning to the normal timeline.”

With this explanation, the number ’1’ formed by the smoke above the Legendary wizard broke apart, morphing back into an indistinct mass of smoke.

”Professor.”

The student couldn’t help but open his mouth, wanting to spill all the confusion from his mind, but when the question reached his lips, he suddenly didn’t know how to articulate it.

Standing beside him, Bao Yangzi seemed to guess what he was thinking, and straightforwardly said, ”That’s why when you use the Time Converter, always try to ensure no one else is in the vicinity.”

He pointed to the dean of Jiuyou Academy behind the desk, slightly intensifying his tone: ”Professor Yao is a Legendary rank wizard, naturally possessing a vision beyond the time dimension, with magic skills you can’t even imagine... Not every wizard can flexibly switch between their Righteous Body and Projection like him, perfectly reenacting everything he has experienced.”

”The situation is not as severe as Master Bao Yangzi describes.”

Behind the desk, Old Yao bit on his smoking pipe, reassuring the two tense young wizards: ”What we just showed you is the standard procedure set by the Alliance, with every step premised on not causing any impact on already happened ’history’... the reason for such strictness is to prevent problems before they arise, to avoid creating accidents during your time travels that could interfere with the converged timeline.

The spacetime system has its threads but also contains ’variables’.

Under the already converged ’balance’ conditions, any minor changes in the system could lead to long-term, large-scale chain reactions due to the support of ’variables’... Of course, I’m not saying this to repeat Master Bao Yangzi’s warning to you.

In reality, the converged timeline is very solid, ordinary wizards generally won’t cause any real butterfly effect with little actions. Just like a single cell cannot think; only a brain composed of cells can think; one drop of water can’t form a disaster, but aggregated into an ocean, it can generate tides... it’s all the same principle.”

Cough, cough!

An Elder Wizard from a relevant department coughed heavily twice, interrupting the Jiuyou Academy dean, with a hint of irritation in his tone: ”Are you encouraging them to cause trouble?”

”That’s definitely not the intention!”

Old Yao smiled broadly, flatly denying it, yet the content of what he said was hardly uplifting: ”I just want to tell them, if you encounter unexpected threats during time travel, don’t stand still foolishly, run if you should run, fight to the death if you must... Human life is much more important than those damned timelines!”

Bao Yangzi furrowed his brows, seemingly wanting to dispute, but after his gaze swept over the two young wizards, he ultimately shook his head, making no response.

His lack of response didn’t mean Zheng Qing was unresponsive.

”Danger?”

Feeling a bit unsettled, the boy pinched the feather pen in his hand, forced a dry smile, and asked cautiously: ”Aside from the causal curse from timeline changes... what other risks are there in conducting time conversion?”

Old Yao didn’t answer immediately but sniffed his nose, then extended his arm again, plunging his hand into the void, and fished out a gray dog from somewhere.

Meow?

The dog, caught by the crown of its head, looked nervously at the Elder Wizard before it, meowing meekly, curling up into a ball.

”Furry Bean?” Zheng Qing raised his eyebrows in surprise.

”You know it?”

The dean of Jiuyou Academy blinked his small dark eyes, quickly calculated with the fingers tucked in his sleeve, and realized: ”Oh, so it’s your dog... No wonder... Do you know its lineage?”

”Seems like it’s called a Tingdalous Hunting Dog.” Zheng Qing answered cautiously.

”Do you know the habits of Tingdalous Hunting Dogs?”

Without waiting for the boy to reply, the professor asked but answered himself: ”Tingdalous Hunting Dogs live in the gaps between spacetime and especially enjoy tearing at and hunting those time travelers, and extremely pesky... I initially thought you inadvertently provoked them during your previous journey. Anyway, when you enter a ’time knot’, you can only rely on yourself and the Law Book in your hand, you must learn to remain vigilant at all times.”

”Where did this dog come from? Did you register it?”

Master Bao Yangzi’s brows once again furrowed sharply: ”Tingdalous Hunting Dogs are among the Dangerous Magical Beasts explicitly regulated by the Alliance, and the school likely doesn’t permit students to privately keep such creatures...”

”Rest assured, I will talk to Mr. Ruo Yu about this. Besides, this one is a hybrid; it’s not so dangerous.” Old Yao said evasively as he released his grip, letting the gray dog vanish into a shadow at the foot of the desk without a trace.

Zheng Qing suspected that the dog, scared out of its wits, never realized its owner was present all along.