Unlike in the dream.

In reality, the older students at Edge Academy showed great respect for Zheng Qing, who was much younger than them, and classroom discipline, as in the previous lesson, did not require Zheng Qing to worry at all.

This strange feeling suddenly reminded him of a somewhat cruel saying—rich people only need to show a little kindness to the poor to receive extraordinary gratitude in return.

Here, the ’rich’ refers to a broader sense of ’wealth.’

Just like a company president’s praise for a frontline employee, which is likely to make that employee so excited they can’t sleep all night; a cheap garment complimented by a billionaire is frantically pursued by ordinary people and sells out; a scholarly elder willing to spend five minutes glancing at an article written by a nameless junior in three months will leave the junior overwhelmed with gratitude.

At a certain level, this reflects the imbalance of resources and inequality in reality. In other words, the ’rich’ only need to invest a little, equivalent to the entire wealth of the poor.

Just like the current Edge Academy.

As a formal student of the First University, a public student, and even someone who entered the ’Magic Wand’ sequence and won the Gold Merlin Medal, Zheng Qing was a figure unattainable for the Northern District students who were considered ’Tricksters’ two years ago. Therefore, every word he spoke in class was regarded as a touchstone by these students, who meticulously recorded everything.

This ’accepting everything’ learning attitude made Zheng Qing feel relaxed yet slightly uneasy, as if his teaching content was missing something.

"Lacking ’questioning.’"

As an observer, Jiang Yu clearly saw the warlock’s confusion and yawned slightly, covering her mouth: "As the saying goes, ’A teacher is someone who imparts wisdom and solves doubts,’ yet you’ve only ’taught’ without imparting wisdom or solving doubts, naturally feeling unfulfilled."

Upon hearing these words, Zheng Qing felt the witch had spoken right to his heart, and nodded repeatedly.

Their conversation took place after the Edge Academy class had ended, and before the Time Conversion phase course began.

Both had chosen to study ’Art of Body Transformation,’ and the course instructor was Professor Yao. As per the professor’s statement in the previous class, there was no need to strictly adhere to the ’Time Turn rules,’ allowing Zheng Qing and Jiang Yu to remove their Invisibility Talismans and chat happily.

"Do you want to sleep for a few minutes first?" Zheng Qing took out his pocket watch and checked the time: "We have seven minutes before class starts, enough for a short nap."

"Closing my eyes may take only three seconds, but opening them would require three hours." The witch joked, shaking her head lightly: "I doubt I can wake up in seven minutes once I fall asleep." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Zheng Qing profoundly agreed.

"Speaking of which, I thought you wouldn’t choose this kind of course." Since she couldn’t sleep, Zheng Qing naturally sought some topics to help the witch feel refreshed: "I remember you originally planned to take courses like Hunting Dance, Hunting Art Appreciation, Aristocratic Etiquette, and Emblem Studies – ones easy to earn credits..."

"I did choose, but Professor Yao changed them."

Mentioning this matter, a rare hint of annoyance appeared on Jiang Yu’s face, as she complained while pulling at the feathers of her feather pen: "If I followed the initial schedule I submitted, I’d have enough time for a beauty nap now! No one is masochistic, eager to put themselves under such pressure..."

"You shouldn’t accuse me, I didn’t force you into self-punishment!"

The voice of the Dean of Jiuyou Academy suddenly resonated behind the two young wizards: "The timetable I planned for you was carefully calculated, absolutely within your stress threshold..."

The two turned around simultaneously, startled by the professor’s sudden appearance.

Old Yao bit on a pipe, held two documents, and displayed a slightly mischievous smile: "...Well, since everyone’s here, let’s start the class!"

Zheng Qing hesitated for a moment and raised his hand.

"Professor, isn’t there someone missing?" he asked tentatively.

He remembered clearly that Professor Yao mentioned in the last class that a total of five students elected to study Art of Body Transformation: himself, Jiang Yu, a veteran from Starry Sky Academy who accidentally died, one who switched to another course, and one who hadn’t arrived at school and was eating sand in Egypt.

"There’s no one else."

The professor drew a small circle in the air with the hand holding the pipe: "This semester, it’s just the two of you... the one eating sand ran away, switched to another course."

Zheng Qing tugged at the corners of his mouth, unable to decide whether to smile in agreement or sigh in regret for the student who missed the teaching of a Legendary Wizard.

Jiang Yu expressed similar confusion: "Didn’t he know the professor teaching him became a Legendary Wizard?"

"Perhaps precisely because I became a Legendary Wizard, he lost the confidence to continue learning this course." Professor Yao looked at the two young wizards before him and smiled meaningfully: "Not every student can chat with me so easily and naturally... Enough idle talk; before this class officially starts, sign this."

He distributed the two documents he held to Zheng Qing and Jiang Yu.

"This is a Silence Contract, standard format, no need to worry." The professor explained: "Every wizard’s transformed image is very confidential. This contract requires you to keep your respective transformation animals’ secrets from each other, avoiding revealing them to others... Of course, of course, I know you two wouldn’t do that, but it’s a matter of procedural justice, you know? Some things seem useless, but you still need to go through the motions."

"Like having to stay in the dorm on Zhongyuan Festival?" Zheng Qing muttered.

Upon these words, the other two couldn’t help but laugh.

Zhongyuan Festival is the legendary Ghost Festival, famous in ancient wizard stories for horrifying scenes of a hundred ghosts roaming on that day. Though at Buji Island, no Evil Spirits dare wreak havoc at school during the festival, as the powerful Protect Legal Formation obliterates all Evil Spirits, yet out of respect for old traditions, the school insists that students stay indoors during this holiday.

This measure is quite criticized among the students.

"Though Buji Island is safe, during the Three Great Festivals, the Yin Qi is heavy, and Spiritual Machine is chaotic – these facts remain. For you young wizards whose magic power isn’t stable enough, staying home is the safest. Definitely doesn’t count as ’going through the motions.’"

Old Yao smiled, denying the boy’s ridicule, then patted the lecture notes beside him: "As for this ’Art of Body Transformation,’ it has even greater benefits for you two... Especially now that you’re studying Time Conversion so hard... You’ll find that as the semester progresses, the effect of this course becomes more surprising."