Hearing that the effect of this class increases as the semester goes on, the first thought that popped into Zheng Qing’s mind was to have his transformed clone attend the class for him.

From his memory, in the manga Naruto he watched as a child, the protagonist Naruto relied on the Multi Shadow Clone technique to cheat his way into enhancing his learning ability and eventually mastered many advanced ninjutsu.

Thinking of an invisible black cat crouched on the desk, curling its tail, and using its paws to hold a feather pen while seriously taking notes, Zheng Qing found it particularly amusing.

"Can animals use the Time Converter too?"

Jiang Yu obviously had a similar guess to Zheng Qing, and she took it one step further, already considering whether sending a transformed clone to class was in line with the rules.

It’s just that there were so many pledges and contracts signed initially that, for the moment, she wasn’t sure if the time conversion rules imposed any restrictions on wizards using the Time Converter after transformation.

"A wizard’s identity is unique and unaffected by time factors."

The professor restrained his smile and seriously looked at the two young wizards in front of him: "Uniqueness is a very powerful concept in magic theory. As I mentioned before, the timeline has uniqueness in reality, and so does your identity. No matter if your appearance now is of a warlock, a witch, a cat, or a bird, you are you, and you will not change due to any ’position’ changes."

"I still think having an animal go to class for us is somewhat... ridiculous." Zheng Qing thought for a long time before coming up with a sufficiently ’neutral’ adjective.

"Going to class for you?" The professor raised his eyebrows in surprise, glancing over the two young wizards with a look of realization: "No, no, you might have misunderstood... The greatest role of the Art of Body Transformation is not to attend class for you, but to rest for you."

"Rest for us!" Zheng Qing sniffed, and this time he really felt it was a bit absurd: "Can rest also be substituted by someone, or something else?"

"If it can substitute for you to learn, why can’t it substitute for you to rest?"

The professor asked rhetorically while pinching a tuft of golden tobacco and leisurely stuffed it into his pipe: "If you imagine that the knowledge a clone learns will be fed back to your body when it returns, then why shouldn’t the comfort gained from a clone’s rest and relaxation similarly feedback to your body?"

Zheng Qing opened his mouth, only to find he was at a loss for words.

"But, but..." He mumbled for a long time without finding a strong rebuttal.

On the contrary, Jiang Yu, in a small voice, expressed his inner voice: "Resting without personal experience, is it still rest? Isn’t it just a big Energy Potion?"

"A very apt metaphor!"

Professor Yao, with his pipe just about to be lit, stopped at his mouth, squinted, and nodded slightly: "To be precise, it’s a most healthy energy magic potion without any potion toxicity, which won’t create drug resistance, and can be fully absorbed... Oof..."

He stuffed the pipe into his mouth, took a deep puff, exhaled a puff of grayish smoke, and then continued: "Conversely, would you really trust a cat to replace you in taking this class on the Art of Body Transformation, or any other more complex elective courses?"

The two young people shook their heads simultaneously, although slightly.

After all, cats aren’t human, and the effect of attending class is inevitably different. Plus, upon returning to the body, if the clone’s ’mind’ carries any missing knowledge — not much needs to be missing, just one or two key bytes could be disastrous — basic magical knowledge could still be scrambled through, but if courses like ’convergence principle’ or ’Abus Duo Conjecture’ lack some key bytes, Zheng Qing worries he could explode on the spot at a given moment.

After all, there truly is a forbidden curse within him.

"So," the professor said, biting on his pipe, spreading his hands, and summarizing: "The body focuses on learning, and the clone focuses on resting, which is the most secure pairing... By the way, isn’t there a Cat Fruit Tree in the academy? When your bodies go to class, the clones can go nap on that tree."

Zheng Qing sniffed again.

Talking with a legendary wizard is really an awful feeling.

Or rather, the feeling of having no secrets is really awful.

"Let’s get back on track!" The professor raised his hand, shaping the puff of smoke in front of him into a small ball, and pointed at the two young people: "Before formally teaching the Art of Body Transformation, I need to assess your understanding of transformation..."

As he spoke, he flicked out the two newly formed smoke balls.

One to the left and one to the right.

The two smoke balls extended strands of silk-like smoke threads in all directions, and it was as if a pair of deft hands were guiding them in the air, weaving two cubical screen curtains in an instant.

The professor’s intent was very clear, asking the two of them to perform the transformation behind the screens, presumably out of consideration for the only witch in the classroom — honestly, these screens felt superfluous, like putting on pants to fart.

Jiang Yu remained unfazed, calmly choosing the screen on the right and went in.

Zheng Qing, a bit restless, went to the left.

He wasn’t worried about whether his transformation would satisfy the professor, as after more than a year of frequent use, he only needed to think about the ampoule bottle containing the Transformation Potion, to turn into a black cat.

What distracted him was what form Jiang Yu would take today.

It only took a few seconds.

The black cat emerged from behind the left screen, quickly ran onto Old Yao’s desk, curled its tail, tucked its paws, and obediently meowed.

"Speak in human words." The professor glanced at him with disdain: "If you were a pretty girl, a dainty voice might be charming... Aren’t you capable of speaking human words?"

"Is there no privacy left in this world?" The black cat couldn’t help but tug at its ear, complaining.

"Plenty." The professor chomped on his pipe and clicked it: "For example, I have no idea which room you slept in at Greenhill Mansion during the New Year’s days."

The black cat’s face turned green.

It had never known the old man had such a wicked sense of humor.

Just when it unknowingly swelled up a bit, the curtain on the right moved slightly, immediately capturing its full attention. The next moment, that familiar white figure leisurely emerged from behind the screen.

"Isn’t that her form with the Directional Transformation Technique?" The black cat leaned forward involuntarily, unable to hide its surprise — it had thought it would see Jiang Yu’s truly transformed form today.

"The boundary between transformation and directional transformation is inherently blurry." The professor reached out and scratched the black cat’s head, half-warning, half-reminding: "Because one’s inner projection shifts with environment and mindset changes. In other words, deep down, she’s already in the shape of a cat now."