Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Shuang Yun's Challenge

"This is the information on the transfer student, Shuang Yun."

A short-haired elf teacher with green hair handed Liushu a file.

The elf teacher bore delicate and lovely facial features, a slender and graceful frame, and, unlike ordinary people, pointed ears.

Her pale purple pupils were dull and still.

She wore white gloves and a white teacher's uniform.

The desk in front of her was covered with books and documents, along with a few half-finished cups of coffee.

Her name was Wei, supervisor of five classes and also Liushu's direct superior.

Liushu flipped open Shuang Yun's file. Normally, a student's information took up about one page, but Shuang Yun's file ran to five pages.

"This is quite an interesting story."

After reading just the first page, Liushu curiously turned to the second.

"Her entire family turned into monsters that devoured others' time... This girl really is unfortunate."

After finishing the file, Liushu cracked open a can of beer.

"What became of her family?"

Liushu took a sip of beer and asked.

"They were dealt with."

Wei sat down in her chair, nursing a cup of coffee.

"You still have practical classes this afternoon. Don't drink too much,"

"It's just one can. My tolerance isn't that bad yet,"

Liushu replied, unconcerned.

"I don't care how much you drink, but you really should pay more attention to your group's results."

Wei pulled out another stack of papers and tossed them onto Liushu's face.

"Your Group A still only has two students—Mo Ying and Xiya. No one wants to join your group, not to mention your reputation as their teacher. But the most terrifying thing is that your group's performance is actually in the negative. Aren't you afraid the school will dock your pay?"

Wei said with a hint of exasperation.

"My paycheck? Forget it. I've worked for six months, and not only have I not earned a single Naye, I've actually lost two thousand Naye."

Liushu tossed the empty beer can into the bin.

Naye was the universal currency in this world. Usually, a typical family's monthly income was about four thousand Naye.

"That's because of all the deductions from being late to class every day."

Wei showed no sympathy for Liushu's situation—it was his own fault.

"Nothing I can do. I just can't muster any enthusiasm for teaching class."

"You don't seem interested in anything."

"If you invited me to a free meal, I'd be interested,"

Liushu said shamelessly.

Wei naturally showed him no kindness.

Liushu stood up and dashed out of the teacher's office. The source of this content ɪs novel·fire.net

Afternoon class time arrived.

Dreamscape Academy's curriculum was unique—not all classes took place in the classroom.

In the morning, lessons in the classroom focused on textbook content, taught by the teachers.

In the afternoon, practical course instructors would teach students real-world application.

Every classroom had a designated teacher, and students were free to choose which teacher's class to attend—though each room only had thirty seats.

Some teachers specialized in magic, others in martial arts, history, healing arts, and so on.

Likewise, during practical courses, students freely chose which teacher to train with.

Each teacher could be responsible for a maximum of ten students.

Liushu, though, had it easy—he only had to look after two students.

Because he had no real sense of teacherly authority, he was quite popular among students, but his laid-back nature made it hard to believe he was any good at practical combat.

Mo Ying, together with Xiya, arrived at the spot Liushu had designated.

"Hello, ah, I'm so envious of your energy, Mo Ying."

Liushu lit up a cigarette.

Mo Ying was a female student who enrolled last year, bearing within her body two types of mutually exclusive magical powers—light and darkness.

This was a completely unprecedented constitution.

Light and darkness were as incompatible as ice and fire; they absolutely could not coexist.

Yet in Mo Ying, these powers showed no abnormal reactions.

In fact, she could even use them freely, the cause of which remained unknown for now.

Even more peculiar, records showed that Mo Ying was a hybrid of angel and demon, and quite an exemplary one—her parents must certainly have been exceptional.

Oh, one more note: like Xiya, Mo Ying wasn't from this world. They came from another world called the Floating Spirit Continent, so both still lacked full understanding of Yggdonia's norms. All teachers, please take special note.

"Mo Ying, you can't just play all day. Xiya here is an excellent student—dragging her into your antics every day isn't fair,"

Liushu said, fishing through his pockets.

Liushu pulled out a deck of cards.

"Teacher, smoking isn't allowed during class,"

Xiya said, glancing at the cigarette in Liushu's mouth.

"Hm? I'm not smoking, don't talk nonsense."

Liushu flicked the spent cigarette into the trash.

Xiya looked at him helplessly.

Xiya, full name Louguan Xiya, came from the same world as Mo Ying and was the brightest prodigy in the whole school.

While she didn't possess Mo Ying's fearsome dual magic of light and darkness, Xiya's talent for spatial magic was off the charts—truly frightening.

At her best, she could teleport up to ten people at once as far as three thousand meters away, making her a living teleportation array.

Used offensively, her spatial slicing magic could tear apart a vast swath of space, erasing everything in its path.

This kind of magic was extremely dangerous, forbidden outside the training room.

It should be noted that Xiya's spatial magic had certain cooldowns; the longer the previous magic lasted or the more powerful it was, the longer the interval before she could use it again.

"By the way, Xiya, I really recommend you study with another teacher. I can't do any magic, so I really can't offer you any advice,"

Liushu said, unexpectedly serious.

Xiya differed from Mo Ying in that she was in the magic division, while Mo Ying took martial arts.

Liushu, however, couldn't teach magic at all—his own fighting style relied simply on bladed weapons.

"But other teachers don't have advice either. In fact, they have lots of questions for me,"

"All right, all right, teacher, stop just standing there—deal the cards already!"

Mo Ying urged impatiently.

"What's the hurry? We have the whole afternoon,"

Liushu skillfully opened the deck and began shuffling.

Xiya used spatial magic to move all three beneath a shady tree. The three of them sat together under the tree.

"Deal clockwise starting with Mo Ying,"

Liushu said, tossing her the first card.

"This isn't very exciting, actually. I'd like to bet something, but if Wei found out I taught you students to gamble, she'd chase me down,"

Liushu said once he'd finished, originally intending to light another cigarette but, glancing at the two girls in front of him, thought better of it.

No one liked the smell of smoke.

Another student's voice came from nearby, but Liushu paid it no mind.

The student called out again.

The student raised their voice.

"Hmm? Are you calling me?"

Just as Liushu picked up his hand, he turned around.

"Oh, Shuang Yun. What's up? Did you get lost?"

Recognizing Shuang Yun, Liushu stood up. Having read her information, he had a deep impression of her.

"Isn't... this supposed to be class time?"

Shuang Yun stared at the trio holding playing cards, looking a little stiff.

Mo Ying raised the cards in her hand.

"Mo Ying, I see your cards,"

"Ah, that ruins it! This round doesn't count, reshuffle, reshuffle!"

"Ahem, back on topic. What can I do for you, Shuang Yun?"

"I'm here... for class,"

"For class? So why are you here?"

"Oh, I seem to be a teacher, aren't I? I almost forgot, how annoying."

Suddenly recalling, Liushu realized Shuang Yun had come to his class.

Shuang Yun's expression grew even more rigid.

"Um... could you go to another teacher, perhaps?"

Liushu scratched his head.

This teacher's actually trying to send away students?!

"Why? Rather, why did you specifically seek me out, Shuang Yun?"

"I heard the strongest student of our year, Mo Ying, was here. I want to challenge her,"

Shuang Yun explained.

"Oh, is that so. Mo Ying, did you hear? Your challenger has arrived."

Mo Ying looked up, a bit dazed.

"Shuang Yun, you want to challenge me?"

"Yes. I want to see how far I am from the strongest,"

"Then join our group. If you join us, I'll accept your challenge,"

"What grudge do you have against her? Don't drag her into this,"

"Fine. If you defeat me, I'll accept your conditions,"

"Great! Now we can play four-player games starting tomorrow!"

Liushu began to ponder.

"What is it, teacher?"

"I was considering whether I should bring mahjong tiles tomorrow—but there isn't a mahjong table, and that's inconvenient."

Liushu replied, sounding as though he thought Shuang Yun was certain to lose.

He didn't mean to underestimate Shuang Yun; it was just that Mo Ying was actually too strong.

In the last trial tournament, Mo Ying had, with just one hand, crushed every other classmate.

Since then, no one had dared challenge her.

The title "strongest in our year" was no joke—excepting the seniors, among their grade, Mo Ying was simply invincible.

It was just a pity she was a little airheaded.

"Well, no more poker for today. Since Shuang Yun has issued a challenge, let's move to the training hall,"

"By the way, Mo Ying, don't knock down the training hall walls again, all right?"

"Understood, teacher!"

Mo Ying replied loudly.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

Oh, Xiya's here as well?

If you haven't read Maid Villainess yet, Xiya is there as well...