Chapter 12

The transfer student's breezy tone made it sound as though he were saying, "Is something this trivial really worth being shocked over for so long?" How confident he was. It was as though their reaction bored him.

That raised a question.

Looking at the Esper Detection Crystal Ball, shattered into tiny fragments, Yu Kaicheng halted the pen he had been about to use to record the result.

How was he supposed to record this?

This was a little tricky.

Yu Kaicheng looked at Liao Yuanliang awkwardly, asking with his eyes, What should I write?

Apart from Beixing, the data on the Esper Ability Students' strength followed strict rules. If a student's ability grew significantly stronger, they would be moved up a class, provided they were willing; likewise, if their ability weakened, they would be moved down. After all, the Monthly Assessment areas were assigned based on the overall circumstances of each class's trainees. They couldn't afford to be careless.

Liao Yuanliang thought, How should I know?

He still couldn't understand why Qi Yue, who clearly wasn't destined to remain ordinary, had chosen Class F. He couldn't wait to get rid of this hot potato. Beixing alone was enough to keep him on edge.

Yu Kaicheng simply turned his gaze to Qi Yue.

Qi Yue noticed the dean of discipline's Mosaic face turn from the homeroom teacher toward him. Even without seeing his expression, Qi Yue could make a guess or two. He spoke before the dean of discipline could.

"Teacher Yu, what to write is naturally for the teachers and the Esper Detection Crystal Ball to decide."

Qi Yue blinked, his pure white, crow-feather-like lashes making his expression look even more innocent.

"After all, I'm just a student, aren't I?" With that well-timed question, Qi Yue successfully tossed the problem back to Yu Kaicheng.

The manifestation of the ability he had obtained through copying was ambiguous too. Qi Yue couldn't be sure what exactly his ability counted as, or how the teacher should describe and name it in writing. When things were uncertain, he couldn't make any definitive claims.

So he might as well leave the teacher with nothing to say.

"...That's right. That's certainly how it is."

The transfer student had spoken appropriately throughout, sounding as though he had great respect for him as a teacher. But right now, Yu Kaicheng didn't particularly want that sort of respect. The stiff smile hadn't disappeared; it had moved from Liao Yuanliang's face to his own.

Yu Kaicheng hesitated several times before putting pen to paper and writing a single word after "Esper Ability":

Unknown.

That was the safest option.

"The Esper Ability test..." Looking at the detection crystal ball's "corpse" on the floor, Yu Kaicheng forced a smile. "Is over."

"All right. Goodbye, teachers." Qi Yue smiled and nodded slightly to Liao Yuanliang and Yu Kaicheng, who stood in different places, then walked toward his seat, passing through the students who were still standing a meter away from him.

While Yu Kaicheng had been struggling over the test result, Liao Yuanliang had been gathering the crystal ball's fragments and putting them in a box.

"Everyone, stay in the classroom. Teacher Bai will be here soon."

"...Okay."

"Mm."

The students' replies were as faint as mosquitoes. At the thought of being in the same room as Qi Yue, they couldn't cheer up.

Qi Yue returned to his seat and sat down. Beside him, a voice rang out, its excitement held in check.

Beixing's tone was full of admiration, his eyes sparkling as he looked at Beixing. "Qi Yue, you're amazing!"

Qi Yue turned his head. He couldn't see Beixing's face clearly, but he could see Beixing giving him a thumbs-up.

"Thank you." The truth was, he was completely baffled. But who would believe him if he said that?

"Can we, can we be partners again in Teacher Bai's class later?" Beixing took the initiative to invite him.

"Of course." Qi Yue nodded. That was exactly what he wanted.

In the quiet classroom, only Beixing and Qi Yue's voices could be heard for a while. They weren't speaking loudly, and had even lowered their voices, but the classroom was far too quiet. Even if they spoke in whispers, they could still be heard.

"..."

Before, they had been the ones talking and laughing, while Beixing had been so quiet he barely had a presence. Now the situation had reversed. Life was unpredictable.

As Qi Yue turned his head to talk to Beixing, he kept an eye on the movements of Teachers Liao and Yu from the corner of his eye.

Only when he saw the two teachers leave with his own eyes, without mentioning "compensation for the crystal ball exploding," did Qi Yue's heart finally settle.

It seemed the teachers supported the claim about its "quality" and wouldn't make him pay for it.

The academy provided his food and lodging, and he didn't have a penny in his pocket. Paying compensation was absolutely out of the question.

"Students, follow me." Bai Yening, who was in charge of today's class, appeared in the doorway of Class F's classroom.

Led by Teacher Bai, the Class F students left the classroom and headed to the location of today's lesson.

Restroom.

"Ex-exploded?"

"It just went and... exploded!"

The Red-Haired Twins, who had learned this from the wind, were no less shocked than the Class F students who had been there. After letting go, they stared at each other for a long time, each seeing disbelief in the other's eyes.

After an unknown length of time, Zhou Ziyao spoke faintly. "Brother, then... what should we put in the 'Esper Ability' field on transfer student Qi Yue's information page now?"

They had run into the same question as Yu Kaicheng.

"...Unknown." Zhou Zifu reluctantly forced out the word.

Zhou Ziyao: "..."

Wasn't that the same as the information card they had released last night?

"Brother, the Advanced Class students will come after us." They had put the information on transfer student Qi Yue up for "presale" and had already collected a large sum. The students who had paid would think they had taken the money and done a halfhearted job, even though they had no intention of doing so.

"Refund them. And according to the rules, compensate them with another five percent as a penalty for breaking the agreement." Zhou Zifu gritted his teeth, looking as though his heart were bleeding. Was this what came of making money off Qi Yue? They had to pay out of pocket.

"...Okay." As things stood, there seemed to be no other solution. From now on, they had to be as careful as possible with information about Qi Yue.

On the way to the Dean's Office, Liao Yuanliang asked Yu Kaicheng a question.

"Director Yu, how... how are we supposed to tell Dean Li about this?"

Everyone knew that Li Qin, the dean of the Seventh Hunter Academy, was not only sentimental and prone to tears, but also took advantage of the benefits offered by the various academies during assessments. He was famous for being stingy. And the thing that had broken was an Esper Detection Crystal Ball supplied in limited quantities by the First Hunter Academy, no less.

"Um, Teacher Liao, I..."

Liao Yuanliang cut Yu Kaicheng off and quickly said, "Oh, I just remembered I left something in the classroom. I'll go get it. Director Yu, you go ahead, no need to wait for me!"

Liao Yuanliang had already placed the box in Yu Kaicheng's hands.

Time to get out of here.

Yu Kaicheng: "..."

"What?!"

"What did you just say? Say that again!"

A few minutes later, a sharply raised voice rang out from the Dean's Office.

"It b-broke?!" Li Qin shot to his feet, his aged eyes widening as he stared at the shattered crystal ball in the box.

Yu Kaicheng stood opposite Li Qin, holding the box open in both hands. He said quietly, "It... happened just as I said."

Li Qin: "..."

Yu Kaicheng: "..."

The two stared at each other.

After a long while, Li Qin slumped back in his chair. "Now that things have come to this, I'll have to swallow my pride again."

As he spoke, Li Qin turned on his computer and began writing an email to the dean of the First Hunter Academy.

Yu Kaicheng breathed a sigh of relief, but soon became puzzled. "Dean, aren't you... angry?"

"Angry about what?" Li Qin put on his reading glasses and busied himself typing. Hearing the question, he looked up and glanced at Yu Kaicheng in puzzlement. "Am I the sort of person who gets angry for no reason? Didn't you say it yourself, Xiao Yu? There was a problem with the Esper Detection Crystal Ball's quality, so 'it couldn't be helped'?"

After thinking it over, Li Qin deleted "Qi Yue" from the email reporting the shattered crystal ball. He clicked send.

"...Dean, transfer student Qi Yue was the one who said that." Was he being sarcastic because he planned to brazen it out with the First Hunter Academy? Nothing like this had ever happened among the Seven Academies! Dean Li's reaction was unnaturally calm. What on earth was the old man thinking? Yu Kaicheng looked at Li Qin suspiciously.

"Huh? Really?" Li Qin waved a hand dismissively. "Well, it's already been sent." He was also curious whether there was some unknown connection between Qi Yue and the First Hunter Academy.

Yu Kaicheng: "...Dean, you really were quick."

He wondered how the First Hunter Academy's dean, who was known for being meticulous and cold, would react upon seeing the email.

Eight o'clock that evening.

After a full day of "Magic" classes, Qi Yue returned to his dorm, washed away his exhaustion, and stood in front of the mirror drying his damp hair. Because he was a transfer student and had reported late, he had a dorm room to himself.

After blow-drying his hair, Qi Yue put down the hair dryer and remembered the "unlock forum access" perk the Panel had displayed when he successfully copied an ability. Yesterday, he had been in a bad mood because his ability had "malfunctioned" and hadn't felt like checking the forum.

Qi Yue sat down in a chair and said tentatively, "Open the forum."

He was quite curious about what the manga's readers were discussing and whether he could get any useful information from it.

The Panel, emitting a dim green glow, woke up and appeared before Qi Yue: [Please click "confirm" to open the Chronicles of the Young Hunters Manga Forum.]

Qi Yue clicked the "confirm" button, and the previously empty Panel was instantly filled with lines of text.

Chapter 12

[Featured] [Help, that was insane! It's BKing, we're saved! So this is the right way to play a transfer student. Crawling madly, darkly, and twistedly like never before!][1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] hot

[Watch the seven Hunter Academies break down! So this is how you're supposed to use an Esper Detection Crystal Ball. The seven Hunter Academies are out!] hot

[So hype! I was completely transfixed! Is this a distortion of human nature or a decline of morality? Where's the address? Where's the phone number?][1][2] hot