This mental duel continued in the "gymnasium" for a full twenty-four hours.
Mr. Teacher maintained his "zero-distance didacticism" throughout, not even taking a sip of water or pausing for breath.
Although he had realized something was wrong long ago,
Mr. Teacher did not interrupt the duel.
Looking outside the gymnasium,
the total number of balloons floating around the campus had fallen from over ten thousand to fewer than a hundred.
In other words,
if not for Damage Transfer, Han Dong's unguarded acceptance of "Lethal Didacticism" would have killed him hundreds, perhaps thousands of times already.
At the twenty-fifth hour and thirty-seventh minute,
the long-static scene finally underwent its first change.
Han Dong, who had been quietly laughing to himself amid the didacticism, no longer did so.
His formerly upright body slowly floated up, hovering cross-legged in the air.
The mutation followed.
Swish!
Several Gray Spot Tentacles grew from the back of his head.
These tentacles did not drift about chaotically.
Instead, they tried to tear open the back of Han Dong's head completely and display its "contents" to everyone present.
Mr. Teacher immediately sensed an inexplicable danger.
As he stepped back, he rapidly applied multiple layers of protection to his brain, preparing to withstand the mental pressure that might strike at any moment.
Swish!
The tentacles tore open the back of Han Dong's head completely.
The treasured brain exposed to the outside was shrouded in a unique sheen, its entirety in a state of sublimation.
It contained both the scarlet luster corresponding to mad laughter and a thin layer of black shadow belonging to didacticism.
If one could peer past that sheen and inspect the brain closely,
one would discover an entirely new smiling face amid its folds... no longer merely a scarlet, torn smile, but one paired with eyes