Battle Qi Enlightenment Class

Chapter 29: Battle Qi Enlightenment Class

Lorist took the Molent Daily and the Mana Hill Commercial News from the mailbox by the door. He found a letter inside, and upon opening it, saw it was a notice from the academy. It stated that the new semester's Battle Qi Enlightenment Class would begin the next day, and as the chief instructor responsible for this class, Lorist was requested to arrive on time. The notice also included the address and start time.

Chief instructor? What kind of ridiculous position was this? It didn't even come with extra pay. Lorist figured it would be similar to last time, where he'd be assigned a few instructors as deputies and be put in charge. He shook his head, not taking the notice too seriously. He decided to go back to his room and check the calendar. There were still a few days until next month, and the academy duels were the most important thing right now. Although he was confident, he couldn't be careless and needed to maintain his physical condition.

Tomorrow was the fifteenth of February, and there were still twenty days until next month. He should try to arrange the Battle Qi Enlightenment Class matters and hand them over to his deputies within ten days. That would leave him ten days for ample rest... Looking at the exquisite copper calendar hanging on the wall, Lorist pondered.

When Lorist first transmigrated to Galintea, the most difficult thing for him to adjust to was date calculation. Like Earth, Galintea had twelve months in a year and twenty-four hours in a day. The difference was that Galintea had thirty-five days in a month, making a year a total of four hundred and twenty-three days. This had caused Lorist, who was studying Accounting at the time, to make frequent errors when calculating date-related problems. He would unconsciously use Earth time, and once, his Accounting tutor had waved Lorist's calculations furiously and berated him in front of the entire class, "Where did the extra five days go? Eaten by dogs?"

What Lorist found most frustrating was that Galintea used two types of calendars. The first was the Elven calendar, supposedly compiled by the Elves ten thousand years ago. This calendar was simple: each month had thirty-five days, and the extra three days were designated as holidays. The first was the day before the end of December and the first of January, known as a Rest Day, commonly called December thirty-sixth. The second was May thirty-sixth, also known as Bathing Day, on which everyone had to take a bath. The third was September thirty-sixth, Harvest Day. These three days were recognized holidays in Galintea.

The Elves, who loved nature, didn't use numbers to calculate months. They named each month after the types of flowers that bloomed, such as January being the Thistle Flower Month, February the Camellia Month, March the Begonia Month, April the Lotus Flower Month, May the Peony Month, June the Magnolia Month, July the Jasmine Month, August the Sweet Osmanthus Month, September the Phoenix Tail Flower Month, October the Hibiscus Month, November the Golden Chrysanthemum Month, and December the Red Plum Blossom Month.

The Elves' preferences made Lorist detest it at the time. He kept making mistakes when calculating dates, and these flower names only added to the confusion. It was simply outrageous. Until one day, as he was falling asleep, Lorist suddenly realized, using his meager knowledge of astronomy from his past life, that if Earth took 365 days to revolve around the sun, why was it strange for Galintea to take 423 days? It just revolved around the sun in a slightly larger orbit than Earth. From that day on, Lorist never made mistakes with Galintea's dates again.

The second calendar was the Magic calendar, compiled by the great Mages during the Age of Magic Civilization. It was the most precise calendar, filled with cold, hard numbers. January to December were simple and easy to remember, but the number of days in each month was a bit troublesome, as most months had different lengths. For example, January had thirty-four days, February had the fewest at thirty-one, March had thirty-six, and September had the most with thirty-nine days.

The humans of Galintea were not romantic like the Elves, and there were no Mages anymore. A precise calendar was of little use to ordinary people. Thus, they combined the Elven and Magic calendars, using the months from the Magic calendar and the dates from the Elven calendar. The three holidays from the Elven calendar, which had no specific dates, were assigned the number thirty-six. This became the common Galintea calendar that Lorist now had hanging on his wall.

He recalled that the original owner of this body, Little Locke, had left the Northern Lands on June 21st ten years ago and arrived in Molent City on August 8th, where he then enrolled in the academy. The carriage had traveled for over fifty days; it was quite a long journey. This meant that on August 8th of this year, the Little Locke of that year, the current Lorist, would have been exiled by his family in the Northern Lands for ten years, and his whereabouts had been unknown for nearly seven years. He wondered how things were back home. Perhaps he could visit during the holiday this year? He remembered a Black Mud Swamp near his hometown, where a magical beast called the Iron-Spined Bay Crocodile lived. Its hide was highly sought after for making leather armor. Why not go back under a false name and organize a mercenary team?

A strong sense of homesickness suddenly surged within him. Sigh, he'd think about it after August 8th. Since he had transmigrated into Little Locke, he had even inherited this bone-deep homesickness. Forget it. It was almost ten years. If he had some free time in the latter half of the year, he could request leave and combine it with the holiday; it should be enough time for a round trip.

Lorist stood before the calendar, his finger tracing and re-tracing the date of August 8th. Finally, he made a decision in his heart.

"Good morning, Instructor Anfia. I'm so glad we can work together again. With your assistance, I believe this Battle Qi Enlightenment Class will be much easier," Lorist said. The next day, he arrived punctually ten minutes early at the instructor's office behind the main hall of the former Yellow Ribbon Academy, which was serving as the classroom for this Battle Qi Enlightenment Class. As soon as he entered, he saw Anfia, a renowned beautiful instructor from Dawnlight Academy, sitting behind her desk, looking at a large stack of documents in her hands.

Silver instructor Anfia, thirty-seven years old, looked like she was twenty-five or twenty-six due to her excellent upkeep. She was the dream goddess of many male students at the academy. She was married to Gold instructor Krudd, also from the academy. Two years prior, Instructor Anfia had been assigned by the academy to assist Lorist as his deputy in teaching the Battle Qi Enlightenment Class, and they had cooperated very well.

"Hey, kid Locke, is all you see the pretty lady? Didn't you see your old big brother here?"

Lorist looked up and was momentarily stunned. "Brother Marlin, why are you here too?"

Standing before Lorist was the burly instructor Marlin, who lived in Villa No. 34 in the Gold instructor residential area. Lorist had only visited him once after moving into his new home.

"And me, Instructor Locke. It's good to see you again," a deep voice chimed in.

Lorist turned his head and quickly bowed. "Greetings, Senior Hughes. Why are you here as well?"

Another Gold instructor, and an old and respected one at the Dawnlight Academy at that. Hughes Bordemiki, Gold rank two stars, had been teaching at the academy for nearly thirty years. He was just and not rigid, and was well-liked by the students.

Instructor Hughes nodded. "Instructor Locke, Instructor Marlin and I have both been assigned by the academy to be your deputy chief instructors for this Battle Qi Enlightenment Class. We will serve as your assistants. Just give us your orders. Instructor Anfia will be your administrative deputy."

Lorist's heart suddenly sank. He turned to Anfia and asked, "Can you tell me how many students are in this Battle Qi Enlightenment Class?"

Instructor Anfia gave a wry smile and pointed. "There's a small door over there that leads to the front desk of the main hall. Chief Instructor Locke, you can go and take a look."

Damn it. He'd been tricked again by that old fox, Dean Levens. Was this what he meant by 'a slightly larger number of students'? This wasn't a Battle Qi Enlightenment Class; it was practically a convention.

Looking at the endless stream of students filling the main hall, Lorist immediately understood the academy's intention in assigning two Gold instructors as his deputies: to maintain order.

Lorist returned to the office, sweating profusely, and asked with a grim expression, "How many people in total?"

Instructor Anfia handed him the stack of documents. "A total of eight hundred and seventy-nine people. Here is the list."

Waving the list of names, Lorist said with a wry smile to the two Gold instructors, Hughes and Marlin, "Isn't the academy being a bit excessive? Eight hundred and seventy-nine students! If we consider a normal Battle Qi Enlightenment Class of forty students, that would be twenty-two classes. Each class would require two instructors, totaling forty-four instructors. Now, if I'm responsible for all of them, I simply can't manage, even with the three of you. This is too unfair, it's practically forcing me to do the impossible. I think I might as well resign."

Instructor Marlin and Instructor Anfia were stunned when they heard Lorist wanted to resign. If Instructor Locke just walks away, who will clean up this mess? If trouble breaks out and word gets out, the academy's reputation will be ruined. Just as they were about to persuade him, Instructor Hughes calmly produced a document. "Instructor Locke, this is from the Dean. The first part is a guarantee you signed yourself, stating that if you refuse the academy's assignment, you will compensate the academy twice the amount of any losses incurred. If you resign, the students outside alone could cause a commotion, and the academy's losses would be at least tens of thousands. You would then be responsible..."

Damn it. That unfair contract he signed with the old man last year to go train in the Ruins Archipelago was coming back to haunt him! Lorist was furious. But then he saw Instructor Hughes hand him the guarantee he had signed. "The Dean said it was just a joke at the time. You can keep this guarantee."

Instructor Marlin and Instructor Anfia became anxious. If the guarantee was returned, Instructor Locke would still leave, so what could they do?

Lorist, however, was stunned as he took the guarantee. What did that old fox mean? Letting me off so easily?

Instructor Hughes then handed over a piece of parchment. "This is a list of Silver and Black Iron instructors from the academy. The Dean said that Chief Instructor Locke can select twenty-four instructors from this list to form the teaching staff for this Battle Qi Enlightenment Class. Chief Instructor Locke will be responsible for assigning their duties. Anyone who disobeys will be immediately dismissed by the academy. Additionally, due to the shortage of instructors, Chief Instructor Locke may select twenty-four outstanding senior students to become teaching assistants, responsible for assisting in the management of the students in this Battle Qi Enlightenment Class."

Instructor Marlin and Instructor Anfia secretly gasped. This was handing over personnel power to Instructor Locke. Just the twenty-four teaching assistant positions were something many students aspired to. Although the monthly living allowance was only one Gold Fude, it was enough to live comfortably. If they performed well and were formally hired by the academy as instructors in a couple of years, even a Black Iron instructor would earn three Gold Fudes a month, a stable and high-paying position.

It was foreseeable that with the right to choose these twenty-four instructors and the twenty-four teaching assistant positions, Lorist would quickly form a faction centered around him at the academy, giving him more weight in his future statements and proposals.

The Dean really values Instructor Locke. This was Instructor Anfia's thought.

Could it be that the Dean and Instructor Locke are distant relatives? Or is Instructor Locke the Dean's... This was Instructor Marlin's guess.

"This is more like it..." Lorist's anger turned to joy, and he stopped being difficult. He took the list and picked up a pen, starting to mark it up.

"Also..." Hughes handed over another document. "This is because the number of students in this Battle Qi Enlightenment Class has exceeded the initial estimate, causing great confusion for Chief Instructor Locke and the teaching staff. To compensate for the hard work of all the instructors, the Dean has specially instructed the academy's finance department to allocate a sum of money to the teaching staff of this Battle Qi Enlightenment Class as additional welfare subsidies, amounting to one hundred and fifty gold coins per month, to be managed by Chief Instructor Locke. You just need to sign here to make it effective."

"Heh heh..." Lorist was very satisfied. He smiled and took the document, starting to sign. But he still sighed, "It's so rare. The academy is actually being this generous this time..."

Instructor Anfia whispered, "I might know the reason. After the news spread that all students in the Battle Qi Enlightenment Class taught by Instructor Locke awakened their Battle Qi for three consecutive times, the number of applicants this year has increased severalfold compared to previous years. And each of them specifically requested Instructor Locke to be their mentor. The Dean said that anyone participating in the Battle Qi Enlightenment Class taught by Instructor Locke has to pay double tuition fees, with a guarantee of awakening Battle Qi. So, those students in the main hall paid double tuition."

Ugh... Lorist was speechless. No wonder the old fox Dean was so considerate and generous. He had collected double tuition fees from these students and even made a guarantee. Fearing that Lorist wouldn't give his best, he handed over personnel and financial authority to him. The tuition fee for one student was five gold coins; doubled, it was ten. For eight hundred and seventy-nine students, he collected an extra four thousand three hundred and ninety-five Gold Fudes. Even if this Battle Qi Enlightenment Class lasted for half a year, the extra welfare subsidy he gave to the teaching staff would only be nine hundred gold coins. The academy made over three thousand more. Damn it, that old fox really calculated everything perfectly.

Lorist handed the instructor list in his hand to Instructor Hughes. "I have selected nine instructors. You three should each choose five instructors. The teaching assistant positions should be handled the same way, leaving nine slots for me. Instructor Anfia, please try to choose female instructors and outstanding female students as assistants. I saw many female students in the main hall just now; it will be more convenient for female instructors to manage them."

"As for the additional welfare subsidy, I, Instructor Hughes, and Instructor Marlin will each receive five gold coins per month. Instructor Anfia and other responsible instructors will receive three gold coins per month. Teaching assistants will receive one gold coin per month. The remaining gold coins will be distributed as bonuses to everyone after this Battle Qi Enlightenment Class concludes."

Instructors Hughes, Marlin, and Anfia were all moved. No one expected Lorist to give up the power he held so easily. Instructor Hughes softly murmured, "The Dean was right. Instructor Locke has always focused on the matter at hand, not the person, and has no selfish motives..."

Lorist clapped his hands. "When it's time, we'll go to the main hall to meet these new students. Instructor Anfia, you'll explain the rules of our Battle Qi Enlightenment Class. Just like last year, the official start date is three days from now. The students' accommodation, training, and daily life must all follow our regulations. If anyone is unwilling, they can withdraw their tuition fees from the academy early. Once the class starts, it will be too late to regret it."

"For the next two days, Brother Marlin, please assist Instructor Anfia in checking the preparations for the new students' accommodation and training grounds. Instructor Hughes, the arrangement and assembly of the instructors and assistants will be your responsibility. We will officially start in three days. I want to check the physical condition of these new students. After the examination, we will divide them into several classes, and then we will discuss how to allocate the instructors. That's all for now. Let's head out."