After class, Tang Yue took Jiang Miao to her seat.
"Come with me to the office."
She stepped away in her high heels, the sharp clicks echoing down the hallway. Jiang Miao followed.
The other students looked on enviously. He really was lucky to be so close to a beautiful teacher.
But that was only natural. Jiang Miao was the representative of the class's magic instructor.
The two of them entered the office.
Tang Yue stood up. She was tall and elegant, and she smiled at the handsome young man.
"You've broken through to the next level?"
"Mm."
Jiang Miao answered calmly, his expression unruffled.
Tang Yue couldn't help looking him over again. He was so young, yet he'd already broken through—and he was as calm as ever.
"You're progressing very quickly, but you should also pay attention to..."
"Ah, right. What element did you awaken?"
"Ice Element."
After hearing Jiang Miao's answer, Tang Yue took out five scrolls that shone like stars.
"These are Star Maps. They can help you release magic while you're still learning to control your stars."
"Don't use them too often. They could interfere with your ability to sense the stars later on."
Jiang Miao accepted the five Star Maps Tang Yue offered him. Three were Fire Element, and two were Ice Element.
He was a little surprised by Tang Yue's generosity. These things couldn't have come cheap.
But she wasn't finished.
Tang Yue took out another scroll, thicker than the other eight, and placed it in front of him. A black ring lay inside.
"This is a Star Trace. It can speed up the time it takes you to sense the stars."
"And this ring is a Shadow Magic Artifact. Once you activate it with magic energy, it can greatly increase your speed. It can also hide your body when you use a spell, letting you slip into the darkness and move quickly through dangerous places."
"Take it all. Consider it an early investment from your teacher."
Looking at the young man before her, Tang Yue was certain that he would one day become a formidable mage.
She also knew that Jiang Miao came from a difficult background.
He was an orphan, and his family had few resources. Even the school had little funding to help him...
"Teacher Tang, this is a bit too generous, isn't it?"
When Tang Yue took out the Shadow Magic Artifact, Jiang Miao couldn't help feeling uneasy.
He'd thought she was simply being kind to him. But that ring was no ordinary item. It had to be worth at least a hundred thousand.
Could she be planning to take advantage of him?
But if it was Teacher Tang, he wouldn't exactly mind.
"Take them. I'm giving them to you. Why are you making such a fuss?"
Tang Yue looked at Jiang Miao with a faintly teasing smile. Her eyes were full of amusement.
Jiang Miao was quite capable, after all. These things were clearly very important to him.
He silently made a note to himself: he owed Teacher Tang a big favor.
Seeing Jiang Miao accept everything, Tang Yue smiled brightly.
Jiang Miao was struck by her smile.
Tang Yue was an exceptionally beautiful woman. Her eyes were bright, her features delicate, and her figure graceful. Now she was smiling again, her beauty enough to make anyone lose their composure.
"All right, how long are you going to keep staring? Hurry up and try the Shadow Ring. See if it works."
Seeing that Jiang Miao had been staring at her for quite a while, Tang Yue reminded him.
Jiang Miao injected magic energy into the Shadow Ring.
In the blink of an eye, a black mist coiled around the shoes he was wearing. He could feel just how powerful the ring was.
Even someone as used to pushing himself as Jiang Miao couldn't help feeling excited.
After chatting for a while, Jiang Miao returned to the classroom.
The day's classes ended quickly. As Jiang Miao was packing up his things, a young girl appeared.
"Um... Jiang Miao, could you come with me for a moment?"
"Zhou Min?"
Jiang Miao heard the nervousness in her voice. Naturally, he didn't refuse. He picked up his things and walked out of the classroom with her.
The other students in the room looked on enviously.
"Ah, if only I had Jiang Miao's looks. Even the class monitor is so attentive to him."
Zhang Xiaolong looked at Jiang Miao and class monitor Zhou Min as they left together, envy plain on his face.
Mo Fan had also agreed to let him speak his mind.
"Damn it, Jiang Miao's really not in my class! Otherwise, the class monitor would be falling all over me!"
Wang Sanpang laughed loudly nearby.
"Haha, Mo Fan, we're in the same class, yet you're still daydreaming. You really do have a gift for it."
"I mean what I say. You should all learn to use your brains."
The boys in the classroom burst into laughter.
By then, Jiang Miao had already walked a long way with Zhou Min.
Along the way, Zhou Min explained why she'd come looking for him.
Her grandmother lived nearby, but there was a construction site in the area that kept making strange noises. She was worried there might be a demon.
And Jiang Miao had already fought demons twice. In Zhou Min's eyes, he was a powerful and reliable mage.
"You mean the construction site?"
Jiang Miao pointed toward the building site, where several construction workers were busy at work.
Zhou Min nodded. She still felt a little uneasy.
"The site makes strange noises in the middle of the night."
Jiang Miao looked toward the simple houses. Many older people were sitting around in the alley.
Beyond their residential area stood a street lined with busy shops.
"I understand."
Zhou Min nodded at Jiang Miao's reply, feeling a little more at ease.
When midnight came...
Two figures dressed in black emerged outside the construction site.
The crane's towering arm stretched across the sky, its shadow concealing a vicious, terrifying demon.
Zhou Min crept closer to Jiang Miao.
"Clang—clang! Clang—clang!..."
Just then, a sound like a giant iron bell being struck rang out from an unseen place.
Jiang Miao listened carefully, tracing the sound to its source.
He looked toward the demon hiding in the darkness of night.
The monster stood upright like a wolf-man, its body nearly three meters tall!
Its body was covered in muscle that seemed ready to burst.
Zhou Min was so frightened by the sight that she didn't dare make a sound.
She whispered timidly:
"Jiang Miao, shouldn't I go on ahead? That wolf-eyed monster doesn't look anything like the ones in our textbooks. It's terrifying!"
Unlike Zhou Min, Jiang Miao was filled with excitement and anticipation.
An advanced-level wolf demon!
And it was about to advance to the Commander level!
Once it did, he could kill it and claim a commander-level demon core!
The commander-level demon core was said to be extremely valuable. It was probably worth a great deal.
It was a great opportunity to earn a fortune.
There were very few people with magical talent in a small place like Bo City.
Even if there were, demons that had just advanced would go through a period of weakness. At that time, their physical strength would be greatly reduced.
"Shh. It's all in my hands. Stay right behind me, and don't make a sound."
Jiang Miao reminded her.
At Jiang Miao's warning, Zhou Min quickly covered her mouth. She stared nervously at the strange monster in the distance, which kept pounding the ground with its fists.
The dark clouds scattered, and the moonlight shone down again on the pale construction site.
The wolf demon's body was surrounded by a blood-red aura!
Its blood was boiling, its bones creaking...
Its already powerful muscles swelled even further. It had to bend at the waist, and its three-meter height made it look like a giant wolf.
What was even more alarming was—
The demon's wolfish head was now more than halfway transformed into that of a wolf. Its appearance had grown even more terrifying!
Zhou Min could feel the demon's terrifying presence. Her legs trembled uncontrollably.
She struggled to speak:
"I-it's... it's about to become a commander-level demon..."
Jiang Miao's legs trembled too, but that was from excitement.
"Finally, I've waited long enough!"
As the wolf demon advanced from an advanced-level demon to a commander-level one, it raised its head and let out a howl!
It needed to vent its joy at becoming stronger.
Those weak humans would soon die by its claws!
But just as the wolf demon was about to howl, a brilliant star map suddenly appeared above the construction site...
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