Pig = Pig Beast?

Pig = Pig Beast?

(I'm feeling rather starved lately, so satisfy me with votes and favorites.)

On the Brahma Continent, the various professional systems had already reached a mature stage of development, including Summoners, who had long been overlooked.

By now, after several centuries of development, the Summoner system could be divided into four types—Magic Beast Summoners, Necromancer Summoners, Demon Summoners, and Elemental Spirit Summoners.

Among these four major systems, Magic Beast Summoners were the most numerous. Every profession had its own unique requirements and conditions for training; the only difference was whether those requirements were obvious or not.

Among Summoners, Magic Beast Summoners had the lowest training requirements. Of course, that did not mean Magic Beast Summoners were the weakest. In truth, every type of Summoner had its own strengths.

Training as a Magic Beast Summoner was simple. As long as one possessed sufficiently strong spiritual power and a certain amount of magic power, that was enough. In many cases, people with magic power had stronger spiritual power than ordinary people. When choosing a profession, such people would generally choose to become mages and give up on becoming Summoners.

Only those who were particularly interested in Summoners, or whose spiritual power was relatively strong but whose bodies gathered magic power too slowly for them to achieve much in magic training, would choose to become Summoners. Thus, although Summoners were still fewer in number than mages, their status was also lower than that of mages, not much different from Swordsmen and the like.

As for Necromancer Summoners, they had more special requirements. The so-called undead were the opposite of living creatures, such as Skeletons, Zombies, and the like. To practice Necromantic Summoning, one not only needed the qualifications of a Magic Beast Summoner, but also magic power with the death attribute.

The death attribute was relatively rare among the many elements, which made Necromancer Summoners scarce as well. Coupled with natural disasters and the like, even fewer people practiced Necromantic Summoning.

Demon Summoners, on the other hand, required a relatively strong physique as well as dark-attribute magic power in order to summon demons. Nearly everyone capable of becoming a Demon Summoner had the strongest body among cultivators outside the warrior and assassin classes. Therefore, some Demon Summoners practiced martial arts and Battle Qi.

As for the final type, Elemental Spirit Summoners, they were another special case. They required attribute-less magic power and powerful spiritual power. Moreover, every method used by Elemental Spirit Summoners was purely elemental. Therefore, among Summoners, they often had the weakest physiques, and even the elemental creatures they summoned were the same.

Carlos was merely a small city, so every student in the academy was a resident of Carlos City. Summoners were few to begin with, and in such a small city, there were only thirty Summoner trainees merged into the Magic Department, just enough to occupy one classroom.

Diya strolled across the academy square toward the Magic Department building. At this hour, every class was in session, so apart from the sounds drifting out from the building, the area outside was completely empty.

Diya climbed the stairs to the third floor, turned left, ignored the surprised gazes of the students attending class, and walked straight to the very end. There was the classroom of the Summoning Department.

Before he even reached the door, he could hear voices coming from inside. The instructor was explaining the matters that required attention during summoning. Diya's footsteps paused slightly. After hesitating for a moment, he continued forward and appeared at the doorway. Instantly, the instructor stopped speaking, and like the thirty students in the class, focused his attention on the door.

When he saw the figure standing at the entrance, the instructor's expression immediately darkened, while the thirty students began whispering among themselves.

Instructors enjoyed a certain benefit: the better the results of the students they taught, the greater the rewards they received. The rewards might be gold coins, cultivation techniques, magic spells, summoning spells, and so on. Aside from the tasks issued by the academy, the standard for achievement was whether a student could be admitted to Tax Academy.

Tax Academy's admission requirements were extremely strict. One had to possess Guardian Rank strength before turning nineteen. This alone excluded countless cultivators. In this class of thirty students, only one had reached Guardian Rank. Though he had only just entered Guardian Rank, he was already considered a genius among his peers.

If properly nurtured, once that student entered Tax Academy, his achievement would be credited to the instructor, who would receive a reward as a result.

As for the other students, they only needed to reach Soldier Rank before the age of nineteen in order to graduate. But if even one student failed to reach Soldier Rank before nineteen, it would be like dragging the instructor down. Not only would it be embarrassing, but part of the instructor's rewards might even be deducted.

Under such circumstances, how could this instructor possibly show Diya a pleasant face? Diya understood this as well, but his personality made him utterly indifferent to it. Moreover, this instructor always mocked and insulted him, wishing he could drive Diya out of the academy. Yet Diya simply would not leave, leaving the instructor helpless.

"Student Diya, how long have you been lying around at home this time?" The instructor on the platform composed his expression, and a smile suddenly squeezed onto his fat face. "Student Diya, if someone bullies you, summon a magic beast to bully them back. That way, you won't get hurt."

"Instructor Pig, have you forgotten? Student Diya doesn't have even a trace of magic power," a student suddenly stood up and said smugly. Instructor Pig was the man standing on the platform. He was one meter seventy tall and nearly one meter fifty wide, his entire body round as a ball, yet he was a Spirit Grade Magic Beast Summoner.

"Oh, fortunately Student Gaia reminded me, or I really would have forgotten. Student Diya, I hope you don't mind. Look at me, this instructor's memory isn't very good. It's declined terribly lately." The fat man acted as though he had suddenly realized something, but he gave the standing student an approving glance. He was extremely pleased with Gaia. Not only had he reached Guardian Rank, but he was also so clever. He was indeed worth nurturing.

"Thank you for your concern, Instructor. But rest assured, your memory is even better than a Pig Beast's," Diya said respectfully. The moment he said this, someone among the students immediately snickered. At first, Instructor Pig felt rather pleased by Diya's words, but after thinking about them carefully, he realized that the boy had insulted him in a roundabout way.

Because Pig was exceptionally fat and had an unpleasant personality, he had the nickname Pig Beast throughout the academy. But since he had some ability, no one would normally call him that to his face. At most, they would say it behind his back. Yet Diya had compared Pig to a Pig Beast in front of so many students, making him lose face badly.

"You..." Pig's tiny eyes nearly disappeared into his fat, and his face trembled, making people worry that his cheeks might fall off. Suddenly, Pig slammed the desk and roared, "Silence!"

The entire classroom immediately fell silent. Diya glanced at Pig and ignored him, walking straight to a corner of the classroom and sitting at an empty desk. Pig glared viciously at Diya and muttered, "I'll definitely go find the principal and have this trash expelled. I have to find the principal."

Perhaps because of Diya's arrival, Pig left behind the words, "Digest the knowledge you just learned yourselves. Next class, we'll go to the training grounds to practice summoning," then departed the classroom. Seeing how hurried he was, he had clearly been enraged. He rolled away like a ball of meat.

Although Pig had muttered quietly, all the students in the classroom heard him. One by one, they turned to look at Diya with different expressions—sympathy, disgust, schadenfreude—but not a single one stood on Diya's side. Diya naturally heard the fat man's words as well, but he did not care. If they could have expelled him, he would have been expelled long ago. Why wait until now?

"It's all because of trash like you. You angered the instructor and made it impossible for us to focus on class." Gaia stood up, walked in front of Diya, and immediately began berating him. "Trash like you should know your place. Go die wherever you came from. Don't come here and drag us down."

Diya glanced at Gaia without answering. He sat leisurely in his chair, treating Gaia's words as nothing but wind in his ears. Such scenes were not uncommon, and Diya had long become accustomed to them. But without strength, all he could do was ignore them.

"Oh, right. Trash like you who can't do anything might starve to death after going home. How about this? For the sake of being classmates, I'll have my father sell you some ducks cheaply so you can set up a stall and earn your living expenses," Gaia said, then actually laughed smugly.

Gaia's father was a merchant in Carlos City who specialized in selling poultry. He was considered fairly wealthy in Carlos City, was skilled at flattering others, and had rather good relations with the city's nobles.

"Ducks? So your family sells ducks?" Diya looked at Gaia in apparent surprise. The other students immediately started laughing again. These ducks were not those ducks.

"You..." Gaia understood what Diya meant and was furious. But he could not casually hit someone in the academy. Otherwise, even with Pig's protection, he would not get off lightly. After all, he was not a noble. He could only return awkwardly to his seat. "Don't be so pleased with yourself. Instructor Pig must have gone to find the principal. Just wait to be expelled."

Diya glanced at Gaia without answering, but a voice rang out in the classroom. "It seems the Empire has a rule: aside from advanced academies, other academies cannot expel students unless the students themselves request withdrawal. If they insist on expelling someone, they need approval from the relevant authorities."