A Fruitful Tree / Qin Mo's First Class

"This is my Stand's new ability. It can link people together and share power. If the Honkai Energy in your body ever becomes excessive, you can transfer it to me as well, so I won't take it back."

Qin Mo had kept this link precisely for that reason. Although the Herrscher of Thunder was relatively friendly, if her Honkai Energy became excessive, she might very well lose control of her power.

"Oh, right. This ability has a very nice name."

"?"

Qin Mo looked at Mei's puzzled expression and smiled. "Love Train. It connects us through love."

The moment the words fell, Mei's face flushed red. Qin Mo immediately felt as though he had been electrocuted. No—he actually had been electrocuted.

Watching Mei return to her room with a red face, Qin Mo waited a long while before regaining the ability to move.

"Was that electricity leaking because her emotions fluctuated too much...?"

The Tree That Bore Fruit

"An unfamiliar ceiling."

The moment Qin Mo woke up and opened his eyes that morning, he saw an unfamiliar ceiling, while his nose was filled with...

"Oh, right. We moved."

His groggy mind finally began working, and Qin Mo remembered why he was here.

After living in a single-person dorm room for so long, he was suddenly a little unaccustomed to having so much space.

"Come to think of it, it seems to be the weekend today. I wonder whether St. Freya Academy has classes."

He also did not know whether the girls had classes.

Qin Mo had not started working as a teacher yet, so naturally he did not have a timetable.

After washing up and leaving his room, he saw Mei already wearing an apron and working busily in the kitchen.

Crazy Diamond frequently appeared to swiftly handle the ingredients. It even took charge of tossing the wok when Mei carried dishes out. Thankfully, no one saw it, or they would have been startled by something floating in midair.

With no enemies around, the daily life of a Stand user was just this plain and unadorned.

"Good morning, Mei."

The instant Mei saw Qin Mo, her steps faltered, and her fair cheeks visibly reddened.

"Good morning..."

Perhaps because of what happened last night, there was now an indescribable feeling between Mei and Qin Mo whenever they were alone together.

"What are you doing?"

A cool voice suddenly sounded behind them, startling Mei.

"Bronya, wait a moment. Breakfast will be ready soon."

Mei set down the plate in her hands and hurriedly fled back into the kitchen, leaving Bronya and Qin Mo staring at each other.

"Pervert."

???

Bronya threw out that single word before sitting at the dining table. Qin Mo scratched his head. How had he become a pervert? Had she seen what happened last night? No, if Bronya had noticed, she would definitely know he had dug up all her secrets. How could she remain so calm?

"Yawn... Good morning."

"Oh, good morning, Kiana."

Qin Mo watched Kiana emerge from her room with a yawn and head toward the courtyard. He blinked. "Kiana, you're going the wrong way. The dining room is here, and the bathroom is over there."

"No. I found out this morning that the hot spring is incredibly effective, so wouldn't washing my face with hot spring water work even better?"

Kiana looked immensely pleased with her own cleverness, so Qin Mo could not be bothered to say anything. He did not tell her that the water lost its effect once it left the hot spring. There was no point. As long as Kiana was happy, that was enough.

"Ahhh! Qin Mo! Come quickly!"

Qin Mo had just sat down when he heard Kiana screaming repeatedly from the courtyard. He immediately rushed outside.

Bronya, who had been sitting in a chair, and Mei, who was in the kitchen, also heard the commotion and hurried over. Even Theresa and Himeko, who had not yet left their rooms, came out one after another.

Then they saw Kiana standing beneath a large tree laden with fruit, pointing at the colorful fruits hanging from it as she shouted at Qin Mo, "The tree in the courtyard bore fruit! That's amazing! How can there be so much!? Is it because of the hot spring!?"

Qin Mo's mouth twitched at the sight. He slowly walked over to Kiana and punched her on the head. "Idiot! I planted this tree! Do you have to make such a fuss over something like this!?"

"But, but the fruit on this tree is really strange! And what if you make me dumber by hitting me?"

Kiana covered her head and pointed at the apples, pears, and watermelons above them with a wronged expression.

"Kiana's intelligence has no room to decline, so Bronya believes that possibility does not exist. However, this is also Bronya's first time seeing something this strange. Heavy Tank Bunny cannot analyze its species either."

Bronya walked over to the Tree of Harvest, observed it for a moment, and spoke.

Only then did Theresa remember. "Isn't this the tree you planted yesterday!?"

"Yes."

Qin Mo stopped keeping them in suspense. He reached out, picked an orange, and peeled it. "This tree is called the Tree of Harvest. Every day, it randomly becomes covered in fruit. The fruit is all ordinary fruit, so there's no need to worry. However, once planted, this tree cannot be transplanted, or it will immediately die."

"There's something like that? How strange."

The others agreed deeply with Theresa's words. However, Mei and Kiana had already seen even stranger things, so this did not seem like much. Kiana had even begun climbing the tree to pick fruit. "Haha, Qin Mo, catch!"

As she spoke, she directly threw down a watermelon as large as a person's head. "So watermelons grow on trees too?"

Qin Mo carefully caught the watermelon and felt disappointed in Kiana's intelligence once more. "That's because of this tree. Watermelons grow on the ground."

"Only a paramecium could come up with the idea that watermelons grow on trees."

Perhaps because she was slightly hungover from last night, Himeko had been awakened by Kiana and was now sitting on the courtyard floor, leaning against the doorframe as she mocked her.

"Indeed. Bronya believes Kiana's intelligence is on the same level as a paramecium."

"Hey! What's a paramecium!?"

Amid everyone's laughter and chatter, Kiana, Theresa, and Bronya harvested the fruit from the Tree of Harvest, while Mei and Qin Mo returned to continue preparing breakfast. As for Himeko...

She stayed there, leaning against the wall and dozing off.

Just like that, many fruit platters appeared on the breakfast table.

"So why doesn't the Tree of Harvest have bitter melons?"

Theresa took a sip of bitter melon juice, slammed the cup heavily onto the table, and spoke indignantly.

"What made you think bitter melon is a fruit?"

"Bitter melon is so delicious! Isn't it a fruit?"

Qin Mo rubbed his forehead at Theresa's strange eating habits. "And if I remember correctly, doesn't the academy already have your bitter melon garden? Why are you still fixated on the Tree of Harvest?"

"Isn't it because the fruit this tree produces is all perfect?"

Theresa pouted and muttered softly. At first, she had been worried about whether the fruit was healthy. After all, a single tree bearing different kinds of fruit was truly strange. It easily made people think of genetic technology, and fruit cultivated that way often had many side effects.

For that reason, she had specifically sent some fruit and branches off for testing. The result was...

There was nothing special about them at all.

That was only natural. The Tree of Harvest was special because of Nen. Once the fruit or branches left the tree, they became ordinary things. Even the tree itself would rapidly die if removed from where it had been planted.

Qin Mo's First Lesson

Just as its name suggested, the Tree of Harvest bore a harvest once every day.

In order to verify how it calculated a day, Kiana actually stayed in the courtyard all through Saturday night. However, according to Bronya, Kiana fell asleep halfway through and did not see the Tree of Harvest bearing fruit. By the time she woke up, it was already laden with fruit.

The amount of fruit produced by the Tree of Harvest was random, but there was always a great deal of it. Qin Mo had initially worried that they would not be able to finish it, but unexpectedly, Kiana alone ate three-fifths of the first day's harvest.

However, due to her love of meat, Kiana was not nearly as enthusiastic about fruit on the second day.

Although the fruit had just been picked and could be kept for a long time, there was still bound to be a large excess over time with so much harvest every day.

Not picking it was one way to avoid waste, but letting fruit grow every day without harvesting it was also wasteful. It was like logging into a game every day to claim a large amount of rewards. Why would anyone refuse something gained for free?

Bronya had initially worried that the Tree of Harvest would absorb a great amount of nutrients from the soil, but after monitoring the surrounding area for two days, she found that its existence had no effect on the land at all.

Just like that hot spring that defied geographical factors.

"Give this fruit to your classmates. It'll count as making some good connections."

Qin Mo simply packed up the remaining fruit. Tomorrow was Monday, which meant it was time for classes again.

"Qin Mo, did you forget that you start work tomorrow?"

Himeko looked at Qin Mo as he sorted and packed the fruit.

"Now that you mention it, that's true. I'll take this batch with me tomorrow, then. I'll pick fresh ones for you in the morning. The ones for the kids should be prepared properly."

"Did you forget that you're a kid too?"

Himeko looked at Qin Mo speechlessly as he spoke in such an adult tone.

"Yes, yes, Auntie Himeko."

Qin Mo immediately retorted, then quickly changed the subject before Himeko could get angry. "Come to think of it, where's Theresa?"

"Isn't she preparing teaching materials for you? You have class tomorrow, but the materials still aren't ready. And there's also that special mask of yours."

Hearing the faint reproach in Himeko's words, Qin Mo smiled awkwardly. He had always thought Theresa was purely a mascot.

Late the next night, Qin Mo had the Shadow Legion harvest a batch of fruit from the Tree of Harvest under cover of darkness and pack it up for Kiana and the others to bring and share with their classmates. Qin Mo himself arrived at the teachers' office early in the morning.

Not many teachers from St. Freya Academy appeared in the game. At least, in the story, Himeko was the only teacher who appeared. Qin Mo also knew that Anti-Entropy's leader, Welt Yang, worked here as a history teacher.

Oh, no, it seemed like his name was Joachim?

Qin Mo could not remember clearly. He had appeared in the game, but people on the forums often called him Welt Yang, so Qin Mo had forgotten what his real name was.

In any case, when Qin Mo actually arrived at the office, he discovered there were quite a few teachers.

"Come, Qin Mo. Let me introduce you."

Himeko fully carried out her duties as a senior colleague, introducing Qin Mo to the teachers of each subject one by one: biology, geography, chemistry, physics, history, mathematics, and Honkai studies.

The most important practical combat classes were taught by Himeko. However, the Far East branch frequently had missions, so Himeko did not actually appear often as a practical combat instructor. Most of the time, the class monitor led everyone, while the academy's simulated combat rooms and training grounds were used for training and simulated battles.

"Hello, Mr. Tanaka. Hello, Mr. Onizuka."

Most of the teachers at the Far East branch were from the Far East, though there were also some from Shenzhou.

"Hello, Mr. Yang."

Qin Mo greeted the bespectacled young man before him, who looked harmless enough. His tie hung messily around his neck, the buttons at his chest were not even fastened, and his face was covered in stubble. Qin Mo handed him a package of fruit as well.

"Oh, thank you, Mr. Qin. We'll be colleagues from now on, so please take care of me."

"It should be me who learns more from all of you teachers."

After exchanging a few polite compliments, Qin Mo returned to his desk. At St. Freya, Welt Yang had originally been the only male teacher. After Himeko's introduction, Qin Mo learned his name, and memories he had nearly forgotten were suddenly awakened.

This guy hadn't changed his name at all! How had no one at St. Freya recognized him!? Was Theresa doing it on purpose? After all, being the only male teacher made him quite noticeable.

Qin Mo did not understand, but it had nothing to do with him anyway.

It was not until the afternoon that his class began. The academy had specifically made time for courses on Ripple and Haki. When Qin Mo entered the classroom and saw the rows of beautiful girls staring at him below, he immediately felt that this job probably would not be easy.

"Alright, quiet down. I'm the teacher for your Ripple and Haki courses, Qin Mo, from Shenzhou."

As the girls began whispering among themselves over his arrival, Qin Mo tapped the lectern twice with his textbook and wrote his name on the blackboard.

Then he wrote two large characters beneath it: Ripple.

"As two systems completely different from Honkai, their methods of learning are also entirely different. However, I believe that no matter what subject it is, sparking interest is the most important thing. After all, you cannot simply learn something without understanding it just because the academy requires it. That would leave you with little motivation. So for today's first lesson, I'll first explain the principles and effects of Ripple and Haki. Now, turn to page three of your textbooks."

After seeing everyone turn to the page, Qin Mo began demonstrating the effects of Ripple to the class. Fortunately, both Ripple and Haki were abilities visible to the naked eye, so no one questioned whether they truly existed.

"These two abilities—one originates from a person's life force, stimulating the life force that escapes through breathing, while the other comes from spirit..."

In the original world of JOJO, learning Ripple required ascetic training, and it gradually fell out of use later on for that reason. However, whether in JOJO or with Qin Mo, there were scientific methods of learning it.

The reason Ripple teaching originally required arduous cultivation was to screen one's character. After all, as an immortal art, it naturally could not be passed on to those with malicious intentions.

But Qin Mo had no such reservations. He directly taught them the rhythm of Ripple breathing and handed out Ripple breathing masks to the Valkyries below.

"The greatest effect of Ripple is not combat, but cultivating your own life force. It can relieve pain, extend one's lifespan, and preserve one's appearance. That is why I had you learn Ripple first. A lack of offensive means can be made up for in other ways, but if you lack the means to survive, then once you die, you are simply dead."