Magic Doesn't Make Sense

Blood-replenishing pills take effect quickly, but their efficacy fades just as fast.

After resting for a few minutes, Zheng Qing's feeling of heat subsided considerably.

He took out his pocket watch.

It was 4:10 PM.

Wizards came and went in the Four Seasons Market, and the market remained as lively as ever.

Zheng Qing gazed lingeringly at these peculiar sights.

He knew he should leave. Most of the items on his list were already packed in the gray bag. He should hurry home and preview those hefty textbooks.

Then he remembered the promotion exam that Thomas had just mentioned.

"Do freshmen have to take an exam to become sophomores? Will I be expelled if I fail!" Zheng Qing rubbed the wizard book in his hand and sighed wistfully. "I feel like I don't understand anything. If I fail and get kicked out, won't that be embarrassing?"

"You're at Jiuyou Academy. Exams are a fundamental rule of your academy. So don't expect to advance from your first year to your second without an exam." Thomas cruelly dashed Zheng Qing's faint hope. "Of course, it's not like there are no other options."

Zheng Qing's eyes lit up instantly. He looked at his interviewer full of hope.

"You can choose to transfer departments at the mid-term, provided your credits meet the transfer standard. But as far as I know, the credit requirement for transferring departments is higher than for promotion. And at Jiuyou Academy," Thomas shrugged, "most ways of earning credits are still through exams."

Zheng Qing dejectedly lowered his head and stuffed his brand-new spellbook into the gray bag.

He had heard many stories from his grandfather about transferring departments in college.

For example, some universities had first-tier colleges, as well as second and even third-tier ones.

Some students with rich backgrounds and resources, but not particularly ideal Gaokao scores, would enroll in a second-tier college under their elders' arrangements. Then, through some maneuvering, they would change majors and transfer to a first-tier college.

As a young wizard adrift like duckweed, where would he find the capital to maneuver such a high-level operation as transferring departments?

"If you fail the promotion exam, you won't be immediately expelled. The school usually gives students one or two chances. Of course, the credits required for a repeating student to take the promotion exam the following year will be a bit higher. I heard there's a guy at Jiuyou Academy named Nicholas who has been a freshman for three years."

Zheng Qing clicked his tongue.

Failing an exam was embarrassing enough.

To fail and then, under the strange glances and whispers of others, study alongside juniors who were a year younger – how much courage would that take!

What kind of pressure must that student who had been a freshman for three years be enduring!

"I hate being stared at," he mumbled. "Like watching a monkey show."

"I asked you before, what is a wizard." Thomas stopped walking and stared at Zheng Qing with his emerald green eyes, looking very serious. "You said that someone who solves problems with extraordinary power is a wizard. That's a good understanding, but it's not enough."

"Historically, a great wizard once said, 'I think, therefore I am.' If magic represents mystery, the unknown, and power, then wizards possess mystery, possess the unknown, possess power. To think, and then to be able to do. That is a wizard." Seeing Zheng Qing's thoughtful expression, he added, "You need to learn to discard the logic in your mind. Magic does not follow logic."

Zheng Qing shivered.

Thomas's statement, "Magic does not follow logic," was truly overbearing.

He felt his breathing tremble.

Not from cold, not from fear.

But from excitement.

"Some people can only conjure a few small fireballs in their lifetime; others can create astonishing celestial phenomena at a very young age. These are differences in potential. First University admits you based on your potential. Beta Town is home to thousands of tricksters, some of whom can perform tricks that would dazzle even true mages. But those are ultimately just tricks."

"You only need to learn how to control your power and why you are doing it, not how to accumulate power. Power accumulation is a lifelong endeavor and won't see significant improvement within a few years of school. For you, you might not be able to cast advanced incantations like others right after arriving at school. But you can understand what the professors say. That's enough."

Zheng Qing stared into Thomas's emerald green eyes, nodding. He finally couldn't suppress his curiosity. "I feel like I've seen you somewhere before – of course, before today – do you have any impression?"

"Wizards are generally quite curious, but we have other matters to consider now." Thomas avoided his gaze and looked down the street. "The atmosphere on the street seems a bit off."

Zheng Qing held his shoulder, stood on tiptoe, and peered towards the end of the street.

Indeed, the street in the distance seemed a bit chaotic.

"The neon lights are flashing over there!" Zheng Qing squinted and asked strangely, "Are neon lights on before it's even dark? The wizarding world is truly strange!"

Thomas didn't reply. He drew out his brown wizard book, flipped it open with a rustle, and slammed it shut forcefully.

A faint blue light screen appeared around the two of them.

Zheng Qing stood firm, suddenly understanding.

In the blink of an eye, vibrant colors spread across the entire street.

It was as if dusk had arrived, and the neon lights were gradually blooming.

All the wizards on the street were enveloped in these flickering light screens.

A piercing roar accompanied the rapid flashing of colorful lights.

The ground beneath their feet trembled slightly.

Zheng Qing looked nervously into the distance.

A pair of scarlet eyes shone exceptionally brightly amidst the dazzling street.

Pigs are peaceful animals.

They were accustomed to huddling together after eating their fill, lazily basking in the gentle sunlight.

At this time, even if you poked them with a stick, you would only get a series of grunts and groans in response.

Wild boars, however, were dangerous animals.

Experienced hunters always said, "One pig, two bears, three tigers." They had thick hides, immense strength, and were also reckless and irritable.

Hunters could find ways to deal with cautious tigers, but there weren't as many good options for dealing with impetuous, single-minded wild boars. If you accidentally provoked them, these petty, stubborn creatures would chase you for four or five mountain ridges.

When he was young, Zheng Qing spent a period of time living on the mountain with Mister every summer vacation.

He listened to the mountain hunters talk about the terrors of wild boars, and he was deeply impressed by it.

He had never seen a maddened wild boar.

But based on years of influence from television documentaries, he felt that what was roaring and charging wildly down the streets of the Four Seasons Market was a maddened wild boar.

Madness was a state of irritability.

Zheng Qing had calmed maddened raging bulls before.

The best way to deal with them was to make them calm down.

He pulled a stack of yellow talisman papers from the gray bag in his pocket.

Calming Talismans.

Specifically for Calm and Focus.

They were specialized in treating all sorts of agitation, rage, and dissatisfaction.

This was the talisman Zheng Qing was most skilled at.

When he was annoyed while practicing calligraphy, he would always stick one of these on his forehead; it was exceptionally effective.

Back in the mountains, it had only taken him three talisman papers to subdue that maddened yellow bull.