The night was deep. Moonlight and starlight fell together, forming patches of mottled light and shadow among the trees. Long-legged mushrooms hopped out of those patches, spitting out fist-sized balls of light that erased the mottling bit by bit, and the entire woodland immediately grew much brighter.
The surroundings were utterly silent. No beasts roared in the distance, no birds called from the trees, no insects chirped in the bushes. Even the leaves seemed frozen in the wind, unable to rustle.
Zheng Qing found this oppressive atmosphere very familiar, but for the moment, he could not remember where he had encountered it before.
"How are the characters on the masks ranked?"
He trailed behind the practical class instructor, trying his best to make his tone sound more casual.
"Of course, by strength! The more powerful the wizard, the higher their rank!" Hilda boasted shamelessly. She held a slender bamboo stick in one hand, poking and prodding at the ground ahead, while raising her other hand to tap her own mask, as though reminding the young teaching assistant beside her to take a good look at her ranking.
Following the order of "A, B, C, D," that meant Hilda was the strongest wizard in the Teaching Assistant Group after acting leader Zhang Yu. Zheng Qing did not believe that conclusion in the slightest.
He could not help letting out a quiet "Tch."
"Thomas is far stronger than you!"
Thinking of the Germanic Wizard who had brought him into First University, Zheng Qing muttered as he touched the mask on his face. Then another question occurred to him. "...What character is on Thomas's mask?"
"Don't talk about things like that while carrying out a mission. It isn't safe."
After straightening up, Hilda first lectured the boy, then shook the bamboo stick in