After Tuesday afternoon's Magic Script Class, Professor Monteria asked Zheng Qing to carry the assignments collected before class today to his office. Without a doubt, it was an excuse, because Dunton usually handled this task.
But today, under the professor's insistent gaze, the Class Monitor shrugged and quietly slipped away.
"It won't take up too much of your time."
There was a trace of weariness in Professor Monteria's voice, and his tone lacked its usual severity. Perhaps because they saw each other so often, Zheng Qing rarely examined his former laboratory mentor closely. But now, seeing him up close, he was startled to notice much more white in the professor's gray hair, and his cheekbones seemed a little more prominent as well. "--You can perform Time Conversion in my office. It's safer than those empty study rooms."
Zheng Qing was not surprised that an archwizard at the level of a college vice dean knew about this.
He obediently agreed.
Yet inwardly, he wondered why the professor wanted to see him. The most likely reason was the Edge Academy's Giant God Soldier project. The professor was one of its leaders, while he was the only remaining "healthy" Aptitude Candidate. Perhaps there were special matters the professor needed to remind him about. The next possibility was his role as an Edge Academy teaching assistant. Starting this week, for various reasons, his thursday afternoon classes had been canceled, so perhaps the professor wanted to discuss work. Of course, there was also the worst possibility: his recent performance in Magic Script Class had been so poor that the professor intended to fail him.
Given Professor Monteria's strict style, that was not impossible.
Just as his thoughts ran wild, Professor Monteria, walking ahead of him, suddenly spoke.
"...I heard that after receiving the 'Special Contribution