Chapter Summaries

Zheng Qing, transformed into Big Black Cat, rescued the Little White Cat from a group of young wizards who had tried to capture her. He carried her away from the artificial mountain with her perched on his head, leaving the wizards terrified and wondering who she was.

• The Little White Cat climbed the slippery artificial mountain and evaded Curly Haired Dog when he reached for her.
• Curly Haired Dog used a spellbook and Binding Spell to send vines after the kitten, ignoring the Fat Wizard's warning not to force her down.
• Zheng Qing appeared as a three-meter-tall Big Black Cat, frightened the wizards, and pinned the Fat Wizard beneath a paw.
• Big Black Cat approached the Little White Cat, and she met his paw with a tiny high-five before jumping onto his head.
• Zheng Qing carried the Little White Cat away across campus, while Curly Haired Dog and the other wizards discussed whether to raise an alarm.

After the Little White Cat escaped into the trees, Zheng Qing wondered whether it was Jiang Yu and spent the weekend troubled by its identity and a nightmare about her being captured. He left an unwritten warning for Jiang Yu and, before Sunday night's class meeting, remembered that his own transformation accident also needed attention.

• Zheng Qing tried to take the Little White Cat to Old Man Vernal's cabin, but it leaped into the trees and disappeared.
• Zheng Qing returned to his dormitory and dreamed that Jiang Yu as a kitten was captured and burned, then woke after falling from his bed.
• Zheng Qing wrote Jiang Yu a letter urging her to change her plan, but hesitated to send it because the nightmare was uncertain and rumors could harm his reputation.
• Zheng Qing spent Saturday and Sunday worrying about Jiang Yu and forgot to investigate the mouse hole beneath the oak tree.
• Xiao Xiao reminded Zheng Qing before the Sunday night class meeting to ask Old Yao about his transformation accident.

Zheng Qing consulted Old Yao after discovering that he retained Magic Power in his black-cat form, an apparent violation of a fundamental rule of Transformation Magic. Old Yao began investigating the unusual transformation, first asking about the potion Zheng Qing had used.

• Zheng Qing realized that his transformed black-cat form retained Magic Power despite the rules governing ordinary Transformation Spells.
• At the Sunday regular meeting, Zheng Qing privately told Old Yao about his transformation after the professor created a barrier against eavesdropping.
• Old Yao confirmed that the black cat had possessed Magic Power and asked whether Zheng Qing had received the Standard Potion from Professor Li.
• Zheng Qing admitted that he had bought the potion in Beta Town and handed Old Yao its leaflet, qualification certificate, and related materials.

Old Yao examined Zheng Qing’s transformation and suggested that his unusual abilities came from his shadow’s past contact with a Forbidden Curse. He also asked Zheng Qing to bring in his remaining potions for testing, leaving Zheng Qing with a possible explanation but no confirmed diagnosis.

• Old Yao said Fizzer Potion was unlikely to be at fault but asked Zheng Qing to provide the used ampoules and his remaining Transformation Potions for inspection.
• Zheng Qing lied that his other potions were in his dorm, and Old Yao assured him the inspection was separate from any school punishment.
• Old Yao connected Zheng Qing’s talking, size-changing black cat form to the Big Black Cat that had emerged from him and to the shadow that had escaped earlier.
• Zheng Qing challenged the idea that his transformation could break the principles of the Mondel Paradox, and Old Yao argued that laws could be broken under extraordinary circumstances.
• Old Yao proposed that Zheng Qing’s shadow had encountered a Forbidden Curse in another dimension, leaving Zheng Qing infected with a trace of its traits.

Professor Yao suspected Zheng Qing’s abnormal transformation might be connected to a Forbidden Curse and ordered him to submit potion samples and a report for examination. Still shaken after the meeting, Zheng Qing remembered he needed to speak with certain people and hurried toward Jiang Yu and Li Meng.

• Professor Yao privately speculated that Zheng Qing’s transformation might be connected to a Forbidden Curse, then asked him to bring potion samples and a usage report for the Potions Studies professors to examine.
• Professor Yao reminded Zheng Qing to file the missing paperwork with Professor Yi about his Transformation Potion use.
• Zheng Qing sat through the rest of the meeting in a daze, preoccupied with the possibility that he was linked to a Forbidden Curse.
• Xiao Xiao prompted Zheng Qing to remember the people he had wanted to speak with, and Zheng Qing spotted Jiang Yu lecturing Li Meng.
• Zheng Qing thanked Xiao Xiao and hurried off to approach Jiang Yu and Li Meng.

Zheng Qing tried to warn Jiang Yu to be cautious about practicing the Transformation Spell after his own transformation anomaly, but Jiang Yu concealed that she had already transformed. Her lie left Zheng Qing puzzled and momentarily distracted.

• Zheng Qing worried that his unexplained Transformation Spell anomaly might be related to the notes he had given Jiang Yu and hoped she would abandon her risky plan.
• After the regular meeting, Zheng Qing found Jiang Yu reprimanding Li Meng for failing to write her weekly journal.
• Zheng Qing teased Li Meng, who snapped back at him before Jiang Yu grabbed her by the ear and scolded her.
• Zheng Qing asked Jiang Yu whether his notes had helped and whether she had tried transforming; Jiang Yu said she had not started practicing and declined his offer of help.
• Li Meng privately shared Jiang Yu's secret, while Jiang Yu's firm denial surprised Zheng Qing and made him forget what he had come to say.

Zheng Qing tried to dissuade Jiang Yu from attempting a dangerous transformation and borrowed back the notebook so Professor Yao could check it. Jiang Yu offered no definite answer about involving his hunting team, then pointed out that Matthew was spending time with Ilena.

• Zheng Qing warned Jiang Yu that practicing the Transformation Spell without a teacher could be dangerous, but she made no promise to stop.
• Zheng Qing asked for the notebook back so he could review it at Professor Yao's suggestion, and Jiang Yu handed it over and offered help from her private tutor.
• Li Meng shoved and kicked Zheng Qing, then urged him to leave so she and Jiang Yu could finish their homework.
• Zheng Qing urged Jiang Yu to tell him if she went ahead with her plan so his hunting team could accompany her, and Jiang Yu only nodded.
• Jiang Yu told Zheng Qing to look behind him, where he saw Matthew giving Ilena a reference book; Ilena waved at him with a bright smile.

Zheng Qing grew increasingly frustrated by the senior professors’ unexplained disappearances and his inability to consult Professor Yao or Professor Montria about his Transfiguration. Before class, he recognized that Ilena had used a Talisman Key to enter Sir Friedman’s lounge, but kept quiet as she pretended not to know what it was.

• Several senior professors vanished from their classrooms, leaving substitutes to teach, while Zheng Qing remained unable to find Professor Montria or get a new date for Professor Yi’s tutoring.
• During Astronomy Studies, Fatty Xin and Zhang Jixin discussed Dylan’s return to the School Hospital and the shortage of Seeker Hunters for their team.
• Fatty Xin explained that Blue Sparrow was helping hunt migrating Little Rats for credits, while Zheng Qing ignored the conversation and brooded over his troubles.
• Before class, Matthew Callan showed Ilena a Talisman Key he had found inside a book and said it opened his cousin Sir Friedman’s lounge.
• Zheng Qing recognized the key as the one Ilena had used to enter the lounge and stayed silent while she acted as though she had mistaken it for a bookmark.

As winter arrived at Jiuyou Academy, Zheng Qing and his friends discussed homework, campus rats, and their hunting team plans. Zheng Qing rejected a proposal to train by catching rats and said the team would consider winter gear only if they had a winter competition to enter.

• Zheng Qing and Fatty Xin compared their Magic Spell Class assignments, and Zheng Qing pointed out that Fatty Xin had written a character incorrectly.
• Zhang Jixin mocked Fatty Xin, then asked Zheng Qing whether he had taken any School Labor Committee rat-catching assignments.
• Zhang Jixin proposed that the hunting team catch rats during weekend training and discuss buying winter gear.
• Xiao Xiao reacted angrily when Zheng Qing teased him about writing a love letter, prompting the others to suspect he had been doing so.
• Zheng Qing rejected rat-catching as hunting team training and said they would discuss winter gear only if a winter hunting competition required it.

Zheng Qing and his teammates discussed the upcoming Winter Hunt and whether their unofficial team could earn an invitation. Their conversation ended when Professor Yao returned to teach Magic Spell Class and Magic Philosophy, leaving the students shocked and scrambling to welcome him.

• Fatty Xin and Zhang Jixin explained the Winter Hunt and said the team's first place in the Freshman Competition might help it earn an invitation.
• Xiao Xiao warned Zheng Qing that the Silent Forest held dangerous creatures, making him reconsider joining the hunt.
• Zheng Qing told Fatty Xin and Zhang Jixin to persuade the full team if they wanted to enter the Winter Hunt.
• Professor Yao burst into Classroom East 601 and announced that he would resume teaching Magic Spell Class and Magic Philosophy.
• The students erupted in applause and exaggerated praise, and Professor Yao finally told them to settle down.

During Magic Spell Class, Professor Yao asked Astronomy Class 08-1 to consider the effects of this year's unusually early Silent Tideback. Xiao Xiao and Ilena were the first to offer answers, and Professor Yao chose Xiao Xiao to speak.

• Professor Yao hinted that he had recently been away from school, prompting Li Meng to try to ask him about it.
• Professor Yao called on Zheng Qing, who explained the Silent Tideback and its yearly migration of Wenyao Fish through the Silent River.
• Professor Yao asked the class what impact the early Silent Tideback might have and offered one credit for the first effective answer.
• Xiao Xiao and Ilena stood to answer, but Professor Yao chose Xiao Xiao because he had stood first.

Xiao Xiao explained how the early Silent Tideback threatened the ecosystem and the school, then warned that well-fed monsters deep in the Silent Forest could become more dangerous. Old Yao announced that his students had to catch rats each week as part of the school’s response.

• Xiao Xiao described how the early fish migration could disrupt the food chain, draw creatures toward the school, and cause a surge in Corpse Beetles and rats.
• After receiving one credit, Xiao Xiao interrupted Old Yao to add that the fish were delivering extra food to terrifying creatures deep in the Silent Forest.
• Old Yao acknowledged Xiao Xiao’s speculation and explained that the school had investigated the ecological damage along the Silent River.
• Old Yao assigned each student to catch one hundred rats per week and submit the committee’s receipts for counselor evaluation credit.

Zheng Qing learned that his class had to catch rats for an end-of-term evaluation, then received the report on his Transformation Spell abnormality. The tests found no fault with his potion or health, but the cause remained undetected, leaving Old Yao’s Forbidden Curse theory as the likeliest explanation.

• Professor Yao assigned the students rat-catching work and tied it to their end-of-term evaluation.
• Zheng Qing resisted the task, recalling his recent transformation into a cat and avoiding rat-catching for two weeks.
• After class, Old Yao gave Zheng Qing the final test report on his Transformation Spell abnormality.
• Old Yao told Zheng Qing that the potion, his notes, and his medical examination showed no problems, aside from an active Psionic Field.
• Old Yao said the abnormality’s cause could not be found, making his theory about a trace of a Forbidden Curse inside Zheng Qing the most likely explanation.

After discussing the effects of Zheng Qing’s Transformation Spell with Old Yao, Zheng Qing asked about a clothed rat he had seen on campus, but Old Yao gave him no clear answer. Zheng Qing and his friends then speculated about the Silent Forest and found the cafeteria serving an unusually large variety of Wenyao Fish dishes.

• Old Yao gave Zheng Qing his Transformation Spell notes and reports, two replacement Transformation Potions, and instructions to report future use and catch rats.
• Zheng Qing asked Old Yao about a clothed rat and described the mysterious Tree hollow that later disappeared; Old Yao suggested magic or an intelligent rat might explain it.
• Zheng Qing joined Xiao Xiao, Zhang Jixin, and the fatty on the way to lunch as they debated why the school’s leaders had entered the Silent Forest.
• Xiao Xiao pointed out that the cafeteria’s menu consisted almost entirely of Wenyao Fish dishes, and Zheng Qing joked that he would accept them as long as the cafeteria did not serve rats.

Zheng Qing transformed into a Black Cat and went to Linzhong Lakefront to find quiet, where he found dozens of cats perched in the trees. He settled among them until Li Meng arrived with dried fish and tried to coax the cats down, but he ignored her.

• Zheng Qing turned into a Black Cat and left the dorm to check the mouse hole beneath the oak and look for Little White Cat.
• Zheng Qing reached the grove and found dozens of cats sitting among the branches.
• Zheng Qing climbed into an empty fork, curled up, and enjoyed the warmth and fresh air.
• Li Meng arrived beneath the tree with a dried fish and called to the cats, but Zheng Qing closed his eyes and tucked in his tail.

Li Meng tried to recruit cats to catch mice for dried fish, and the only cat to accept her offer was robbed by a massive Forest Cat. The Forest Cat kept the fish while Li Meng ordered Li Neng to attack, but the Plush Bear ran behind her instead.

• Li Meng offered dried fish to cats that brought her mice, while Zheng Qing watched from a branch.
• Li Neng insulted the Forest Cat, which threatened the Plush Bear until Li Meng turned to an Exotic Shorthair Cat with a small mouse.
• Li Meng accepted the Exotic Shorthair Cat's mouse and gave it a dried fish as a bonus.
• The Forest Cat blocked the cat's way and stole the fish, sending the Exotic Shorthair Cat fleeing up Tree.
• Li Meng threw Li Neng toward the Forest Cat and ordered it to attack, but Li Neng ran behind her.

Li Meng confronted a Norwegian Forest Cat that had stolen dried fish, but the cat knocked her and the Plush Bear into the mud. Zheng Qing intervened as a black cat, and the Forest Cat summoned other large cats to confront him.

• Li Meng accused the Forest Cat of stealing dried fish and urged the other cats to unite against it, but the Forest Cat ate the fish anyway.
• Li Meng sent the Plush Bear to retrieve her spellbook, but the Forest Cat knocked it down and rolled it through the mud.
• Li Meng charged at the Forest Cat with a branch, but it knocked her into the mud and sent the branch flying.
• Li Meng hugged the filthy Plush Bear as she sat crying in the mud, and Zheng Qing jumped down from the tree to intervene.
• The Forest Cat threatened Zheng Qing and signaled several large cats to move toward him.

Zheng Qing, transformed into a little black cat, fought off a group of big cats attacking him and subdued their Forest Cat leader. Afterward, he turned his attention to the stunned Li Meng.

• Li Meng warned Zheng Qing that a Russian Blue Cat was attacking him from behind.
• Zheng Qing struck the Russian Blue Cat with his magically enlarged tail, sending it crashing into the mud.
• The Forest Cat and the other big cats pounced, but Zheng Qing enlarged his paw and swatted the Forest Cat and a Maine Coon Cat away.
• The remaining big cats fled or climbed trees, while the dazed Forest Cat exposed its belly to show submission.
• Zheng Qing patted the Forest Cat, shrank his paw, and turned to find Li Meng staring at him in shock.

Li Meng excitedly told Jiang Yu about a size-changing black cat that had rescued her from a pack of stray cats, while Jiang Yu scolded her and sent her to clean up and finish her journal. After Li Meng left, Jiang Yu revealed she still hoped to thank the Big Black Cat that had once saved her, but the school had ruled out that it was an escaped laboratory subject.

• Li Meng recounted how the black cat had defeated the stray cats and saved her, and speculated about finding its owner and breeding it with a Persian Cat.
• Jiang Yu dismissed Li Meng's questions about magical cats, told her to clean Plush Bear and herself, and reminded her to finish her weekly life journal.
• Li Meng headed toward the dormitories while Jiang Yu went to file materials and planned to meet her at the library.
• Jiang Yu privately recalled searching for the Big Black Cat and preparing steaks to thank it, but she had not seen it again.
• Jiang Yu had asked her family elder to help investigate the cat, and the school had ruled out that it was an escaped laboratory subject.

Jiang Yu realized that the shape-changing Black Cat was likely the enormous Spirit Beast she had been searching for and hurried to register her Transfiguration use. Meanwhile, Zheng Qing remained in the grove, where the cats had made him their leader.

• Jiang Yu learned from Li Meng that the Black Cat could change size and concluded that he was the Big Black Cat.
• Jiang Yu decided to register her Transfiguration use at the Office Building so she could investigate the Black Cat under the school's supervision.
• Jiang Yu wondered whether Zheng Qing had needed to submit stacks of paperwork before transforming.
• Zheng Qing stayed in the grove after defeating the Norwegian Forest Cat and became the leader of the gathered cats.