Chapter 920 Arcane Magic and Melting Mountain
“Even if Arcane eliminates apprentices, she won’t do it in the early stages. She has her own set of standards for whether an apprentice is ‘high-quality’ or ‘low-quality’: combat strength, wealth, career achievements, progress in pursuing dreams… You can say she’s cruel, you can say she’s cold-blooded and ruthless, you can say she has strict standards, but she is by no means narrow-minded.”
“That’s more than just strict…” Zhu Ri disagreed with Tian Hu Hao Qi’s assessment, saying, “Ai Hao, you, Cuo Da, Rong Shan, is her standard something that ordinary people can meet?… But anyway, Wu Ren will at least be fine before graduation, because she won the fun competition in fifth grade.”
Yu Xunge's breathing slowed down as she listened, and she asked nervously, "What about Maple Syrup? Didn't you say that her teacher, Rong Shan, was very good? You even said that if he were willing to teach at any magic school, all the schools would be fighting over him."
“Because Rongshan is indeed powerful. He is not particularly talented, but he has reached the combat strength assessment standard of arcane magic through his own efforts. This kind of person is the kind of teacher that every magic academy dreams of... But Rongshan.” Zhu Ri’s speech slowed down, as if he was considering how to evaluate this person.
In the end, Zhu Ri concluded: "Rong Shan is an emotionally stable madman."
Tianhu Haoqi took over the conversation. Instead of refuting Zhu Ri's conclusion, she attempted to explain Zhu Ri's evaluation to the apprentice from its root cause. She said:
"Although Rongshan survived the Arcane's standards, he only barely met them. Ah, I must say, that's what makes the Arcane so formidable; she only cares about her own standards and never considers whether her apprentices love or hate her."
“Even if an apprentice is willing to die for her, she will still eliminate any ‘inferior’ apprentice in her eyes without hesitation. On the contrary, Arcane will let someone like Rongshan who hates her go simply because he meets the standards.”
“I’ve always thought that’s why Rongshan went crazy. He felt that Arcane looked down on him. After all, a normal person would eliminate those who could pose a threat to him…” Yu Xunge noticed that whenever Zhu Ri talked about Arcane, her eyebrows would unconsciously furrow.
“I don’t want to comment on most of my teacher’s actions, but I’ve always believed that she wasn’t wrong in the matter of Rongshan.” Tianhu Haoqi said seriously, “Arcane would clearly state her standards before taking on apprentices. She would also tell the apprentices where their talents lay and what she expected of them. Arcane’s expectations for Rongshan were not in terms of combat power. Her original intention was to train Rongshan to become a merchant who was richer than a country. It was Rongshan who suddenly wanted to change course halfway through, which is why he had such a difficult time.”
Noticing that the adults' conversation was neglecting the apprentice, Tianhu Haoqi replied with a sentence and then continued to tell the apprentice about Rongshan. "He vowed that he would not become a second Arcane. He would not be pessimistic about the apprentice because she was not talented enough, nor would he give up on her because she suffered a setback. He found an apprentice who was in a situation very similar to his own back then - Maple Syrup."
The question that had arisen during the individual competition of the Gods Game resurfaced in Yu Xunge's mind, and he asked, "Isn't Maple Syrup's talent good?"
“Yes, theoretically it is your friend’s privacy, but it was common knowledge when we left Astrana,” Tianhu Haoqi said. “Her divine talent was only B-level. It was Rongshan who extracted her parents’ divine talent and forcibly pushed her divine talent to S-level.”
Yu Xunge asked a question for which she herself didn't know what answer she wanted to hear: "Does Maple Syrup know? Does she agree?"
Tianhu Haoqi gave an answer without any subjective inference: "The day after Maple Sugar won the individual championship in fifth grade, Rongshan revealed the secret, saying that it was Maple Sugar's request. This news shocked the entire Astrana."
"It was as if the reporters had planned it all along. They interviewed Maple Sugar's parents in Caladom that very day. Even her parents said it was at Maple Sugar's request. When we left Astrana, this was the headline news in Astrana."
Yu Xunge said with absolute certainty, "It was definitely not what Maple Syrup requested."
If it was really Maple Syrup's own request, then back in school, she wouldn't have made her and Mistblade feel at the same time that she was being dragged into the mud by something.
Tianhu Haoqi did not express her opinion, although she also felt that it was not true.
But soon, the worry between Yu Xunge's brows faded a bit. She said, "Maple Sugar wouldn't do something she wasn't sure of. The fact that she dared to fall out with Rongshan means she has a way out."
After talking about Yu Xunge's friends, Zhu Ri and Tian Hu Haoqi had much more freedom in their conversation, no longer needing to take care of her.
They were talking about the big news that happened before they left Astrana.
It seems that all the rebellious apprentices were concentrated in the period before they left.
There are those who turn their classmates into undead pets, those who strip their classmates of their talents, those who steal the magic school's prized treasures, and those who, in fifth grade, lead their own kind to wipe out another race...
Looking at it this way, maple syrup doesn't seem like such a big deal after all.
However, the two teachers only knew what happened in the first year after Yu Xunge disappeared from Astrana. They didn't know whether anyone had a perfect start in the past two years, or what happened to Maple Sugar after Rongshan publicly criticized it.
Occasionally, other small boats would be encountered in the long river of time. Whenever this happened, Tianhu Haoqi and Zhu Ri would stand up as if facing a formidable enemy and order their apprentices to transform into orchid mantises and hide in their pockets.
Sometimes things are peaceful, but sometimes they need to work together with Zhu Ri and Tian Hu Hao Qi to save their little boat.
It was on this boring, long, and perilous road that Zhu Ri and Tian Hu Hao Qi traveled back and forth once.
Every time a battle ended, as she watched Zhu Ri and Tian Hu Hao Qi cast all sorts of healing spells on her, she thought to herself that she would never forget this scene for the rest of her life, and that she would never be able to master the Druid's Savage Form.
Um?
As yet another battle ended, Yu Xunge couldn't help but ask Hu Haoqi, "Teacher, how did you manage to master the Savage Form? And how could you simultaneously master both the Savage Form and the Natural Form? Isn't that contradictory?"
“It is indeed a contradiction, but it’s not without a solution.” Tianhu Haoqi used her skill to wash away the bloodstains on the moon bear’s fur. She said gently, “When we were very young, our druid elders would specially create the corresponding environment for the cubs to experience the mindset required for each form: natural form – savage form – hunting form. This is the most perfect order.”
"The hunting form can be changed at will, but the order of the natural form and the savage form cannot be changed. After all, 'destroying' is always much easier than 'reshaping'."
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