Chapter 29: Listen to my Advice

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Su Ye turned to look at Hort, who was by his side.

Hort’s muscular frame was set on the floor like a giant water vat. His head was tilted downward, and saliva fell out of his mouth like a small waterfall. He was letting out snores that were akin to the roars of Magical Beasts.

Would the Pig Gnomes be scared to death if they heard this?

On the other side, Jimmy poked Hort’s waist with his finger, a frustrated look on his face.

“Snore… Hmm?” Hort was jolted awake. He observed his surroundings with his red eyes and then realized that he had fallen asleep. He blushed and chuckled.

Niedern did not seem to mind. He said, “Who saw the Barrier of the Two Worlds and the Light of the Divine Realm just now, please raise your hands.”

Su Ye looked around and realized that nine students raised their hands. Three out of the six people who shared a table with him did great. Palos, Rolon, and Laker raised their hands.

Su Ye also wanted to raise his hand, but he realized that the nine people who raised their hands all had exceptional grades. Furthermore, he did encounter a large number of Lights of the Divine Realm. He decided to take things slow and see what would happen next time.

Niedern stared at Su Ye.

Su Ye was shocked. He exclaimed in his heart, “Why are you looking at me?”

Niedern shifted his gaze and said slowly, “I know that some students might be confused about meditation and do not want to raise their hands. But that is alright, you will slowly become familiarized with it in the future. Furthermore, the ring on my finger can sense if you have approached the Light of the Divine Realm or not.”

“It works like that?” Su Ye thought.

Niedern continued, “Alright, let’s return to the classroom together. I have something else to announce. It’s regarding Su Ye’s punishment.”

All of the students turned their heads curiously toward Su Ye. Some of them gloated, while others were rather sympathetic.

Hutton and the students from the fourth table immediately let out wide smiles when they heard the news.

“Hold it together!” Hort gently patted on Su Ye’s shoulder, causing Su Ye, who was about to stand up, to slump helplessly back onto the ground.

Hort let out an awkward laugh and extended his hand to pull Su Ye up in a hurry.

Jimmy smiled as he walked over. “Don’t be afraid. Actually, Teacher Niedern is a very kind man. I think that he will only issue a minor punishment.”

“I think Su Ye is going to be in real trouble,” Ebert whispered by the side.

The group walked back to the classroom. Su Ye intentionally walked at the very back. He did not return to his seat when he entered the classroom but instead stood in front of the magic blackboard to face the rest of the students.

Hutton and the rest of his group teased him in secret, but they were much quieter than before. They invited giggles from the students around them.

Su Ye disregarded them. He adopted the standard demeanor of a bad student.

Niedern let out a slight cough and said, “Seeing that Su Ye was late on the first day of school and was being a terrible influence, which goes against the spirit of the Plato Academy, I announce that he will have to look for the teachers of the various subjects before the end of each school day to ask about the revision material as well as the homework material needed to be prepared for the next day. This will continue for the next year. He then has to write the contents down on the blackboard as a reminder for all the students. Su Ye.”

Su Ye replied immediately, “I accept your punishment, Teacher Niedern. I promise to complete this task every day and will never be late again in the future.”

“Good. Go write them down.”

Su Ye immediately picked up the magic quill and started writing on the blackboard, not moving from his spot.

Slanted Greek words appeared on the blackboard, which invited the laughter of several students.

Niedern had knitted his brows at the start, but he soon noticed that while Su Ye’s handwriting was atrocious, each of his strokes was heavy and steady. He then nodded his head slightly.

A person who had a clumsy effort triumphed over a relaxed genius.

Sometime later, Su Ye finished writing the homework material for all of the classes on the blackboard.

Su Ye stared at the board for a while after he finished writing, then involuntarily nodded his head.

A few students could not help but chuckle.

“Return to your seat,” Niedern said.

“Thank you, teacher!” Su Ye smiled as he returned.

However, a few of the students who had exceptional grades looked at Su Ye as if they had something on their minds.

Su Ye had just sat down when he received a magic message from the straight-A student Laker, his deskmate.

“Is this a punishment you asked for, or was this Teacher Niedern’s idea?”

“It’s Teacher Niedern’s idea, of course,” Su Ye replied quickly.

“Then can you give this opportunity to me?” Laker’s second message came soon after.

“What do you take me for? How can I get you to suffer the punishment for me! Do I look like a person who would betray my fellow student? Don’t worry, as long as I am around, I’ll never let you suffer from such punishment!” You got second place last semester and was surpassed by Rolon. You cannot waste time like this anymore. Listen to my advice, don’t think too much about it and spend your time on your studies so that you can catch up to Rolon. Good luck!”

“…” There was only a string of dots in Laker’s reply.

Hort asked softly, “I remember now. You went to the teacher’s office just now for this matter?”

“Yes.”

The bell for dismissal rang.

Several students leaped out of their seats and were prepared to leave when Niedern’s sentence shattered their dreams.

“We still have an additional half-period of lessons today.”

The students had a look of despair.

Niedern continued, “According to the conventions, on the first day of every second-year student, all of you will have to answer a question and engage in discussion with your deskmates. Now, all of you open your spellbooks to the page that sends a letter to me. You have to send me an answer in three seconds after I ask the question. In other words, write whatever surfaces in your mind after I ask the question, even if that is not the answer and even if those are curse words. Understood?”

“Understood…” the students replied without energy.

A cold smile suddenly surfaced on Niedern’s face. “I am getting to the main point now. If you do not answer in three seconds, you will directly fail this year! You will still fail this year even if you obtained the Silver Medal or even if you became the director.”

For some reason, the students felt a chill down their spines. Teacher Niedern did not often speak with such authority.

“I know that some of you think that you can be lucky, but let me tell you. Nine years ago, there was a genius warrior from a noble family who failed because he submitted his answer a second late. His grandfather could not tolerate this blemish and came to cause trouble at the academy. His grandfather was a Sage Warrior. You guys can guess how it ended up. His grandfather became food for the Sea Demon Fountain.”

Su Ye’s expression changed. He only remembered now that the fountain and clusters of sculptures were all decorative pieces, but what was inside the fountain were Oceanic Magical Beasts.

“I’ll steer clear of the fountain in the future…” Su Ye felt a chill go down his back.

Niedern surveyed the class and asked, “Do you all understand now?”

“Understood.” The reply this time was much louder.

“Did you all not eat? I can’t hear you.”

“Understood!” the students roared.

Su Ye had no choice but to shout along with the other students. Even the nobleman, Rolon, who did not speak very often, opened his mouth. Only Palos remained silent.

“Good! Now all of you concentrate. I’ll count after I finish asking the question. Everything will be over when I count to three!”

The atmosphere in the classroom turned tense. Everyone stared straight at their spellbooks.

“Alright, the question is, the director of Plato Academy orders you to scale Mount Olympus, what do you do? One! Two…”

None of the students thought to overthink the question. They wrote down their answers directly and immediately sent them out.

Su Ye froze for a moment when he heard the question as two thoughts had simultaneously entered his brain. However, Su Ye realized that his first thought was overly radical and thus answered with his second idea.

“I’ll find a way to scale the mountain.” Su Ye immediately sent out his answer after he finished writing.