Chapter 236: This is the Real Beginning of a New Semester
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
For the rest of their time, Baiyi graced his coworkers with the story of the fascinating adventure that he had just had.
They sat in a cafeteria, and each of them had a cup of coffee in hand even though neither of them could actually drink it.
It started out as a way to avoid the coffee going to waste, but later it became a great story-telling technique as Baiyi made the coffee soar out of the mug and morph it into different characters and objects of his story. He told the story in a theatrical method, while the characters made from coffee animated the words he said to reenact the story.
Baiyi told two riveting stories. The coworkers were fully immersed in them.
The two younger Soul Armature Pract.i.tioners’ faces were colored in a shade of admiration, and their s.h.i.+ning eyes made evident the hurl of determination bubbling inside of them. They wished they were the characters of the story! When the tales ended, they were visibly glum, wis.h.i.+ng they were Little Mia or the other girls!
Perhaps, sometime in the future, they would get their chances, too. If they trained hard enough, they would be ready for their own adventures, whenever it happens.
It really is great to be young!
The time was almost up. Baiyi politely declined his coworkers’ invitation for lunch as he had to get back home to give lessons to his own little fledglings. Before he left, he asked his friends about their plans for the future.
Mr. Sorry was originally a formidable physical fighter, which complemented his summoner, who walked also the path of a physical fighter. As his family was not capable enough, the boy would be tutored by his Soul Armature for the time being. Meanwhile, Mr. Owl’s girl was going to enroll in an elite school for girls.
“Master Hope, I’m gonna tell my new friends all about you, and they will be soooo jealous!” Cynthia, the summoner for Mr. Owl, was already a fangirl, and she looked up at Baiyi with eyes filled with admiration. That made her own h.o.r.n.y Soul Armature instinctively guarded.
Baiyi nodded gently, his face displaying a (￣▽￣) expression 1 .
However, just as quickly, Cynthia added, “But, why must you cover your face with a scarf? Your new body is really cool, and you’re ruining it with your weird fas.h.i.+on…”
‘No! We do not talk about this issue! (╬￣皿￣)’
In short, the majestic Sanctus had been ruined quite thoroughly. The scarf made him look like a Western bandit, even when it was placed together with the elegance of the silver-gray armor. The small wings were still there, but his edgy antlers had been taken away, making his helm look like a pumpkin…
All of that, combined with his expressive mask, had effectively made Baiyi into some sort of mobile tourist attraction.
In conclusion, a beautiful work of art had been ruined.
When Baiyi returned home, he saw the girls sitting at the table, waiting for him, even though the meals had already been served. No one had dared to take their first bite before he came home, so he waved to signal an okay, and then he crossed over to their side and checked their homework.
After a while, Baiyi set the homework down and started, “So, I went over to the Academy today. I bring good news and bad news. Which one do you want first?”
“Uh… How about the bad one first?” Tisdale set down her fork and knife and watched the other girls quizzically. Their facial expressions revealed their agreement.
“Okay, the bad news is — the academic semester is suspended indefinitely. No one knows when will it be restarted,” Baiyi said with a hint of lamentation and grief.
But the girls’ eyes gleamed brightly. ‘What bad news? This is the best news!’
“Oh, oh! Mr. Hope, then what is the good news? What’s the good news?!”Little Mia cried out in uncontrolled glee. If this was considered bad news, then the good news would be even more invigorating!
The other girls obviously thought the same as they cast expectant gazes at Baiyi, waiting for their big surprise.
“Well, the good news is that since that we can’t go to Academy for cla.s.s, from now on, all of you will be taking cla.s.ses with me! Oh yes, it’s a full day curriculum.” Baiyi deliberately enunciated his sentence slowly to respond to the girls’ excitement.,
“What — ??????!!!!” The girls howled in unison. This was most decidedly not a good news!
“What’s the matter? You’ll be experiencing my signature holistic learning technique; is that not one of the best news this week?” Baiyi replied flatly.
“Uh,” Mia mumbled something under her breath as she hung her head in disappointment. She grumbled quietly because she was scared of the repercussions.
Objectively, Baiyi was not a bad teacher at all. His cla.s.s lasted only 45 minutes each, and he never used a monotone voice throughout the lessons. In fact, he would even use some pretty progressive techniques in his lessons.
For example, if he was talking about the difference between a phoenix and a firebird, Baiyi would create realistic, three-dimensional pictures of the two beasts so that he could contrast their differences easily. This way, the cla.s.s would be more memorable.
If the girls were having formation lessons, and Baiyi wanted Mia and Tisdale to memorize them, he would use cute animals to help the students remember; meanwhile, to get the students to easily memorize the purposes of each magic, he would also create a scenario or even a short tale so that the students could remember them easily.
In short, Baiyi really poured his heart out whenever he taught cla.s.ses. He really was not one to be complained about.
Half of the real reason why the girls did not favor Baiyi’s cla.s.ses was due to his curriculum. His lessons were always difficult and more complex than what girls their age should learn normally. For example, after talking about the difference between a phoenix and a firebird, Baiyi would ask one of them to answer his questions. Let’s say the unlucky student this time was Tisdale, he would ask her to state the uses of the feathers and blood of both birds in creating formations, the specific purposes of their formation, and the changes that would occur after mixing their blood and feathers together; these sort of higher-thinking questions 2 .
The other half of the reason why the girls did not favor Baiyi’s cla.s.ses lay in the fact that he was terribly strict, and he also had a penchant to give a lot of homework. If they made some errors in their answers, they would get punished for it, even if they completed the homework. The lightest sentence was a hard pinch on the cheeks; the heavier sentence was a spank on the b.u.t.t with a feather duster, and the worst offenders get sentenced to stand in a corner with the little pot plants atop their heads. There was a time that the girls had snuck out to play while Baiyi was busy carving runes on his chest plate. The next day, they could only hand in their empty workbook, which caused the Soul Armature to fly into a rage. He sentenced them all to stand in corners for the entire afternoon, and he spanked the leader of the pack, poor Tisdale, so hard that her b.u.t.t was swollen 3 .
At that time, as Tisdale was crying, while standing in a corner, with the little animal tin-can potted-plant atop her head, all she could grumble was, “I hate Sir the most!”
But of course, she wouldn’t dare break the can. They all knew that the cans weighed more than the elephant in their teacher’s heart, so if anything happened to them, the girls would be turned into his dinner.
Baiyi could only shake his head at a side at the time. ‘Great, now my students hate me. Did adolescence arrive so soon?’
But he reasoned that even if he would be hated by the kids, he would rather maintain his high standards and strict requirement. After all, it was all for their own good 4 .
It was good that Mia had come to comfort her, and Baiyi himself had patted the girl later, causing the eldest of the girls let the grudge go. However, the next day, Mia’s homework was filled with red crisscrosses, and Tisdale did not expect herself to return the favor so soon….
That was about it. The girls could understand that Baiyi was a good teacher, and he was doing this for their future, but they were still young. It was that age that most would like to just kick back and play. Previously, their cla.s.ses with Baiyi lasted only half a day, so it was not too bad; but now, with the Academy being closed, their whole day would be spent with the Soul Armature, and honestly — the girls did not think they could survive it.
“Aww, come on,” Baiyi watched Little Mia’s immediate become dispirited, and he poked her on her waist. The girl cried out and finally showed a little alertness.
“Don’t overstate my terror, guys! Back then, we only have half a day, so I had to squeeze in more for the cla.s.ses and homework, you know? I just wanted to build a solid foundation for all of you before you got back to the Academy.”
Baiyi reached for Mia’s horsetail braid, but she was not in the mood. She swung her head hard, leaving him no chance to play with it.
“But now? We don’t have to worry about the Academy’s speed, right? So, I don’t have to rush anymore, too. The content will be lighter, the homework will be lesser, and we will have more of those outdoor trips and adventures for practical experiences! You know, like last time.”
The first part of the sentence seemed pretty promising, but the last line really darkened the girls’ mood. ‘Like last time?! Last time, we had to race against time to escape the Apocalypse, and we almost couldn’t make it? Like “last time”?’
Little Mia was so shocked that she didn’t get the chance to react, and Baiyi finally caught her braid.
Of course, the Soul Armature noticed his own mistake. “No, I didn’t mean the conclusion of our last trip. I meant the process of our last trip! You know? We went on a vacation, and we learned while at it?… Er, maybe this time I’ll check the calendar so that we don’t visit a place while it’s having a festival again, yea?”
And with that, a decision was reached. Naturally, whenever Baiyi made a suggestion, a decision would be reached. His words were the only words that mattered in the house.
He divided the curriculum into Core and Generic subjects. Geography, History, Social Sciences and such would be Generic subjects, which all four would be studying together. Meanwhile, for Mia and Tisdale, their Core subjects would e magic. On the other hand, Attie and Laeticia would be having physical fight training — with their backyard turned into a mini arena.
Not all girls would have to study the entire day as they had feared, though, because there was only one teacher. The schedule was set in this way: generic cla.s.ses were conducted before noon, and the afternoon onwards would be the core cla.s.ses for either the mages or the fighters. While one was having a cla.s.s, the other group got to learn on their own, or do their homework. The next day, the other group would be having cla.s.ses and vice versa.
Laeticia had slightly more things in her plate, though. Every night she had to attend cla.s.ses on Scripture studies, faith, and theology. Of course, these cla.s.ses had not been made by Baiyi himself — he was just acting as the proxy for the Cleric, by repeating every word the Cleric said to her.
“For your next cla.s.s, it would be much appreciated if you put on some s.e.xy black pantyhose.”
“The skirt can be a little shorter.”
“You should really try some midriff-baring outfits!”
Baiyi would never say the Cleric’s b.o.n.e.r-inspired comments.
Just like that, Little Mia and her friends embarked on a new and fulfilling semester — at home.