Ouyang Wei said seriously, "You all basically know about their situation, right."

"As a teacher, of course, I'm upset, but honestly, I had anticipated this kind of situation."

"Because no matter how many times I say it, or how much effort I put into emphasizing it, this kind of thing happens every year."

"Experience teaches hard lessons."

"I hope you can take this as a warning and reassess yourselves."

Looking at the empty desk beside him, Lin Guang sighed softly.

This is an old topic by now.

In fact, in Zhen Sheng City... or in all of Great Xia's Spirit High Schools, after each winter and summer vacation, quite a few students choose to transfer to regular classes or change schools.

There are various reasons, such as financial constraints, realization of limited talents, fear of facing potential death... or ignoring warnings to venture into the wilderness and secret realms where human control is weak, leading to various accidents.

The chubby Deng Yifeng was one of them.

The arrival of the Tier Seven Secret Realm is a once-in-decades opportunity in Fenghai Province's history, not to mention its proximity to Zhen Sheng City. Numerous rare spiritual materials are brought out by the brave, stirring up waves of discussion and making people realize that secret realm exploration changing one's fate is no mere stage play tale.

According to the Spirit Master Association's statistics, the number of people in Zhen Sheng City venturing into the wilderness and exploring secret realms has increased by 80% recently.

The Celestial Ladder Mountain Secret Realm has been here for a while, with most of the Tier Six spirit beasts dealt with by Truemen, and the conflicts are not as intense as at the start. In fact, a partial map of the secret realm has been compiled by some.

Thus, Deng Yifeng and his uncle, a Three-Star Spirit Master, along with a Spirit Master squad, headed to the Celestial Ladder Mountain Secret Realm.

And then... an accident happened.

Though Deng Yifeng managed to survive by luck, his initial contractual partner, the Stone Armor Elephant, perished in the secret realm.

The termination of the Enslavement Contract isn't fatal to a Spirit Master, and the Stone Armor Elephant isn't a particularly rare spirit beast. With the compensation from yearly accident insurance and some additional money, it's enough to contract a spirit beast with potential not inferior to the Stone Armor Elephant at a cultivation base, though it requires rearing anew.

However, that Stone Armor Elephant had been raised by Deng Yifeng since childhood, akin to family, yet it died under Deng Yifeng's thirst for power, and the impact on him is imaginable.

People only know that he filed for a one-year leave of absence, and they can't reach him. It seems he's not at home, and it's unknown where he might have been taken.

The other classmates who left faced similar situations.

According to statistics, among just the newly-promoted second-year students, eight were severely injured, ten lost their spirit beasts, and five remained permanently in the secret realm and wilderness.

——In a way, as an experimental school of a key high school, the battle class members have even higher casualty rates.

Because they have become leaders among their peers, possessing spiritual power and combat abilities not inferior to adults, all with the hope of not falling behind, brimful of youthful vigor and fighting spirit.

While normal high school students, limited by their strength and family background, might not take such risks, possibly waiting to explore adventurously after graduation.

...

The morning classes quickly ended.

Lin Guang didn't seem very enthusiastic, declining Wang Dawei's invitation to go eat pork knuckle rice.

But neither did he follow the crowd downstairs; instead, he walked against the flow to the rooftop.

As an open coastal city, Zhen Sheng City's academic atmosphere isn't strict. Unlike some inland provinces where high schools even practice military-style management with special alloy-welded rooftops and windows to prevent students from jumping.

Even so, the door leading to the rooftop at the Experimental School is perpetually locked, prohibiting student access by any means.

Of course, this poses no problem for Lin Guang.

He pretty much does whatever he wants in the Experimental School.

Don't mention merely getting to the rooftop. Even if Lin Guang had a whim and came to class entirely wrapped up in a black hooded outfit, Principal Liu would probably waive a grand gesture, declaring from now on that this would be the Experimental School's new uniform.

Squeak—

Unlocking the door with a key, Lin Guang walked onto the rooftop, raising his head to feel the glaring summer sun, then turned his gaze— The surroundings were very clean, with none of the dirt like rainwater, weeds, or bird droppings. It's unknown whether someone cleaned regularly or if Principal Liu specifically had someone tidy it up.

As the Spirit Pattern appeared on his right hand, three beautiful maidens appeared beside Lin Guang.

"Ugh— Hmph!"

The silver-haired maiden wore her usual black and red light armor, but today she didn't wear tights because it's September, and being of the Fire Attribute, she felt a bit hot.

As soon as she emerged, she stretched with a big yawn, her full, splendid chest curves couldn't be completely concealed even by the slightly loose sun-protection coat, bouncing proudly in Lin Guang's focused gaze as if waiting for something to grip them.

She relaxed and, coming to her senses, fluttered the red tendrils on her forehead, approached Lin Guang, grabbed his shoulder, her amber eyes shimmering with a dangerous gleam: "Are you trying to kill me? Listening to lectures all morning again!"

...It seems it's indeed been months since he last did so with her.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry."

Lin Guang wisely didn't mention he had suggested Vishdair could train alone in the training room, then he glanced at the other two.

"I apologize to you both as well."

The fox ear girl in a white princess dress and white silk pantyhose shook her nine golden big tails that needed no more concealment, revealing a tender and cute smile: "No, teacher's lecture was very good, oh."

And... still wearing a maid outfit and black stockings, the wolf ear girl stood gracefully.

It's worth mentioning that the black stockings she's wearing today seem even thinner.

The stockings were almost transparent, reflecting a faint light under the sunlight, but not with the glossy wet look; rather, they accentuated the fair skin beneath the black silk, making him unconsciously stare.

Chelina held the skirt corner, gave a slight bow, and softly said: "It's fine, Master."

Then she glanced around: "Are we dining here today?"

"Yes, let's do it here."

As soon as the words fell, Chelina nodded, and with a flash of light from the Storage Spiritual Artifact, a heavy wooden table, just like the one at home, was brought out.

Her slender and white arms showcased exaggerated strength, placing it steadily and easily with one hand, then setting up chairs, spreading the tablecloth, and arranging the utensils.

After all this, she took out a large spiritual artifact sunshade and opened it, fitting perfectly into the circular hole specially left in the center of the table.

Swish—

A cool breeze seeped out slightly from under the umbrella, dispersing the sun's heat.

The entire process took only a dozen seconds; the girl's movements were simply dazzling, yet when her slender feet in black leather boots stepped forward, it exuded an indescribable sense of composure and elegance.

Lisa's eyes sparkled, her nine big tails swaying, as if mesmerized by this dashing and handsome display.

Lin Guang couldn't help but let out a soft sigh—he indeed seemed a bit addicted to this life of having someone serving him.

Moreover, to be honest, judging by these details of retrieving, storing, and arranging, if she really went to work delivering packages, she would surely be extremely excellent.

Vishdair snorted, a hint of prickling in his tone: "Hmph, you make a pretty competent maid."

Chelina remained neither overbearing nor servile, seemingly oblivious to the mockery: "You're too kind."

"Tsk."

"Alright, stop bickering."

Lin Guang walked to the table, waved his right hand, and steaming hot dishes appeared on the table, then he was the first to sit down on a chair.

"Let's eat first."

The girls sat around him and started dining.

—The reason he didn't go to the dining hall was actually quite simple.

Not only because the food wasn't good enough, mainly because the highest-grade spiritual materials used in the dining hall were just Tier One.

Currently, both Vishdair and he were level 23, even Lisa was already level 19 and nearing the Tier Two bottleneck, and the dining hall's spiritual materials were no longer enough to support their rapid leveling up.

In fact, the higher the level and potential of the spirit beast, the more energy is required to support the level-up.

Although spirit beasts almost never level down except in extreme cases, even if they don't eat at most, they just become weak, but to advance, naturally, more energy intake is needed.

This applies to the Spirit Master as well.

In fact, the various spiritual materials Lin Guang and they consumed each day were almost never below Tier Two, and there were quite a few Tier Three, plus he personally used the Gourmet God Talent Ability to cook for better absorption, which allowed their levels to rise so quickly.

"..."

The silver-haired girl buried her head, devouring the food for a while, seemingly half full, suddenly raised her head to look at the boy sitting to her left, her amber eyes carrying a hint of doubt.

"Feeling down?"

Chelina and Lisa also turned their gaze towards him.

—After Lin Guang ate a few multicolored, unknown pills and drank a bottle of premium Meditation Potion and swallowed, his movements slowed down, he hardly ate any food, and was gazing down from the rooftop.

At this moment.

Looking down from the rooftop, you could still see the students in the gazebo waiting for the school bus, somewhat sweaty due to the hot weather.

Lisa said softly: "Is it about what was mentioned this morning?"

"Not really."

When she put it that way, Lin Guang didn't show any special expressions, just came back to his senses and began eating at a normal pace: "The path is chosen by oneself."

"Great Xia isn't without stable paths to follow, but if you want to gamble big, you naturally have to be ready to lose your life."

"I myself did the same, just lucky, feeling sorry for them would be too condescending."

The silver-haired girl pursed her lips: "Come on, if you really think that, why feel upset."

"Because... it just feels like something is missing."

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