"Morals are declining, and people’s hearts are not what they used to be!"

"The Absolution Hunting Team is participating in a private hunting competition, but their captain is completely clueless. Is that reasonable?"

"What do you mean by ’no talking, no thinking, no reacting’? I’m still alive, yet they’re planning a power grab, and sidelining me as captain. If one day I’m lying in the school hospital, will they just run off with the team’s funds to Peach and tender?"

On Thursday afternoon during the Art of Body Transformation class, Zheng Qing was grumbling to Jiang Yu about certain remarks from Xiao Xiao and Xin Fat Man the night before—though most of these complaints were in a joking tone, it was undeniable that the usually ’positive’ captain had been thoroughly splashed with cold water. Even by that afternoon, he was still brooding over it.

Jiang Yu listened with a smile, never pausing in her work, as she used a Law book to bring a small wooden cat to life, which then dashed around them in a fiery loop.

It was the practical part of the Transformation class. Old Yao was lazily lying in a rocking chair by the window, smoking a pipe and enjoying the beautiful spring sun. The swirling blue mist enveloped him, making Zheng Qing almost forget his presence.

"Come on, don’t get upset over such minor things. Being in a bad mood not only affects your spellcasting and learning progress but also makes you less adorable," the witch said. Perhaps finding the last word a bit strange, she paused, then nonchalantly added, "...just like Li Neng. Both Li Meng and I don’t like him when he’s in a bad mood."

Zheng Qing felt a tickle in his heart at the word ’adorable’.

But he couldn’t keep asking the witch in what way he was adorable—Zheng Qing clearly remembered that when he first entered college and went to the Wandering Bar, Elena had described him as ’adorable’. When different people use the same word to describe you, you must indeed have qualities fitting that word.

"Do teddy bears also have moods?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

Li Neng was the name of Li Meng’s alchemical teddy bear. Besides being annoyingly talkative, Zheng Qing’s deepest impression of it was ironically its name, which according to Xin Fat Man, sounded like a bear with its claws clipped.

"Of course."

The witch replied seriously, "A healthy teddy bear has clean fur, a fluffy body, and shiny glass eyes. A teddy bear in a bad mood has dim eyes, stuffing that clumps and grows bugs, and a stinky smell... You don’t want to become stinky, do you?"

At that point, she couldn’t help but laugh.

"Alright... your turn."

Suppressing her laughter, the witch put away the Law book, bent down to scoop up the scampering wooden cat into her arms, scratched its chin, then flicked the hair by her ear, and gestured invitingly for Zheng Qing to start practicing transformation spells.

The little cat meowed, obediently sitting on the witch’s arm, its movements like lifting a paw or flicking its tail were almost indistinguishable from a real cat, making it easy to forget it was originally wooden.

Zheng Qing couldn’t resist stroking the wooden cat—under the effect of magic power, the hard wood became soft and fluffy, as if covered in real flesh and blood.

"It’s amazing." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

He clicked his tongue in admiration, his gaze inevitably falling on the piece of white jade hanging from Jiang Yu’s waist—the jade had almost transformed into the shape of a real little cat, albeit still lifeless—while his black jade, which he’d acquired at the same time as the witch’s, only retained a vague cat shape.

Feeling a slight flush on his cheeks, he discreetly pushed his piece of jade deeper into his belt, then opened his copperplate Law book, looked at another piece of wood on the ground, cleared his throat, and recited the preliminary spell:

"If broken, if moved, reverence in chopping!"

As if an invisible chisel appeared mid-air, it descended on the wood, lifting it, carving and stripping it into the shape of a flower cat. Under the warlock’s watchful gaze, wood shavings fell like snowflakes. In no time, the second wooden cat appeared on the classroom floor.

But compared to the witch’s cat, Zheng Qing’s wooden cat looked rough in every detail.

Then, the warlock recited the follow-up spell, prompting the wooden cat to begin moving gently, nodding, shaking its head, flicking its ears, and wagging its tail. Perhaps because he had a cat living inside his heart, the fervent movements of his animated cat appeared even more cat-like than Jiang Yu’s, its every move alive and vivid.

"...So, the private hunting competition held by the Starry Sky Hunting Team on Saturday, are we still going to watch?" The wooden cat’s outstanding performance gave Zheng Qing the courage to resume chit-chat: "We don’t have to attend the whole event. I took a glance at their schedule, if we hurry after our afternoon course, we can have dinner in the viewing area while watching a match... it won’t affect the two lessons in the evening."

"Saturday?"

Jiang Yu took out a small notebook, reviewing her schedule. Just as Zheng Qing thought everything was settled, he heard the witch exclaim softly in surprise: "Oh! Almost forgot... Saturday won’t work, we’re both busy!"

The warlock looked up, bewildered, at the witch, not understanding what she meant by ’we’re both busy’.

Bereft of his gaze, the little wooden cat on the ground immediately started frolicking, nodding and bobbing around to the witch’s feet, climbing her leg, looking for its only companion to play with.

"This Friday through Sunday is Shanglin Garden Spring Hunt; you need to come with me on Saturday and Sunday to handle affairs." Casually, the witch dropped a bombshell, noticing the warlock’s confused face, she emphasized: "This is something you agreed to a long time ago!"

Boom!

Zheng Qing’s wooden cat suddenly swelled due to magic imbalance, transforming into a tiger that nearly knocked over the witch. The warlock hastily shrank it back, eventually recalling that he had indeed agreed to such a thing.

However, that seemed to be before the new semester’s schedule was set. The heavy coursework in nearly a month’s time since the start of term had long since made him forget this troublesome matter entirely.

"Shang... Shanglin Garden Spring Hunt?" he murmured, repeating the words.

"That’s right!"

Jiang Yu put away her notebook, nodding cheerfully, "So, on Saturday, they do their private hunting, and we do our Shanglin Garden Spring Hunt, without interfering! ...Tomorrow is Friday, remember to submit your leave request to Fifi, I’ve already informed the professors, and Professor Yao has agreed to let us leave the school."

Zheng Qing instinctively turned, looking over at the Legendary Wizard basking by the window.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but he suddenly felt that at that moment, the smoky aura around Old Yao became denser, obscuring his figure even more.