Seeing that his backup plan had also been seen through, Jiang Lin was slightly embarrassed, but he still wiped away the text written in special ink without a hint of a blush.
"Cough, cough. This parchment seems to have some issues..."
Little Black looked at the guy in front of him, clicking his tongue in secret.
If he didn't have a bit of cunning from being an evil god, he really would have been screwed over by this guy.
"You've got so many dirty tricks, kid. Let's just use the contract I drafted."
"No way. As an evil god, you definitely have more dirty tricks than me!"
"No, no, no. I could never come up with a dirty trick like releasing a strengthening technique into someone's intestinal tract."
"Don't talk about that nonsense. Anyway, if you want to trade with me, I have to be the one to draft the contract!"
"Then I won't teach you."
"Tsk, at worst, I'll just be thick-skinned and ask Anya. She's so nice, she definitely wouldn't refuse me."
As the two of them began to bicker again, Little Black almost burst out in curses.
'Dammit, why is it so exhausting to make a deal with this kid...'
Afterward, Little Black checked the contract several more times before finally signing it with peace of mind.
Fortunately, this kid didn't know techniques like double contracts; otherwise, he really wouldn't have dared to trade with him.
Once the contract was signed, a mental spell was established within both of their souls.
"Come on, teach me how to learn it."
"It's not convenient here. I'll teach you later when no one is around, or you can find an empty classroom right now."
Since class was currently in session, it really wasn't suitable for sword practice, but Jiang Lin still said:
"It's fine. First, explain to me what everything in here means. I'll understand it first so it'll be easier to practice later."
Hearing this, Little Black was stunned:
"This stuff needs explanation and understanding?"
Jiang Lin remained silent, staring back at Little Black.
"Fine, I'll explain it to you once..."
Subsequently, it took the skill book and began explaining it to Jiang Lin.
...
"Hmm? You don't know about magic essence resonance?"
"What? You don't even know about magic essence paths?"
"What have you been learning for the past three years?"
"..."
The more it explained, the more shocked Little Black became.
How could this kid be ignorant of so many things?
However, Jiang Lin was also very helpless.
After all, his former self had no opportunity to learn higher-level skills. The few Low-level Strengthening and Low-level Healing techniques that required magic power were the simplest versions, requiring almost no formation of magic essence circuits within the body. Consequently, his knowledge in this area was pitifully sparse.
This also resulted in him being unable to understand the skill book at all initially.
Even with Anya's notes, he couldn't grasp it.
Moreover, this was a high-level skill. His previous skills were either rankless or low-level; he didn't even have a middle-level skill to serve as a buffer.
...
Fortunately, Little Black was a decent teacher and taught fairly well. Although there were parts Jiang Lin didn't fully understand, he forced himself to memorize them by heart, planning to digest them slowly later.
"Sigh, it's still too troublesome. If I could set up a ritual, I could pour this knowledge directly into your brain."
After Little Black finished explaining the entire skill, it lay down on the windowsill to bask in the sun.
From the start of the trade to the end of the skill explanation, the person and the cat had communicated through telepathy, so no one else noticed anything unusual.
After gaining some understanding, Jiang Lin began his breathing and meditation once more, continuing to practice his breathing technique to slowly increase his level.
Now that the system could provide him with enhancements to his physical attributes and mental power, he didn't have to worry about his body or mind being unable to handle an excess of magic essence and causing him to self-destruct.
Now, all he needed to do was raise his level quickly.
With the system, Jiang Lin naturally wouldn't be satisfied with just attending an ordinary middle magic academy.
If possible, he certainly wanted to enter the top-tier middle magic academy.
After all, the gap in resources between different levels of magic academies was like heaven and earth.
However, he was currently a full three years behind everyone else, and there were too many things to learn.
Anya could casually take out a 【Super-speed Thinking】 skill and raise her reaction speed to the same level as his.
Not to mention that as a genius, she surely had many other skills she hadn't shown yet.
Furthermore, there were geniuses of other classes, like mages and archers, who would be quite difficult for him to deal with.
Therefore, he had to seize every moment to increase his strength.
Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was time for school to end.
However, Jiang Lin still sat in his seat without moving, practicing his breathing technique.
Seeing this scene, some students truly couldn't sit still anymore.
"Jiang Lin is practicing for this long again? What is he trying to do!"
"Tie Chen too. It's like he's been provoked by something; he's been grinding practice problems the whole time."
"Eh? What are you doing? Aren't you leaving?"
"Cough, cough. I'll practice my breathing technique for a bit longer too. I feel like once I get home, I don't want to move. The cultivation environment at school is a bit better."
"Dammit, you weren't like this before!"
"Do you want to try? Let's go back together later."
"Hmm... Fine, I'll stay and keep you company for a while..."
Thus, a shocking scene appeared in the tail-end class today. Four or five students actually didn't head home early after school ended; instead, they stayed behind to study or cultivate.
Time continued to slip away, and soon the sun was about to set. Jiang Lin opened his eyes.
Then, he also saw this shocking scene.
What was going on?
He was confused.
He stood up and said to Tie Chen:
"Old Tie, I'm heading out first."
"Yeah, then I'm going home too."
Hearing the movement from the two of them,
those who had stayed behind felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted. They all stood up, preparing to leave the classroom.
In fact, they had been observing Jiang Lin and Tie Chen the whole time. After all, one was first and the other was last; regardless of which one made progress, it gave them a tight feeling in their chests.
If they went home early while these two were still training at school and constantly improving, they wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully.
And at the thought of staying behind with them and constantly improving at school—quietly making much more progress than those who went home early—they felt a sense of pleasure.
However, who would have thought that Jiang Lin would say at that moment:
"Keep it up. I'm going home to continue quietly working hard. Oh right, I didn't sleep yesterday; I practiced my breathing technique all night. You guys should work hard too!"
Hearing these words, everyone present widened their eyes.
No sleep? That has to be fake, right?
However, they felt that Jiang Lin had no reason to lie to them.
If he really hadn't slept all night, then he must have improved a lot more, right?
This won't do! They couldn't let themselves be overtaken by Jiang Lin, the guy in last place!
"Then I need to work a bit harder too, staying up a bit later to grind problems."
Although Tie Chen was shocked, he still nodded thoughtfully.
'Damn it, what is with these two guys?'
'Are they going to let anyone else live?'
'Should I also work a bit harder when I get back tonight...'
Rate on N.U.
