High School of Demon Hunting
Chapter 1027 - 89 "Shadows under the Sun

Chapter 1027: Chapter 89 "Shadows under the Sun

Eight Hundred Li Forest was silent without a word, and Ninety Turn River was quiet without a sound. Around the Riverside Silence on Buji Island, there were always many uninvited special visitors.

With their superb magic skills and proficient combat abilities, the students of the First University had always been the elite of the wizard world. Now, the glory was being continued by the freshmen of this university.

As of this weekend, despite the freshmen only being at school for one semester, despite them only scoring a meager 4 out of 10 in the "Freshmen Assessment of all sessions" last semester, and despite these first-year students having been once faint from a female demon’s malicious intrusion on their entry plane last semester, they had still achieved great success in a short time.

It was mainly thanks to the performance of the freshmen of Jiuyou Academy.

The freshmen won the championship in the hunting party’s rookie competition and even surpassed the points of the most outstanding thirty-fourth session from the "Freshmen Assessment of all sessions." Moreover, among the freshmen of Jiuyou Academy, there emerged the youngest ever winner of the Great Arcana and the youngest recipient of the Merlin Medal in nearly a decade.

Some education experts considered the success of these freshmen as a successful model of Jiuyou’s educational approach—last year, the total points of Jiuyou Academy students increased by 12.34%, and the total points were almost equal to those of Alpha Academy. At the end of last year, the new Student Union of Jiuyou Academy set surpassing Alpha Academy’s total points as this year’s work goal.

This trend might completely reshape the overall framework of the First University.

However, although it cannot be denied that the student points at Jiuyou Academy are growing rapidly, evaluating whether the educational approach is successful still requires considering more detailed aspects.

Just like Alpha Academy, after the top 10% of students on the point leaderboard of Jiuyou Academy, there was a significant drop—the top 10% obtained 70% or more of the rewards, the next 60% of students obtained just over 20% of the points, and nearly 30% of students couldn’t even smoothly advance to higher grades—this means Jiuyou Academy is reinforcing its elite educational system.

"I have been held back twice already; the professor told me that if I still don’t have enough total points for this academic year, I might likely be advised to leave," said a sophomore from Jiuyou Academy, desperate and crying in response to a journalist’s inquiry, "I don’t even dare to mention anything about the school to my family. Being able to enter this school has always been the pride of my whole family."

This typical pressure permeated every corner of Jiuyou Academy.

Since 1990, when Professor Yao XiaoMi took over as the Dean of Jiuyou College, the total points of Jiuyou students had been growing at an average rate of 10% annually—setting a record for the entire First University. More than half of those points came from those ’elite’ students, where a hidden law exists: tests are everywhere.

Just like the recent danger they encountered with the demon in the Silent River, for the students of Jiuyou Academy, it was just a special test.

"The first spell we learned in our Curse Course was ’Binding Spell,’ and I remember Professor Yao even summoned a three to four-meter tall gorilla as our sparring partner."

In an interview with the journalist, a freshman from Jiuyou Academy named Zheng Qing seemed very positive—he was one of the freshmen who participated in the recent demon hunt, and his hunting team was the champion of last semester’s ’College Cup’ rookie hunting competition. More widely known, however, was his title as a cost student at Jiuyou Academy, a recipient of the Merlin Medal, and the Great Arcana ’World’ (Regarding the many doubts about the ’World’ title during the review process, our "Focus" column on the eleventh edition of the Beta Town Post has a special interpretation).

In the interview, facing death, this boy named Zheng Qing showed no reverence for life in his eyes, only the excitement of impending rewards. Only when the journalist asked about some forbidden experiments being conducted by his professors did the freshman fall into an unusual silence.

Journalists could understand this silence.

According to the "Beta Town Post," there existed an ’unwritten rule’ at Jiuyou Academy: any student who published unverified information in public media might face deduction of credits. The management of the respective academy curtailed the students’ freedom of speech in this way.

For students of Jiuyou Academy, nothing was more vital than credits.

This was especially true for Zheng Qing, who was a publicly funded student with many titles.

The students’ pursuit of credits at this academy was astonishing. To earn the approval of their professors, they often spent nights in laboratories or libraries. There was even a "Study Interest Group" within the Club Union, where those with outstanding exam performance were dubbed "scholar tyrants"—respected just like capable hunters.

This relentless diligence was related to the family backgrounds of the students at Jiuyou Academy, most of whom came from commoner families in the Common People’s World. Due to Jiuyou Academy’s unrestricted admissions test system, many tricksters with no prior higher magic knowledge also registered for exams, attempting to blend into this prestigious magic university.

Last year, over fifteen thousand candidates took the "Global Unified Exam for Advanced Wizard Schools" at Jiuyou Academy—a test analogous to the Talent Tests at Alpha Academy. But the number of admissions was less than 150, with an acceptance rate of less than 1%. The frequent magical fluctuations caused by the exams forced the International Magic Safety Affairs Office to establish an Emergency Quick Response Office to deal with these troubles.

Even passing the entrance exam did not lessen the competitive pressure.

In an institution where exams determined everything, every freshman who stepped through the gates had a credit card to check their accumulated credits at any time, from entry to graduation—the lack of sufficient credits would severely affect a student’s campus life. Compared to Alpha Academy, which focused on guiding and developing students’ talents, this purely exam-focused system undoubtedly stifled students’ natures.

In this suffocating environment, any successful adventure drew significant attention from students. They viewed these adventures as shortcuts to earning credits, without considering the injuries or even the threat of death that could come with failed adventures.

"Even though (the students of Jiuyou Academy) recognize the differences in lineage and talent, their options are significantly limited," said Zhou Buchu, a retired sociology professor at Jiuyou Academy to the "Beta Town Post." "So they can only continue to struggle laboriously."

According to a special report in the "College Daily" published by the Jiuyou Academy Student Union, the college’s administration was happy to encourage credit-earning methods such as hunting demons, as a benign way for essentially ’enslaved’ students to vent. The academy (administration) was clearly supporting these extracurricular hunting acts—more Jiuyou Academy students were acquiring credits and winning rewards through external channels. This special guidance was one form of more covert ’enslavement.’

"The academy (administration) does not like students flaunting their lineage or talent," Professor Zhou Buchu shook his head and sighed: "It is a trampling of the educational principles of the academy. Accordingly, flaunting academic achievements or adventure outcomes is more readily accepted by everyone."

Rigid educational methods, dangerous teaching content, and harsh exam system not only suppressed the students’ natures and freedoms but also cultivated a large number of registered wizards who disregarded life. However, under the splendid achievements of Jiuyou Academy, these risks seemed like Shadows under the Sun and were deliberately overlooked.

"Did you hear that doing an interview with you could also earn credits?" These brave young individuals were already envisioning rewards on the credit leaderboard as the interview concluded.