High School of Demon Hunting
Chapter 744 - 92 Hard Currency_1

Chapter 744: Chapter 92 Hard Currency_1

Nicholas wants to select the prettiest snowflake from the flurry in the sky to give to his sister.

The young scholarship student, lacking both experience and patience, consoled the veteran with some clumsy words before retreating with his unspoken frustration, leaving the gradually sparse snowflakes in the sky above behind him.

However, the slight displeasure soon vanished into the howling wind - more importantly, because he was meeting Elena on the Pedestrian Street, the thought of the Gypsy witch’s bright eyes always improved his mood.

Since the adventure on the Winter Solstice, the relationship between them had become significantly clearer.

Although the Gypsy witch still often skipped regular classes, she had never missed the ’Talisman Studies’ tutoring sessions on the weekends. Overjoyed by this, Zheng Qing had proposed a relaxing stroll on the Pedestrian Street this weekend after the most recent session.

The Pedestrian Street, being the premier shopping street in Beta Town, was understandably short due to the town’s small size.

What they referred to as a casual stroll on the Pedestrian Street was merely the wizard’s invitation for a ’date,’ albeit a cloaked one.

Perhaps due to the recent intense study and the increasingly difficult ancient Runes they tackled, their efforts often resulted in little gain after an afternoon’s work. As a result, after a brief consideration, the witch happily agreed to the wizard’s invitation.

Today is the weekend, the day they had agreed to meet.

Now it is three o’clock in the afternoon, later than their usual library time for a date but slightly early. Zheng Qing originally planned to push the meeting time to around five in the afternoon, so that after wandering around and having dinner, there might be an opportunity to enjoy some time under the moon.

But this suggestion was rejected by Elena.

"We have a class meeting tonight, and I heard that Old Yao wants to report on some latest movements of the Silent Surge, and everyone is required to attend," the Gypsy witch wrote in her reply with paper crane, "Furthermore, the weather has been cold and snowy these days, and it’s not good to stay outside for too long."

I don’t care about the cold!

I love snowy days!

To hell with the class meeting! To hell with the Silent Surge!

Despite his internal ranting, Zheng Qing ultimately couldn’t ignore the witch’s opinion. In compromise, they agreed to meet at half-past three in the afternoon – providing them roughly three hours for their date, enough time to have a meal and stroll around.

While this time might seem a bit tight for a date, for the young scholarship student, having a truly meaningful and dedicated date, no matter how short, was better than none at all.

In preparation for today’s date, the young wizard spent the past week intensely researching which shop on the Pedestrian Street had special food items, whether the waitstaff needed tips, which store offered unique and novel gifts, how long it would take to walk from one end of the street to the other, and how he should showcase his bravery in case of a demon attack during their stroll, among many other things.

All of these plans rested on a bulging purse.

Prior to attending First University, Zheng Qing knew very little about the wizarding world and had almost no wizarding currency. His scholarship was dedicated to academic expenses and didn’t include any direct cash disbursements; purchases from bookstores, clothing stores, and apothecaries were settled directly by signing accounts with these establishments.

At one point, the cash-strapped scholar even thought about selling the Talismans he drew for money.

However, gold shines everywhere. At the start of the term, during the first class meeting of Astronomy Class 08-1, he attracted the attention of the owner of the Wandering Bar with his impromptu drawing of a curtain symbol in front of the class for Li Meng.

As a result, he received a gold card to the Wandering Bar. Using the card, Zheng Qing engaged in trading for a while, making a decent amount of money in the process.

Subsequently, through hunting team activities, hunting competitions, demon hunts, and so forth, he made considerable earnings – especially a month ago when Zheng Qing’s Absolution hunting team won the Freshman Cup of the Hunt Competition, earning him a substantial ’prize.’

However, this award was not given by the school. As the Freshman Cup was a derivative competition, the Hunting Committee only provided limited sponsorship in the form of medals. The actual ’prize’ fund was the winning pot Zheng Qing earned from betting on his team in the competition.

This payout was quite substantial.

For example, Xiao Xiao bet five gold beans, and under high odds, received nearly four hundred gold beans in return, equivalent to over forty jade coins.

Compared to Xiao Xiao, though Zheng Qing’s betting odds were lower, he bet a larger amount—three academic credits, five Silver Horns, and eighteen Bronze coins in total. Consequently, his returns were also quite substantial, amounting to a full ten academic credits!

At First University, there is a saying: "Money isn’t naturally academic credit, but academic credit is naturally money." This means that although academic credit, as a measure of the knowledge evaluation system of First University, is not inherently money, it has become very solid ’currency’ due to the strictness, scarcity, and tradability of academic credit, in addition to its ability to purchase internal resources of the university.

According to the official exchange rules provided by the school, one academic credit is equivalent to one jade coin, and only supports one-way exchange – meaning, one could convert academic credit into wealth, but they couldn’t convert wealth into academic credit. So with this exchange rate, if one has ten academic points, they could always exchange them for ten jade coins at the academic affairs office. But if they have ten jade coins, they can’t exchange them for the corresponding amount of academic points at the university.

Such are these overbearing terms.

Despite how overbearing these conditions seemed, it indirectly endorsed the value of academic credit. Once there is a price for on-campus transactions, it will naturally lead to off-campus transaction prices.

Due to the mismatch in the supply of academic credit and jade coins, the exchange rate for off-campus transactions often experiences major changes. Officially, one academic credit can only be exchanged for one jade coin, but unofficially, the price of students’ academic credits is often inflated to two to three jade coins or even higher.

Moreover, prices are typically inflated without market availability.

It’s important to note that academic credit, as students’ academic necessities, is constantly being consumed. Whether it’s for leveling up, buying experiment materials, entering or exiting the library, or using the laboratory, each mandatory expenditure requires the consumption of academic credit.

Yet, the ways to obtain academic credit are very limited: assignments from professors, school activity rewards, project funds, and so forth. Under normal circumstances, a student at the First University can generally obtain around 120 academic credits per academic year. Except for preparing 100 credits for leveling up, the remaining 20 credits need to support their use of all school facilities.

Being financially strained is a painful memory that every student at First University shares.

This has resulted in academic credit becoming the most solid currency among students, bar none.

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