Chapter 336: Class Reunion (2)

"Are you also a researcher?" Luo Qi asked.

"I wouldn't exactly call myself a researcher; I'm mainly responsible for the liaison and coordination work for several laboratories," Zhou Quan said.

"I've noticed that Teacher Pei's students all have their own specialties. What is your professional specialty, Senior Brother Zhou?" Luo Qi continued chatting with him.

"My specialty might be administrative work," Zhou Quan said with a straight face. "Being able to organize the mountain of experimental nonsense into something that sounds more like human language."

Luo Qi felt that this person was indeed quite interesting, and on some level, he could really get along with him.

"Aren't you the new disciple the teacher took in?" Zhou Quan asked curiously.

"I suppose I could be considered a disciple of the Highland Mages," Luo Qi said.

"You're pretty impressive, buddy," Zhou Quan said with admiration, then asked him, "What is your specialty, buddy?"

"My specialty is being able to lead Du Zhengyi."

Majiang laughed out loud nearby, and the crow stared at him in shock.

Zhou Quan exclaimed with a dramatic expression, "A legendary Mage seen once in a century! Brother, I truly admire you."

"Indeed," Luo Qi sighed calmly, then turned his head to look at the crow, "So, Mr. Wu, don't misunderstand. The fact that such a large group of you came to the Highland with such fanfare is actually to accommodate me, not to accommodate Du Zhengyi."

The man paused for a moment and said, "My surname is not Wu."

"Oh, my apologies, I remembered the wrong person," Luo Qi said with a feigned expression.

However, the man still saw the malice in Luo Qi, watched him for a moment, and turned to leave in silence.

Zhou Quan looked back to watch her leave, then turned to Luo Qi and said, "Don't take it to heart. People from the Regulations Division are just like that. You see, they must have come straight from the office, still wearing their uniforms. Perhaps work isn't going smoothly, so their tempers are a bit short. Since he's here, he probably won't be able to work for a while, and the work at the Qionglin office will just pile up like a mountain; he'll probably have to work overtime until he coughs up blood when he gets back."

"Oh, I see, they are just fully administrative personnel under protection," Luo Qi said.

"Pretty much," Zhou Quan said, then looked at Du Zhengyi and said to him, "Senior Brother, don't take it to heart either; they are just like that."

"Are you younger than Du Zhengyi?" Luo Qi interjected from the side again.

"I am ashamed to say I am a few years older than Senior Brother, but the order of discipleship is determined by when one enters the sect," Zhou Quan said, explaining very amiably, and he even smiled at Luo Qi.

He continued to say to Du Zhengyi, "They still have some projects that need to continue, and I'm afraid they will have to negotiate with the Highland Mages here to see how best to handle them."

This was talking about serious business, and Luo Qi noticed that even when talking about serious business, the expression on his face was very pleasant, and he didn't have as much hostility toward Du Zhengyi as others did. No wonder he could do the liaison and coordination work. Mages were all loners, and his job was quite difficult to do.

"You can talk to the Mages here first; the specific work can probably be arranged with the help of Mage Kawa," Du Zhengyi replied.

"There are a few others who are still students or in training, and we hope the High-level Mages here can help them continue their training. I think since they have already accepted Luo Qi, they should be able to accept other students as well," Zhou Quan continued.

"Since the teacher has arranged for you all to come here, I think there will be no problem with that," Du Zhengyi said.

Luo Qi felt that Zhou Quan probably hoped Du Zhengyi could use his prestige or his familiarity with the Highland Mages to help with the arrangements, but Luo Qi also saw that Du Zhengyi was completely uninterested in these matters. However, Luo Qi could understand; judging by the attitude these people had toward Du Zhengyi, even if Du Zhengyi grew up in Qionglin and had known these people for a long time, their group could hardly provide any sense of belonging for Du Zhengyi.

Zhou Quan's expression showed a hint of worry, and he said with some difficulty, "I don't know how much longer we have to stay here. Some students are undergoing Battle Mage training, and delays are not good for them. You know the assessment time for Battle Mages is coming up soon. If the reserve candidates for Battle Mages selected by Teacher Pei waste time here, while Battle Mages selected by other Venerables receive training as usual in Qionglin, our students will be in a very disadvantageous position when the assessment comes."

"This should also be no problem; the strange radish in front of you is currently preparing to take the Battle Mage course from the Highland Mages," Du Zhengyi said bluntly.

"What? You are also going to be a Battle Mage?" Zhou Quan looked at Luo Qi in surprise and sized him up again.

Luo Qi shrugged his shoulders and said, "Don't be deceived by appearances; I am very fierce."

"My apologies, my apologies," Zhou Quan said with a smile. "Since they can agree to let you participate in Battle Mage training, you must have many extraordinary qualities."

"I..." Luo Qi thought for a moment and said, "I'm alright, I guess."

Du Zhengyi turned his head and glared at Luo Qi, and Luo Qi said nonchalantly, "See, humility is the greatest virtue we both share."

Zhou Quan smiled and said, "Since that's the case, I am completely relieved. On the way here, I was a bit worried, fearing that my work here would encounter difficulties."

"Do you have any hot experimental projects recently?" Majiang asked.

"We do, Senior Brother," Zhou Quan said to Majiang. "We recently unsealed a batch of Magic Artifacts from the Ancestor Mages, and several related laboratories are trying to find ways to decipher the Secret Language and figure out how to use them."

Luo Qi understood that most of what mages called experiments were just deciphering the magic of Ancestor Mages and retrieving the lost magical techniques. This was not entirely the same thing as human exploratory experiments.

"Oh, you Senior Brothers have a very deep understanding of the Secret Language; are you interested in helping? Anyway, everyone has nothing else to do here," Zhou Quan asked.

"No interest," Du Zhengyi said without hesitation.

Zhou Quan did not feel embarrassed, probably because he had been rejected many times already, and he looked at Majiang again. Majiang also shook his head and said, "I have my own project here; I want to learn their Medical Magic from the Highland Mages, so I'm sorry, I can't help you."

"No problem," Zhou Quan said readily. "Then let them ponder it bit by bit; anyway, they have plenty of time. The magic that has been lost has been lost for thousands of years anyway, so a week more or a week less doesn't matter."

However, his gaze returned to Luo Qi. "Buddy, can I come find you to hang out when I have time?"

Luo Qi nodded repeatedly, and Du Zhengyi slapped him on the head for no apparent reason. He didn't mind and kept grinning, which made Zhou Quan stare at him in confusion for a while.