Chapter 338: 347 Meeting

"Chaos..."

Hearing Tang Zhao say this, Pei Renfeng glanced at the drawing and said, "Hmm, it is indeed quite chaotic." He paused, took a look at the others' drawings, and added, "But I think it's alright; the others drew even more chaotically."

Tang Zhao said, "No, I mean I feel the content this drawing embodies is 'Chaos'."

Pei Renfeng was still dazed, but Weise had cooperated with him for a long time and had more tacit understanding; his eyes lit up, and he said, "Do you think the direction suitable for me is 'Chaos'?"

Tang Zhao pondered and said, "I can't put it that way. I only see chaos in this drawing. Actually, I also see a bit of 'change'. Perhaps I'm just seeing a bit of your mood?"

Pei Renfeng was startled, then hurried over, stared at the messy graffiti in Tang Zhao's hand, and exclaimed, "You... can you understand this kind of drawing?"

Tang Zhao waved his hand and said, "No, it's not about understanding. I just suddenly have a feeling. And it's not every time I look that I have a feeling. Perhaps because Weise is one of our own, I can see a bit more. Most drawings just make my eyes dizzy when I look at them."

Just as he said, perhaps because his Inspiration was very high, he could sense something profound from some paintings, though most were hazy and ambiguous; only Weise's drawings could be expressed with a ready-made word. Moreover, this had nothing to do with painting techniques or line analysis; it was purely a feeling.

This feeling was entirely subjective; even the Glasses did not acknowledge it. He tried wearing the Glasses to look at the paintings, but they could only display one word:

"Painting".

Do I not know this is a painting?

No, no, no... even this can be appraised as a painting?

It seems the Glasses' understanding of art is very broad. That's right, Chen Zong once said that some paintings over there couldn't be understood even by ghosts. Perhaps these could also be called art if taken there.

Pei Renfeng felt a little regretful, but immediately said, "Being able to have a little feeling is already not easy; none of us have ever understood them. How about you take a look at mine?"

Tang Zhao said, "Sure. But it's best to test again; the closer the time, the higher the probability of seeing something."

He guessed that what he was looking at was not the painting itself, but the Spirit, energy, and mind, or other things representing emotions and thoughts attached to the painting. These things existed very thinly, and only very keen Mental Power and extremely strong Inspiration could capture them. As time passed, that Spirit and energy naturally dissipated, making it even harder to see. The few he had felt something from just now had been tested quite recently.

Pei Renfeng gritted his teeth and said, "Alright, I will go test once."

Tang Zhao added, "Actually, you can have the students test once each. No, I think you should test several times. Because each time might represent their state at a certain moment. By selecting multiple moments and filtering out the variables, what remains is most likely the thing that never changes in their Bone."

Pei Renfeng's expression turned bitter, and he said, "Instructor, what you say is reasonable, but it is too expensive. Other testing Art Tools are fine, but the Dharma Artifact bestowed by the Lord requires Origin Stones to replenish it every time it is activated; that is very expensive. Everyone has a limited quota; otherwise, if the Dharma Artifact is used until it breaks, how can I answer to those above? Instructor, you have a quota, and it's fine to use it for a Teaching Assistant, but it's not enough for a whole class."

Tang Zhao went "Ah" and asked, "How many times can one Origin Stone test?"

Pei Renfeng was taken aback and said, "How many times? We replace it about once a month..."

Tang Zhao breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's not considered expensive. Let's test everyone a few more times while I'm here for these few days. If it really doesn't work, we can do mixed testing."

Pei Renfeng said, "Mixed testing means..."

Tang Zhao said, "Activate the Dharma Artifact once, and ten people test together. Anyway, the Lord's Dharma Artifact is very strong; even a Sword Hero would be affected. If a few teenagers are close together, surely it can cover them, right?"

Pei Renfeng said, "But they will interfere with each other, right?"

Tang Zhao said, "That's why we need to redesign the layout. Add a partition. If that still doesn't work, add a silent Art Tool and a one-way transparent barrier; there's always a way."

Pei Renfeng said, "But... where will we get a silent Art Tool..."

Tang Zhao said, "I'll make it; it's very simple anyway." Thinking of this, he felt he could indeed adjust the camp's equipment. Pei Renfeng had just taken him to visit various training venues; some were indeed good, but some facilities were quite old, likely not replaced for many years, and could not compare to Zhuoyu Villa. There were also many old items in the warehouse's Art Tool reserves, with the Rune Formulas almost faded and worn away. He could adjust them; anyway, most were just a matter of adding a few strokes.

Pei Renfeng's brain couldn't quite react, and he said, "You will make it..."

Weise smiled and said, "You still don't know? Sir is a very outstanding Talisman Sword Master."

And very rich.

Pei Renfeng was dazed and said, "But you are not a Sword Guest..."

Tang Zhao said, "I am also a Talisman Sword Master, part-time. Wait a moment, after I finish reading these materials, let's go adjust the teaching aids."

After Pei Renfeng left in a daze, Weise reminded him, "Sir, it is best not to use private money to subsidize the public sector outside; it will needlessly invite suspicion."

Tang Zhao nodded and said, "I know. I certainly won't go filling in new things myself; it's just adding a few strokes to worn-out ones. If we want to restock... I'll go see the Mountain Chief later to see if he can provide a portion of Art Tools and add our shop's logo. Later, I'll develop a student series, the kind that sells in volume, low price and low configuration, cheap and practical."

Really, to think he wanted to open a shop in Zhongtian Prefecture, how could he have forgotten the trick of government procurement and royal supply? At least the Training Camp was still a blue ocean. Although the number of people was small, the potential was great; there were many children from wealthy families inside. Even for ordinary families, if they have a future, they are long-term customers.

Not to mention the upcoming exam; if the students carry Art Tools from White Jade Flourishing at that time and shine brilliantly in the exam hall, wouldn't that be an advertisement in front of other government offices?

Tang Zhao put his small abacus aside and continued to look at the student files. Now he naturally prioritized teaching tasks, intending to categorize them through the files for targeted teaching. Tomorrow was the first class; after reading the files, he still needed to focus on lesson preparation.

The next morning, Dong Xingyu took Tang Zhao to the first Artificer Usage Course.

By convention, the first session of every course is an indoor class, and the classroom would be activated. A group of teenagers nearing graduation sat in the classroom again after several months.

To be honest, most people were not interested in the new course suddenly added.

Everyone was about to graduate; they were very busy, okay?

Martial arts had to be practiced, Gang Qi had to be accumulated, schoolwork had to be checked for gaps, and they had to collect data for this exam. Those confident in passing had to strive for good grades, those barely scraping by had to struggle, and those with poor grades had to find their own way out and look for jobs. Everyone wished a day had twenty-four hours; at this time, the Training Camp adding a new course that wasn't on the exam—wasn't this a joke?

Could it be that they thought we were too busy and gave us two sessions to relax, or to catch up on sleep in class?

Although they wished to seize every second, no one expressed dissent; they were all quiet and serious. They were all people who had stayed in the Training Camp for three years and were long accustomed to obeying orders and prohibitions; absolutely no one would openly defy the Training Camp's regulations. Those truly unscrupulous troublemakers, no matter how strong their background, had all been kicked out.

Everyone at most just grumbled inwardly.

In the classroom, everyone sat separately according to habit—this classroom was originally designed for large primary classes, with many seats, and everyone had their own close friends and didn't want to squeeze together.

Qu Huan was sitting in the back with a few teenagers when he saw a youthful and pretty woman come over and say directly, "Qu Huan, let's go sit in the front."

Qu Huan recognized her as Wen Caifei, the first among the female students of the same grade, and also one of the few figures qualified to stand side-by-side with him. They were usually quite familiar, so he smiled and said, "I'm sitting here just fine. Why go to the front? To perform in front of the new Instructor? I'm too lazy to perform; can he fire me?"

Wen Caifei said directly, "It is precisely to perform, and also to represent our grade in showing a welcoming gesture to leave a good impression on the new teacher."

Qu Huan found it funny and was about to sneer when he suddenly saw that Ouyang Zhou, the first in this grade, was already sitting in the very front. His heart stirred, and he said, "Have you all discussed this?"

Wen Caifei said, "Why would we need to discuss it? I've already notified you; whether you come or not is up to you." After saying this, she turned and went to sit in the first row.

Qu Huan's heart stirred secretly. Wen Caifei's background was not top-tier, but because she had a good relationship with Instructor Dong, she often had inside information. Could it be that she knew this Instructor was extraordinary and worth paying attention to, so she made this gesture?

Because he wasn't sure, Qu Huan smiled at the others and said, "Then I'll go sit in the front." He also moved his seat and sat down next to Wen Caifei.

Logically, he should have sat next to Ouyang Zhou, but Ouyang Zhou was a person who was particularly difficult to talk to and had a completely different temperament from him; he didn't dare to provoke him and was too lazy to talk to him, so he sat next to Wen Caifei.

He was just about to ask Wen Caifei for news about the new Instructor when a shadow flashed outside the door and two people entered.

Qu Huan thought it was the Instructor arriving, but when he looked closely, it was two classmates, two bottom-tier students, one surnamed Qin and one surnamed Xin, both of the kind who had no hope of passing the exam. No wonder they came just as the class bell was about to ring; it seemed they knew they had no future and had given up on themselves.

Sure enough, the two didn't care about being watched by everyone and sat in a corner, opening their books to read. It was clear they intended not to listen to the lecture.

Qu Huan mocked them inwardly, then turned to ask Wen Caifei, "Did you hear any news? I only heard that the new Instructor is a particularly young Sword Guest."

His family background was actually not bad, but the Training Camp was isolated from the world, and even money was hard to bring in; news certainly couldn't get in, and it wasn't allowed to be passed in—that was a taboo. Usually, he did have teachers he was close to, but they had all left for matters recently, and he really had no channels for news now.

Wen Caifei lowered her voice and said, "I don't know anything else, only that this Instructor is young and promising, and has a very big background." She pointed upward, "Bigger than you think. And he probably won't stay long; he's just here to cope with this period of manpower shortage, and will go elsewhere for a better position after a few months."

Qu Huan sneered upon hearing this and said, "So it's a young lord coming to the Training Camp to gild his resume. Then he cannot be provoked, just kept at a respectful distance. Since he is young and noble, he likely has no real ability. Opening a separate class for him is simply asking us to play along with him. Isn't this just wasting time..."

Just as they were speaking, the sound of a bell rang out, and the crowd fell silent. A man and a woman walked in from outside.