Chapter 339: 348 The First Lesson

Holy crap—

So young!

Upon seeing that youth, almost every student had this thought pop into their mind.

Is this the new Instructor?

He is truly too young!

Qu Huan was so dumbfounded he stared blankly; no matter how he looked at this youth, he couldn't be older than himself.

Instructors are all Sword Guests, if he is an Instructor... doesn't that mean at his own age, this person is already a Sword Guest?

What happened to the claim that he himself was a one-in-a-thousand genius?

Perhaps... he just has a youthful face?

After all, this youth is not short, about the same height as him; perhaps he is already a fully grown adult, just possessing a baby face? He might even have some special hobby, using some kind of Sword Art specifically to maintain this youthful appearance...

After looking at this Instructor's face for a long time, he felt a bit dizzy—dizzy in the literal sense; he always felt the Instructor was flashing from time to time, flashing until his eyes were blurred.

He tilted his head slightly, wanting to ask Wen Caifei if this Instructor's age was fake, only to see Wen Caifei's eyes fixed, lips moving slightly, silently saying: "So handsome."

Qu Huan suddenly felt it was dull and uninteresting, propping up his arm, thinking: How boring, usually pointing out the faults of the world and being more gossipy than anyone, but just because the Instructor is a bit handsome, she has become like this, shallow!

Dong Jiaoyu said: "This is your Instructor Tang. Instructor Tang is an outstanding Sword Guest, Sword Smith, and Talisman Sword Master, proficient in both civil and martial arts. He has come to lead your new course, the Artificer Usage Course. Everyone, please applaud and welcome him."

The introduction was brief enough, but the amount of information was huge. The students had just been shocked by his youth, and upon hearing this, they were even more dumbfounded—are this pile of titles for real?

Because of this astonishment, for a moment no one followed Dong Jiaoyu's words to applaud. Dong Xingyu frowned slightly and was about to speak, when Tang Zhao smiled and said: "We are all of the same generation, there is no need for all this welcoming back and forth. I see some students are even older than me; although there is a distinction between teacher and student, there is no need for such formalities. It is quite good for everyone to meet like friends."

What do you mean?

Are you showing off?

Qu Huan heard this, feeling both surprised and a bit annoyed, while at the same time unable to help but feel admiration in his heart.

Even if it is showing off, what he said is the truth.

Having earned these titles by his own ability, why shouldn't he be allowed to say it? If it were Qu Huan himself, he would have whispered it into Ouyang Zhou's ear three times already.

Dong Jiaoyu looked at Tang Zhao strangely; she had previously thought Tang Zhao was quite humble, and hadn't expected him to speak so unrestrainedly in front of the students, but she didn't mind, saying: "Do you need me to introduce you?"

Tang Zhao smiled: "No need, I recognize every one of them."

Dong Jiaoyu said straightforwardly: "Fine, then I will head back first. If there is anything, call me."

She was not worried about whether Tang Zhao could suppress these young people; how could a Sword Guest not be able to suppress these youths who hadn't even reached the level of Loose Practitioners? It was nothing more than using soft tactics if hard ones didn't work, or using force if the methods were insufficient. Was she afraid they would turn the world upside down?

The key was not whether Tang Zhao could suppress the students, but whether the students knew what was good for them.

Once Dong Jiaoyu left, only Tang Zhao and the students he was meeting for the first time remained in the classroom.

Tang Zhao looked at the faces, young and similar to his own, and couldn't help but recall the time he was pushed onto the stage in Jianzhou to give a public speech. Thanks to that experience, he no longer felt stage fright when facing a crowd to speak. Everyone was either looking up or looking down, but all were silent.

Tang Zhao first smiled: "It seems it really is quiet; eh, someone has even fallen asleep."

Qu Huan couldn't help but turn his head, and sure enough, he saw someone in the corner slumped over the desk sleeping, feeling even more disdain in his heart, knowing these were the people with no hope of graduation who only looked for opportunities to catch up on sleep. These people were truly broken and hopeless.

Tang Zhao then held up a finger and said: "Shh, don't wake them up. While there are few people now, I will quietly tell you a secret."

He beckoned, and the classroom door gave a light "click" and locked directly.

Making a door lock from a distance is not difficult; what is difficult is that this action was as seamless as an antelope hanging its horns, leaving no trace. No one knew what method he used—was it Qi or Sword Art?

Following this soft sound, the classroom became even quieter.

Qu Huan didn't know why, but as if his spine had been electrocuted, he sat up straight all at once.

Tang Zhao leaned against the podium and actually lowered his voice, as if saying something secret: "Do you know... why the Training Camp would suddenly add a course at this time?"

His voice was extremely light, and for everyone to hear clearly, they had to listen with full concentration.

"Because the Mountain Chief wants you to achieve a unique, excellent result in the four-family joint examination, stronger than the other three families." Tang Zhao threw out the answer unhurriedly. "I am the secret weapon he found."

The crowd was stunned, and then became a bit excited—at this time of year, what could be more important than the final exam? At least more than half of the students who still had hope were willing to seize every opportunity to improve themselves and get a good grade.

"At your stage, who doesn't know how much can be improved in two months? It's nothing more than a thin margin of difference. At this time, no one needs to urge you, and you won't relax; you could even do without an Instructor. But if you want everyone to have a qualitative leap, you have to find some extra help. For example—replacing the donkeys you are riding with thousand-mile horses."

Tang Zhao turned back and wrote two large characters on the wooden board:

"Art Tool."

"There. The thousand-mile horse is right here."

Tang Zhao smiled: "Now I will test you; who knows the regulations regarding exam equipment for the exam in two months?"

Immediately, someone raised their hand.

Tang Zhao pointed to someone and said: "Wang Ying, you tell us."

This girl named Wang Ying had only average grades and had never been prominent. Tang Zhao casually pointed to her name, and some smart students immediately knew: Instructor Tang's claim of knowing every student was not an empty boast.

Wang Ying stood up, somewhat constrained; in fact, she didn't like to speak in the past, but it was rare that Instructor Tang had an outstanding temperament that was likable, so she raised her hand without realizing it, saying: "The rule is that you can carry one to two Art Tools on the way to the exam site. The first written exam does not allow Art Tools. Subsequent exams in principle allow Art Tools and weapons, and other equipment is adjusted according to the situation."

Tang Zhao smiled: "Well said. Thank you, Wang Ying, please sit."

Yes, the exam allows Art Tools and weapons.

This is also normal. Since it is an assessment for departments like the Inspection Division and the Prison Suppression Division that face Yin Calamity directly, it naturally cannot be separated from fighting Yin Calamity. Among the Yin Calamity, Fierce Beasts are fine, but Phantoms cannot be attacked by normal means; at least Qi is required. But most of these young people have only just practiced Mysterious Technique, mainly to increase Inspiration, and Qi is better than nothing. Letting them fight Yin Calamity with bare hands or holding common iron is basically equivalent to murder. Therefore, Art Tools must be arranged.

There may be stages that purely test martial arts, but true comprehensive assessments all require holding Art Tools.

It's just that these Art Tools certainly cannot be too excessive; otherwise, wouldn't it be better for everyone to have a suitable Dharma Artifact? The Training Camp doesn't have that many Dharma Artifacts, and if they had to provide their own, ordinary students wouldn't have the means to get them, so it would depend on whose family background was deeper?

At least in the Training Camp's assessment, such unfairness is not allowed.

"It seems everyone knows the rules, then you must also know. The Art Tools in the exam are regulated. Take the journey for example, the standard for Art Tools is below One Yuan, and they must be Heavy Art Tools. There are no requirements for the shape."

Heavy Art Tools are Art Tools that increase strength but do not carry Sword Art.

The One Yuan Heavy Art Tool is the most standard white-board Art Tool, providing only Sword Essence strength. This regulation basically locks the upper limit of everyone's weapon. Therefore, the shape can be flexible; spears are fine, daggers are fine, but the most common is still the sword.

Precisely because of this regulation, students mostly don't pay much attention to Art Tools, just treating them as standard-issue weapons.

Back then, when Tang Zhao was practicing sword swinging under the guidance of Si Liyu, he used a wooden sword Heavy Art Tool.

"Alright, now I will ask another question. For the same One Yuan Heavy Art Tool, is there a difference in the bonus the Art Tool provides to each person?"

This question was not as easy to answer as the first one; it involved slightly specialized knowledge, and many students had never paid attention to this aspect at all.

Tang Zhao said, "Qin Yongcheng, come answer this."

Qin Yongcheng, who had been keeping his head down looking at his book and was now in a completely 'salted fish' state, was stunned for a moment and looked up at Tang Zhao.

Tang Zhao nodded and said, "You definitely know."

Qin Yongcheng pursed his lips, stood up, and said, "There is a difference. The explosive strength of an Art Tool is related to physical fitness and the strength of Inspiration, taking the lower limit of the two. The durability of an Art Tool is related to physical strength and adaptability to the Art Tool."

Qu Huan looked at him in surprise; actually, he knew this himself, but many people truly did not know, and he had not expected this underachiever to understand these things.

Tang Zhao nodded and smiled, "Well said. Thank you, student Qin. Please sit."

He turned back around and began to write on the wooden board.

"Body, Inspiration, Adaptability."

After a pause, he asked, "Is there more? Are there any other elements that can be added?"

Everyone went quiet, and Tang Zhao said, "Student Ouyang Zhou, what do you say?"

Ouyang Zhou was a tall, cold, and arrogant youth, and was the undisputed first place in the class. With no shortcomings in knowledge, martial arts, Inspiration, or family background, if not for his overly arrogant personality that made him incompatible with others, he should have been even more popular than Qu Huan.

Hearing Tang Zhao take the initiative to ask him, Ouyang Zhou pursed his lips and said, "There is also the force-exertion technique that complements the Art Tool."

The crowd was stunned; this was something they had never heard of. There were actually force-exertion techniques to increase the power of an Art Tool? They hadn't learned that in the Training Camp!

Qu Huan was even more resentful, thinking to himself: This must be a secret technique passed down only within their Ouyang family. Good fellow, so he was hiding a trump card, surely intending to wait until the exam to use it. I was completely unaware of this trump card before; this time, the gap has grown even wider.

Tang Zhao smiled and said, "Yes. There are some techniques. This is not some secret manual, just a summary of experience, and the improvement is limited. After all, using an Art Tool is only a transitional stage; predecessors rarely wasted their wisdom here."

Then, he wrote the two characters for "Technique" at the end and drew a horizontal line under them.

Clearly, everyone also realized that among the four items, everyone could train their body and adaptability, but Inspiration could not be improved; only technique could be practiced.

So, is the key point of this course here? That's not bad; at least it is truly helpful for the exam.

Then, Tang Zhao turned around and continued, "Then let me ask again: to provide a bonus to everyone, what must a good Heavy Art Tool achieve?"