Chapter 77

Chapter 78: E grade Magiplant? Our Magiplant Department won’t even use that for practice!

Voices burst from the Skills Department crowd: “No, don’t do this!” “You can’t stop selling, I still want to buy potions! I couldn’t even get a spot last time!” “My second aunt, third uncle in law, fourth grandaunt, fifth granduncle, sixth little uncle, seventh grandaunt, and eighth aunt are all waiting for me to buy the third batch of Hemostatic Potion for them; if I fail, my parents will kill me!” “It’s just an apology, right? We’ll apologize! We shouldn’t have wrecked the Magiplants people worked so hard to grow. We’ve delayed their Hemostatic Potion schedule!” “Exactly! If you’ve got guts, go fight Magibeasts in the dungeon. Why mess with their Magiplant work? That’s so cowardly!”

The Skills Department students shouted over one another. They had stayed in their dorms and done nothing, yet because of Xu Jing and a few others, they now might never be able to buy potions again. They felt painfully wronged.

Several of them begged the school leaders: “Dean, say something for us! We can’t live without potions!” They were afraid Qian Qi would stop selling Hemostatic Potions to the Skills Department.

Fan Jing Hai still didn’t know about the Hemostatic Potion and the Defense Fruit. Seeing his own students suddenly switch sides made him look like the bad guy to everyone, and it angered him. Feeling his authority challenged, he drew a deep breath into his core and roared louder than Qian Qi’s loudspeaker: “All of you shut up! What a disgrace, yelling like that!”

His shout scared the Skills Department students into silence. They wanted to talk, but their courage shrank back down.

Fan Jing Hai was a dean. His status on and off campus was high. When he was angry, almost no one could meet his eyes. Maybe only Qian Qi could.

He jabbed a finger at Qian Qi and said with force: “I’m not talking to you. Get Li Hong Sheng out here if you want to talk! You’re just a student. You can’t make decisions.”

The Principal, who had been watching from the side, hurried forward to calm things down and called softly: “Dean Fan.”

Hearing the Principal, Fan Jing Hai managed to smooth his anger a little. He pointed at Qian Qi’s group and scolded: “Look at the Magiplant Department. What are they trying to do? So we killed a few Magiplants. Is that worth all this fuss? The Skills Department taking Magiplants to practice with has been the rule for decades. Even their own dean accepted it. Why am I the only one being splashed with dirty water?”

Qian Qi gave a cold little laugh and said with a shrug: “So you only think it’s unfair because only you got splashed? No problem. Tomorrow I’ll splash some on Dean Li too. That’s fair, right?”

Fan Jing Hai flared up, rolling his sleeves as if to deal with her: “You dare talk back?”

“Oh my,” said the Principal as he quickly blocked Fan Jing Hai’s way. Right now he was begging Qian Qi for the potion formula, so he didn’t dare take Fan’s side. He leaned to Fan Jing Hai’s ear and whispered a few words.

As Fan listened, his angry face shifted to puzzled: “Is that true?”

“It’s true,” the Principal murmured. “Why else would the students react so strongly? I think…”

Fan Jing Hai finished listening, then looked toward Qian Qi and asked with surprise: “Your Magiplant Department actually created a One-Second Hemostatic Potion? And you found a Defense Fruit that can block D grade damage?”

Qian Qi lifted her hand and, with a blank face, denied it flatly: “Say no more. Our Magiplant Department is full of useless people. How could we invent some amazing world-saving miracle?”

The Principal fell silent.

Fan Jing Hai fell silent.

Zhang Feng, Liang Yu Ting, and the others snorted with laughter.

Their laughter made Fan Jing Hai feel awkward. He cleared his throat and said stiffly: “I didn’t know about this beforehand. Since your Magiplant Department has made a contribution, then about the practice-with-Magiplants thing…”

Qian Qi dug at her ear like she couldn’t be bothered to listen, then turned and called to her classmates: “Everyone, that’s enough. In the end, this is our fault for not being considerate. We should be helping Skills Department students raise their level.”

She put on a look of deep regret and declared: “From today on, stop planting those E grade Magiplants we wouldn’t even use for practice. Switch them all to D grade.”

The Skills Department students froze in place, thinking: [Wait, what do you mean even you wouldn’t use them for practice? Are you people really that bold?]

Zhang Feng backed her up with a cold smile and said as he walked off: “Qian Qi is right. What’s the point of E grade? From now on we grow D grade.” Before leaving, he turned and spit at Xu Jing: “Trash. Practicing on Magiplants is one thing, but you only dare touch the gentle ones. The violent plants I raise, you never lay a finger on them.”

The jab hit too hard. Xu Jing flushed with shame and fury and cursed back: “Screw you! What’s the point of all that talk? In the end, you’re all trash too. Without Qian Qi, your Magiplant Department is nothing but freeloaders who do nothing.”

His words dropped like a heavy stone into every Magiplant student’s chest, and the group fell silent.

In one way, Xu Jing wasn’t wrong. The reason they could stand tall today was because of Qian Qi. She taught them how to plant Magiplants. She could make potions. She found the Defense Fruit. They were borrowing her strength to dare shout at the Skills Department.

Without Qian Qi, they were nothing.

Xu Jing spread his hands and smirked: “See? Quiet now, aren’t you? Weren’t you bold a minute ago?” Lifting his chin at Qian Qi, he said, “Qian Qi, I’m not targeting you. You can make Hemostatic Potions. That’s useful to us, and I respect you.”

Pointing at the Magiplant students, his eyes gleamed: “But these people will only drag you down. They are useless. They’ve always been freeloaders. They don’t match you.”

He studied her and added in a coaxing voice: “You’re a Strength Awakener, right? Why not join the Skills Department? You can make potions alone. You don’t need them. If you come to us, we’ll protect you. Isn’t that better than sticking with this trash from Magiplant?”

His words made Zhang Feng and the others look even worse. They never expected Xu Jing to poach her now, and the worst part was that they couldn’t even refute him.

They really did hold Qian Qi back. They used to think she held them back. She broke classmates’ Magiplants, she fought people, and they had to spend their small savings at the school clinic and missed classes because of her. But at some point, the roles switched, and they became the burden.

When the Skills Department came to steal her away, they didn’t know what to say to keep her.

Qian Qi stopped walking.

She looked at her classmates, heads down, faces tight with restraint, eyes red with frustration and self blame. Something old stirred in her heart.

Once, people looked down on her the same way.