Chapter 160: The Punishment for Skipping Class.

When Shu Li sat down at the dining table, the eight Fairy cubs gathered around him.

“Sperien, we want to hear the story of what happened between you and the Mage Sovereign in the Elven Kingdom.” Misina blinked his large blue eyes, his face brimming with anticipation.

Shu Li smiled and ruffled his golden hair. “How about I tell everyone in the classroom after breakfast?”

This had only been a minor affair, so there was no need to hold a special gathering. He could simply tell the story in his own classroom, and any other Fairies who were interested could come and listen.

“All right!” the Fairy cubs chorused before happily returning to their breakfast.

Shu Li secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

After cheerfully finishing breakfast, the Little Fairies flew to the classroom in high spirits. Misina and the other seven Fairy cubs eagerly carried over their little stools and sat obediently in the back row, ready to hear an exciting story.

To Shu Li’s surprise, Kumandi and several other students came as well.

When the bell rang, Aisha, Siet, and Dania, who taught the Fairy cubs, entered one after another.

“Sperien, Angel, Disio, Budno—” Aisha called their names one at a time, and the four Little Fairies rose in succession. She smiled warmly. “Yesterday, Ilio sent me a message saying that, with your help, Danlov broke through his bottleneck and advanced from Saint Mage to Mage Sovereign. Everyone is curious about what you did in the Elven Kingdom over the past few days. Come up here and tell us together.”

The moment she finished speaking, the Little Fairies burst into enthusiastic applause.

Shu Li and his three friends exchanged glances, then marched to the front with their heads held high and their chests puffed out. Under the expectant gazes of the Fairies, they began their story.

They had traded with a three-headed water monster for a beautiful treasure chest, only to discover that it contained a human coffin. After learning that a Saint Mage was visiting the Elven Kingdom, they had immediately gone to see him, hoping to ask for his help in returning the coffin to its home.

The four Little Fairies took turns narrating and filling in details for one another. When they reached the part where the Saint Mage taught them and recounted his heroic deeds from the past, the other Little Fairies listened with great interest.

Naturally, they said nothing about the mother tree or Shu Li’s nighttime adventures.

Those were secrets belonging to the four of them and could not be revealed yet. They did, however, mention the mother tree’s new fruits.

“Wow! Huge fruits? How huge are they?”

“The mother tree is incredible! She grew enormous fruits overnight!”

“Does that mean the Elves will have cubs soon?”

“I heard Elven cubs have to develop inside the fruits for a hundred years. It shouldn’t happen that soon!”

“Maybe things are different now.”

“If the Elven cubs are born, they can play with us!”

“I wonder whether Elven cubs are easy to get along with?”

“Of course they are! All cubs are adorable!”

“When we have the weekend off, let’s go to the Elven Kingdom and visit the fruits!”

“Yay—”

Two entire lessons passed amid their storytelling. When it was over, the four parched Little Fairies returned to their seats in high spirits.

Shu Li’s eyebrows twitched when he saw the densely filled pages in the quiet top student’s notebook.

Countless poems had been written about him, and Kumandi was responsible for half of them.

He truly wrote poetry at an astonishing speed.

Shu Li had gone from feeling painfully embarrassed at first to simply resigning himself to it.

As the lesson drew to an end, Siet stood at the center of the classroom and said with a pleasant smile, “Although Sperien and the others had a very exciting trip to the Elven Kingdom...”

The Fairy students fell silent. Shu Li’s ears twitched as an ominous feeling abruptly rose inside him.

Sure enough, a peculiar light gleamed in Siet’s blue eyes as he continued, “As punishment for skipping class, the four of you will be responsible for cleaning the branches around the school for the next week.”

“What? No—”

The four Little Fairies immediately wailed.

Boohoo! They had known they would be punished for skipping class when they returned, but they had never imagined that their punishment would be cleaning branches.

Many birds, insects, and small animals lived on the divine tree alongside the Fairies. Birds in particular relieved themselves whenever and wherever the urge struck, leaving droppings everywhere.

To keep the divine tree’s branches clean, the Fairies had to perform a great deal of cleaning every day.

Fortunately, magic made the work far more efficient.

Even so, there was simply no way to make dealing with bird droppings pleasant.

The four Little Fairies, who had been so proud and spirited moments ago, collapsed onto their desks in perfect unison, utterly dejected.

The other Little Fairies gave them sympathetic looks.

Misina eagerly offered, “Sperien, I’ll help you!”

Shu Li lifted his head and gazed at the cub’s young face, unable to resist reaching out and pinching it. “No need. We can handle it.”

How could he, a Senior Mage, possibly ask a five-year-old Mage Apprentice for help?

Kumandi closed his notebook and offered some encouragement. “Cleaning can improve your control over magic. Practice diligently.”

“Yes,” Shu Li replied, forcing himself to recover his spirits.

When classes ended for the day, the other Fairy students happily left the school, while Shu Li and his three friends remained behind with miserable expressions to begin cleaning.

Their first task was the school training field, which the birds loved visiting most.

After an entire day, bird droppings covered the field. The sight made everything go dark before the four Little Fairies’ eyes.

Shu Li took a handkerchief from his storage ring and tied it over his mouth and nose like a mask. Then he drew his magic staff and resignedly began reciting an incantation.

His three friends followed his example and covered their faces with handkerchiefs.

After more than an hour of grueling work, the four Little Fairies finally finished gathering the bird droppings into designated buckets. They carried the buckets to the disposal site beneath the divine tree and handed them over to the adult Fairies to be used as “nutrients” for the tree.

As darkness approached, they first returned home, rushed into their bathrooms, and scrubbed themselves from head to toe. They soaked in their wooden tubs for a while, and only after they were completely clean did they fly to the school dining hall together for dinner.

Once he finished eating, Shu Li went nowhere else. He returned straight home, collapsed facedown on his bed, and wanted nothing more than to sleep.

But he couldn’t. He still had to catch up on all the lessons he had missed over the past several days!

Shu Li painfully dragged himself upright, sat at his desk, and took out the notebooks he had borrowed from the other Little Fairies.

Suddenly, the Fire God’s Mark appeared on the back of his right hand. A beam of light shot out, and with a soft plop, a small red magical beast the size of a chinchilla appeared on the carpet.

Falm stretched his short, chubby limbs, raised his head, and surveyed the room. With unmistakable disdain, he asked, “This is your home on the divine tree? It’s so small!”

The room was so cramped that he would hit a wall after rolling over only three or four times. Even the bed was tiny—nowhere near large enough for him to lie on.

When Shu Li saw him pawing at the bed in an attempt to climb onto it, he snatched up his quill and threw it like a dart, striking the little magical beast’s tough back.

He was not allowed on the bed!

A Fairy’s little bed could never withstand his weight.

Bored, Falm lowered his paws and sat back down on the soft carpet. Waving his forelegs, he announced, “I’m hungry.”

He had spent the entire day inside the Fire God’s Mark and missed all three meals. His stomach was growling.

Shu Li took several fruits from his storage ring and gave them to him.

Falm hugged one of the fruits and began crunching away. “Mmm, this is quite good. It would be even better with some meat.”

Dark lines covered Shu Li’s forehead. “You still want meat?”

A magical beast would not starve after going without food for a single day. One substantial meal was often enough to sustain it for half a month. Falm had eaten so many low-ranking magical beasts on Mount Amitai the previous day that he had almost wiped out all the prey in the apes’ territory, yet he still had the audacity to claim he wanted meat.

In truth, Falm merely wanted something tasty. Under the Little Fairy’s narrowed stare, he realized that he had no reasonable defense. He turned around, hugged the fruit, and continued gnawing away.

“Well...I can’t stay hidden forever, can I?” he asked between bites. “You clearly said before that you would let me live in the Faerie Forest.”

Shu Li folded his arms and watched the speed at which he devoured the fruit. He sighed. “With your appetite, I’m afraid you’d eat the entire Faerie Forest bare within a few days.”

Falm finished one fruit and turned his head to protest. “Do you really think I’m such an uncontrollable magical beast?”

Shu Li gave him a sidelong look. “What do you think?”

If Falm possessed any self-restraint, would he have fought the apes yesterday?

Falm swung his tail in displeasure. He used too much force and struck one of the bedposts.

Crack!

The bedpost split.

At the sight, Shu Li clenched his fists, and a vein bulged on his forehead. “Falm, do you want me to recite the sealing incantation?”

The instant Falm heard the words sealing incantation, he became perfectly obedient. Like a child who knew he had done something wrong, he lowered his head and apologized innocently. “I’m sorry...I didn’t mean to...”

How was he supposed to know that a Fairy’s bedpost would be so fragile? His tail had barely touched it, yet it had cracked.

And Sharo—that scoundrel had actually taught the Little Fairy the sealing incantation.

Damn him!

Shu Li did not want to be too harsh. Falm was the Fire God’s mount and had been arrogant for so long that asking him to restrain his temper was admittedly difficult.

“Tomorrow, I’ll introduce you to the Fairies. From now on, you’ll live on the divine tree. Fruit will be your primary food, and you may hunt in the forest only once a month. You are also forbidden from returning to your true size without my permission.”

Shu Li laid down these three rules in advance, hoping to prevent Falm from losing control and causing trouble again.

Falm rolled his eyes thoughtfully, then agreed.

Disguising himself as a magical beast cub came with countless benefits, so he was more than happy to continue.

Shu Li wiped a hand over his face and resignedly used magic to repair the bedpost.

The following day, Falm, disguised as a cub, was indeed surrounded by the Little Fairies.

“He’s so pitiful. His mother abandoned him when he was still this small.”

“Does he have some kind of defect? I heard magical beasts abandon their weakest cubs and keep only the strong ones.”

“The world of magical beasts is so cruel.”

“Thank goodness Sperien rescued him.”

“Kindhearted Sperien...”

“Shh! Don’t sing! Sperien is blushing again! Hahahaha!”

“Let’s give him some fruit!”

Having successfully won their sympathy, Falm was soon showered with food by the Little Fairies. He swallowed one kuku fruit after another, enjoying himself immensely.

Standing nearby, Shu Li gave him a look of contempt.

He was a mighty tenth-rank magical beast who had lived for tens of thousands of years, yet he was exploiting his disguise to swindle fruits from Little Fairies. He truly had no shame.

Still, Shu Li had promised Sharo that he would take good care of Falm, and he naturally intended to keep his word.

Shu Li spent the following days immersed in his demanding studies. Every day brought more languages and magic than he could possibly finish learning, along with new courses in forging, sewing, alchemy, and potion-making.

Determined to begin traveling the continent as soon as possible, his three friends accompanied him to the Elven Kingdom every two weeks to study. The stern Daigmon taught them magic, while Ilio, whose talent for mockery had reached its maximum level, taught them swordsmanship. Their lives were pure torment.

Three years passed in the blink of an eye.

Through relentless study, Shu Li successfully advanced to Grand Mage. Angel, Disio, and Budno pushed themselves to their limits every day and poured untold sweat into their training. Racing desperately to keep pace with him, they finally advanced to Senior Mage.

They had all satisfied the Elven King’s requirements. The day when they could travel the continent and gain experience was now close at hand.

Before leaving the Faerie Forest, however, they had to attend the Midsummer Festival in the Elven Kingdom. At the same time, Fruit Number Three, which had been developing for fifty years, was about to give birth.

That was right. The fruits transplanted from a branch of the mother tree had undergone a mutation and no longer required a full century to mature.

When the Fairies received this wonderful news, excitement surged through them. They traveled to the Elven Kingdom several days early, eager to witness the birth of an Elven cub.