Ning walked back towards the staff room with a smile on his face. He was really happy at how successful his class had gone.
'If it goes on like this, or even drops to half, I should be able to get a Silver badge by the end of the first month,' he thought excitedly.
He entered the staff room and saw that it was generally empty. Most of the teachers did not want to spend their time in the staff room and would rather spend it down underground making pills.
While other teachers were in their class teaching their lectures. Ning didn't know what to do in the staffroom either as there was nothing here for him to look at. Still, it had become a regular thing for him to come here after the classes ended.
'I should go down to the guild again. If I remember correctly, there is a grading exam at 2 pm. I should be able to become a guild member by the end of the week,' Ning thought.
He then started wondering what he should teach tomorrow, but then remembered that it was the end of the week and there were no classes tomorrow.
'I guess I can relax for today and tomorrow,' he thought. 'Is that why the room is so empty today?'
He decided to leave for now and go register for the grade 2 test. As he was walking away, a man entered the room. Ning looked at the man and saw a dark-skinned man with thick skin and a large beard. His hair was shoulder-length long and was left freely.
Other than that, the things that caught Ning's eyes were the black robe and the silver badge. Ning closely looked at the badge and saw a small claw mark on it.
'A beastmaster, huh?' he thought.
"Hello," Ning greeted the man and stepped a little to the side to walk out. However, just as he was walking out, the man stuck his hands out to block his chest.
"Huh?" Ning was confused. He turned towards the man to see him glaring at him.
"Do you need something?" Ning asked.
"Why are you inside the staff room?" the man asked.
"Uhh… because I'm a teacher?" Ning said.
"A student dare lies to me? These grass-eating bastards must have finally gone crazy to let their students do whatever they want," the man said.
"Get off me, bastard. I'm not a student, I'm a teacher," Ning said as he brushed aside his hands and showed his ID card.
The man was surprised for a second when he saw that Ning indeed was a teacher and was about to apologize. However, the moment he saw the name on the card, he stopped.
"NING! It's you. You are the one that stole away one of my best students," the man said out loud.
"What?" Ning was confused.
"My student just came to me today saying that he will likely not join the beastmasters again and would focus on Alchemy. It's all because of you, you damn bastard," the teacher screamed and grabbed Ning's robes.
"I don't even know what student you are talking about. Get away from me," Ning shouted and pushed the man back. If the man wasn't a teacher, he would punch him in the face by now.
"Send me my student back, or I will kill you today," the man shouted.
"What student? Why would I be teaching a beastmaster in my class for god's sake? I'm an alchemy teacher, not a beastmaster teacher. Look at my damn red robes," Ning shouted.
"I know, goddammit! My student is an alchemist too, and he said that you had accepted to help him in curing his sleep disorder," the teacher shouted.
"What? Is your student, Nilo?" Ning asked confusedly.
"Yes! You finally accept it, don't you? You stole my student away," the teacher shouted.
Ning started to get pissed off. "It's just one bloody student, and he chose to learn with me. I didn't steal anyone. They are students, not properties. I entice them with knowledge and then give it to them. If you want him back, go talk with him," Ning shouted back at the teacher.
"What's so important about Nilo that you had to come all the way here to get him back from me?" Ning asked.
"He… He… You don't need to know," the teacher said making Ning even more curious. "I will remember you, teacher Ning. Don't think that you will have a smooth time now that you have made an enemy out of me," the teacher said and walked away.
Ning stood there dumbfounded. 'What the hell even happened just now?' he wondered. One moment he was happily on his way to get registered for the test, and the next thing he knew, he was in an argument with that teacher.
'What was his name again?' Ning thought and then soon realized he never gave any.
"Coward," Ning said out loud and went to the guild at the foot of the mountain. He registered himself for the 2 pm grading exam and waited as his mood finally returned back to normal from the shitty one he had been in ever since the fight.
He was once again taken to a room full of pill furnaces to make a special pill that they gave. Ning absentmindedly put the ingredients into his cauldron and started converting them into 3-4 pills.
The examiners were surprised when they saw this, but mostly presumed it was because he was a talented person taking the beginners exam.
Ning was then taken to the room where 3 Grade-2 alchemists were sitting around, asking for questions. Ning calmly answered everything and he was sent back out.
Finally, after waiting for a few minutes, the results came out. As expected, he had successfully passed the grading test and was now a Grade 2 Alchemist.
He was about to leave the guild when he remembered something and walked over to the registrar.
"Hello, is my payment from my quest ready?"