"Congratulations on the victory, teacher Ning. That was an excellent display of knowledge," Keng said as he shook Ning's hand.
"Thank you, teacher Keng. You really helped me too. If you weren't here, I can't imagine how many of my facts would've been dismissed as impossible," Ning said.
"Haha, I'm happy that this old man's years of obsession became of some use to you," Keng said. "By the way, teacher Ning, where did you learn all of this information about the beasts? You don't look that old to me."
"I don't know what to say, Senior Keng. I got this information from a friend in exchange for all of my information on alchemy. I have been reading these for a hundred years or so," Ning said.
"I see," Keng said, sort of satisfied with the answer.
The students and teachers watching the duel started dispersing.
"Let's go. No need to keep listening to the liar," the teacher in green said and left.
"What's wrong with Miss Eleonora? She seems unusually cranky," a teacher said softly.
"No idea. I haven't seen her like this ever," another teacher said and walked behind her.
After everyone left, the only people remaining there were a few students and the main dueling group. Nilo walked forward to Ning and bowed a little towards him.
"I'm sorry, teacher. Because of me, you had to take part in something like this," Nilo apologized.
"It's alright, it wasn't your fault," Ning said.
"Thank you, teacher Ning," Nilo said and looked over to Gonez. "Teacher Gonez, you selfishly thought you could decide what I needed to do without asking me at all and even challenged teacher Ning when he had nothing to do with my decision. If I knew you were such a person, I would've never joined your classes."
"Thankfully, you made sure I never can anymore," Nilo said and left.
Gonez was on the ground, still distraught at the fact that he lost in a beast-related battle against a teacher who taught alchemy.
"Gonez!" teacher Keng loudly called out his name.
"Y-Yes," Gonez came out of his stupor.
"How many students does your class have?" Keng asked.
"Uh, some two hundred," Gonez said.
"How many do you have remaining if you remove a single student from this number?" Keng asked.
Gonez understood what Keng was trying to say and put on a meek little smile. "It… isn't about the number, senior Keng. It's about the status of the single student," he said.
"Oh, and what status does this student have?" Keng asked.
"Uh… never mind, I'm leaving," Gonez left before answering the question.
"Sigh, he thinks we don't know," Keng said softly as he looked at the leaving figure of Keng.
"Oh, does senior Keng know about Nilo's lineage?" Ning asked.
"Ah, yes. His mother was a gold starred Beast master who retired only two decades ago. If she were still teaching, I would have a hard time calling myself the best," Keng said with a chuckle.
"As for his father…" Keng thought for a while and said, "It might be better If I don't talk about senior's relationship so openly. Sorry about that, teacher Ning."
"It's alright," Ning said. "I will take my leave now, senior."
"Wait a second, teacher Ning," Keng said.
"Yes?" Ning stopped.
"Would you like to become a teacher for the Beast Master Wing as well?" Keng asked.
"Uh… don't I need to take an entrance test next year for that?" Ning asked.
"That's just to evaluate the teachers that come in. I have already seen your performance and have thus evaluated you already. You would make for an excellent Beast Master teacher," Keng said.
"I see," Ning said and thought for a while. "Okay. I see no problem with your suggestion, teacher Keng."
"Good. However, I can't make you a teacher immediately. You will need to come find me once you get at least get your silver badge. That's when you are allowed to teach other classes," Keng said.
"Sure. I will see you tomorrow then, teacher Keng," Ning said and left this time.
Keng turned around to get his butterfly with excited eyes when he was puzzled by something.
"Why tomorrow?"
******
"Alright, that's it for today. I will see you all in two days. Have a great day off," Ning said and left the class with a happy smile. He hadn't realized how good his duel with Gonez actually was.
Just the publicity he got from that fight upped his student count to nearly a thousand from the low 300s. If he could do well in the upcoming lecture in a few days, he would surely get a very large number of students.
He walked back to the staffroom and saw that there were dozens of teachers standing around.
"It started already?" Ning asked softly.
"No, you're in time," Boel answered.
The teachers stood around for a few more minutes as more and more teachers joined in. After a while, Jezeere walked in and looked around.
"Sigh, is the old man not coming?" he asked.
"I don't think senior Aram cares about this little ceremony," a teacher said with an awkward smile.
'Aram… is that the name of the 2nd Gold starred alchemist?' Ning wondered. From what he heard, the 2nd Gold starred alchemist no longer taught on a daily basis, so Ning had yet to see the person.
"Very well, we will start without him," Jezeere said. "This month, we have 5 teachers who managed to go up from their previous rank. Congratulations to you all."
The group of teachers started clapping. Jezeere started handing out the teacher's badges. Ryuger managed to get a bronze badge at least and was super happy.
Finally, he came to Ning.
"Teacher Ning, you have shown quite a remarkable growth in just a single month. I hope you continue growing in the coming days. Here you go," Jezeere said as he placed the badge on Ning's clothes.
"Congratulations on the Silver badge.. The Alchemy Wing is glad to have you with us."