Perhaps overhearing his friend talking to himself, another scion chimed in, “How is this only ‘not bad’? He’s even better than the teacher I’m studying under.”
And that was the truth.
Everyone knew that public classes tended to be superficial without much depth. Abstruse information was valued and passed on only to internal disciples.
Hence, public classes rarely produced exceptional students.
This was a known secret across campus.
Today’s class proved them wrong. In the end, the scions had forgotten their dissatisfaction toward Lin Jin’s treatment of them. In fact, they paid more attention than anyone else in the lecture hall.
Despite their constant apathy and seeming lack of achievement, many of them were actually top students of the academy and highly skilled beast appraisers.
After all, they were given the best education since birth. Their frivolous behavior was just a public facade that disguised the fact that they were actually elites among elites.
Elites could easily tell who was capable and who wasn’t.
Of course, those qualified to teach in the academy were all competent enough, so the evaluation turned into who was more competent than the other.
Without a doubt, Lecturer Lin was highly adequate.
Elites had always been proud with an innate sense of superiority, especially those of noble birth. At the same time, however, most elites were rational enough to believe in the supremacy of the strongest.
In the beast appraisers’ community, only those with profound knowledge and adept skills were worthy of their respect.
Lin Jin conducted his class relying on genuine knowledge in beast appraising, something which convinced the scions and dignitaries. This was all visible to the random observer. Initially, they were reluctant to accept his teachings, then they were given a rude awakening by him. What followed was their fascination with his class, and after a round of deep reflection, they were left with admiration and respect for Lin Jin by the end of the class.
Halfway through the lecture, they had a new participant when Lin Jin noticed someone entering the hall.
It was a young girl in green robes. Due to the distance between them, Lin Jin couldn’t properly make out her face in detail, but even from afar, he was convinced that her appearance was surely considered divine.
After walking into the hall, she sat quietly in the furthest corner from where she listened to his lecture.
Lin Jin continued his lecture after issuing her a brief glance.
After all, the academy had tons of students so she must be one of the latecomers. However, Lin Jin had no intention of punishing her. It was his first class so he wouldn’t ask for too much from his students. The fact that they were even attending the class was good enough for him.
However, that didn’t mean that things would continue like this for his upcoming lessons. Lin Jin planned to implement requirements after this. If such a situation happened again, he wouldn’t be as forgiving. At the very least, he would bar them from entering the lecture hall should there be any latecomers.
Only with this could he establish discipline.
Lin Jin didn’t wish to see his class being treated like a marketplace where students were free to come and go as they pleased.
That girl in green had been listening earnestly without making a sound so Lin Jin refrained from making a comment on her tardiness. Once the lecture was over, almost all students in the hall still seemed unsatiated.
“Lecturer Lin, can you tell us a bit more? There are still some parts of the appraisal methods I don’t understand,” Li Xinqi asked.
With her to start, the other scions raised their questions too.
“Lecturer Lin, there’s a part I don’t understand too.”
“And me!”
Although there weren’t many attendees, the class’ atmosphere was lively enough. Everyone seemed eager to learn more, but they were met with a dismissive wave of Lin Jin’s hand.
“I’ve talked too much earlier. Although they’re mostly about basic stuff. Review and practice on your part will be required to fully digest this information. I will remember your questions but I won’t answer them in this class. You have to try deliberating and solving your queries on your own, and during the next class, let me know your thoughts and I shall assess them.”
This novel approach gave the students some incentive to take the initiative for once.
Having said that, Lin Jin announced, “Alright, class dismissed!”
This time, the students in the hall rose from their seats and bowed respectfully.
Now, this was discipline.
Everyone present, including the scions of noble birth, had paid their salutations ceremoniously without an ounce of reluctance.
Lin Jin returned a salute before getting ready to leave.
However, when he looked up again, he was surprised to find a student missing from the group.
It was that young woman in green.
Lin Jin actually didn’t realize when she had left.
This befuddled him. After all, his current cultivation and senses exceeded that of the ordinary man, so he should have been able to detect the departure of one of his students.
Out of curiosity, he simply said, “Please hold on.”
The students halted at once, inquiring respectfully, “Is something the matter, Lecturer Lin?”
“Did any of you see a female student dressed in green earlier? When did she leave?” He may not have noticed her leaving, but there must be someone out there who noticed her, especially given the fact that there were so many of them.
Yet, everyone’s answer further confounded him.
No one saw a girl in green. Not a single one of the twenty over scions, not Tan Lin and Li Xinqi, and neither did the bookworm, Fan Yuan see her.
This was strange.
Lin Jin frowned. Although he knew that this occurrence was unusual, he didn’t dwell on it any further and left the hall swiftly.
Outside the hall, Wang Xin had been waiting this whole time.
Logically speaking, there was no need for him to wait here but Wang Xin insisted on doing so because it would likely leave a good impression on Lin Jin.
Wang Xin was trying to curry favor with Lin Jin and the latter could tell this much. As a newcomer, Lin Jin just happened to need assistance from someone who was familiar with the academy’s operations too.
No doubt, Wang Xin was the best candidate to take up that responsibility. Loyalty aside, as long as their interests were in line and they had no grudges against each other, cooperation was viable. Even more so for friendship.
“Appraiser Lin, your lecture was really impressive. Even I was subconsciously absorbed by it,” Wang Xin commented. He had all intentions of flattering but he was also speaking the truth.
“Thanks!” Lin Jin replied. Then, he asked if Wang Xin noticed a female student in green entering and leaving the hall. Lin Jin presumed Wang Xin must have an answer to this.
Because the lecture hall only had one entrance and Wang Xin had been waiting out here this whole time. No matter who entered or left, he would be the first to know so possibilities of him being too distracted to notice wouldn’t exist.
“A female student in green?” Wang Xin was stunned before shaking his head. “Nope. After the lecture started, no one left the hall, nor enter it.”
“Are you sure?” Without revealing his astonishment, Lin Jin’s first thought was that Wang Xin was lying. How could he not notice? This was unless the girl was capable of using Camouflage, just like Lin Jin.
Camouflage?
Lin Jin’s eyes narrowed. Sure enough, Wang Xin nodded resolutely, reaffirming his previous statement.
There was no reason for Wang Xin to lie anyway and it wasn’t a huge deal. Since Wang Xin claimed to have seen no one, then that was that.
This meant that the young woman was capable of performing Camouflage, or a similar trick that was able to deceive even Wang Xin’s eyes.
