Although it was the entrance to a valley, the corpse worms within numbered in the tens of thousands, and they grew larger the further one went.
While there were fewer corpse worms at the entrance, palm-sized ones were always present.
But today seemed different.
The air was filled with the aroma of barbecue, and ashes drifted from the sky. Not a single corpse worm was in sight!
"What's going on? Where are the corpse worms?"
"Could it be they were scared off by us last time, so they burrowed into the ground at the sight of us!"
"Hmph, such useless things!"
"But what about the ashes continuously falling from the sky?"
A student with earth elemental abilities reached out and gently touched the soil, frowning as they said:
"Powerful abilities are truly terrifying!"
"What is it?" the surrounding people quickly asked.
"I'm an earth elemental user, so I'm quite sensitive to the condition of the surrounding soil."
"Every time we came here before, the soil was exceptionally damp and reeked of decay."
"But today's soil... it's very dry, even feeling like sand, as if someone had baked it dry!"
The earth elemental student said with a worried expression.
"Are you saying... that assistant teacher possesses fire elemental abilities?"
"And is so powerful that they dried out the entire valley, burning all the corpse worms to ashes?"
A student repeated the earth elemental user's meaning.
"Haha, that's ridiculous, that's the most ridiculous analysis I've ever heard!"
"That's right, at this level, the only ones in the entire academy who could do this, besides those monsters in our class, would be Director Honglian!"
"Those monsters in our class? They're the ones who went to Mysterious Island. If you were on this island, you'd be dead!"
Several people said this amongst themselves.
"What's so funny?!"
Suddenly, a voice sounded from behind.
Following that, a woman in a red jacket and a red pencil skirt, wearing red high heels, walked over slowly.
"Director Honglian..."
Upon seeing Director Honglian, the students respectfully bowed.
She was one of the few teachers in the entire academy that these students admired, and she was also beautiful.
Beautiful teachers naturally had an advantage among students.
And this was only in dealing with these underachievers left behind at the camp.
The true scholars were about to exceed the academy's jurisdiction; they had already gone to Mysterious Island (Sherry's final island). The academy's dean was preparing for a counter-invasion plan of the portal.
They intended to organize those genius students to unite with people from the Ability Fluctuation Bureau to enter the portal and see what the world on the other side was like.
"Director Honglian, why are you here?"
The students asked respectfully.
"Oh! A new assistant teacher has arrived! Today is his first day teaching the class, so I came to see his work status."
"And also to see if he's getting along well with everyone!"
Honglian said with a smile.
She wouldn't have bothered to specifically check on an ordinary assistant teacher.
Zhang Chen was recommended by Sherry, that powerful Level 10 ability user, that legendary figure who was about to lead humanity's counter-attack through the portal.
For Sherry's sake, Honglian had to come and take a look.
As for whether Zhang Chen could manage in the end, that was his own business.
But as the director, she should do what she was supposed to do. That way, when she saw Sherry later, it would be considered that she had seen things through.
"We're getting along great, of course! We all really like this Teacher Liu!"
The leading student replied with a smile.
"Hey, Assistant Liu was from the last-but-one batch, he's gone mad. This time, the assistant teacher's surname is Qin!"
"Hiss... Qin seems to be a substitute teacher, the one who never entered the camp."
"Then what's this teacher's surname?"
"He did say it, but listen carefully..."
Other students were about to remind the leading student, but after discussing for a long time, none of the dozen or so students present knew the new assistant teacher's surname.
"My surname is Zhang, the Zhang with 'bow' and 'long', Zhang Chen. This name shouldn't be hard to remember, right!"
Zhang Chen appeared silently behind everyone and said with a smile.
"Teacher Zhang, thank goodness. It's so good to see you. How are you? Are you adapting well?"
Honglian asked with concern.
"Very well, very adapted. Everyone is very friendly, and the little ones have also shown their... little magic tricks!"
"I find it quite interesting!"
Zhang Chen said with a smile.
He really didn't know how to evaluate Monkey's ability. His face turned red, and he ended up fanning himself.
Was this even considered an ability?
No wonder he was the worst in the class. With such a level, it could only be described as a little magic trick.
This was being lenient with him!
"Little magic tricks?"
Honglian was astonished, and slightly annoyed at the same time.
If the abilities displayed by the children in this class were all little magic tricks, then the entire ability academy would at best be a circus troupe.
If Sherry had said this, Honglian could have accepted it, after all, her strength was there.
But for a mere assistant teacher to speak such presumptuous words? It was too arrogant!
"Alright, since you're fine, then consider me meddling. You all get along well!"
Honglian said and turned to leave.
Anyone with eyes could see that Honglian was very angry.
"I get it now. Director Honglian was worried that we would get rid of this new assistant teacher on the first day, so she cleared out all the monsters in the corpse worm valley!"
"It's understandable, only she has such powerful abilities!"
"But speaking of which, this assistant teacher is too rampant. Not only does he not show respect to Director Honglian, but he also looks down on us!"
"That's right, it's time we taught this arrogant fellow a lesson."
The students whispered and discussed amongst themselves.
"Hey, you guys had your fun with your little games. Now it's time to get back to the class schedule!"
"I clearly introduced myself just now, yet not a single one of you remembered my name. This makes me very angry!"
Zhang Chen said with his hands on his hips.
Although he had never been a teacher, he had been a student.
The students in his class back then were too mischievous, and teachers needed to be stern to keep them in line.
Therefore, Zhang Chen decided to let them experience some authority this time.
"Haha, you're angry? What right do you have to be angry?"
"If I heard correctly, you just called our abilities little magic tricks. Heh, it's the first time anyone has ever evaluated us like this!"
"It seems it's time to teach you, the assistant teacher, a lesson!"
"As teachers, we challenge you all together. It's not bullying you, is it!"
As soon as the words fell, except for Monkey and the green-haired one.
All the remaining students simultaneously threw a coin at Zhang Chen and shouted in unison:
"Duel!"