Han Shuo's mind was spinning wildly as the little witch, Lisa, beat him hysterically, adding to the pain he was already feeling all over his body. Poor Han Shuo was already quite weak to begin with. The initial blow to his nose had brought tears to his eyes, and the resulting fall from the tree made him dizzy with pain. He could only curl up into a tight ball on the ground and present a vulnerable target for Lisa's attentions - his bottom.
After a while, Han Shuo realised something wonderful. That little bit of magic yuan began to circulate around his butt, relieving some of the pain. When Lisa pulverised his bottom, it didn't hurt as much thanks to the magic yuan.
In fact, any place that screamed in pain was greatly relieved after the magical yuan passed through it, and it actually felt a little... comfortable.
Han Shuo was astonished and thought to himself, the solid realm of demon magic is truly masochistic! The magic yuan moved to his right buttock as Lisa's foot came crashing down, landing right where the magic yuan happened to be.
"Ah!" "Wah!"
A high pitched scream and a low grunt came from Han Shuo and Lisa respectively. Lisa suddenly felt that Han Shuo's right buttock was harder than iron. Her foot immediately cramped up and she jumped around screaming.
On the other hand, Han Shuo felt that not only did it not hurt when Lisa kicked him, but it also felt extremely comfortable. This was in stark contrast to the pain he felt all over, which had led to his involuntary scream. To be honest, his scream had sounded slightly obscene - as if..
"Bryan, have you got rocks in your trousers, you idiot?"
Lisa complained loudly as she massaged her tender foot. Several other necromancy masters suddenly appeared around Han Shuo and Lisa, all staring at him with sleepy, cold eyes.
His nose had stopped hurting and his tears were finally under control. Han Shuo shook himself and sat up on the grass. Looking around, he spotted the angry stares of the apprentices Amy and Athena, as well as the novice mage Bella and, of course, Lisa.
There was a sense of danger in the air...
Amy, Athena and Bella paled in comparison to Lisa. They were all sixteen or seventeen years old, but not very pretty. They were also in an extremely bad mood, their beauty sleep having been interrupted.
"Idiot, what are you looking at? Why are there stones in your trousers? You made a big bruise on my pretty foot! Ooh ooh... it hurts."
Lisa put her hands on her hips and spoke arrogantly as she stared coldly at Han Shuo. The effect was somewhat spoiled as she had to hop around on her left foot.
"Idiot heh..." Han Shuo cackled inwardly, putting on an innocent expression. He let out a stupid sounding "heh, heh" after pulling himself up with some difficulty and said, "Nuh uh, I don't have any stones in my trousers!"
He turned around so that his bottom was facing the four necromancy majors and started to undo his trousers as he spoke. Four panicked screams split the air before he'd pulled his trousers down, followed by the frantic sound of running feet.
"Bryan, you idiot! Pull your trousers up now or I'll kill you!" Lisa shouted hurriedly, but there was a hint of panic in her voice.
"Oh." Han Shuo replied dumbly, but continued to chuckle sinisterly inside. A bunch of naive little daisies, see how I'm going to take care of you.
After he had put his trousers back on. Lisa took a good look at Han Shuo. When the four girls were back in front of him, she said sharply, "I can forget about you hiding rocks in your trousers, but what were you doing on the tree outside my window in the middle of the night?"
"Heh heh," came two stupid sounding laughs in response to her question. Han Shuo pointed to a tattered bag on one of the tree's branches. "To get that down!"
"Why are you chasing after a garbage bag in the - middle - of - the - night?" Lisa shouted angrily as she thought she was about to explode with rage.
Just then, Bella sighed slightly and said to Lisa, "Hey Lisa, can't you see that Bryan has gone mad? It looks like your ghoul has driven him mad instead of killing him. What's the point of getting mad at a crazy person?"
Athena seemed quite sleepy as she covered a yawn, "Oh... there's still classes tomorrow. I'm going back to bed, Senior Lisa, you can do this!"
Amy seemed to feel sorry for Han Shuo as she shook her head slightly and sighed softly after staring at him for a moment. She didn't say much and turned to leave like Bella.
Had Han Shuo not acted like the village idiot, he would have faced the wrath of these three girls in addition to Lisa's, but since he had "lost his mind", the three girls would naturally not bother with a madman. So they left him alone and returned to their warm beds.
When the three students left, only Lisa and Han Shuo remained. Lisa glared fiercely at Han Shuo and bit off her words, "Go back to your business, I'll come and find you in two days. I'm tired today; if you dare to disturb my sleep again, I'll drive you mad with magic for a second time, not just beat you black and blue!"
Lisa gave him a last look and left, walking a little unnaturally. A soft exclamation of "Ouch, that hurts! I can't believe that idiot put stones in his trousers, he must have been driven mad by my ghoul" floated out as she walked through the door.
Silence fell again as Lisa walked in. Han Shuo felt a belated pang of apprehension as he watched her enter. It was a good thing that this Lisa hadn't used necromancy magic, otherwise another ghoul with her rank as a novice mage would have driven him crazy.
The party was over and Han Shuo took his leave as well. He cursed under his breath as he tiredly dragged his frail, battered body back to the warehouse.
Once back in his warehouse, he swept all the rubbish from his bed and fell into a deep sleep.
The next day.
Han Shuo was fast asleep when the warehouse door was suddenly pushed open and a loud "Wah..." sounded.
Han Shuo opened his sleepy eyes and turned around to see a short, fat man wearing an errand boy's uniform. He had short blonde hair, a dark green left eye, and pointed at Han Shuo with a horrified expression, "You... You..." He couldn't finish his sentence.
"Oh, it's Jack. What are you doing in my room?"
Little fat Jack was the same age as Bryan. Jack was one of the few people in the Necromancy Major who treated Bryan nicely, perhaps out of a sense of shared misery. Little fat Jack came from a poor family and his father had sent Jack to the Babylon Academy of Magical Power two years ago to earn a few silvers a month.
Although Jack was an errand boy like Bryan, he had not been sold to the Babylon Academy. He was a free man, unlike Bryan, who had been sold to the school by slave traders.
Although Jack was also a runner and the victim of constant bullying, the necromancy students did not treat him as they did Bryan, simply because Jack was not a slave. They might hit him, yell at him, and even do a few little experiments on him, but they would never torture him to death as they would a slave.
In fact, Bryan had always envied little fat Jack because Jack could eat his fill at every meal and not be subjected to inhumane bullying. As for Little Fatty Jack, it was only with Bryan that Jack was able to find the slightest bit of self-confidence, so the two of them got on fabulously.
"Hoo... hoo... scared me to death. Bryan, you're not dead, that's wonderful!"
"What bloody wonderful, I'm starving. Jack, have you got anything to eat? Give it to me if you do, I'll bring it back later!"
Han Shuo noticed that little fat Jack hadn't responded after he'd stopped talking and was actually staring at him in disbelief. Two small, yellow, bean-like eyes stared out curiously from the fleshy face. Han Shuo frowned and asked impatiently, "What, am I that good looking?"
Jack started and looked even more strangely at Han Shuo, "You never asked me for food in all these years. You only ate when I gave you food. You've never talked to me like this either. Bryan, you're a bit different!"
A little startled, Han Shuo thought that Lisa and co. had not been able to see what was different about him, but Jack, that stupid fatty, had figured it out with Han Shuo's first sentence.
Han Shuo rummaged through Bryan's memories after a while and discovered that Bryan basically never spoke to the necromancy students. He did what he was told without any interaction, but Bryan and Jack would occasionally talk to each other. Granted, most of the time it was Jack talking and Bryan listening. The two of them had spent a long time together, so it was no wonder that Jack had quickly picked up on the differences.
Han Shuo glossed over the moment with a smile and said, "I was hit by Lisa's ghoul and almost died. After that incident, I felt that the way I was living before was wrong and wanted to make a change."
Jack breathed a sigh of relief at Han Shuo's explanation and nodded, "I see. I thought the ghoul hit you and turned you into an idiot!"
Han Shuo, "....."
"Here, this is some black bread I've hidden away. Go ahead and eat it. It's a good thing you didn't die. When everyone thought you were dead, they gave me your duties because we haven't found a new runner yet. That's why I had to come here super early this morning. I was in a hurry and accidentally bumped into Bach. He beat me up, I even have a bruise on my left eye!
Little Fatty Jack said happily as he passed a piece of grey bread to Han Shuo. It seemed that he was happy not to have to do Bryan's work.
Han Shuo violently bit off a piece of bread as he looked at the green bruise around Jack's left eye. He spoke angrily, "Bach has hit you again. He's too full of himself. Come on, let's get revenge!"
Jack jumped up in fright and used his body weight to hold Han Shuo down. He shouted, "Bryan, are you crazy? Aren't we used to this by now? Bach is an apprentice of necromancy! It's not the first time we've been beaten up, it's enough if he leaves us alone. What revenge can we get?"
Han Shuo laughed coldly, "Don't worry, I have my ways. Yes, I'm crazy, by now all the necromancy students know that I'm crazy. Yes, I'm damn crazy, who am I afraid of?
Han Shuo roared as he proudly dragged Jack out of the warehouse. The magic yuan in his body seemed to be churning faster!