New Gods of North America

On Monday morning,

Amidst the “wow——” and “cute” exclamations and praises from students, whether he knew them or not, Wayne led Emma, brought over by Conner, into the math class.

The sensation caused by bringing the little loli into the “monk class” was even greater than Wayne had imagined.

This might also be because even if a young and beautiful lady really came, these guys, out of politeness and the courtship logic of this era, wouldn't swarm around her in public.

But when facing a little loli, these guys didn't have that kind of psychological burden.

Emma seemed a bit timid amidst the crowd, almost hiding entirely behind Wayne.

After Wayne's encouragement, she barely peeked out half of her smiling face and quietly said “hi” to the classmates.

“Wow——”

Then these wolf cubs got even more excited, and started asking Emma questions like “How old are you?” and “Can you write yet?”

Not one by one, but one after another, incessantly.

Wayne gently supported the back of Emma's head, smiling as he answered on her behalf.

On one hand, he wanted to comfort the little loli, and on the other hand, he was worried that these guys might really scare Emma's little head off, and then he didn't know which side would be more afraid...

After finding a seat in the first row of the classroom, with several classmates around him still chatting and watching,

The influence of the church in this era was still quite strong. Although there were some negative effects, the overall social atmosphere and values were suppressed to be quite “positive”.

Therefore, the classmates didn't blindly guess that Emma was Wayne's daughter, and mostly thought that Wayne was helping someone take care of a child.

So when Professor Maisel officially introduced her before class, these guys were suddenly hit hard.

A series of surprised exclamations rang out, and one student couldn't help but raise his hand, “Sorry, Professor. But you said she's our 'new classmate'?!”

“Yes.”

Professor Maisel nodded, his expression as serious as ever, “I already notified you all in advance last week that you will have a new classmate this week.

“Although Miss Emma's situation is a bit special, she has already obtained the academy's permission. I hope everyone's studies will not be affected by this, and of course, please do not disturb her too much.”

“???”

The excitement and curiosity brought to everyone by the appearance of the little loli completely turned into surprise and confusion at this time.

The classmates couldn't help but look at each other, and some suppressed whispers rang out in the classroom.

I have to say,

Watching Professor Maisel, with a straight face, say such words that drastically changed the atmosphere, Wayne found it quite darkly humorous.

Perhaps out of protection for Emma, if the students' reactions were put aside, then the subsequent math class was actually no different from usual.

Professor Maisel's course was as un-interactive as ever, and Wayne didn't get to see the wonderful scene of the little loli overpowering the crowd.

Emma, on the other hand, was very receptive to this kind of teaching method. Apart from occasionally quietly asking Wayne the meaning of some words she didn't understand, she felt at least more like a proper student than half of the people in the class—including Wayne.

After class, Professor Maisel called Wayne and Emma to his office.

At this time, he became a little more amiable, told Wayne some precautions, and asked Emma about her feelings after the class.

When Emma said that she could probably understand everything, Professor Maisel rarely showed a more “emotional” side:

“Those guys in the college's academic affairs office should come and take a look! Even a seven-year-old child can understand, and they dare to say that my class is perhaps too obscure and profound for the students?”

Um...

Although Wayne is currently closer to Professor Maisel in terms of personal feelings, on this issue, he might still choose to cast his vote of approval to the academic affairs office...

At noon, it was Ineza who took the carriage driven by Doug to pick up the child.

She took Emma for a walk around the academy, and even had a simple “picnic” by the academy's lake. Doug then took Emma back to the detective agency, while Ineza first started investigating the people related to the “lucky coin” with Seth.

This was something Wayne suddenly thought of this morning. When it comes to finding “prey”, it's definitely easier to have the hunter participate.

It won't delay his class, and the progress of the investigation won't be slowed down as a result.

So after finishing the American History class,

Wayne saw the actual “lucky coin”.

This was a 5-cent silver coin that Ineza and Seth got from an academy security patrol officer.

The front has a rough portrait and stars representing the federal states, and the back has the face value of “half dime” written in the center.

Using a simplified line of sight to observe, there are twisted and tangled wavy lines “swimming” inside, which will “shake” slightly from time to time, like fish emerging from the water in a fish tank.

But the spiritual power contained in it doesn't feel very strong.

And it seems that as they “shake”, the spiritual power will slowly “evaporate” or “dissipate”...

“This kind of thing can actually bring good luck to people?”

Wayne was very surprised. Judging from the “amount” of spiritual power alone, this thing doesn't even compare to the extraordinary materials he has seen.

Even if Simon Sherman is a big fool, he wouldn't spend much money on this kind of thing, right?

Ineza shook her head over there, “I don't know if it can bring good luck to people, but according to the hunter's standards, this is an item that has been 'contaminated' by spiritual power.”

Wayne looked at the coin in his hand, “Can you determine what its function is?”

Ineza didn't seem very sure:

“The Hunter Association doesn't have a deep understanding of this area. The basic attitude of hunters towards various 'contaminations' is 'elimination' and 'keeping distance'. If it's just a preliminary judgment, it shouldn't be the source of the 'contamination', but a secondary product, but it still retains the characteristic of being able to continue to contaminate.

“When we got it, its owner already had signs of being contaminated. However, the contamination is mainly reflected on the mental level. The other party's memory of it seems to have been 'branded'—that is, tampered with or covered up.

“I have a way to accurately determine the spiritual power 'domain' of it, but the spiritual power above is not very strong, and it has undergone obvious 'specialization', so testing may completely lose its effect. So I'm temporarily keeping it as a sample, and I'll show it to you first.”

Wayne thought for a while, and asked to confirm, “What does 'specialization' mean?”

Ineza tried to make an analogy as vividly as possible:

“If we compare the extraordinary power in various fields to various raw materials, then extraordinary abilities can be regarded as various 'processing plants'. After being 'specialized' by extraordinary abilities, extraordinary power will become various different forms and play various different roles.

“For example, the same is steel, it can be processed into knives, or it can be processed into small tools like needles. 'Structure' is very important to the finished product.

“One thing to note is that, for example, needles are often not as large in size and weight as knives, but in fact, needles can do things that knives or steel needles cannot do, and the 'craftsmanship' required to make needles may be more refined and complex—the strength and consumption of the extraordinary ability itself is not necessarily completely equivalent to the size of the extraordinary power it ultimately outputs.”

Got it,

Just like a pocket watch is not as big as a fist, and its weight, lethality, and sturdiness are not as good as a sledgehammer,

But the person who made the pocket watch, in a sense, is definitely more “skilled” than an ordinary blacksmith, and the functions and values of the two things cannot be compared.

Wayne nodded and handed the coin back to Ineza for safekeeping:

“Since it's not easy to start from the 'thing' side, then let's continue to dig from the 'person' side. Where is the coin's previous owner now?”