Toby accepted the benefits offered by Dangross, so he couldn’t keep showing a stern face. However, he still responded to its flattery with indifference, occasionally chirping a few replies.
Yet even those few chirps made Dangross very excited.
Dangross actually couldn’t understand what Toby’s chirps meant, but every time a chirp came from Toby, it would evoke even more enthusiastic praise from Dangross.
Just like that, a severed hand and a seabird conversed for a full ten minutes without any translation.
It wasn’t until they reached a red archway that Dangross finally stopped its chatter.
"This is the classroom where the teacher gives lessons," Dangross pointed ahead and said.
Angel stopped and looked toward the archway. The door was open, revealing several rows of desks and chairs made of black stone inside.
"It really is a classroom." Angel’s expression was slightly surprised. He had previously thought he misunderstood, assuming the classroom was a small room for one-on-one teaching between Magu and Dangross, known as a classroom because knowledge was imparted there; however, he hadn’t expected the classroom to truly resemble those in human academies.
So, Magu’s body not only serves as a residential area but also has the function of a school?
Is Magu transforming its body into a city of elemental creatures?
Amid his confusion, Angel followed Dangross into the classroom.
Angel had already taken a good look at the classroom from the outside, but upon entering, he noticed two details he hadn’t observed before.
The first was the classroom lights.
The classroom was spacious, roughly the size of a typical church’s prayer hall. Notably, the ceiling of the classroom was quite high, at least thirty meters, with a huge orange fireball at the highest point serving as the classroom’s light.
Angel noticed this "lamp" immediately because he could sense it emitted a strong elemental fluctuation, the strongest fire elemental fluctuation he had sensed since entering Magu’s body.
Barring any accidents, this "lamp" was likely the elemental core that Magu had mentioned before in its transmission...
Using the elemental core directly as a "lamp," was this intentional on Magu’s part, or just being indifferent?
Aside from the "lamp," the second thing that grabbed Angel’s attention was something at the front of the classroom.
The classroom wasn’t empty. In the front few rows of seats, a very tall student was sitting there.
When Angel saw how large the classroom was from outside, he had anticipated students, but the appearance of this student was different from what he imagined.
This student wasn’t a flame lifeform but a stone figure composed of numerous rocks.
In other words, it was an earth element lifeform.
This was the first non-fire element creature Angel had seen in this region.
Dangross also noticed that Angel’s gaze lingered on the stone figure and explained, "This is Little Inba from the Wild Stone Wasteland, also a student of Teacher Magu. It can make a lot of stones, and the desks and chairs in the classroom were all made by it."
Angel: "Is it an exchange student from another region?"
Exchange student? Dangross pondered the term a bit, understanding its meaning, but not why such a term was invented.
"Hmm, I suppose you could call it an exchange... exchange student."
While Dangross and Angel were talking, Little Inba heard its name mentioned. Its stone head smoothly rotated 180 degrees to look behind.
Little Inba first looked at Angel, scrutinizing him with suspicion for a long while before turning to Dangross: "I’ll say it again, stop adding little in front of my name, I’m called Inba, not Little Inba!"
Dangross ignored Little Inba and turned to Angel to explain: "There are two exchange students from the Wild Stone Wasteland, they’re brothers, both called Inba. To avoid confusion, we added ’Little’ and ’Big’ to their names. Big Inba is three times larger in size than Little Inba, which is why he’s called Big Inba, and this one is called Little Inba."
Little Inba fumed: "You can call my brother Big Inba, but you can’t call me Little Inba, I am just Inba, I don’t want to be called Little!"
Dangross huffed and turned away, not paying any attention to Little Inba’s protest.
Little Inba: "No matter how small I am, I’m still dozens of times bigger than you!"
Dangross: "I just haven’t grown up yet. Once I become mature, I’ll be as big as our ancestors!"
Little Inba: "Kalomchis doesn’t have hands like yours. No matter how much you grow, you won’t become it. Rather, you might become like this... human beside you."
Little Inba’s words hit Dangross’s thunderous point, as it considered itself a descendant of Kalomchis and disliked anyone saying it didn’t resemble Kalomchis. Enraged, Dangross charged over to scratch Little Inba, but its stone body wasn’t susceptible to such attacks.
"You know I’m human? Have you seen humans?" Angel looked at Little Inba.
Little Inba: "I haven’t seen humans, but Teacher Magu has described what humans look like. They look just like you."
Dangross, who was still scratching, paused: "Did Teacher Magu talk about humans?"
Little Inba replied irritably, "Of course he did, but you were only interested in playing, not paying attention."
After Little Inba finished speaking, it stood up and brushed Dangross off itself: "You’re here to see Teacher Magu, right? Just now, he asked me to tidy up the classroom for you. Since you’re here, I’ll leave now."
As Little Inba walked away, it took a few more curious glances at Angel, seemingly fascinated by the human appearance.
Dangross, on the other hand, glared at Little Inba indignantly, muttering, "Next time, I’ll gather all my little brothers and come beat you up, and see if you still dare to speak nonsense!"
Although Little Inba had already left the classroom, its voice still carried over: "I heard, though, Inba might be gaining spirit intelligence soon. Without its help, you can’t even scratch my surface. Let’s see who beats whom then!"
Little Inba’s words once again precisely hit Dangross’s nerve, making it jump around the classroom in anger, ranting and raving, but Little Inba had already disappeared.
Eventually, Dangross’s rage slightly subsided.
Angel then said, "I heard you say earlier that there are many exchange students in the classroom?"
Although still seething, Dangross replied since Toby was there, he didn’t want to leave it unanswered: "No, only Big and Little Inba are exchange students."
"Why?"
Dangross: "Because the Wild Stone Wasteland is our ally, so they send exchange students. Other regions either ignore us or are on bad terms, so they don’t come. Besides, they have their own sages, although I think none of them are as smart as Teacher Magu."