The most shameless alchemist in history

"Well, I'm a living, breathing person, not an idiot. I can tell you with absolute certainty that this is the first time we've met. I don't remember ever seeing you before. As for your endless chatter... I'm not a shrew, why would I have so much to say?" The other person was getting a little annoyed.

He launched into a tirade against Du Lei, his demeanor completely different from that of the middle-aged man Du Lei had just encountered.

"You are... a living person? But... you don't seem to resemble that middle-aged man from before, except for the thick beard. Am I mistaken?" Du Lei's previous judgment that the other party was a middle-aged man was based entirely on his impression of that big beard.

After all, he couldn't get any more clues in the dim light, but now, upon closer inspection, he found that things were a little different.

"That's right, you've got it wrong. I'm a living, breathing person, not one of your kind. Please make sure you understand that! Sigh, it's quite novel that an idiot can now accuse others of being idiots." The bearded man spoke with certainty, yet also with a hint of amazement.

"Then I take back what I just said, sir. I'm not some idiot. I'm a living, breathing person just like you." After observing and confirming that the other person was indeed made of flesh and blood, Du Lei apologized for his misjudgment.

"Huh? You're a living person? Don't joke around. I've been here for so long, I've seen plenty of idiots, but I've never seen a living person. Don't think I'll believe you just because you say that." The other person waved his hand, not trusting Du Lei's words.

"My name is Du Lei. I'm here to participate in the level assessment. I heard some clues that there are evil creatures underground, so I came here to eliminate them. Uncle, why did you come here?" Du Lei took the initiative to state his identity and destination as a sign of sincerity.

"Hey, stop calling me 'uncle' all the time. Don't make me sound so old, okay? I'm still very young!" The other person protested, clearly unhappy with Du Lei's address.

"Oh? I'm very sorry, I didn't mean any rudeness. If you're not an uncle, then... how should I address you, sir?" Du Lei's attitude was very gentle. He was not the kind of person with a peculiar or mean personality, and he felt guilty for making a mistake earlier.

"Just call me Grenier. It's quite interesting that a living person has actually broken in here. You don't need to use honorifics with me. I'm not that old. I'm only sixteen years old this year." The other person introduced himself and stated his age at the same time. He wasn't interested in being called an "uncle".

"Ten...sixteen years old? Are you sure you didn't say thirty-six years old?" Du Lei was startled by his words.

Because this hairy guy who called himself Grenier looked like a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, Dure would have had doubts if he said he was twenty-six, but now he said he was only sixteen, which almost made Dure's eyes pop out.

"Huh? Thirty-six years old? What do you mean? Do I look that old?" Grenier was very dissatisfied with Dure's attitude and raised his voice.

"No, nothing. So, Grenier, right? What are you doing here? What do you know about the situation here? And most importantly... why did you suddenly kick me just now?" Dure remained skeptical of Grenier's attitude.

But he also knew that now was not the time to argue about such things. He was eager to know more information because he had only been in this place, which was generated by magical energy, for a mere day, but Grenier seemed to have been there for a long time.

Grenier must have a much more detailed understanding of this place.

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301 Tree borers

Du Lei was kicked for no reason, so it was impossible for him not to have any complaints. However, he was a person who could distinguish between what was important and what was urgent. He knew that the most important thing right now was to complete the level assessment and get through the current difficulties. He was not going to act impulsively with Grenier, a person of unknown origin.

In fact, after a brief exchange, Grenier's impression on Dure was that, apart from his age being questionable, he was not a very suspicious person. Grenier quickly gave his reason for kicking Dure to prove that he was not someone who was easily itchy-footed.

"Which do you think is more worthwhile, kicking you or saving your life?" Grenier asked seriously, his tone completely different from before.

"Save my life? I don't quite understand what you mean. Even if I encounter an accident here, according to the spatial rules here, the damage I suffer is only one-tenth of the actual situation. How could I lose my life?" Dure didn't quite understand what Grenier meant.

According to the rules he knew, he should be perfectly safe, which was the source of his confidence to recklessly break through.

“You’re mostly right, but let me ask you something: how many lives do you have?” Grenier didn’t deny Dure’s words, but still asked the question.

“How many lives? Of course, it’s one life…” Dure chewed on Grenier’s words, his mind racing as he pondered the unspoken meaning.

“So you only have one life, not ten lives. One-tenth of the lives die, not one-tenth of the lives die, but it’s still death. This might sound a bit convoluted, it’s a math problem. Do you understand?” Grenier asked again, afraid that he hadn’t explained it clearly enough.

“One-tenth of the deaths…that means dying here is also death? But how come I didn’t know this beforehand?” Dure was the kind of person who was good at thinking. Grenier gave him a clue, and he quickly understood what Grenier meant.

“Believe it or not, Dr. Fisher, who designed this magical energy system, is indeed a genius, but this system has a fatal flaw. And the magical energy space we are in now is the core of this flaw,” Grenier continued to explain.

If his words had fallen into the ears of others, such as Lance, they would have been completely baffled and unable to understand them at all, but Dure was different.

"I don't quite understand what you mean, Grenier. When you talk about the system and vulnerabilities, do you mean the level assessment?" Although Dure was clear-headed and good at thinking, it still took him a while to process a large amount of information in a short period of time.

"It refers to the technology that uses magical energy to generate virtual spaces, puppets, and puppet monsters. It's not just about level assessment, but also includes all sorts of things. To put it simply, you can think of Dr. Fisher's magical energy space technology as a big tree with many branches and leaves."

Grenier gestured with his hands to illustrate his point, clearly someone who knew the inside story. "And the rating system you mentioned is just a small branch on a big tree. As for the loopholes, they're just a termite on this seemingly lush tree."

“Tree borers?” Dure understood what Grenier had said earlier; he knew very well what tree borers meant to a large tree.

“That’s right, a termite that’s powerful enough to destroy an entire tree. It’s hiding somewhere in the tree, sucking up nutrients, and the magical energy space we’re in right now is exactly where the termite is hiding.” Grenier nodded, and he gradually got to the important part.

"You mean to say that the termite is hiding underground in this mine?" Dure recalled the noise he had heard earlier and what Grenier had said, and suddenly came to a guess that made his scalp tingle.

"That's about it. So it might be safe in other magical spaces, but not necessarily here. Kid, you're unlucky. You didn't run into any of the other branches, but you ended up on this one with a worm in it." Grenier shrugged and gave Dure a sympathetic look.

"So as long as we eliminate this parasite, we can leave here safely, right?" Du Lei organized his thoughts, figured out the ins and outs of the matter, and asked tentatively.

“Theoretically speaking, that’s true. But do you think this wood-boring insect is easy to deal with? It’s powerful enough to shake an entire tree; it’s enormous beyond your imagination.” Grenier said solemnly, his understanding of wood-boring insects far surpassing that of others.

"Is there no other way to leave except to eliminate it?" Dure realized that eliminating the termites seemed a bit unrealistic and continued to ask.

“If it were a few days ago, we would have had a way to leave. Back then, it wasn’t powerful enough, and we could have slipped away when it wasn’t looking. But now it’s too powerful. It’s trying to devour the entire tree, so we have no way to leave,” Grenier replied.

“Then I’m really unlucky… There’s another problem.” Dure’s palms were sweating, his intuition telling him that Grenier wasn’t joking.

"What's the problem?" Grenier asked.

"Why are you here? And what are you doing here?" Dure stared into Grenier's eyes, waiting for his response.

His presence here is understandable, as he is participating in the ranking assessment. However, Grenier is clearly not from Maple Leaf Academy. Through Grenier's explanation, Dure roughly understands the principles of that magic energy space system. It is a complex system, like a huge castle.

After the castle was completed, someone sold the system, just like selling tickets to visit the castle. Once you buy a ticket, you can enter the castle, which has countless rooms. You can randomly enter one of them. Maple Leaf Academy bought a ticket.

Dure entered the castle using Maple Leaf Academy's ticket, which was the teleportation barrier in the West Square. However, a slight problem occurred during the teleportation process, and he accidentally arrived at a room with a fatal flaw, where he also encountered a strange person.

He looked to be forty-six years old, but Grenier, who claimed to be only sixteen, knew everything about everything, which made Dure suspicious.

“Actually, I can answer both of these questions with one answer.” Grenier seemed to have expected Dure to ask this question, and he was neither surprised nor flustered.

"What answer?" Dure pressed on, eager to know Grenier's identity and purpose.

Because his intuition told him that this would be of great help in solving his current predicament.

"Because I came here precisely to get rid of the parasites and repair the system," Grenier said confidently.

.

302 Someone is looking for you.

Today is a double celebration for Charlotte. The first is that he helped Boro deal with the troublesome Dure, which will earn him Boro's favor. And since Boro's uncle happens to be one of the academy's board members, Charlotte's path to becoming the vice dean will be smooth sailing.

Secondly, as the person in charge of the level assessment, less than a day has passed, but three students have already emerged with their level assessment showing as high-level, which has already tied the academy's historical record. What's even more exciting is that these students have not stopped challenging themselves.

It is something to look forward to when they will reach the final three-day ranking assessment period. As the person in charge, Charlotte has been in charge of this year's competition, and the emergence of so many geniuses is naturally a credit to him. This will be another great achievement for him.

"When this graduating class graduates in three years... with their talents, they will surely make a name for themselves. At that time, as their mentor, I will become a renowned teacher across the continent. Not to mention the mere vice dean of the academy, I will even have a place in the Magic Energy Association..."

As Charlotte walked out of the office, he couldn't stop smiling at the wonderful picture of the future. In his smugness, he didn't notice the hurried footsteps coming from the other side of the corridor until the person stumbled and almost knocked him to the ground.

"Ms. Charlotte, Ms. Charlotte... Ouch, ouch, ouch! Where is Ms. Charlotte? I just heard her voice!" A female student looked around anxiously, touching her head. She seemed to have bumped into something while running in such a hurry.

"I'm here... Which class are you in? Can't you even walk properly? Get up right now!" A very dissatisfied voice came from below the girl's bottom, which startled her. She hurriedly stood up and looked at the ground.

"Ms. Charlotte? What are you doing here?" The girl then realized who she had bumped into.

"I just came out of the office and was about to go home to sleep, so of course I'm here. You haven't even told me which class you're in. This is incredibly rude!" Charlotte was naturally in a bad mood after being knocked to the ground for no reason.

“Um… I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to. My name is Sera, and I’m the librarian on the first floor. I’m temporarily on duty in the duty room at the request of Senior Elune. Here’s what happened: someone came to see you, Professor Charlotte, saying that they have something important to discuss.” Sera introduced herself.

She wasn't the kind of girl who spoke frankly. She already felt guilty for doing something wrong, and now, faced with Charlotte's aggressive questioning, she was extremely flustered. The fact that she was able to express herself clearly was already an exceptional performance.

"What time is it? What are these people thinking, coming to see me at this hour? Are they parents trying to pull strings again?" Charlotte was very dissatisfied. He frowned. He had never been one to pull strings or use connections.

In fact, he was quite happy to do it, because every time he went through the back door, he was indebted to those nobles for a favor, which was a worthwhile deal. Now that Sera had found him and told him that someone wanted to visit, Charlotte was very familiar with this kind of thing and could roughly guess the other party's intentions.

At any other time, he might have greeted them with a smile, but now he wore all his dissatisfaction on his face. The reason was simple: he knew every student with a certain background in Maple Leaf Academy, and he didn't believe that any prestigious family would come looking for him in the middle of the night.

Because those influential students had already spoken to him, and he didn't want to waste his time on the other students who didn't have much influence.

"What do these people take me for, Charlotte? I'm an impartial and incorruptible person. They're looking for me right now during the ranking assessment period, just because they want their kids to get good grades. I'm not buying it. Tell them to leave immediately. I don't want to see them."

Charlotte put on an air of selflessness and gestured for Sera to leave. Anyone who didn't know better would definitely admire Charlotte's integrity.

"Huh? You're not going to see her? But... but..." Sera was somewhat surprised by Charlotte's attitude.

"But what? Just say I'm not here." Charlotte said impatiently, making a move to leave.

“But they seem to claim to be from the Magic Power Association…” Sera said softly.

"Who cares if it's the Magic Energy Association or whatever, I'm not going to see them... Wait, what did you say? The Magic Energy Association?" Charlotte initially didn't take it seriously and didn't pay any attention to it, but after thinking about it carefully, he suddenly realized that something was not quite right.

“Yes, it’s the Magic Energy Association. Since you don’t want to meet them, Teacher Charlotte, I’ll go tell them now…” Sera turned and left, intending to do as Charlotte instructed. She was always a very serious person.

"Don't go! It's the Magic Energy Association? Could it be that they've already learned about my outstanding contributions to nurturing students and are planning to give me an honorary title or invite me to join the association as a director? Is my wish about to come true? It's happening so fast, so suddenly?"

Charlotte was trembling with excitement. Becoming the vice dean of Maple Leaf Academy was his career goal, something he could achieve with hard work. But joining the Magic Energy Association and becoming a director was the ultimate goal he aspired to in life.

The reason why aspirations are aspirations is that they are unattainable. Charlotte is also very clear-headed. At most, he can only fantasize about becoming a director of the Magic Energy Association in his dreams. In reality, this is simply an impossible task.

But now that people from the Magic Power Association had actually come to his door and specifically asked for him by name, Charlotte was overjoyed.

"Um... so how exactly should I refuse them?" Sera was a little confused by Charlotte.

"You don't need to refuse. I'll go there myself. Wait for me a moment. I'll go back to my office right away to change my clothes. As someone who is about to become a director of the Magic Energy Association, how can I dress like this on such a great and glorious occasion?" Charlotte hurriedly returned to her office.

"Huh? Teacher Charlotte?" Sera was even more confused, completely unable to understand Charlotte's intentions.

"How about this red evening dress? Or this black one? This bow tie is nice, and for the hat, how about this green one?" Charlotte was completely oblivious to Sera's words; he was currently immersed in blissful joy.

Even if this joy was entirely a figment of his imagination.

.

303 Initial Room

In Origin City, a thousand miles away from Maple Leaf Academy, many people wearing white coats came out of their homes. Vehicles were parked in front of their mansions. These were not traditional horse-drawn carriages, but the latest magic-powered cars, with guards standing by to protect them.

After the people in white coats got on the bus, they drove towards the city center. They remained silent the whole way until they arrived at the outside of a towering tower in the city center. Dozens of people in white coats came out and looked at each other.

Only then did he realize that he wasn't the only one who had received the order; almost everyone had been summoned in the middle of the night.

"What happened? Why were we all called over in the middle of the night? I've worked at the Magic Energy Association for several years and I've never encountered anything like this before." A younger researcher looked around in confusion and casually asked a friend he knew.

"I'm not entirely sure either, but I vaguely heard that something went wrong with the magic energy simulation system we developed before," one researcher replied, though he wasn't entirely certain. The tower in front of them, which combined magic energy and steam technology, lit up one after another.

"Huh? Something went wrong? That's a groundbreaking product launched in recent years by the Magic Energy Research Institute under the Magic Energy Association. I heard it's been sold to dozens of countries in mainland China, making the association a fortune. And it's still operating as the association's cash cow. Something went wrong?"

The young researcher was not involved in the research of the simulation system, but his mentor had been involved and was very proud of it. He also became the chief researcher of the institute based on his contributions to the research of the simulation system, an honor that many scientists would like to achieve in their lifetime.

"Don't you know? There was a flaw in the simulation system at the beginning of its research. A researcher once pointed out this flaw, but the Magic Energy Association was too eager for quick success and didn't listen to his opinion. Now it seems that the flaw is starting to show."

While the two researchers were discussing, another young female researcher came over; she knew more about the inside story than either of them.

"But even if there are flaws, wouldn't it be better to just fix them? Why go through all this trouble to gather so many people here? By the way, I've met several of those people over there before. They're either giants in the scientific community or rising stars who have been making great strides recently. They're all remarkable figures."