The most shameless alchemist in history

"No clues? That's not necessarily true." Du Lei shook his head.

"Do you have any clues, Dure?" Lance's eyes lit up, and he immediately asked.

“Don’t forget that Kelly didn’t come to the academy alone. She has an older brother named Keita. If it’s Keita, he must know something, right?” Dure pointed out the crux of the problem.

.

324 split up

Keita, Kelly's older brother, is quite different from Kelly, who is usually a loner. As a popular figure among the freshmen, Keita is very well-liked. Whenever Keita is mentioned, students know that he is a very generous and righteous person.

Finding Keita within the academy wasn't difficult; just ask anyone, and you'd know where she was. After being scolded by Kelly in the ruins behind the academy, Dure and his group began to focus their efforts on Keita.

Maple Leaf Academy's training grounds suffered some damage during the insect infestation, but many facilities remain open. After school, it is still a popular area for students, such as Lance, for whom the training grounds are practically his second home.

But today he didn't head towards the training field as usual. It wasn't that he didn't want to participate in training; in fact, he was itching to do so. But right now, he had something more important to do, because Keita was currently competing against someone else on the training field.

“I’m telling you, Dure, is it really feasible for us to keep an eye on Keita, this gorilla? It’s been two days, and we haven’t seen him do anything suspicious. If this continues…” Lance was completely distracted from training at this point. He was very conflicted when he thought of Kelly’s expression two days ago.

"Besides this, can you find any better clues?" Dure didn't answer Lance's question directly, but instead asked him a question in return.

"I can't find that, but... I heard that the person in the cloak say something about three days. Although I don't understand what three days means, two days have passed, and I'm really uneasy." Lance knew he wasn't good at thinking.

"Be patient. The closer you get to the point, the more patient you need to be. Once you lose your composure and get flustered, you can forget about doing anything well." Dure was a very patient person. Even though he knew the urgency of the situation, he was still able to observe Keita here at a leisurely pace.

“Durey, you know I don’t have your patience, but… since you’ve said so, I’ll just wait a bit longer.” Lance could only follow Durey’s advice and continue to keep an eye on Keita until he could find a better solution. It wasn’t that he was particularly curious about Keita’s training.

As a prominent figure among the new students, Keita's strength is beyond doubt. The result of the last level assessment was five-star mid-level, which seems unremarkable and not particularly outstanding. However, it should be noted that this result was the result of a temporary level assessment.

In the previous level assessment conducted using the magic energy simulation system, Keita was one of the four who reached the high level. His true strength had long since reached the level of a one-star high-level individual, and Lance believed that he could not defeat Keita.

"Dure, it's been two hours again, why is there still no movement? Could it be..." Lance had been observing for two hours, but Keita hadn't done anything except fight with someone. This had been the case for the past two days, which made Lance increasingly worried.

“I told you not to rush. Keita is Kelly’s brother. If anything happens to Kelly, or if someone comes to her, Keita will know. Cheer up, Keita is about to leave!” Dure reminded Lance. Keita had already finished training.

“I understand. Just do as you say, Dure. So what do we do now? Follow Keita?” Lance immediately perked up and followed behind Keita, keeping a distance to avoid being discovered.

You should know that they were caught following Kelly before, and Kelly discovered them and exposed them directly.

"Don't make a sound, just follow behind. Hmm? Who's that person in front..." Dure gestured for Lance to lower his voice so that Keita wouldn't notice. They followed Keita out of the training ground. Right at the entrance of the training ground, he saw someone approach Keita and start a conversation.

“He’s a middle-aged man. Is he a teacher at the academy?” Lance glanced at the man. The man who spoke to Keita looked to be in his thirties or forties. He was dressed in a well-fitting suit and looked refined and elegant, with the air of a scholar.

“No, there’s no one with that face among the academy’s teachers. He’s not a teacher at the academy.” Du Lei decisively rejected this idea. He had been at Maple Leaf Academy for over a month, and although he had been skipping classes for a long time, he was still quite familiar with the academy’s situation.

"Who else could it be but a teacher from the academy?" Lance muttered to himself, unable to hear what Keita and the other person were saying from this distance.

“Recently, due to the reconstruction of the academy, many strangers have flooded in. I don’t know who he is... I think we should split up, Lance, and each of us should keep an eye on one of them, see where they go and what they do, and figure out the situation.” Dure pondered for a moment.

“Then I’ll go keep an eye on that uncle, Dure, you go keep an eye on the gorilla. Oh dear, they’ve already separated. Dure, I’ll go first.” Lance immediately agreed. He noticed that the middle-aged man and Keita who were talking had finished speaking and left one on each side.

"Then you must be careful. No matter what the outcome, we'll meet at the usual place in two hours." After giving Lance this advice, Dure left with Keita. It was dismissal time, and the academy was bustling with people. The workers who had participated in the reconstruction had just finished their shifts.

The crowd was noisy and chaotic. Dure and Lance left one on each side, followed by two different people, and were quickly swallowed up by the crowd.

At the same moment the two were swallowed up by the crowd, Messiah, who had just come out of the classroom, clung tightly to Kelly.

“Kelly, I heard the flowers are blooming on the hillside, the whole mountain is covered in wildflowers, it’s so beautiful, shall we go and see them together?” Messiah invited her friend with a smile, even though she, Lance, and Dure had followed Kelly two days ago, which earned them a scolding from her.

This directly led to Kelly's extremely cold attitude towards her over the past two days, barely uttering a single word.

But this did not dampen Messiah's enthusiasm. In fact, after learning that Kelly was in trouble, Messiah was much more proactive than usual. She wanted to help her friend, even though the latter was completely ungrateful.

“I have things to do and I’m not in the mood to go. You can go by yourself.” Kelly’s attitude was indifferent, and she directly rejected Messiah.

“Kelly, aren’t you going? That’s a real shame… But I’ve heard that a new baker recently came, and his bread is so fragrant, sweet, and soft. Shall we go and try it?” Messiah was a little disappointed, but she still extended a new invitation.

"Aren't you annoying? If you want to go, go by yourself. Why do you have to drag me along?" Kelly scolded impatiently.

“Kelly, are you angry? I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to…” Messiah said softly, looking very remorseful.

"Alright, I'm leaving now. And let me tell you, don't do anything unnecessary." Kelly gave Messiah a stern warning before leaving without looking back.

.

325 Construction Merchants

As the last rays of the setting sun mingled with the evening glow on the horizon, the students, exhausted from a day of classes and participating in the reconstruction of the college, sat in twos and threes on the grass, gazing into the distance. This was one of their few moments of peace.

But for Dure and Messiah, their work was not yet over. The two met up on the hillside to the right of the college, where birds could be seen perched on the cranes, peering out curiously. After more than a week of reconstruction, the college had gradually shaken off its previous despondency.

Everyone believed that given time, Maple Leaf Academy would surely be able to rebuild its former glory. However, the major changes that occurred dealt a blow to the academy, which indeed deterred many students. At least eighty freshmen withdrew from the academy, but those who remained were the seeds that could carry the future of the academy.

"Du Lei, did you and Lance agree on a two-hour meeting? But the time has already passed, and it will be dark soon. Why hasn't he returned yet? Did something happen to him?" Messiah, on the hillside, was not interested in admiring the beautiful scenery and paced anxiously back and forth.

She was very concerned about her friend Kelly's situation. According to their previous discussion, she was responsible for pestering Kelly and getting information out of her. Meanwhile, Dure and Lance were targeting Keita as a breakthrough point. Dure also followed Keita for a while.

“Messiah, don’t worry, I think Lance will be back soon.” Dure was more patient than Messiah. His calmness wasn’t because he didn’t care about Kelly’s situation, but because he knew that worry would only affect his judgment, and he had to maintain an objective mindset at all times.

"By the way, Dure, you were with Keita just now, right? Did you get any valuable clues?" Messiah asked about Dure's progress. In Messiah's opinion, Dure was undoubtedly more reliable and more likely to obtain information than Lance.

“I followed Keita for about half an hour, but after he parted ways with that middle-aged man, he went straight back to his dormitory and never came out again. He didn’t do anything suspicious, so I think it will be very difficult to get information from Keita.” Dure shook his head.

He was very skilled at tracking people. Even though Keita was very alert, he was confident that Keita had not discovered him. However, even so, Keita was very methodical and did not give Dure any chance to dig out information. This left Dure with no opportunity to use his skills and he had to retreat quietly.

“Even you, Dure, haven’t gotten any clues? It seems Kelly…” Messiah was somewhat disappointed. If even Dure hadn’t been able to gather any information, then the chances of getting valuable clues from Lance were even slimmer, especially since half an hour had passed and Lance still hadn’t appeared.

"Dure, Messiah, are you both here? We've kept you waiting." Just then, a voice came from the other side of the hillside, which made Messiah, whose eyes had dimmed, suddenly brighten.

"Is that Lance? You've finally arrived. What happened? Why are you so late?" Messiah immediately went to greet him. Lance was clearly out of breath and had been shouting. He must have rushed here, which was quite in line with Lance's energetic and decisive style.

"I discovered, I discovered..." Lance gasped for breath, his words jumbled and incoherent.

"Don't rush, speak slowly," Dure gestured to Lance to calm down.

"Durey, you were right, the person who met with the gorilla was indeed very suspicious!" After catching his breath, Lance finally calmed down and immediately told Durey and Messiah this important news.

“Suspicious? How so?” Messiah immediately pressed. Although she hadn’t participated in Dure and Lance’s separate operation, she had learned from Dure that Lance was going to follow a middle-aged man who was meeting with Keita. Judging from Lance’s reaction, he must have made a major discovery.

"After that middle-aged man parted ways with the gorilla, he went to the workers' shed. I saw him meet with another person. After meeting him, he gave that person a letter, and then he went to meet a third person, Dure. Do you know who the third person he met was?" Lance looked incredulous.

"Is it... Kelly?" Durley answered tentatively.

“That’s right, it’s Kelly. He’s the one who saw Kelly that night, there’s absolutely no mistake!” Lance nodded emphatically, speaking with absolute certainty.

"Finally found a clue? This is wonderful!" Messiah was very excited. After hearing that Dure had not found any valuable clues, she was very disappointed and thought that the clues would be lost and that she would not be able to help Messiah. But now things have taken a turn for the better with Lance.

"Over at the workers' shed... Lance, have you found out who that person is?" Dure remained calm and was not pleased by Lance's discovery, because Lance's information alone was not enough to make them do anything to change the situation.

“I found out. I heard from someone that the middle-aged man is named Kevin, and he’s the construction contractor in charge of the college’s reconstruction,” Lance continued.

"A construction contractor? How did a construction contractor end up with Kelly and get involved with her?" Messiah was puzzled. She simply couldn't compare Kelly to someone like a construction contractor; their identities were far too different.

“I think the so-called construction contractor is just a front. By the way, Lance, have you found out where this Mr. Kevin is from? Could it be… the Country of Mountains?” Dure pondered for a moment. He didn’t believe that Kevin was just a construction contractor.

After thinking of something, he immediately asked Lance, hoping to get a positive answer from him.

"The Country of Mountains? I'm not really sure about that. Dure, does that have anything to do with which country he's from?" Lance was taken aback. He hadn't considered nationality at all, so he hadn't bothered to find out any relevant information.

“I remember Kelly said before that she was from the Swamp Country, and the Swamp Country and the Mountain Country have always been on good terms… Maybe I’m just overthinking it, but getting Kevin as a clue is already very valuable. We still have one day left, so we’ll use Kevin as our breakthrough point for the next day.”

Although Dure did not receive a definite answer, he was not discouraged and immediately devised a new strategy.

“I understand, Dure. Just tell me what you want to do next. I will do my best to help Kelly!” Lance nodded firmly. Although he and Kelly often argued, he always showed his support when Kelly was in trouble.

He will not hesitate to lend a helping hand.

.

326 Mr. Kevin

The reconstruction of Maple Leaf Academy is a long process. Although the Maple City Hall has provided full assistance to Maple Leaf Academy, sending a steady stream of reconstruction materials and manpower to the academy mountain, the academy is still in a state of severe manpower shortage. As a result, many students have participated in the reconstruction efforts.

Firstly, these students have mastered magical skills and can make full use of magical energy to carry out heavy work. Secondly, rebuilding the academy is also a form of training for them, because accurately placing building materials at a certain point is a process that tests operational skills.

The college also gave students who participated in the reconstruction a crystal card as compensation. This card is a universal ticket for students to eat, drink, live, and travel on campus. On weekends, most students participated in the reconstruction, working alongside the workers to contribute to the reconstruction of the college.

Dure and Lance were two of these hundreds of students.

"Uncle, where should I put this log? Is it over there?" On the dusty construction site, Lance carried a log and asked the construction workers next to him where to put it. Although he was only fifteen years old, he was strong and his physique was no less than that of an ordinary adult.

With the added boost of magical energy, his physical strength far surpasses that of an adult, a fact that even the construction workers marvel at.

"Put it over there, and the crane can lift it up. Kid, you're really something. You can do the work of seven or eight people all by yourself. If you were in our line of work, you could earn the wages of at least five people. It's really enviable," a construction worker nearby remarked.

"What nonsense are you talking about? He's an outstanding student at Maple Leaf Academy, majoring in magic power. After graduation, he'll go directly into the military's staff, or work for the city hall or a conglomerate. His future is limitless. How could he possibly do what we do?" another worker sneered.

"Oh, you're right, how could I forget that? By the way, kid, what's your name again? Tell me your name, so that when you have a bright future and become famous, I can brag to others about how I carried timber with so-and-so." The construction worker grinned.

The bright sunlight shone on the beads of sweat dripping from their foreheads, casting colorful shadows.

"Lance, my name is Lance. By the way, uncle, where are you from? You don't look like locals, do you?" Lance introduced himself. He was an outgoing and friendly person who could get along with people wherever he went. He was very approachable and popular with the construction workers.

“Lance? Lance, you’re right. We’re not locals. We’re all employees of Kevin Company, from different countries. For example, I’m from the Sand Country, and Komodo is from the Earth Country.” The construction worker pointed to himself and then to his companion.

"I see. Kevin must be an amazing person to be able to bring so many outstanding employees together. By the way, which country is Uncle Kevin from?" Lance asked casually while praising him.

"Mr. Kevin's hometown seems to be in the Swamp Country, I think I've heard someone mention it before," the construction worker thought for a moment and gave an answer.

"Huh? The land of swamps? Not the land of mountains?" Lance was taken aback; this result was different from what he had imagined.

“No, no, no, Mr. Kevin is not from the Mountain Country, Lance, why would you ask that?” The construction worker denied it.

"Well... I only heard it from someone else. I heard that Mr. Kevin is from the Mountain Kingdom, and I was thinking of getting closer to him." Lance realized that he had misspoke and quickly waved his hand to gloss over the matter.

"Oh, I see. Lance, you don't mean you're planning to work for Mr. Kevin after graduation, do you?" the construction worker asked, puzzled.

"Well... I'm thinking about that too. You know, Uncle, it's not a bad thing to know more important people, right?" Lance quickly put on a forced smile to avoid giving himself away.

“Mr. Kevin is indeed different from other construction contractors. He is a worldly man. It’s definitely a good idea to know him. By the way, speaking of the Mountain Country, Mr. Kevin seems to have a lot of business there. His last construction site was contracted there.”

The construction worker remembered this and brought it up himself.

"Huh? The last construction site was in the Mountain Country... Does that mean Uncle Kevin has close ties with the Mountain Country?" Lance noticed this and immediately pressed for more information.

"I don't really know anything about 'closeness' or anything like that. We're only responsible for working for Mr. Kevin. How would we ordinary workers know anything about his affairs?" The construction worker shook his head.

"I understand, Uncle, you've really helped me a lot. By the way, is it okay to leave the wood here?" Lance was already satisfied with the information he had received. After giving a grateful look, he picked up another piece of wood to help.

"Of course! Keep it up, kid. You'll definitely have a bright future ahead of you." The construction worker laughed heartily. With the addition of this young man, Lance, the construction site was filled with a vibrant and cheerful atmosphere.

After a busy morning, Lance finally met up with Dure at lunchtime and told him the important news.