The most shameless alchemist in history

"Alright, you two stop arguing. We're here today to solve problems, not to fight." Norton, the meeting's moderator, acted as a peacemaker, trying to calm Charlotte and Fant. He was the college's nominal vice dean, responsible for managing the college's affairs.

But he was getting old and not far from retirement. Moreover, he was a kind person, and on the surface everyone listened to him, but in private few people took his words seriously. Otherwise Charlotte wouldn't be so obsessed with the vice dean's position and just waiting for Norton to step aside!

"Mr. Norton, what exactly is inside that abandoned research facility? Why haven't I known about it after all these years at the academy?" A teacher raised a question during the meeting. Although he hadn't been involved in the events of last night, he had heard about the monster that lurked underground.

"Well... it's been too long. I'm afraid only the Dean knows the details of the entire Maple Leaf Academy. Even I only know the general outline. Anyway... starting today, we'll completely seal off the entrance to the research institute and add a barrier to prevent anyone from getting close."

Norton was vague about this. Although he said he didn't know the inside story, anyone with a little insight could see that Norton was hiding something.

"What about that big thing underground? Are we just going to leave it like that?" The male teacher was clearly not satisfied with this approach.

"Ignore it. As long as you don't enter its attack range, it won't attack anyone on its own," Norton shook his head.

"It sounds a bit like a guardian of the academy, doesn't it?" Teacher Deer thought for a moment and gave this analogy.

"Guardians? That sounds rather novel. Let's just assume that's what you're talking about for now." Norton gave a wry smile, waved his hand, and signaled that they shouldn't continue the discussion on this topic.

While the meeting was in full swing, in a quiet courtyard on the other side of the college, Nono was combing Muna's hair on the balcony.

"Nono, when can I go out? I've been here for so long, I'm about to suffocate," Muna said, sounding a little annoyed.

"Trust me, it will be soon. I'm submitting your application, and I believe we'll get a response soon. By the way, Muna, are you aware of the rumors about a guardian within the academy?" Nono asked casually while comforting Muna.

"Guardians? What guardians?" Muna was a little confused.

"There is a very powerful monster in the basement of the academy. As long as you don't enter its attack range, it won't attack anyone. But if you enter its range, it will attack wildly. It is said that its strength is so great that even Flame-rank magic users are wary of it."

Nono added some details.

"The academy's underground... are you talking about that black snake?" Muna thought for a moment and gave an answer.

"Black snake?" Nono was taken aback; she had no idea what was underground at the academy.

“That’s right. Speaking of the underground of your Maple Leaf Academy, there’s only that black snake.” Muna nodded.

"Is this black snake the guardian of the academy?" Nono asked, somewhat curious.

“Who told you that, Nono? That black snake has existed for many years. It was there before this academy was built.” Muna shook her head. She did not agree with Nono’s statement, and her words even carried a hint of disdain.

"Huh? It existed before the academy existed? So it's been sleeping underground under the academy all these years?" Nono was taken aback.

"It's not entirely asleep, though. I felt its power last night," Muna said, frowning.

"If it's not the guardian of the academy, then what is it guarding?" Nono became even more suspicious.

"I don't know either. If it's my older sister, she would definitely know something, because when my sister and I were little, we heard from our elders that there was a very powerful black snake underground in the forest, and that we should not provoke it." Muna recalled the distant past.

"Is that so? A black snake that guarded something underground before the academy was built... That's quite interesting." Nono nodded thoughtfully. Although she was a teacher at the academy, she was still called an "intern".

She was never involved in any important meetings. When she first came to Maple Leaf Academy as a teacher, she didn't think much of it and thought there was nothing special about it. However, as she stayed there longer, she gradually discovered that the academy was hiding many secrets.

What's being revealed now is just the tip of the iceberg.

.

336 Black Serpent

"What did you say? There's a black snake in the academy's underground?" Lance was startled by Messiah's words and stood up from his seat.

“This isn’t what I said, it’s what Kelly said,” Messiah continued to explain, explaining that Kelly had told her everything last night.

“But… I remember we saw more than one last night, several pairs of eyes, and it was such a big thing, it was actually a snake? How big must its body be?” Lance gasped as he recalled the scene he saw yesterday.

Although he only caught a fleeting glimpse last night and didn't see it clearly, he did see several pairs of eerie green eyes and a huge, vaguely visible figure in the darkness. He had never experienced such oppressive power before, which made him break out in a cold sweat.

"I don't know about that, but that's what Kelly said." Messiah was also confused and couldn't explain it.

"What was Kelly trying to do by going to the academy's underground to find a giant snake?" Lance still couldn't understand Kelly's purpose.

“According to Kelly, Kevin asked her to go down to the ground and get something,” Messiah relayed what Kelly had told her.

"Take something? What is it?" Lance asked curiously, finding the question rather novel.

“Kelly isn’t quite sure either; it seems like a stone, but it also doesn’t seem like it.” Messiah was unsure as well.

"Huh? Stones? Aren't these things everywhere? Why would you risk so much to get them?" Lance couldn't understand it.

“Being able to hide so deep, and with a black serpent guarding it, this must not be an ordinary stone. Perhaps it is…” Du Lei seemed to have guessed something, and paused here.

“Maybe what?” Lance immediately pressed.

“It’s nothing. Kevin must have made some preparations before asking Kelly to do this, right? Otherwise, Kelly wouldn’t have been able to get past the black serpent at all.” Dure remembered that Kelly was holding a red potion bottle last night, and she had said that she had a way to deal with the monster.

Looking back now, Kelly's solution was the contents of the vial.

“Yes, Kelly said Kevin gave her a vial containing a magic weapon to deal with the black serpent.” Messiah nodded in confirmation.

"Where's that red medicine bottle? Can Kelly show it to me?" Dure became interested in this.

“This…” Messiah hesitated for a moment, looking somewhat troubled.

“Is it not allowed? It’s okay if it’s not allowed, after all, it’s such an important thing.” Du Lei never forced anyone to do anything against their will.

"That's not how it is. If you want to see it, I think Kelly would be happy to show it to you. It's just that, for some reason, the contents of the potion bottle just mysteriously disappeared." Messiah hesitated for a moment before finally revealing the truth.

"What? Disappeared? How could the contents of the bottle just vanish without a trace? Could it have been knocked over?" Even Lance found this unbelievable; it didn't make any sense at all.

“Kelly couldn’t explain it either. When she got up this morning, the contents of the bottle were gone, but the seal on the bottle hadn’t been touched. It was as if it had vanished into thin air.” Messiah herself found it hard to believe, but it was indeed true.

“There’s nothing we can do about it.” Dure nodded, trusting that Kelly and Messiah wouldn’t lie to him.

"By the way, how is Kelly's... her brother?" Lance remembered this and immediately asked.

“Kelly’s half-brother… Keita said he would handle this. He guaranteed that Kenan would be safe and sound. I don’t think Keita is the kind of person who would exaggerate, so we can rest assured about that.” Messiah and Keita were not very familiar with each other.

But she had also heard at the academy that Keita was an upright person and a person who kept his promises.

"Is that so? I'm relieved. That Kevin is truly despicable. He threatened Kelly with her brother to make her do things for him, and after he succeeded, he even tried to kill her to cover it up. He's utterly wicked. It's a real shame he wasn't caught and brought to justice." Lance clenched his fists, filled with resentment.

"Is it really okay for Keita to do this? Kevin is an important figure in Kelly's family." Dure was somewhat worried about this.

“Kelly said her family is a bit complicated. Keita and Kevin are not on the same side, and even in this confrontation between the Mountain Kingdom and the Snow Kingdom, their family is not united. Some people support the Mountain Kingdom to fight against the Snow Kingdom, while others are unwilling to get involved.”

The Messiah was a general outline, which Kelly had told her, and she had simply relayed it to her.

"Kevin did this without the family's consent; it was a private action aimed at dragging the entire family down with him. So even if Kevin fails, he can't take his anger out on her brother. And Keita has considerable influence within the family, so there's no need to worry."

Messiah paused and then added some more details.

“Messiah, may I ask you a question?” Dure suddenly asked.

"Oh? Du Lei, what's wrong? Why are you being so polite?" Messiah gestured for Du Lei to ask whatever he wanted.

"Did Kelly tell you these things herself, or did you already know them beforehand?" Dure asked intriguingly.

“This…” A hint of panic flashed in Messiah’s eyes, leaving her momentarily at a loss for words.

“Of course she learned about Messiah from Kelly. Didn’t she just say that? How could you forget that, Dure? You’re not usually someone with a bad memory,” Lance reminded Dure.

“That’s true, look at my memory. Of course Messiah learned all this from Kelly. Why would I ask when I already know?” Dure smiled and stopped talking about it, which finally relieved Messiah, who had been getting nervous.

“However, Kelly was able to escape unharmed this time thanks to Dure. If it weren’t for your investigation, which helped us understand the whole story, we wouldn’t have been able to save Kelly in that emergency. We should thank you for that.” Messiah said sincerely.

"There's no need to thank me. I think if I were in trouble, Kelly would do her best to help me... I guess so?" Du Lei initially spoke with certainty, but gradually became less confident, though he still maintained his smile.

“Dure, what are you saying? If you were in trouble, we would definitely help you. We are all friends, and what is the point of friendship if not to lend a helping hand in times of difficulty?” Lance said righteously.

In any case, Kelly's problem can be considered resolved for the time being.

.

337, what a great understanding!

When the first rain of early spring poured down, the raindrops pattered on the leaves, making a "shush-shush" sound. Amidst the heavy rain, the reconstruction of Maple Leaf Academy continued to progress vigorously. After two weeks of repairs, the originally damaged buildings began to take shape.

Although it will take several months to fully restore the area to its pre-damage state, it is at least a good start. The students' emotions have gradually calmed down, and their lives have returned to normal. Everything is moving in a positive direction, and the atmosphere couldn't be more harmonious.

"Hey, Dure, are you going to the library again today? Don't you get tired of going there every day?" After class, Lance caught up with Dure as he walked toward the library, hooked his arm around his shoulder, and asked curiously.

“I think it’s okay. There are still many books in the library that I haven’t finished reading. Don’t you go to the training ground every day? Don’t you get tired of it?” Du Lei answered Lance’s question and then returned the question to him verbatim.

"Well, of course I don't get tired of it. Fighting them every day is so exciting, and the feeling of sweating buckets is just amazing! Plus, my strength has improved again in the last two weeks, Durei, guess what level I've reached?" Lance's face was full of smiles.

“You had already reached the mid-stage of the nine-star realm, only one step away from the high-stage. Seeing how happy you are now, it seems you are not far from breaking through the bottleneck of the mid-stage.” Du Lei thought for a moment and quickly gave his conjecture.

"Hey Dure, we're all human, how come you're so smart? You've lost all your mystery." Lance had originally wanted to show off, but Dure guessed it right away, which made him a little disappointed. He hung his head and sighed.

"If you want mystery, you might as well go and show off in front of Kelly," Dure retorted irritably.

"No way, Kelly's been stuck at the mid-level eight stars for over a week now. If I go and brag to her now, she'll just slap me to death. Speaking of which, this weather is really annoying. It's been raining non-stop from morning till night." Lance raised his arm to shield his eyes.

A misty drizzle poured down from the sky, as if the world were veiled in a delicate gauze. Raindrops splashed on the ground from time to time, and if you listened carefully, you could hear the "ding-dong" sound of the water droplets. Many students hurriedly ran over with their textbooks in hand.

"What's wrong with rain?" Dure asked Lance.

"Ugh? It's all wet everywhere, what's so good about that? Not to mention you can easily catch a cold on a rainy day, your clothes get wet and you have to wash them, and they take forever to dry. It's such a hassle." Lance listed the sins of rainy days over and over again. He had no fondness for this kind of weather.

“You can’t see rain like this in my hometown.” Du Lei looked up at the sky, raindrops falling on his face, feeling slightly cool, and some raindrops dripping into the corners of his mouth, cool and refreshing.

"Dure, your hometown is in the north, right? In my opinion, Maple City is already quite north, Dure, your hometown is even further north." Lance was from the south and had never seen a vast expanse of snow, so he couldn't imagine what Dure's hometown was like.

"North of the North... is there still a North?" Du Lei blurted out for no apparent reason.

"What did you say?" Lance seemed not to have heard him clearly.

"It's nothing, I just thought about some people and things from my hometown. By the way, Lance, where is your hometown again?" Dure didn't seem to have heard Lance talk about his hometown for a long time.

“My hometown…” Lance’s cheerful smile suddenly froze. He stopped and lowered his head.

"I'm sorry, did I bring up something I shouldn't have?" Durek had never seen Lance like this before, which made him extremely curious.

“It’s nothing really. My hometown… no longer exists.” Lance suddenly looked up at Dure, a smile on his lips. He looked no different from his usual self, except that raindrops were dripping on his face, making it wet.

"Really? That's a real shame." Dure was silent for a moment, then dropped the subject. He knew that for Lance, it was definitely not a good memory.

"Those two over there...aren't they Du Lei and Lance? Hey, you two, why aren't you carrying umbrellas?" Just as Du Lei and Lance fell into an awkward silence, someone waved to them from not far away, and two girls walked over.

They were all holding umbrellas, so you couldn't see their faces clearly, but you could tell from their voices that it was Messiah greeting them.

"It's Messiah! It's only been a day, but you're still as adorable as ever." Lance greeted Messiah. A month ago, they were just nodding acquaintances and their relationship wasn't particularly close, but they had been through a lot together in the past month.

This caused their relationship to heat up rapidly, and the way they addressed each other gradually changed.

“You’ve become even more disgusting than yesterday, after only one day apart.” Kelly used Lance’s words to retort to him.