The most shameless alchemist in history

Kelly shook her head. She was always a calm person, and calm people can always make the right judgment and understand the situation in the first place.

Although she had only been at the training ground for a short time, she had already discerned the situation from the overall picture. Originally, Dure and Lance were able to engage in a back-and-forth battle, but within just a few minutes, Dure was already at a complete disadvantage, being unilaterally and thoroughly defeated by Lance.

"That Du Lei is despicable! What's wrong with that clueless guy? Isn't he Du Lei's good friend? How could he hit him so hard? If this continues, Du Lei will be injured!" Messiah saw Lance knock Du Lei back with a heavy punch, and the latter let out a muffled groan.

Upon seeing this, Messiah instinctively wanted to rush down and stop their battle.

"No, Messiah, just watch from here. Don't get close or disturb them. Lance did the right thing. There are only two days left until the level assessment. If we don't force him to reach his full potential, he probably won't even pass the level assessment."

Kelly was well aware of Dure's current predicament. Although she usually opposed Lance, she supported him in this matter.

271 Magic Power Index

Although Du Lei was mentally prepared to be thoroughly defeated by Lance during this special training session, he realized that he was too optimistic after the training lasted for nearly an hour. At first, he thought that even if there was a gap between him and Lance, he could find a way to make up for it.

But now he realized that in the face of an absolute power gap, any fancy tricks were useless. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't hurt Lance at all, while Lance could always easily grab him and throw him away, completely dominating him.

"Durey, how about we leave it at that for today? I think that's enough." Lance looked at Durey, who was struggling to get up from the ground, and felt a little sorry for him. Although he had promised Durey that he wouldn't show any mercy, he still found it hard to do anything more to his best friend who was in such a state.

“It’s alright, this is far from enough, let’s try again.” Dure shook his head heavily. He stood up unsteadily. He knew that Lance had avoided his vital points and was only using a point-and-click attack. Otherwise, if he had gone all out, he would have been beaten to death.

"But," Lance still hesitated. He didn't know how many times he had knocked Dure down, but Dure always managed to get back up.

"No buts, come when I tell you to. What are you spacing out for? If I beat you down, I won't care." Dure was a little angry when he saw Lance hesitating. He rushed over to attack Lance's right side, but Lance dodged easily and grabbed his arm.

Although Lance had subdued Dure, he hesitated for a moment and did not throw Dure away as cleanly and efficiently as before.

"When facing an opponent, you should strike first and subdue them. You cannot be merciful. Even if your opponent is your friend, you cannot hesitate when you are on the opposite side, because it could be fatal for you. Do you understand?" Dure took advantage of Lance's momentary lapse in attention.

He quickly broke free from Lance's control and attacked from behind, forcing the uneasy Lance to temporarily dodge the attack.

The two continued their duel on the training field, while the stands were empty except for Messiah and Kelly, who remained standing on the high ground watching.

"Is Durellance trying to kill himself? It's been over an hour already. His body won't be able to take it. Kelly, why don't you try to talk them out?" Messiah couldn't stand it anymore and sought Kelly's help, since she wasn't very close to Durellance.

Kelly knew them both before she entered the academy, so their relationship was quite close.

“This is his own choice, how can I persuade him? And you've noticed, haven't you? The key issue isn't how many beatings Dure took, but that his own magic power index is too low, far below Lance's level, which is why Lance can easily crush him.”

While observing, Kelly also analyzed the situation that Dure was facing. Although Dure had not told her, it was not difficult for her to see it with her excellent eyesight.

"Magic power index units? I remember Kelly, your magic power index units are 82. Du Lei's magic power reaction level was very high during the entrance test. Under normal circumstances, his magic power index units shouldn't be this low. What's going on?"

Messiah also had many doubts about this issue. Given Dure's potential, his magical energy index should be at least 80 units.

"I don't understand what's going on either. It's been a month since I enrolled. Although that guy is always sneaking around and I can't see him, as long as he's not an idiot, if he trains a little bit every day according to the course, he should have more than 70 magic energy index units, which is enough to pass the test."

“But judging from his current performance, his magic power index is probably less than 20 units, or even lower. He definitely won’t pass the level assessment in two days.” Kelly shook her head. 70 magic power index units was a rather conservative estimate.

Her brother, Keita, who was also one of the five people who showed a red magical energy reaction in the entrance test, had his latest magical energy index unit broken into three digits, while Dure, who was also one of the five, had a magical energy index of only single digits in the most extreme case. The difference was not small.

"What should we do then? What if Du Lei is expelled?" Messiah paused here, his expression somber.

"What did you say?" Kelly seemed not to have heard her clearly.

"It's nothing. Du Lei is so smart, he'll definitely have a way, right?" Messiah still didn't give up hope.

“Messiah, you should also know that in magic training, sometimes being clever is not as useful as being single-minded. Look at Lance, that blockhead. He has absolutely nothing to do with the word ‘clever,’ but his magic power index is at least 85 units.” Kelly sighed.

“85? That’s taller than Kelly, isn’t it?” Messiah exclaimed in surprise.

“Although I hate to admit it, that’s the truth.” Kelly was well aware of Lance’s situation.

"Does that mean Du Lei has absolutely no hope?" Messiah's mood became increasingly depressed.

“It seems that’s the case right now. Let’s go.” Kelly shook her head and pulled Messiah away. She had been there for over an hour, but apart from watching Dure get beaten up, she hadn’t seen any signs of the situation improving.

Although Messiah was reluctant, seeing Dure fall to the ground time and time again, she finally turned around and left the training field.

With even the few remaining spectators gone, the training ground became even more deserted. No matter how fiercely Dure attacked, the usually jovial Lance stood like a wall in front of him, preventing him from making any progress. This sense of powerlessness drove Dure almost to madness.

"Dure, that's enough. You've already tried your best." Lance advised Dure again. He had seen his best friend's efforts, but even someone as not-so-bright as Lance gradually realized that no matter how hard Dure tried, he couldn't see any progress.

To some extent, Durrell's special training was meaningless because his problem wasn't with the training itself.

"Again," Dure swayed as he stood up, staring intently at Lance in front of him, and beckoned him with his finger.

“But if this continues, you…” Lance really couldn’t bring himself to do it. He was a well-known training fanatic in the training hall, but compared to Dure’s reckless training methods, he was still far behind.

“If you can’t bring yourself to do it, then let me be his opponent.” Just as Lance hesitated, a voice rang out.

272 Two conclusions

Suddenly, a person walked out of the empty stands, which greatly surprised Dure and Lance. In fact, not only the two of them, but also Kelly and Messiah, who had just left, did not know that there was a third person in the stands besides them.

Moreover, this person was a girl, someone they weren't too unfamiliar with, but definitely didn't have any good feelings towards. When Lance saw this person approaching, he subconsciously took a step forward and blocked Dure's way, because he remembered that they had a past conflict.

"What do you want, woman? Let me tell you, if you're looking for trouble, I'm not afraid of you." Lance was being defiant, but there was a strong element of bluff in his words, because he knew very well that this woman was extremely troublesome.

When they were still taking entrance exams before entering the academy, he was able to maintain the fearless spirit of a newborn calf and not back down an inch. But a month after entering the academy, the rumors about that woman were increasing. As his strength increased, Lance gradually figured out one thing.

He was vastly different from the woman standing opposite him at this moment. The difference was so great that it would not be an exaggeration to describe it as a world apart. After all, he was just a newcomer to the academy, while she had been famous for a long time and was one of the three people in Maple Leaf Academy who were not to be trifled with, Elune, the student council's discipline committee member.

"I just happened to be passing by. I had no interest whatsoever in the squabbles between you ants. I just thought you were all too stupid, so I felt it necessary to give you a heads-up." Elune gave a cold snort. She always seemed to have an icy expression, never showing the slightest hint of a smile.

"Damn it, don't look down on people!" Although Lance was very wary of Elune, he was still a man.

He couldn't stand by and watch a girl insult him like that. Even though he knew he couldn't beat her, he would still fight back to prove her right.

"Lance, wait a minute, let's hear what Senior Elune has to say." Dure grabbed Lance's shoulder and gently shook his head. Although he had been beaten up for a while, he remained calm. He knew that someone like Elune wouldn't speak for no reason.

"Dure, what else can this self-righteous woman say? She's just making sarcastic remarks and enjoying the show. Just ignore her." Lance remembered how Elune had made things difficult for him during the entrance exam, which had left him seething with anger, though he hadn't seen Elune since.

"That's all the knowledge you have. It's a real shame to have a friend like you," Elune mocked Lance.

"What did you say?" Lance was furious and was about to step forward to argue with Elune.

"Lance, don't be impulsive. Let's hear what Senior Elune has to say first. I think someone as busy and intelligent as Senior Elune wouldn't do something as pointless as kicking someone when they're down." Dure chuckled self-deprecatingly when he mentioned "a dog in distress," clearly referring to himself.

"You're the smarter one. 'A drowning dog' is a really fitting description for you," Elune mocked, joining in the ridicule with Duré.

Lance became increasingly convinced that Elune was there to cause trouble, and he became very agitated.

"So what does Senior Elune want with me, a fallen dog?" Dure pulled Lance back. He was already facing big trouble and didn't want to cause any more problems, especially with a ruthless character like Elune. Nono had mentioned it once, and she didn't want to provoke Elune easily.

“I heard about the ranking assessment. You should have passed with just the standard of one-star mid-level, but you offended Charlotte, and he forced you to reach eight-star mid-level.” Elune directly pointed out Dure’s predicament; there was nothing she didn’t know within Maple Leaf Academy.

"So what if he's an eight-star mid-level? It's just a piece of cake for Du Lei," Lance retorted.

"Do you believe such a thing? Ask him yourself, does he believe it?" Elune scoffed at Lance's words.

Lance had only said this to save face, but now that the other party had seen through his lie so easily, he was speechless for a moment.

“Senior Elune is right. Let alone an eight-star mid-level, I can’t even reach a one-star mid-level.” Dure didn’t stubbornly deny it. He frankly admitted that although Lance was indeed very worried about him, Lance’s situation was completely different from his own.

Lance could still muster some pride and say some angry words, but Dure knew that he would not escape the fate of being asked to leave two days later.

"I heard that your magical energy reaction reached the red aptitude during the entrance test. Your class is quite famous because five people with red aptitude appeared at once. I checked the level evaluation of the other four people besides you, and the lowest one is one-star high-level."

Elune had just said she was "passing by," but now she easily revealed Durree's situation, as well as the circumstances of several others.

"What? They've all reached the advanced level? So fast?" Lance was dumbfounded. He thought he had been hardworking enough, spending every day in the training hall and enduring countless hardships, but he hadn't seen the other students from the same cohort much in the training field.

But they had reached a higher level than him, which left Lance somewhat bewildered and resentful.

“What do you think? I was curious why your strength was so poor, so I checked your magic power index unit test data and found that you only have 9 units, which surprised me. This is a number that even ordinary people can't compare to.” Elune continued.

"That's enough! You're clearly here to mock us, Dure, let's go!" Lance couldn't take it anymore.

"It's alright. Senior Elune went to so much trouble to investigate these materials, I don't think it was just to mock me, a nobody." Dure believed that everyone has their own starting point and purpose in doing things, and Elune was not a shallow person.

"Based on the above information, I can draw two conclusions." Elune summarized all the information.

"What conclusion?" Dure knew she was about to get to the point, and listened carefully to what Elune was about to say.

"The first conclusion is that you cheated on the entrance exam; you simply don't have the aptitude for red magic energy reaction. The second conclusion is that there's a serious problem with your crystal bottle," Elune stated definitively.

273 Think it through

Elune's appearance surprised both Dure and Lance, as they had a previous grudge. Lance thought Elune was there to mock them, and the atmosphere was tense. Dure, however, did not think so, although he was also unsure of Elune's true intentions.

However, judging from what Elune knew, she seemed to know everything about Dure. She even came to a conclusion that made Dure feel very dangerous, which made him immediately alert. He took a step back and looked around to make sure that no one else was listening.

"You don't need to be so nervous. Let's not even talk about how I don't have any evidence that you cheated. Even if you did cheat, it has nothing to do with me." Elune seemed to see through Dure's worries, and she took the initiative to explain this point. Sure enough, Dure relaxed a lot after hearing this.

"What strange things are you saying, woman? How could Dure possibly cheat? He's the real deal!" Lance thought Elune was spreading rumors and shouted at her. In his eyes, Dure was a very capable person, and a capable person would not stoop to winning by cheating.

"Let's not talk about that for now, Elune. What do you mean by 'the crystal bottle is faulty'? I remember the crystal bottle is supposed to store mana essence." Dure neither confirmed nor denied Elune's words, choosing to skip over them.

As for the crystal bottle, not long ago a guy named Leo tried to give it to him, but he refused. Nono was furious when she found out about this, complaining that Dure didn't understand how precious the crystal bottle was.

"I'm talking about the crystal bottle inside the human body, not the crystal bottle containing the magic energy fluid," Elune emphasized, shaking her head.

"What human crystal bottle? I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." Lance was completely baffled.

"The crystal bottle of the human body refers to the container in which magical energy is stored. It's the pool I told you about before. But a pool isn't very elegant, and since crystal bottles do exist in this world, we use the term crystal bottle to refer to the magical energy reserves in the body," Du Lei explained.

"I see. I understand now. But what exactly do you mean by saying there's something wrong with your crystal bottle, Dure?" Lance nodded after Dure's reminder, finally understanding the concept, but he still didn't understand why Elune would describe Dure in that way.

"The larger the capacity of the crystal bottle inside the human body, the more magic power it can store, and the more magic energy can be converted into magic power, which can continuously power the human body for combat. The unit of the crystal bottle's capacity is the unit of magic power index, and the magic power index of a normal person is a two-digit unit."

Elune added to Durree's explanation, saying that she was an extremely intelligent person, not only with excellent combat skills but also with extensive knowledge.

“I know that. My magic power index is 90 units, while Dure’s is only…” Lance looked at Dure behind him but didn’t finish his sentence.

"90 mana index units is considered excellent. In your battle just now, you only used less than 10 mana index units, so your mana is still plentiful and can be used to replenish your combat stamina and mana. But his mana index units were completely exhausted."

Elune astutely pointed out the biggest problem that Duré was facing at that moment.

“But what does this have to do with Duré’s crystal bottle?” Lance still couldn’t figure it out.

"The reason for this is that the crystal bottles come in different sizes. Just like a large bottle can hold more water, while a small bottle can only hold a little water, that's the difference." Dure was well aware of his situation. He had thought about solving this problem, but he couldn't find a way to do it.

“No.” Elune shook her head, giving a negative answer.

"What?" Dure looked up at her blankly. He thought it was a certainty, but Elune gave a different answer.

“It’s not that the crystal bottle is too small, but that it has a leak. No matter how much water you put in, it will all leak out,” Elune said.

"Does the fact that the crystal bottle has a hole mean that it can be repaired in some way?" Dure pondered Elune's words carefully. What she said did indeed have such a possibility, but it was something he had never thought of before.

"You're overthinking it. The crystal bottle inside the human body isn't like those bottles and jars you see in real life, which any craftsman can repair. Repairing the crystal bottle inside the human body is extremely complicated. Even if you find a method, it's a long process that would take at least several years."