Glan Natural Science Academy

Chapter 18

The next day.

Before dawn, Ryger got up and went to the public wash area downstairs.

Even though the sky was still dark, there were already a few people there. Those who lived there were at the bottom hierarchy of the Glan Academy.

Coincidentally, the drunk widow that Ryger spoke to yesterday was there too. She naturally looked over at Ryger.

“Morning!” Ryger greeted cautiously. He could feel the coldness in her eyes when he briefly exchanged looks.

The woman wiped her face with a towel and said, “You can call me Sister Merlin. If there’s anything you don’t understand in the Academy you can come over and ask me.”

She left.

“Uh, okay, Sister Merlin.”

Ryger replied. He actually understood her apathy. She was a young, beautiful woman, but her two husbands had passed away successively. Quite miserable.

He treated it as a normal interaction and didn’t pay it much mind. He wet his towel with cold water and began cleaning up.

Suddenly.

A tall, burly man from the other side of the public wash area crept over.

Ryger looked over with a puzzled expression and saw the burly man looking in the direction Merlin left. Even though he was 1.8 meters tall and had a sturdy and imposing build, the burly man acted as timid as a rabbit and desperately suppressed his voice.

“Kid, I’m warning you out of good will. If you don’t want to die, stay away from that widow! She’s one of the most famous poisoners. They say that she once went to the Accipit Jungle alone 3 years ago and destroyed a D-Class mercenary group from Sealand single-handedly. Seven or eight of them died a strange and wretched death! Her two husbands died suddenly of unknown causes. All her neighbours never last for more than a year and will without fail get involved in accidents. And you still get close to her?”

A poisoner!

Looking at the man’s horrified look and listening to the glorious deeds of Merlin, Ryger couldn’t help but gulp.

With a bent back, the man left, as though talking with Ryger any more would be too dangerous because of Merlin.

For a tall, burly man to act this way, it truly wasn’t easy for him.

“T-thank…… thank you, “he smattered.

In the desolate street during dawn in early Spring, Ryger was truly spooked.

As was to be expected of the mysterious Glan Natural Sciences Academy.

……

After washing up, Ryger ran quickly towards Satro’s dorm building.

Because the room that Ryger rented was far-off, he needed quite some time to make his way there. He ate a pizza that cost 30 copper coins as breakfast while running.

The stores of Scholar Street have opened for business, and with that, the all-night establishments began to close. The girls yawned, removed their heavy make-up and gathered at breakfast stores, eating their ‘supper’ and dispelling their fatigue.

Puff, puff, puff.

After running for a full 30 minutes, the sky was completely bright and Ryger finally reached Satro’s place.

Gasping and wiping the sweat on his forehead, Ryger tidied his appearance and entered the lecture building1.

Creak.

As soon as the wooden door opened, sharp aromas assailed the nose.

Satro said with a smile, “Junior brother, you still haven’t eaten breakfast yet, right? Come in and let’s eat together!” Looking at the kind smile on Satro’s dark face, Ryger responded with a smile. “I just bought a pizza on the way here.”

“You!”

Satro grumbled, “It costs at least tens of copper coins every meal if you eat outside. You can just come over and eat at my place. It costs only a few copper coins if I cook another portion and it’s not like I’ll miss the few coins. You could’ve saved the money. There’ll be a lot of things that you will have to spend it on in the future like laboratory equipment and experimental specimens.”

Babbling advice on life’s trifling matters and sincere care. Ryger saw these and felt a warm and delicate feeling in his heart.

Looking at Satro’s simple and honest back, Ryger smiled slightly unconsciously and whispered “mm” in response.

In the room, Ryger looked at the table with a lit crystal light and saw a half-opened book. He was amazed. This hard-working senior brother was most likely already up and studying.

Satro brought over two bowls of hot noodles.

“I have a bad stomach. Whenever I drink milk, I get diarrhea, so I’ve always been used to eating noodles. It’s been the same for many years. Try eating some, junior brother. Think of it as trying your senior brother’s craft.

Satro handed over a fork. Ryger smelled the fragrance, rubbed his hands in delight and said, “Senior brother, your craft is really good!”

As he ate the piping hot noodles, Ryger felt that he was truly in bliss.

Satro thought of something before and his dark cheeks made a cheerful smile. “It’s good that you like it. Actually, mentor once praised me that way too. But later on, he ate it many times and got tired of it. He said that I was inflexible and rigid, and that I was dull and dumb. That I don’t even change the noodles that I’ve been eating for 30 years.”

“Ah!? How old are you, senior brother?”

“Forty-four years old, what’s wrong?”

Satro spoke embarrassedly. “When senior brother Peerless was forty-four years old, he had already obtained the position of arcane scholar.”

A scholar’s age cannot be determined by his appearance.

Scholars, warriors2 and clergymen were all alike. As they get stronger, their lifespan also increases significantly. Theoretically speaking, the legendary aerial knights and royal fellows are even able to have a long lifespan of over a thousand years!

But no matter scholars, or warriors, or clergy, their actual, effective life expectancy was far below the theoretical value.

Scholars, in the process of experimentation or fighting, often experience energy field backlash or exhaustion in other body functions, resulting in a significant reduction in lifespan. In warriors, the decrease was due to accumulation of hidden injuries, burning one’s potential in fights, breaking through bottlenecks and others.

As for the clergymen, this was all the more so. Every time they bathe in divine grace and summon divine power, it is accomplished at the price of immolating their own life.

And so, the determining factor of a person’s lifespan didn’t seem to be related closely to their power. Royal fellows, aerial knights and cardinals, or even popes that only lived for tens of years were dime a dozen.

But normally speaking, if someone was able to become a natural scholar, they wouldn’t have much problem living past the age of one hundred. And it’s not impossible for a natural scholar to live till 200 years old.

In that case, the achievements that Satro had obtained at his age can’t really be said to be low.

Satro rambled on while eating his noodles. “For me, it’s just a meal. As long as there’s enough nutrients and it’s filling then it’ll do. Not to mention that I’m already familiar with making noodles. I can control the time that I use to cook between 4 minutes and 4 minutes 20 seconds. This way, I can eke out more time to study and not get scolded by mentor as much. Heh heh.”

As he said the guileless words, Satro somehow finished the noodles with a few big mouthfuls, as if eating is to him was nothing more than a process to provide his body energy so that he can study better.

Ryger also hurried to finish his portion.

“I’ll wash the dishes. You now need to seriously consider which academic field that you’ll study in the future. Although mentor specialises in the field of evolutionary secrets, he didn’t stipulate that we need to study the same field.”

Ryger mumbled, “Senior brother… What academic fields are there?”

Uh?

Satro, who was washing dishes, made an expression of realisation which then changed to an apologetic look.

“My bad. It was negligence on my part, junior brother. I forgot that you’re the same as me, someone with a commoner background and who has never been exposed to the current naturalized knowledge!”

Satro realized and apologized embarrassedly.

~~~

And there goes my stockpile of chapters.