Shatuo

The next day.

Before dawn had even broken, Reilo hurriedly got up and went to the public washing area.

The public washing area was downstairs. In the pitch-black sky, a few people had already risen early to wash up. The people living here were all at the bottom of the Grand Natural Academy. As it happened, the drunken widow who had exchanged a few words with Reilo yesterday was also up early washing, and naturally glanced over.

"Morning!"

After a brief exchange of glances, sensing the coldness deep in her eyes, Reilo cautiously greeted her.

Wiping her face with a towel soaked in ice water, the woman said flatly, "From now on, you can call me Sister Marilyn. If there's anything you don't understand at the academy, you can come ask me."

The woman finished speaking and left.

"Uh, okay, Sister Marilyn."

Reilo responded, understanding her coldness well enough. She was clearly a beautiful woman, still young, yet both her husbands had died one after another—quite a tragic fate.

Taking it as just an ordinary social exchange, Reilo didn't dwell on it. He picked up a towel, dipped it in cold water, and began washing.

Suddenly.

A burly, muscular man on the other side of the washing area crept over furtively.

Reilo looked at him with confusion, only to see the man staring in the direction Marilyn had left. Despite being a hulking figure around 1.8 meters tall with a tiger's back and bear's waist, he was as timid as a rabbit, desperately lowering his voice.

"Kid, your big brother here is giving you a friendly warning—if you want to live, stay away from that widow! She's one of the most infamous Poisoners in the First District. Word has it that three years ago, she ventured deep into the Demon Eagle Forest alone and single-handedly wiped out a D-rank mercenary group from the Xilan Duchy. Seven or eight mercenaries, died in horrifying ways! Both her husbands died suddenly, cause unknown. Even her neighbors never last more than a year—almost without exception, they meet with accidents. And you dare to cozy up to her?"

Poisoner!

Looking at the man's terrified expression and hearing about Sister Marilyn's glorious deeds, Reilo couldn't help but swallow hard.

The man hunched over and slunk away, as if even talking a bit more to Reilo because of Marilyn's connection was too dangerous.

For a burly man built like a tiger's back and bear's waist to be so cautious was truly a struggle for him.

"Th... thanks."

Stammering a reply, Reilo shivered involuntarily on the cold, deserted street before the dawn of early spring. He was genuinely spooked.

No wonder it was the mysterious Grand Natural Sciences Academy.

After washing up, Reilo quickly ran toward Shatuo's mentor building dormitory.

Since the room Reilo rented was in a rather remote area, it took quite a while to get there. Holding a thirty-copper-coin breakfast pizza, Reilo ate as he ran.

Shops on Scholar Street were opening for business one after another, while establishments that had been open all night began to close. Hostesses and dancers yawned, removing their heavy makeup, gathering at breakfast stalls to eat their "midnight meal" and shake off the night's fatigue.

Huff, huff, huff.

After a full quarter of an hour of jogging, the sky had completely brightened, and Reilo finally arrived at Shatuo's building.

Panting, he wiped the sweat from his forehead, tidied his appearance, and slowly walked into the teaching building.

Creak.

The wooden door opened, and a fragrant aroma wafted out.

Shatuo beamed and said, "Little junior brother, you haven't had breakfast yet, have you? Come in and eat with me!"

Looking at Shatuo's dark-skinned face and warm smile, Reilo replied with a grin, "I bought a pizza on the way here."

"Oh, you!"

Shatuo complained, "Eating out costs at least a few dozen copper coins per meal. You could just come eat with your senior brother here. Adding a portion for you costs me hardly a few more copper coins, and I'm not short on them. You can save that money for later—buying experimental tools, specimens, there are plenty of places you'll need to spend!"

These nagging reminders about trivial daily matters, wrapped in genuine care, gave Reilo a warmth and tenderness he had never felt before.

Watching Shatuo's simple, sincere back, Reilo couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth slightly as he lowered his head, softly replying, "Mm."

Entering the room, Reilo saw the crystal lamp still burning on the desk, and a book lying open halfway through. His heart tightened—he knew this hardworking senior brother had probably already gotten up to study long ago.

Shatuo brought over two bowls of steaming noodles.

"My stomach's not great—drinking milk gives me diarrhea—so I've always been used to eating noodles. Haven't changed in all these years. Junior brother, have some more, just think of it as tasting your senior brother's cooking."

Shatuo handed over a fork. Reilo smelled the fragrant aroma, rubbed his hands together, and said happily, "Senior brother, your cooking is really amazing!"

Eating the hot noodles, Reilo felt incredibly fortunate.

Shatuo thought back to some old memories, his dark face breaking into a cheerful smile. "Junior brother, I'm glad you like it. Actually, the mentor used to praise me like that too. But later, after eating it too many times, he got tired of it. He said I didn't know how to adapt, that I was dull-witted—even after eating noodles for over thirty years, I never thought to change it up."

"Ah! Senior brother, how old are you?"

Reilo asked in surprise.

"Forty-four. Why?"

Shatuo said sheepishly, "When Senior Brother Wushuang was forty-four, he had already earned his Profound Meaning Scholar degree."

A scholar's age can't be judged by appearance.

Come to think of it, scholars, warriors, and clerics alike—as their own strength increases, their lifespans also grow significantly. In theory, those legendary Sky Knights and Royal Academicians could even live for over a thousand years!

But whether scholar, warrior, or cleric, their actual lifespans fall far short of the theoretical.

Scholars, during experiments and battles, frequently suffer backlash from Energy Magnetic Fields or other forms of bodily overexertion. Warriors, on the other hand, shorten their lives due to accumulated hidden injuries, burning potential in combat, breaking through bottlenecks, and similar actions.

As for the Clerics, there is no need to elaborate further—every time they bathe in divine grace and summon Divine Power, it comes at the cost of burning their own life!

Thus, the conditions determining human lifespan no longer seem entirely tied to strength; Royal Academicians, Sky Knights, Red Cardinals, and even Popes who lived only a few decades are everywhere!

But generally speaking, if one can achieve the status of a Natural Scholar, living past a hundred years is mostly not a problem, and it's not impossible for the long-lived to reach two hundred!

In that case, the achievements of Senior Brother Shatuo at his age are actually not low.

Shatuo, while eating noodles, rambled on: "I think, when it comes to eating, as long as the nutrition is enough and you're full, that's fine! Besides, I'm used to making noodles now; every time I cook, I control the time precisely between four minutes and four minutes twenty seconds. That way, I save more time for studying and get fewer scoldings from the mentor, heh."

With such plain words, Shatuo finished the noodles in just a few big gulps, as if the process of eating was merely a way to provide energy for his body, allowing him to study better.

Reilo quickly finished the remaining noodles in his bowl.

"Junior Brother, let me wash the dishes. You need to seriously consider your future academic research direction now. Although the mentor mainly studies the field of Evolution's Profound Meaning, he hasn't stipulated that we must also research this direction."

Reilo hesitated: "Senior Brother... what research directions are there?"

Huh?

Shatuo, who was washing the dishes, showed a look of sudden realization, with an apologetic expression.

"Junior Brother, it was my oversight. I forgot that you, like me, come from a commoner background with no prior exposure to modern natural knowledge!"

Shatuo, suddenly enlightened, apologized with embarrassment.