The next day.
Before dawn, Reilo hurried out of bed and headed to the communal washroom.
The communal washroom was downstairs. Several early risers were already washing up beneath the pitch-dark sky. Everyone living here belonged to the bottom rung of the Grand Natural Academy. As it happened, the drunk widow Reilo had spoken with briefly yesterday was up washing, too, and naturally glanced his way.
"Morning!"
After their eyes met for a moment, Reilo sensed the chill in her gaze and cautiously greeted her.
Wiping her face with a towel soaked in icy water, the woman said coolly, "You can call me Sister Marilyn from now on. If there's anything you don't understand at the academy, come ask me."
With that, she left.
"Uh, all right. Sister Marilyn."
Reilo answered. He could understand her coldness. She was a beautiful young woman, yet both her husbands had died one after the other. It was a tragic fate.
He treated it as an ordinary social exchange and paid it no mind. Picking up a towel and wetting it with cold water, he began to wash up.
Suddenly.
A tall, muscular man from the other side of the washroom sidled over, looking furtive.
Reilo glanced at him in confusion. The man was staring in the direction Marilyn had gone. Though he was about six feet tall and built like a bear, he was as timid as a rabbit, lowering his voice as much as he could.
"Listen, kid, I'm giving you a friendly warning: if you don't want to die, stay away from that widow! She's one of the best-known Poisoners in the first department. They say that three years ago, she ventured deep into Demon Eagle Forest alone and wiped out a D-rank mercenary group from the Xilan Duchy all by herself. Seven or eight mercenaries, and every one of them died horribly! Both her husbands died suddenly, and nobody knows why. Even her neighbors never last more than a year. Something happens to them without exception. And you're still trying to get close to her?"
A Poisoner!
Seeing the man's terrified expression and hearing about Sister Marilyn's impressive exploits, Reilo couldn't help swallowing nervously.
The man slunk away, as if even saying a few words to Reilo was dangerous because of Marilyn.
It must have taken some effort for a bear of a man to act so cautiously.
"Th-thank you."
Reilo stammered out his reply. The deserted streets before dawn in early spring truly frightened him, and he couldn't help shivering.
No wonder the Grand Natural Sciences Academy was so mysterious.
After washing up, Reilo hurried toward Shatuo's dormitory in the mentors' building.
Since the room Reilo rented was rather out of the way, it took quite a while to get there. He had bought a breakfast pizza for thirty copper coins and ate it as he ran.
The shops along Scholar Street were opening for business, while the places that stayed open all night were starting to close. The hostesses yawned as they removed their heavy makeup, then gathered at breakfast shops to eat their "supper" and shake off the night's exhaustion.
Huff, huff, huff.
After jogging for a full quarter of an hourglass, Reilo finally reached the building where Shatuo lived. By then, daylight had fully broken.
Breathing hard, he wiped the sweat from his forehead, straightened himself up, and slowly entered the teaching building.
Creak.
The wooden door opened, and a delicious aroma wafted out.
Shatuo greeted him with a broad smile. "Junior brother, you haven't had breakfast yet, have you? Come in and join me!"
Looking at the warmth in Shatuo's dark face, Reilo smiled back. "I bought a pizza on the way here."
"You really shouldn't!"
Shatuo chided him. "Eating out costs at least several dozen copper coins a meal. You can come eat with me anytime. Adding another serving costs me hardly anything, and I'm not short of a few copper coins. You could save your money for experimental equipment, specimens, and all the other things you'll need to spend it on!"
The rambling reminders about life's little chores came from the heart. Reilo had never felt such tender warmth and care before.
Watching Shatuo's sincere, unassuming back, Reilo lowered his head. The corners of his mouth lifted involuntarily, and he murmured, "Mm."
As he entered the room, Reilo noticed the Crystal Lamp on the table was still lit. An open book lay on the desk, already halfway read. His heart stirred. This diligent senior brother must have been up studying for a long time.
Shatuo brought over two steaming bowls of noodles.
"My stomach's not very good. Milk always gives me diarrhea, so I've gotten used to eating noodles. I've been eating them for years without changing. Have some more, junior brother. Consider it a taste of my cooking."
Shatuo handed him a fork. Reilo breathed in the delicious aroma, rubbed his hands together, and said happily, "Senior brother, you're an amazing cook!"
As he ate the steaming noodles, Reilo felt blissfully happy.
Thinking of something from the past, Shatuo laughed heartily, his dark face brightening. "I'm glad you like them, junior brother. The mentor used to praise my cooking, too. But after eating it so many times, he got sick of it. He said I was inflexible and slow-witted, and that even after eating noodles for over thirty years, I still hadn't thought to try something else."
"Ah! How old are you, senior brother?"
Reilo asked in astonishment.
"I'm forty-four. Why?"
Shatuo said awkwardly, "When Senior Brother Wushuang was forty-four, he'd already earned the title of Profound Meaning Scholar."
You couldn't judge a scholar's age by their appearance.
Scholars, warriors, and clerics all gained a much longer lifespan as their strength increased. In theory, the legendary Sky Knights and Royal Academicians could even live for more than a thousand years!
In reality, though, the lives of scholars, warriors, and clerics alike fell far short of what theory suggested.
During research and combat, scholars were often struck by the backlash of an Energy Magnetic Field or suffered other forms of physical exhaustion. Warriors, meanwhile, could greatly shorten their lives through accumulated injuries, burning their potential in battle, or pushing past bottlenecks.
As for clerics, there was even less need to explain. Every time they bathed in divine grace or summoned Divine Power, they paid for it with their own lives!
As a result, lifespan didn't seem to be entirely linked to strength after all. There were plenty of Royal Academicians, Sky Knights, Red Cardinals, and even Popes who lived only a few decades!
Generally speaking, however, anyone who achieved the rank of Natural Scholar could expect to live past a hundred. Some even lived to two hundred!
In that light, Shatuo's achievements at his age weren't all that unimpressive.
Shatuo ate his noodles as he rambled on. "I think food just needs to be nutritious and filling! Besides, I'm used to making noodles. I can keep the cooking time between four minutes and four minutes twenty seconds every time. That gives me more time to study and means the mentor scolds me less. Heh."
Shatuo's words were simple and sincere. He finished his noodles in just a few large bites, as if eating were merely a way to give his body energy so he could study better.
Reilo hurriedly finished the noodles left in his bowl, too.
"Senior brother, I'll wash the bowls. You should start thinking seriously about what you want to research in the future. The mentor mainly studies Evolution's Profound Meaning, but he hasn't said we have to study that field, too."
Reilo hesitated. "Senior brother... what kinds of fields can you study?"
"Hm?"
Shatuo, who was washing the bowls, suddenly looked enlightened, then apologetic.
"Junior brother, I overlooked that. I forgot you, like me, came from a commoner background and had never been exposed to modern natural sciences!"
Shatuo suddenly understood and apologized awkwardly.