I'm a Serious Student, I Only Drink Nine Potions a Day

"Th-then let me ask you, this mutation can be controlled, right?"

Evan turned around eagerly, not even bothering to wipe the water droplets from his face.

He was really anxious.

After all, modeling was truly important!

Beyonders Still Needed Respectable Jobs

Hill looked at Evan's anxious expression and remembered her former self.

Then she smiled and nodded. "Once you've fully digested it, you can freely control your Demon Hunter state. The switch is in your mind."

Evan pointed at the top of his head.

"It won't keep getting pointier, will it?"

Hill's expression turned subtly strange, and the corner of her mouth twitched.

"You actually care about that?"

She stepped closer and scrutinized Evan's face, her blue eyes narrowing as though she were examining an exquisite porcelain piece.

"No hallucinations? No memory loss? No blood in your urine? No blindness? No shortness of breath?"

Each question was more horrifying than the last, yet she asked them smoothly enough.

Being examined at such close range by this beautiful Beyonder girl, Evan instinctively took half a step back.

It was not embarrassment. It was the oppressive presence of a Beyonder.

"Isn't this just a Beyonder Characteristic? Why do you make it sound like poison?"

Hill fell silent for a few seconds, then sighed.

"You really are a monster. To ordinary people, the Demon Hunter Potion is dozens, even hundreds of times more toxic than normal poison."

She straightened up and patted Evan on the shoulder.

"Don't worry about the mutation."

"Once the transformation is complete, all Beyonder traits can be hidden away."

"Your head becoming pointed means your body has good extensibility. It's a localized mutation formed during memory fusion, and usually won't be permanent."

Evan let out a long breath, only then remembering the question he should have asked.

"No, ma'am, how did you get in?"

Hill proudly raised her chin.

"This shabby house of yours leaks air everywhere. I have a hundred ways to get in."

Evan glanced at the wooden bathroom window that could freeze the pipes solid in winter and silently swallowed his retort.

There really was no room for argument.

Hill leaned against the doorframe, her tone returning to business.

"At your rate of digestion, I estimate you'll complete the transformation in another five or six days."

"Over the next few days, your changes will be obvious."

"Your internal organs will be reshaped, your body will undergo a second development, and you might even grow a little taller."

"So try to meet people you know every day."

"Otherwise, if they see you again after a few days, the changes will seem too abrupt and might arouse suspicion."

Evan's eyes lit up when he heard that.

Grow taller.

For an eighteen-year-old young man who was 177 centimeters tall, those two words carried a deadly allure that surpassed even the Beyonder Characteristic itself.

"Alright." He agreed readily.

Then he thought of something even more important.

"By the way, Master, how should I contact you if I need something?"

Hill pulled a business card from the inner pocket of her jacket and casually handed it over.

"This is my public identity."

Evan accepted the card, pinching the cream-colored cardstock between his fingertips.

The card was of good quality, with a small library emblem printed in the upper right corner.

Below it was a line of elegant cursive lettering:

Bolton Public Library · Librarian: Hill von Reinhardt Adolf

Halfway through reading it, Evan's mouth twitched.

"So you're one of old Von's family! Greetings, milady."

He made a solemn half-bow.

Hill looked awkward after hearing that and waved her hand.

"Alright, alright. That sort of thing isn't fashionable anymore."

"Nobility is worthless in the United States these days."

She pulled down the brim of her hat, concealing that fleeting discomfort.

"Seeing that you're fine puts me at ease."

With that, she turned and walked out of the bathroom.

Evan assumed she would leave through the door, but instead she crossed the room in a few quick steps, reached the bedroom window, and pulled open the frame.

She climbed through as lightly as a cat, vanishing into the morning light beyond the window.

Without even saying goodbye.

Evan walked over to the window and craned his head out to look down.

The street below held only a milk delivery carriage clattering past. There was no sign of her at all.

"Looks like I really need to seal the windows shut from now on."

He made up his mind.

The abdominal cramps struck again right on schedule. He took out the bottle of Copper Pills from his jacket pocket, poured one out, and tossed it into his mouth.

[You consumed a Test Copper Pill. Duration: 10 hours.]

[Effect: Powerful pain relief. Permanently reduces pain perception; your Blood Quality permanently increases by 0.1%.]

[Copper Plague: 0.1% → 0.11%]

[You reversed the side effects of the Test Copper Pill.]

[Your liver damage has been alleviated, 39% → 38%]

[Your kidney function has improved. Constitution permanently +0.001.]

[Your bone strength has improved. Constitution permanently +0.002.]

After breakfast, Evan left the house, boarded the clattering tram, and headed to school.

The school was still the same school.

Only, there was one less person who had bullied him.

Lebon's parents had not blocked him at the school gate.

It seemed McRae's claim of "a misunderstanding" had worked.

Or perhaps that respectable importer, after losing his son, no longer had the energy to keep arguing over something like a "Beyonder curse," which sounded like the ravings of a madman.

The first chemistry class on the morning of Monday, November 12th.

The highly anticipated interschool rugby match on the nineteenth was drawing closer, and the students were gradually growing restless.

More and more voices in the corridors discussed tactics and bets. Even several of the usually most diligent pre-med students had begun secretly passing around the match schedule.

But Professor Mons at the podium remained as stern and rigid as ever, as though this classroom were an isolated island cut off from the world.

"Quiet."

His voice was not loud, but the sound of chalk striking the podium suppressed all the whispers in the room.

"Who can explain why Dalton's atomic theory was initially questioned?"

"And how Berzelius resolved the dispute through experimentation?"

He paused, tapping the blackboard twice with the chalk in his hand.

"Also, calculate how many grams of water can be produced by thirty-two grams of oxygen reacting with excess hydrogen. Come up and write out the complete calculation."

The familiar silence returned to the classroom.

Several students who had reviewed the material lowered their heads and flipped through their books, trying to confirm their memories at the last moment.

Just before those mouths could open, Evan stood up first.

"Professor."

His voice was steady and clear.

"The central dispute surrounding Dalton's atomic theory was the relative standard for atomic weights."

"He initially used hydrogen as one, but this could not explain the proportional relationships between elements in complex compounds, especially the existence of multiple atomic ratios in complex oxides."

"Through a large number of precise chemical analyses, Berzelius determined the compositions of over two thousand compounds, reestablished atomic weights with oxygen as sixteen, and unified the reference system for relative atomic weights."

"At the same time, he introduced the Latin abbreviation system for element symbols, laying the data foundation for Mendeleev's periodic table."

Professor Mons nodded in satisfaction.

"Very proficient. Go calculate it on the board."

Then he turned and called three more names.

"Morales, Habini, Bruno. Come up together."

The four of them walked to the blackboard one after another.

Evan picked up a piece of chalk.

The chalk tip made crisp, rhythmic tapping sounds against the blackboard.

His handwriting was neat and forceful, his strokes sharp. Chemical equations filled the board line after line, every number and arrow placed with impeccable precision.

Balance the chemical equation.

Substitute the molar masses into the calculation.

Result: thirty-six grams of water.

From start to finish, it took less than two minutes.

Standing at the podium, Evan no longer looked anything like the frail, sickly boy he had once been.

The drastic changes of the past few days had made him increasingly certain of one thing: he had to show his edge. He needed to earn the professor's recommendation and the favor of his classmates.

Because his personal experiences over the past few days had made him deeply understand something.

In this world, Beyonders and industry had long since become bound together.

His studies absolutely could not be neglected.

Without money or knowledge, he would not even know how to be a Beyonder properly.

He would not become complacent and arrogant simply because he had gained Beyonder powers, believing himself to be some kind of superhuman who could use those powers to obtain everything he wanted.

At the end of the day, Beyonders were still human.

Cut off from the web of human society, no matter how powerful a Beyonder was, they could not last for long.

This was the lesson he had slowly chewed over from every encounter with Pulis, Hill, the nun, and Yuri over the past few days.