Life Alchemy

"Life alchemy" was a required course for every student at the Armored Warrior Training Center.

Lu Guanhong, a veteran alchemy teacher, had worked diligently at the Training Center for nearly ten years.

Over his long teaching career, he had learned one unforgettable lesson.

Never expect too much of the students' intelligence.

He was training Armored Warriors, not life alchemists. All he needed to do was follow the curriculum and spoon-feed them.

"Class begins!"

"Today, we'll review..."

"Huh? I don't remember scheduling an exam today. Why are so many of you here?"

"How strange. I've never seen this many people even on exam days."

In a large lecture hall, Lu Guanhong had hurried in, ready to get through the day's lesson.

But when he looked up, the sea of people in the hall gave him a fright.

The hall could seat five hundred, but on an ordinary day, having thirty students show up was already a blessing.

Today, however, nearly half the seats were filled.

"Teacher Lu, our Basic Class got another new student today!"

"Don't tell me you didn't know?"

Someone in the crowd muttered those words.

They voiced what every student present was thinking.

They had gathered here to observe Lu Guanhong's reaction to the newcomer.

They really were classmates through and through. Every last one of them had the same idea.

"Another new student?"

"Why didn't I hear about this?"

Lu Guanhong froze in bewilderment. Normally, he would have received advance notice whenever someone new joined the Basic Class.

After all, his course was rather unusual, and newcomers needed some extra attention.

"Is that the new student?"

"He's actually sitting with Wen Shiyan."

Upon learning that a new student had arrived, Lu Guanhong instinctively scanned the room.

He hadn't expected to find him, but he spotted the bald head at once.

Of course, that also had something to do with the bald boy sitting beside Wen Shiyan, with a large stretch of empty seats around them.

"Teacher Lu, I'm the new student, Lu Zhan."

"I signed up to enlist in District 13. My classmates seem to have some misconceptions about me."

Seeing Lu Guanhong's gaze settle on him, Lu Zhan calmly stood and introduced himself.

When Wen Shiyan had warned him earlier that he would be ostracized, Lu Zhan had found it a little hard to believe.

Yet in his very first class, his dear classmates had already taught him a lesson.

"I didn't expect you to be from District 13 too!"

"So that's it!"

Lu Zhan's composure caught Lu Guanhong off guard.

Then he understood why so many people had gathered for today's class.

These little brats wanted their teacher to "check for land mines"!

"Hmph, you bunch of ignorant slackers."

"I keep telling you to pay attention in class, but you insist on skipping lessons and sleeping!"

"Now that you actually need the knowledge, you're at a loss, aren't you?"

"I've told you before: don't believe every rumor you hear. Trust alchemy."

Lu Guanhong looked at his students with exasperation.

These kids might not have been so bad to begin with, but after falling into the corrupting mire of gang life, their ability to learn was all but ruined.

"Fine. I originally planned to review the fifth law of life alchemy today."

"Since you're all so eager to learn, I'll explain the seventh law of life alchemy instead."

"This is knowledge normally reserved for the Intermediate Class."

Lu Guanhong gave Lu Zhan an approving glance.

He greatly appreciated the composure and confidence Lu Zhan had just displayed.

He didn't mind helping "explain" things.

Swish, swish, swish!

Lu Guanhong swept the eraser across the blackboard, wiping away the large words he had written earlier.

[Any basic unit of life can develop into a complete organism.]

Then a new line of large words appeared before everyone.

[When two life forms come into contact, the stronger will inevitably affect the weaker.]

The instant the new law of life alchemy appeared, every student present perked up.

It wasn't that they disliked learning. Old Lu simply taught the same things over and over.

Anyone would feel sleepy after hearing them enough times.

The students were full of anticipation, but once Lu Guanhong began his explanation, they were utterly baffled!

What the hell? Why was this old geezer starting with [life ripples] right off the bat?

They hadn't even been injected with [Life Essence] yet. Where were they supposed to get life ripples?

As a string of terms related to [life ripples] echoed through the lecture hall, the students' initial excitement cooled completely.

"Forget it. I'll just give you the conclusion."

"Based on the seventh law, our final calculations showed that strong resistance exists between members of the same species."

"We call it the like-repels-like effect!"

"Unless there's a large difference in rank, it's very difficult for humans to cause life contamination in one another."

"So even if there is something wrong with Student Lu, you don't need to worry about being contaminated."

"Because you're all weaklings who don't even qualify for a rank!"

Lu Guanhong looked in disappointment at the students' blank faces, which nevertheless showed a vague hint of understanding.

He had brought the food right to their mouths, and these fools still didn't know how to eat it.

Granted, his explanation had gone a little beyond the syllabus, but surely that didn't warrant half the class getting sleepy!

Just look at the newcomer, Lu Zhan. He had stayed alert the entire time, as though he really understood.

So that's it!

The reason I have a special ability must be that I was contaminated by a mutant beast!

But why didn't the final screening detect it?

Could it have been a human who contaminated me, rather than a mutant beast, leaving my gene sequence unchanged?

But why weren't the other ordinary people contaminated?

Could it have something to do with my transmigration-or rather, my return from the dead?

Was my rank lower than an ordinary person's when I came back to life, allowing me to be contaminated?

Although this was also Lu Zhan's first encounter with the seventh law, and Lu Guanhong's lesson was indeed somewhat abstruse, he was not entirely lost.

For some reason, Lu Zhan felt as though he really had understood it.

At any rate, he could apply what he had learned to explain his own "abnormalities."

Unfortunately, with so little data and knowledge at his disposal, Lu Zhan couldn't reach a definitive conclusion either.

"Old Lu talks way too much!"

"Every time he teaches, he piles on all these terms, proofs, and calculations."

"Maybe explaining it that way does justice to the life alchemy he's so obsessed with."

"But it's completely pointless for us!"

"We only need to know the laws. Who needs to know how an egg forms inside a chicken just to eat one?"

Unlike Lu Zhan, who thought Lu Guanhong was conscientious and dedicated, the others had a different opinion.

Every other student in the Basic Class agreed that Lu Guanhong was far too long-winded.

Old Lu was using his lessons to vent his frustrations. After all, he had been banned from conducting any life alchemy experiments.

Often, Old Lu would slip some of his own material into his lessons.

Perhaps he still hoped to train a true life alchemist at the Armored Warrior Training Center and fulfill his dream!