Chapter 238: Preparing for the Enrollment Test

Chapter 238: Preparing for the Enrollment Test

“Hmm! First, a pat on the back for myself!” Zheng Yichen looked at ‘himself’ in the mirror. Apart from a somewhat stiff expression, there was basically no difference from a real person. It had body temperature, a heartbeat, could eat and digest food—almost completely synchronized with a human. As for the stiffness in expression, Zheng Yichen couldn’t really do much about it.

This was a common flaw with manually crafted Alchemical Avatars. Unless extremely high-grade materials were used, like the kind Irene and Qin used—those materials for the facial parts involved effects related to transformation, not primarily physical representation but more synchronized with the user’s condition.

The one he was using now was just mass-produced, and it was already quite good.

“So? Can you guys spot anything off?” Zheng Yichen asked the two Ghost Maids behind him. The two Ghost Maids shook their heads, indicating that to the naked eye, nothing seemed amiss. This Alchemical Avatar had sufficient life aura, almost like a living creature.

Even when they used some Detection Magic, they found no inconsistencies.

“That’ll do then. Been cooped up for so long, finally able to move around a bit—feels great!” Zheng Yichen stretched his body. It was a pity the Bionic Alchemical Avatar had no sensation; it felt a bit awkward.

“Come on, let’s get you registered.” Zheng Yichen patted Lily’s head, feeling a bit emotional. He had wanted to do this for a long time. Lily, however, looked at Zheng Yichen somewhat uncomfortably. Having grown accustomed to his Dragon Body’s face, being patted on the head by Zheng Yichen now using the ‘body’ of an unfamiliar young man felt unavoidably strange.

“Don’t mind it. Just remember, this face is the real me.” Zheng Yichen tugged at his cheek. Because the Bionic Alchemical Avatar only had muscles, that layer of Simulated Skin was completely ‘bonded’ on. Tearing it off would draw blood!

“Loli, I’m heading out.” After greeting Loris, Zheng Yichen and Lily arrived at an elevator. This elevator moved horizontally, taking them to an exit far from the Underground Base. As for the issue of emitted fluctuations—since anything involving energy would emit elemental fluctuations in the Otherworld—they resorted to purely physical means.

The main drive for the elevator was in the Underground Base, while the drive at the exit relied on designs like gears. Once the drive in the base was activated, it would operate the elevator through physical means. Fluctuations were only generated at the base, not interfering with the exit or the passageway at all!

Pulling the lever on the control console, the elevator quickly started operating. Lily gripped the handrails tightly, curiously watching the scenery whizzing past. Clearly, this mode of transport gave her a new experience. “How did you come up with all this?”

Feeling the slight tremors underfoot, Lily asked with genuine wonder. Though she was a commoner’s daughter with limited horizons, anyone who wasn’t a fool could see that everything around Zheng Yichen carried a unique style. After learning the principles, one might think, ‘Ah, so simple!’ Yet, it was precisely this ‘simple’ point that ninety-nine percent of people couldn’t think of!

“Come up with it? I have seven billion people behind me.” Zheng Yichen picked his nose, seeing Lily’s confused little eyes. He slightly twitched the corner of his mouth. Well, the Otherworld’s Common Tongue also had counting units—numbers like ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, and ten-thousands were similar, but beyond that, it differed.

Zheng Yichen could smoothly say the word ‘billion’ without feeling odd, but for Lily, what did that even mean?

“Ahem, in short, it means a lot. Well, I just made it up.” Zheng Yichen waved his hand, continuing to operate the control console. The elevator’s speed gradually increased. His subsequent operation wasn’t to change direction… but to shift gears!

“Hmm~ Is this the new result of your recent research? Not bad.” Qin looked at Zheng Yichen, who had arrived after a long time, holding a slender smoke pipe in her hand. Without using her own abilities to observe this Bionic Alchemical Avatar, at first glance, she didn’t notice anything unusual—it looked like a person. But if she used her abilities, she immediately spotted the anomaly—this body lacked the ’emotions’ emitted by humans.

“So? Do you think there are any flaws?” Zheng Yichen raised his eyebrows and immediately asked.

“Flaws? The disguised Soul aura is a bit stiff, but that’s fine—it’s basically undetectable. It can conceal Detection Magic. As for the body, the weight seems a bit excessive, right?”

“There’s no helping that.” Zheng Yichen shrugged. Spatial Expansion didn’t directly create a separate dimension that could ignore an object’s weight. To improve the Bionic Alchemical Avatar’s endurance, the Spatial Expansion within the bones was twentyfold, filled with a large amount of blood—all adding to the weight. Moreover, the alchemical parts weren’t real bones but Enchanted Material, further increasing the Bionic Alchemical Avatar’s weight.

Though the main part of this Alchemical Avatar was flesh and blood, its weight had already exceeded that of the Avatar Qin was currently using. “It’s the first version. I’ll keep improving it later. If there are breakthrough results, feel free to contact me then.”

Watching Zheng Yichen, who almost directly said ‘place an order quickly,’ Qin thought for a moment. “I know someone who could be a great help with what you’re trying to do now. She’s just a bit difficult to get along with. If you’re in a hurry, I can help set up a meeting for you.”

“Is there such a person?” Zheng Yichen pondered. Someone a Witch knew was likely also a Witch. A difficult-to-get-along-with Witch? Zheng Yichen had met amiable Witches before. Qin… was probably the easiest to get along with among the Witches he had encountered!

As for Loris, because they had a good start, they seemed to get along even better. Without that initial positive start, getting along with her—explosively powerful and extremely dangerous, emotionless—would bring nothing but pressure.

“Compared to Dan Marina, how is she?”

“Dan Marina just has a knack for causing trouble. Aside from that, she’s actually quite nice to interact with, as long as you’re smart enough.” Qin replied. As long as one was clever and sharp enough to grasp some details in Dan Marina’s behavior and avoid being tricked, having a Witch who could avoid misfortune and seek blessings by your side would truly make life feel full of hope…

But there weren’t many such people. While trying to grasp Dan Marina’s behavior, she had already planned the next three or four steps—and ones that could change direction at any time. Grasping her was not easy at all, especially when she was determined to trick someone.

“That person’s trouble—if you were Human, it might be more manageable.” Qin shook her head. “Your abilities will definitely attract her extra attention. You’ll become suspicious even when eating or sleeping.”

“Wow, really? What does she actually do?” Zheng Yichen was shocked. Could she be a Witch of the Spiritual Power type?

“Hmm… using a term you mentioned before, she’s pretty much a researcher.”

“Oh, okay. Let’s talk about this another time.” Zheng Yichen twitched the corner of his mouth. A researcher? And one who could be of great help with Bionic Avatars? Note! Not just some help, but great help. Qin wouldn’t use the wrong word here. Researcher, great help—basically, what kind of research she did was obvious.

Probably biological.

If it was about studying animal behavior or something, that would be one thing. But from Qin’s words, her research direction clearly wasn’t that—probably more in-depth. This made Zheng Yichen weigh his options. Combined with the ‘difficult to get along with’ description… Hmm, meeting could be postponed. After all, research on the Bionic Alchemical Avatar had just started. He had plenty of room for improvement and hadn’t reached a bottleneck yet.

“Has the Magic Potion been fine?” Zheng Yichen asked. Regarding the profit distribution of the Magic Potion, Zheng Yichen took thirty percent. As the inventor of the Magic Potion, taking only this ‘small’ share might seem like a loss, but Zheng Yichen didn’t feel shortchanged. He only provided the formula; the remaining production material costs, sales costs, etc., were all handled by Qin.

In other words, Zheng Yichen did nothing and still got thirty percent of the Magic Potion sales. Remember, the Mana Enhancement Potion he made was very popular. People without Mana had a chance to experience the feeling of wielding Mana without harming their bodies, while those with Mana could temporarily gain stronger Mana through the Mana Enhancement Potion, allowing them to use spells they normally couldn’t or that heavily drained their bodies. These were all selling points!

Moreover, this potion wasn’t primarily for restoring one’s own Mana but had similar restorative effects because it temporarily increased one’s Mana cap. After this cap increased, the remaining Mana wasn’t ‘restored’ proportionally based on the raised cap but had the increased cap amount added extra.

Simply put, with a Mana remainder of 20/100, using a Mana Enhancement Potion to temporarily increase the Mana cap by 20 would change the Mana remainder to 40/120, not 24/120.

It wasn’t a Mana-restoring potion, but it surpassed or even exceeded the effects of such potions in certain situations. A single potion with both enhancing and restorative characteristics—no wonder it was popular!

As for the formula leaking, Qin was overseeing it; how could it leak easily?

“Very smoothly. But due to its effects, it’s mainly suitable for ordinary Professionals.” After all, the original purpose of the potion Zheng Yichen developed was to create inferior Demonic Metal. The mutation led to these changes, so currently, the effects were only suitable for most grassroots-level Professionals. Mainly because this potion didn’t stack… Well, most potions didn’t have stacking effects of the same type; stronger ones would simply override weaker ones.

And for the same level, using more only refreshed the effect while causing significant harm to oneself. “Its grassroots market is huge.”

Recently, many forces had contacted Qin, wanting to discuss this new type of Magic Potion with her. Don’t underestimate grassroots power; most things are supported by the grassroots. The more something is close to the people, the more it can be sold in volume. Low profit? Sorry, the new Magic Potion was currently monopolized—far from low profit.

“Hmm, I’ll do some follow-up research when I have time.” Zheng Yichen nodded. After clearing the items on his plan, his main focus would still be on Potionology, striving to raise its level close to that of Alchemy and Engineering in the shortest time possible.

After discussing some recent matters with Qin, Zheng Yichen stood up. “Time’s about right. I’ll head off now.”

He came to Qin first not only to discuss some matters but also to double-check the reliability of the Bionic Alchemical Avatar he was using. Qin nodded without trying to persuade him to stay. She knew Zheng Yichen’s main task today was to enroll Lily in school. She had already seen that little girl—a Corpse Puppet under the influence of Witch Power, having lost her Soul…

Although it radiated ’emotional’ power, the source of this emotional power no longer came from her own Soul but was based on her body. Such unique emotional power made it extremely difficult to influence. It was fine for her, but if a Spellcaster of the mental type encountered Lily, they’d truly be at a loss.

Any mental-type Magic cast on her wouldn’t work—she not only lacked Mental Energy but also had no Soul. Without the medium for the Magic to take effect, how could it produce results?

If not for being familiar enough with Zheng Yichen, Qin couldn’t help but wonder if Zheng Yichen valued Lily so much because he intended to cultivate her into a weapon specifically countering her and the other Witches she knew.

“Hmm, quite impressive.” Arriving at the school gate with Lily, Zheng Yichen looked at the Academy’s entrance and nodded, then prepared to enter with Lily. They inevitably attracted some attention. It wasn’t the enrollment season, and Zheng Yichen wasn’t wearing the school uniform, so passing students naturally glanced at them a few more times.

As they entered the Academy, the gatekeeper stopped them. Zheng Yichen said nothing extra, taking out the special enrollment notice Qin had obtained through certain means for the gatekeeper to see. The gatekeeper carefully examined it, confirmed it wasn’t forged, returned it to Zheng Yichen, and told him the location for the special enrollment test. He had seen many people with such notices every year.

After all, there were many buried talents in the world. For various reasons or family conditions, they might not all be able to attend school. If undiscovered, even the greatest talent would be wasted. If discovered, naturally, they received this special enrollment notice. Students with such notices, as long as they excelled sufficiently, would have a significant portion of their tuition waived by the school. But this wasn’t free.

In the future, they had to repay the waived amount plus interest. The interest wasn’t exorbitant; as long as such students were truly outstanding and grew up, they could easily repay the tuition the school had waived. For this reason, students receiving special enrollment notices, even if not monstrous geniuses, were still exceptional, with great Talent that could more easily achieve greater success than others.

“Good luck.” Zheng Yichen patted Lily’s shoulder and sat on a chair outside the test room. He wasn’t the ‘special enrollment student,’ so the test wasn’t for him, nor could outsiders observe—this was to protect the students’ privacy.

As for Lily’s test results? He truly didn’t believe that Lily, who had been ‘trained’ daily by several idle Ghost Maids before, would fail the special enrollment test. If something went wrong… that would be foul play!