Elite Mages’ Academy (Web Novel)

Chapter 287: Digestion and Assimilation

Chen Yu was unknowingly sweating as he came out of the training hall. A person of his strength would have no difficulty in extricating himself from the situation, and Xiao Lin seemed to have no awareness of anyone outside the training hall. Once Chen Yu retreated, Xiao Lin continued to stand motionlessly in the center. Chen Yu’s expression was clearly that of bewilderment, and the monitors who were in the dark over everything quickly posed questions to him.

When Chen Yu was still trying to put his words together, Department Head Song was already warning him softly, “This is no longer any of your concern. You may leave. Chen Yu, I’ve notified the dean about this incident. I hope you’ll just forget whatever you saw. You understand what I’m saying, don’t you?”

Chen Yu took a deep breath. He had gradually calmed down, though he could not help but glance at Song Junlang again. Despite feeling slightly disdainful toward that former genius, Chen Yu was hard-pressed to express admiration for that guy’s backer.

Direct communication with the dean? It would mean that Song Junlang had directly bypassed the student union. Not every department head had that kind of authority. At the same time, Chen Yu also understood that Song Junlang had given him a disguised warning, saying that it was best not to reveal anything indiscriminately or else not even the student union was able to protect him.

“I understand.”

Chen Yu was aware of the circumstances. His surprised gaze lingered on Xiao Lin for some time as he recalled the shock he felt at that moment. He found it to be very incredible too. His shock was not certainly not limited to those unknown scales. There was an even more peculiar power inside the training hall, an oppressive strength that practically stemmed directly from the depths of the soul. Chen Yu’s Silver-rank strength was a couple of ranks higher than Xiao Lin, but there was still no way that he could stop it.

Chen Yu left, and so did the other monitors under his orders as the year leader. Cheng Ming once again expressed his worry toward Xiao Lin and received a confident assurance from Song Junlang.

After everyone was gone however, the light smile on Song Junlang’s face suddenly disappeared. There was only anxiety in his eyes as he stared at the lone Xiao Lin inside the training hall. He lamented, “I wouldn’t have let you take the Super Tonic Pill If I had known this would happen.”

Department Head Song seemed to be talking to himself, but he received a reply as soon as he finished talking. The baby-faced president had already arrived at some point. His gaze remained gentle, but his tone was very harsh, “Pills? The kind of pill you mentioned repeatedly to me in the past few years! Good heavens, you’re seriously still continuing with this kind of research? Well then, regardless of what happens to Xiao Lin after this incident, I will most certainly propose to the dean that you be completely banned from doing your diet experiments!”

Song Junlang seemed to want to explain something, but he eventually shook his head and said, “Forget it, I’m too lazy to repeat the strategic significance of this Super Tonic Pill to you, but this is definitely not the fault of my pill. I’m afraid that the root of the problem lies in Xiao Lin. ”

The president snorted in anger, “Are you saying that all of this is Xiao Lin’s fault? May I remind you that he’s a freshman valued by the dean. If you mess around, don’t even think you can go past the dean with this one! Doesn’t matter how influential your backer is!”

“Don’t you think the pressure in the training hall is a bit familiar?” Department Head Song did not want to quarrel with the president there and immediately shifted the conversation to the main topic.

The president was taken aback for a moment. He closed his eyes and pondered for a moment before opening them and saying, “Dragon power!”

Song Junlang spoke in a slightly congratulatory manner. “As expected of the president. Chen Yu would’ve still been confused, but you were immediately able to feel it.”

The president was not too happy about that and reminded, “Only the bloodline of the dragon clan has the power of the dragons!”

“Oh, don’t worry, Xiao Lin is a pure Earthling. You don’t need to worry about that at all. It’s just that I gave him some dragon blood recently. That’s right, the blood is from a golden dragon, but it has been diluted many times over. ”

The president’s gaze froze again. When he finally reacted, his tone was no longer stern; rather, it was more appropriate to describe it as thunderously furious. “SONG! JUN! LANG! HAVE YOU GONE ABSOLUTELY INSANE? Don’t you know the consequences of randomly consuming dragon blood, even for someone who has already reached Gold-rank? He’s a freshman for goodness’ sake! It seems the student union has been allowing you to indulge yourself too much!”

Song Junlang turned a deaf ear to the president and continuing mumbling, “Xiao Lin is different. I noticed that right from the very first experiment. Do you remember how long that hapless student had to lie down during my first diet experiment a few years ago?”

“A month! And from then onward, the student union issued a complete ban on all your experiments, even though that person backing you still allows you to continue with it.”

“Yes, a whole month! But did you know that Xiao Lin only took less than two days to completely be free of my iron comb chicken’s side effects after eating it for the first time? His absorption rate was equally as superb. All subsequent experiments had the same result. It was then that I understood: Xiao Lin was different from the others.”

Department Head Song sighed with emotion and chuckled, “Although I don’t really interact much with the Admissions Department’s head, I have to admit that he did a good job this time. I’m aware that it’s impossible for Xiao Lin’s initial attributes to meet the admission standards, so it would’ve taken a bit of guts to get him enrolled in here.”

“Whether or not he actually recruited Xiao Lin is still up for debate!”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

The president waved his hand impatiently and did not want to continue with that topic. In fact, there were still many strange things about the recent admissions that even the president had yet to figure out, but the dean had encrypted the files completely. The president pointed his finger at the silent Xiao Lin and said blankly, “Let’s talk about how we can deal with this. Since you made a point to keep things quiet when you called me here, I believe you have some way of dealing with this?”

Song Junlang nodded and said, “Xiao Lin’s state is not so much a rampage, it’s just some discomfort from the first assimilation. I thought that the dragon blood that he drank before had been completely digested, but I didn’t expect his genes to be so abnormal that he didn’t digest it at all. Instead, it’s completely integrated in him!”

Perhaps afraid that the president would not understand, Song Junlang explained the difference between digestion and assimilation in concise language. The so-called digestion was akin to eating, absorbing nutrients and eliminating side effects.

Although the same concept of absorption could be used to understand assimilation, it was no longer the digestive system’s absorptive effects. Rather, it was a direct fusion at the level of genes and blood!

Powerful though it sounded, there remained a serious problem during the process of assimilation. The side effects of dragon blood lay in the violent hidden nature of higher-level creatures. It could easily cause someone to lose themselves and fall into a rampaging state. Initially, the side effects caused by the digestive process would gradually be discharged like excrement, so there was no need to worry about what would happen.

With assimilation, the side effects would be absorbed and stored permanently. It was akin to burying in Xiao Lin’s body a time bomb that would explode at any time.

Department Head Song’s original intention was to fight poison with poison by using the side effects of dragon blood to restrain the side effects of the Super Tonic Pill. The effect he sought was that of ‘one minus one equal zero’, but it turned out to be ‘one plus one equal two’.