Chapter 744 – Three Thousand Mirror Ruins 11

Chapter 744 – Three Thousand Mirror Ruins 11

When all the students looked toward the door that had automatically closed shut, Mo Lan looked toward the podium, where spatial power had produced a fluctuation.

The next moment, a tall figure appeared there.

She wore a silver-gray Mandarin-collared uniform, her long hair bound impeccably behind her head, revealing a smooth forehead and sharp brows and eyes.

That face looked excessively young, but the oppressive aura radiating from her was like a peerless blade sheathed in its scabbard — its edge completely concealed, yet no one dared look directly at her.

The classroom fell instantly silent.

Chen Xingye, who had been immersed in his own world, raised his head. Zhao Wuchen, who had been leaning back in his chair, sat up straight and put away his cynical expression. Lin Yue stared at the person on the podium with sparkling eyes, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes. Su Yu placed her hands neatly folded on the desk, like an attentive elementary school student. Wang Jingnan also hurriedly signaled his “friends” to sit properly…

Mo Lan also dug up information about this person from the original host’s memories.

Yan Shuang — at fifteen, she had claimed first place in the Eastern China Alliance’s national Mirror Explorer Academy entrance examination and was admitted to the Alliance’s most prestigious Mirror Explorer institution, Eastern China Academy.

By the time she graduated at twenty, she had already become the youngest three-star Mirror Explorer in the entire Alliance and was recommended to continue her studies at the world’s premier Mirror Explorer university, Mirror Ruins University.

At twenty-five, she graduated from Mirror Ruins University and joined the Eastern China Alliance’s Mirror Explorer Vanguard Corps. Over nine years, she completed the exploration of seven high-difficulty mirror spaces, elevating the Eastern China Alliance’s overall strength to a new level.

At the beginning of last year, the front page of the 《Deer Cry Daily》 published the news of her promotion to eight-star Mirror Explorer.

There were fewer than twenty Mirror Explorers at eight stars or above in the entire Alliance, and Yan Shuang was the youngest record holder in a century.

How could someone like that have come back to Deer Cry Middle School to teach?

Yan Shuang’s gaze slowly swept over everyone, and finally lingered on Mo Lan for two extra seconds, the corners of her eyes narrowing slightly.

She hadn’t missed it just now — this child was the only one who hadn’t been drawn to the commotion at the door and had looked directly at the podium instead.

That keen spatial perception was worthy of someone with a perfect score in Mirror Explorer aptitude.

“It seems you’re all ready for class!” Yan Shuang nodded with satisfaction, her voice crisp and efficient, without a trace of unnecessary words.

“I won’t waste time. You all received the textbooks yesterday, right? Finish 《Introduction to Psychic Power Cultivation》 and 《The Twelve Fundamental Body-Tempering Decoctions》 within one week. Finish the rest within one month.

All the textbooks are for you to study on your own time. I will not be giving dedicated lectures on them. If you have questions, you may write to me. My office mailbox number is LM1879232.”

Her tone brooked no argument. This was clearly not a discussion — it was an order.

“From now on, during school hours, mornings will be spent with me on body tempering and martial techniques, and afternoons on cultivating psychic power.

In three months, we will conduct our first off-campus field practice.”

The moment these words left her mouth, several sharp intakes of breath sounded across the classroom.

Off-campus field practice to hunt beast cores in just three months — that meant before then, they would not only need the ability to handle one-star mirror beasts without using magic skills, but also complete the process of perceiving their mental sea and psychic power, and cultivate their psychic power to a level sufficient to accommodate their first magic skill.

Even though all twelve of them had considerable talent, they still felt the pressure.

Yan Shuang seemed quite satisfied with their reaction, the corner of her mouth curving slightly upward. “Now, follow me to the body-tempering room.”

The group followed Yan Shuang through the corridor. Students from other Mirror Explorer Classes they passed were still sitting in their classrooms with textbooks open, listening to their instructors lecture.

Clearly, not every class was like theirs, where theory had been entirely replaced with self-study and body-tempering classes began immediately.

They reached the Teleportation Room on the other side of the corridor and teleported to the area outside the body-tempering room. Yan Shuang raised her hand and pressed it against the door panel. “Boom—”

The door slowly opened, and a dense medicinal herb fragrance mixed with a wave of heat rushed toward them.

Inside the body-tempering room, twelve medicinal pools were arranged in a ring, their waters a deep crimson.

“Go to the changing rooms on either side, change your clothes, and soak for a full hour. No one is allowed to get out before then.”

Yan Shuang sat down on the circular platform in the center of the pools and paid them no further attention.

The students didn’t dare make a sound. The boys headed to the changing room on the left, and the girls entered the one on the right.

The moment they were inside the changing room, Lin Yue couldn’t contain herself any longer. “Oh my god! Our instructor is actually Yan Shuang!”

“I heard that last year she single-handedly suppressed the beast tide in the ‘Shadow Echo Corridor’ and bought countless Mirror Explorers time to escape! Why has she come back to the Deer Cry Mirror?”

“Could the rumors about her being injured actually be true?”

…

She cupped her face in both hands, her eyes frighteningly bright, looking exactly like a fangirl who had just met her idol. After an excited bout of chatter, she belatedly noticed the other three girls. “Why aren’t any of you saying anything?”

Mo Lan was feeling the special material of the body-tempering suit. She had heard Lin Yue’s words, but couldn’t break character, so she didn’t respond.

Su Yu was even more direct. She stripped off her outer clothes in a few swift motions, revealing the black body-tempering suit she was already wearing underneath. Without sparing them so much as a glance, she pushed the door open and walked straight out.

Bai Wei kept her head down, pretending to be very “busy” organizing her clothes. When Lin Yue called her out, her fingers trembled, and she stammered, “Um… the instructor is waiting for us! Let’s hurry up and change so we can get out there!”

Lin Yue: “…”

Of the four girls in the class, two might as well not have mouths, and one who did have a mouth might as well not — was she the only normal person here? How boring were the days ahead going to be!

Their reactions killed Lin Yue’s enthusiasm for chatting. She pulled a pink body-tempering suit from her portable storage mirror and started changing. “Hmph! That drab gray body-tempering suit — not even a dog would wear it!”

Bai Wei quietly breathed a sigh of relief. After accepting the Wang Family’s invitation yesterday, they had sent her a set of basic resources, which included several body-tempering suits suitable for soaking in medicinal pools. Fortunately, they weren’t gray — they were white.

Mo Lan, the only one who hadn’t prepared her own body-tempering suit and was planning to wear the gray, school-crest-emblazoned one provided by the school: “???”

What had she ever done to deserve this?

By the time Mo Lan emerged in her body-tempering suit, Su Yu was already soaking in one of the medicinal pools.

Judging by her flushed face, the sweat pouring down her forehead, and her tightly pressed lips, soaking in this pool seemed rather unpleasant.

On the boys’ side, Xiang Yufan had also come out and headed straight for one of the pools. He looked perfectly composed on the way over, but the moment he stepped into the pool, his legs seemed to lose all strength. He stumbled and fell in.

Mo Lan felt an icy gaze land on her. Not wanting to waste time observing others, she walked into an unoccupied pool.

“Hm?”

Based on what she had read yesterday in 《The Twelve Fundamental Body-Tempering Decoctions》, this should be the first of them — the Scarlet Refining Decoction, the most basic muscle-strengthening and bone-fortifying medicine.

The ingredients were easy to obtain, the effects were decent, and the cost-effectiveness was excellent. Many people used it as their first body-tempering decoction when they began pharmaceutical-assisted body tempering at age fifteen.

But for a first-time soak, wasn’t it supposed to feel like being gnawed on by thousands of scarlet refining ants, an unbearable combination of pain and itching? Why did she only feel… pleasantly warm?