Principal Smith

Principal Smith

After breaking through to the 9th stage of the Body Refining Realm, Adam felt proud of himself, but before he could relish in the feeling, he saw the time.

"Sh*t! It's already 5 a.m." Adam cursed.

Between awakening his system and breaking through to the 9th stage of the Body Refining Realm, Adam had unknowingly wasted 5 hours. And now, he realized that he had spent another whole day in his own alchemy lab.

It wasn't a bad thing for this to happen, per se. Adam had done this many times. In fact, he had done this so many times that he brought a small bed into the lab and put it in the corner for such days. He would sleep on it whenever he unknowingly overworked and became too lazy to walk back to his dorm.

The campus of Sagittarius High School was huge, and the dorm he lived in was at least 20 minutes away by foot. Alchemy was also extremely exhausting, both mentally and physically. So there were days that Adam became far too tired to trek that far just to sleep.

However, even though it wasn't a bad thing, it also wasn't a good thing. Adam's dorm was something he had to pay rent for. So whenever he slept in his alchemy lab, he would also feel a pinch in his wallet.

Adam was cheap, and it felt like he was burning money whenever he did this.

However, as he started to curse at himself for being stupid, he realized something.

"Wait a minute. I'm rich!" Adam remembered.

He had $70,000 worth of pills sitting in his furnace right now, while his rent was barely $500 a month. Wasting one day of that month that he paid for was nothing!

Thinking this much, Adam no longer felt bad but instead proud.

'Cost efficiency!'

With joyful steps, Adam walked over to his shelf full of alchemy equipment. There, he grabbed a small tube-like bottle that was made for pills before placing his three precious creations delicately inside it.

"I should find Professor Singh. She would buy these things from me." Adam thought aloud as he walked out of his alchemy lab.

Professor Singh was his alchemy teacher, an extremely knowledgeable woman, and also a Tier 4 alchemist. She taught him most of what he knew. Moreover, from what he knew, her family owned a pill-selling business.

Selling his three pills to her was the best choice. She wouldn't scam him because of their relationship, and she wouldn't become greedy over his skills, either. It was a simple choice for Adam to make.

Formulating this plan, Adam climbed the stairs leading out of the alchemy floor and re-entered the school's main area.

The alchemy floor was on basement floor 1 and was also separated from the school's main building by a mini bomb shield.

Alchemy sometimes went wrong, especially at the higher tiers. Whenever Adam failed a concoction, it would just erupt into a cloud of smog that concussed him. However, if someone like Professor Singh failed to concoct a Tier 4 pill, a cloud of smog would be the best-case scenario.

The furnace could explode, sending shrapnel everywhere, or a poison cloud could manifest, turning the alchemy floor into a forbidden area, and many other plausible scenarios could happen.

So to avoid destroying both the school and the alchemy floor, a small checkpoint was created between the two. There, students and teachers would need to check in and out when entering and leaving the alchemy floor.

Adam wasn't annoyed by this feature and instead felt happy that his school was extremely cautious, so when he arrived at the checkpoint, he planned to catch up with the security guards who worked there.

They were cool people and great conversationalists.

But once he entered the checkpoint, he saw the dim-witted class president checking out as well.

Adam's arrival was quickly noticed, and as he walked in, three pairs of eyes locked onto him. Sam and the two security guards who were on duty at the moment. However, their expressions went from inquisitive to extremely confused quickly.

Thankfully, before Adam got confused about their confusion, Sam spoke up.

"Adam. Why is there a scalpel in your thigh?" Sam asked as she pointed at the thigh in question. Her facial expression looked extremely confused. The two security guards behind the desk also nodded. They were also just as puzzled as the class president.

Not exactly realizing what they were talking about, Adam subconsciously looked at the thigh that Sam was pointing at, and she was indeed right. There was a scalpel in his thigh.

'I forgot to pull it out!' Adam cried inwardly.

Ever since his inner flame had evolved along with his alchemy talent, the pain from the scalpel in his thigh had become negligent. And after he broke through to the 9th stage of the Body Refining Realm, it had become nonexistent.

He had spent almost an entire night with it in his thigh, and at this point, it was as noticeable as his own skin.

Embarrassed, Adam tried to yank it out quickly before they continued to question him. However, no matter how hard he pulled on the scalpel, it never came out.

It was stuck too deep in him, and his thigh muscles had already contorted around the blade far too well. Yanking on the scalpel with his hands did nothing.

While Adam dug a deeper hole for himself, Sam noticed something.

"Adam, you broke through?" Sam asked with a raised eyebrow, slightly surprised.

Even though it was hard for people in the Body Refining Realm to detect the cultivation bases of their peers, it wasn't impossible. From Adam's skin being clearer, his back straighter, and his heavy footsteps, it looked like he had just broken through a stage.

At first, Sam thought that it was just her imagining things, but once Adam struggled to pull the scalpel out of his thigh, she realized that maybe it was true and decided to ask.

Adam stopped struggling for a moment and nodded at Sam's question. It would be stupid for him to hide his breakthrough. There was no reason for him to be low-key at such a time. He had no enemies, no people to face slap, nothing. Hiding his strength gave him no advantage.

Sam was shocked after his confirmation but quickly came back to her senses.

"Adam, go talk with the principal quickly. Don't cultivate anymore." Sam hurriedly warned.

"Huh? Why?" Adam was confused. Why couldn't he cultivate anymore?

"Just go to him. He'll explain everything to you. But just don't cultivate for the moment. Trust me, if you break through now, you'll regret it for the rest of your life." Sam didn't bother to explain and instead just warned him once more.

She finished speaking, signed out, bid the three people farewell, and left.

Still standing there dumbstruck at how serious Sam looked during the conversation, Adam didn't know how to react next, only coming back to reality once the security guard tapped him on the shoulder.

"Adam, you gotta sign out. You know the rules, man." The security guard told the listless Adam.

"Oh, right!"

—

Adam talked with the security guards for a few minutes to catch up, but eventually, he left. Sam's words still rang in his head, and he was extremely confused as to what they meant. Not only were they rather cryptic, but they also contained a lot of hidden meanings.

So after signing out, Adam walked up Sagittarius High School's many staircases until he reached the top floor.

The top floor contained no classrooms but instead only had the offices of the school's higher-ups. The principal, disciplinary heads, department heads, and so on.

Walking through the hallway, still with a scalpel sticking out of his thigh, Adam certainly gained some odd looks, but he had come this far. Giving up now would be stupid. So thickening his skin, he traversed the hallway and reached the end of it, where the principal's office was.

Once he reached the door, Adam was about to raise his hand and knock on it, but before he could, the door swung open, and an old voice sounded.

"You can come in, Adam. No need to knock." The principal kindly spoke.

Adam walked in.

Inside was a simple-looking office. A mahogany desk covered in paperwork, two red oak chairs that sat across from the desk, a water jug filled with crystal clear water, and a couch.

The principal of Sagittarius High School was a man with no worldly desires. As the principal of the planet's best high school, all he cared about was the younger generation and the future of the federation.

He didn't buy any glamorous products or expensive clothes but lived a near-Buddhist lifestyle.

Adam knew this and wasn't afraid of the old man sitting behind the desk.

Behind the mahogany desk was an old, white-haired Caucasian man in a black suit. There were wrinkles on his face, but with the bright smile he had on, one could mistake him for being much younger than he was.

The old man was the principal of Sagittarius High School, Principal Smith. A kind, strong, and smart man who was one of the planet's most influential men.

"Did Sam tell you to come?" Principal Smith asked with a smile.

Adam simply nodded. While he didn't know how strong Principal Smith was, Adam knew he had to be at least above the Martial Master Realm. The professors at Sagittarius High School were all Martial Masters, so how could the person above them and paying their salaries be at their level of strength?

So the fact that Principal Smith was able to see through his breakthrough didn't surprise him.

"That's good." Principal Smith laughed happily. Then, standing up from his desk, he walked toward the door.

"I know you must be feeling confused about Sam's poor choice of words. Follow me. I'll show you what she meant." Principal Smith continued. And with steady steps, he started walking out of his office and motioning for Adam to follow him.

Still not speaking up, Adam nodded silently and followed the old man.

The two would quickly leave the office stretch of the hallway and reach where the elevators were. Principal Smith pressed the button to call the elevator and, during the pause, turned to Adam.

"So, while I don't know which words Sam used to explain the situation, I can assume she didn't give you many context clues to guess." Principal Smith said with a smile.

"I have been trying to get the girl to brighten up, but to no avail. So I do like to apologize for her mistake."

"No, no, no! Not at all. There is no need to apologize, Principal." Adam hurriedly said. He didn't dare accept the man's apology.

"It's fine. I, as a man, should know how to bend and stretch. Apologizing for my granddaughter's stupidity is nothing." Principal Smith reassured Adam as he patted him on the shoulder.

"Wait? You're Sam's grandfather?" Adam asked, surprised. He knew that Sam was the daughter of an extremely powerful military man, but he didn't know who her grandfather was.

Adam and Sam were both alchemists and spent a lot of time talking. They could be called friends. But asking someone who their grandfather was wasn't a normal question, so Adam never did.

But to suddenly find out that Sam was the granddaughter of one of the planet's strongest and most influential men was surprising.

"Yes. Sam is my granddaughter." Principal Smith confirmed.

"Oh." Adam nodded dumbly and waited for the man to continue with his previous train of thought.

"Anyways. Back to my previous words: Sam might've given you vague words, but while I wished she had brightened up, she was right not to tell you. It's better to show you." And with those words, Principal Smith stopped talking.

Curious, Adam didn't ask anything more but just waited for the elevator to arrive.

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