Lyle returned to Andrei Academy with a heart full of satisfaction after passing the test.

When Helena repossessed the stone sculpture, she found her sister covering her lips, silent.

"Is your experiment over, Anna?"

Upon hearing the call, Alianna turned to look back, and Helena saw something crystal-clear brewing in her eyes.

"Sister, Mr. Crimson was right. I... I can feel something beyond just the taste."

It turned out that inviting Lyle to become a research assistant was not Mr. Crimson’s only move; he had already communicated with Alianna earlier, inviting her to verify the emotional reaction to hungering flesh.

"You don’t need to listen to that old pervert’s advice, Anna." Helena moved the statue to embrace her sister, "I and the old dean have already made a deal; Naslan’s girls won’t be ordered around at Andrei Academy. Forget it. I’ll find time to warn that guy myself. Those Resentful Spirit Professors have been unhappy with him provoking the Soul Fraction for a while now."

"No, I volunteered for the test. I also want to know if the palpitations inside me are real." Alianna didn’t want her sister to have a conflict with Mr. Crimson.

"Alright, alright, I’m just visiting. I won’t cause any unpleasantness." Helena signaled the Specter Maid to tidy up the disordered sculpture.

"As the chief professor of Soul Summoning at Andrei Academy, it’s normal to exchange feelings with colleagues, right?"

Andrei Academy, being a historic institution with strong teaching staff, naturally excels in teaching capabilities. What’s more commendable is that the academy has deeply engraved the integration of work and leisure into its essence.

Here, they have a lively and diverse array of club activities.

"I heard there’s a new weight loss club?" Right after stepping away from the experiment platform, Lyle let Nia lick the remaining flesh from his gloves clean, then picked up a cup of tea.

At Andrei, where hunger disguise equipment is the norm, a lifelike human appearance is not unusual, even if his Adam’s apple is audibly bobbing.

Never doubt the abilities of others; there are skies beyond skies. This saying had made Shiny and the others accustomed to Lyle’s belching.

"Boss, is this the latest hunger disguise you developed?"

"... Yes, Flexibility. You guessed right. The latest model that enhances disguise capabilities, used to integrate into human society."

"Impressive. It seems I need to intensify my research as well."

Lyle had to divert his companions’ growing curiosity from his real "disguise" before it turned into action.

"So, does Andrei actually have a weight loss club now?" Liches starting to lose weight? What a joke.

"Yes, and it’s located right next to the Holy Light Culinary Society."

"Smart choice." Imagining those corpulent Liches just having eaten, then moving a few steps to hop onto the treadmill was an amusing thought, "So what does the weight loss club do? Provide fitness guidance and dietary planning for Liches?"

"They offer professional services."

Lyle put his bird beak mask back on, sensing that if he didn’t, his rich facial expressions would soon arouse suspicion.

"Professional services for what?"

"Professional weight loss."

Weight loss with a substitute?

"To be precise, it should be called flesh disguise management services, the services of the weight loss club have been deepened. Those Liches were usually soldiers, warriors, or other professionals in life, with rich experience in body shaping."

"If you wish, you could even see their physique in their obituaries. Undoubtedly, they are professionals in the weight loss field."

"All you need to do is take off your hunger disguise, and these professionals will equip your flesh to start exercising, and soon, you’ll regain a slender figure. The price to be paid is just tens of thousands of Aureus coins."

You really got something there, Liches.

All at once, Lyle remembered Shiny and the others seemed to have also entered a state of gluttony, yet their disguises still maintained good shapes.

"Shiny, have you guys also used professional weight loss services?"

Flexibility and Shiny exchanged a glance and smiled.

"Boss, we don’t need any weight loss services."

"We’re Spirit Summoners, experts in manipulating flesh. Reducing body fat and such is just a simple matter of modifying creations."

In the face of weight loss, some chose science, others chose magic.

"Boss, this is a cooperation proposal from the Fitness Club. Facing the limited situation of substitute coaches, they’ve applied to us for an order of twenty Serpentbone Treadmills."

"So, are the Liches planning to start slimming down themselves?"

A different slip of paper was handed over.

"What’s this?"

"A check. It’s funding for a new project of the Necromancer Figure Club’s hunger disguise." The operator pulled out a contract from their pocket, "Those investors want to add a new service on top of the hunger flesh disguise."

"What service?"

"Automation. They hope that muscle disguises exceeding the body fat range could autonomously roll onto the treadmills to slim down."

"...That would require quite a sophisticated accumulation of Spirit Summoner’s knowledge."

"They’ve been keeping an eye on the progression of the Spirit Summoner’s courses and know that we are delving into the Soul Fraction. Automation is just a matter of time."

These Liches could always exhibit a terrifying degree of concern and initiative in certain aspects.

Lyle was unaware that at this moment, the Andrei Liches had already stretched their bone claws towards something much bigger.

In the dean’s office, the Dean looked gloomy, not even in the mood to touch his beard. He yanked off his enormous wizard’s hat, the soul flame burning fiercely within his shiny skull.

"The recent public opinion survey at Andrei isn’t looking good. Do you have anything to report?"

Mr. Reporter pinched his chin.

"Yes, the Liches’ approval rating for you has dropped to fifty-two percent, almost half of the Liches are dissatisfied with your rule."

"How about you step down, Dean?"

Bang!

The Dean was so angry that he slapped the table, leaving a deep dent where his enchanted materials lay scattered.

"You curs! Andrei Academy is a family business! Don’t you understand? What else are you dissatisfied with? You wanted clubs, I created clubs for you! You wanted research, I allocated departments for you! You’ve created the Arcane Bomb! You’ve spread the Plague of Death! You’ve made the Railgun! What else do you want? To tear me apart?!"

"Step down?! Do you believe that if I let go now, there are more than a dozen crosses of Raymond out there waiting for you?! Despicable bones deserve to be burned to death!"

"Calm down, Dean! Please calm down!" The gentlemen immediately grabbed the Dean’s hand stretched towards the Lich Crown, pressing him in place.

The Dean, as the founder of Andrei Academy, gave his all to the academy – to the point of spreading his ashes on the ground and pouring his heart and soul into it. He believed that he deserved a return on his investment and saw himself as a popular head of the academy.

Until just now, when he discovered that his approval rating plunged from eighty to fifty-two percent, these ungrateful wretches. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"We, the Literature Club, have analyzed that this is actually a normal phenomenon."

"Mr. Crimson’s recent research shows that with the promotion of the hunger disguise, the desires of the Liches are being gradually unleashed, which is a good thing."

"The growing desires are turning into dissatisfaction with the current reality, hence your dropping support rate."

"So it’s not that I haven’t done well enough, it’s just because you’re simply a bunch of insatiable scoundrels?"

"...They are. But whether or not they are scoundrels is not the point, the point is, we need to launch more collective activities to satisfy the Liches of Andrei, who have bustling energy."

"Such as participating in the upcoming interspecies competition of the City of Wandering."

Stroking his beard, the Dean said, "That’s the large-scale sports event of the City of Wandering you previously considered a waste of time and refused to participate in? Seems like it’s coming up soon."

"Exactly, and this time, our companions are certainly eager to love and mingle with various species."

The Dean looked at the excited gentleman, tapping his bone finger.

"Joining an event organized by the Arcanists, do you fellows understand the principle of human competition?"

"Which principle?"

"Friendship comes first..." the Dean waited for the rest.

Mr. Reporter, head tilted, two voids in the draped tablecloth corresponding to the voids in his heart, said,

"Life... second to life?"