Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 226 - 213 Mr. Shan

Shiny truly wasn’t merely talking big; he really dared to do it! He lifted Troy’s Soul Stone high above, looking as though he was about to smash it fiercely to the ground.

Troy’s crystal ball was emitting light, its child-like voice now turned sinister, with a hint of mischief.

"I’m angry now. Big baddie."

A flash of light streaked by, and even the manipulation and alterations not far off that hadn’t been touched vanished without a trace. A chill from head to toe arose on Lyle, who stared at the floating Soul Stone, suddenly out of his mind. Without any warning, the spirits of his three companions disappeared — what had it done?

"Plague Doctor, come to my side, quickly." Troy issued a new command.

Under an invisible, formidable threat, Lyle had no choice but to comply. Troy drifted downward through the air, the round sphere as light as a feather, settling into Lyle’s palm.

"Hold on tight, okay? We are very fragile, the kind that shatters upon touch." Troy carefully advised, as the Soul Stone rotated in Lyle’s hand, the crystal ball’s child within tumbling and frolicking. If Lyle forgot how it made the three Lich spirits disappear in a blink, it was indeed quite adorable.

"Let’s go to the classroom, my student." With those words from Troy, a door appeared in front of Lyle.

Lyle humbled himself, carefully humoring the child-like Soul Stone.

"Teacher Troy, my friends, your other students, what about them now?"

Lyle’s way of speaking amused Troy a great deal, "Plague Doctor is a good kid. The bad kids, I’ve taught them a good lesson, but since I’m in a good mood, I’ll let them go."

The Soul Stone flashed another ray of light, and the three persons returned to Lyle’s side once more.

"Shiny, how are you guys doing?"

Shiny seemed to have just come to his senses, with the scales on his face fluttering as he looked at Lyle.

"Boss, do you know what it feels like to survive in a category twelve typhoon?"

"What? I don’t know."

Shiny awkwardly glared at the face inside the Soul Stone.

"Well, I now know the feeling of a flag."

With Troy cradled in his arms, Lyle, followed by his three companions, walked into the room.

It was a small room, a small attic? The ceiling was pointed, perhaps the very top of the Soul High Tower, just transported here by Troy through some means defying the laws of physics. Most things in the room were covered by curtains, concealing a large portion of the attic space.

On the other side that seemed spare, a figure was drawing on the wall.

He was dressed similarly to Lyle and his group, yet his attire looked much more refined, appearing to be made of silk-like fabric, with a landscape embroidered along the collar with silver threads. His sleeves fluttered as if agitated by no wind.

With his back to Lyle and the others, he sketched on the wall, the pure black ink on the wall coming to life, drawing an ink painting. Hearing footsteps, he turned abruptly, revealing a fox-like mask on his face.

Lyle looked at him, struck by lightning inside. There was a charm about him, a charm not nurtured by any landscapes he knew.

Lyle felt constrained yet still brought his hands together in a fist, greeting the figure.

"Hello, sir of no acquaintance."

The masked figure brought his long sleeves to his chest and bowed deeply to Lyle.

"Shan."

"Hmm?"

"My code name is Shan, is there an honorific or full name for you, sir?"

"Ah, I am Plague Doctor, Mr. Shan."

"Shan."

"???"

"I mean, Mr. Plague Doctor’s name is really nice."

Well, let’s just take that as a compliment for now.

"Mr. Shan, why did you come here?"

"Following Teacher Troy, I learned the technique of the Soul Stone..." So that’s it, he’s a student like us. "To level the Literary Society."

"???" Lyle hesitated for two seconds before finally speaking up. "Mr. Shan, I didn’t hear that clearly, could you say it again?"

"Mastering the technique of the Soul Stone, I will reform the literary style and sweep away the sycophantic riffraff of the Literary Society!"

Recalling the scoundrels of the Literary Society, Lyle thought that everything Mr. Shan said seemed true.

"Has the Literary Society provoked you, Mr. Shan?"

"At the start of my membership, they forced me to bow down to the people of darkness. How could a scholar’s integrity be so easily bent! Thus, I engaged them in a battle of wits! Little did I know, the gentleman, the journalist, and the fantasist, with their nonsensical and incoherent talk, overpowered me. Though I am skilled in eloquence, I was no match for their number and defeated. After some painful reflection, I sought the guidance of the Soul Study Society, learning the technique of the Soul Stone. Assisting it with my innate talent, Ink Soul, I will summon a few companions and together, we will fight them till it’s chaos and darkness!"

Lyle pondered for a moment. In other words, Mr. Shan had a meltdown during the Literary Society’s overly dramatic ritual, couldn’t out-argue the group, and thus came to the Soul High Tower, intending to learn how to create a Soul Stone and gather a few assistants to fight back. But Mr. Shan, it isn’t just about getting out-talked by the Literary Society; they will fight you, and this isn’t something a few more mouths can solve.

Ink Soul. That must be it. Lyle looked at the landscape hanging on the wall. This was the Soul High Tower, where the materials used were Soul Crystals; ordinary ink surely wouldn’t work for painting here. That is to say, Mr. Shan’s ink could replace the soul.

Lyle whispered with his companion.

"Boss, this Shan seems like a really useful tool. Let’s trick him into joining the Necromancer Figure Club, then we won’t have to collect souls anymore."

Lyle looked at the Soul Stone in his hand and felt bad; he forgot to block out Troy. Shan was Troy’s student; surely, he wouldn’t agree to our plan.

"That’s a great idea. Then you can use my experimental subjects at your leisure, I’m in no hurry," Troy’s naive voice sounded downright devilish at that moment.

"Teacher Troy? Isn’t Mr. Shan your student?"

"Yes, but that doesn’t mean he can’t also be one of my experimental subjects."

"Shan’s body is very different from ours. He has only one layer of skin, which possesses both the physical and spiritual traits. He can be touched and yet can also become ethereal. The way the power flows within him is also vastly different from ours. He makes for a great experimental subject, able to recover no matter how much he’s tormented. He said he’s like the cast-off shell of some immortal king from somewhere? I have no idea what that means, but it’s quite useful. It’s just that his brain doesn’t work well."

Lyle looked at Troy, who seemed devilish, "Teacher Troy, you don’t mean that with the Soul Stone..."

"You guessed it. Shan has been here for two years now, right? He’s your senior; he has known how to make the Soul Stone for a while, but I tamper with the final exam, so he keeps on failing. I told him his heart wasn’t in the right place, and he actually believed it. He’s now practicing his painting to cultivate his heart."

"What a fool."

Lyle looked at the figure, wholly absorbed in painting on the wall; it was a pitiable sight, Mr. Shan.

"Shiny, be a little gentle when you trick Mr. Shan."

"Don’t worry, Boss, I won’t cross the line in front of you."