Lord: Starting with Biological Modification

Chapter 212: Chapter 207: Ryo’s Discovery

In the courtyard of the Royal Capital Mage Academy, the stone paths were damp with the morning mist, reflecting the runic glow of the Mage towers.

Ryo wove his way through the students heading to the academic buildings.

’Lord Velin’s instructions replayed in his mind.’

’It sounded simple enough.’

’The academy always had its share of the disillusioned.’

His first target was an assistant instructor in the alchemy department, Marco.

Rumor had it that Marco possessed unique insights into elemental transmutation, but after offending his mentor—a member of the academy council—he had been relegated to guarding the low-grade materials warehouse.

Ryo waited a long time at the warehouse entrance before he finally saw Marco emerge, carrying a ring of keys.

"Master Marco." Ryo stepped forward with a slight bow.

Marco stopped and sized Ryo up. "Who are you? I don’t remember seeing you in my class."

"My name is Ryo. I’m an auditing student." Ryo did his best to sound sincere. "I’ve heard about your theories on elemental transmutation, and I... deeply admire them. I was hoping to seek your guidance."

Marco’s expression was flat. "My theories? My theories have me guarding moldy herbs and rusty crucibles. Is that what you’re interested in?"

"No, I meant your paper on stabilizing the forms of Fire Elements..."

"That theory is garbage," Marco cut him off rudely. "If you want to make a name for yourself in this academy, then get lost and go listen to Professor Valerius. His theories are the ’correct’ ones—at least, they are when the council is handing out funding."

With that, he skirted around Ryo, heavily locked the warehouse gate, and walked away without a backward glance.

The clear jangle of the keys seemed to mock Ryo’s naivete.

The next few days went much the same.

He tried to approach an elderly Mage who was researching ancient Runes. The moment the old man heard Ryo was just an auditor, he pegged him as an opportunist trying to phish for research ideas and had a magical automaton "escort" him out of the laboratory.

He then mustered the courage to sit in on a salon held by the school of evocation.

The Mages there were in a heated debate, arguing over how to increase the blast radius of the Fireball Technique by another three feet.

"An auditor wants to discuss the cutting edge of evocation?"

"Kid, why don’t you learn how to light a candle first."

Frustration began to set in, leaving him disheartened.

He sat on a bench in the academy’s central garden, watching a gardener’s apprentice in the distance struggle to prune a stalk of Moonlit Fern.

’The trust Lord Velin and Miss Caroline had placed in him felt like a heavy weight on his shoulders.’

’Could he really accomplish this mission?’

’He even began to doubt whether the plan itself was feasible.’

’These ostracized Mages weren’t idealists holding fast to the truth.’

’They were more like the losers who had been weeded out in power struggles.’

’Their words were filled with jealousy toward their rivals and complaints about their own circumstances.’

’Ryo could see no love for knowledge itself in their eyes.’

’These were not the allies Lord Velin needed.’

After being asked to leave a salon by its host—on the grounds that "seats are reserved for Level 4 Mages and above"—Ryo gave up and began to wander aimlessly through the academy.

He didn’t wander for long, however. He found a deserted corner, sat down, and forced himself to calm down.

’Ryo, never just listen to what people say. Go and see what they’ve done. There’s a famous saying in statistics: If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything.’

’Data!’

Ryo’s eyes lit up.

’How could I have been so stupid! Why was I trying to learn things by talking to people? A Mage’s worth is reflected in their research findings and experimental logs!’

He shot to his feet and headed straight for the academy’s archives.

It was a secluded stone building that managed all the academy’s academic records from the past century, including every Mage’s funding applications, material requisitions, and project completion reports.

Under the pretext of "researching materials on ancient botany," he paid three Silver Moons and was granted access to the archives’ lowest level.

Ryo ignored the dusty stacks of old papers and went straight for the funding approval records from the past five years.

He flipped through them, scroll by scroll. The academy’s bigwigs received thousands of Golden Suns in funding each year for projects with dazzlingly impressive titles.

What Ryo was looking for, however, were the rejected applications and the material warehouse’s requisition logs.

Patiently, he cross-referenced the records one by one.

Two hours later, one name kept appearing before his eyes.

Elvin.

The name never appeared once in the records of approved funding.

Among the rejected applications, however, it showed up almost once a month.

"Preliminary Study on the Effect of Soil Microbiota on the Root Systems of Magical Plants"—Rejected. Reason: Theory is absurd, a waste of resources.

"On the Application of Ancient Druid Theory in the Cultivation of Potion Ingredients"—Rejected. Reason: Contradicts mainstream alchemical acceleration theories.

And on the material requisition logs, Elvin’s name was always accompanied by a list of strange items: Humus Soil from different regions, spores from multiple mushroom species, and even earthworms.

These were all things that proper Mages wouldn’t give a second glance.

’Someone with no funding, who insisted on using his own money to conduct research that the mainstream refused to recognize!’

Ryo’s heart began to race.

At the very bottom of a pile of rejected files, he found a sheaf of drafts bound together with string.

He blew the dust off the top, revealing a title written in a neat, elegant script.

"A Hypothesis on the Replicability of the Ancient Druids’ Life Resonance Magic."

’Druids!’

Ryo quickly flipped open the parchment. The script inside was messy, full of corrections and revisions.

"...Mainstream thought holds that plant growth is determined solely by water, soil fertility, and light. But scattered records from the Ancient Druids hint at another possibility—the existence of a deep network of connections based on ’Life Resonance’..."

"...Preliminary experiments have shown that specific magical fluctuations can affect the ’dormant’ symbiotic colonies in the soil, activating them and thereby dramatically improving soil quality..."

"...If this hypothesis proves true, we might be able to replicate an entirely new model for cultivating rare materials—one that doesn’t rely on potent Alchemy Potions, but instead functions by constructing a cycle of natural evolution..."

Ryo’s hands began to tremble.

The theory described on these pages was a near-perfect match for the *Theoretical Framework for Building the Mist Spring Valley Magic Potion Cultivation Base Ecosystem* that Lord Velin himself had drafted!

’He had found the theoretical origin of what Lord Velin was trying to achieve!’

’He had found him!’

Clutching the manuscript, Ryo ran back to the student dormitories.

This time, he didn’t act rashly. He sent a letter to Velin requesting a copy of the latest research findings from Mist Spring Valley.

In the meantime, he frequented the common rooms and dining hall, casually asking around.

"Elvin? Have any of you heard of him?"

An upperclassman polishing his Magic Staff looked up, a contemptuous smile playing on his lips.

"Oh, you mean that ’delusional Druid’?"

Someone nearby immediately chimed in.

"Him? I heard his research funding application was publicly shot down by Professor Valerius again last week. The guy actually tried to convince the professor that he could increase Magic Potion yields by ’chatting with mushrooms.’ He’s insane."

"That’s not all. The academy even reclaimed his little experimental plot to build a new Elemental Pool. I heard he spends all his time in that abandoned greenhouse on the back hill now, just staring at his precious dead plants."

’Funding cut, lab plot confiscated, mocked by the entire academy.’

’An idealist with true knowledge and ability, crushed and pushed to the absolute bottom.’

’This is the one!’

Two days later, his preparations complete, Ryo headed for the hills behind the academy.

The abandoned greenhouse sat on a slope amidst a patch of weeds, most of its glass panes shattered, revealing gaping black window frames.

Ryo pushed open the creaking wooden door.

The smell of damp soil and decaying plants washed over him.

The greenhouse’s interior was a complete mess. Shattered pots and dried soil were scattered everywhere.

In the center of the greenhouse, a tall, thin young Mage was crouched with his back to the door, hunched over a single, solitary clay pot.

Inside the pot was a plant that had completely withered, leaving nothing but a charred stem.

The young man simply stared at it, motionless, his entire posture radiating an aura of despair.

Ryo stepped forward, and the ceramic shards under his feet made a soft crunch.

The young Mage didn’t turn around.

Ryo stopped behind him and spoke softly.

"Mage Elvin?"

"Perhaps... I have something that could bring it back to life."

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