High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1038: Chapter 100 Professor’s Laboratory

First University has four colleges and four research institutes.

These eight institutions are located in various corners of Buji Island, hidden and interlocked in such a way that they form a huge Protect Legal Formation. What connects them are the corridors of various shapes and designs.

However, most of the time, students of First University do not choose to walk through these corridors when visiting other colleges or research institutes. Not only because they are winding and lengthy but also because hunting teams often train there. A slight carelessness, and an ordinary passerby could become entangled in trouble.

Aside from school-hosted activities like hunts, which require corridors to accommodate large-scale traffic flow, these passageways are seldom used on regular days.

More importantly, there are other channels for students to travel between different colleges.

Such as the Nameless passages hidden in every corner of the school, or those ’gates’ located in the First Hall.

The First Hall is the first official building Zheng Qing encountered upon entering the school. The murals inside the hall, the star lamps floating in mid-air, the tall pillars, etc., all left a deep impression on him.

But these are not the most important components of the First Hall.

The most significant part of the First Hall is the nine gates that surround the ground floor of the entire hall, leading respectively to the school’s four colleges and four research institutes, as well as the First Gate that leads to the outside of the school. These gates are shortcuts connecting different colleges or research institutes.

Of course, using these gates requires certain procedures.

For example, school-approved timetables recorded onshore, temporary passes issued by the School Works Committee or the student council, and permissions from professors, and so on.

The note given to Zheng Qing by Professor Montreya happens to meet these requirements.

Professor Montreya’s laboratory, just like Su Shijun’s Two-dimensional Evolution Laboratory, is part of the Institute of Applied Magic. Zheng Qing had previously visited the institute via the Ring Mansion corridor, but it was his first time using the convenient passage of the First Hall with an approval note in hand.

The situation behind the gate of the Institute of Applied Magic is completely different from Jiuyou Academy.

The gate of Jiuyou Academy is directly attached to the side gate of the educational complex, and passing through it leads to the protective screen wall of the front yard of the academy. However, after the gate of the Institute of Applied Magic, there is a white, seemingly endless corridor.

Along the sides of the corridor, there are many small doors with different materials and shapes, leading to different laboratories or research institutes of the Institute. Holding Professor Montreya’s note, Zheng Qing walked down the corridor, looking at the huge locks on each door, and suddenly realized something—if one did not have the corresponding permissions, getting through those doors would certainly be impossible.

The variety of application magic laboratory names along the way is dazzling.

For instance, the ’Druids Laboratory’ studying the promoting effects of magic on agriculture; the ’Classical Element Analysis Laboratory’ studying traditional magic; the ’Equivalent Summoning Laboratory’ researching communication with different planes; the ’Talisman Spell Equation Construction Laboratory’ unifying talismans and spells; the ’Totems and Psychic Field Theory Laboratory’ exploring the spiritual world under the dimension worldview, and many more.

Originally, Zheng Qing also planned to look for Su Shijun’s ’Two-dimensional Evolution Laboratory,’ but after searching for a long time, he still had not seen it when he found Professor Montreya’s laboratory. In the end, he had to give up.

The door to Professor Montreya’s laboratory is made of bronze, engraved with many mysterious patterns and designs.

Above the door, there is a brass plate that reads ’Montreya Laboratory,’ which is markedly different from the names of other laboratories and has a lot of character. However, beneath the laboratory’s name is a line of small writing, ’Bloodline Research and High Tier Magic Script Analysis,’ indicating to visitors the main research focus of this lab.

The entrance had no guard.

There was no Door God or Peach Charm hanging on the door, only a brass beast’s head, resembling a bull, holding a ring in its mouth.

Zheng Qing was somewhat nervous as he grabbed the brass ring and knocked hard.

After a long while, the brass bull struggled to open its eyes, glanced at the young wizard as if to say, ”What do you want?”

Zheng Qing hesitated, wondering whether he should bow to the brass bull’s head before speaking.

But soon, he remembered an old saying from ”Officialdom’s Exposé”: ’No one blames you for being too polite.’ He clenched his fist, bowed slightly to the Bull Head, and respectfully said, ”I’ve seen the senior before. Professor Montreya asked me to come to the laboratory at one o’clock this afternoon, please announce my arrival; thank you for your trouble!”

The Bull Head blinked, then opened its wide mouth.

A blue tongue emerged from behind the ring, stretching towards Zheng Qing.

Zheng Qing immediately placed the note given to him by Professor Montreya on it. The tongue gently wrapped around the note and drew it back into its mouth. Just when the young wizard was worried that the Bull Head might chew up the note, the bronze door ’creaked’ softly, slowly opening outwards.

Zheng Qing took a deep breath, touched the grey cloth bag at his waist, and walked through the bronze door with some trepidation.

It was similar to what he had imagined.

Behind the door was a vast laboratory. Dozens of figures in black robes were engrossed in the experiments before them, working diligently with the aid of various sophisticated alchemy tools atop broad workbenches.

Almost no one paid attention to the opening and closing of the bronze door, nor the young wizard who stealthily slipped into the laboratory.

A slightly gaunt, middle-aged man with grey hair, holding a thick notebook in his arms, and grasping a large ochre-colored brush in his right hand, was moving between the workbenches. He stooped from time to time to examine the work of the robed wizards, occasionally splashing ink with swift strokes, bending over to jot something down in the notebook.

Zheng Qing stood dumbfounded behind the bronze door.

No one paid him any mind, and he didn’t know if he should interrupt Professor Montreya’s work, which made him feel rather helpless for a moment.

The grey-haired middle-aged man—that is, Professor Montreya—after making his rounds in the laboratory, happened to reach the position of the bronze door and looked down at Zheng Qing.

Zheng Qing mustered his courage and looked up at the professor, whom he had not seen for a long time and whose reputation he had long admired.

Compared to their last meeting, Professor Montreya’s face now appeared extremely weary. His grey hair was shorter than before but messier, lacking the tidiness of the past. Deep eye sockets bore thick bags under his eyes, and his pallid skin was tightly stretched over his prominent cheekbones, showing that he had not had a good rest for a long time.

Only those grey-blue eyes, as sharp and profound as always, were the most dazzling part of his entire face.

Zheng Qing avoided his gaze uneasily and focused on the professor’s cheekbones. The brown age spots there distinctly told anyone who saw them that this body had long been deprived of proper rest and care.