In a certain classroom within the Mobis Institute, a large number of people had taken their seats, whispering to one another in discussion. After all, this was a course from the Dean himself, it was natural for many people to be interested.
Not too long after 'Negary' entered the classroom, a thin and feeble-looking old man stepped behind the lecturing platform using a walking cane, his face full of deep wrinkles, his eyes already a bit cloudy.
"Michael Mobis, that is my name, although many of you already know of me, since I'm the head of this institution after all. It is my honor to have you all in my class, and now…" the old man spoke with decent humor, appearing like a kind elderly person: "Let us begin with the lesson"
…
While sitting in class, Nox looked up at the old man on the lecturing platform, silently scoffing at him.
Damned sly dog, acting like some sort of kindly old man in this place.
You weren't like this at all when I had your dick in my mouth, my jaws are still hurting after two days.
However, it wasn't as though she didn't benefit from him. Nox's great grandfather was a regular person who toiled away his entire life to accumulate a bit of wealth. By the time of Nox's generation, their family still hadn't melded very well into the noble circles of the Academic City or other regions.
Ever since she was young, Nox had been interested in Mysticism, quite similar to Katherine in Negary's Hermit Order. However, unlike Nox, Katherine was originally a noblewoman who held ample resources and wealth in her hands, enough to offset her expenditures on Mysticism.
On the other hand, Nox was only an insignificant member within her clan, so she ultimately chose to climb onto the beds of nobles in exchange for information and finances, which ended up with her joining the Mystic Demonesses organization.
However, becoming a Mystic wasn't quite as grand as Nox had imagined. She continued to be a toy of the nobles; the only difference was that she could obtain even more benefits from her acts.
For example, the main reason why she was able to become an auditing student of the institute and improve her social standings was due to that old man lecturing them also being a Mystic.
Nox chose to enter the institute this time to obtain even more from the other party; there were recent rumors of him conducting some sort of magical ritual, and she had also sensed the abnormalities of the institute for the past few days.
After this lecture was over, Nox intended to seek a personal discussion with that old man on the lecturing platform, asking him to take her in as his assistant. Even better if she could obtain more Mysticism knowledge from the experience.
Each time Nox used the pregnancy magic of the Demoness organization, she always felt like she was growing closer and closer to a pile of shit. If not for the extreme bliss that came from obtaining more mana, she would have already given up on using pregnancy magic simply because of the literal shitty sensation it brought.
Especially recently, Nox could sense herself becoming more accustomed to the debauchery she had taken part in, sometimes even feeling a sense of longing towards it. This notion frightened her, which was why she wanted to quickly find another method to obtain mana.
…
'Negary' was also observing this Dean of the Mobis Institute, Michael Mobis. One could easily infer from his name that this institute was part of their clan's inheritance, the position of Dean was something that he inherited from his grandfather, while his father had apparently lost his life during an unexpected, or perhaps not too unexpected, 'accident'.
After taking over this position, Michael had received plenty of praise from other people in high society. Humorous, witty, considerate, generous, such positive descriptors had been used to depict him more than once.
Even now, in his late 70s, he was still praised to be an excellent professor and Dean. Some past students would even occasionally pay him a visit, everyone respected him, some students who had received his aid even considered him like a father.
〖 Like a flawless Saint 〗
'Negary' understood a certain fact very well: If someone was flawless, that only meant that they had managed to hide all of their shortcomings.
Michael's lecture was quite decent, he managed to present some unique characteristics of a living body, as well as what to do in order to effectively study and analyze them, but to 'Negary' who had obtained [The Origin of Life] written by Mequik, it was only at the level of being 'decent'.
However, 'Negary' continued to listen to Michael's various researches sincerely, as everything had its course. The current lecture that Michael was teaching might not contain any bits relating to Mysticism, but an individual's words and actions always correlated in some way, and 'Negary' was capable of inferring the type of ritual Michael wanted to conduct through this correlation.
〖 Metamorphosis of living beings, huh? 〗
From Michael's words, coupled with some information he obtained from before, 'Negary' realized that this old man was approaching his end. He wanted to perform something akin to the natural process of metamorphosis to obtain a second life.
…
This was indeed the truth; the old man Michael's body was already on the verge of collapse. His years of magical research had left his body infected by all sorts of strange and unusual power, so as soon as he died, his body would become a treasure for his 'companions' to divide and compete for.
Michael could guarantee that every last bit of hair, flesh, and blood, would be collected and used by the others, simply because he had done the exact same thing more than just once.
For those in the pursuit of magic, the best magical ingredients were none other than themselves.
And humans were such contradictory creatures, while they could easily treat others in indescribably cruel ways, when it was time for others to treat them the same way, they would find themselves unable to accept it, such a double standard.
Michael was exactly like this, for his benefits, or simply his own enjoyment, he could unhesitantly take someone else's life and blaspheme their corpses, but when it was his time to accept this same fate, he couldn't accept it at all.
He then began to research a method to prolong his life, from immortality magic to conversion into an Evil God's dependent, it was after he entered the Grand Library most recently that he chose this path.
Five sacrifices…
Looking at the students below, Michael concealed his madness. There were two more days until the Mana Banquet, so he must be impatient, just like how a caterpillar must remain hidden inside a cocoon for a while before it could fully transform into its final form.
The one that made Michael feel the most trouble was the one called 'Negary' among the five sacrifices, the very same one who recently created a new type of food. He could sense a certain amount of mana coming from his body, not to mention other unique abilities. His last attempt at probing 'Negary' ended up a complete failure as he was repelled by nothing but simple casting mediums.
Damn it, if I had been able to catch that woman and use her as a hotbed, that would definitely have been a much better choice.
Michael silently cursed. Unfortunately, that woman had already escaped, she might even have some sort of organization behind her; if they were to disturb his ritual, that would be the real disaster.
…
"Very well, everyone. That is the end of today's lecture, it's time I return to enjoy my hardly delectable lunch" Michael maintained a kind smiling expression and said: "I wish everyone a good meal"
After the lesson was over, everyone went about their own businesses. Nox chased after Michael, wanting to ask if he was willing to take her as his assistant, the other auditing students also had their own matters to attend to.
After examining for a long while through his spirit sense to ensure that he had no pursuers, 'Negary' followed a certain path to reach a secluded corner of the campus where a manhole cover had been left open.
