"But before training begins, I still need your opinion." Angers paused, "Lu Mingfei, are you willing to accept the one-on-one training I've arranged for you?"
"Yes." Lu Mingfei answered without hesitation.
When Lu Mingfei arrived at the training location at 6 AM the next day, he subtly regretted his words from yesterday.
Lu Mingfei, still in good spirits, warmed up for today's ten-kilometer morning run while recalling the information the Headmaster had told him last night.
He learned from the Headmaster that due to the importance of the Kui Men Plan, the recent incident resulted in disciplinary action against all members of Professor Mans' task force.
Senior Brother Ye Sheng and Senior Sister Yaji are currently in solitary confinement reflecting, especially Senior Brother Ye Sheng, who also has to copy the Ideological Education Manual ten times.
Professor Mans will also be temporarily suspended from teaching and placed on probation after the incident.
Although the others were unharmed, some members of the Board of Directors suspected collusion, so their movements have been temporarily restricted.
The Headmaster didn't say much else, only mentioning in the end that he still needed to haggle with the Board of Directors, and the preliminary training details would be sent to his email via Noma.
Looking at the training details in the email, Lu Mingfei couldn't help but pinch the bridge of his nose.
"Ten kilometers in 50 minutes." He murmured, lamenting that it was a killer job, and then started running.
Chu Zihang saw Lu Mingfei step onto the track and gave a slight nod of acknowledgment, and Lu Mingfei also nodded in return. They had essentially exchanged morning greetings.
"Are you here to train too, Senior Brother?"
"Too?" Chu Zihang turned his head to scan the sparsely populated gymnasium. Only the monitoring camera on a high platform not far away, occasionally emitting a red light, was watching them.
"What are you looking for, Senior Brother? Did someone come for a morning run with you?" Lu Mingfei scanned around, following Chu Zihang's gaze.
"No, I come for morning runs out of habit; there's no training involved. This is the first time I've seen you in the gymnasium." Chu Zihang asked, looking at Lu Mingfei's less-than-standard running posture.
"Yes, yesterday the Headmaster kept me behind and said he had devised a training plan for me," Lu Mingfei said.
"I see. It sounds like the Headmaster has included himself in the resources you can allocate."
"Senior Brother knows the Headmaster is an allocable resource?" Lu Mingfei was surprised.
"I guessed it from your words; you often show your inner thoughts on your face," Chu Zihang said expressionlessly. "And it seems I'm also included in your allocable resources."
"What? What?" Lu Mingfei asked in astonishment.
"I come to the gymnasium for an hour-long morning run at 5:30 every day. The Headmaster knows we'll definitely meet. Your plan might not mention it, but in reality, I'm supposed to supervise your morning run," Chu Zihang said.
"Thank you, Senior Brother."
"Mm." Chu Zihang nodded.
An hour later.
Passing by the dormitory building on his way to the cafeteria, Lu Mingfei saw Room 303 with its curtains still drawn, and he couldn't help but feel a longing for his bed.
According to the training plan, for the next month, he would have no chance of seeing his bed after six in the morning.
"Sigh, well, I've already trained."
Lu Mingfei sighed as he walked out of the dormitory area. A small gap appeared in the curtains of Room 303, which he had been gazing at, and the burly man hidden behind the curtains quickly spoke into the phone.
"Headmaster, Headmaster, Lu Mingfei didn't return to the dormitory; he went straight to the cafeteria."
...
The first class of the morning was in the Headmaster's office.
Separated by a large desk, Lu Mingfei and Headmaster Angers drank morning tea.
The Headmaster's office was an unassuming two-story building, surrounded by layers of trees. From the outside, it looked as dilapidated as an old, neglected garage, but once inside, it was a world of its own.
The entire house was essentially a bookshelf.
The first and second floors were connected, with a huge skylight in the central atrium. The frosted glass was covered with last autumn's leaves, and the morning sun was pleasant, warming Lu Mingfei.
Lu Mingfei's gaze fell on the briefcase in the middle of the desk, with its silver metal trim, looking no different from the one Professor Guderian had shown him during enrollment.
"I heard that during your introductory class, Professor Guderian showed you the Everlasting Ribbon?" The Headmaster showed a proud expression.
"That alchemical product is quite good, isn't it?"
"Very sharp." Lu Mingfei nodded.
"It's a pity I have better weapons, and in recent years, there haven't been suitable students in the academy who could use it, so it's been gathering dust in the ice cellar for quite some time." The Headmaster pushed the briefcase towards Lu Mingfei.
"Fortunately, you're here."
"You mean, for me?"
"No one else can use it besides you. This thing is useless for any mixed-blood below S-rank," the Headmaster said. "Weapons are born for killing. I never collect them in the ice cellar just because they look good. Every alchemical product in the ice cellar is prepared for dragon-slaying."
"It sounds like this thing is mine, but what price do I have to pay?" Lu Mingfei narrowed his eyes, looking at Angers. Speaking to Angers in such a manner put considerable psychological pressure on him.
Fortunately, Angers didn't seem to mind his words at all and instead said,
"This is a dragon-slaying loan. If you want the horse to run fast, you have to feed it grass. Every excellent dragon-slayer should have a weapon that suits him." Angers rested his elbows on the desk, leaning forward, looking at Lu Mingfei.
"Chu Zihang has Murasame, Caesar has Diktator, and you should also have your own weapon."
Lu Mingfei thought for a moment, then nodded, "I understand. The Headmaster means that before I find a weapon I like, I can use this ribbon as a substitute."
"You are smarter than I thought, child." Angers paused, "I originally thought that growing up in such an environment, you wouldn't have such agile thinking. Now it seems I was wrong."
Lu Mingfei was speechless.
Angers faced Lu Mingfei with a benevolent smile, "Alright, that's enough of the digression. This morning's task is to tame this Everlasting Ribbon and make the living spirit within it submit."
"How do I do that?" Lu Mingfei opened the box in front of him and saw the six-meter-long ribbon.
"Bleed."
Lu Mingfei held his breath, took out the blood collection needle that came with the briefcase, and, following the enrollment procedure, dripped his blood into the glass interlayer.
A ribbon about half a meter long stood upright at the window.
"Then, hold it, right?" Lu Mingfei remembered Fuyama Masashi's emphasis on the ribbon's sharpness. Although the Headmaster had vouched for it beforehand, he still couldn't help but feel nervous when it came to actual operation.
"Believe in yourself, Mingfei." Angers said.
After several deep breaths, Lu Mingfei reached out and grasped the ribbon. The expected hardness did not appear. The ribbon intimately wrapped around Lu Mingfei's bleeding index finger, then quickly climbed up his wrist along his index finger, extending to his forearm. Soon, half of his arm was entwined with the white ribbon, leaving a half-meter-long suspended streamer, hard as iron.
"It seems to like you very much." Angers smiled.
Lu Mingfei shook his hand and found that the way this thing existed was similar to a sleeve sword, and it was a bit longer than a sleeve sword.
"How do I make it shorter? If I go out with this thing, even the Chicago police will arrest me for questioning, right?" Lu Mingfei complained.
Angers didn't answer, just looked at the ribbon.
Lu Mingfei was stunned. The half-meter streamer in his eyes slowly coiled onto the back of his hand. Now he looked much like a boxer who frequently wraps his hands with bandages.
Angers applauded, "It seems our next lesson is also clear."