Atavisme

Chapitre 1

Paranormal Academy 3

Chapter 1: Practical Reiki Lessons

Since the start of the semester in September, Byte Academy hasn't held any major events, which has made some people who hoped to use those events to hook up with—no, to get to know—handsome men and women quite anxious. But they're finally almost there, because today is December 1st, and Christmas is just 24 days away.

Christmas = inevitably involves major events = you can meet many people you couldn't meet before = you can start a happy and fulfilling relationship (or = you can have a romantic Christmas night with your loved one) = everyone's heart starts to stir with romantic feelings.

In addition, it had been snowing for several days, burying the entire academy in a shimmering silver, giving everyone the feeling that "Christmas is just around the corner." Although there were still "twenty-four" days left, everyone was already impatient.

Lou Lifan couldn't understand why these people were so excited. Everyone around him was talking about what they planned for Christmas Eve, what gifts they would use to win someone's heart, some impatient people had already prepared Christmas presents, and some young girls even squeezed in time during breaks to knit sweaters—of course, they wanted to knit during class, but this was a paranormal academy, and the chance of being discovered by the instructors was 99.9%, with the remaining 0.1% chance that the instructors would be in a good mood and not bother with you.

Lian Peilin was so excited he couldn't contain himself. After turning the box upside down, he planned when to go out of school to buy a nice new outfit, to make himself look handsome and dashing, and then on Christmas Eve... hehehehehehehehehehe...

Lou Lifan observed this coldly, because he didn't believe this kind of twisted school would give them what they wanted. If everyone was excited, then the principal would definitely be excited too, and if he was excited, then everyone was in for a rough time.

Even without that, he wasn't interested in such things. Every Christmas, he was overwhelmed by the sheer number of beautiful women pursuing him; he was too busy running away to bother with anything else…

During this period, a strange atmosphere would permeate the classroom. Often, someone would daydream while teaching, or even chuckle, making others feel uneasy. The instructors had all been through that phase, so they usually turned a blind eye. However, occasionally someone would go too far, and even the most good-tempered instructor would lose their temper. At best, the lectern would be damaged; at worst, all the windows would shatter.

To address this issue, some instructors temporarily change their classes during this period to outdoor settings, such as practical or internship courses.

Today, Lou Lifan and the others were supposed to have a class on spiritual energy dissection, but it was changed to a practical spiritual energy class for this reason.

The classes were held in the large training ground of Byte Academy, which covered 15 square kilometers and was made of cement. The training ground was densely surrounded by all kinds of young trees, and the cement ground was barren. Only in the center stood an old tree that was said to be nearly 10,000 years old, about 70 or 80 meters tall, and the shade under its canopy could accommodate more than a hundred people at the same time.

Unfortunately, it is winter now, and the old tree has long since lost all its leaves, with its branches covered in a thick layer of snow.

Although you can wear a shirt in the heated classroom, once you're in the beautiful scenery of the university campus, no matter how capable you are, you have to wear thick clothes, no questions asked.

Pei Linhai's home is in the north, so this kind of weather is commonplace for him; a thick sweater was enough for him. Lou Lifan, however, is different. His home is in the south, where it rarely snows. The first time he saw snow was when he was fifteen, fresh out of university, and received a mission that could only be completed in the north. Following southern custom, he only brought two coats, and the result was predictable…

He hated the snow in winter because of this, and he wished he could skip all the outdoor classes lately, but he couldn't. He didn't want to skip class for such a trivial reason—"What you learn today might save your life tomorrow," was the Lou family motto.

He wore three sweaters, three pairs of woolen trousers, and a thick woolen long coat on top, making him look like a rolling ball from a distance. Pei Linhai couldn't understand his outfit at all, but dared not voice any objections. He could only obediently follow him, making sure he didn't get stuck in the doorway when going in or out.

There are about a dozen classes having outdoor lessons on the 15-square-kilometer training field, with dozens of students in each class. Even so, the number of people here still seems very small and insignificant.

Lou Lifan, dressed in bulky clothes, swayed onto the practice field. Luo Tianwu and his friends, who were waiting for class in another class, spotted him from afar and, taking advantage of the distance, began to mock his attire. Unfortunately for them, Lou Lifan was no ordinary person; he overheard every word they said and, in a fit of rage, conjured a ball of spiritual energy the size of a basketball and hurled it at them. The group dodged, but none could evade the unpredictable, elusive energy; one of them was struck on the head, a bloody bump on his head, and knocked unconscious.

Even those who were so far away couldn't escape it. The classmates who originally wanted to make a few jokes were all silent now. Even if Lou Lifan was dressed as a clown, probably no one would dare to say another word.

The school bell rang out in the distance, echoing throughout the vast campus. Hai Shenlan, the teacher of the Spiritual Practice class, floated lightly to her classroom—yes, floated lightly. If you looked closely, you could see that her feet were still slightly off the thick snow on the ground, meaning she had floated there.

The students who discovered this gasped in amazement. In the use of spiritual energy, only one ability allows one to levitate: spiritual energy flight. However, spiritual energy flight itself relies on using spiritual energy to maintain the distance between the body and the ground. If one were to walk on snow like this, it would be no different from walking with a human, leaving footprints. Yet, wherever she walked, there were no traces, not even the slightest. Furthermore, spiritual energy flight consumes an astonishing amount of energy. Hai Shenlan's "teacher's resume" states she's only 30 years old this year. At that age, she wouldn't be like a child, casually showing off such a heavily depleted ability, would she?

Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [3]: "Hello everyone, it's been a long time." Hai Shenlan raised his right hand and smiled at the surprised students.

All students stood at attention with their hands behind their backs. This was the signal for class to begin.

"We've moved the final practical spiritual energy lesson to the beginning of today's spiritual energy dissection lesson, and I'm sure you all know why." Hai Shenlan strolled around lightly, scrutinizing the students' postures and expressions. Finally, her gaze fell on Lou Lifan, and her expression became one of wanting to laugh but being embarrassed. She held back her laughter for a long time. "So now we're going to start learning practical spiritual energy. I hope you've all previewed it."

Pei Linhai raised his hand.

"Do you have a question?" Hai Shenlan asked.

Pei Linhai answered honestly, "Well... because I couldn't understand it during the preview."

No one laughed at him; no one understood it. The practical application of spiritual energy was emphasized in the syllabus, but the chapter in the book was only eight thin pages long, filled with terms like "Morse conversion" and "Cairofen's Great Movement." They searched through textbooks on the anatomy of spiritual energy and only found a definition of "qualitative conversion," which was something as nonsensical as "the mutual conversion between spiritual energy, magical energy, demonic energy, etc."

Spiritual power is spiritual power, magical power is magical power, and demonic power is demonic power. These are not interchangeable in common sense. Perhaps spiritual power can use magical abilities, or magical power can use demonic abilities, but that doesn't mean they can be converted into each other. It only means that the "abilities" they use are compatible. Otherwise, a demon possessing demonic power could also "become" a human through a qualitative shift in ability, or a human could become a demon.

Hai Shenlan looked at the expressions on everyone's faces and understood exactly what they were thinking. So he smiled and asked, "So, it seems that none of you understand?" Everyone nodded.

"What part do I not understand?"

"I can't understand any of it!" The voices were all in unison, more so than ever before.

Hai Shenlan smiled and paced back and forth, her eyes, painted with cool blue eyeshadow, sparkling. She said softly, "Of course... That chapter is full of things that only fourth-grade students can understand. If you could understand it, you wouldn't need to study here."

The students erupted in uproar. If it's a first-grade textbook, why use material that fourth-graders wouldn't understand?! What kind of freak would do such a thing?!

Because of the school's well-known origins of its perverse traditions, the students immediately thought of the guy who always wore a black cloth over his head, regardless of winter or summer—Principal Byte!

“I know what you’re thinking,” Hai Shenlan raised her hand to signal everyone to be quiet, “but this time it really has nothing to do with that pervert. Whoever is compiling this textbook, it has to be done this way.”

The students gradually quieted down and listened to her continue.

"So why is that? The reason lies in the unique nature of the Reiki Practice course itself. Reiki Practice is an important course in Reiki Anatomy. If you can't practice Reiki, then learning Reiki Anatomy is as good as not learning it at all. So you could say that most of our Reiki Anatomy is actually preparation for Reiki Practice. To practice Reiki, you must understand many things that require a high level of understanding, such as 'K3 Collision' in magic teaching; however, Reiki Practice itself is the most basic course. If you fail this course, you are very likely to be in mortal danger during your second-year internship. We must enable you to use Reiki Practice proficiently in your first year, but without learning the second and third-year courses, it is difficult for you to understand the fourth-year material. Therefore, we faced many difficulties in compiling the teaching materials, and finally we had to make a compromise. That is to say, the teaching materials use the highest level of explanation to explain abilities, but in fact, it is mainly taught orally and learned through internship. When you are in your fourth year, you will naturally understand these things at a glance."

These words were spoken with great professionalism, and their logic was exceptionally bizarre. Even Lou Lifan, who grew up in a witch's family and was used to his family's strange logic, was left confused and unable to understand them.

Although I didn't understand the logic, I did understand the basic reason. In short, this is something that must be learned in the first year. You can learn it, but if you want to use theory to support it, you have to wait until the fourth year. And the most important point is that you can still use it even if you don't understand those incomprehensible theories.

Having received such a guarantee, everyone naturally didn't say anything more. They simply shivered in the sudden gust of cold wind, hoping to do something quickly so they wouldn't have to stand there freezing. Although Lou Lifan's clothes were thick enough to break the record for "thickest" at Byte Academy, he was still unbearably cold, and his entire lower body was numb.

As expected, Hai Shenlan took a few steps back and said to the students who were starting to tremble, "Now I will begin teaching the practical application of spiritual energy. Please stand back a bit and keep at least two meters away from the people around you."

The students did as instructed. Normally, it would have been a simple matter of moving around, and anyone could have done it. But today, many people, like Lou Lifan, were frozen stiff within minutes. One person stood there motionless, and when the people around him accidentally bumped into him while they were moving around, he fell straight down in the snow. It took a flurry of activity to revive him.

“As you may have noticed, I’m standing here,” Hai Shenlan continued, pacing back and forth, “my feet have been floating above the snow without touching it. When you see this, your first impression might be that I used spiritual energy to fly, but your second impression might be that you start to doubt it, because spiritual energy flight leaves traces, especially in this soft snow. There’s no way I could walk on snow without leaving a trace like this.”

Most students nodded. Those who didn't nod weren't misunderstanding; they simply hadn't noticed her floating, or if they had, they couldn't understand it, because not everyone can fly with spiritual energy, like Pei Linhai.

"The first thing you should notice is that I am floating, and the second thing, I'm afraid you haven't noticed, is that since I arrived, I haven't stopped, but have been moving back and forth continuously."

Only after she said that did everyone realize this. She really hadn't stopped, not even for a second. She was just strolling leisurely without making a sound. If it were a lecture, it wouldn't be a problem, but even lecturers usually stop somewhere for at least a few seconds. But she didn't stop at all; she just kept walking.

"Now I have a question for you all," Sea Blue asked with a smile, "Can anyone tell me what technologies in the world today allow people to fly?"

Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [4]: Lou Lifan wouldn't bother answering this kind of question, but if no one answers her within five seconds of the question being asked, it will be troublesome if an awkward silence occurs -- don't be fooled by the teacher's constant smiles, if anyone dares to let her class fall silent, the consequences will be...

“There are more than a dozen types,” Lou Lifan replied, his voice muffled by his collar. “The first type is mechanical power, which is the mechanical-energy principle used for thousands of years; the second type is spiritual energy flight; the third type is demonic energy levitation; the fourth type is magical drifting; there are also elven buoyancy and various methods to change the density and structure of the body, etc., but they are not very useful and are prone to danger. Now it is rare to see their teaching materials.”

"Well said!" Hai Shenlan clapped his hands twice. "I didn't expect that there would be students among the first-year students who understand these theories so well. Usually, kids your age only pay attention to theories that are related to their own abilities, and rarely learn about things that are not related to them."

She's right, but knowledge about the paranormal is complex. Trying to understand every aspect can easily lead to confusion. It's not wrong for people to only understand what's relevant to them. Almost everyone thought this way, and Hai Shenlan knew that everyone would think the same after she said that. That's exactly what she wanted to make everyone think that way.

"I understand that everyone wants to specialize in something, but please abandon this idea from now on. From now on, you will be using not only 'spirit' abilities, but also 'demon', 'demon', and 'spirit' abilities. If you are not familiar with any of them, you may fail your practical spiritual energy course. Please pay attention to this."

A student raised their hand and said, "But we don't have demonic power, magical power, or elf power! How can we use them!?"

"This is the most difficult part of our practical spiritual energy course." After saying this, Hai Shenlan stopped explaining and shifted the topic to the previous one, "Now I want to know, how many people here can fly using spiritual energy?"

About three-quarters of the people raised their hands.

“Very good, better than I expected.” She gestured for everyone to put their hands down. “However, although many people know how to use it, there are still some who don’t understand this ability. Fortunately, although this ability consumes an astonishing amount of energy, it is very simple and easy to learn. Now I will demonstrate it for you.”

She took another step back, exhaled softly, as if some power had been released through that breath, and with a slight crack, her feet were already deeply embedded in the snow.

"Before you've mastered it, put away your other abilities. Then, concentrate your spiritual power under your feet and release it outwards, spiraling around your entire body, like this..." It was as if a blower suddenly appeared beneath her feet, scattering snowflakes in all directions. Then, the wind gradually transformed into a visible pale blue whirlwind, slowly enveloping her. She floated up with this funnel-shaped whirlwind, wider at the top and narrower at the bottom.

Generally, whirlwinds created by spiritual energy are colorless and have little impact on their surroundings. This is because spiritual energy consumes the least amount of energy when it acts only on the "person" who releases it. Moreover, under the same circumstances, if the same thing is done on an object other than the "person" who releases it, the energy consumed is about twice as much. Therefore, although such floating spiritual energy is beautiful and magnificent, it is rarely used.

Lou Lifan was surprised. Just maintaining his floating state would consume more than two-thirds of his spiritual energy, let alone such a gorgeous way of taking off... If he used it like her, he would definitely collapse from exhaustion immediately.

She showed no signs of fatigue or exhaustion. Judging from this, she should have at least an A-level ability. If she had such high abilities, she could hold a place in the Paranormal Association. Why was she just a teacher here?

Hai Shenlan slowly descended and began to observe the results of everyone's learning.

She was right. Using spiritual energy to fly was indeed easy to learn. With her theory, everyone mastered how to use it within minutes. Pei Linhai only fell a few times at the beginning because the spiritual energy wind was not even enough, but he quickly learned it.

After seeing the last person also use their spiritual energy to fly, Hai Shenlan returned to her previous floating posture on the snow and said, "Alright, what you just did was spiritual flight and spiritual energy flight, which are among the four categories of abilities: 'spirit,' 'demon,' 'magic,' and 'essence.' But today we will learn not only spiritual energy flight, but also demonic levitation. We will explain magical drifting and elven levitation in the next lesson."

“We don’t have any demonic abilities…” some students began to whisper among themselves.

"Of course you don't have any. If you did, you'd be monsters. Like that perverted principal..."

"A perverted principal?! Is that guy a monster?!" Everyone strained their ears at the mention of uncovering the secrets of the mysterious perverted principal, and even Lou Lifan couldn't help but get excited.

Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [5]: "Ah, so he's a monster!"

"What kind of monster could it be?"

"That old monster..."

"Teacher! Teacher! What kind of monster is he?!"

"How many years has he been a spirit?!"

Hai Shenlan was extremely embarrassed by her mistake. She coughed a few times to bring the attention of the agitated crowd back to normal: "Um... please pretend you didn't hear what I just said..."

"How could we not have heard! Is he a monster or not?!" Someone was so excited they were trembling.

Hai Shenlan hesitated for a moment before replying, "Well... I can only tell you that he does indeed possess the abilities of a demon..."

"Ah!! Then he must be a monster!"

Hai Shenlan smiled, his eyes gleaming: "This is exactly what I'm going to talk about next. Are you more interested in my lesson, or in him? Answer carefully, or I might get angry! ^^"

Teacher Hai Shenlan's outburst = Heavy casualties within fifty meters, they were not unaware of this before, so this sentence immediately and effectively suppressed everyone's desire to gossip.

"We still... prefer listening to Professor Hai Shenlan's lectures..." This is what's meant by bowing to evil forces...

"Alright, everyone, please focus on today's lesson. The 'spiritual energy flight' technique you just learned is sufficient for now. Once you learn about demonic energy levitation and magical energy drifting, you'll basically no longer need it." She looked around at the students. "Since earlier, some of you have been grumbling about not having demonic energy, so you can't learn about abilities related to demonic energy. In that case, I'd like you all to use your spiritual energy or intuition to detect what kind of 'qi' I possess. Is it spiritual energy? Demonic energy? Or demonic energy?"

Even if she didn't say it, the students, who were spiritualists, would habitually probe someone's abilities whenever they met them, and this time was no exception. So someone quickly answered, "It's spiritual energy!"

Hai Shenlan smiled, and his whole body suddenly trembled. Countless tiny crackling electric sparks appeared at the 877 acupoints of his main spiritual energy meridian.

The lightning flashed and disappeared in an instant, and she immediately smiled and asked, "So, what kind of energy do I have on me now?"

Lou Lifan had been using his spiritual power to monitor the distribution of power around her. As lightning flashed in her spiritual energy meridians, the aura surrounding her changed in an instant.

"It's demonic energy!"

That wasn't an illusion, nor a delusion, nor some kind of trick; it was demonic energy! But it was indeed spiritual energy just now! If only one person had misjudged, that would be one thing, but everyone's results were the same—her aura "just now" was indeed spiritual power, but in an instant, the nature of her aura changed, turning into demonic energy.

Lou Lifan and Pei Linhai exchanged a glance, several possibilities flashing through their minds. Perhaps, perhaps she was a hybrid of human and demon... But if that were the case, her aura should possess both, not just a pure conversion between the two! So who exactly was she...?

Perhaps... this is that inexplicable term—"qualitative transformation"!? Is such a thing really possible?