Chapter 311 - 293: The Dean of Students with a Strange Style

Chapter 311: Chapter 293: The Dean of Students with a Strange Style

"WAH!!!!!"

Lloyd’s sudden shout startled the blond skeleton across from him, who unexpectedly echoed the cry:

"WAH!!!!!"

Lloyd: !!!∑(ﾟДﾟノ)ノ

Skeleton: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ

The man and the skeleton had, in an instant, reached some kind of bizarre understanding.

As the skeleton jumped, the lustrous, golden-blond wig on its head fell to the floor, revealing a bald, ghastly white scalp...

Thankfully, Dandy was quick to react, hastily reassuring Lloyd:

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Director Zaza just... looks like that. Don’t be scared."

Then, he turned to the skeleton and said:

"Director Zaza, my apologies. He’s a new student in our Space System."

With Dandy smoothing things over and offering various explanations, the tense atmosphere in the office finally began to ease.

Lloyd, however, was still struggling to accept this reality. ’How can the director of the esteemed Mizkakotok University be a skeleton?’

’A skeleton is one thing, but why is it wearing a wig?’

’And if it has to wear a wig, why choose that style?’

’Forget all that, why would the director of the university get startled by a new student like me?’

But this skeleton seemed surprisingly easy to talk to, not like the stereotypical director, nor like a stereotypical skeleton.

It actually managed a very human-like, beaming expression. Its pitch-black eye sockets narrowed into slits, and its mouth stretched into a friendly, amiable smile. As it placed the wig back on its head, it said:

"Ahaha, so that’s what happened? Alright, but please don’t shout so suddenly next time. You scared me to death..."

’Wait, how can a skeleton be ’scared to death’?’

’And can you please stop fussing with that wig?’

Lloyd couldn’t help but snark internally again. ’This director is just a walking pile of things to make fun of!’

He just couldn’t seem to get over the fact that the man was a skeleton...

But then he had another thought. The Chief Judge, who had been so good to him, had that neither-human-nor-ghost appearance...

And the Grand Judge, who treated him like a brother, was just an empty suit of armor...

Even the ’girl next door’ he was so affectionate with every morning didn’t have a human form at all...

’Suddenly, the director being a skeleton doesn’t seem so hard to accept anymore.’

As his mind wandered, he noticed the skeleton across from him staring wide-eyed, studying him with great interest.

He felt that this skeletal face wasn’t made of ordinary bone. Its plasticity seemed even greater than that of human facial muscles. It could not only form all sorts of human-like expressions but also do so with extraordinary vividness and fluidity.

In any case, it wasn’t like a normal skeleton. It was more like a cartoon-style skeleton from Earth. Once he got used to it, it was actually kind of cute.

After observing Lloyd for a moment, the skeleton asked:

"Hm? Wait a second... You said he’s a new student in your Space System?"

"That’s right. It seems he’s a recommended student. Today is his first time here."

Dandy explained, nudging Lloyd with his elbow and motioning for him to take out his Admission Notice, the Enrollment Assessment Letter from the old professor, and the brooch.

Lloyd quickly placed the three items on the skeleton director’s desk and instantly tried to use [Investigation] on his Attributes.

But it failed immediately...

It wasn’t too surprising. After all, even though [Investigation] had been upgraded to [Enhanced Investigation], it only worked on humans.

’In other words, this skeleton’s situation must be different from the two Chief Judges, right?’

While Lloyd was pondering this, the skeleton across from him finished looking over the items he’d provided and gave another amiable smile.

"An honors student jointly recommended by three honorary professors, and with an extremely high enrollment assessment from Professor Lawrence, no less. Mm-hm, what a fine young man! No wonder the Space System has its eye on you...

However, according to procedure, I can only help him register for enrollment and give him the honors student benefits for now. As for joining the Space System, since your department requires students to be at least third-years, we’ll need the dean to make an exception."

"I know. Professor Lawrence has already gone to see the dean. He should be able to persuade them, right?"

"Mm-hm, with Professor Lawrence’s power, he should be able to persuade the dean. I’ll go ahead and handle the standard registration for him then."

As the skeleton spoke, he raised his white-gloved right hand and stretched it forward. The front half of his arm vanished into thin air, as if he’d reached into some kind of Alternate Space.

A wry smile appeared on its face as it said:

"This filing cabinet of mine is getting harder and harder to use. When are you guys going to come and do some maintenance?"

"I’ll mention it when I get back. Our research projects have been a bit tight on time lately, and we even lost a member today..."

"That is unfortunate. Was it because of student Lloyd?"

"Yes... That’s why Professor Lawrence has to persuade the dean. Otherwise, we’ll be even more short-staffed."

Lloyd listened from the side as the two discussed the researcher who had been sacrificed, their tones eerily calm. He felt a complex mix of emotions.

Even if the old professor had said they all possessed the resolve ’to hear the truth in the morning and die content in the evening,’ he still found it hard to get used to...

’I wonder if I’ll be able to share some of their burden in the future?’

As his mind wandered, he suddenly felt a unique afterglow of Spiritual Power drift in from outside the window and quickly turned his head in that direction.

It felt like a battle had broken out over there, a fierce fight at least on the level of an Advisor subjugation!

’What’s going on? Is that the dueling grounds?’

’They must all be Eighth Tier, right? Mmm, Mizkatoke really has no weaklings!’

’But I wonder what system it is? It’s not [Veto] or [Manifestation], nor is it [Calamity] or [Curse]. It’s a unique Spiritual Charm I’ve never encountered before.’

Lloyd’s curiosity was suddenly piqued. If only he could go and watch.

But then he heard Dandy suddenly say with delight:

"Yes! The professor succeeded in persuading the dean!"

The skeleton director, whose forearm was still swallowed by the air, laughed along with him.

"Haha, Professor Lawrence is, after all, one of our most senior professors here. His power is naturally unfathomable... Ah! I’ve just received the notification from the dean. They’ve agreed to make the exception. That makes things much easier. We can complete all the procedures at once."

Lloyd listened from the side, completely dumbfounded...

’Didn’t they say the professor went to persuade the dean?’

’Then what’s with this Spiritual Charm erupting from a battle?’

’Isn’t your method of ’persuasion’ a little strange here?’

As he was puzzling over this, he heard Dandy offer an explanation:

"At Mizkatoke, everyone is very stubborn. It’s incredibly difficult to persuade someone on an academic matter. So, a lot of the time, we prefer to settle academic disputes on the dueling grounds..."

’So, a battle of wits is inferior to a battle of fists?’

Hearing this, Lloyd immediately pictured two old men with white hair and beards, arguing endlessly over some issue, before pulling out their respective books and whacking each other over the head with them...

"Er... The academic culture here is certainly... rustic?"

But Dandy stated matter-of-factly:

"It may be a bit crude, but it’s actually necessary. Some academic disputes can touch upon one’s fundamental system of Cognition. Losing on the dueling grounds and ending up in the hands of those maniacs from the Medical System is, at worst, still better than having your entire Cognition collapse, right?"

Even the skeleton chimed in, his tone full of regret:

"That’s true, but I’m still against violence. The consequences of Cognition collapse are truly tragic, though. Sigh... It’s a good thing I no longer participate in academic research."

Hearing them put it that way, Lloyd suddenly felt like the whole thing was starting to sound... reasonable?

’It really is like the old saying goes: behind every seemingly unreasonable rule, there’s often an even more ridiculous reason...’

’I really can’t treat this place like a normal university. No wonder even a fifth-year student like Dandy said it should be called the ’Mizikatok Asylum’...’

Lloyd sighed to himself.

Just then, the skeleton’s forearm finally pulled back out of the invisible space, a kraft paper bag now in its hand.

"Finally found it. My filing cabinet is getting more and more inefficient. I don’t know what I’m going to do when the new academic year starts."

Dandy replied, not knowing whether to laugh or cry:

"Please, don’t rush us. I’ll tell them about it as soon as I get back and have them come maintain it as soon as possible."

The skeleton finally nodded in satisfaction. He then opened the paper bag, scribbled on a large pile of forms and documents, and began processing Lloyd’s enrollment.

Seeing that he was busy, Lloyd continued chatting with Dandy, asking curiously:

"Besides people like me who are recommended, how are other students selected for this place?"

Unexpectedly, it was the skeleton who answered:

"We don’t know. The dean gives us a list of names, and we send out the Admission Notices and arrange for guides...

Hm, speaking of which, Lloyd, your guide was a third-year graduate named Fred. He’s said to be an excellent investigator out in the real world, but it seems he’s gone missing recently? The alumni association is currently searching for him...

That’s probably why your orientation was postponed, because he wasn’t available.

Fortunately, it all worked out for you. Professor Lawrence himself assessed you and even gave you such a high score."

As the skeleton spoke, he gathered the forms and documents and bent down, disappearing under his desk as if searching for something.

He didn’t come back up for a long time. Only a muffled voice could be heard from behind the desk:

"Sigh... Why is my storage box acting up now, too?"

Dandy shrugged at Lloyd with a helpless expression, then mouthed, *That’s just how he is...*

The two of them waited for quite a while before the skeleton finally resurfaced, holding an exquisite box in his hand as if he had performed a magic trick.

The box was about the size of a washbasin and looked a bit like a ’Treasure Chest’ from one of the video games on Earth.

The skeleton placed an Arm Badge and a small booklet on the desk and gave a brief introduction:

"Inside here are your new student benefits for having an ’S+’ rating. This is your new student handbook, this is your Arm Badge, and this is the key to your dorm room."

Lloyd didn’t have any issue with the other items, but he was puzzled by the key and explained:

"Um... I have a job in the outside world, so I can’t live on campus. Can I apply to be a day student?"

"Of course. In fact, most of our students are day students. Very few live at the university full-time."

"Then this dorm key isn’t really necessary, is it?"

"No, no, no, it’s very necessary. You just don’t understand the situation here yet. You’ll see once you return to the mortal world."

The skeleton waved his hand, a wry smile on his face as he spoke.