Chapter 45: Mentor And Mentee
Cheng Zitong could tell that Chen Chuan was filled with sincere exhilaration.
He had never seen a student react like that after learning the truth. What a special kid, but that’s good. It’s great, even.
With that attitude, Chen Chuan could face this problem with great motivation and turn the impossible into possible.
In truth, Cheng Zitong was not confident he could handle it.
There was little time left. Based on how fast Chen Chuan’s mutated tissues were growing, his estimated timeframe might have been wrong, and he should have shortened the expected time for Chen Chuan to complete his training. He just did not want to give Chen Chuan too much pressure.
But it seemed like he would not need to worry about that in the future.
“Good. From today onwards, I will guide your training. You don’t need to worry about the campus-wide events. I’ll reject them for you. They can’t compare to your survival.”
Chen Chuan nodded. Then, after some pondering, he said, “Mr. Cheng, I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“I heard that learning refined force is quite hard, and not everyone can master it. How does the university treat the students who are unable to restrain the growth of their mutated tissues in time?” he asked.
“Not everyone’s mutated tissues grow endlessly. They grow in stages. Some people’s mutated tissue stop growing after they reach a certain extent and never start up again. In such a case, it naturally does not become a problem.
“That’s why most mediocre martial artists don’t have to deal with this. The most common situation is that mutated tissues stop growing after a stage or two, and like the people I showed you, all they need to do is go to the hospital and get a surgery. This makes them free for the rest of their lives.
“But in order to get stronger combat power, some people use medicine to stimulate their mutated tissue growth in hopes of them starting to grow again. Pharmaceutical companies have come up with all sorts of medicine to do just that.
“Only the mutated tissue of naturally gifted people like you grow continuously in several stages. It means that your growth potential is far higher, but the risks you face are also greater.”
Chen Chuan nodded. “Do the students in the university know about this?”
Cheng Zitong laughed. “We’re not allowed to tell undergraduates about this. The ungifted ones have no need to know, while the ones who know are required to sign a confidentiality agreement while they’re studying in order to not negatively impact the other students’ studies or create chaos outside.
“I don’t care about those things. Since I’ve been asked to be your mentor, I have the responsibility to tell you about it. I don’t want you not even knowing what you should be doing. It’ll be fine as long as you don’t casually reveal this information to other people. You can read the agreement later.”
Chen Chuan stared at him. You said that you wanted to be my mentor earlier, you know?
He did not expose Cheng Zitong’s slip of the tongue. It was not like he cared about it, anyway. He took a deep breath and asked, “When should I start training?”
“Patience. We need to take this one step at a time.” Cheng Zitong took a copy of the mentor-mentee registration form from his briefcase and handed it to Chen Chuan. “Sign this, and I’ll submit it to the Admission Department for record-keeping. After this, you’ll be my mentee, and I’ll be in charge of your life while serving as your mentor. But there’s no legal binding force to this paper. If you think that I’m not responsible enough or not good enough, you can apply for another mentor in a month’s time.”
Chen Chuan took the form and signed his name without hesitation before handing it back.
Cheng Zitong also signed the paper and yanked off the top page of the form before returning the bottom page to Chen Chuan. “Good. From now on, I’m officially your mentor. I’m confident that I can be a good one not because I’m good at teaching or whatever, but because the other lecturers have to teach a few or more than a dozen students, while I only have to teach you. If I couldn’t even take care of one person properly, I’d be useless.”
“I never asked you, but which department do you belong to?” Chen Chuan asked as he took the paper.
Cheng Zitong put on his sunglasses and smiled. “I was originally from the Weapons Department, but I’m now at the Logistics Department.”
“The Logistics Department?” Chen Chuan was quite taken aback.
“What’s this? Are you looking down on the Logistics Department? Can’t someone from the Logistics Department be both a lecturer and your mentor?” Cheng Zitong smiled and pointed at himself. “I have a proper mentor license, and let me tell you, I’m the vice director of the Logistics Department. Everyone in the university has to show me respect.”
Chen Chuan looked at his rather round and soft face.
Yeah, I can tell, he thought.
Cheng Zitong did not notice what Chen Chuan was thinking. He lifted his briefcase and picked up his coat, but after some thinking, threw them back on the sofa. “I’ll go to the Medicine Department to grab some medicine for you first. You need it to complement your training of refined force. Wait for me here.”
“Okay.”
Just then, Chen Chuan remembered his promise and said, “Mr. Cheng, could you also bring some First Training Powder? I have a friend who needs to begin his training.”
“That can be easily arranged. It’s not as if the powder is expensive. By the way, in order to prevent students from abusing it, the medicine I’m going to get for you later has a quota for every semester. If you go over the quota, you’ll need to pay for it yourself. I think you’ll exceed the quota, but I have my channels and will think of a way to get them to sell it to you at cost price... You don’t have to see me off. The Medicine Department isn’t far away, and I’ll be back soon. Seriously, you’re too polite.”
After Chen Chuan saw Cheng Zitong out, he turned around and started pacing in his living room. His mutated tissues should have formed due to him maintaining the basic breathing technique over a long period of time due to uninterrupted stimulation. So, he had acquired them, which was a completely different case from those who were born with them.
Hence, strictly speaking, this meant that he was not truly one of the naturally gifted. If that was the case, he could cut down on the time he used the breathing technique or stop doing it. This would weaken or stop the mutation’s progress.
...No. He would not do that.
According to Cheng Zitong, the mutation happened in stages. After this period of rapid improvement, his progress might stop entirely.
People resorted to using drugs to stimulate the growth of the mutated tissue again, because they knew that the next stage might never come, since it was based on talent. Once one growth stage passed, there might never be another. Chen Chuan was not sure whether that was the case for him, so not only was he not going to restrain the growth, he was going to think of ways to keep it and even speed it up.
As for his studies? With his second self, he was confident that he could catch up.
No matter what, he had to do whatever it took to learn refined force.
After only half an hour, Cheng Zitong came back and threw a packet of powder at Chen Chuan. “That’s the First Training Powder. Pharmaceutical technology has been improving nonstop, and medicinal powder is even more refined nowadays. That packet alone is enough for two people. When you give it to your friend, tell him to be careful and not take too much in one go.”
Chen Chuan caught the packet. “Thank you, Mr. Cheng.”
“You don’t have to thank me.” Cheng Zitong took out two more packets of medicine. “These are the pills you need to take orally, and the powder you need to apply on your skin while practicing the new breathing technique and refined force. These will last you for a month. Use them, then we will make adjustments after observing your progress.
“By the way, you also have access to suppression drugs, but I didn’t get them. Those drugs can inhibit the growth of your mutated tissue. They’re better than nothing if you’re in a pinch, but I think that training and guiding the growth of the mutated tissue is much better. The greater the cons, the greater the benefits in the future. So, if you can continue without using them, I would suggest not to. But if you can’t handle it, tell me.”
“No need. I won’t use them,” Chen Chuan said decisively.
“Good. We’re on a tight schedule. It’s going to be difficult for you to learn refined force within two months. Most students take anywhere from half a year to a year to learn it, then another year or two to practice a suitable refined force to create their fighting style. And I’m talking about elite students here. To an average student, that speed is beyond fast.”
He then said earnestly, “I’ll teach you the Respiration Node Breathing Technique. It will bring out your potential and increase the speed of your mutated tissue growth. It could be very uncomfortable, but it is necessary to practice refined force, so you can’t skip it. You should prepare yourself for it.”