Er Ya paused after hearing Yang Ying speak, hesitating slightly before asking, “You—you really plan to apply for graduation now?”

Yang Ying pondered for a moment, then nodded slightly. “It should be soon.”

In terms of both theory and practice, he had already met the requirements for graduation. Furthermore, for certain considerations, Yang Ying felt it was time to conclude his studies, though his plans extended beyond mere graduation.

As soon as Yang Ying mentioned this, Lai Ya, Dan Nan, and Dimas all fell silent. It was clear their spirits were low.

“Alas, we’ve only been classmates for a year, and you’re already leaving,” Lai Ya glanced aside and sighed. “There’s still so much to do here at the academy. Why the rush to go?”

Dan Nan shrugged. “Out of the four of us, you’re the fastest. Such profound mental strength certainly has its advantages. I wish you good luck with everything. May you become a Grand Apothecary soon—no, let me say that again when your graduation day actually arrives.”

In the past year, Dan Nan’s grades had climbed into the upper echelon of this year’s students, and his entire demeanor had changed vastly since first entering the campus. Yang Ying had heard the academy was preparing some Low-Grade Spirit Nourishment Potions for him—a seventh-tier tonic specifically designed to boost mental power, effective only for Awakened individuals, intended to help Dan Nan rapidly advance past the initial stage of mental energy accumulation, thereby increasing his thought speed and learning rate.

The effects of the Low-Grade Spirit Nourishment Potion were limited, and excessive consumption could lead to resistance, but it was perfectly suited for someone like Dan Nan, who had only recently awakened. Seeing that his mental strength had already broken through the first level and entered the second, the potion’s efficacy was clearly significant.

Dimas remained silent.

“Lai Ya is right. After only a year, there are still many things I haven’t experienced here. Leaving so early would indeed be a shame.”

Yang Ying smiled and said, “But I only said I was applying for graduation; I didn’t say I was leaving the school. I asked the Dean, and he said I could stay at the academy for advanced study as an Apothecary after I graduate.”

“Huh???” Lai Ya’s face darkened, and she glared at Yang Ying. “Igor! Are you messing with me?”

“Not at all, how dare I mess with you?” Yang Ying waved his hands. “You only asked if I was applying for graduation, not about anything else. I answered your question honestly, so how is that messing with you?”

Dimas flickered and vanished. Dan Nan sighed, shook his head, and turned to leave as well.

“Sophistry is useless, Igor. This young lady has seen right through you. I was actually going to give you a chance to ask me for a dance at the evening reception, but now, hmph…” Veins seemed to pop on Lai Ya’s forehead. She clenched her fist and left Yang Ying standing alone in the corner.

Yang Ying stood alone, yet he was content in his corner. In his previous life, he had never experienced academy life. Now, in this place tens of thousands of light-years from Earth, within the most brilliant civilization of the Atlantean Empire, he had suddenly entered a prestigious school and was about to graduate after only a year—a rare diversion, indeed.

Yang Ying had two reasons for wanting both to graduate and remain at the academy.

On one hand, he wished to continue his studies there. The academy’s core library housed an extremely vast knowledge base, the accumulation of the Empire’s hundreds of thousands of years. Even using memory input methods, it was impossible to know when he could absorb it all. It was akin to a student on Earth trying to read every book in a library—a truly endless task.

Yang Ying didn’t demand memorization of everything, but he was intensely interested in the hundreds of Level Ten courses related to pharmaceutics. Refining the Resurrection Potion during the break had brought him immense rewards, far exceeding his expectations.

The principle behind the Resurrection Potion involved the essence of life and death, touching upon the negative aspect of the spiritual world—the most mysterious domain, only accessible and traversable by those at the Fourth Level. Yang Ying was currently at the peak of the Third Level and couldn't even brush against its edges, yet the Resurrection Potion course described it with perfect clarity.

The negative side of the spiritual world was a place devoid of light, darker than darkness itself. Upon death, the soul entered it, becoming lost until it dissipated. However, if the Resurrection Potion was administered to the deceased before the soul completely dissipated, the soul could be drawn back to the mortal realm.

The specific application method was simple: take any part of the deceased’s body—hair or a drop of blood—as long as it contained the subject's genetic material, and place it into the Resurrection Potion.

The potion would utilize the deceased’s life information to recall the soul from the spiritual world’s negative plane and clone a youthful, perfect body using their genetic material as a vessel, allowing the deceased to be reborn in their youngest, strongest state.

Although the resulting potion filled only a small vial, the knowledge it contained was profoundly deep. Compared to this, even Seventeen-Dimensional Physics was merely a Ninth-Level course in the Physics Department.

In the core library’s knowledge base alone, there were three hundred Level Ten courses just for the Apothecary Department. If scaled up to the entire Glacial River Central Academy, the number of Level Ten courses reached a staggering one hundred and eight thousand! Since the mysteries of the universe were contained within, how could Yang Ying bear to abandon the academy?

On the other hand, Yang Ying had no choice but to apply for graduation. He currently had earned only 120 million of the one billion credits required to build a private laboratory. This amount was already remarkably high for an Apothecary student who had only been enrolled for a year; even among all students in the Apothecary Department, he ranked among the very top.

But in Yang Ying’s view, this pace was still too slow.

The Apothecary Department at Glacial River Central Academy was not highly ranked within the Empire, meaning it received far less resource allocation than higher-ranked institutions. Coupled with the numerous competitors within the academy, Yang Ying rarely received opportunities to synthesize high-priced potions.

Although his compounding ability surpassed almost every other student in the department, he couldn't compete against the attention given to others, and even some instructors and professors!

Furthermore, the academy’s commission and Imperial taxes shaved off more than half the money earned from selling potions. At this rate, his accumulation speed was bound to be slow.

In contrast, before synthesizing various new drugs, Yang Ying had always found opportunities to send potion materials to the Floating Continent for research. The research institutes of the Spirit and Human races had successfully replicated the potion materials he sent using sand ore. In other words, Yang Ying now possessed the capability to manufacture high-priced potions in bulk.

Take the Rejuvenation Potion, for example: 15 million credits per dose. Its relatively low cost could be practically ignored. Selling sixty doses would yield 900 million Imperial Credits. The Empire imposed a uniform heavy tax of fifty percent on transactions involving high-tier potions, meaning Yang Ying would have to surrender half of his profit to taxes. A simple calculation showed that selling one hundred and twenty doses would net him 900 million Imperial Credits.

One hundred and twenty doses seemed like a lot, but given Yang Ying's current compounding ability, synthesizing ten doses at a time using spiritual refinement was not a major issue. Calculating half an hour per batch, six hours would be enough to complete the entire run.

The only problem was explaining the source of the materials. How could a student who never left the academy doors acquire so many rare materials?

After deep consideration, Yang Ying still decided to apply for graduation. With the status of an Apothecary, many avenues for obscuring his activities would open up.

Apothecaries had the right to order potion materials directly from companies and enterprises that dealt in them. Some Apothecaries even doubled as explorers, venturing to various planets to seek out precious ingredients themselves.

For instance, Dean Faskerlun, when formulating his ultimate Longevity Potion, had personally collected many of the rare materials used in it.

The higher the tier of the potion, the harder its materials were to acquire. Rare materials needed for Level Ten potions were often priceless, impossible to buy even with wealth.

Yang Ying had specifically tasked his staff department to research this issue, developing several plans to ensure absolute security and minimize the possibility of exposure.

…

Half a month later, after successfully synthesizing the Top-Tier Gene Activation Potion, Yang Ying submitted his early graduation application to the Apothecary Department. Dean Faskerlun specially approved it. Yang Ying had already passed all his theoretical coursework before the semester began. All that remained were the practical exams for compounding ten different Level Eight potions.

Yang Ying’s performance in the practical exams was enough to make the majority of the students at the academy blush with shame. Among the ten Level Eight potions he chose, none were below Grade Six of Level Eight. The most difficult among the ten was a Grade Eight potion of Level Eight.

When Yang Ying finally compounded that last, deep-purple potion in the laboratory and handed it to the Dean, everyone knew that Student Igor’s graduation application could not fail. All ten potions were successful. What more could be said other than to give him an outstanding evaluation?

In just one year, most of the students in his cohort were only just emerging from their freshman status, yet Igor had already reached the finish line of graduation.

The other students who witnessed this felt incredibly complicated. Thinking it over, comparing oneself to others was truly maddening. They were studying desperately in the academy, and still might not graduate on time, perhaps even having to extend their studies, while Igor graduated in just one year with stellar scores that made even envy difficult to muster.

However, recalling the rumors that Igor was a master at the Limit of the Third Level, many felt resigned. With such profound mental strength supporting him, if his learning speed wasn't several, or even over ten times faster than theirs, it would be abnormal.

Amidst the hustle and bustle, Yang Ying finally completed the entire graduation process. Two days later, Tessar delivered the graduation certificate into his hands. Along with it came his Apothecary license. Both certificates were now bound to his optical computer; carrying the computer meant carrying his credentials with him everywhere.

It is double monthly ticket season now, please give lots of support. One unit of support counts as two—what a bargain!