Enet City, National College-013, Zoology Faculty
"Today's dissection subject was as much a surprise to me as it will be to you, students! The College was able to procure a batch of living samples from the military expedition yesterday. Get ready to feast your eyes on...the Rubber Roach!"
A surge of surprised yelps and hoots exploded from the lineup of forty students following Professor Corwin's announcement.
But whispers, elbow nudges, fist bumps, and cold sounds of steel toolkits replaced the unruly atmosphere immediately as soon as the students saw the professor's gaze turning frosty.
Lack of discipline in the lab always led to the most severe punishments. And that was why Mir felt a boot pressing hard on his toes, snapping him out of his daze.
His lab-partner, Nifiya, was not in a great mood. But Mir's mood was even worse after what he had heard from the doctor outside.
The chances of Mir turning into a mutated monster was high, but not imminent. He still had a bit of time left for treatment. But if he was exposed to lethal sunlight a few more times, there would be no turning back. Either he would be put down by the authorities like a rabid dog, or chased away from the city with others like him in a batch. The second option was actually more beneficial for the people of the city, because hunting down full-fledged mutant creatures usually yielded valuable resources for transcenders.
As Mir contemplated his seemingly bleak future, Professor Corwin's sonorous voice reached him, shifting his focus back to the class.
"What grade is the Rubber Roach sub-species categorized as?" The professor used the opportunity to put the class back into the regular rhythm.
Almost all of the forty students put their hands up, some hesitant, while the rest looked confident.
The professor didn't bother to pick anyone for a question so simple. He tapped on the screen on his desk, following which, a slide appeared behind him on the black projection board.
Rubber Roach [ Arthropod ]
Mutation: Grade-1
Soulslot Consumption: 1 Unit
Potential: Grade- 3
Affinity: Water [ Limited To Royal Lineage ]
Danger Rating: 0.2
Origin: Endemic
This was a basic overview of the insect. A lot of crucial information hadn't been included to keep things simple. The next few slides too, contained only what the professor deemed necessary for the dissection today.
"Your task today is to separate the mandibles without damaging the oral tissues. Those of you who succeed may attempt to separate its digestive system from the body, fully intact. Of course, I shall demonstrate the process to you, once. Distracted students wouldn't make it past the first task, my experience says. So CONCENTRATE!"
With his shout reverberating through the lab, the professor rang a bell on his desk, signaling his assistant to bring in the specimen roach.
Trays after trays were gradually occupied by fat, fist-sized, sedated roaches. Much like its origin species, the Rubber Roach was a dark brown arthropod, only larger in size.
What made it different was its exoskeleton. The chitinous structure had mutated in its very core, forming a different biomolecule as its structural unit.
This had resulted in the birth of the mutated sub-species. Due to their flexible carapace, they could grow larger, allowing minor changes in their digestive and circulation systems. Each change had magnified the changes that followed it.
Of course, these mutations had not happened overnight. For decades, these roaches had reigned free under the cursed sunlight, gradually changing, mutating, and evolving into a direction the humans could not control.
If you cannot stop their growth, exterminate them before they become a threat!
To human civilization, this principle was set in stone, bathed with the blood of their forefathers, and proved by their struggle for survival across a century.
Mir watched attentively from the crowd of students as the professor skillfully ran his scalpels on the upturned body of a roach.
"Here, the organs are delicate, and the tissues get damaged easily. But if you're lucky, you might find a tumor beneath the 3rd sclerite. This tumor contains a gel that's used as an ingredient for some low grade Physique Enhancement solutions! You better be careful when dissenting this part! Even a milliliter of the gel is worth 400 solis!"
Most of the students knew this, but they still couldn't help shivering in excitement, eager to get started on their own dissection sessions.
The professor poked a certain part of its head rather forcefully all of a sudden, and the oral parts around which he had run his scalpel suddenly came apart from the force, completely intact.
Now this was a real surprise. Mir, along with his peers, gasped at the display of skill and experience.
"First demonstration ends here. Your turn!"
The professor put down his tools and began to survey the progress of his students across the room, visiting each and every desk.
"Did you memorize the info in the articles? It looks like he's interrogating students too while visiting," hissed his lab partner.
Mir gave Nifiya a withering look. Between the two of them, she was the weaker one when it came to learning the theoretical knowledge. But she made up for it in the lab with her quick-thinking and enviably stable hands.
Especially in dissection classes, she could be considered a top-notch talent.
"Overslept yesterday. Had no time to study."
The lie came out of his mouth naturally. He hadn't overslept. He had stayed the night up playing an online game with questionable content.
Nifiya looked devastated, incensed even. Glaring at him gloomily, she went back to focusing on the roach.
Mir went online using his communicator, searching for info on the exoskeleton of Rubber Roaches and how to dissect one. He wasn't really in the mood to study right now. But an argument with the dogged Professor was the last thing he wanted to face.
None of the videos showed the method and expertise he had seen being employed by Professor Corwin.
"Oh Lord, he's coming here, he's coming here, hescominghereeee!"
Nifiya's horrified whispers came to a stop as the professor came close enough to hear them. Peering down at their tray, he nodded in satisfaction.
"You've separated the maxilla perfectly. Well done! Now repeat that performance with the rest of the oral parts."
Nifiya's complexion was barely beginning to recover when he casually said, "State the social structure of the Rubber Roaches and explain why they've been categorized as '0.2' in terms of danger rating."
As she glanced at him in panic, the professor turned to look at Mir, one eyebrow raised.
"Uh...they live in numbers. They have a royal line of roaches in each nest...and they have been categorized as having a danger rating of 0.2 because they generally do not pose a threat on the Standard Destruction Scale...?"
"Everything can be a threat. Even 1 point means something, Mr. Mir. What's the danger rating of the average Royal Rubber Roach?"
"...One point Five?" Mir replied hopefully, because the number felt a little familiar and somewhat logical. The danger rating wasn't a typical decimal-style number. The numerics on two sides of the decimal point meant different things.
Since royal roaches had an [ Elemental Affinity ] with water, they'd automatically gain 1 point before the decimal point, signifying a one-dimensional ability. The fractional numbers after the decimal point could go from one to hundreds based on how much destruction the subject could cause in an SDS simulation.
But ultimately, he was winging it. He knew it, Nifiya knew it, and judging by the annoyed look on the professor's face, he knew it too.
"I appreciate the improvisation, since you took my feelings into consideration and didn't reply saying you don't know, or that you didn't read the articles I instructed you to. But your recent performance in my class has been so poor, Mr. Mir, that I think we need to have a chat. After class, my room."