Hearing what they said, Alicia was wondering whether their room was a two-person room or a one-person room? After struggling for a while, she decided to ask Alex later.
When Alicia got back, she saw Firia flirt with Alex. Couldn't manage her own emotions, she became furious and immediately stopped her. They got back to the classroom soon after that, the class only lasted for an hour. Before the teacher left, he informed the students.
"There will be a practical test next week for class rankings, the survival test will be conducted next month for grade rankings. I hope everyone will prepare themselves for it," after informing the students about the exam, he left the room.
Everybody got excited as they were proud of their own strength. Suddenly, a good-looking student approached Alex.
"Hey you, you are the dean's student, right? I'm curious why the dean chose a commoner like you. I want to have a duel with you," his arrogance was through the roof.
Alex looked at him without any interest, then shook his head and sighed.
"Do you even know who I am? I am Joshua Fergusa, the first son of Marquis Fergusa. I challenged you, a commoner, this is your honor," he was arrogant with his ability ever since he was a kid. That was why he wanted to look good in front of everyone and Alex was his choice. By asking Alex for a duel, he might grab all the attention he could get since Alex was the dean's student. If he could win over the dean's student then everybody will surely look up to him. That was what he thought.
Such a complex matter.
"How dare you!" Alicia sent a cold glaze to Joshua.
Alex kept shaking his head in disbelief, he was tired of running into snobbish students one after another.
"Are you afraid? The dean's student ability is only this much?"
Alex couldn't stand it anymore, he stood up to defend himself. Even though the dean just became his teacher for one day, hearing the dean got insulted because of him, Alex can't accept it. After all, he already acknowledged him as a teacher. He sent a cold gaze to Joshua, "What about tomorrow?"
"Fine. Tomorrow after class in the arena," Joshua then left Alex.
Alicia was glaring at Joshua until she couldn't see him anymore, then she turned to Alex.
"Alex, why don't we go back?"
Alex shook his head, "I need to see Teacher." After that, he left Alicia to see the dean.
"Oh...okay," she was disappointed and she could only look down.
***
In the dean's office.
"Teacher," Alex greeted his teacher once he reached the dean's office.
"Alex, why do you visit my office? How are your classes today?"
"It's alright, Teacher. I have a request for you, though."
"Oh. What is it? Please tell me!"
"I want to go out."
"Go out? For what?"
"I want to learn about forging."
"Forging? Haha... Alex, we are surely destined for each other. I'm not only a rank 8 fire mage, but I was a master of forging too. If you want to learn about forging, I will teach you. I have the workshop there," he then pointed to one of the doors in his office.
Alex's eyes turned bright. He never expected the dean was familiar with forging too.
"However, I need to buy other materials as well."
"If you want to buy materials for forging, I will supply you. That way, you don't need to go out."
Alex shook his head, "I need to buy other materials. To be honest, I was planning to buy some herbs."
"Herbs?" The dean was shocked hearing Alex was looking for herbs.
"I know some stuff about medicine."
"You know about medicine?" the dean became more shocked. "Then, what's your reason for learning about forging?"
"To make the necessary tools for making medicines."
"You are such a brat ... you don't need to think about that. I will make your tool."
"Thank you for your offer, Teacher. But I still want to learn about forging myself."
"Okay, fine. I will teach you about forging," the dean then thought, 'and I will make sure you love forging more than medicine.'
"But what tool do you want to make?" the dean was curious about his new student.
"I want to make, hm.. a bowl-shaped tool that can withstand heat."
"A bowl-shaped tool that can withstand heat? Hmm.. how about you draw it?" Alex drew the cauldron for Alchemy.
"This... isn't this cauldron?" The dean was again shocked.
Alex was amazed, "Teacher, you know about it?" when he traveled, he never found any information about the cauldron. So he was surprised to see his teacher knew about it.
"I saw this tool when browsing a book about 'Ascender'. You know, there was someone from this world who has ascended. He has a pure fire element, the same as you. The legend said he can make pills that can heal wounds, poisons, and many others. And the tool he used to make those pills were this cauldron. Are you trying to do the same?" he looked at Alex seriously.
"When I traveled, I got a book about Alchemy."
"Alchemy...Yes, Alchemist. He is an alchemist. So, you got his book?"
Alex just nodded. He lied, he got an alchemist book from System, but he can't tell his teacher about the System.
"Haha... good. I will make the cauldron for you. For heat resistance, I will need to use Adamantium. Hmm, I think I will need to borrow it from a friend, well whatever," he intended to exchange his favor for adamantium.
"Teacher..." Alex looked at him innocently, "Is this Adamantium?" a piece of metal had appeared on Alex's hand.
The dean's jaw dropped. "Is... that space element?"
"Space element?" Alex was confused about his reaction. He forgot that he just used his system inventory in front of his teacher.
"Let's check your element again!" He brought a Mana crystal to his student. Alex then placed his hand on the Mana crystal.
The Mana crystal glowed with a bright red color. But the dean who was a rank 8 mage can see more than just that. The color wasn't just bright red, but there was a trace of pink color in it. This color almost went unnoticed since this color was blinded by pure bright red. But the dean could notice it.
"Pink... Space... Space element. To think my student isn't just a pure fire element, but also a space element. Haha, heaven blesses me, heaven blesses Acacia kingdom," the dean was grinning happily.
"Remember to keep this element secret from others!" he then continued "Haha, the king wanted to surprise me by sending you here. But now, if I inform him about your space element, I'll be the one who surprises him even more, hahaha..."
"..." Alex maintained his silence, waiting for his teacher to calm down.
[I'm sorry host, this must be because of System]
"System? Because of you?"
[All Gacha you got as well as gacha inventory is manipulating a special space to give and to store. Ever since Host started using me more often. This will become more apparent]
".... You are useless, aren't you, System? You can't even cover your track. How can I keep you a secret..."
[It's all because Host has used me too much]
"Y-you can't blame me for this. This is your fault..."
[...]
"And you are even ignoring me..." Alex can't explain this, that was why he let this misunderstanding continue.
After a while, looking at his teacher started to calm down, "Teacher, is this adamantium?" he gave the metal to his teacher.
Looking at the metal in Alex's hand, the dean nodded as he received it from him, "Yes, that's the metal, where did you get this? Well, it doesn't matter. With this metal, I can make the cauldron for you. When do you need it?"
"The sooner the better."
"Come and get it the day after tomorrow." Alex nodded after hearing his teacher's answer.
"Take this, if you want to go in and out of the academy, just show this token. They will think you are running an errand for me."
"Thanks, Teacher."
"Alright, for now, I will teach you about the basics of fire magic."
The dean started teaching Alex about magic. But he was shocked by what Alex can do. Alex explained the whole story about his practice in the duke house. When he used a new chant and magic.
Alex tried to use chantless magic, he tried once in the mansion but failed. The dean's jaw dropped while looking at Alex who looked like a monster. He then started to teach Alex the basics of Mana manipulation to improve Alex's understanding of chantless magic. After two hours, Alex succeeded in using chantless magic, though only for a second.
"It's already late, you can go back now."
Alex nodded and left. He kept reviewing Mana manipulation on his way back. Alex ate his dinner in the cafeteria and went to his room.
Arriving at his room, Alex opened the door and he found Alicia was sitting on the sofa while reading a book. When Alex came back, she stood up. This was the usual thing for them.
"Alex, you are back?" she smiled.
"Yes, Princess," unsatisfied with Alex's response, she just pouted.
"Have you eaten?" she asked again, and Alex nodded.
"You will fight Joshua tomorrow, are you ready for it?"
"There should be no problem," he just nodded.
"That's good then," she smiled again.
Alex sat on the sofa in the lotus position again. Looking at Alex, focusing more on training than her, she was disappointed.
"You want to train again?"
Alex nodded.
"Fine," she left him alone.
Even in the mansion, Alex only woke up, trained, ate, trained, and went back to sleep. If not because she insisted on going out with Alex, he would not go out of his room.
She sighed, she observed Alex a bit more and continued reading her book.
At night, after Alex finished cultivating. She saw Alicia once again fall asleep on his lap.
He shook his head and sighed. He carried her again to bed and covered her with a quilt then he went to bed right after that.
In the morning, Alicia woke up and found him practicing with his sword again.
"Princess, your breakfast is on the table," Alex said.
She then approached her breakfast without saying anything else.
"Alex, tell me the truth. When you went to the cafeteria to get breakfast, how many breakfasts do you get?"
"What do you mean, Princess?"
"You know what I mean. We get breakfast, depending on which room we have. If we have a two-person room, then we get two breakfasts. If we have a one-person room, then we only get one breakfast. So tell me the truth."
"This..."
"So my guess is right. I don't want to have breakfast tomorrow," she was looking at Alex, she had found out everything about Alex who had skipped breakfast so she could have one.
"Princess, you need to eat your breakfast."
"I don't want it!" she pouted.
"I mean..." Alex didn't know what to do.
"As long as you don't have breakfast. Then I don't want to have breakfast," she snorted, refusing to have her breakfast.
"This... I will cook my breakfast then. So please have your breakfast, Princess," he stopped arguing about the portion of the breakfast. Unbeknownst to him, he showed his weak personality such as his uncertainty. The proof was when he kept saying 'This...' a few times.
"You can cook?" Alicia was surprised. She never saw Alex cooking.
"A bit," Alex, who lived without the care of his family, needed to learn about cooking by himself. Now he also had a cooking manual. However, he wasn't sure how good of cooking he was now, "But please eat."
"Alright, then," she reluctantly ate breakfast. After she finished, she asked Alex, "Let's go to class."
Alex nodded and followed her.