So, the good news turned out to be Soren's release without expulsion. Apparently, he was forced to take extra classes, apart from his regular classes, as punishment. He didn't know what happened to the silver-haired, so-called princess. As for the bad news, Reeve was about to get it.
Eskaria went back to the principal and decided to quit learning about magic, which of course, seemed to surprise the principal. Lady Kyrra smiled after hearing this, which Eskaria found quite unsettling, or rather, weirdly unsettling. Unfortunately, they didn't get a refund, as the school had a written no-refund rule.
The first thing Reeve decided to do, was to enroll in the Alchemy class. Every student was supposed to choose between either Alchemy, or Enchantment as a supplementary class. Soren had chosen Enchantment as the supplementary class, and only Reeve hadn't chosen a class yet. Eskaria had decided to quit magic, so she only hung around Reeve without choosing anything.
Reeve went to the hall of Alchemy, with Eskaria in tow. "I have encountered an alchemist before. I never got to really know what alchemy was all about, so that's why I decided to take alchemy as the supplementary class", Reeve gave an unsolicited explanation.
"Umm … Okay. A long time ago, when I was still a little girl, an alchemist passed by the Southern Earth Tribe. They said that there are very few alchemists in Vyren, and that the remaining ones are respected everywhere. They also appeared to be very rich", Eskaria replied.
"Where were they going?"
"The Southern Water tribe. They were going to meet the governor", replied Eskaria.
"Oh? I hope it wasn't Master Jaen. I remember Rizaneth said he was the only alchemist who had worked for Saedis whatshisname."
"What's his name?"
"Never mind", as Reeve replied, they were getting into the hall of Alchemy. The hall was furnished with all sort of apparatus, from flasks, to what looked a lot like test tubes. Of course, there were also large circular pots, along with glass pipes and whatnot.
"This place reminds me of my high school lab", Reeve voiced his thoughts, which caused some stares, from the people in the lab, to Eskaria. None of them had any idea what a high school was, or even a lab. For Eskaria, she was wondering where his high school lab was. Wasn't he supposed to be a zombie reanimated by his grandfather?
Inside the "lab", there were a few students who were also wearing green robes, and it seemed as if they were waiting for someone. As Reeve was wondering who everyone was waiting for, a familiar voice echoed, "Good morning, I would like to welcome you to the Hall of Alchemy. My name is Master Jaen, and I'll be teaching you alchemy."
"Uh-oh… Master Jaen?" Reeve asked out loud, which prompted the owner of the voice, as well as the students, to turn around towards him.
"Yes? Oh, it's you?" asked Master Jaen, as he saw Reeve's weirdly familiar face.
"We last saw each other some time ago", Reeve replied.
"Well yes. Come to see me after the introduction, will you?"
"No problem."
"Eh? Well, where was I? Right, welcome to the Hall of Alchemy. Do not touch anything. Now, today is the day you will know what you are required to study in this class, which books you are supposed to be reading, and so on. I am feeling generous today, so I will not be handing out any home assignments. However, there are a few things which I need to get clear."
As Master Jaen was busy explaining, murmurs filled the hall. There were some complaints of course. He had mentioned home assignments, yet this was the beginning of the semester, no one had been taught anything. To make matters worse, they had been told to leave everything as is, without touching.
Someone raised their hands.
"What?!" Master Jaen snapped, glaring at the student.
The student lowered their hand in fear, before Master Jaen continued.
"Anyway, the book you are supposed to be reading is called the Fundamentals of Alchemy, and you can borrow it from any Library. The first topic we are going to be learning this semester, is healing portions. If any of you are still around after this, I will teach you how to make stamina enhancing portions as well."
'Eh… So, he's teaching us how to make steroids? Awesome! I could be rich selling those!' Reeve thought as Master Jaen paused.
"At the end of the semester, you will be tasked with creating a portion, given the materials, without being given the formula. If you manage to create a portion with at least sixty percent effectiveness, you can be considered as having passed the final test. However, if you fail, you will be kicked out of my class. This will also affect your overall score, so you might not graduate!"
More murmurs followed the pause. There was a mixture of feelings, as some were surprised, while some were angry that the standard was so high. Reeve thought everything was well, but the sixty percent margin seemed … eh … a bit weird. He didn't know how hard the tests were, or how long the formulas they were supposed to memorize were.
"Now, are there any questions?" asked Master Jaen.
No one raised their hands. It seemed as if everyone was afraid of what had happened earlier.
"Good! Now, you're all dismissed! You can go towards the desk at the end of the hall, to register your names and your magic affinities. This might help during the portion concocting process!" as Master Jaen said this, he was getting ready to leave.
"Wait here", Reeve told Eskaria, who of course, didn't seem to be ready to go anywhere.
******************
Now, as Reeve and friends were getting settled in Artemine, something else was happening in Tob. Inside a wooden cabin in the woods, outside one of the major cities, there was a woman tied up. She was hanging upside down, while being bound by a strong rope. The woman had long black hair, which was now messy. Her clothes were tattered, revealing that she had been through a lot.
As she was whimpering in pain, loud footsteps echoed in the not-really-empty cabin. The footsteps stopped, before a cold voice suddenly spoke, "Hello Erica, it is not really nice to see you looking like this."
The woman remained quiet.
"All I want to know is who took the Earth foundation stone! This would have been avoided, alas, you had to make the difficult choice", the owner of the voice said with a sigh. They continued, "Anyway, I rampaged through Alvarlon, yet I didn't find it. So, are you going to tell me now, or do I have to kill you before you're ready to talk?"