The Typhoon Earrings were magic items that Frey had created himself.
But they seemed to be more widely known than he had expected.
Yet no one seemed to recognize Schweiser's Bracelet.
Shepard hadn't noticed it and neither had Mikel who was in front of him right now.
Perhaps no one knew that the staff was usually stored in its bracelet form.
In all honesty, the Typhoon Earrings could not be considered high-quality magic items. However, the Great Sage's Staff was different.
This was Schweiser's symbol and its utility and power were at a level that all other artefacts could not compare to.
If the presence of the staff was revealed, then there would be a great disturbance in the world, especially in the circle.
In particular, the reaction of the Strow Necklaces who proclaimed to be Schweiser's successors could be easily imagined.
"Originally I would not have reached out to you. But to be properly prepared for the situation this time it would be best to have at least two wizards."
Apostles.
Questions arose about their existence.
Human beings who were selected by the Demigods and given the ability to use their divine power.
Could he think of them as agents?
Frey slowly opened his mouth.
"I can help you, but…when do you intend to take action?"
"I'm not sure. But I believe it will not take more than a week. I think I still need to gather more information."
"…"
One week.
That was enough.
But of course, there were conditions.
"I would like to start reading the Grimoire from today."
"Is it urgent?"
"Yes."
"Hmm…what book are you looking for?"
There was no reason to hide, so he answered honestly.
"A book about alchemy."
"Alchemy?"
"There is an elixir that I want to refine."
"Hmm…It would be better to ask for her help in refining it than for the book itself. I think she might be staying at the tower for a while."
"She?"
Mikel nodded.
"Adelia. She is an authority in alchemy and you would be hard-pressed to find someone on a similar level. I have not encountered anyone better than her, especially when it comes to creating elixirs."
"…"
…Adelia?
Frey's eyes narrowed.
It was not familiar, but he had definitely heard the name somewhere before.
And after hearing Mikel's next words, he understood where he had heard the name.
"She's staying at the tower for a while, but she's a teacher at the Westroad Academy, so I don't know when she will leave. So if you're going to ask, you'd better hurry."
Adelia.
It was a name he'd heard several times in the Westroad Academy.
She was an elite who could stand shoulder to shoulder with Professor Dio Perseman, who was regarded as one of the best among the faculty.
But Frey had never met her in person.
This was because Adelia's subjects did not match up with any of the classes that he had been taking at that time.
He knew very little about her since he rarely paid attention to rumours.
Among the professors, she was one of the young ones and she was a woman.
That was all he knew.
"Adelia's stage isn't very high, but even the Floor Masters in our tower would often request her help when it came to alchemy. I don't know what it is that you want, but it should save a lot of time instead of having to rummage through books."
"Hmm…"
With Mikel, one of the Floor Masters in the tower boasting so much about her, Frey could not help but be a bit curious about this woman called Adelia.
Frey looked at Mikel for a moment before asking.
"Where is she?"
* * *
Frey was standing in front of Professor Adelia's room.
It was the 20th room on the 6th Floor.
He hadn't expected to be staying on the same floor as her, but had he ever encountered a woman other than Camille on the 6th Floor?
Frey tried to jog his memory but found that that was truly the case.
He decided to knock on the door.
Tak Tak.
…
…
There was no response so he decided to knock once again.
Tak Tak.
…
…
There was still no response.
Frey knocked a little harder on the door.
Thump thump.
Only then did he hear some sort of noise from the inside.
There was a rumbling sound followed by what appeared to be a curse in a woman's voice and the sound of something breaking.
Frey took a step back and waited.
Click.
The door opened and from there a woman looked out.
The woman had messy hair and puffy eyes.
And those eyes were staring at Frey filled with irritation.
"What do you want?"
"You're Professor Adelia right?"
"Yeah."
"I came after receiving a recommendation from Floor Master Mikel. I heard that you are an authority in alchemy and I'd like to ask…"
"I don't know about that. I'm busy so go away."
After saying that she tried to close the door, but Frey put his foot to stop it.
He hated to be such a nuisance, but he wasn't in any position to let it go.
"…"
"…"
For a moment, the two of them made eye contact.
Adelia pulled the door a few times before sighing after realising that it was impossible to do it by force.
"Who are you?"
"Frey Blake."
"Blake…the Blake Family?"
"Yes."
"Hm…I don't think you're the first one Mischael. Ah. Come to think of it, Heinz did tell me that he had a younger brother."
It sounded like she knew Heinz Blake.
She narrowed her eyes for a moment. But soon after she sighed and scratched her messy head.
"Nothing has been going well since yesterday. Can you tell me what you want and then leave? I'm very busy."
Frey followed her into the room.
Adelia's room was very large. It seemed to be about ten times larger than the room that Frey was staying in.
This was not a room, but a lab.
However, there were mountains of books, magical materials that gave off weird smells and glass bottles storing liquids of suspicious colours scattered everywhere which made space feel much smaller than it actually was.
Above all, it was dark and carried the smell of dust as if it was not well ventilated.
Frey followed Adelia who cleared away some dust with her hand.
"Sit wherever you like."
"…"
Where did she want him to sit?
Frey forcibly made a seat and attached his ass to it.
Adelia then spoke with a rather open attitude.
"Though I'm curious as to what you want. I'm busy, tired and irritated, so cut the unnecessary back and forth and get to the point."
"I heard that you are an authority in alchemy. Especially when it comes to the creation of elixirs."
"Huh. When it comes to elixirs even the Master of the 3rd Magic Tower Julian could not compare to me."
She said this without showing any expression of pride. Like she was simply telling the truth instead of showing off.
Only those whose self-confidence had turned into conviction could display this kind of attitude.
Frey pondered for a moment before asking her a question.
"The creation of Mana Fluid. Can you do it?"
"Of course-"
"It's not just about if you can create it, but if you can extract the true, purified liquid."
"…"
Adelia's eyes changed and the gaze she gave Frey was now one of interest.
"Hmm. It seems you know something about alchemy."
The liquid refining process that Frey had just mentioned was a complicated task that frustrated even the top alchemists.
In addition, if he had no knowledge of alchemy at all then he would not have been able to even mention it.
Adelia shrugged.
"It's possible. I've extracted up to 100ml of pure liquid by myself without any assistants. Did it take about half a day at that time?"
"100ml…"
What a woman.
Frey couldn't help but feel some admiration,
For a normal wizard, it might be possible for them to extract about 10ml in half a day even with the help of two assistants.
It seemed that her statement about being ahead of the Tower Master when it came to alchemy was not an empty boast.
At the same time, it was easy to see what kind of person Adelia was.
She was the incarnation of an inquisitive mind with a strong desire for knowledge.
The public would probably treat her like a geek, but Frey was used to people like this the most.
Frey was certain.
Tak.
He took out the bottle which contained Torkunta's heart and placed it on a dirty table.
Adelia looked at the bottle with an uninterested expression.
"What's that?"
"Why don't you check for yourself?"
"…"
Adelia narrowed her eyes slightly and slowly examined the bottle.
Then slowly, her eyes began to widen.
"Hmm. H-…Huh? N-, no. Surely…w-, wait for a second! Really?" Perhaps she didn't realise the things that she was saying.
Adelia looked at the small bottle with an expression filled with disbelief.
"Ca-, can I touch it?"
As soon as Frey nodded, she gently lifted the bottle as if she was holding a great treasure before slowly opening it up.
"H-, hehehe. This beautiful colour…such dense mana yet it can still be held in one hand…the warm heat exuding from it. What the hell is this?"
"That's the heart of a 1,000-year-old Drake. The estimated
Mana Energy(ME) is about 100,000."
"100,000-!!!!"
Adelia's heart seemed to pound in her chest.
If it was 100,000 then that meant that it had 100 times the energy of an average wizard.
How could so much mana fit into such a small bottle?
'The glass bottle is an amazing magic tool as well. But even more amazing than that is the fact that he was able to transfer such pure and sensitive energy into a glass bottle.'
Although it seemed simple, it was the same as moving a broken glass jar while keeping its original shape.
Adelia looked at Frey with a little doubt but she was unable to tell anything from his expression.
She carefully placed the bottle back on the table. Her previous lethargic appearance seeming to have been given a burst of energy.
She stared at Frey with a slightly excited expression and said.
"So what do you want?"
"To make that into an elixir that I can take."
"That's crazy."
Frey let out a laugh.
"Your expression says otherwise."
Adelia touched her cheek and found that without her realising, her mouth had spread into an excited smile.
"This, this is just a habit. All alchemists are like this…and
I'm not just saying that."
"Why is it crazy?"
"The difficulty of the refinement is already high, but the real problem is the ingredients. The other thing…right. I can get everything else. Most of them are here right now. And for the things I don't have, they are not too hard to get."
Adelia looked around her room as she said that.
It seemed scattered and messy, but it was actually organized in her own way.
From the moment she'd heard of his intentions to make an elixir, she had begun to recreate the refining process in her head.
"But there is one thing that we wouldn't be able to find."
"Something that can't be found?"
Adelia looked to him with a stern expression.
"The feather of a Phoenix."
"…"
"Seeing that stupid expression on your face, you know how hard it is to get right? It's not something that you can get just by meeting or killing a Phoenix. You can only barely get it when they are in a good mood. But they are called fantasy creatures because no one knows where they are on the continent…"
Frey pulled out the Phoenix feather that he had in his bag.
"Th-…tha-…"
Adelia's pupils shook.
She kept stuttering and it seemed like she was unable to form coherent sentences as if she had been broken.
"What else do you need?"
Adelia closed her mouth for a moment before speaking in a slightly weak voice.
"…an assistant who is excellent enough to assist me. Apart from their stage, they must have a natural talent for mana control. They at least need to be at the level of easily compressing an energy ball to the size of a fingernail…"
An energy ball suddenly appeared in front of Adelia and began compressing until it was just smaller than a fingernail.
"…"
Adelia opened her mouth for a moment before speaking in a voice that sounded like her soul had left her body.
"…when do you want to start?"