After choosing their rooms, Lek continued to tour the two on the third and fourth floor which was the unoccupied part of the building. According to Lek, there was a time where the building was full of students but this was tens of years ago. Right now, two or three weeds enroll in the school every year.
"I know, it's depressing." Lek chuckled when he noticed the silence between Kai and Yumi. "Because of this, the school refused to give us our stipend. So the students are forced to work with the hunter's guild, collecting herbs for other potion masters from other schools."
"But isn't that too unfair?"
Lek looked at Yumi, smiling. "It's not." Shaking his head, he continued walking towards the stairs that will lead them back to the first floor. "Our school specializes in both weapons and beast Summoner. We are already aware of this before we even decided to come to this place. Plus, we haven't really won any Potion Making contest in the last few years. So… we can't really blame them for using the budget that was supposed to be for our stipend to other stuff."
"Didn't you complain or something?"
"No time." Lek shrugged before he leaned towards Yumi. "Our head is quite eccentric. He is a very busy person."
"Oh?"
Lek and Yumi continued to talk until they reached the room that was opposite to where Idya and Ambro were talking. A clear 'no entry' sign was plastered on the door. Despite this, Lek walked inside without knocking. "This was where the fun begins." He uttered and led them towards the wall just opposite the door. He then stood on a specific brick on the floor for a few seconds before he jumped twice.
Before Kai and Yumi could ask any questions, the floor started to shake, a loud rumbling sound came from the ground before the brick in front of where Lek was standing collapsed, forming into a stairway that led them to a dark corridor. The thick smell of burnt herbs assaulted Kai's senses. Scrunching his nose, he waited for Lek to take his first steps.
"This was where we do our classes. This is the oldest building in the Academy and it was never renovated so… we are the only ones who still have this underground facility. I believe this was also because we don't have an array that could protect non-weeds from the overwhelming smell of brewing potions. So the academy chose not to renovate this building." He started walking down the stairs. "Don't mind the darkness, it will get better soon."
Sighing, Kai followed Lek as the wooden stairs creaked behind them. He never expected the treatment to be far worse than what he originally thought. Just as Lek mentioned, a small lamp was indeed located a few steps away from the wooden stairs.
Walls of half-naked rocks welcomed them as they started walking to the hallway that should be enough to cater to three people at the same time. The lights from the small lamps on the wall that was placed every two meters or so illuminated the dirty floors that screamed old. The smell of burnt herbs grew stronger.
They continued walking until they reached another wooden door. Bret immediately explained that this would lead them to the potion-making rooms common room—a place where they discuss things, which they rarely do. Walking inside, Kai realized that this was more of a huge living room than a lecture room. There were five long wooden chairs, a fireplace sat in front of it.
Behind the chairs was a huge board. Written on it were some basic ingredients that he immediately recognized.
"We rarely discuss things here," Lek said as he sat on one of the chairs. "We use these chairs to sleep in once we were exhausted. Some of us, cannot sleep inside our brewing room. It's hard, but we have no choice. Brewing takes a lot of time and we are too lazy to walk back to our room on the second floor just to sleep."
"So… where are the teachers?" Yumi asked.
"Teacher."
"I'm sorry?"
"We only have one. Alfred Hackert, a Potion Master level three, Dark Blue A Class Summoner, and the only teacher that we have here. As you can imagine, he was also acting as the representative in the Academy's council. He is also the head of our department and well… I already said it. The only one who teaches every one of us."
"From the first year to fourth?" Kai asked.
"No, for the first years… you guys cannot summon your entities yet. So you will focus on training with your psyche for control and identifying herbs and other ingredients. It is very important to know herbs just by smelling them. You will be under the teacher's assistant, Miss Zoe La Roche."
"And those are the only people that will teach us?"
Lek nodded at Kai's question. He then stood and asked them to pick whichever room that they wanted to as long as it had the word vacant on it. "There are other rooms behind this one, but we won't need that. This is enough for all of us." Lek explained as he waited for them to finish.
"So, we won't have any cauldron?" Yumi asked after she chose the room next to Kai's room.
"No. You have to buy it. If you have no money, then I suggest you take some missions from the hunter's guild. But… that will take you months so… maybe you could borrow money from someone first." Lek stood and led them out of the underground lecture room. He then told them to meet with everyone in the lecture room where Idya and Ambro were staying for the welcoming ceremony that will happen the next day. After a couple of minutes, Lek bid them goodbye and told them that they can do whatever they want as long as they won't get into trouble.
Apparently, even the laws inside the Academy are partial to the Beast Tamers and Weapons Master.
"Hey, Kai! Wait!" Yumi walked next to him.
"Hm?"
"I was thinking… do you have a cauldron already?"
"No," he doesn't have the funds to buy one yet. All he had was an old cauldron from his grandmother. The cauldron contains symbols that were associated with the Ergon Clan, so he couldn't just show it around here.
"Oh! I was planning on buying one. Would you like to come with me?"
Kai halted his steps for a few seconds. "Do you know where to buy one?"
"Yes! I live in the city. I am very familiar with the place."
"Alright… then I will accompany you."
At that time, if Kai knew that the woman was actually a trouble magnet, he would have said no immediately.