An hour later...
"Alright class, that should be all for today." Teacher Sonna snapped her finger and the holographic screen had been closed shut, concluding the lecture.
'Well, that was a bit tough to understand.' Felix massaged his eyebrows with his eyes closed shut.
Since he came in the middle of the class, he already missed half of the lesson, making it extremely difficult to understand what she was talking about.
Especially when she was using terms that were unfamiliar to him. It was like a 6th-grade student attending a math class with variables and constants.
But, he had everything recorded and he was going to ask for the first half of the class from Naima when they set a study group.
Speaking about her, Naima and a couple of few daring witches could be seen approaching Felix from every direction, appearing quite intimidating.
This time, Teacher Djamila wasn't here to help him out as she had left with teacher Sonna. She wasn't going to babysit him throughout the entire semester.
It was time for Felix to mingle on his own.
"Mind if we called you Felix?" Naima inquired politely the moment she sat next to Felix.
"Please." Felix replied, smiling.
The other witches also filled up the empty seats, leaving the rest to stand around Felix, completely hiding him.
'I really don't want to be in his place.' Lara shook her head at the sight and walked outside of the lecture hall, heading to the next mandatory class that was about to start in 15 minutes.
Felix knew so as well, hence before the witches could bleed his ears with questions and inquiries, he tapped on his bracelet and said, "If you excuse me ladies, I need to head to the restroom before the next class begins."
Naima's eyes brightened up at the sound of that. She quickly held Felix's hand and offered while glancing at his crotch with an intrigued look, "Let me take you to the restroom."
"Hahaha, it's so obvious that she is interested in your package.' Asna laughed while eating popcorn, completely engrossed in watching Felix.
Felix's eyelids twitched after hearing Asna's claim but he got to agree with her.
He could see that not only Naima but the rest of the witches around him were all eying his crotch like it was the most interesting thing in their eyes.
It was evident that none of them had any lusty or pervy thoughts but simply pure curiosity in the males' reproduction organ.
"Cough, thank you for the offer but I have already visited it before so I know where it is."
Felix excused himself the moment he declined her offer by jumping over their heads and landing behind them softly like a feather.
Before they could react, Felix had already disappeared from their vision, leaving them shellshocked by his quick escape.
'You can run but you can't hide.' Naima giggled while pressing a finger on her pink lips.
"Let's head to the next class." Naima said while standing up, "He will be there."
Her friends accompanied her while the rest of the witches split up into groups and went on their own way.
But all of them had a holographic search engine in front of them. They weren't able to make research on Felix in the class since it was banned to avoid distractions during class.
Now, some typed Felix's entire name and some went straight to the milky way galaxy news and started reading about Felix.
Whatever method used, all of them reached four conclusions about Felix...He was filthy rich! Wanted! Strong Bloodliner! Popular SG Player!
If they had any emotions about males, most of them would have fallen over heels for him as his story was nothing but extraordinary.
Too bad, those young flowers merely got extra interested in getting to know more about Felix.
Hence, they continued to watch his videos, reading the ongoing drama about his bloodlines, watching some highlights about the games while discussing them.
When they were walking in the faculty corridors, they realized that rumors about Felix's existence had already been spread extensively as most witches were speaking about him.
Some believed that it was a rumor but the majority realized that it was real. After all, some recordings of Felix's fight with the racist mushroom had already been spread in the academy's forums.
This had happened in the past hour and now the forums were already buzzing with discussions about the HumanPotioneer.
Some were requesting his class number and some were asking about his last spotted location to come and see him.
Felix anticipated this and was fully prepared to counter it.
He simply drunk invisibility potions and walked through the corridors without being noticed by witches, who were searching for him.
It wasn't against the rules to drink potions in the faculty but their effect shouldn't be negative or harmful. Plus, they weren't allowed to be drunk in classes and restricted places.
This helped Felix reach the next classroom in less than a minute since it was on the same floor.
However, he was stumped when he saw that a group of witches was standing in front of the door, completely blocking it!
'None of them are my classmates.' Felix concluded after inspecting their faces upclose.
He wasn't proud of it but when it came to memorizing beautiful faces, he was top notch!
'It seems like they have found my name enlisted in B-2 class and came here to intercept me.'
Felix reasoned after seeing that all of them were chatting together while glancing left and right like radars.
'Well, I can only hang in the corridor next to the wall until the teacher comes and send them away.' Felix planned while leaning against the wall, avoiding contact with any witch in his way.
He understood that if he went now, everyone would gather around him after his invisibility gets deactivated. Then, they would start harassing him just like before.
He wouldn't mind if it was one or two witches, but tens of them? That was a bit out of his league.
'This situation will probably take a few more days to cool down.' Felix sighed.
Honestly, that was just an optimistic estimate. This situation could last for a straight two weeks until the novelty of a human joining the academy dies down.
Just like the movie Ted, the talking bear who came to life had created a massive shockwave throughout the world...But after a while? People started considering it as the norm.
Felix was Ted in the academy and he honestly didn't want it since he was already behind by a month and he couldn't afford to not learn anything in the next 5 months.
If he didn't reach the top 3 in this semester, Lady Sphinx would set him straight!
"Is he really not coming?"
"Should we leave? Our class is about to start soon."
"I am leaving, I have homeworks pilling up."
When Felix got a bit closer to the witches, he managed to pick up some of their chatter. Sure enough, five witches bailed out from blocking the door.
But, the rest were still too many for Felix to avoid. Hence, he stuck to his waiting strategy.
15 minutes later...Only a few unknown witches remained but the number actually increased since Naima and the rest of Felix's classmates had taken over. Yet, Felix still didn't move from his place.
In a few moments, Felix spotted Lara walking alone to the classroom's door with the same composed expression.
But when she reached the door, she didn't enter it but surprisingly looked at Felix's hiding spot with a faint smile.Before Felix could think if she could see him or not, she winked at him and went inside.
'How? She wasn't using her spiritual eye.' Felix raised his eyelids in surprise and thought, 'Does she have another trait in her normal eyes or did she drink a potion that provides long-term vision-typed abilities?'
While Felix was thinking about this, the witches had quickly scrambled either inside the class or walked away after they spotted an incoming stunning witch wearing a red uniform.
Her eyes were scarlet, her nose was a tiny button while her lips were plump and scarlet just like her eyes.
The moment Felix noticed her, his lips parted slightly in shock as he never expected to see that witch who made him elated and miserable before!
Madam Hala! The witch who dealt with his elemental potions commission!
'The hell, is she my concoction class teacher? Wasn't concocting rank 3 potions her full-time job?' Felix thought to himself while staring at Madam Hala shoeing the witches away from the door.
Upon seeing that the premise was cleared, Felix dropped those matters for now and entered the class in a sneaky manner.
'Sir Felix, please deactivate your invisibility or you will receive a penalty for breaking the rules.' The Queen informed, 'No potions are allowed in class.'
Felix ignored her and sprinted to the semi-empty back row. The instant he got comfortable, he wiped his sweaty forehead and coughed.
That was more than enough to remove the invisibility effect.
"Kyaaaaaa! A ghost!!" A witch who was sitting somewhat next to him screamed with a spooked expression after seeing Felix emerge out of nowhere.
Her scream was loud enough, it attracted the other witches.
The moment they saw Felix, they realized that he might have been using an invisibility potion to avoid detection.
But none of them seemed worried by it as they had their own special vision trait in their tail's eye.
Now that they knew what Felix was relying on, they wouldn't hesitate to use them even if it meant wasting precious mental energy!
"Everyone pay attention here." Teacher Hala clapped twice and the classroom door was closed, marking the start of the class.
The witches focused on teacher Hala, deciding to deal with Felix after the class.
Teacher Hala manifested a humongous holographic screen and on it were materials, their description, uses, and names. Above it, there was a potion and its recipe to concoct it.
"Today we will be continuing our practice of rejuvenation potion." Teacher Hala clarified while eyeing Felix, "Since concocting this potion is one of the requirements to get the Apprentice Potioneer License, we will be mostly working on it with some other potions on the side this semester."
"Alright, close your eyes and enter the UVR's version of the lecture hall by using the link on the screen." Teacher Hala was the first to sit on her desk and close her eyes.
With great familiarity, the witches placed their heads on their hands and logged in as well. Felix looked around him for a second or two before copying the link and using it to log in after them.
When he opened up his eyes, he realized that nothing changed. He was still in the same chair and in the same lecture hall. Everyone was in their places like they were still in reality.
The only difference would be the newly emerged lab next to the teacher Hala. It was almost identical to the one Felix saw during his Elemental Potion Concoction.
Two long tables, one filled with glassware while the other had materials, vials, and equipment placed in an orderly manner.
There was a wooden circular table sandwiched between them. A bronze cauldron was placed above the hole in the center of the table.
"Although I have already given you a demonstration, I will do it again since a new student had joined us." Teacher Hala said.
The witches didn't complain about the arrangements since it was always a learning experience to see a senior witch concocting a potion. They could learn something every time.
Meanwhile, Felix nodded his head in appreciation to Teacher Hala and entered a focused state, not wanting to miss anything.
Although he read and even practiced a bit in the UVR, he was still struggling to succeed continuously in concocting the easiest potion since there was no one to guide him.
Lady Sphinx didn't bother to give him even a single piece of advice.
"Listen well, the 1st step that needed to be prepared is always the catalyst." Teacher Hala lifted a long glass tube that was filled with green liquid and continued, "This is the essence of the commonly known Marmador Grass. It is going to serve as the catalyst in our potion."
Teacher Hala placed the glass tube in its place, not wanting to explain any further what those terms implied or how to extract the essence since that would need at least a couple of hours.
She didn't know if Felix had read books about it or not, but she wasn't planning on delaying the class just for him.
Thankfully, Felix didn't laze around in the journey but read tens of books about the concoction process.
Hence, he understood that the catalyst was going to be used to incentivize and increase the chemical reaction between the main ingredients and the subsidiary ingredient.
Each potion had its own perfect catalyst that had been discovered after thousands of trials and tests.
Just like the Elemental Potion, the purity fountain drops were the catalyst in its concoction.
"After we finish preparing the catalyst, we move on to preparing the rest of the materials."
Teacher Hala placed the green tube in its holder on the glassware table and went to the preparation table.
On it, there were the known materials for Rejuvenation Potion.
The main ingredient was a leaf of Dire Boxwood. It was a big yellow leaf with black dots on its entire surface.
The subsidiary ingredient was three feathers of a Fake Vermilion Bird. They were placed neatly on the table.
"Just like you get taught in the Materials Preparation Class, you need to cut the leaf into tiny pieces and place them in a bowl." Teacher Hala explained while cutting the leaf meticulously like a world-class chief.
When she finished, she moved on to the three feathers and removed the vane from the calamus.
Then she threw the calamus of each feather away while the vanes were mixed together with the pieces of the leaf in one bowl.
"After mixing them carefully, you leave them together for 2 minutes." Teacher Hala walked back to the glassware table and took the catalyst.
"To make your concoction more efficient, you need to pour the catalyst in the empty cauldron right now." Teacher Hala opened up the bronze cauldron's lid and poured the green liquid inside.
Then, she turned on the fire and closed the lid on it. Felix understood that this step was required in possibly every potion concoction.
Catalyst needed to be always thrown first and prepared to receive the rest of the ingredients so the reaction would occur instantly.
"It takes exactly two minutes for the catalyst to be fully heated and prepared." Teacher Hala clarified, "Hence the moment the leaf's pieces finish absorbing healing properties from the vanes, you could straightaway start the concoction."
Felix nodded his head in understanding as he had read that this was the method used by most witches who concoct bulks of rejuvenation potions.
There was another method but only master potioneer were capable of pulling it off.
In a short while, Teacher Hala opened up the lid and threw the mixture inside. Instead of closing the lid, she whipped out her tail's eye and brought it closer to the bubbling green mixture.
Felix and the rest instantly switched their focus to the holographic screen that was synchronized with Teacher Hala's tail's eye.
The screen was currently displaying the microscopic world of the mixture!
However, it wasn't static at all but moving left, right, up, and down with a terrifying speed, making it almost impossible to see what was going on.
However, no one seemed bothered by their inability to see the process as they knew that when teacher Hala finishes, she would play it back in slow motion.
Thirty seconds later...Teacher Hala switched her vision to her normal eyes, making everyone focus back on her. She immediately closed the lid and increased the fire to the limit.
Felix noted down everything she was doing since all of those steps were a must to make the concoction turn successful. Especially the time!
It needed to be respected down to the second! Hence, teacher Hala turned off the fire exactly five seconds later while opening the cauldron's lid in one single motion!
Whoosh!Greenish smoke surged from within the cauldron and spread throughout the area, making the witches near the caldron enjoy a fragment filled with life and vigor.
Teacher Hala smelt this fragment so many times she was numbed to it. Thus, she went to the glassware table and picked an empty spherical glass potion.
When the smoke cleared, she lifted the cauldron with both hands and poured a lustrous greenish liquid inside the potion in a steady manner.
A few moments later, the potion was filled to the brim. Teacher Hala placed the cauldron in its place and closed its lid.
Then, she held the potion before everyone and said calmly, "If you have any questions about the external process feel free to ask before we switch to the internal process."
Whoosh!
Every witch in the class turned their heads to look at Felix like he was the dumbest person in the class.
Felix's lips twitched but he didn't raise his hand to voice a question. He didn't have many troubles with external concoction since it wasn't really that hard for rejuvenation potion.
What he was finding difficulty with was the internal concoction that was based on the microscopic world.
Upon seeing that no one was lifting their hands; not even Felix, teacher Hala placed the potion on the table and clapped her hands twice.
"Pay attention to the screen." Teacher Hala mentioned while glancing at Felix, "Rank 1 potions are the easiest to concoct for a simple reason. You are not required to tamper with the molecules of the ingredients. But simply supervise the mixture and destroy the Microorganisms that are refusing to die by heat."
Felix understood this much and even memorized the Microorganisms types and some of the common one's names.
For the types, there were bacteria, archaea, protozoa, algae, fungi, viruses, multicellular animal parasites.
Each type had characteristic cellular composition, morphology, mean of locomotion and reproduction. Most of them could be easily killed by either heat or extreme coldness.
But the ones found in the materials used for the concoction were too tough to be killed by normal means.
Each material could host potentially millions of those microorganisms since they were rich in elemental energy, attracting them like bees getting attracted to flowers.
If they couldn't be killed to clean the materials completely, the potion concoction would be affected negatively since they would be merged with the mixture.
For potions that require meticulous steps and recipes, their existence made it impossible for them to succeed.
The only way to destroy them without affecting materials at all was by controlling mental energy at a microscopic level.
Any other method that was tested resulted in the materials getting affected.
Felix read that the Metal Race was still working to this day on creating a substance that could totally get rid of those microorganisms without leaving a trace like the Witches Spiritual Eyes.
So far, nothing was heard from this project.
But if it succeeded it meant that other races would be able to concoct basic rank 1 potions!
But only rank 1 potions since from rank 2+, the Potioneers would be required to interfere in the reaction itself above killing those microorganisms.
That's why Expert Potioners and above were a league on their own compared to Apprentice Potioners!When Teacher Hala played the paused screen in slow motion, Felix narrowed his eyes in focus at the sight of tiny worm-like organisms getting obliterated by the thousands every split second.
The thing that was killing them was a mass of green energy which was shaped up as sharp tiny saws.
This was Teacher Hala's mental energy highlighted by the Queen so they could observe it doing its work.
'Her energy control is truly way better than mine.'
Felix was awed by how fast she was killing the microorganisms while at the same time turning the mixed main ingredient with the subsidiary ingredient.
By turning it, it allowed her to inspect other places on their surfaces, helping her eliminate most of the tiny organisms.
Since she was eliminating them during the concoction, she was required to remove at least 95% of them before the main and subsidiary material melt with the catalyst, leaving only a green liquid behind.
Unsurprisingly, she nailed it in under thirty seconds due to her wide experience, unlike Felix who takes forever to eliminate those microorganisms during the preparation stage.
That's right, it was possible to clear the materials fully of those microorganisms before the concoction.
Actually, that was recommended to be done for rank 2 potions+ since they were a hundred times more difficult than rank 1.
As for rank 1 potions, most potioners prefer to destroy those microorganisms during the concoction since that would save them time.
As for young Potioners, they were needed to do it to practice their mental energy control for rank 2 potions.
"Should I play it again with a slower speed?" Teacher Hala asked the entire class.
Everyone shook their heads even Felix. But he did raise his hand to ask a question.
"Go ahead." Teacher Hala gave him permission with a slight head nod.
"May I know how did you manage to shape up your mental energy like saws to kill them efficiently?" Felix informed, "When I try to eliminate a microorganism, I end up either using softer force, not damaging it, or using way too much and ending up affecting the material as well."
Teacher Hala nodded her head in understanding and answered, "As much as I want to tell you that there is a shortcut to doing it, the reality is that only practice and long-term experience would help your energy control."
She pointed at the witches and said, "Not a single young witch here didn't practice her fine use of mental energy since birth. That means they had at least 16 years to practice in the UVR before entering the Royal Academy."
Felix sighed after hearing so as he also realized that he was super late when compared to the rest of the witches.
After all, potion-making was their path in life. It was only natural that all of them would have practiced at least their mental energy control before enrolling in the Academy.
Meanwhile, he only got those eyes for two months now and he started his potion concoction practice last month.
"I don't know if you have already a good daily exercise to get better at controlling your mental energy at a finer level, but if you don't, I can recommend you one." Teacher Hala offered.
"I can use one." Felix said while bowing his head slightly in appreciation.
"Give me your UVR ID, I will email it to you." She requested.
"Cough, you already have it teacher." Felix pointed at his face and mentioned after seeing her bafflement, "I made two orders from you. The last one was just a couple of months ago."
'Hmm? Really?' Teacher Hala zoomed in on his face while thinking, 'A human and his name is Felix....Oh, was he the client who I failed his elemental potion?'
Teacher Hala guessed right the first time due to those two clues. That was quite impressive since Felix didn't meet her with his real face or told her what order he placed.
But for a Master Potioner, drinking a temporarily photographic memory potion once in a while wasn't unordinary.
'So you are that Felix.' Teacher Hala sent a telepathic message after realizing that she indeed had his ID, 'It's truly a peculiar way to meet one of my clients.'Indeed, I am honestly still finding it hard to believe that you are a teacher as well.' Felix said.
'It's only six hours a week worth of classes since I am teaching only your class.'
Teacher Hala sent a message with a smile, making Lara and the other witches guess that she was in a telepathic conversation with Felix.
Before they could wonder about the content, teacher Hala clapped her hands twice and said, "I have sent the exercise to you. Simply give it two hours of your day and your mental energy control would improve drastically."
"Thank you teacher." Felix said.
"Alright, let's continue where we left from our previous class."
Teacher Hala snapped both of her fingers and the lecture hall had been turned into a wide lab with tens of potion-making stations placed in an orderly fashion.
Felix and the other witches had found themselves sitting in a chair in front of their own personal stations.
The materials for the rejuvenation potion were all placed neatly on the preparation table. Even the catalyst hadn't been prepared yet.
"Last Monday, only five in the entire class have managed to succeed to concoct the potion five times in a row. Meanwhile, Lara had managed to concoct seven potions out of eight attempts."
'Damn, I still can't concoct even one without destroying the microorganisms in the preparation stage.' Felix glanced at Lara after hearing so.
"Let's pump those numbers up." Teacher Hala walked with her hands folded behind her back while speaking, "I want all of you to be capable of concocting this basic potion in every single attempt! So you wouldn't choke during your 1st-semester final exam due to nervousness."
Clap Clap!
"You have two hours to show me your results!" Teacher Hala shouted, "Begin!"
Everyone started with the Marmador grass, wanting to extract its essence to be used as the catalyst.
Felix also picked ten grass blades and placed them in a granite mortar bawl.
Then, he grinded them with a pestle for a minute until the grass blades turned into a greenish paste. Felix knew that the Marudar Grass wasn't infested with those tiny microorganisms that refuse to die. Instead, they were easily burnable compared to the others.
Hence, he didn't activate his quantum vision but picked the mortar and took it to the glassware table.
He used a wooden spoon to pour out the paste in a round-bottomed flask that was above a bunsen burner.
The round-bottomed flask was being held by a ring stand to not fall off.
In order for the heat to not come in contact with the round-bottomed flask, it was placed above a wire gauze.
After pouring everything, Felix took a long swirly tube and placed it at the flask's mouth.
The tube's end was connected with a controllable tab. Underneath the tab was a long test tube that was also held by a ring stand.
This was a basic station for extracting essence out of common plant-based materials.
After turning on the heat, Felix marked the time in his head and went to the preparation table.
He repeated what teacher Hala did by separating the vanes and cutting down the leaf to pieces. But he didn't mix them as teacher Hala did.
Instead, he activated the Quantum Vision and zoomed in on the vanes first until he managed to spot the microorganisms wriggling everywhere, creating a creepy scene.
Felix took a deep breath to calm his nerves and started utilizing his mental energy by thinking of wanting to crush those microorganisms.
To not destroy the mixture as well, he started off on the weaker side.
This resulted in the microorganisms sensing a heavy pressure on them but not enough to make them explode.
'I need a bit more.' Felix increased the pressure slightly and this time, tens of microorganisms had been obliterated!
Noticing that he didn't harm the materials, Felix fixed on this level of control and used it to deal with the rest of the microorganisms.
'Good, he doesn't let his classmates' own concoctions affect him and try to work at the same level as them.'
Teacher Hala praised the fact that Felix was destroying the microorganisms in the preparation stage instead of doing it during the concoction like the rest of the witches in the class.
If it was any other witch, teacher Hala would most definitely scold her for doing that...But for Felix? She understood that he had a lot to do to catch up.
'Truly interesting eyes.' Teacher Hala commentated after zooming in on Felix's eyes that were showing two triangle pupils, one white and the other red.
'His eyes will most likely attract a lot of attention from different races when the news spread.' Teacher Hala thought, 'But as long as he remains in the campus, he will be safe and sound from anyone's attempt to kidnap him for his eyes.'
Teache Hala was certain that Felix would experience kidnapping attempts for his eyes so they could experiment on them or even pluck them and see if they could be transferred properly to another person.
The ability to concoct potions was too great and a lot of people would consider themselves more worthy to have it than Felix...A mere human!