Lia, Lacey, and Sisha were essentially being granted a guided tour of the school's alchemy wing. Mr. Parse, the vampire who led them, seemed to be the head alchemist and he treated the three girls with the utmost respect.
The tour started with a minor explanation from Parse. "Many believe alchemy to be merely brewing potions and pills, a skill set inferior to forging. While it is a large aspect, it is only one snippet of the truth. Alchemy is not merely potions or pills. It is the art of creating consumables. Alchemy focuses on creating helpful consumables while forging focuses on creating long-term items."
Lia nodded. She had mostly known this, but Lacey and Sisha seemed a bit surprised.
The vampire then started the tour. Their first stop was a boiling cauldron. "This is one of our many cauldrons. To heat them, one typically uses fire magic. It is rare, but some who are unskilled in fire magic use the old-fashioned method: Creating a fire by hand and slowly raising the temperature." He paused here as if to wait for questions. Without receiving any, he continued.
"This specific cauldron is the most common model. A full one can typically be distilled into about five potions. This is merely the average, as some have been able to distill potions much more efficiently. The liquid inside is filtered and fed the magic needed for the potion's desired effect; this process is called distilling."
He paused for a moment, awaiting any questions before he began to lead the girls away from the cauldron. He moved into an area with many people standing around some kind of orb. It had various wires connecting to a small round plate.
Mr. Parse gestured at the strange apparatus before speaking. "This is where we create consumables known as spell beads. They're typically used to store beneficial buff spells, as the strength of buffing magic isn't limited by the bead's inefficient mana output. These are a fairly new creation, however, so they haven't been entirely researched. The list of possible side effects is extremely long."
Lia wasn't all that interested in spell beads. They were handy items, no doubt. Perhaps they could grant her a semblance of even more strength through buffing spells, but Lia wasn't lacking when it came to buffs. Not to mention the fact that she had little aptitude when it came to elements that didn't fall under the "black magic" category. She had no idea what would happen if she used them prematurely.
Mr. Parse waited for any questions, but no one spoke up. The most interested was Lacey, and he internally sighed. He wished more people would take an interest in alchemy. To him, alchemy was going to be the future.
He led the girls around a few more areas of note. The distilling artifacts looked like beakers with spiraling tubes. It funneled the distilled liquid into the individual potion bottles. Lia had to admit that the entire process seemed efficient and almost entirely seamless.
At the end of the tour, they ended up back at the entrance doors, and he smiled at the three of them. "Are any of you going to sign up?"
Lia and Sisha didn't make any moves, but Lacey smiled back and nodded. Mr. Parse wrote her name down on the nearby clipboard and the three girls left the alchemy building.
Lacey was the first to speak. "Truly interesting stuff. I enjoyed hearing about the various alchemical methods."
Lia shrugged. "I guess it was fine. The whole interaction just felt weirdly forced to me. Probably has to do with my status as a 'Princess'. I have a feeling the other students hadn't received such preferential treatment."
Sisha nodded. "I'm in agreement with that statement. Let us head to the adventuring class."
Lia nodded. She was overly excited about this class. Unsure as she was about taking adventuring as a profession, the class held tons of important information.
.....
The halls around this class were largely filled with students who were most likely not of higher status. It was mainly the outfits that had given them away. Noble students tended to dress in much more ostentatious outfits. Whereas the more common students had outfits focused on functionality.
Lia wasn't one to judge anyone, however. She knew that status meant nothing when it came to knowledge and power. A common student could be much better than a noble one.
Most of the students loitering around didn't stare at her for very long. Giving one glance initially, and a double-take when they noticed her bat-like wings.
The three of them strode into the classroom and saw a woman behind the desk. She looked nearly identical to the summoning teacher, Yuna. The only difference was that her entire body and all of her equipment seemed to be in various shades of gray. It looked almost unnatural. The three girls were stunned initially.
Lia spoke out first. "Are you Yuna's twin by chance?"
The woman spoke with a sly smile. Her voice held an unnatural tone, and the movement of her lips didn't correspond to the words she spoke. "You could call me that, I suppose. Although the situation there is a little more complicated than that."
Lia raised an eyebrow. "You have my attention. I'm thoroughly intrigued."
The Yuna-like being chuckled softly.