Callie Artero is the professor of alchemy for first-year students who opt for alchemy. This is in name only, as most of her time she would delve into researching or creating potions and pills. This year however an anomaly appeared.
A first-year student appeared and became her only student. Usually, no one dared to waste their family's riches before there was no other choice to choose. Klaus on the other hand wasn't bothered as he amassed huge wealth in the past few years.
This works better in favor of Klaus. As there are no other students, the entire focus of the professor would be on him. She can watch the progress of him and can help him in the process. Too many students would cause the professor to divide her attention but now Klaus can enjoy all the fruits.
To Klaus without others to bother him and a focused guidance looked like a blessing. Though he can buy Alchemy knowledge from the Sin Shop, it is only theoretical. It could help him progress faster but without practical experience on how to work, the theory inside his brain would remain theory.
Without practice, it would only count as garbage.
Prof. Artero spoke, "Klaus, I don't know why you chose the alchemy class but I hope that you wouldn't give up in the middle".
She has seen many youngsters who joined the alchemy hall, have given up before they could gain anything substantial. This is essential because of how hard it is to successfully create potions and pills. Losing a few times can be considered as gaining experience but this problem extends to the masters.
This reason limited the expansion of alchemy. One can mitigate losing a few low-level herbs but no one can stand wasting rare resources.
She continued speaking, "Before we actually start, I want to memorize the herbs and their utilizations. You can find Volume-1 on your table".
"Volume-1?" Klaus asked in hesitation.
"Yes, herbology is a grand field with a lot of books written on it. One needs to be familiar with this field, if one wished to succeed in alchemy", she stated as a matter of fact, "You don't need to delve into everything, as collection and storage wouldn't be done us. There are specialists for that. We need to know how to mix one herb with another and what herbs should never be mixed together".
Klaus wanted to object. He is getting tired of reading. Even though he always liked reading, the stuff he got to read nowadays is too boring. He already had documents pertaining to his businesses and there are theoretical subjects he had to read to graduate from the academy. Now alchemy is added to the list.
He only thought that he would experiment and would eventually gain results. He can use his wealth to easily procure the ingredients required, so he never thought he had to read and memorize volumes of books. He thought learning the recipes would do.
He sighed internally in defeat. He had no other choice than that. He could leave, but the knowledge is needed if he wanted to become stronger.
As a mage, his physical attributes are low compared to his mental power. His desire to grow his strength should be dwarfed by something that could favor him in defeating the prince.
The prince would be just the first of many opponents he had to face.
Increasing only his spell power would give him an upper hand over the prince but it would also be detrimental in the long term.
So he dragged himself to his worktable and picked up to read the book titled, 'Classifications of common herbs and its Uses: Volume 1'.
Klaus didn't want to waste any time, so he dived into the subject. He wanted to absorb as much knowledge as he can.
While Klaus focused and lost in the book, Callie lost herself in her research. She is at a breakthrough and she needed just a push.
Both of them lost in their work and forgot about the rest.
---
By the time he got past twenty pages of a two-hundred-page book, evening arrived. Klaus felt hungry and he wanted to go back to his dorm house and have a nice meal before taking a rest.
When was about to close the book and stand up, he saw something beautiful.
His professor got out of the protective suit and hummed as she prepared herself to get into her dress while humming. She was so absorbed in her research, she forgot that she isn't alone.
Until that noon, it was her daily routine. There were no others who would be inside the room. So she would always freely do whatever she wants.
As usual, she changed her clothes forgetting her new student until she heard a voice.
"Wow, you are sexy", Klaus blurted out.
Callie got surprised to hear a voice at first and looked back. When she saw Klaus, she remembered that she now has a student.
Her face showed surprise with her eyes bulging out and her mouth wide open. Her brain malfunctioned and she stopped. She became a statue.