Alchemy lessons started the next day. After ordering the family's exclusive designers to make new uniforms for the Brotherhood Pharmacy's staff, Evan re-adjusted his morning and evening schedule to make time to learn alchemy for one hour, every day.
"Do you know how 'alchemy' came into existence?"
"Didn't it start with people trying to make gold?"
At least so was the history of alchemy in Evan's previous life on Earth. He guessed it wouldn't be that different in the world of the Yo-Ma Great War series.
"Right. Humans had two dreams—one to become perfect. The second was to make gold, the perfect metal, from all other imperfect materials through 'purification'. Of course, I don't know if the desire to become perfect in existence was more significant than making lots of money by producing gold."
"Mankind has become more affluent as a result of all the experiments they carried out to make gold. The research in alchemy has been more fruitful in recent years than trying to find different ways of producing gold. Alchemists walk a path… Which is said to lead to the invention of new potions and magic tools."
That was fair. Both in reality and in the game, alchemy fell short of reaching the goal of producing 'gold' or the 'Elixir of life'.
When it came to being in a fantasy world, Elixir (the potion to immortal life) could very much exist. Interestingly in the Yo-Ma Great War games, there were many quests to either find or create the Elixir, but they all failed.
"It is said that it is better to learn practical alchemy or proven alchemy than to dream of acquiring the Elixir."
In his previous life, that of Yeo Banmin, Evan had also mastered alchemy in the game. But the Philosopher's Stone or the Elixir could not be created. If that was not convincing enough evidence of the limits of alchemy, then what was?
It was ironic that while practicing alchemy, Evan had to deny 'purification', which was the basis of alchemy. But he didn't forget it.
Evan was laughing at this when Bernard looked at him with a grim expression. Evan was forced to swallow saliva by the alchemist's powerful gaze. He said,
"The fact that alchemy came into existence because of a human's dream to make gold and to gain eternal life is the root of all this learning. These ideals should affect what you already know and what you will learn in the future." Evan would've denied the words that he was hearing, had he been a gamer. Instead, he fell into a strange sentiment.
'Looking at the legendary alchemist Bernard Garcia, who truly believes in alchemy and has lived by those principles all his life, I wonder if it is possible to create the Elixir in a world where all kinds of miracles live and breathe. I'll keep it in mind.' Evan thought seriously for a moment, then nodded. Only then did Bernard look satisfied.
Bernard liked that Evan didn't just agree with him, but thought for a while about alchemy himself. Potion-making and magic now were different from the old days, so the younger people were only interested in what was in front of them.
'This little kid has always been different from others, from the beginning…" Bernard clasped his fists and glanced at Evan, who seemed determined.
He wasn't trying to teach Evan, as a return favor for the new uniforms. Of course, it was true that he was grateful for them, but it was nothing more than an excuse.
'He's an unusual kid. He has such a sense of presence, and he's getting stronger and faster every day too… Even if I am teaching him the knowledge of the potions, I may learn from him too.'
Evan thought he was the only one benefitting from this, but this was not the case. It was a two-way deal.
In return for giving Evan wings to fly, Bernard was planning to find out about him, bit by bit, by trying and getting closer to Evan.
"Okay, then let's start right away. Today we'll begin with simple potions and metal plates."
"Are we dealing with metal already?"
"This is something I have prepared. Did you know that the blacksmiths like the metal refined by the alchemists? The quality of the weapons produced by such metal is different from others… This is because the refining process is laborious and long."
It was a good idea to refrain from selling materials important to alchemy, by producing such metal. Of course, Evan had a lot of money, so he didn't have to worry about that!
"Okay, we don't have much time. To finish today's lessons in less than an hour, you have to move like crazy."
"Is that even possible…?"
"It is possible! I have the ability to… "
"No, it's my ability right now that counts… "
Bernard Garcia's early life did not exist in the Yo-Ma Great War series. Therefore there was no way to know in advance what his teaching was like.
But Evan was able to answer these questions afterward. This inspirational Grandpa was a perverted psycho who considered himself and his students, robots while doing alchemy!
"For an alchemist, punctuality is vital. Your potion-making shouldn't even shift by 0.1 seconds!"
"No, that's not it! I thought you already knew how to make that potion. You have to throw it away now and make it from scratch!"
"No, it's not perfect. Potion-making is meaningless unless it is perfect. To practice, alchemy means to reach the levels of perfection!"
"No! I didn't mean that only the proportions should be perfect! This is useless!"
Evan worked hard for an hour. He was shocked when Bernard declared that the class was over. He looked up and realized that exactly an hour had passed since they had started. The alchemist's life was extremely punctual, and there was no doubt about that.
"Okay, we're done for today."
"But Grandpa, I'm still just at the beginning."
"Don't be ridiculous. If you weren't learning alchemy or if I hadn't even deemed you fit enough to learn it, you'd have been rolling in the dirt right now. You've still got a long time left to learn alchemy, with only one hour a day."
"Would it be enough in 50 years then?" Evan replied to Bernard's blunt words with a laugh, even though he was drooping with sweat after an hour of harsh class.
"I'll be long dead before that, boy!"
"Alright, Grandpa. See you tomorrow! There is a new restaurant I have decided to go to today!" Evan bounced away from Bernard's incoming hand. Bernard rolled his eyes and, with his tongue sticking out, started to clean up his messy personal medicine chamber.
'I was already aware, but… He's still terribly fast at learning. Where the hell did that kid even come from?' Evan's knowledge was vast enough to even keep Bernard guessing about where he learned all of it.
Moreover, his physical abilities were also good.
As Bernard was teaching Evan, Evan made a minor potion. He moved it to compare it to the one made by Hanna, who was the best pharmacist of the Brotherhood Pharmacy. It was unbelievable even considering that the difference between the two potions wasn't that big.
'He must have already initiated in full-scale alchemy before…'
It was Evan's first time, about that Bernard was sure of. Except for his knowledge, the clumsy hand movements were admittedly new. But, the speed at which he developed the potion was amazing…
In the following days, Evan, with his extensive knowledge of alchemy backed by Bernard's support, no longer had trembling hands due to unnecessary tension. Bernard being the perfect teacher, caught any error in just seconds, always watching from the side and making his refining more perfect. Had the martial arts training also helped with his bold hands? Bernard didn't know.
'Sometimes, you naturally know what you need to do from the beginning. If you don't, then it's up to you to find out.'
Bernard had his suspicion from the start about Evan having some sort of secret, possibly harmful knowledge. He kept wondering what it was, and that was why he was trying to find out more about him.
Of course, there was no harm in training Evan. Bernard knew where his knowledge or experience lacked, so he just tried to fill those parts in.
'50 years? Nonsense! It will take less than five years, probably. He knows more about alchemy than I do, and maybe this time, I would be learning from Evan instead.'
'Evan teaching me? Me! Exactly like the way we first met!… It would be bizarre!' In his heart, Bernard had gone cold since his adventures decades ago, but now he felt a blazing hot flame of desire rise. To him, the joy of teaching a fast-growing disciple was as great as the joy of feeling strong once again.
Some teachers would be jealous of an outstanding student, but Bernard wasn't one of them. He was an alchemist by nature. In the process of making something, no matter whether it was terrible or something great, he felt unlimited joy.
'That little kid will become strong. As much as Leo or maybe even more than Leo…!'
How exciting it was to help a person gain so much strength and power!
After teaching Evan for only an hour, Bernard decided to improve his abilities further and judged him accordingly. After that, he dramatically increased the difficulty of the classes.
In the meantime, what was Knight Commander Mikhail doing?
It was the same, if not even more vicious than alchemy training, and only Evan knew this!
"Are you finished for today? You don't have to be learning potion-making from this Grandpa, Master." Hanna pushed open the door and came in. She was holding a glass of chilled fruit juice. She was going to give it to Evan, but Bernard pushed him out of the way. He took it and gulped it down and said,
"It's not potion-making, it's alchemy."
"It's alchemy because…' she imitated an old woman, "because it can turn lead into gold, right?"
"Hey, hang on! No one can learn alchemy so easily, alright. You should be grateful to me for teaching you about potion-making."
"You Grandpa are good at pissing people too."
Hanna knew that she was born with great blessings, and she could easily learn about potion making too. When it came to comparing her skills with Bernard's potion-making skills, she was exceptionally talented. She was also aware that she could improve her skills and the working method by receiving light instructions from him.
"Anyways, will you go attend to the customers then?"
"I most definitely would, but the number of customers has reduced."
"Are there fewer customers? But, it's late afternoon? Our pharmacy can't have fewer customers during such active hours." Bernard tilted his head at Hanna's unexpected words. He went ahead and checked the situation in the store for a while and realized it was the case. There were only enough customers to be counted by hand.
Only
It was a dramatic change, considering that just until yesterday, the clerks had to work without a break.
"What happened? Did any bugs come out of one of the potions?" Hannah shook her head with mesmerizing beauty at Bernard's questions.
"Is it a festival again? It's so stupid to celebrate a festival every time they break through a few floors of the dungeon for the first time."
"No, it isn't like that. The top two target teams have been blocked on the 45th floor in recent years. Even if it had been broken, it would have been a normal festival, and we wouldn't have seen such a decrease in customers. And Evan would've known about it."
"If that's not it, then what is it?" The two looked at each other, wondering what had caused all this.
The answer was found the next day.
A free blessing and healing event had started commemorating the temple's anniversary.
The word was that the temple had finally begun to dispute the Brotherhood Pharmacy.