—Asher Frostblade's point of view.
The next class is on alchemy, a very important subject for cadets, especially when a mage needs to survive in a dungeon and must find something to heal himself or some means to regain strength. For this reason, alchemy is essential.
Mainly, it serves to craft potions, pills and other items related to healing.
"Clank."
After a few seconds of waiting for the professor, he finally walked through the door. He had black hair, dark eyes, the usual for a person, along with clear glasses and, of course, the white uniform.
Standing in the center of the podium, the professor introduced herself.
"Hello, cadets. My name is Aria Bell; you can call me Professor Aria. I'll be teaching you alchemy class."
Asher looked around, watching as the cadets paid attention to the professor. At that moment, Professor Aria spoke again.
"As you know, alchemy is essential in dire situations, such as inside a dungeon. In it, there are many things that can serve as ingredients for potions and other purposes; alchemy will help you in such cases."
Of course, all the cadets were aware of this fact, so most of them already knew it. But there was one who didn't.
"I don't know anything about alchemy, but it sounds interesting."
That was Asher's thought as he listened intently to Professor Aria's words. After all, alchemy was not something that was used in the other world Asher came from, a modern, technologically advanced world.
In this class, Asher paid close attention to the teacher's words.
"Good, then I will demonstrate how to make a potion to heal wounds."
The teacher's mana concentrated on her hand, specifically on a ring, and then, herbs of different types emerged from the dimensional ring.
Using her own mana, the ingredients floated and began to mix, as if they were in a blender.
After a few seconds, a green liquid floated in the air. Quickly, the teacher pulled out a vial and the liquid moved until it was completely filled.
All the cadets looked on with wide eyes, especially Asher, who managed to grasp the whole process with ease.
"It's not so difficult after all. You simply have to use the mana like a blender to mold the herbs, extract their important parts and, with the mana, nourish the herbs to get the liquid."
That was Asher's understanding. After all, it didn't seem so special to him; the process is relatively simple, but by following the steps correctly, it's easy to do. That explains why the potions are so expensive, even becoming worth more than a crystal.
"As you can see, this is a wound-healing potion, but it's a basic potion, so it's not very effective."
"Now I will tell you how to create one of these."
***
—Scene change.
The explanation was really long; it could be summed up in three steps.
First, you use the mana to shape the herbs. Second, with the mana, you have to extract the most important things from the herbs, like the liquid and some parts. Finally, you feed that liquid and extract it from the herbs, thus creating a basic potion.
But Professor Aria's explanation was so extensive that some cadets were lost. Asher was the only one who understood it from the moment the teacher demonstrated; it only took him a few minutes to learn how it was done.
"It's too easy, I don't understand why no one understands it."
Asher muttered, and then Luna, who was by his side this time, spoke up upon hearing Asher's muttering.
"Easy? So, you say you can make one?"
Looking at Luna, Asher nodded.
"That's impossible, I don't think you can do it, can you?"
"Depends on whether you believe me or not."
"Haa," she sighed and looked back in the teacher's direction.
Of course, learning something at the very moment of the demonstration would really be impossible for anyone, but Asher understood instantly.
"Fine, then try making a potion."
Snapping his fingers, ingredients and a glass vial appeared right in front of all the cadets.
"You have one hour to do so."
At that moment, the entire room began to examine the ingredients one by one, very slowly.
Asher simply looked around and sighed.
"This is too easy," he muttered quietly.
Seeing that each cadet still did nothing, Asher decided to begin.
A dark mana shot out of his hands, and the ingredients in front of him began to levitate in the air, following the same steps the teacher had shown.
First, use the mana to mold the ingredients; second, squeeze the ingredients to extract the most important thing; and finally, nourish the ingredients and extract the liquid. The process took less than a minute, much faster than Professor Aria had taken to do it. Then, Asher spoke.
"Ready."
At that instant, all the cadets, Asher's group and also the teacher, looked at Asher with their eyes more than wide, their faces so surprised that their mouths dropped open.
"H-how did you...? So, it was true," Luna expressed as she saw the vial filled with the same green liquid.
"You're a complete nut, you know that?" said Julian.
Confused, Asher looked at all the cadets, who had a shocked expression, and thought to himself:
"What the hell?"
No one was saying a word, which left Asher very puzzled, not knowing what to say at the reaction of all the cadets. What's so impressive about making a potion like this? It's supposed to be a basic potion.
Of course, what Asher didn't know is that making something like this, so fast and on the first try, without making a single mistake, is something that only a genius could accomplish in the entire history of alchemists. But Asher had no idea that what he had just done was something that could be recorded as the achievement of the fastest alchemist to create potions.
Of course, they wouldn't tell him that.
Finally, Professor Aria's voice echoed, and Asher turned to look at her. The professor was still surprised.
"Cadet... how did you do that?"
"..."
At the teacher's question, Asher was puzzled, not knowing why he was being asked such an obvious question.
Then, Asher opened his mouth and said:
"I simply followed in his footsteps, that's all."
In fact, all the cadets knew that, but what Asher had done was as if the question was really important.
"Forget the question I asked, let me see the potion."
At that moment, the potion Asher had in front of him disappeared and reappeared in the teacher's hands. Then, using her mana, the teacher made a small wound on her forearm and quickly drank the potion.
"What the... How is that possible?"
"Amazing, she actually made it."
Seeing that the teacher's wound healed instantly, the cadets couldn't help but exclaim in amazement. They all looked at the potion that Professor Aria had drunk, and after seeing that it was effective, they were even more amazed.
It was truly something that left everyone speechless, mouths agape. Professor Aria looked at the empty vial that was previously filled with the green liquid that the silver-haired, red-eyed cadet had created.
It left her speechless.
Reassuring herself, Professor Aria spoke:
"The potion is like a medium potion, it's more advanced than the basic one, how did you make it better?"
"..."
Again, Asher was confused.
"Well, I told him that I simply followed in his footsteps. Whether the potion is better than a basic one, I don't know."
"Haa... You know you did something amazing, but you don't know how you did it."
"Uh, it's not that, I just..."
"Okay, I get that you made it even better and you don't want to tell me how. I understand you."
"..."
Asher couldn't even get through his explanations, but the teacher simply cut him off without further ado.
"Okay, then everyone else continue, meanwhile Cadet Asher has the perfect score."
"..."
Asher simply looked puzzled at the teacher without saying anything, watching as the other cadets attempted their potions.
From this point on, no cadet succeeded in making the potion. Grey, Freddy, Julian, Emilia, Luna and Gloriana came very close to making it, but in the end they didn't succeed.
Seeing that, Asher explained every detail and every step they had to follow. The others paid attention, and the first one to make it was Grey, followed by Luna and then Freddy. Then, Gloriana, Emilia and Julian followed.
***
—Scene change.
The alchemy class lasts four hours, so it ends at two in the afternoon.
This is because the alchemy subject requires a lot of time due to its difficulty to learn, so those four hours are more than necessary for the alchemy subject.
Of course, the classes continued. After all, there were quite a few of them, and they went on one after another.
After several hours, night finally fell. It was almost nine o'clock when the last class ended after a long day in the classroom. On his way out, Asher made his way to the library section along with the others.
Because, well, that was because they had things to research, mostly how to make potions, while the others were looking for information on skills and types of mana manipulation.
[Librarian section]
Looking at the inscription right at the top of the entrance, Asher looked at it, and then the rest of the group quickly entered.
"What the hell, this is too big, don't you think?" Julian was the first to speak.
Seeing the incredible dimensions, how tall the place was, and the immense amount of books that filled every visible corner, the cadets were shocked. Many other cadets were scattered around the tables, and the whole group entered.
After a while, they chose their books and all sat down at a single table, long and spacious, with many chairs available.
"Haa... Today sure has been a long day," Emilia spoke at that point.
Seeing Emilia's expression, Gloriana commented:
"Yes, I guess you're right, Emilia."
In fact, the whole day was a succession of demonstrations, for, after all, it was the first day they were teaching the cadets, and, of course, the demonstrations were long and difficult to understand. But Asher understood them quickly, which left all the cadets amazed.
"I don't understand how you manage to learn everything when the teacher demonstrates it to the cadets for the first time and you do it right away," were Luna's words, as the whole group looked at Asher.
Everyone was very curious as to how Asher managed such incredible feats.
"I don't know. Since I was born, I can understand anything in a few seconds, and things that are extremely difficult to understand take me less than two hours."
"..."
"..."
"..."
At that moment, the whole group went blank at Asher's words. It was obvious, after all, that this meant that Asher had a mind from another reality, capable of understanding everything perfectly.
Well, in fact, that was what the whole group thought.
"Crazy bastard," Luna said, and the others nodded at the same time.
"..."
Asher watched everyone's reactions quizzically.
"I guess, in a sense, they all see me as crazy and an idiot."
"See, I told you, he's an idiot too."
"That doesn't mean anything, idiot."
The voice of Encrid and Isabella arguing again echoed in Asher's head, leaving him a little dazed.
The two were screaming in Asher's head, and then, unbeknownst to him....
"Drip."
A small red drip came out of his nose.
"It's happening again. You two, I told you not to scream in my head."
Those words were directed at Encrid and Isabella.
"Shoot, I forgot," Encrid said.
"Sorry, I forgot too."
This has been going on for a little while now. Encrid and Isabella's screams are the cause of Asher's nosebleeds.
At that moment, Gloriana spoke nervously:
"Asher, your nose..."
Everyone looked at Asher, and their faces filled with surprise at the sudden bleeding.
"Let me wipe your nose."
Gloriana pulled a white handkerchief from her pocket, got up from her seat, walked over to Asher and, bending down a little, wiped the blood that was coming out of his nose. Then, Asher's face was clean, without a trace of blood. But it was at that moment that Gloriana realized....
"..."
"..."
"..."
Each of her friends looked at Gloriana with a smile on their faces, especially Luna, who commented:
"Asher could wipe off the blood alone."
It was then that Gloriana understood what they meant.
"Uh... you guys..."
She couldn't say anything as she returned to her seat, covering her face with both hands. Meanwhile, Asher watched, confused, at everything that had just happened.
"What's wrong with that? This group is weird," he thought. Although, in reality, the real idiot was Asher for not realizing what they all understood....