Opportunity (10)

"I told you guys to be more careful," I mumbled.

Unfortunately, this was one of the few times Luke truly showed his talent in hide-and-seek. I was quickly dragged to join their conversation. I glared at both Ethan and Charles as I was unable to move. They have never been interrogated by Luke before, who somehow managed to squeeze every single information out of you. I would have never agreed to their plan if I knew it would fail this badly.

"As Ethan had mentioned, we had similar interests. You already know it. The bug catching club. We went through life and death situations together to hide them from the teachers and to prevent the bugs from leaking out," I stuck with my usual cover story.

"Is this true?" Luke turned to them.

"It's hard to find bugs inside the school grounds," Ethan sighed.

"You know how we had one of the club activities inside the Suilett family mansion," Charles lied.

"So stop wasting time and collect more herbs," I needed more ingredients.

"You're making us do all the work with your slow pace!" Ethan tried to become their superior.

"We can increase our pace," Luke went back to work.

"You guys are a disappointment," Alex looked down on them.

This was how Oili never came to visit the mansion. I was stunned by Alex's merciless actions in punishing them for the act. While I was forced to sleep at a set time, both Ethan and Charles were forced to pick the herbs for the entire night. They were only able to take a break once it was time for breakfast. Since I wasn't able to touch the knives and forks, I ate with a hybrid spoon and fork merged together.

Luke had to slice everything for me and place them on my plates. No one mentioned I was breaking my part of the promise since they knew I was hunted by the cutlery. With a new teacher coming to help me from Micah's connections, I was more confident to enter the usual time-space room. I had two more days to generate at least one product from my support items. It took Micah many hours to negotiate with the mediator to lower his expectations.

"Did you manage to succeed?" Ethan asked about the progress.

"Not yet. I'm trying," I was equally exhausted.

"Those horrible herbs can't be real," Charles shuddered.

"Before we return to school, we can send you back with the herbs and elixirs," Luke tried to reward them.

"I don't want them. I'll only take them if I see their usefulness with my own eyes," Charles seemed to be traumatized.

"They're really hard to use," Ethan agreed.

"What else did you expect from those herbs?" Alex admitted the method was difficult.

After collecting the herbs from them, I greeted my new teacher. Micah's connections were impressive, this fairy's position being the headmaster of another prestige academy. I went through my usual process, not surprised when the bottle exploded again. Turning to my teacher for some advice and tips, I waited for her to answer me.

"This is a very hard student to teach. She struggles with the most basic aspect of control. If it weren't for those rings, she would attract trouble wherever she walked. Your only choice is to make her wear more of those accessories to help with control," she suggested.

Surprisingly, Micah seemed to be prepared, passing me a robe. I liked the robe, simple in design with no sight of decorations to be seen. I quickly wore the robe, finding my mana stop randomly swirling around my body. Taking this chance, I went through the process again, hoping there would be a change this round. However, the bottle exploded again, making the headmaster close to giving up one me.

"The robe isn't enough," she studied me.

"Change into these shoes," Micah took an item out.

I smiled as I took off my uncomfortable dress shoes. The robe was the most comfortable piece of clothing I had ever worn. It felt loose on me, making me have high expectations for the shoes. As a bonus these shoes were pretty, twinkling and delicate as glass. Once I placed them on, I was surprised by the cushion effect. It was nothing I had experienced before, resembling running shoes. Since I had Memors with me, I wanted to purchase more clothes and shoes for myself from the other dimension.

"Please repeat the method again," the headmaster studied me.

I nodded my head, using my entire concentration to visualize the merge of the herbs and the elixir that acted as a base. When I didn't hear anything shattering, I slowly opened my eyes, hopeful my attempt had succeeded. However, a burnt bottle faced me in its place, a near success. Micah didn't hesitate to give me another piece of clothing, a sweater. Since my dress tightly fit me, I had the room to wear the sweater on top of it.

Once I ran out of herbs, the headmaster was deep in discussion with Micah. I ran to get more herbs from the usual team, forgetting to change out of the items Micah gave to me. When everyone turned to face me, they were stunned, admiring the beautiful and simple items I wore. The robe had special effects, making me appear like I had shimmering rainbow wings behind my back. The sweater was sown together with strings of pure mana, giving out an enormous amount of energy. Meanwhile, my shoes slightly gilded with my every step.

"We should fortify the barriers," Luke turned to Alex.