Concocting The Potion

"Anyway... Why are you here?" Ian asked while glancing at Asher suspiciously.

'It's already near 5 Am, so why is Asher inside the Herbology Lab at this time?' Thought Ian and his gaze became colder.

Asher looked somewhat embarrassed at the question and let out a slight chuckle.

"It's for my friend... He asked me to bring a few stalks of some herbs from the lab."

Asher shook the bag he held and showed Ian some herbs inside them.

"I see..." Ian said and thought of something.

If he wasn't wrong, then the friend Asher mentioned must be Aeric.

Asher looked around the Lab room curiously and found the Herbs and Natural treasures on the table beside the bunsen burner.

"You are concocting something?" Asher asked and continued.

"By the way, I forgot to ask, but... how are you right now? It shocked me when I suddenly saw you bleeding and convulse in pain. "

"I am fine... I was told by the nurse that you took me to the infirmary. thank you very much." Said Ian.

Asher smiled at that moment and suddenly questioned Ian.

"You said you wanted to talk to me about something important at that time... You can tell it now, if you don't mind. "

Ian felt lost and didn't know how to reply.

He decided against going to that ancient ruin; Hence, Ian didn't have anything important to talk to Asher.

"It's nothing important... I just wanted to meet the Famous Son of Fortune," Ian laughed awkwardly and continued.

" I need to make this potion, Asap; we could catch up later if you want." Said Ian.

Asher looked at the time before sighing.

"In fact, staying here is no longer safe. A Lab faculty member will be arriving soon; why don't you follow me? If you like, you can use my friend's personal lab."

Hearing Asher's suggestion, Ian thought for a moment before agreeing.

He can meet Aeric with no effort on his part and can also make his potion without worrying about getting caught by the university faculty.

Ian started packing the required materials in a bag and walked out of the room along with Asher.

"Eh!? you also knew about this entrance?" Asher sounded surprised when he saw In opening the secret entrance.

Ian just shrugged nonchalantly and replied, "This entrance is an open secret at the university."

Asher nodded in agreement after hearing this.

Of course, the number of students that knew about this entrance can be counted on one hand. But Asher didn't know about it and bought Ian's lie.

They both soon left the herbology lab.

Ian guessed something when he saw Asher walking towards the dorms.

' It seems he hasn't found the sewer systems yet....'

Ian recalled his previous experience in the sewers and decided against informing Asher about them.

He didn't want to waste any more time in the sewers, so he just followed behind Asher.

Asher would occasionally ask questions to which Ian would only give brief responses.

They arrived in front of the dorms by the time the sky started to light up.

"That's the place I live in. " Asher showed Ian a street filled with individual bungalows and pointed at one of them.

'This looked better than privileged dorms...' Thought Ian until he noticed that each bungalow had multiple students in it...

"Oh... won't it be too small for 3 or 4 students to live in a single house? "Asked Ian.

These bungalows are smaller than usual houses and might atmost fit three people.

There were times when Ian lived in an even smaller house, but that's in the past.

"Nah, not at all. Those bungalows are very comfortable for three people. Moreover, it is fun to live with friends." Said Asher and walked in front of the bungalow he had pointed at before.

"Welcome to my house... well technically it's not a house, and it isn't mine... but anyway."

Asher walked into the bungalow and Ian followed behind after taking his shoes outside the bungalow before entering it.

Unlike what he expected, the interior and design didn't fall short of privileged dorms.

Asher looked at the interior with pride and said. "I hired an architect and Interior designer to renovate this bungalow! it looks good right? "

Ian nodded with no change on his face, which disappointed Asher, but Ian tried to suppress the surprise he was feeling in his heart.

' This... Rich bastard '

Ian almost forgot that Asher is from a Secrecy family too!

Moreover, it's one of the few Secrecy families that live amidst normal humans... their wealth is almost immeasurable from a normal human perspective!

The cost of renovating a bungalow might not be that high, but the fine imposed by the college for doing so is ridiculously expensive

Most Students from the Gifted sector are from Normal families or weaker backgrounds, so how can they have so much money?

Ian then turned his gaze away from the furniture and glanced at the White-haired and crimson-eyed student playing a game on his phone.

"That is Rue, He is the one who carried you to the infirmary, "Said Asher after noticing Ian's stare.

"Oh... Thank you very much, Rue, " Ian replied after hearing it.

Rue put his phone away and examined Ian for a moment.

"No problem But… why are you here?" Rue asked Ian, but. Before Ian could respond, Rue stared at Asher questioningly... until Asher let out a sigh.

"Alright, alright, I invited him to use our lab "

" Aeric won't agree," said Rue and started walking towards the stairs.

" No problem, it's me who made that lab, anyway. He won't reject me. " Asher replied and followed behind Rue.

Ian, who was left behind, didn't know what to do- so he just stood there and waited.

After a while, Rue and Asher eventually returned from upstairs.

Rue was gritting his teeth while Asher smiled cheerfully.

" Come with me," said Asher.

To which Ian nodded his head and followed behind.

After walking upstairs, Asher took him to one of the many rooms.

When Ian stepped into the room, which looked similar to the Herbology lab; His gaze was attracted to the explosion marks on the tables and broken apparatus lying in the corner of the room.

He then looked beside a table to find Aeric wearing a lab coat and a full face shield.

"Is all of that necessary" Ian muttered while looking at Aeric's dress but it failed to escape Asher's hearing

"Of course it is! If he didn't wear them, then he might have lost an eye or his face might have gotten disfigured because of the so-called experiments he was doing..."

Ian didn't pursue this matter further and prepared to start making the motion.

But before Ian could begin, Asher forced him to wear a coat and face shield for 'safety' purposes, after which Asher ran outside without a moment's hesitation, as if his life would be endangered if he stayed any longer.

" What's fu*king wrong with this guy..." muttered Ian.

" He is always like that...eccentric and naive, " Sounded a Chilly voice behind him.

Ian turned around and looked at Aeric, who looked like he was having facial paralysis- devoid of any emotion and extremely cold.

"I see... are you going to stay here? "

Even after a few minutes, Aeric only stared at Ian and didn't respond at all.

Ian - "..."

Ian didn't mind showing the potion recipe to Aeric, since he was the one who made them in the first place so he started ignoring him.

"Whatever..." Muttered Ian and turned His gaze away from Aeric.

He once again started heating the Crystallized water on a glass beaker.

After heating it to 342.15 Kelvin, he added a few grams of powdered Flame lily and stirred it with a glass rod.

' A few drops of Psilocybin Extract from Mortem mushrooms and... orexin powder from Twilight glory and…'

Ian continued to add everything according to the recipe he remembered.

It failed a few times due to temperature fluctuations and overdosage of materials, but finally, an hour later, he successfully made the first vial of the potion.

The potion was indigo in color and glowed in purplish blue. There was a strange gas emitting from it, causing Ian to feel dizzy and awake at the same time.

Ghastly faces appeared on top of the potion, materializing as crying ghost faces at one moment and praying faces at the next.

" What's that? " Questioned Aeric while looking at the strange potion curiously.

This might be the first time Ian saw any emotion from this facial paralysis bast*rd.

Aeric came closer to the potion and scrutinized it carefully.