Revered Magus Chapter 14 – One step ahead

"My name is Daniel, Daniel Raze of the Raze family" he extended his arm. Rio looked at his hand and at him seeing a dumb smile on his face. "I am Rio Casmir". People usually say their family name when greeting but Rio thought it was weird, so he just greeted him normally. "So, what do you want?" Rio asked.

"Well, I saw you in the library and it seems you didn't have a book to your liking, want to come to my dorm, I have some books that may interest you. I brought them along from my family's library."

Rio was confused, he didn't know him yet he asked Rio to come over to his dorm. What were his intentions?

'System analyze'

[Ding!]

Name: Daniel Raze

Class: 1st Rank Mage

Subclass: 4th Rank Martial Artist

Strength: 15.5

Agility: 16.5

Endurance: 16.0

Mana: 14.8

Wow, he's decently strong, the only reason Rio was currently this strong is mainly due to the system. Rio guesses this is what you call developing using assets.

"What books are there?" Rio asked, 'if they were books that would interest me, I guess I could take a look, however, if they don't, there's no point in even talking to this guy.' Rio thought

"I don't even know, my father gave me a bunch of books to carry along, I guess he didn't want me to be slacking off. I do remember one called the Lost City of Altheim. I read the summary at the back and it is something about an ancient city, where the Elves and Dragons used to live together."

"Dragons?" Rio asked him. "Yeah, apparently dragons used to exist before they all disappeared, not sure. Historians and researchers say they were extinct due to a phenomenon that occurred, but nobody really knows what actually happened. See it seems you are interested, after class let's go to mine." He said while continuing chatting as they both walked to their next class.

They entered the alchemy class and sat next to each other, it was more like Rio chose somewhere to sit and he followed him. Rio didn't think it was bad to have a friend to communicate with, however, you need to choose someone you can trust to be your friend, Rio naturally doesn't trust anyone, especially in a world like this where the most loyal friends can turn on you for the smallest benefits.

As Daniel didn't seem to want to shut up, the Teacher came into the class, took the register, and proceeded with the class. "Hello students, you can call me Professor Rodrick Alchemy is an act of inner transformation. Heal and release your inner self in need of change. The transformation of these parts of us leads to inner liberation and freedom from fear. Being an alchemist is even better than being a magus or a Judan Martial artist, as even those people would seek your help in time of need. When faced with illness or injury, they require our services in order to survive. Strength is of course important, but knowledge is power, and this power bows before nobody."

After Professor Rodrick went in-depth into alchemy and tried to give the basic outline on what the class was going to be focusing on throughout the years of being here, he rounded up the lesson by giving each of us a book with herbs and their use and details. As everyone was leaving, Rio stayed behind, of course, Daniel waited as well me asking what it was waiting for. "I want to speak to Professor Rodrick wait for me outside, I'll be there in about 5 minutes" he nodded before leaving.

Before the professor had the chance to leave, Rio absorbed the book knowledge and called out to him and asked "Hello Professor Rodrick, I always liked an alchemist and wanted to pursue alchemist, is there an alchemy book I can use after I don't read the herb book."

"It is good for someone to be passionate about alchemy and it is good judgment to go down this path, however, you should get ahead of yourself, you're only starting to learn the basics. Once you're done with the book and remember every detail, I start going through the methods of alchemy," he said sternly

"To be honest, professor, I know everything of what's in the book since I was interested as started learning from a young, that's why I just wanted to get an additional book instead so I don't sit around and do nothing in my free time," Rio replied expecting a denial, he thought it would be difficult to move a step ahead without a good reason. The professor looked at Rio in surprise and asked in a questioning tone. "You know everything in this book?"

"You can test me if you don't believe me" Rio replied to his doubtful question. He nodded and asked, "What are the effects of the Malayan Flower Stump?". "The Malayan Flower Stump has a calming effect on beasts with sensitive noses such as the 3 Horned wolf or the Crescent Dogs". Rio replied to his question without a second to think. He carried on asking all sorts of questions until he seemed to be satisfied and slightly shocked with Rio's knowledge and proceeded to pull out a book from his space ring.

"Since you basically know everything inside the book, here is a basic book for alchemy, you can study it in the meantime however I suggest you don't try refining any potion or pills just yet, since face-to-face teachings are more efficient than learning of a book." He said before handing Rio the book, smiled, and walked away. "What a promising student, hopefully, he can be a great alchemist and be an asset to future alchemy students," he mumbled on his breath; however, it could not escape my hearing. "Why would I go out of my way to teach useless kids." Rio creased, and put the book in his space ring 'Well, it seems I can be ahead of everyone else in the class.' Rio thought as he walked to the door seeing Daniel waiting for him.

Seems like you are finished speaking, "let's go to my dorm now." he said while pulling Rio's arm. Soon after they reached section C and walked directly to Daniel's room. It seems his quite an asset in the school. His door number is 15A, when passed door number 20 Rio already felt a great rise in mana in the air. No wonder his mana is so high even though he's just a 1st class Mage apprentice, he is probably on the verge of breaking through. Daniel opened the door and walked in and turned around.

"What are you waiting for, the room isn't going to bite, hurry up and come in". He said mockingly. Rio stepped in and the room was definitely way better than mine. It was like his room was a 4-star room while Daniel's was a 5-star. Although it was one star, it made a big difference.

He went to go look for the books while Rio sat on the bed, surveying the room to see if there was anything he would need to worry about. After around 2 minutes, nothing seemed out the usual and he came back with a dozen sets of books. And places them on the table with a huge sigh "Phew, look at these, books I am sure one would catch your interest".

Rio picked up one book and looked at the back to see the summary. "Knowledge is power, when venturing through the wild, knowing rare types of beasts' weaknesses and strengths you may encounter may save your life. I saw a book like this in the library" Rio said to Daniel. He looked at me with an awkward smile and said "Next one then, something I'm bound to catch your interest".

Rio put the book down and picked up the next few books and read the pointless summaries out loud. There were 2 books left from the pile, Rio picked one of them up and read the summary. "The Lost City of Altheim, a place where elves and dragons resided and harbored many treasures, even their language could be said to be blessed by the heavens, reciting a spell or rune in this language would have insurmountable power compared to human language."