CH-25: Alchemy Lesson (1)

There was a commotion when I got there. Several students were surrounding Ye Tian. Most of them were just watching the show, but the ones at the front were actively butting heads with him. 

-"This trash still dares to set foot in the land this Lord stands on, how dare you!"

-"Show him who is the boss, brother!"

-"Yeah, how dare he! He needs a beating!"

"Are you just going to watch?"

"Hm?" Iyana had arrived as I was watching the spectacle. "Oh, I was just about to take my seat. I didn't bring any popcorn to eat."

"I have some left, do you want them?"

"Ladies first." 

As a gentleman, I should prioritise the ladies, so I led her to the front seats and waited for her to scoop out a handful of popcorn from the cup before I did. The saltiness and the crunchiness were just right, with the rich flavour of spiritual corn it was an unmatched taste. You couldn't find popcorn this good even in the most expensive restaurants in my previous life. I ate the popcorn in relish as the quarrel heated up.

"Who says I can't stand on here, are you the Dean? What right do you have over the Clear Sky Institute?"

"I-I'm not! But I'm still the young master of the Liuyun Clan, commoner trash like you just bow and do as I say!"

"And what if I don't?"

"Arrogant! You are courting death!"

I turned to Iyana, "Here comes the part where he humbles them."

"You don't have to explain to me, I had my fair share of experience too."

"You did? I thought you would just overwhelm them."

"By the time I could crush anyone, I had already inflicted the fear of god in them, so no one came looking for trouble."

'Scary.'

Before the commotion could grow bigger, the Alchemy Instructor arrived at the auditorium. His long white beard fell to his knees, and his silver hair was tied tightly with a crown. The scent of spiritual herbs filled the surroundings, intoxicating some of the students. The Instructor dispersed the smell with a swish of his hand, and the students quickly regained clarity.

"I'm Daoist Mintleaf. I've been practising Alchemy since I could read and made my first pills when I was half your age."

'Not everyone has the same age…' I did not point out this to the instructor.

"As I perfected my craft, I came to learn that what I thought was perfect was just an illusion of my mind. Heed my words, this will be my first lesson to you all, who are still at the start of your lives. There is always room for improvement, and perfection comes from seeking it."

'Strong hook, now he should return to basics.'

"You can't improve without not knowing what you have to improve on. As such, knowledge is essential in alchemy. The knowledge of the herbs, their medicinal properties and structure, their essence. For today's lesson, I will test you on your knowledge of herbs and other alchemy ingredients."

He skimmed through the ranks of the students with his half-closed eyes. 

"I see that there are of noble descent amongst you. They shall not be tested as it is a common procedure for noble lineages to teach their offspring about various materials. This does not mean, however, that they will remain idle, as they will be responsible for checking the results of those being tested and explaining their mistakes to them. The test starts now!"

With a SWOOSH parchments filled with questions and pictures of herbs were distributed to all test takers, namely the commoners. This included Ye Tian and Cerys as well, and the one who would be checking his answers was Liuyun brat, who had a beef with him before the lesson had started. I was checking on two random commoners' answers as well. It seemed that not many nobles had shown up in this lesson. 

'Hmm, the difference between the Dismissing and Dissolving Lucosa Stalk… Although what they do sounds similar, they are two different plants. No pictures are shown here to differentiate between them, can they answer it?'

The Dismissing Lucosa stalk is used as a main ingredient for the majority of the Rank 1 antidote pills, although those are just remedies that buy time for an actual detoxication or a real antidote pill that is based on the acting venom to be made. Dissolving Lucose stalk on the other hand, while still used in pills that focus on poison, it is mainly used for pill poisoning. 

'Oh, one of them got it right. I guess someone studied beforehand. It is always a must to study before the class for memorization-centric lessons.'

Although she got it right, I didn't show it on my face and waited for them to finish filling the parchments. That was when I heard a loud voice, disrupting me from my job.

"You trash! You don't even know this, yet still dare to come here!"

'Oh, it was them.' 

The one yelling was the Liuyun brat whose name I didn't bother to remember, and the recipient was Ye Tian.

'I think I know where this will lead.'

"You are wrong. The Flounce Acidic Shroom can be utilised as a sprinkler to speed up the growth of herbs, and when they die they will add further nutrition to the soil, making the herbs more potent. It is not my fault that your way of thinking is too rigid."

"Ha! You want to spew acidic fluid on spiritual herbs and expect them to survive that and still flourish?"

"What is going on here!"

Daoist Mintleaf arrived at the scene in a flash and demanded an explanation for the disturbance caused by the two.

"Senior Mintleaf, this dunce of a commoner argues that his answer is right!"

"Which question?"

"Answering to the Senior, it is question number 34; What are the uses for the Flounce Acidic Shroom?" Ye Tian calmly explained. His explanation caused a fuss, as most were still hung up on either the first or second question and the farthest one had answered was the 11th question."

-"How can he answer that fast?"

-"I bet he scribbled down some random things, how could someone be that fast?"

-"Yes! They have to be wrong!"

-"Who knows, maybe he even skipped questions!"

'Such an old-fashioned society, why stay hung up on questions that you can't answer? Well, I guess it's normal for maniacs who sit still for ages and seek answers to things they don't know.'

"Hmm." Meanwhile, Daoist Mintleaf was intently checking Ye Tian's answers up until the 34th question. Although all of the questions were compromised of Rank 1 materials, sometimes there were answers he hadn't thought of before, making him think before he could decide whether it was right or wrong.

 Eventually, he flicked his hand, and a small garden appeared before him. He planted some Rank 1 herbs and a Flounce Acidic Shroom in the garden and sprinkled some dust that accelerated the growth of these plants. The plants reached maturity in a matter of seconds, and he followed the instructions on the parchment to a tee. He diluted the acidic fluid in the shroom by injecting it with spiritual water and made a formation to stimulate it periodically. The shroom spewed the acidic fluid, wetting the plants and the soil. Instead of killing the plants, the herbs gained a lustre and seemed full of vitality.

"Incredible…" he muttered under his breath. He gave the parchment back to Ye Tian and returned to the pulpit on the podium. "You don't have to take the test, you pass." He said before he disappeared in a flash.

'Yep, here it comes. The cliche of the MC knowing better than an established expert. This should be because of his inheritance, does it focus on alchemy? Having all 5 roots would be helpful for it the most, and I can see it synergising with his Quintuple Heavenly Spiritual Roots.'

"Those questions won't answer themselves," I reminded the two that I was checking the answers of. They were also distracted by the event, their full attention on the spectacle of Ye Tian slapping faces. 

The girl calmly returned to answering the questions while the boy was flustered. It wasn't going well for him from what I could tell, and the recent distraction only made it worse. Of course, I did nothing to help. My job was to check, and then explain. Either he had to give up or finish before I would help him.

The sound of brushes striking the parchment filled the auditorium, and I unintentionally focused on their writing instead of the answers. My eyes twitched at the sight of the horrendous strokes both of them had, I barely kept myself from making a scene. I would give them an earful about calligraphy after the lesson. 

"Time is up," said Daoist Mintleaf and everyone dropped their brushes. Now it was for the nobles to do the explaining. This would also allow the Instructor to get a feel for who had an affinity for alchemy. Although memorising was a big part and hard, understanding why it was so was even harder. Explaining it clearly to the other side indicated a level of understanding of the topic (if it was right) and he could pick some seedlings for his course.