[OP: ]
"What do you call it, young boy?" The intimidating alchemy teacher standing before the table with their complete works asked with a spark in his eyes.
Everyone was looking at the two of them, especially the attractive looking three potion bottles that were placed on the ground.
There was something special about them and they could tell it simply by looking at it. But, only their teacher knew from just a look just how amazing of a concoction he was in the presence of.
"Nothing special sir. It is a formula I rarely make and mostly just save for emergency usage.
If I had to give it a general name, I wound call this a superior healing potion. But, if we have to please the upper class and sell this to them at the base price of around three <W> coins, I would call it [Salamander's tears]."
He smiled lightly as he saw his teacher pick up one of the glass bottles placed on the table with his golden hand and examine it closely.
He was astonished to see this thing. Actually, this had also picked up his curiosity.
"Why did you use the catalysis that you were using? Is there something special about it that the other types of equipment couldn't do?" He asked, opening the lid of the vial and dropping a single drop of the red liquid on a little cut on his hand, and as soon as the liquid touched the wound, it vanished with a dull flash of red light.
"No sir. This catalyst isn't much special than a usual <Eye of Procession> but the enchantments placed on it make it very convenient, and also bring out the actual potential of the material."
"Fascinating…"
The students were looking at their teacher's unique, curious face and they couldn't help but innately admire the person that made the stoic teacher so full of reactions.
"What about the ingredients? How did you come up with such an idea of mixing simple things, making them potent, using the Aura and Mana, and finally turning it into something this unique?"
His curiosity was still running wild and as he examined the young boy's work, he was already concluding the reasoning behind every single one of his actions.
"Trial and error, sir. That's the core of any scientific or magical experiment. As for how I got this idea… it was actually from the tale of <Whispering shallows>."
He smiled nostalgically as he mentioned that name, and many students, the ones from the northern continent mainly, looked at him with surprised expressions.
"The fairy tale? You got inspired to make something like this from a tale of a lion and duck?"
"Not a lion and duck dummy. It was a Leopard and a swan. And they were specifically (Winter blue panther) and a (Persoline green swan)."
"Y-yes. But still, a children's fairy tale… and that?"
"I think the moral of the story was something like looking at a problem from different perspectives, using the unconventional method, and never fearing failures. My little sister likes the fox in the story so I remember that well."
"Ohh? I almost forgot the fox since it's been so long since I last heard that tale."
"But still, how does one get the inspiration of using unrelated ingredients to create something like this?"
"That… only the creator can answer."
After their little discussion, they all looked at him with the same curiosity as their teacher, but he shook his head with a humble smile.
"There's nothing too deep to this.
I was just reading (Arbenco's thesis on molecular structure) on a fine afternoon, and my late grandma brought me a cup of fruit salad.
She had used some very unique kinds of fruits and berries that we all would usually never put together but, strangely, the resulting taste of that unusual dish was very tongue pleasing.
It was simply some things dropped in cool milk but the taste still lingers on my tongue, and the inspiration of this potion, which took me months to perfect, still seems as clear as yesterday to my heart.
Haaa…"
It was a true story. Rein knew it and her bitter reaction was enough for Mia to confirm that.
And from the two of their sad faces, and how he mentioned his grandma, they all guessed just how close he must have been to hers.
"An interesting potion and its interesting backstory. Today seems to be a special day for some reason."
He paused for a moment and put the potion bottle down carefully. And then he laughed.
"Hohoho. Young boy, have you already patented this work?"
He was laughing, and everyone looking at him were surprised to see this reaction of his.
Everyone except the three people that had competed for the first spot, of course.
"Well, sir. You can say that I have, but… the production rights of it are exclusively sold to a capable client whose information, for obvious reasons, I cannot disclose until the product itself is resealed in the markets."
"Sold?"
He looked at him with a newfound surprise now. He wasn't expecting to hear something like this from a young boy.
And all the students in the class were just as surprised as him at this news which they, as mostly young adults, couldn't help but wonder about.
"H-how much did you get for it, if I may ask?"
Someone spoke up from the other side and he looked at the boy with a simple smile.
"Things like that are usually confidential and bound by Mana oaths, Luke. All I can say about this transaction would be that both parties are getting good profits and neither is at too much of a disadvantage.
We had a good legal authority with us so I can say it was all pretty profitable."
A few students looked at the timid-looking boy with expressions that said they already knew the answer would be something like this.
It was obvious one wouldn't tell just anyone about things like that but still, some of them were thankful that he asked this obvious question that none of them had the courage to ask.
And the answer from the person in question impressed their teacher even more.
"It really makes me happy to see young children know about stuff that many 'adults' never learn in their lives.
You really made me smile today, young one. So here's a little something for you. Good work."
He raised his hand and a strange black card materialized on his hand.
Then he moved on to the person beside him without waiting anything anymore.
"That was a spectacular scene, you girl. I don't think you would believe it but in this class of mine, the last time someone made this quantity of potion on the first day was exactly nine years, seven months, and two days ago.
And no, that weird bastard didn't use the obvious thing like your special big cauldron, but instead a spatially enhanced teapot.
He's quite famous now so I think you all might already know who I'm talking about but still… to make this quantity in this little time and still have this good of a quality, it's nothing short of miraculous.
I also loved how well you used your skill and the cauldron. And it really made me think that you were a witch in disguise for a moment there.
But those things aside, that was great. And this result is just as surprising as your 'fiancé's'."
He smiled and nodded at her, and summoned a green metallic box just like that black card.
"Good work," he said, and then looked at the girl just on the next table, and the shimmering golden fluid in the attractive-looking vial before her.
"Why the sad face?" He asked warmly, a smile on his intimidating face.
"We had a competition, you know, right? I'm not a child that wouldn't understand what it means when you compare her work with his.
I could have done better, I underestimated them, and I lost. That's all."
She gave him a butter smile. And Rein gave her a happy smirk. She won, at least between the two of them.
"You know it right? Then that's fine already. You know what you did wrong, you know what you have to do. Then that's all you have to do.
You already made your famous (Golden raindrops) perfectly in this little time. Even I need more time than this for the same."
He tapped her silver head with his silver hand and summoned a book like the previous two items.
"They will help. Aren't about alchemy itself but they will surely help. Good work."
He walked back after saying that, and… than addressed to his entire class.
"Then let's start the class!"
Their class would start. And the class that was going on the other side of their class, the class with Zoe in it, was facing the same astonishment as this class had for the three of them combined.
There was admiration and awe in this class too, and the Zoe we all knew, the same Zoe with that cute form and smiling face, was now totally different here now as she hammered on the anvil with a metal few could ever work with.
And this was... hot. Just like her mature look.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om