In real combat, in dungeon raids, the importance of potions was impossible to overstate.
No matter how flawless a plan you laid out, unexpected situations were bound to arise sooner or later.
At times like that, you might suddenly be forced to face a powerful enemy, the raid might drag on longer than planned, or one of your party members might be disabled by an injury.
What you used to break through variables like that were consumable items such as magic scrolls and potions.
They could temporarily boost your combat power dramatically or act as an extra life.
And by manufacturing consumable items like those, the Alchemy Club enjoyed an exceptionally high profile even among production-type fields.
Enough to stay right on the heels of blacksmithing and magic engineering.
Even now, the laboratory was filled with club members engrossed in their work.
Some were making potions they had taken commissions for, while others were running all kinds of experiments in hopes of improving potions or discovering new formulas.
The Alchemy Club captain, Yang Guwon, belonged to the latter group.
First, he lined up a row of test tubes filled with a clear liquid like water, then examined them one by one with meticulous care.
“......”
Soon, his hand began to glow brightly, a sign that his skill had manifested.
When he touched the test tubes one after another in that state, the once-transparent liquids each turned different colors.
Purple, pink, green, yellow....
“......”
After touching the final test tube, Yang Guwon stared at them for a long while without moving.
But apparently he had not gotten a satisfactory result, because he let out a low groan and swept everything away with a flick of his hand.
Then he asked over his shoulder.
“Why are you all crowded over here?”
Just as he said, behind Yang Guwon stood several second- and third-year club members.
They had arrived quite a while ago, but had been waiting so as not to interrupt the experiment.
In other words, the matter was important enough for them to come and wait around for it.
Among them, the vice captain of the Alchemy Club spoke.
“You know, the thing we talked about earlier.”
“What, the potion?”
“Yeah. We got one.”
What came out of his inventory next was a tiny vial no bigger than a finger.
It was none other than [T.E.B - 001], the hottest topic in Dragonslayer Academy lately.
Yang Guwon took the vial and raised it to eye level.
Then, after inspecting it closely, his expression sharpened with interest.
“...It really is unusual. Mind if I test it?”
“That’s why I brought it.”
With potions, the less liquid remained, the more their effectiveness dropped, and once they fell below a certain threshold, they ceased functioning as items altogether.
The potion in front of them was tiny to begin with, so if they took out even a few drops, that would probably happen.
Still, if they could figure out the formula—or at least identify the ingredients—it would not be a bad trade.
And because they wanted to watch that process from right beside him, the club’s senior members had flocked over despite being busy.
While Yang Guwon and the others prepared their various testing tools,
not far away, Dang Eunbi sat with her ears perked up.
As she did, she recalled the conversation she had shared with Shin Byeongcheol not long ago.
“I’m thinking of quietly leaking it over to the Alchemy Club and the Discipline Committee too.”
“...Will that really be okay? It doesn’t seem like there’s anything to gain from that.”
Wouldn’t that just be poking a hornet’s nest for no reason?
At that, Shin Byeongcheol replied in an unusually serious tone.
“I thought about it a lot too. Asked around here and there. In the end, I figured it’d be better to do it.”
“......”
“We’re bound to cross paths with those two groups sooner or later anyway. Especially Alchemy—they’re basically our colleagues in the trade, right?”
“...That’s true.”
“So rather than wait for that, we lay the groundwork first.”
The plan was to guide the Alchemy Club into obtaining the potion, then figure out their stance and how they intended to move afterward.
And as luck would have it, Dang Eunbi was a club member herself, making her perfect for spying on them.
Before long, the murmurs of admiration from Yang Guwon’s group reached her ears.
“So you can make a potion like this too?”
“This is incredibly creative.”
“Oh.... I learned something today.”
“It has to be a third-year, right?”
“Is there really a student who can do this much?”
At the shower of praise from seniors who might as well have been the heavens themselves, Dang Eunbi’s shoulders bounced on their own.
The corners of her mouth were twitching upward too, beyond her control.
“Heh-heh.”
Then, when the club member sitting next to her sent her a suspicious look, she quickly got her expression back under control.
Meanwhile, Yang Guwon’s group continued their tests.
“We identified one ingredient. They boiled crocodile petals into it.”
“One of them is medicinal too. Some kind of spiritual herb, maybe? Fo-ti?”
“Could be some kind of ginseng.”
“Is this one monster material?”
“Why is there so much random junk in it?”
“Oddly enough, there’s something pretty basic about it too.”
“......”
Dang Eunbi stuck out her lips as if she had never been grinning at all.
Though her hands were still busily writing down every bit of her seniors’ feedback.
The testing continued for a while longer, and at last, Yang Guwon reached a conclusion.
“It’d be hard to reproduce.”
“I can tell about seventy percent of it, but the rest is hopeless.”
“And the process seems pretty different from ours too.”
Next, the vice captain of the Alchemy Club brought up the most important issue.
“So what are we going to do about this potion?”
“We’ll have to find the maker.”
“And then?”
“If possible, I’d rather handle this nicely. Feels like we could learn something if we talked.”
“Recruiting them would be best. Trading with them doesn’t sound bad either.”
At that, Dang Eunbi was overwhelmed with the urge to jump up and say, Actually, it was me...!
If a freshman had pulled off something like this, how much would they dote on her?
They might even lift the material restrictions that had frustrated her so much.
But Shin Byeongcheol had asked her not to, and it seemed the discussion still was not over, so she kept sitting quietly.
Sure enough, several second- and third-years voiced different opinions.
“Isn’t that way too naive?”
“I think they’re closer to a competitor.”
“Yeah. They knew full well we were here, and they barged in anyway.”
“The least they could’ve done was give us a heads-up. That’s basic business etiquette.”
“I don’t think recruiting them will work.”
In just a few words, the mood flipped completely.
The hardliners, encouraged by that shift, pressed even harder.
“Why should we be the ones to bow our heads? We can just drag them in.”
“Sit them down and have a long, calm little conversation.”
Of course, if that conversation did not go the way they wanted, there was every chance it would stop being calm.
Dang Eunbi secretly hoped Yang Guwon or the vice captain would oppose them, but Yang Guwon only asked even more proactively.
“But how are we supposed to find them? I heard nobody knows who it is.”
“We’ll put in a request. If we search in earnest, we’ll definitely find them.”
“The Thief Club?”
“No. I was thinking of talking to the Swordsmanship Club.”
Dang Eunbi’s face turned white.
*****
Inside the Discipline Committee room, a meeting was in full swing.
Around a large table sat the committee president Gwak Seungjae, along with third-year Sagong Dam, second-year Jo Byeok, Lee Seulbi, Geum Johan, Song Cheonhye, and others.
“Let’s move on to the next topic.”
At Gwak Seungjae’s words, one of the committee members opened their inventory and carefully placed a tiny potion vial in the exact center of the table.
It was [T.E.B - 001], needless to say.
“......!”
“......”
Apparently, even for the Discipline Committee members, this was their first time seeing it in person, because every last one of them looked full of curiosity.
Gwak Seungjae then asked a question to keep the meeting moving.
“How was it obtained?”
“It was left near the committee room, along with this.”
As the committee member said that, they pulled out a note and held it up.
Written on it in crooked handwriting were only four words.
“Voluntary tax payment.... What do you think the intent behind this was?”
After a brief silence, Lee Seulbi and Song Cheonhye each gave an answer.
“Maybe it was meant to show that it isn’t dangerous.”
“I think they’re trying to delay the search.”
Gwak Seungjae gave a slight nod.
“That is more or less my guess as well. Either way, we need to identify the maker. So that if something happens, we can respond immediately.”
Since it bore the serial number 001, anyone could predict that future versions would follow.
The problem was that there was no guarantee 002 would also come with only mild side effects.
The creator might harbor ulterior motives, or outside pressure might force them to cross a taboo.
If they planted eyes on the creator in advance, they could either seize them immediately in an emergency or prevent them from even entertaining other thoughts in the first place.
Gwak Seungjae continued.
“However, we lack sufficient justification to conduct a search operation. Though it may cause some confusion, it is also true that it contributes greatly to student growth.”
“......”
“Therefore, we must secure the creator as discreetly as possible. It must be known externally that the Discipline Committee is not moving.”
“Understood.”
That more or less settled their direction from here on.
Then one of the members asked cautiously,
“What do we... do with that?”
“......”
“......”
Everyone’s eyes turned to that thing—[T.E.B - 001].
Then Gwak Seungjae answered with surprising indifference.
“If anyone wants to drink it, they may. No matter how you look at it, it would benefit the Discipline Committee, and there’s no harm in confirming the side effect firsthand.”
“......”
“......”
At that, the members only exchanged looks, unable to step forward easily.
Song Cheonhye, too, was turning it over in her mind again and again.
The words Kim Ho had said to her not long ago flashed through her head.
“It ranks up, you know? And with a pretty high probability.”
“For the record, Hong Yeonhwa’s went up too.”
“They’ll probably keep taking it from here on out.”
“Then even if you train the same way, they’ll keep pulling that much farther ahead.”
I can’t afford to fall behind any longer...
Song Cheonhye slowly raised her hand, a slight tremor in it.
And just as she was about to reach forward, Lee Seulbi grabbed the potion vial first.
“I’ll drink it.”
They were not usually the type to step up first, but after getting completely smashed by Seo Ye-in not long ago, they had felt the need to raise their specs.
When Gwak Seungjae tipped their chin as if to say go ahead, Lee Seulbi lifted the vial to their lips, visibly tense.
Then, after taking a deep breath, they downed it in one go.
“......”
“......”
“......”
As everyone watched in a mixture of tension and curiosity, Lee Seulbi’s eyes widened.
“...It went up.”
“Congratulations.”
Starting with Gwak Seungjae, the members each offered a light comment of their own.
Geum Johan did the same.
“It seems the side effect has not appeared yet.”
At that moment, Lee Seulbi’s face suddenly hardened, and they fired back in a strict tone.
“Who said you were allowed to speak?”
“...What?”
“I never gave you permission to speak.”
“We need your permission to—”
Geum Johan started to retort in disbelief, then stopped short.
Because there was something queen-like in Lee Seulbi’s face.
It felt as though they might grind Geum Johan underfoot and lash them with a whip at any moment.
So Geum Johan opened and closed their mouth, then said,
“...My apologies.”
Without realizing it, in polite speech.
Lee Seulbi opened their mouth to say something else in that same arrogant tone, then—
“Ha.”
—as if their senses had come back, sucked in a startled breath.
Then, with stiff, creaking movements, they turned around and hurried out of their seat.
“...Excuse me.”
“......”
“......”
The mood in the room turned as cold as if someone had dumped icy water over it.
Meanwhile, Song Cheonhye felt less shock at the side effect than regret at having missed her chance.
In that case, there was only one answer left.
Should I... get one separately?
