Damien could feel all the gazes of his classmates on him and some faint chortles and mocking chuckles. He wasn't surprised as he looked at his insipid etheric flames on his palm, which were dull brown flames.
Not only the disciples but even Reva didn't expect that his etheric flames would be so inadequate and inferior in nature.
She wondered if he could even concoct Rank 1 Pills and why he was knowledgeable in alchemy if he wasn't good at concocting pills.
Typically, one wouldn't take up or pursue alchemy if they find out that they don't have the talent to concoct pills.
After all, to be successful in alchemy, they must be proficient in concocting pills.
Having only good knowledge of alchemy won't make you more successful than one who has the expertise and the talent to concoct pills.
Of course, one can also be successful if one could develop ground-breaking medical formulas with their knowledge of alchemy.
But even for that, they need to have rich experience in concocting pills.
"Hehe, look at his crappy colored flames…."
"Tsk, tsk, all that concentration for manifesting such repulsive flames…"
"Silence!" Reva heard the faint mocking chuckles from others and glared at them.
After hearing her stern shout, no one dared to laugh at Damien again, and they all felt aggrieved that Damien was Reva's pet.
They thought that the reason he answered her questions flawlessly was to somehow become a teacher's pet because of his inferior talent in concocting pills.
"Damien, try focusing once more till I finish examining everyone else's flames. And try using your Fire seed to invoke flames." Reva instructed.
Damien sighed, and he knew that the result would be the same no matter how hard he concentrated. And besides, his Fire seed was barely enough even to create some sparks.
He wasn't disappointed that he manifested such shitty flames as he handicapped himself, nor did he care to bother what others thought.
In truth, everyone's ethereal core could have dormant ethereal seeds in a dead state, which was of no use at all. Only when one develops an affinity towards a fundamental law and has high comprehension ability could they awaken their elemental seeds.
Only those who have exceptional talent would be born with active elemental seeds, and their comprehension of those elemental seeds would be faster too, and thus their elemental seeds would develop faster compared to others.
Damien wasn't born with a high affinity towards Fire, and his Fire seed was virtually in a dead state. Only his Lightning seed was vibrant and active.
The only reason he had a dormant Fire seed was that it passively formed along with his Lightning seed's development.
Some Laws would be interrelated with each other, and thus, when one comprehends a Law, they might passively comprehend a fraction of related Laws.
Reva went around each disciple and inspected their flames and gave them advice on how to improve their flames.
She also solved the confusion of some disciples who had the dilemma of not knowing whether they should use their etheric flames or ethereal flames.
After a few minutes, she finally came before Damien and let out a faint sigh seeing that his etheric flames were as lacking as before.
She looked at others and said, "Everyone else, open your cauldron and try to control your flames inside it. Use the herbs kept beside you and extract its medical essence without burning it completely. I will come and check soon."
She took a chair, sat down in front of Damien, and looked at his poker face, "With your attitude in class and the way you answered my questions correctly, I thought you must be an alchemy prodigy, and even your etheric flames would be top-notch just like your ethereal talent. Only if you had used half of your arrogance in finding a way to come up with a solution to..." Reva sighed as she looked at his dull brown etheric flames.
Reva's tone was as steady as the rain, and it didn't feel as if she was piqued at Damien for his attitude in her classes. But Damien could understand that she was questioning his arrogance.
"Teacher, please don't be angry. If I became best at everything, even the sun and the moon would get outshined by me. Don't you think there should be a balance? As a humble disciple, I should also give my fellow disciples a chance to shine." Damien said in a right-minded tone.
The disciples who heard his words felt like crapping their pants hearing his 'humble' comment. Some boys felt that Damien was quite lucky that he received more attention from Reva and even got to see her exquisite face up close.
Some wished that they had second-rate talent in concocting pills so that Reva would also guide them closely. But as all of them were elites, they had sufficient knowledge of concocting a pill according to their cultivation. All they needed was some guidance to turn them into exceptional alchemists.
Reva's eyes twitched, seeing how barefaced Damien was being. She felt that no matter the situation, Damien would wriggle out of it with his mouth.
Reva said in a cool tone, "Your soul is at the Peak Nascent Soul Stage, and had your etheric flames been decent enough, you could have concocted Rank 2 Pills. And to pass this specialization, you would need to pass the practical exams as well. We evaluate according to the cultivation of the disciple. Considering your soul cultivation stays the same by the end of this year, and you cannot concoct a Rank 2 Pill by then, you would fail the entire specialization.
"Even if your theoretical knowledge is impeccable, it wouldn't matter at all if you fail in the practical. But you still have a whole year to prepare yourself, and if you follow my words, I am sure you will pass. Just as our headmaster said, our potential does not depend on our inherent talent only."
'Hmm, she is really a sincere teacher.' Damien was feeling more and more that Reva was serious about her duty as a teacher.
"Oh, my ethereal teacher, please guide this lowly disciple," Damien said in a reverent tone as he bowed his head.
Reva felt a slight headache each time she was faced with his cheekiness. She wondered how long she would have to put up with him and how he could still be so confident and sassy even when he manifested flames that were inferior to everyone in the class.
She expected him to at least have a sour mood for a while as it was not easy to deal with being the worst performer in the class when everyone expected so much more from him.
Damien raised his head with a faint smile as he looked at her luminous azure eyes.
The boys bit their nails off, seeing his behavior with Reva.
Even if they wanted to and had a hundred times the guts, they could never talk like that or look at her eye to eye. They always felt an inferiority complex when looking at her.
Reva felt strange when Damien stared at her eyes as no man had ever dared to even look into her eyes.
The moment they made eye contact with her, they would immediately shift their eyes as if they were afraid of staring at her with their mortal eyes.
She saw his charming eyes, which were deep and dark as pools of ink, and somewhere inside her, she felt as if those eyes seemed to strike a chord somewhere in her soul.
'Wow, I have to admit her eyes have a strange attractive look.' Damien thought as he saw her eyes.
"Ahem, teacher, this disciple is waiting for your guidance," Damien said as he maintained his stare.
Reva slightly shook her head and wondered why she got distracted just because her disciple looked into her eyes.
She cleared her mind using her powerful soul and said with graceful simplicity, "First, let's see how good your control is with your etheric flames. Extract the medical essence of the herb kept beside you and try your best."
Damien transferred his etheric flames inside the cauldron and put a Low-Level Common Grade herb inside the cauldron.
He furrowed his brows as he tried his best to control his flimsy etheric flames and extract as much medical essence he can.
After a while, he extinguished his etheric flames and gestured to Reva to take a look. Reva took a look and her brows raised when she saw that even with such poor flames, Damien was able to extract more than 70% of its medical essence even though it was just a Low-Level Common Grade herb. It was proof that his control over his flames was excellent, and he knew how to extract the medical essence carefully.
However, this only meant that he could concoct Low Grade Rank 1 Pills at best. But considering his soul cultivation which was at the Peak Nascent Soul Stage, his performance was too substandard.
Reva knew that at this rate, he wouldn't be able to pass the final exam and would undoubtedly fail. If that happened he wouldn't even move on to the second year while the rest of his classmates will. Instead, he would have to sit with his juniors and retake the exam.
After thinking for a while, Reva said with a firm expression, "From now on, you will stay back after class, and I will teach you how to comprehend Fire Laws so that you can awaken your Fire seed."
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