Leon read in the library for a few hours, before the gurgling in his stomach insisted he found sustenance. Returning home seemed to great a distance, so he decided to check out the Food Hall that the outer students of the alchemy sect used. He ignored the odd glances of the other students, his mind still dealing with the information he had read in the book. He was wondering what he needed to do to survive in this world. While he was a student, he had some protection from the school, even if he had lost the comfort of it thanks to Caprian blocking his way with silver. But he wouldn"t be a student forever and would have to make his way in the real world at some point. His was a logical mind, even if it was slow at times, so he could only conclude that he should learn everything he could while here and figure the rest out later.With that sorted in his mind, he entered the Food Hall and was surprised to find that he was mostly ignored. Not that this bothered him, though he found it weird that the older student serving the food nearly jumped out of his skin when he stepped in front of him. With several bowls of rice and side dishes, Leon sat in a corner and slowly ate, using a spoon he had carved himself (cutlery was not provided) until he was bursting. The food was not particularly interesting, the seasoning was bland, but as this was the first time in nearly two weeks that he had access to a lot of food to sate his hunger, he took full advantage. He couldn"t even regret his greed despite wobbling over to the Herb Hall with a slightly rounded stomach.
The Herb Hall was not like the Food Hall, the latter was in fact three attached buildings around a courtyard, the middle building being the kitchens and students could eat in either of the winged buildings or in the courtyard. The Herb Hall was one building that stood in front of large walled gardens. Those gardens were not for show, but grew a wealth of common and quick growing herbs. Also, unlike other places, this one was ran by an adult, one of the teachers rather than senior students. However, he was rarely at the hall, being expected to provide lectures in parts of the inner and outer schools.
Teacher Sagi was a brisk, older man, with a gruff att.i.tude, but what he did not know about herbs could be written on a postage stamp. He looked over Leon with a sharp eye before glaring down at the few pills in his possession.
"This is unlike you, Leo," the man stated. This was true. While Leon did not know how many herbs that Leo last collected, he knew that the pills he had made could not have possibly reflected Leo"s success rate, even though he was handing over every single pill.
"There were p-p-pr… circ.u.mstances," Leon stuttered. He still struggled to form clear words, even when not frightened by his bullies.
The old man stared at the skunk stripes in Leon"s hair. "Cultivation deviation?" He muttered aloud, before grabbing Leon"s wrist and checking his pulse points. Leon didn"t understand what this was about, so said nothing and just held still. Eventually, Teacher Sagi let go. "And you were close to breaking through to the Secondary stage," he grunted. "Well, there"s been no serious damage. Just be more careful next time."
Leon nodded his a.s.sent and took the offered herbs in exchange for his few pills. There were a lot of herbs and they looked fresh and healthy. He was really looking forward to using them. He smiled, perhaps he had inherited some of Leo"s enthusiasm for this type of thing.