About 2 months later...Inside a large cla.s.sroom with pink colored walls, there are 40 students, sitting on 40 chairs, at 40 tables, each equally s.p.a.ced from the one next to, in front of, and behind it. On each of the tables, is a chemistry set. By each chemistry set, is a set of certain materials.
Each student is fiddling with their tools, and all of them have serious expressions on their faces.
Nowadays, people don"t stir cauldrons to perform alchemy, as that method is far too inefficient. Using a chemistry set instead, provides more precision, and produces less loss of the vital materials in the produced products.
"Grind the healing gra.s.s, boil the water, add the catalyst, stir the mixture, stop the heat as soon as it dissolves, and..." Following the procedure described in the textbook, Seth processed each of the materials very carefully. He put his full attention into his work, not allowing anything to distract him.
20 minutes pa.s.sed.
POOF!
A puff of purple smoke rose from his beaker, covering his face and causing him to cough.
"Seth! You again!?" A tall man with an academic air walked from the front of the cla.s.sroom to Seth"s table. This man"s head was held high, and he carried a clipboard in one hand.
He is the teacher of this alchemy cla.s.s. His students call him "Teacher Serge".
When Serge reached Seth"s table, he looked into the beaker, and the result was exactly as he expected.
What was supposed to appear as a clear yellow cream, is instead, a puddle of slimy purple goo...
Serge immediately fixed a harsh glare at Seth, who lowered his head, feeling ashamed.
"I told you to make a level 2 Healing Elixir. How did you end up making this!?" The teacher smacked Seth"s unmoving head with his clipboard.
SMACK
The sound reverberate throughout the cla.s.sroom, drawing the attention of all the other students. The students whom were done with their work all turned their heads. A few of the students looked away after a glance, but most of them kept their attention on the scene.
Seth did not do anything to retaliate. Neither did he bother making any excuses.
"These ingredients. This result. Are you playing a joke here? Did you switch out the ingredients to make a fool of yourself? Huh!?" Serge loudly yelled.
SMACK SMACK
"Hehehe..." Some of the students began laughing under their breaths.
"Seth is getting scolded again. Hehe."
"Serves him right. That arrogant b.a.s.t.a.r.d always does whatever he wants. Even the elders can"t stop him."
"Teacher Serge is so brave! No other teacher dares to scold Seth like this! Teacher Serge is our hero!"
A smug expression appeared on the teacher Serge"s face. He could hear the mean whispers of his other students, but he did not stop them. He just loves getting attention like this.
This student named Seth has been attending his alchemy cla.s.s for the last 3 years.
Yet, despite having listened to his lectures for so long, and despite having observed him performing concoctions live so many times, this Seth almost always fails in his own concoctions.
But it is not like he fails to make anything. If it were that, then maybe it would be better.
Instead, when synthesizing medicine, what would result, would be the exact opposite, poison!
To make a game-like example, Serge tells Seth to create a level 1 healing elixir that can heal 100 points of damage.
What does Seth make? A level 1 poison that can deal 100 points of damage...
Serge doesn"t know how this is even possible! No one in the entire history of the Savant Snake Alchemic School has ever been able to make poison out of a set of ingredients specifically prepared to make medicine.
But when Seth does it, that would happen 9 times out of every 10, and Seth would never seem to improve!
This time, Serge had told him to make a level 2 healing elixir. a.s.suming that a properly made product would heal 200 points of damage, what Seth had made just now, must deal 200 points of damage instead...
"Look at all of your fellow students, and look at you! Can"t you try a little bit harder!?"
SMACK
Serge knew that this wasn"t a problem of trying harder or not. He also knew that Seth wasn"t purposely switching out the ingredients. He had closely observed Seth do his concocting several times, and he saw no signs of any mischievous tampering. This young man named Seth, simply does not have any talent for alchemy!
If this was only the student"s problem, then Serge would not care. However, the student"s low grades would also affect his yearly teacher"s a.s.sessment! Once his a.s.sessment lowers, so would his yearly bonus!
Thus, he tried to convince Seth to switch majors.
He had very politely said to the young man, "Alchemy isn"t for everyone. Why don"t you go to the poison major? I"m sure you"ll do much better there."
However, that was shut down with one mere, innocent reply from Seth. "I want to learn alchemy."
Serge wants to kick this student out, but he cannot not... This student is a scholarship student.
Scholarship students are rare. For the school to sponsor them, usually, they would have to have extremely high talents or cultivation levels. Such students would directly move on to become teachers, or even elders, right after graduating high school.
The school would place special attention to their grooming, which would make him, his teacher, look worse for not being able to teach him!
In the past, Serge would not have dared to hit Seth, no matter how dissatisfied he was. He would not want to be punished by his superiors after all.
But around half a year ago, Seth had made a major mistake.
Some way or another, he had killed an elder of the school!
Back then, the entire school went into an uproar.
Seth was caught by all the remaining elders, and brought to the headmaster"s office.
Everyone thought that he would be executed.
...However, he somehow came out alive, and with only the light punishment of having to pay a heavy fine.
No one was sure of how that happened. Everyone just thought that Seth must be very rich, rich enough to buy his own life. But Serge knew, that at that moment, Seth must have lost all the favor of the elders. Most likely, if this Seth causes any more trouble in the school, he will be executed right away.
Thus, Serge no longer felt any hesitation at scolding this worthless student!
"What a waste of ingredients. If you don"t have the talent, then don"t try alchemy!"
SMACK! CRACK!
"..." Serge looked at his clipboard with furrowed brows. He had just bought this a week ago. Yet, somehow, it had snapped in half...
Is this incompetent fellow"s head so hard, or did he play some little trick here?
Serge looked down at the seated Seth, who still had his head lowered, seemingly reflecting.
A drop of cold sweat slid down his back, and he decided not to pursue the matter any more for today.