While Ajax and both of his classmates were given the exact same opening exam he could see that all of the other students were given exams that were completely different, with there being more than a dozen people there had to be at least two from the same class so it confused him as to why nobody was taking the same exam as their classmates like he was.

The exam had been very easy for Ajax, he had pushed his Alchemy both inside a dungeon and outside on top of his experiments throughout the summer. The potions he was asked to make had a number of steps but could easily be brewed at the same time if you knew what you were doing and could pay attention to it.

“These are acceptable,” professor Vilethorn said as Ajax turned in his exam. “Though I have to say you might have wanted not to do so well from the beginning.

The professor’s ominous warning was filled in by her teaching assistant as he helped Ajax set up a personal workstation that would be his going forward until he was kicked out of Alchemy class or he finished at the Academy.

“Your first exam sets the baseline.” the teaching assistant said “going forward your exams and goals will be structured so that you are constantly pushing yourself and not slacking off due to previous hard work.”

Ajax could admit that it was a good system, doubly so since all the classes were coming together so there was no way to have a class for everyone's skill level so a more individualistic system was halfway required anyway.

The rest of the class had also finished the exam, his classmates turning in their own potions not long after Ajax himself as they had the easiest test by far. While nobody had failed the exam, two people were told that their creations were subpar and that they would be expected to cover the difference between what the potions they made sold for and the price the academy paid for the ingredients.

“I thought he was a teaching assistant, why is he taking class with the rest of us?” Ajax’s Perception was high enough that he could pick up the questions that the other students were asking his classmates.

“They did that as a formality to handle a few of the issues he would have presented as a regular student.” one of his classmates answered.

“Why not just have him enroll sooner, or put him in a higher class?” by this point that entire section of the class was interested in the topic of conversation while the professor was grading the last few potions.

“He only recently became a noble, he’s not got a lot of the education we have grown up with and he still needs to make up for it.” The answer came surprisingly from someone outside his class.

“I still think they should have just enrolled him in a higher class, no need to make such an exception just for one commoner.” one of the nobles in the conversation said.

“And where would you want him placed?” the same noble who knew his situation spoke up again. “He put down most of last year’s sixth grade without breaking a sweat. This is a better solution that also gives us the chance to build a relationship with him.”

“You might want to have that talk later,” one of his classmates said looking at the noble who called him a commoner. “I haven’t seen his limits yet but I wouldn’t be surprised if his perception was high enough to hear us clearly.”

As one the entire group turned to look at him warily. “Now that you are all done with your exams we will simply take the short remainder of this lesson to look over a simple concept of Alchemy” the professor drew all of the attention back to herself.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

“As your alchemy skill grows and you start working with higher mana concentration in your ingredients you will find that the temperature of your mixture will start to vary.” the professor started her lecture. “Not only will there be variation in temperature during different stages of the boiling process but different ingredients that are added in will need to be at different temperatures despite being added at the same time.”

“How can that happen?” Ajax murmured as he thought about it, while the requirements did seem possible as he knew different ingredients had different optimal temperatures adding multiple at the same time at their peak temperature seemed irrational.

“A good question.” the professor nodded. “It is here that mages, specifically those favoring the fire element, have an innate advantage as they can control the flame that powers their cauldron a lot better if they generate it, but that can be replicated with time and effort.”

As she mentioned this professor Viletorne slid her hand under the small coudron on her desk where, after a quiet incantation, a flame ignited and started to heat it up. Ajax could sense the waves of mana that the professor put out to control the flame, not only that but he could sense how the fire focused more on one side of the cauldron than the other.

“As the mana concentration starts to rise so does the importance of temperature.” the professor continued. “While initially the lack of controlled heat application can be made up for by pre-heating or cooling the ingredients before adding them, that will take away from the quality of the resulting mixture.”

“From ingredients beyond the point in the dungeon where the monsters reach level one hundred, alchemists who do not possess the fire control for the potion they are making will often end up having custom made cauldrons for specific recipes.” the teaching assistant said as he passed an odd cauldron with multiple chambers around.

“To this day these cauldrons are by far the most expensive crafting tools out of any profession.” the professor continued, pausing every so often to chant again switching the flames in a bit way underneath the couldron. “The precise form and sometimes specific make-up of their alloy make them so infuriating that there are blacksmiths with above uncommon skills who have taken specific bottleneck choices to focus on their creations.”

For the remainder of the class each of the students was provided with a different recipe that they were to attempt, despite the skill required by each recipe all of them focused on the temperature aspect of the craft in one way or another.

“As your skill and power grows this topic is one that you will find particularly limiting.” the professor said to Ajax and two other students towards the end of the class, all three of them being positioned closely together. “As all of you are also dungeon crafters you will have to take the ambient mana density as well as its elemental composition into account when calculating the temperature variations.”

“Is this why you openly discourage any alchemist that is not comfortable with fire magic from doing alchemy in the dungeon?” one of the other two students asked.

“Very much so.” the professor nodded, “The quick temperature changes that need to happen at that level are simply beyond them, I am in fact quite curious to see just how adaptable your form of magic is for it, Ajax.”

“Your lack of efficiency between power and mana cost is more of a positive than a negative in this regard.” the teaching assistant said. “It gives you a much easier control of the temperature, especially without a repeated chant that needs to be corrected through intent and manipulation.”

As Ajax heard this he knew he had made the correct choice by going into alchemy, not only because of his casting method but also because with a refined enough application he can use [Mana Syphon] to somewhat control the ambient mana inside a dungeon making alchemy there that much easier for himself.

“Baron Hearthbound.” one of the students called after him as they exited the class.

Ajax turned to look at the man and found his face both familiar yet foreign. “Yes?” Ajax dragged on the word as he finally placed where he recognised the face from, it was early similar to the one his opponent in the second round of the tournament had. Despite that Ajax could tell that this man and his opponent were closely related.

“As a member of House Stonewall I would like to thank you.” the man said as he walked with Ajax towards the training fields.

“What for?” Ajax asked, confused.

“Your victory over my twin brother. It left a lasting impression on him.” came the answer.

“Uh…” Ajax didn’t know what to say to that, the match had ended quickly with him utterly dominating his opponent. Not only that he had still been angry on Theron’s behalf and had taken it out on his opponent, making the battle end more humiliatingly for the noble than the beastkin.

“It took him a week to get over the loss.” his fellow student picked up on the reason for Ajax’s awkwardness. “But the results from his training since then have been better than ever before. His drive to improve has increased manifold. As such my grandfather has asked me to thank you, not only that but also offer you his support should you require it.”

“That is too much.” Ajax knew that the support of a Viscount’s house such as House Stonewall was not something to take for granted, especially not to be won over a simple duel in a tournament. Obviously the support wouldn’t be endless but it essentially meant that so long what he was doing wasn’t negatively impacting House Stonewall they would at least put the weight of their name behind him.

“His support also with a request and an apology.” the conversation quickly became slightly awkward. “The apology is for the duels that my brother will challenge you to in the coming years, with the request that you do not finish them as decisively to crush his spirit a second time.”