Chapter LXXXIII (83) - Professor Knoff’s Secret
Kizu plopped a picnic basket full of dead termite monsters down on Knoff’s desk. Today, it looked to be the jovial portly Professor Knoff in charge of class. Since everyone else in his class was in an upper level astronomy class and therefore on the school trip, the classroom was empty save for the two of them.
“Professor,” Kizu said, “sorry to interrupt you, but can you help me identify these? I stumbled on them while in Hayashi Forest.”
Knoff opened the basket and picked up a handful of the dead insects. Then he let them dribble through his fingers like grains of sand.
“Interesting. It’s a chimera insect breed. Usually created by soul mages by combining different aspects of bugs into one form. Technically, an illegal process in the civilized world. But many of the creatures can still procreate, so not as rare as you might imagine. Though the combinations of insects tend to hold some novelty.”
“Do you know of any brews I might be able to use them in?”
Professor Knoff hemmed and hawed as he got out a magnifying glass to study one of the bugs closer.
“Oh!” Knoff said, snapping to attention. “I know of the perfect brew for you to experiment with. You have a familiar, do you not?”
“Yes,” Kizu said, uncertainly. “But I don’t think I can get him to drink anything that isn’t water or fruit juice.”
“No, no. He doesn’t need to drink it. You see, these creatures, while numbering in the hundreds of thousands, are actually all connected by a single, mangled soul. It’s a hivemind consciousness. Using an ingredient like this as a base, you may be able to create a brew that temporarily increases your soul’s connection and even further fuse the two souls of you and your familiar. If you decide to go down that route, I would love to test it and give you feedback on your results. It’s a subject I happen to have some vested interest in.”
“Of course. I didn’t know you had a familiar though.”
“A familiar? No, no. You misunderstand. Have you not noticed the state of my soul? I thought with your somewhat enhanced perception you would be able to see it more distinctly.”
Kizu stared at the professor, trying to comprehend what he was talking about. Then it finally clicked. “The other Professor Knoff! That’s actually you?”
“In a sense, yes. He is me, and I am he. But we’re obviously also distinctly different people. Our characters could not be further apart.”
That fact was apparent. Whenever that Knoff led the class, it was complete pandemonium. Even their appearances were opposites. The hyperactive, almost skeletal man with a maniacal laugh with a bushy mustache and white hair that stood on end, juxtaposed with the composed, jovial man in front of him.
“What happened?” Kizu asked, before quickly adding, “If it’s not too personal.”
“An accident in my youth. Most master brewers have at least a couple mishaps while learning. Mine happened to take a unique toll, splitting my soul. Unfortunately, I haven’t quite managed to glue the two pieces back together properly. Most people don’t notice much, beyond the slight change in my personality.”
“But because of my connection with Mort, I have a higher awareness of souls?” Kizu guessed.
“Precisely! You instead likely see two distinct individuals. We often switch depending upon what I am doing for the day. I enjoy books and theory, while he tends to enjoy more hands-on work. Of course, we both retain the same information, regardless of who holds the reins. But we choose to execute that knowledge in very different ways.”
“Who else can see? Just people with familiars?”
“There are other individuals in the academy with unique relations to their souls. It’s not uncommon. I am not comfortable saying who exactly, but I believe you have encountered a few of them.”
“I actually have an enchanted artifact that stabilizes souls,” Kizu said, thinking of the circlet he’d gifted Anata. “Would something like that help you?”
“Stabilization isn’t an issue. Both halves of my soul are completely stable. If it was that simple, I would have fixed up this issue decades ago. No, what I need is something that fuses my two souls back together. An altogether more intricate task. One that grows in complexity every day the souls exist apart.”
Kizu decided to experiment with the brew Knoff suggested. Temporarily strengthening a soul’s connection seemed to be a pretty niche potion that might very well help him with his bond to Mort. Plus, Knoff actually offered him a contract with real money involved if he pulled it off. Normally, it was strictly against academy regulations to sell brews made using the academy’s resources, but if the buyer was a member of the faculty, those rules could apparently be bent.
Remembering his promise, he used his scrying orb to send a message to Harumi, the first year interested in learning more about brewing. He didn’t expect much, since they were technically still in the normal class time, but he figured there was no harm in sending a message.
Deciding to keep the squashed queen’s corpse for further study, Kizu bottled it in a preservative and set it to the side. The smaller chimera insects proved to be more than enough of a specimen to experiment with for now. He mashed the insects and mixed the paste with shredded ginseng root, the only plant that came to mind when trying to find soul strengthening materials.
He wished he had access to the fruit Emilia’s family had used to brew that divination wine he and she had drunk months ago. That likely was another material he could experiment with. But, he also recalled her mentioning that it was discovered in the World Dungeon. So, probably not accessible.
“What’s this?” someone said behind him.
He turned and saw Sene peering over into his cauldron. As per usual, she wore her academy uniform perfectly neat and crisp, as if just freshly purchased. That fact alone revealed her identity. Ione's slovenly appearance wasn’t due to genetics.
“Soul strengthening brew,” Kizu said. “Shouldn’t you be in Tross right now?”
“S ranked Astronomy students are attending on the third week, for exclusive lessons with Professor Grove.”
That put a downer on Kizu’s week. He had been hoping for a week off from Student Council. Sene had rambled on about cost efficiencies of overhead streamers for over an hour in their last meeting. But he tried to hide his disappointment, instead returning to his brew.
“You should try adding clear quartz dust,” Sene suggested. “They’re listed on page 278 of Minerals as Ingredients Vol. 2 as a good source of magnifying the potency of other ingredients.”
Kizu almost dropped his pestle in surprise. Actual advice from Sene.
“Thank you,” he said, cautiously. “Minerals aren’t something I’ve experimented much with. Witches usually don’t like using them. I’ll read through the book when I get a chance.”
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At her request, he added the quartz dust to the paste before mixing it into a small cauldron of boiling water. Quartz turned out to be the perfect magnifier. He didn’t manage to produce much, but he thought the ratios were a safe amount. He made educated guesses on the measurements and process based on his experiences with other brews. Making new potions became progressively easier with every potion the brewer learned.
Sene worked on her own project on the other side of the room. While she might not be as outright hostile as when they first met, her friendliness obviously had limits.
He cleaned up his mess and reentered into the main classroom where Professor Knoff still sat at his desk, working on paperwork. Just as he opened his mouth to present the concoction, the door behind him burst open.
“Did I miss it?” Harumi asked, panting.
“Kimura Harumi,” Professor Knoff said, looking up. “What a pleasant surprise! To what do we owe the pleasure?”
“Oh, um, Professor Knoff, sir,” Harumi stuttered, dropping his eyes to the floor. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“I offered to give Harumi some advice on brewing,” Kizu said. “He came to me a little while ago asking to spectate my next potion.”
“A phenomenal idea. Students taking initiative outside classwork is always wonderful to see. Just keep an eye on him while you work. Now, Kaga Kizu, I believe you have something for me to test?”
Kizu hesitated. “Are you sure it’s safe for me to give this to you? What if I made a mistake?”
Professor Knoff chortled, then plucked the vial from Kizu’s hand. “Nothing you can make using the materials supplied here could do much to me. My body is selectively resistant to poisons. It would take something far more powerful than this to harm me.”
With that, he downed the vial in a single gulp. He looked off into the distance and, for a moment, his counterpart’s face merged with his own. Kizu watched in fascination as the face bubbled and morphed between the two, before landing on something between them. The professor’s entire person changed briefly, from his body type slimming down, to his hair growing slightly longer with salt and pepper.
But then the moment was gone, and the familiar Professor Knoff smiled at him from his normal figure.
“Very good. You’re on the right path. Try adding a bit of ectoplasm. I believe I keep some in the top left cabinets. But just a pinch. Don’t overdo it.”
“I don’t understand,” Harumi said, nervously glancing from Kizu to Knoff. “Did that change something?”
Obviously, Harumi was not one of the students at the academy with a heightened soul perception.
“It’s meant to strengthen his soul,” Kizu said as he guided the younger student into the room with the cauldrons and materials. “Okay, so if you want to help me, the first thing you should do is familiarize yourself with the ingredients we have on hand. I’ve already created a list of inventory, your job today is to go through everything to make your own list, then compare it with mine.”
Harumi nodded his head seriously and then set off to his task while Kizu redid the measurements for his next attempt.
“Don’t touch that!”
Kizu looked over his shoulder to see Sene snapping at Harumi for lifting up a jar of pickled bat eyes.
“No need to count them all,” Kizu called over to him. “Just write down, ‘one jar.’”
After about an hour, Kizu was finishing up his brew, and feeling pretty good about it. Harumi had only managed to write down a third of the ingredients in the room but that was still decent progress for someone unfamiliar with most of the ingredients. Through the skylight, Kizu could see the sun setting. As much as he was enjoying himself, he needed to finish up here and get back to Anata.
When he presented the brew to Knoff, the professor again gulped it down without pause. This time, the potion stuck and Kizu recorded slightly over six minutes before Knoff reverted back. Kizu couldn’t help feeling a tad disappointed by the outcome.
“Astounding results!” Knoff said. “I haven’t felt this close to myself in ages. Not quite good enough for a commission, I’m afraid, but I think you’ll have it in under a dozen more attempts!”
“Professor,” Kizu said skeptically, “if I can brew this, surely you can yourself. I don’t see why you need my help.”
Professor Knoff scrunched up his face, as if smelling something rotten.
“As much as I might want to work on this, my other half doesn’t feel quite so keen. And he’s usually the one in control when I get a cauldron in front of me.”
Harumi entered a minute later, looking dejected by the fact that he hadn’t finished recording everything.
“Speaking of help, while I have the two of you here, I have a special request for you,” Professor Knoff continued. “Next week you’ll both be in Tross on the school trip, correct?”
Kizu and Harumi both confirmed. Kizu couldn’t help feeling a bit wary. The last time Knoff had a request for him, he’d sent Kizu to go hunt down that snake.
“I need someone to exchange a message with a contact I have there. A peer within my field. Normally, I would have asked one of the Brewing Club members, but last week it, ah, slipped my mind.”
Kizu could read between the lines. It must not have been viewed as a priority to his other self. It must be incredibly frustrating sharing a body with someone. Kizu didn’t envy his position.
“Yes, of course,” Kizu agreed readily. A far better request than hunting down magical creatures. The opportunity to meet a master brewer in a far off nation definitely interested him. Brewer personalities often gravitated towards becoming reclusive loners, so opportunities like this tended to be few and far between.
Professor Knoff, pleased by his response, crossed the room to shuffle through a cabinet full of textbooks and parchment.
“What did he mean by ‘Brewing Club?’” Kizu asked Harumi.
“You’re both first years, so you wouldn’t know,” Sene said, entering the lecture room. She held a potion in hand that glowed an eerie yellowish-green. “In your second semester, you choose a club to join. You then act as an apprentice to whichever teacher is over the club. Surely you’ve seen the Medicine Club working under Professor Kateshi as medics and the Battle Club members helping Professor Arclight with the weekly combat contests?”
“Y-yes,” Harumi said. “We had a professor come to the dorms after midterms and explain it. He gave us a list of options. I was thinking of joining the librarians…but Professor Krimpit is kind of frightening.”
As an anomaly in the academy system, Kizu had obviously slipped through the cracks. And he preferred it that way. He wasn’t keen to donate more of his already limited free time.
“Doesn’t the Student Council count as a club?” Kizu asked.
Sene frowned and put a hand on her hip. “No. And while it isn’t necessarily mandatory, clubs are how you create connections with the professors. They’re vital to your future.”
“Not mandatory. Understood.”
“These clubs are the quickest way to progress in a field after graduation. You would have to be an imbecile to disregard an advantage like that. It creates invaluable opportunities.”
“But of course Kaga Kizu won’t lack opportunities,” Harumi said, sounding slightly awed.
Kizu gave the boy a side-eye look. Harumi put a hand over his face in embarrassment, obviously aware how obsessive that comment came off.
Thankfully, Professor Knoff saved them all from the awkward moment as he returned with a rolled-up parchment with a dark stain. “Will you deliver this to Allik? You shouldn’t have any issue finding him. Just ask Bella to point you in the right direction.”
“Bella?” Kizu asked, confused as he took the parchment in hand. It was surprisingly heavy. And felt slightly damp.
“Oh, Professor Grove. She knows the locals quite well. Not her first visit to Tross. She’s been arranging these trips for over half a century now.”
“Can I look at this?”
“Of course! I will never shoot down curiosity. Though, I warn you it isn’t quite as interesting as you might imagine.”
Harumi stood on his tip-toes to look over Kizu’s shoulder as he unrolled the parchment. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sene also subtly reposition herself to get a look at it.
Knoff wasn’t completely correct in his assumption, while Harumi looked disappointed, Kizu still couldn’t help feeling a spike of excitement as he looked over the message.
It was a list of different ingredients found in the Tross Tundra. Mostly flora, but Kizu spotted a few animal products and even a couple magical creature body parts. This was a completely new set of brewing possibilities.
“If possible,” Knoff continued. “I would like you to bring back a supply of whatever Allik currently has available.”
“Professor,” Kizu said slowly. “Would it be possible for me to bring back some for my personal collection as well? You see, I’ve been wanting to create a garden-”
“Of course, of course.” Knoff waved, cutting him off. “As payment I would be happy to donate any surplus to your private stock.”
Kizu couldn’t help grinning as he read through the ingredients list again. He hadn’t the faintest idea what more than half these things did, or how to grow them properly. But he would learn.