Stephanie Dexter was awake when her son returned. He opened the door to their small, cozy house silently and stepped inside, just to see his mother taking a sip of water. She looked at him, one eyebrow raised.

“Where have you been?” Stephanie asked her son, who could only smile innocently. She was ready to scold him and talk him out of playing Forgotten Lands – since it seemed to be the origin of the changes that occurred in the last few days.

“I did a short workout and went for a jog around the block. It was nice,” Zayn said before his mother could say anything. He glanced at her and hesitated for a second before he changed the topic.

“Mom…I know that you don’t like what we, or rather, I have been doing in the last two days, but I hope you can support us nonetheless. This is very important to me, and it’s not like I’m harming anyone. In fact, I think this is not only important for me but also Percy and Nicolas.”

Zayn stared intently at his mother.

“How long has it been since we worked so hard on something, together, at that?”

He could tell his mother how much they earned in the last few hours and how much potential Forgotten Lands had, but Zayn didn’t want to convince his mother that way. If they used money as a means to influence their mother, it would be impossible to change her heart about Forgotten Lands and her sons’ desire to play Forgotten Lands and work…together.

Zayn didn’t avoid his mother’s eyes. He knew that confronting his mother could create bad results and backlash heavily, but he wanted his mother’s blessing. It was not necessary, per se, but it was important to Zayn.

“I…” Stephanie Dexter’s lips separated but she didn’t know what to say. Fresh memories of her children playing around flashed through her mind. The memories merged with the picture of her children working tirelessly in the afternoon. In both memories, her children smiled vibrantly. They were happy. Wasn’t that all that mattered?

“I cannot give you my blessing yet…but I won’t hold you back. You are old enough to make your own decisions and I don’t want to be hated for taking away your opportunity to enjoy life. Just make sure that you stay healthy and that your brothers don’t cause any trouble. If you or your brothers get sick from playing too long, I will confiscate your VR Helmets!”

Zayn smiled vibrantly in response to his mother’s response and nodded vigorously.

“Now, take a shower and go sleep!” Stephanie ordered.

“Yes, madam!”

Zayn rushed to the bathroom with a fresh set of clothes. He showered quickly, dried his body in record time, and put on fresh clothes before he laid down in the bed – wearing the Advanced VR Helmet. He was going to sleep, but Zayn never said that he wouldn’t play Forgotten Lands in his sleep!

**

Back in Forgotten Lands, Zayn opened his eyes to the underground Farming Hall. He had long since completed his daily quota for today, and it was about time that he visited Old Farthma’s library.

Zayn left the Farming Hall and went into the room on the other side of the floor. The library, a large room filled with more than a dozen bookshelves, unraveled in front of Zayn. He licked his dry lips and searched for a few pieces of paper, a pen, and a notebook to clip the paper. Then he walked through the library to list the books that would help him improve his knowledge and convince Old Farthma to aid him in potion-making.

* The Alchemist’s Way

* Plants and Their Myths

* Sage of Alchemy: Failure is the first step to Success

* Potions101

* The Apprentice’s Path toward Mastery.

There were a few more books but Zayn would start with them. He was ready to make notes and write down various questions about potion-making, the dangers, and what to pay attention to during the brewing process. Zayn had a rough plan to influence Old Farthma but it was going to take a while.

Therefore, he began with the most notorious task. He began to read with extraordinary focus.

Zayn didn’t hesitate to show that he was ignorant as he noted down every word he didn’t understand. He wrote down dozens of questions, only to scratch some of them as he came across their answers from reading ahead. Some words began to make more sense and old memories of his friends and comrades resurface – memories that contained various lessons of the King of Alchemy. What a stupid name. It really was.

Zayn smiled through the memories. He hoped that his friends were doing fine. Maybe, he should message them. Send them a friend request like a foolish kid. Zayn chuckled at that thought.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

‘Their experiences will be different, and they don’t know me. They’re not the same people from the past. They won’t have to go through the same ordeal as in the past. I will change their future.’

Zayn figured that it was better to leave his friends be. If he came across them, he would talk to them normally, and maybe he would befriend them. However, he wouldn’t force anything. It might as well be better for others to stay away from him. Zayn was going to be a troublemaker in the present and the near future. His existence would lure trouble in his direction. It had always been like this in the past, and it would be the same in the new timeline. Maybe, it would be even worse.

‘Yeah, I'll leave them be…for now…’

The first rays of sunlight pierced through the morning sky when Zayn met up with Old Farthma. Rather than considering it ‘meeting up’, it would be better to consider it an ambush. Zayn had been waiting for Old Farthma to finish a concoction before he barged into her workshop, startling the old woman.

Old Farthma didn’t sleep an ounce. She had been awake all night, her entire focus on brewing a wide variety of potions. After spending the entire night brewing potions, Old Farthma had already forgotten about Zayn. Or did she try to forget about him? One way or another, Zayn didn’t allow her to ignore him. He barged into her workshop with a dozen papers where questions, doubts, and confusing words were mentioned.

“Sorry for bothering you, Old Farthma, but I have a ton of questions,” Zayn said, handing her the stash of papers, “I know that I’m not allowed to ask many questions since I’ve only managed to increase the quality of six herbs up until now, but I hope you can make an exception…please…”

Old Farthma sighed deeply. Even though she had a stronger Foundation than most citizens of Emberfall, she was not resilient to surprise attacks. Zayn’s sudden entrance took her by surprise. It had been years since someone else had been living in her house, after all. Had it been a decade already? Old Farthma couldn’t remember properly.

She sighed deeply and accepted the stash of papers. All she wanted was to fortify the papers and slap Zayn on the head. However, she remained silent and read through the questions and incomprehensible dottles, which Zayn considered ‘notes’.

“Oh my…” Old Farthma mumbled, her eyes swiftly moving across the pages, her expression changing over and over again.

Zayn nibbled on his lower lip, his head pulsing from the vast amount of knowledge he’d acquired in the last few hours. He was studious and used certain memorization techniques to recall most of the content he’d learned tonight. Nonetheless, he was not omnipotent. His head felt like it was about to burst, yet he didn’t want to wait any longer.

‘Please teach me something!’ He screamed in his heart.

Teaching someone interested in their craft was a nice experience for people with rare occupations such as Alchemists. Teaching was especially nice if the students were not senseless idiots.

Zayn asked a wide variety of questions, but it was obvious that he didn’t rush over to Old Farthma without trying to find out the answers to his doubts and questions beforehand. The papers were unorganized, and in a mess, but Old Farthma could clearly distinguish the questions and the attempted answers.

Many, more-or-less, stupid questions had been answered by Zayn, leaving only more profound questions that required the help of a knowledgeable and highly experienced Alchemist to answer.

He asked the right questions and his hard work ought to be rewarded with answers. Thus, Old Farthma began to answer the questions one by one without even realizing that she had broken the rule she’d established not even 24 hours ago.

“Your doubt about the relevance of Herbal Essences in the initial purification process is quite interesting. Most apprentices would never have such a doubt, yet most of your doubts seem more advanced…” Old Farthma mumbled, more to herself than Zayn. He pressed his lips together and observed the old Alchemist.

“Let me tell you a little bit about the Extraction and Purification Process. It seems like you have a grave misunderstanding about brewing and potion-making. This misunderstanding has to be solved and the flaws that have been engraved into your mind need to be fixed before you consider picking up the craft of potion-making…”

It had been eons since Old Farthma spoke this much. She rarely spoke with others and even if she did, her conversations were usually short-lived. But facing Zayn and his hyper-focused state, which seemed to suck in the bits of information and wisdom she shared, pulled more words out of her. It was increasingly more difficult for her to stop speaking as the list of doubts on the paper in front of her seemed to have bewitched her.

Old Farthma spoke more than in the last few years, combined. She explained various processes, even using terminology that Zayn was not supposed to know. Instead of remaining silent when he didn’t understand something, he asked counter-questions which were swiftly answered. Zayn then asked certain doubts to reaffirm his knowledge about certain things. Old Farthma answered him, but a weird feeling swelled in her heart.

At last, she was not alone anymore. It had been close to a decade, yet a youthful, ambitious spirit found her. No matter how harsh she wanted to be toward Zayn, Old Farthma couldn’t deny that it was entertaining to answer his questions and watch him gain more understanding of an Alchemist’s craft.

Answering him with caution and reminding Zayn of the dangers of experiments repeatedly ought to be more than enough to ensure that Zayn wouldn’t do anything foolish. That was all Old Farthma could be hoping for.

‘In the worst case, I will guide him a little bit. Under constant guidance, he won’t be able to harm anyone, not even himself!’ Old Farthma thought at last.

She didn’t even realize that she gave Zayn a two-hour-long lecture about Alchemy. All she could tell was that Zayn’s curiosity was still not quenched.

He even looked like a neglected puppy when Old Farthma shushed Zayn back into the Farming Hall.

‘What a cute little boy!’ She mused, reminding herself to change her schedule.

The next few days were going to be eventful.