Unlike the previous Wednesday, Gaius did not wake Nakama, who had returned late last night, that early. He’d spent the whole night cultivating a half-assed version of the mantra, but it was still refreshing nonetheless. Only when sunlight began to breach the horizon did he get up and stretch his body.

           His bones creaked slightly as he got up. They had somehow grown heavier, stronger, something that had never happened before thus far. There was probably something that his personal way of cultivating did that the mantra didn’t…either that, or it was a weaker version of what the second step, temper the guts with a searing flame, did.

           He doubted the latter, though. There was a difference between the intestines and the bones, and he had the feeling that strengthening the latter was far harder than the former.

           Speed, or stability? Gaius now knew that the second step of the mantra corresponded to the level of Squires, and the third being Knights. He’d heard the latter term being bandied around often, and after playing through the conversation he had with the old man from the Exchange building last night, he’d come to realise that it denoted a level of power.

           Although it seemed that the different realms, denoted by the mantra, was perpetuating the ‘No True Scotsman’ fallacy. He could see a scene, where one soldier pointed to another, and told him, “Only someone like me, who’ve cultivated to the threshold of the second step, am the real soldier! You, on the other hand, should just continue being the grunt you are!”

           Schmuck bait for discrimination, if nothing else.

           At any rate, Gaius was probably a Squire now, but he had strayed off the path so hard that he himself wanted to call it a new name. But between the prospect of becoming a Knight, and increasing his bone durability…well, the latter was a lot more enticing on a personal level.

           Besides, with the Stellar Core in hand, he theoretically could fly. Or hover — he hadn’t tested it out yet, seeing as the little jewel hadn’t finished harmonising with him yet. But the point was that he didn’t see the pressing need to increase his cultivation.

           After immersing himself in a couple of fantasies, in which he beat up a faceless Constellation, Gaius decided to wake up the sleeping Nakama by pinching her puffy cheeks.

           It didn’t take long before the two of them were leaving for their second Apothecary Class. Gaius had taken the liberty to look through the textbook Lecturer Ziegler had given, but he hadn’t made anything inside the book when he left on his first Harvest.

           It wasn’t like he needed them, but it was something he probably shouldn’t mentioned to the Lecturer. Gaius hadn’t forgotten about what happened to three idiots in the previous Apothecary class. He had the feeling that even with his status as an assistant lecturer, he would still be scolded if Lecturer Ziegler ever found out that he waltzed into Heritage without any remedies prepared — even if that was how he operated on Earth.

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           With Nakama’s small hand clasped firmly in his, Gaius made his way through a meandering crowd of Harvesters. He wasn’t wearing the white cloak that was exclusive to lecturers, so getting through the crowd this time was a greater hassle. Eventually, he managed to secure a place at the back of the Concoction Hall, where the other students promptly gave him a wide berth after looking at his face.

            “Today, we’ll be covering a new item that was recently discovered in Heritage.” Lecturer Ziegler had wasted no time at all, having started speaking three seconds after entering the classroom.

           A faint hiss went around the silent classroom.

           “The new ingredient is highly versatile, and has many uses. I believe that the Artificing lecture this week would touch on it too, so I’ll just introduce its use in medicine.” She took out a small blue ball, which Gaius immediately recognised as an ether core. “This is an ether core. It can be absorbed directly to send a burst of ether through one’s body, which can be used by Squires and above to augment their next few uses of qi. But this method is inefficient.”

           The lecturer took out a small blue bottle. Blue liquid swirled inside madly, and as she uncapped it, faint sounds of bubbles popping could be heard. “This is the basic Double-Up potion, but the only difference is that there’s an ether core placed inside it. Unlike the basic Double-Up, however, this new formula is duration-based.”

           She looked at the Harvesters sitting down. Gaius could remember the basic formula of the Double-Up potion and the details about it. In short, it doubled the strength of the next burst of qi, and drinking it enabled on to manifest qi once, even in Heritage. But if it was duration-based…

           “Good. I see most of you got it,” said the lecturer. “Yes, this Double-Up allows you to use qi for ten minutes in Heritage, and outside of it, doubles your strength for the same duration.”

           “That’s…insane.”

           “We could go a lot further into Heritage with this!”

           Gaius, however, was impressed for another reason. Twenty-four hours hadn’t even passed, and the ether cores that he handed over had already been researched to such an extent. What other medicines could be augmented by the ether core?

           And, well, how many ether cores were still left in Heritage Basestation? Given its use in Apothecary and in Artificing, Gaius could foresee a metaphorical bloodbath between those departments as they fought over ownership of the little balls.

           “These ingredients are very rare, which is why their basic pricing is one thousand points.”

           “The basic price is ten gems?” Someone piped up from the middle of the classroom.

           “Correct.” A small smile surfaced on Lecturer Ziegler’s face. “But the quantity available on the Exchange is so low, the price has doubled. Even I can’t afford to buy many of those cores.”

           Gaius, for a moment, felt scammed. But again, he had walked away with the most expensive item on the market. That said…the old man probably never anticipated that he had another fifty-plus ether cores that he had never turned over. Gaius made a mental note to check the price tomorrow, after the Artificing lecture, and see if he could make a killing with the other cores he had.

           “We’ve discovered another three formulas that can be improved, which are…”

           The lecture droned on, but Gaius’ eyes had glazed over. Nakama, who was at his side, would shoot a worried glance at his face from time to time, but her efforts went unnoticed.