The Alchemy class almost ended in a disaster for him.
Almost.
Thanks to Clara Preises. Who was adamant about doing everything alone. The problem was, the ingredients were not prepared properly. It was the reason the Alchemy class always consisted of teams. One prepared the ingredients while the other maintained a steady stream of mana into the cauldron, sometimes continuously and sometimes in intervals, depending on what was needed for the potion being made. Of course, preparing ingredients needed a bit of mana too but that was negligible compared to the amount and control needed for the cauldron.
She insisted on preparing the ingredient herself, throwing them in herself, and putting in a steady stream of mana into the cauldron at the same time. Needless to say, she was stretched incredibly thin, missed the perfect time to put in the ingredients and her mana stream fluctuated. The result that it was amounting to after around 20 minutes of this was a boiling, pungent green mixture that he was pretty sure would poison people instead of healing them.
He had stepped back after trying to help for the first few moments. But the sight before him made it clear he would get a 0 today if this went on. So, he finally stepped forward again, meeting Clara’s eyes the moment she turned her head around to glare at him.
“Look,” he started, “this is clearly not working. You cannot do all of this at once. There is a reason we are put on teams. Hate me all you want, but if you continue this, we are both gonna fail today’s class. So, stop being stubborn, let me prepare the ingredients while you maintain the cauldron. And yes, I do know that some of the ingredients need mana. I’ll let you know which ones do when I hand them to you.”
She looked like she wanted to protest but he interrupted her with, “Look, do you want to fail?”
And finally, she set her jaw stubbornly before cleaning out the cauldron and Emilio got to preparing the ingredients. He looked down at the instructions and found the ingredients before arranging them in order. Some of them had to be chopped, some of them had to be diced, some crushed, some made into fine powder and mixed. It all looked overwhelming at first glance, but strangely enough once he started working, it was almost intuitive. He knew which ones to dice and which ones to crush, what went after what, which ones went together, and which ones needed some time in between. And he made sure to let Clara know, almost automatically.
“This one needs only a fraction of mana to mix together.”
“Let that sit for a moment, then put the Clovas root.”
“No, don’t put those two in together, it will ruin the balance needed for the base.”
Strangely enough, she listened. She threw him strange glances but did as he said, grumbling under her breath.
They were the last to finish. That was expected, considering that they had delayed quite a lot. It was as the last group was heading out already that they finished their work. Finally, Clara poured the blue potion into the round glass vial they were provided and capped it before taking it to the Professor.
Emilio noticed that all the others were a bit darker than the one they made. Theirs was lighter and a bit more transparent. He frowned, wondering if they made a mistake. Clara apparently noticed it too, because she threw him a glare as they walked to the front table. But there was nothing to be done now.
They put their vial in front of Professor Aveed, who paused at the sight before nodding and labeling it. There was nothing to be done at that moment, so they both walked out.
“Before you get on my case,” he said as soon as the walked out, “just remember that we get the same grades. I have no intention of sabotaging myself. So, no, I did not feed you wrong instructions on purpose. I just told you what felt right to me.”
“And I am supposed to believe that? That you do not want to sabotage me and my work?”
Emilio could not help but roll his eyes. “Contrary to what you may think, Lady Preises, not everyone wants to harm the person they do not like.”
He could see her getting angry but he did not quite care, Without giving her the chance to answer, he turned around, pulling out the Card to see where his next class was. This was the last of the classes he would be new to.
Beast Taming.
From the name itself, he just knew something would happen. He just hoped he did not end up unconscious and in need of healing again.
This was another class without Balsea too.
It was strange, how quickly the fae had become a part of his life. It has barely been even a week, and Balsea felt like an inseparable part of his life. Was that what having friends felt like?
He sighed and once again found himself in an open field when he finally reached the class. This was even larger than the one for the Magical Combat class. Which … considering the subject … was appropriate.
He found a corner to be alone.
It felt like time dragged on, as he quietly stared at nothing in particular, trying to ignore how awkward he felt. The one thing he felt was good was that no one tried to talk to him or even point at him while gossiping about him among themselves. Maybe it was because they were now used to his presence, but most of them were indifferent. And for that. Emilio was grateful.
And finally, the Professor came in. The Professor was a tall and broad man with ginger hair that went past his shoulders and a beard framing his face. He looked like the very model of a brave adventurer.
He stood at the center and looked around.
“Up until our last class, we had talked about how to find, and bond with a salamander. As you well know by now - and if you do not, shame on you - salamanders are small fire spirits. If you manage to find and tame one, it will help you with your fire spells. But of course, that is if you have a fire core. Now, I had hoped to show one of the many nixies that can be found here in the streams of our Academy for our water cores. But when I went to look for it, I found something else.”
He paused. Everyone waited with bated breath. Even Emilio could not help but lean forward at the man’s word.
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His hand sneaked into his large overcoat and pulled out a jar. It was not a very big jar, but it was not small either. It sat on the man’s large palm perfectly, but Emilio would need both his hands to hold it. Once the jar was held up in the light, there was the sound of collective gasps. Emilio could see why.
Inside the jar, was a small but thick snake, submerged in what looked like greenish water. Its body sat perfectly on the bottom of the bottle but it was now raising its head slowly. On a closer look, he saw that it did not look like a normal snake. Its mouth opened wider, stretching further into its body, and there were two rows of sharp teeth across all of it. It had fins right behind its mouth and as its tail flicked, he saw that it was flared out instead of narrowing.
“Is that a baby Leviathan?” An excited voice echoed in the field.
Emilio turned around to see a young girl leaning forward, her lips curved up in an excited green, uncaring of the red bangs that now seemed to fall over her eyes.
“Correct, Miss Klevin!” The man grinned. “It is a baby Leviathan. I have no idea how it ended up in the streams of the Academy, but I found it. Can anyone tell me what the Leviathan is the symbol of?”
The girl answered almost immediately. “Undine, the Olden Spirit of Water.”
Emilio started at that and then turned his eyes to the small Leviathan. It looked like it could not wait to eat everyone in its vicinity.
“Very good,” the Professor said as he nodded. “Leviathans are Sea Serpents. The most powerful of the lot. So, you must be very powerful to even try to deal with one of them. If a fully grown Leviathan is in front of you, you can only hope to escape with your life intact. But this little thing is probably no more than a few months old.”
“Now, I know that we were supposed to get nixies today, but since this little thing is here, I thought I could conduct a class on Leviathans. Now, do not get me wrong, you cannot tame a Leviathan. They are dangerous, volatile creatures and consider themselves rulers of their territories. But knowing about them may help save your life one day. After we are done with the lesson, you can all come up one by one to take a look.”
With that, he put the jar inside his overcoat again before he started to talk about Leviathans. He started with how Leviathans did not need water after certain stages of life. They preferred it, and they were certainly stronger in water, but they did not need it to survive. In fact, fully grown Leviathans that had obtained their magical maturity could create water themselves. Leviathans could sometimes affect the water around them due to the toxins in their skin, which was the reason for the strangely greenish water in the jar. It was a good idea to check for any large magical presence nearby if you were at sea and you saw large amounts of water of this color. Some Leviathans could breathe poison….
The lecture was quite interesting but for some reason, Emilio’s mind kept straying. It kept straying to that Leviathan in the jar. He felt strangely drawn to it. Despite his efforts to actually listen to the lecture, his mind always circled back to it. He wanted to see it up close. He wished to know what it was thinking.
The lecture seemed to drag on. It felt excruciatingly slow. The lecture took up the better part of an hour. When it was finally over, the Professor looked at their impatient faces and smiled.
“Alright, you rascals. Line up!”
And they did. Most of them were excited, some were jittery and nervous. He waited for everyone else to line up. He wanted to take a good look at the thing and did not need the people behind him rushing him. He noticed the red-haired girl from before was also waiting. They met each other’s eyes, and he raised a silent eyebrow. She raised both of hers in response. He gestured at the line, tilting his head in a “go ahead” gesture. She shook her head and then pointed at him.
He frowned for a moment before sighing and shrugging. If there was only one person behind him, they could see it together. He stood at the end of the line and she stood behind him.
“Don’t rush me,” he said as soon as she came up behind him. “If you want to see, you can stand beside me and see.”
The girl stared at him for a moment before nodding. “Fine. But don’t try to push me away if I get close in excitement.”
“Sounds good.”
They both waited their turn. Most of them took only a few seconds or so to see. Once the novelty wore off, there was not much to see. A few were more interested and tried to tap on or tease the jar. The Professor guided them away after a few moments.
And then … it was finally his turn.
“Ah, the new kid.” The Professor said, a stern frown on his face. “I didn’t notice you. Did you understand today’s lecture?”
He had not paid enough attention but he nodded nonetheless.
“Good,” the man nodded. “I do not care what you are and what disputes you have with students outside of this class. You will keep all of that out when you enter this class. This is a very dangerous class. I will not tolerate any kind of mischief here. Understood?”
That was in no way fair. He was not the one causing mischief. Still, Emilio nodded. “Yes, sir.”
The Professor nodded. “Alright. Go ahead and take a look.”
He looked down at the jar, only to find the Leviathan with its head raised. He could feel a faint buzzing in his head, similar to what he felt when he blocked out the noises of all the animals. This was more persistent. Was this Leviathan speaking to him?
His instinct urging him, Emilio opened his mind.
“So, you are the Speaker.”
“Hello,” he said in response, reaching out to press his finger against the jar. The Leviathan was also leaning up against the glass. He forgot almost everything around him.
“The Speaker?”
“Yes.” Emilio had the distinct impression that it was nodding. “The Speaker. I heard there was a human who could speak to us.”
He frowned. Had he spoken to any animals since coming here? Had Caladrius the white phoenix spread the news? Or were these animals capable of talking to plants? Or did the snakes back home spill?
He did not know. But he nodded nonetheless. “I suppose.”
“Yes, I had a feeling it was you.”
And with that, it pulled back. It raised its head and opened its mouth in the direction of the lid of the jar. He could see green smoke spilling from the mouth and pushing up against the lid, and the lid was starting to melt.
The Professor’s eyes widened and he quickly put the jar on the ground, stepping back. It was that motion that brought Emilio out of his focus on the Leviathan.
“Everyone, move back. It’s coming out! Shield yourselves, and keep as far away from it as possible! Cover your mouth and nose!”
Everyone did as told.
Well … everyone except Emilio.
Instead, Emilio knelt down in front of the jar, watching as the Leviathan moved out of the jar through the now open, melted lid. It raised its head and looked at him, and Emilio could not help but reach out.
“Hey, new student, what are you doing?!” The Professor’s gruff voice sounded on his ears. “Are you mad? You’ll die if you touch it. Move back!”
“I won’t,” he said softly. “It won’t hurt me.”
Emilio knew it, with complete conviction.
The Leviathan shot forward and there were several gasps. There was even a yell. But it did not bite him or pour poison on him. Instead, it slithered onto his wrist and wrapped around his arm, before settling its head on the back of his palm. It closed its eyes as if it was just settling down to sleep.
Emilio stood, with the Leviathan wrapped around his arm, and finally looked, only to find a class full of incredulous eyes staring back at him.