The first thing I noticed the next morning was the soreness from sparring the day before. Or, rather, the lack of any pain. Amelia's gift worked much better than I had expected, and an examination revealed the bruises were far smaller and already beginning to fade. I stood and stretched a bit before running through my usual morning routine of supplements, exercise with Sig, and a quick breakfast before heading to my first class.

Walking into the Alchemy class, I noted that the design of the room differed from most classrooms. The desks were larger than most and covered in alchemic tools, with two stools facing towards the front board. I picked a spot close to the back of the room and sat down. While I waited for the professor to arrive, I began leafing through my book to refresh my memory but was interrupted by a cough.

Turning, I saw a young man around my age, standing a few feet away. He was tiny and seemed to shrink further when I looked at him. After a few uncomfortable seconds, I decided to break the silence. "Can I help you?"

He nodded a bit too quickly, his glasses bouncing on his face as he did so. "You're Vayne, right? My cousin told me to look for you when I got here. He was the mage who ran you through your Awakening."

The last sentence jogged my memory, and though I smiled at the boy, internally, I was a bit annoyed to have the company. I was not here to make friends, and the more people I met, the more my reputation would spread. Amelia was a calculated risk that may be worth the danger, but I was still unsure about this boy. Unfortunately, I did not have a choice in this situation.

"Of course, I believe it was Simon if I am not mistaken?"

"Yes, sir. I mean, yes, that's me." he squeaked. I had thought I was terrible at conversation, but this kid made me look like a virtuoso.

I smiled at him and gestured to the seat next to me. After fumbling a bit with the stool, he sat down and dug into a bag to retrieve his supplies. I was beginning to understand why that adept had asked me to meet his cousin. He seemed like the sort to hide from his own shadow.

Turning back to me, he leaned a bit closer and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Jonathan told me you were a sponsored apprentice for a duke. Is that true?"

I raised an eyebrow at the question before nodding. "Yes it is, I grew up in Duke Estton's household in training to be a family advisor."

"Really?! That must have been amazing. I can't imagine how large an estate they must have. Are you friends with the family heirs? I bet you've gotten to go to the annual balls they throw at the Royal Palace! Did you ever meet the king? I've only seen him in pictures, and my family was never well off enough to warrant an invitation." he said, each sentence coming a bit faster and louder as his awkwardness rapidly wore off.

I laughed and held up one hand to stop his avalanche of questions. "I lived in a side building separate from the family mansion. We are cordial, but no, I would not say I am friends with either of them. I never attended a ball, though I could probably handle myself decently well if forced to waltz, and the only time I ever saw King Lyos was from a few hundred feet away inside a crowd of onlookers."

He seemed a bit disappointed at that, which was understandable, I suppose, but after a second, he brightened up again. He opened his mouth, most likely to launch into another tirade of questions, but before he could speak, our professor walked into the room. The master looked around forty and bookish, with a slouched stance.

"Hello everyone, my name is Professor Gladstone, and I will be your guide through the world of Alchemy. Some would call the subject boring or useless. After all, what use is creating simple aids to cure acne or a fever to a true mage? Until you realize that Ferris' prosperity lies in the alchemists, who produce the means to create new mages. You all are years away from learning that particular potion, but that does not mean you will be slacking off today."

Turning a bit, he placed one hand on the podium in front of him, and the board shimmered to reveal a series of instructions. Looking back at the class, Professor Gladstone reached into his robes and retrieved a vial filled with a thick red liquid.

"Your goal for today is to craft this, a basic potion designed to accelerate the natural healing process. Useless for any major injuries, but minor cuts and bruises will disappear in seconds. I want two potions from each station. Any extra are yours to keep, which should hopefully be plenty of motivation to focus. I trust you all know how to follow instructions, but if you get lost, feel free to ask for assistance."

We spent the rest of the class attempting to brew healing potions. As I feared, I was not a particularly skilled hand at alchemy. My impatience left me unable to match the precise timing needed, and clumsy hands made accurate measurements of ingredients a challenge.

Simon, however, showed a bit of his usefulness, and any awkwardness disappeared as he focused intently, cutting and crushing herbs, mixing and purifying the ingredients efficiently. I carefully watched as he moved through the steps with a practiced hand, mixing four vials on his own. In the end, we managed to produce five total potions, well above the needed quota.

Professor Gladstone walked by our station several times, leaning in close while Simon finished bottling the fifth vial. With surprising speed, he reached forward and picked up on potion, holding it up to the light and scrutinizing it.

"Well done, apprentice. If you look here, note that my product has a bit of a deeper red coloration. You rushed distillation just a hair which left the product a bit less concentrated than would be best. Also, you want to make sure to crush the blackroot more finely to allow it to break down more completely and release its full effects. But still, a very competent first attempt." he said, smiling a bit at Simon before turning to me and picking up the only potion I made on my own.

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"You, on the other hand, are more of what I would expect from a novice. The pink color indicates impurities, and the remnants of reagents would dramatically decrease the potency of your final product. Not unusual, of course. After all, you are a novice, but be aware you will need to work to become more deft-handed if you plan to pass my class." Professor Gladstone said, before turning and walking to another station.

My surprise must have been evident, because Simon shrugged a bit at me. "My family specializes in trade goods and craftsmanship. Jonathan was always an excellent hand at enchanting, but I was always interested in alchemy. Like Professor Gladstone said, it may not be glorious work, but it's important and essential to Ferris."

I gave him a grateful smile. "I think I owe you a favor for this then. I may have been able to scrape together two potions by the end of class, but not five and nowhere near as high quality as yours."

"There's no need! I'm glad I could help you out." Simon said, rubbing the back of his neck.

I felt a bit surprised at his generosity. In my experience, nobles never did favors for nothing in return, and I had not seen that sort of response from Simon coming. Even Master Julian, who had put himself at risk for me, seemed to have some kind of agenda, though I still had no idea what.

I still felt indebted to Simon even if he had dismissed my gratitude. "At least take the extra potions. You were the one who made them anyways."

Simon looked at the vials and grabbed two of them, before sliding the third across the desk towards me with a friendly smile. "Two will be fine, but I want you to have the third."

I smiled at him gratefully, and together we walked from the class to our next lesson. Not surprisingly, Simon accompanied me to Enchanting, though his enthusiasm to pester me with questions had mostly faded.

Professor Hamilton, a man who seemed more than anything uncomfortable in front of a crowd, taught the course. I was beginning to suspect these crafting arts tended to attract the more introverted types.

The hour was mind-numbingly dull and spent carefully tracing runes on paper, attempting to copy them correctly. I was a bit better at this than alchemy and made less mistakes, though I still was at best mediocre. Simon again demonstrated far better skill, though I suspected the difference was smaller than it had been in alchemy.

As we walked into Magic Beasts, I saw with a bit of surprise that Leon sat in the front row, surrounded by several other students who vied for his attention. When he saw Simon and me, he shot us a bright smile and stood, apologizing to the rest of his friends as he walked over.

"Vayne, I'm glad to see you! We came by your room last night for dinner, but you weren't around! And you made a friend too, now that's not something I saw coming." Leon said with a chuckle, before turning to Simon and holding out a hand. "A pleasure to meet you. My name is Leon Estton."

Simon started stammering and grabbed Leon's hand. "N-n-nice to meet you too, sir. My name is Simon."

Leon shook his head and sighed. "Gods above, there are two of you now. It's Leon, not sir. Apprentice Leon technically, which makes us equals as long as we are behind these walls."

I looked at Leon curiously. "Forgive me, sir, but I thought I was in this class so you would not be bothered by learning these skills?"

He scowled a bit at my formal tone, but nodded in agreement. "Fair enough, and you'd normally be right, but I always was interested in magic beasts. It sounds like an absolutely enthralling subject. Not to worry, Sophia and I will still be counting on your expertise in most other matters."

I could see the appeal to an extent, though I was not nearly as interested in the subject as Leon. I had dreams of developing methods to increase my power through studying and replicating their talents, but it was not a priority.

Leon looked over, noticing a robed woman had walked into the room and smiled at us both before returning to his seat. Simon and I took a desk at the back of the class, quietly sitting while we waited for the professor to begin speaking.

"My name is Master Kendell, and I will be your instructor on magic beasts. While we humans like to believe we are the superior race in the world, I hope to teach you the truth of things. Compared to most other species, we are slow, weak, and clumsy, undeserving of our place at the top of the food chain."

Turning towards us, she waved a hand, and an intricate stone sculpture of a lizard-creature appeared floating above us. It was around the size of a man, with massive wings and a mouth lined with hundreds of teeth. Even the youngest child would recognize what it represented.

"To illustrate my point, let us start with the most commonly known magic beast in existence, the dragon. It is a marvel of nature, with incredible resistance to physical and magical attacks, a capacity to heal rapidly, and unbelievable speed and strength. Possibly most terrifying of all is a projection of elemental mana launched from their mouths, commonly known as dragon's breath. In nearly every regard, they are superior to man and well-deserving of their place in legends."

She paused, scanning the room and noting our enraptured faces before grinning. "And yet despite these gifts, the Founders drove dozens of these beasts back from our lands. In modern times, they exist only far to the east, outside of Ferren territory. How did we manage that?"

Someone in the front row raised his hand, and Professor Kendell nodded at him. "Our intelligence, Professor?"

She shook her head at his answer. "No, not exactly. While some beasts are unintelligent, the majority possess human-level intelligence, though their customs are often challenging to understand. Dragons, for example, are as smart or smarter than most humans, mages included. But, you are on the right track."

Another person spoke up, a girl this time. "Is it magic? You said they could use mana for their breath, but that is different from spells, isn't it Professor Kendell?"

A smile split her face, and she nodded in satisfaction. "Just so. The majority of magical beasts, with rare exceptions, have evolved with their mana primarily focused on their natural gifts. Dragons, for instance, have a large portion of their mana directed simply to maintain their bodies and allow for their incredible physical abilities. Nearly a quarter of their mana goes into simply to make their wings and muscles strong enough for flight."

A second sculpture of a vulpine creature appeared floating next to the dragon.

"Another example would be this creature, the dusk fox. They possess incredible camouflage abilities, but as a consequence, almost all of their mana lies in their skin and fur. Humans possess the rare ability to mold and manipulate magic with far greater versatility than most beings. This skill, combined with centuries of study, has allowed us to create powerful spells that can slay even the mightiest foes. After my class, you should all have the knowledge necessary to survive such an encounter with these beasts."

I found myself surprisingly enthralled by the class, no doubt, due to Professor Kendell. She was obviously fascinated by the subject, and her enthusiasm carried over into her teaching. In particular, I found the concept that magic could exist and develop entirely differently, particularly interesting.

Unfortunately, my fascination faded a bit when I realized most of our semester would focus on far more mundane creatures. Nowadays, most beasts in Ferren land were weaker examples that used magic to reproduce rapidly or locate prey.

After the class ended, I bid farewell to Simon and rushed back to my room. I only had around twenty minutes until the start of Dueling, and I needed every minute of that to change my appearance. Luckily, I had practiced extensively over the past three weeks, and in just fourteen minutes, I walked out ready to attend my first class as Marcus Norton.