A man wearing glasses walked up to Violet’s desk and lightly rapped on the surface.
“Student, if you two continue to be this loud, I’ll have to ask you to leave.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Violet apologized. Once the man left, she turned back to the boy beside her and patted the chair next to her, signaling for him to sit.
“What’s your name?”
“Ain.”
Violet furrowed her brow; she had never heard this name in Hermetica before.
“Tell me, what is this destabilization reaction, and what are the steps after this part of the process?”
Ain chuckled and spread his hands, replying lazily, “Oh, I’m just a student from another department who doesn’t understand potion-making.”
“These questions of yours are putting me in a bit of a spot.”
Looking at the flowchart in her hand, which was only one step away from completion, Violet suddenly felt a pang of regret.
She shouldn’t have interrupted him just now.
“What year are you?”
“Second year.”
“Oh, so you’re a junior...”
Violet flashed a smile, her body involuntarily leaning toward Ain.
The girl’s fresh scent wafted toward him, leaving Ain momentarily at a loss for words.
Violet’s hands began to rest slowly on Ain’s shoulders, and her delicate face drew closer and closer to his.
The girl’s lips brushed against his ear as she whispered, “Just tell your senior...”
“There’s a good little brother...”
Warm breath tickled his ear. Looking at the girl pressed against him, Ain raised both hands in a gesture of surrender.
“Fine, fine. I’ll tell you. Just please sit back in your chair.”
If they were in a small, private room, Ain wouldn't have minded playing along for the night.
But seeing the strange looks from the surrounding students, Ain really couldn't take it.
“Oh... does my junior really dislike me that much?”
“Are you going to listen or not? If not, I’m leaving.”
Seeing that she had achieved her goal, Violet chuckled and sat back in her chair with a look of triumph.
‘As if I couldn't handle a young boy like you.’
Ain picked up the flowchart, pointed to the circled section in the middle, and began to speak.
“The reason Purifying Agents below Tier 3 cannot withstand the erosion of lightning-attribute toxins is fundamentally because the lightning element is incompatible with the primary ingredient of a Tier 3 Purifying Agent—Moonlight Moss.”
“Adding a neutral mana buffer in your experiment is actually just to reduce the decomposition effect of the lightning element, but it can never be completely eliminated.”
“Furthermore, your method only works in theory. In practice, with that many buffers, you’d spend three days and nights just trying different permutations and combinations, let alone finding the one possible unique solution.”
What Ain said was exactly what had been troubling Violet.
“If you want to complete this experiment, you must first understand that the claim that Moonlight Moss and the lightning element are incompatible is inherently wrong.”
“What?!”
Violet covered her mouth, unable to believe what she had just heard.
If the person before her hadn't written out such a detailed process, she wouldn't have bothered listening to a student from another department who dared to question the textbooks.
“The problem doesn’t lie with the lightning element itself, but with the procedure for making Tier 3 Purifying Agents. The way you all make Purifying Agents now is wrong.”
Violet wanted to say something, but the words stuck in her throat.
What on earth was this guy talking about?
First, he questioned the textbook, and now he was denying a process that had been passed down for decades.
Even Professor Grimm wouldn't dare say such a thing!
Seeing Violet’s shock, Ain wasn't in a hurry to explain.
A reaction like this was normal.
After all, in the original plot of the game, changing the production standards for Tier 3 Purifying Agents was late-game content.
“Go... go on,” Violet urged.
Her intuition told her that the person in front of her was about to completely overturn the system of potion-making.
“Actually, the real reason the lightning element decomposes Moonlight Moss is that the Moonlight Moss extract contains a low concentration of anions, which undergo a destabilization reaction with the ionic charged particles in lightning-attribute materials.”
“In other words, what repels the lightning element isn't the Moonlight Moss, but the trace amounts of solvent remaining from the purification process.”
“You only need to evaporate the solvent during the process and then let it return to temperature. Not only will this ensure the structure of the Moonlight Moss remains unaffected, but it will also remove the solvent that repels the lightning element.”
After hearing Ain’s words, Violet’s mind went blank. She had so many questions she wanted to ask.
What were anions? What was a destabilization reaction? And where did he learn all this?
For a moment, Violet was speechless.
She only wanted to know one thing now.
Was what Ain said actually correct?
“Come with me!”
Without giving Ain time to agree, Violet grabbed his hand and ran straight out of the library.
...
Inside the laboratory, the cluttered table was covered with various potions. At the center of the table sat a bottle of potion glowing with a pale blue light.
“My God... the purification rate is one hundred percent?”
“The lightning-attribute toxin actually didn’t affect the purification efficiency at all?”
Violet slumped to the floor, momentarily overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information.
“This could practically overturn the entire potion-making system! Do you realize that? This is something even the professors don’t know!”
“You’ve just pioneered a new manufacturing process and overthrown all previous standards for making Purifying Agents!”
“Overturning the potion-making system is a bit of an exaggeration.”
Ain shook his head and gave a few bitter laughs.
This was just the beginning.
He hadn't even mentioned any of the potion recipes released in the late stages of the game.
“Did you invent all of this?”
Ain cleared his throat, adopting the air of a scholar. “I am merely a discoverer of knowledge, not a creator.”
After saying this, Ain turned his head away, feeling a bit embarrassed.
He was actually just a porter.
“You’re a genius! A genius born for potion-making!”
“I can’t wait to see the look on Professor Grimm’s face. I bet his mouth will hang open wider than that cauldron!”
Violet put the potion back into her storage bag, then grabbed Ain’s hands, her amber eyes staring intently at him.
“Tell me, are you really not a student of Hermetica?”
“I’m not.”
“Then... are you interested in joining the potion-making major at Hermetica?”
Violet’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Ain, her hands even starting to stroke his palms.
“Senior, you’re acting a bit like a creep...”
Ain looked at her with a hint of disdain.
A creep?
Violet wished she could pack Ain up right now and stuff him into a cupboard!
He was a treasure she had discovered!
How could such a talented student not be studying potion-making?
This was more tragic than finding a treasure chest and being unable to open it!
A low-tier Purifying Agent immune to lightning-attribute toxins—if this result were published in the 《Golden Branch Pharmaceutical Journal》, the entire potion-making world would explode!
And she was currently holding the person who would ignite that fuse!
“Do you know about the 《Golden Branch Pharmaceutical Journal》? It’s a joint publication by the empire’s seven great magic academies. The last person to publish a paper there as a student was Edwin Cole twelve years ago. He went straight to the Royal Alchemy Institute after graduation and is now the Deputy Director.”
“Believe me, your achievements will definitely not be lower than his!”
“As long as you come to Hermetica, I’ll vacate a minor spot for you next semester. Your spot will be my spot, and I’ll do all the group projects.”
“Hermetica has the most complete equipment. You can research whatever direction you want. I’ll help you apply for tuition subsidies, and if you’re stressed about housing, you can even move into my dorm!”
‘She’s really overpromising here.’
After hearing Violet’s words, Ain furrowed his brow, feigning a look of helplessness.
“Sigh, Senior, actually, even if I wanted to go, I couldn't.”
“Why?”
“I’m about to be expelled from the academy.”
Violet’s pupils dilated again. She really couldn't fathom which department’s mentor was so blind.
Suddenly, something else occurred to her, and she looked excited once more.
“Expelled? That’s great! When are you being expelled?”
“How about we go handle your withdrawal application right now?”
Withdrawal was good. It saved her the trouble of poaching him from another department and the hassle of writing recommendation letters.
When the time came, she would just have to have a word with Professor Grimm, and recruiting him back would be a piece of cake.
Thinking this, the smile on Violet’s face grew even wider.
“Senior, why are you smiling so happily?”
The corner of Ain’s mouth twitched slightly.
However, he had achieved his goal.
As long as he tied himself to a massive school of thought like Hermetica, even if the academy expelled him, he would have somewhere else to go.
Worst case scenario, he’d just become a potion-maker in the future.
Rate on N.U.
