“In three years, you haven't produced a single piece of presentable academic research? Grimm, you'd better drop that attitude of yours.”
Margaret couldn't help but smirk.
“One of the students I taught actually published a paper on a special herb extraction method in a journal last year. Quite a few professors even went to visit him back then.”
“You haven't fallen so low that you can't even compare to a student now, have you?”
Grimm didn't immediately shoot back. Instead, he continued tinkering with the potions in his hands.
Just then, Violet suddenly burst in, panting heavily.
“P-Professor!”
“This! I made it!”
Violet held up the bottle of deep blue potion in her hand. She had run all the way back just to return as quickly as possible.
Neither of the two professors in the laboratory paid much attention to Violet's words, continuing to focus intently on their own work.
“Violet, it's just completing a few of the assignments I gave you earlier. There's no need to be this excited, is there?”
“No, that's not it...”
“Of course I know your talent. Every finished product you make meets my requirements, and I'll give you full marks.”
“I—I mean the antidote! I made it!”
Violet finally caught her breath and blurted it all out in one go.
“Oh, it's just an antidote... An antidote?”
Grimm finally stopped what he was doing and looked at her with utter surprise.
“Are you talking about...”
“The one from this time! The antidote that can reverse the mania effects in those monsters!”
Hearing the girl's words, Margaret couldn't help but sigh, her gaze toward Grimm dripping with sarcasm.
She had been stressing over having no ammunition to attack him with.
Now, another perfect opportunity had just presented itself.
“Grimm, if the student you taught is only at this level, I think your knowledge no longer qualifies you to be a professor here.”
“Six whole hours! We've combed through all the data, and we couldn't even reverse-engineer the most crucial raw ingredients!”
Margaret seemed to think this was a complete joke, and her voice rose unconsciously.
“Violet, don't tell me you're trying to say that this life-saving antidote was made by just grabbing a few handfuls of ingredients, happening to stumble upon a suitable process, and... cooking it up like a meal?”
Meeting Margaret's imposing gaze, Violet was momentarily dazed and could only reply, “No, that's not it.”
“Grimm, don't tell me you want to use this to show off your great teaching methods, so you had Violet put on this act?”
“Please, we're already busy enough!”
There was some annoyance on Grimm's face, but it was mostly confusion. In his eyes, Violet didn't seem like the type of student to play jokes in a situation like this.
“Violet, I hope you understand that now is not the time for jokes. Just looking at the appearance of that potion in your hand, it doesn't fit the standard specifications for a potionology antidote at all!”
“Wait, I misspoke. I didn't make this antidote!”
Seeing Violet suddenly change her tune, Margaret couldn't help but chuckle.
“Of course. I knew you couldn't have made it. Did you misspeak because you ran back too quickly? I do that sometimes too. I won't blame you, child.”
She decided to give Violet an out.
Violet nodded first, then added, “It wasn't me. Ain made this potion!”
“Ain?”
Margaret felt a vague sense of familiarity with the name, but the exhaustion of pulling an all-nighter had already thoroughly soaked her mind.
At this moment, her mind was flooded with nothing but magic herbs and potion formulas she had gone over repeatedly.
“Ain? Ain made it?”
In an instant, all of Grimm's rebuttals were wiped clean, leaving only astonishment and pleasant surprise.
He had personally witnessed the youth's attainments in potionology.
Without an ample reserve of knowledge, how could he have discovered the flaw in the purifying agent's manufacturing process?
“Cough, although its color indeed doesn't seem to meet the standards, I believe the actual efficacy of a potion cannot be judged by its appearance.”
Violet blinked, a bit dazed.
Did the professor always change his tune this quickly?
Margaret also noticed the change in Grimm's attitude and asked curiously, “Who is this Ain you just mentioned?”
Upon hearing this, Grimm instantly adopted a proud expression.
“Oh, Ain. I've been meaning to tell you. He is my most satisfying student. Ever since he entered the academy, I have viewed him as Hermetica's future Chief Potioneer.”
“All this time, I have been meticulously nurturing his knowledge and talent.”
“And it was precisely under my guidance that he recently developed the manufacturing process for the new purifying agent.”
“His achievements today are indeed inseparable from my teaching.”
Grimm smiled and adjusted his glasses, casually glancing at Violet beside him.
“Oh, of course, Violet is also quite good.”
Violet was completely dumbfounded.
Hasn't he only known him for barely two days?
How did it turn into personally mentoring him since his admission?
And that purifying agent's process was clearly invented by Ain himself, wasn't it?
The professor is really...
...way too shameless!
Looking at his smug face, Margaret felt a wave of annoyance wash over her.
“So? Are you trying to say that this antidote is the final result? Do you plan to pin all your hopes on a single student?”
“Don't make me laugh, Grimm. No matter how amazing your student is, how could he make this antidote without a formula?”
“How is that any different from a blind man getting a hole-in-one on his first try in bed?”
“Hey! Margaret! There is still a student right next to us! Can you watch your language!”
Grimm lowered his head, his face flushing slightly.
Yet, he couldn't help but agree in his heart.
That analogy was actually quite vivid.
Violet looked at them with a puzzled expression.
What are these two talking about?
What does getting a hole-in-one mean?
Without thinking too much about it, Violet continued.
“Oh, right, Professor. When using this potion, you must remember to adjust the dilution ratio. That is the hardest and most critical step.”
As if looking for a way out, Grimm's blush instantly vanished. He put on an angry front and said, “It's just adjusting a dilution ratio. What's so hard about that?”
“Violet, where has all your studying gone after all this time?”
Violet replied weakly, “B-But that's what Ain said...”
“Who does Ain think he—Oh, Ain? Hiss... Well, that does seem rather difficult.”
Grimm's temper vanished instantly. He took the potion from Violet's hand and began to study it carefully.
Just then, a magical wolf with snow-white fur walked in, curling up weakly next to Violet.
Everyone in the laboratory froze for a moment.
Margaret was the first to speak, her tone laced with a hint of anger.
“Whose monster is this? Don't you know that Persephone bans bringing Contract Spirits inside?!”
Grimm chimed in, “Violet, did you bring this?”
“Yes...”
“Throw it out immediately!”
“But...”
“No buts!”
“It's Ain's...”
“Even if it's Ain—Ain? Oh, Ain again. Well, if it's Ain... he must have a purpose for doing this. Could it be related to this antidote?”
Violet suddenly felt incredibly aggrieved.
They were both students, so why was there such a massive difference in treatment!
Margaret was about to step closer to Grimm, only to hear a sudden commotion outside the laboratory, sounding like a rowdy party.
“What is that racket outside?”
“I don't know.”
The three of them exchanged glances and quickly opened the laboratory door. The noisy chatter instantly flooded their ears.
“Look, quickly!”
“What is that? A monster?”
“It's magic, right?!”
“No, no, no, how could that be magic! How could any magic achieve something like that? Didn't you see the scale? This is way too exaggerated!”
“Could it be a goddess delivering a divine oracle?”
“What era is that ancient legend from? You actually still believe in that?”
Many instructors and students had gathered at Persephone's main entrance, all staring up at the sky.
Once the three from the laboratory reached the open area, they all looked up in unison. However, what met their eyes was a terrifying spectacle that made their very souls tremble.
The sky over Echo Forest had been completely torn open. Tens of thousands of purple lightning bolts snaked wildly through the clouds like silver serpents, weaving together and erupting in blinding, cold light.
And above that sky ravaged by lightning, a massive magic circle floated, blotting out the sun and covering the heavens.
Countless dense layers of magic circuits nested together like a cold, colossal eye, silently looking down upon the earth.
Yet, within the magic circle, a gigantic object hovered.
“What is that...”
“A... lightning spear?”
Rate on N.U.
