Chapter 21
Chapter 21
Alchemy, Chemistry, Breaking Bad
Lunch time had arrived.
Once again, an absolutely dreadful meal was served.
It was a soup made from leftover vegetables, accompanied by bread and milk.
The mostly upper-class students of the academy couldn’t help but sigh at the kind of diet that seemed fit only for tenant farmers.
It was only two meals out of three for the day, but already their spirits were crushed.
The problem was that their hunger was so great they had no choice but to eat it.
“Ugh, I feel like I’m going to vomit.”
“Damn it. I want Milan-style steak with wine gravy sauce and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.”
The students forced the food into their mouths. Gibles warned them as they ate.
“The academy schedule is going to be extremely tough this afternoon, so make sure to eat plenty now. You might not even have time to eat later if it gets too hard.”
“Huh?”
“We’re already exhausted…”
Even though their attempts at hot-water magic to boil water were futile, everyone’s heads were pounding.
If they had no talent for magic, they might have spent their time idly resting, but all of them were magically gifted.
Constantly consuming mana had left everyone drained, and the afternoon classes promised to be even tougher?
‘No, but what good is that if we can’t even eat?’
‘This bread is so hard that the effort to eat it probably outweighs the nutrition it provides.’
The students broke the bread as much as possible and soaked it in the soup and milk. There was still leftover bread, so Idnia saved it for later.
The afternoon class was a basic alchemy lesson.
The instructor was Dryad Naily, a dryad from the Vikrant Empire who was also a druid.
She seemed to derive pleasure from spraying water at her root area with a sprayer.
“Oh… nutrients. As expected, Visarosan plant nutrients are amazing. I can even feel the pleasure… ah, my goodness… uh…”
Realizing that students had entered the classroom, she cleared her throat and put on her glasses.
Many students were seeing a dryad for the first time, and they looked at Naily with curious eyes.
A forest fairy, beautiful features, and a mystical appearance somewhere between animal and plant—it was enough to capture everyone’s attention.
“Hello. I’m Naily. Nice to meet you.”
“Uh… a d-dryad.”
“I’ve never seen one before.”
“Now, it may sound strange to start a basic alchemy class like this, but if you really want to be good at alchemy, you must learn chemistry. Basic chemistry is an elective, but I’d really appreciate it if you enrolled. There’s little homework, and the grades are good.
And on top of that!
If you take chemistry now, the first twenty students will receive a bromide calendar featuring my embarrassing illustrations.
Ah, very risqué, fully nude bromides. I couldn’t refuse when asked to model in my carefree youth. Enough…”
“……”
It was clear that many of the male students were intrigued.
Perhaps because she hadn’t secured a professorship, she was trying so hard to sell her class.
But for an instructor—a dryad no less—to use her sexuality to promote her class, Idnia disapproved.
‘Is this really okay? In the original Awakening Girl Concert, it was a women-oriented game, so why would a female instructor use sexual appeal to sell something? Morally, isn’t it wrong?’
At that moment, someone raised their hand.
“Oh, a student there?”
It was Isolde Polzen, asking confidently.
“I want to enroll in basic chemistry immediately. You said chemistry helps one excel at alchemy, right?”
“Yes. Actually, the basic alchemy class teaches more of the groundwork—the physical labor, so to speak—rather than the real theory, which is taught in chemistry. But, you’re a girl.”
“Yes.”
“Then you don’t need the bromides?”
“I’d appreciate it if you gave them. I want to see for myself.”
“Very well. True appreciation of beauty knows no gender distinction. Ah, it’s embarrassing, but I suppose it can’t be helped. I happen to have one here, so I’ll give it to you.”
“……”
What Naily handed over was a promotional calendar from a gardening company.
“I heard it’s the instructor’s bromides.”
“It’s my bromide calendar. I got tempted by fame as a child… Please look at it in private, since it’s embarrassing.”
“A calendar? Ah, this is from ten years ago. The calendar…”
“Yes, just focus on the pictures.”
“Huh?”
When Isolde opened the calendar, it contained portraits of various gardening tasks.
Gardeners repotting special plants as part of their gardening company duties.
“Ah! This is so risqué!”
“…Excuse me?”
“Especially that seedling, at the root stage. Oh my, so risqué and vulgar, showing a minor stripped like this…”
“……”
Many of the male students slumped their shoulders.
Was this what it meant to give an erotic bromide?
“Does the instructor’s portrait appear in this?”
“Yes. But it’s embarrassing, so I’ll keep my identity secret…”
“……”
Most students who wanted to take chemistry probably lost interest immediately.
Isolde snorted and passed the bromide calendar around. The male students crowded over it, expecting risqué images, but it was all just portraits. Watering plants, giving nutrients to trees, pruning or grafting.
“Making a calendar out of this, how much do you love gardening?”
“Ah, but my mother likes it a lot too.”
The upper-class students grumbled as they flipped through the calendar. But no matter how carefully they looked, there were no naked scenes of the dryad.
“Now, everyone. For alchemy, I will teach you basic extraction magic.”
Dryad Naily, disappointed that few students had enrolled in chemistry, began the lesson.
She held a small red lettuce.
“Extraction magic helps you concentrate the active ingredients in herbs. For example, this leaf—does anyone know what it is?”
“Lettuce?”
“…San-chue?”
“Ah, no…”
Idnia blushed, having accidentally spoken in Korean.
Then Isolde Polzen raised her hand, almost mocking her.
“It’s romaine.”
“Yes, romaine. A vegetable. Did you know it has a sleep-inducing effect?”
“Really?”
Everyone was doubtful.
They’d never seen anyone get sleepy from eating romaine leaves. If vegetables in daily life had such effects, someone would have fallen off a carriage and died from drowsiness.
“Hehe. In reality, the amount in this state is too insignificant to put anyone to sleep. Now, when we use extraction magic… first we extract the active compounds, then enhance them with reinforcement magic…”
A tiny drop of liquid formed on the romaine leaf, glowing beautifully, infused with the enhanced effect.
She called the closest student, Atos, who revered the Cardinal Triple Guards and wore a rapier with his uniform, to try it.
“Here, student. Try this.”
“Huh?”
Atos blinked in confusion.
“Uh, you’re a dryad. Can I eat a plant in front of a dryad?”
“Did you think eating it would upset a dryad? Then all dryads in the world would first kill the herbivores in their forests, wouldn’t they? Just follow the instructor’s instructions. Eat it.”
Reluctantly, Atos ate the romaine leaf and the concentrated extract. Immediately, his eyes rolled.
“Ugh… zzz.”
He began dozing while standing. The sleepiness was overwhelming.
“This is what happens. Now, wake up.”
Naily shook Atos awake. He was amazed.
“Wow. Incredible… the sleep is unbearable…”
“Right? Hehe. Your task today is to learn extraction magic and fill this bottle with the active ingredients from herbs. But first, let me teach you extraction magic.”
She taught the students the activation phrase.
‘Yong chuulhara!’
‘Yong-chulhara,’ huh. Korean again. Idnia gave a wry smile at the Korean activation phrase.
Then Isolde raised her hand.
“Yes, student Isolde Polzen.”
“This spell is much harder, isn’t it? I thought it was at least a second-tier spell.”
‘…As expected of the top student. She’s clearly here to excel in magical studies.’
Idnia could feel Isolde’s obsession with academic achievement, and that she often glared at her. Earlier, she thought it was because Idnia had embarrassed Crown Prince Rudolf, but after the water-heating magic accident, it was as if she were glaring at a sworn enemy.
“Yes. It is a second-tier spell.”
“Second-tier spell…”
The students murmured.
“But I can’t even do basic magic. How can I cast a second-tier spell?”
“Don’t worry. You’ll use a specialized extraction wand, not the standard magic wand. It’s perfectly inscribed with the activation phrase for this purpose.”
A standard wand can cast any spell, while a specialized wand only responds to the spell it is inscribed for. Expensive and limited in use.
“Now, look. This is the workstation.”
It was a large worktable, with a big stone slab in the center for raw materials. Around it was space for workers. Slots for bottles of extracted ingredients and ten extraction-only wands chained to prevent theft, like a display of phones in a store.
“The core of today’s lesson… You will extract active ingredients from the raw materials I provide. Hopefully, you can extract at least thirty bottles this month.”
“What kind of ingredient?”
“Painkillers. They’re in high demand.”
At that moment, Idnia froze.
‘Painkillers? Could it be? That? Psychoactive drugs against public morals?!’
Even if it’s an academy, can a school really teach that?
Based on what she’s seen, is this a proper, well-conducted school? Absolutely not.
‘They’d extract drugs during class!’
As Idnia panicked, the dryad waved her wand and brought countless herb bottles and raw materials.
‘Please, let it not be drugs…’
Idnia prayed desperately.