Chapter 8 - Lessons (2/2)

"Now that you see that it can be done, you all will be required to produce five such potions by the end of the week, but for now we are moving on." Kal said, pausing while he gathered his thoughts.

The students remained quiet, excited about being able to actually practice alchemy. The previous professor, Professor Arckroft, would never allow them to touch the equipment, let alone use it. He would always tell them 'A successful alchemist always understands the underlying theory behind a potion before attempting to produce one', then would drill the basics into them, over and over again. It seemed like the new professor was much more hands one, and they greatly appreciated that. Except for one student, Clerance.

He had all but ignored what was going on around him after being insulted and embarrassed by the new professor. His current thoughts were deciding on how he would have his father teach him a lesson, he didn't care if he had him fired, or beat to a bloody pulp. He just wanted the man to pay for slighting him.

Oblivious to the machinations of the fat young man, Kal continued. "As all of you should know, everyone has a specific element that they are attuned with. Now, knowing which one, be it fire, air, water, or the others, may not be important now, but later on will be almost required knowledge." He paused again, letting his words sink in.

Laura raised her hand, waiting to be called upon. Kal nodded towards her, allowing her to speak.

"Are you talking about the ceremony of the elements?"

"I've no idea what that is." He stated plainly, waving his hand.

"It's the ceremony performed when we turn eighteen, telling us which element we are most proficient in." She explained, not understanding why the professor wouldn't know something all mages go through.

"Why would you need to wait until you turn eighteen?" He posed the question to her, genuinely curious.

"The other professors say that our bodies need time to accumulate enough mana in order for the element stone to get an accurate reading."

He waited until she was finished explaining, slowly shaking his head. "That's absolute nonsense, there's no reason to wait at all. You can find out what your element is when you're an infant, let alone an adult. What have they been teaching you?"

He looked at the reactions of the students before him, some were wide eyed, like they had been for most of the class, others were skeptical, believing what they've been told by others.

"Affinities with an element have little to do with mana and more to do with the makeup of your body. Mana is just the energy that surrounds us everyday, some corners of the world have higher concentrations than others, but it is always around us. Your body is what uses that energy, converting it to magic. Those with a higher affinity with a certain element simply have an easier time converting mana to that specific element, it's that simple." He explained all this with a single breath.

Professor Kal turned back towards the table, replacing the dirty equipment with clean ones. He brought out several more ingredients, placing them neatly on the table. After double checking that everything was in order, Kal turned back to the students who were waiting with bated breaths.

"To prove this to you, since some of you seem to doubt me." He said as he leered back at some of the more skeptical students.

"I'll show you how to make a potion of the elements, or, elemental potion."

As he finished his sentence, he started to work his magic. His motions were fluid, like he was conducting a grand symphony. Hands that had centuries of practice skillfully combined ingredients one after the other. With a snap of his fingers a flame was born underneath a purple liquid, bringing it to a boil. A strong, acrid scent soon filled the classroom, turning the stomachs of many of the children.

Although they were fighting to keep their breakfast from leaving their stomachs, they all watched, enraptured in the spectacle they were witnessing. Kal tried his best to slow down the process so that his students would be able to keep up with his motions, but could only slow down so much, the timing of this potion was critical.

As they became accustomed to the vile smell of the purple acid, Kal soon brought out an even worse smelling ingredient. He cracked open a large green egg, with red spots, mixing its yolk with the boiling purple liquid. The smell from the two combined was a brand new smell that they wished to never experience again in their lives. Many had to clamp their hands over their mouths, swallowing mouthfuls of vomit. Luckily, the smell didn't last long as Kal took the now orange colored liquid off the flame, cooling it quickly.

The large container of orange fluid sat in the middle of the table, streams of vapor disappeared into the atmosphere as it cooled. All of the materials had coalesced into this large container of orange liquid, only one final step was necessary. Kal produced a large red feather, the temperature in the room rising instantly. The students could feel the heat coming off of the feather even though they were several feet away. They were amazed to see that Kal seemed to be completely unaffected by the searing heat of the feather.

Kal unceremoniously dropped the super heated feather into the orange liquid. As soon as it touched the surface, a violent reaction occurred. The liquid was immediately sent into a rolling boil, foam filling most of the container. Sparks could be seen flying out, landing on the table. Looking closely, they could see little arcs of lighting jumping between the bubbles rising up from the glass. After a minute, the reaction slowly abated, leaving a glossy black, viscous liquid. It looked just like tar, but had the viscosity of maple syrup.

Everyone had thought that Professor Kal had failed with what he was trying to make. The fact that it was black was all the reason they needed to think that. They waited for him to say anything, anything at all.

"Perfect! Who wants to go first?" Professor Kal said, clapping his hands together.

Unsurprisingly, no one jumped up to be the first one to try the mysterious substance. Professor Kal looked around, the students avoiding his gaze whenever his eyes landed on them. He brought out a small disposable cup, poured just a bit of the black liquid into it, then picked his victim. He decided to start with the student that was seated all the way to the right in the front row.

He placed the small cup on her desk, didn't say a word, just looked at her and crossed his arms. She looked at the cup, then quickly shook her head back and forth.

"Do you want to pass the class?" Kal asked, a very serious look on his face.

His remark caused the poor girl's face to lose its color. With trembling hands, she grasped the cup and brought it up to her nose. After a few probing sniffs, she took a deep breath, then poured the contents into her mouth. She swallowed hard, forcing the black liquid down. Everyone's eyes were on her, waiting for her commentary on the potion. After thirty seconds or so, they got their answer.

"It's sweet, too sweet." The girl said, sticking her tongue out.

After a few more ticks of the clock, a faint brown glow started to radiat off of the girls skin. She held her dainty hands out in front of her, inspecting every inch. Expecting these results, Kal nodded his head and began to fill more cups with the potion, passing them out to each student.

"As you can see, this girl here has an affinity with the earth element." He said, gesturing to the small girl still checking herself out with wide eyes.

"You may be asking yourself 'What does my affinity have to do with Alchemy?' Well, let me tell you, everything! Just like with magic, an affinity can help boost the effects of potions as well. All you have to do is add a few drops of your blood to achieve the desired effects. What? Don't stare at me like that." Kal stopped handing the cups out as some of the students eyed him with suspicion when he mentioned adding their own blood.

"Just like with using a monster's body part in potions, the same can be done with your blood. Your blood is nothing more than another ingredient at your disposal." He finished handing out the last cup and walked back to the front of the class.

"Now drink up, be sure to remember your element, it will help with your potion making."

He waited for everyone to finish drinking out of their respective cups. Soon, several different colored lights could be seen coming off of the student's bodies. Many were brown, indicating the earth element. After brown, there were several blues and reds as well. These were water and fire, respectfully. A handful of yellows could be seen mixed in, air was a relatively rare element, only one in a hundred would have it. Lastly, there was a bright white coming from Laura that was sitting in the front row. She was rolling up her sleeves, getting a good look at the bright light escaping her fair skin.

"Look at your classmate here." Professor Kal exclaimed, pointing over at Laura.

"She has an extremely rare affinity with the aspect of the spirit, leaning towards life. This means that any blood that she added to a recovery potion would at least double its potency. Any potion that has to do with recovery, healing, curing poison, anything that would help the body would be amplified with her blood. The same is true with the other elements, with fire affinity, one would be able to make more powerful fire bomb potions, or increase the yield of berserk potions. Earth element is good for defensive potions, water goes well with ice, air with speed. Of course there are a multitude of uses, you can mix and match, experiment with different potions and recipes, the possibilities are endless."

Everyone gawked at Laura when Professor Kal finished his small speech, many gazes were filled with respect, some with envy. They all knew just how rare a life affinity was, maybe every ten years there would be a lucky mage born with it. Whoever wasn't her friend already were thinking of ways that they could get closer with her. They were all focused on the now dim light coming off of Laura, no one noticed the boy sitting in the back that had no light, only darkness seeping off of his skin.

.....

After another forty-five minutes of lecture, the class was finally coming to an end. Kal filled them in on all the potions that were possible to make, as long as you had the proper ingredient. He also told them about substitutions that could be made if you didn't have the required ingredients on hand. Many of the potions and topics he covered couldn't be found in the textbook, surprising many of them. It was like the man before them was a walking encyclopedia himself.

"Alright, it seems we are out of time for today. I know we are to have class every day, but you are all excused until next week. This doesn't mean you're free from any work, I'll require you all to successfully brew five potions from the list provided. You all have access to the lab and the ingredients that you'd need. Those who fail to complete this uncomplicated task will automatically fail, and will not be able to reapply. These are all beginner potions, so I expect you all to finish on time, class dismissed." As if punctuating his words, the large clock started to chime out, marking ten o'clock.

The students all stood, almost simultaneously, gathered their things and started to leave. Although they had a week to complete their 'homework' none of them felt at ease. Alchemy was still very new to them, they didn't have a large amount of confidence in themselves. Laura though, had a bright smile on her face, she couldn't wait to return to her room and write to her father about the affinity she discovered she had.

Clerance had mixed feelings, he found out he had an affinity with fire, which made him quite happy, but was still upset about being humiliated in front of his classmates. He was torn between just letting the issue go, or telling his father to make Professor Kal's life difficult for the foreseeable future. He figured he'd think on it for the day, tonight, he would talk to his father about it.

Ryan was staring off into space, not paying any attention to Ben who was talking to him as they gathered their books. He'd never been so excited, watching all his classmates learn what their affinities were. He swallowed the black, saccharine liquid with no hesitation, anxious to find out. He had just watched as Laura discovered her rare talent, and hoped against all hope that he would be as special as her. What he saw though, disappointed him greatly.

After a full minute of waiting, nothing had happened. Ben, his friend next to him, had a healthy yellow aura radiating off of him. Indicating that his affinity was with the element of air. He looked back at himself, squinting his eyes and taking a closer look at his skin. He opened his eyes wide when he noticed a near imperceptible darkness coming off of him.

It was the opposite of Laura's blinding radiance, the light around him was being absorbed by his aura, not allowing any to escape. If her light brought to mind life and joy, his would be death and despair. Luckily for him, everyone else was too enamoured with themselves to notice his peculiar element. Ryan quickly hid his hands under his desk, hoping for the potion to wear off as fast as possible.

He was silently following behind his taller friend, still excitedly talking about the class, when Professor Kal called out to him.

"You, yes, the short one. Stay behind a moment would you?"

Ryan looked up at the Professor, suddenly feeling afraid. Had he seen the darkness coming off of him? He'd never heard of a dark element. Did that mean he wasn't gifted like his family had told him? Was he just a normal person with no gift in magic? Would he have to go back home, disappointing his father?

"Alone, please." Professor Kal said, looking over at Ben who had stopped along with Ryan.

"Shut the door on your way out." He called after Ben as he exited the room, shutting the door behind him.

Professor Kal waited until he heard the click of the mechanism before he spoke to Ryan.

"What was your affinity?" Professor Kal asked, already knowing the answer.

Ryan avoided eye contact with the Professor, looking at his black shoes. Sweat started to bead on his forehead and under his arms, his mouth was unnaturally dry. He wanted to answer, but couldn't find the words, they seemed to be stuck in his throat. Finally, after building up his courage, he answered the Professor.

"I don't have one sir, my light was black." He paused.

"Will I have to leave the Academy? I don't want to disappoint my family!" He nearly shouted out, his voice cracking, on the verge of tears.

Professor Kal couldn't help but let out a deep laugh hearing what the youth had said. "They really don't teach you anything nowadays do they? Of course you won't have to leave, in fact, this shows how great your talent really is. Your affinity is just the same as the other one with the pure, white light, but the opposite side. If her spirit magic leaned towards life, yours leans towards death. She would make a fantastic healer, you, you would make a terrifying necromancer.." He said, leveling his eyes with the young boy's.