Chapter 141: Could Have Been

Zach pulled the bigger part of another all-nighter, only taking a nap when dawn approached to perk up before classes started. It wasn't because he was overly busy. He just wanted to continue making more and better worms with Material Extraction.It wasn't just because Alzara wanted and needed more worms and he had trouble saying no to beauties. It wasn't. He also enjoyed fiddling with his skill and feeling himself improve. He could tell that the worm he made was better than the one he made ten attempts ago. And the one he would make in another ten attempts was better than the latest one.

It wasn't the first time Zach felt it, but improving, growing stronger, or just generally becoming better compared to his past self and, most importantly, feeling the change was addictive.

Alzara also confirmed that his worms were becoming increasingly better in all areas. They were easier to work with. They were more delicately extracted, meaning the medicinal effects and potency were more preserved from the original raw source. They were more forgiving should Alzara make a mistake.

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She didn't make any mistakes, but it also helped when experimenting since she could take a couple of shortcuts.

But even without knowing how, Zach also improved the purity of the worms, which had the greatest effect on the resulting potions, making them even more powerful and filled to the brim with untainted medicinal or magical effects.

He was still a long way off from perfect purity. But that was something even Alzara couldn't achieve, regardless of what methods she used. There would always slip in at least some impurities when crafting.

There was just no way to refine medicinal properties and remove all impurities without destroying the materials in the process.

But the progress Zach made gave Alzara hope. He wasn't refining the plants or using mundane methods to separate the materials and elements he wanted from the things he didn't want.

He used a supernatural skill bestowed on him by the same thing that brought Yanael and Alzara to his side. It was a skill that symbolized the union and contract of man and familiar.

As far as Alzara could tell, Zach's contract skills didn't care much for the laws of physics, even when taking magic into account. She hadn't seen any of the other summoners' skills, but even if their familiars were lower ranked, it should follow the same principle of superior supernaturality.

It was interesting.

If the situation had been vastly different and she hadn't been a familiar, she would have liked to catch and experiment on and with a summoner or two. They were nothing like most mages or warriors. They weren't even anything like special ability users or unorthodox mages.

Summoners were in a class of their own.

However, there was no use thinking about what-ifs or what could have been. In the present, there was no way Alzara would experiment on summoners in a way that went against her nature as a familiar.

The most she could do was ask Zach questions, depending on how their relationship developed. In the end, she was still a maid. Demanding answers from her master wasn't right.

She could also tag along in Zach's quest for answers. As long as she stuck around, she didn't have much of a choice. But there was a difference between being dragged and tagging along willingly when Zach searched for the very same answers that had piqued Alzara's interest when she tried to understand how his skills worked.

She knew on something similar to an instinctual level a couple of things that Zach didn't and which she wasn't allowed to tell him yet. But there were as many mysteries surrounding summoning as there were stars in the sky. S~eaʀᴄh the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Even while thinking about such things, Alzara churned out experimental potions and failed potions like a factory. As soon as she got her groove in, the motions flowed.

The only thing that slowed her down was recalling the different ratios and ingredients of all the potions she had already made to see if she should try something completely new or try and develop a stable recipe for a basic potion that would still be helpful to Zach.

However, she wasn't quite sure what would help Zach. She was also sure she would not be able to make anything consistently useful just yet, so she continued expanding her record of ingredients and their potential uses while experimenting.

Alzara also didn't forget to keep track of the underworld energy in the worms Zach extracted and the materials he and Nessa had brought. Since one of the things that were a little higher on her priority list was making something to help Rierdan, she couldn't forget about that.

But that was secondary.

She glanced at Zach.

Zach was already perfect as he was. He didn't need any modifications or additives.

But maybe he needed something to help him plug that leak. It wasn't much trouble yet, but if Zach continued growing…

Zach felt Alzara look at him and woke up right on time for class. Well, it would have been right on time if he could find the right classroom in this damned, ever-changing maze of an Academy.

Instead, he ended up as late as usual to a class that wasn't all that important. What was important, however, was the meeting Nessa organized after class. But Zach didn't need to attend that since he already knew what it was about. Dukiel and Julius also left.

Anerias and Violina, however, had missed what they talked about last night, so they had to sit in.

Dukiel and Julius went to find that Student Council member they mentioned. And Liam was busy. Zach didn't know with what, but he didn't show up in the club room. But he might have heard about the disappearances anyway.

Zach was the only one in the Underworld Research and Extermination Club with some free time. He was leisurely about to enjoy it when Dukiel, Julius, and a tall, dark-haired senior stopped by.