The next day at the academy was as usual. After Professor Ziu's class, Adrianna had to attend potions class. However, for that, they had to go to the academy's backyard where roots of the bulboa plant were to be distributed by the gardener. Unfortunately, the gardener wasn't anywhere to be seen. He had dug out a few which had all been l taken by the students who had come early. Adrianna didn't even know what the bulboa plant looked like.
Adrianna looked around the entire area. There were an uncountable amount of plants being grown in the garden. The grass was trimmed short between the rectangular and circular beds, and there were various herbs growing. The air was scented by the blossoms. The leaves of the plants - some tiny, some large - were gently swaying in the breeze. There were plants with dark red leaves and black stripes that were growing on woody stems. As Adrianna walked through the garden, she read the names of the plants that were displayed. A small cl.u.s.ter of plants was sprawled across a rectangular bed which was emitting pungent smell. She bent down to take a closer look and read the plant's name when she heard a whisper, "Don't pluck me or I will eat you up!" Adrianna was shocked to hear the plant speak and she steered clear of that flowerbed. As she walked further, she noticed that there were many cyan-colored plants with broad leaves that had been planted in clay pots. She bent down to look at the name and realized that it was the bulboa plant. Thankfully she didn't have to scan the entire garden. It seemed that the gardener had placed the pots right at the entrance of the garden for the students.
Adrianna searched for a spade to dig out the plant. As soon as she brought the spade near the plant, it curled its leaves in a way that it closed them tightly inwards. She started digging up the roots, but no matter how much she dug, the soil would become flat again, not letting the roots become exposed. Out of frustration, Adrianna pulled out the plant. She was surprised to see the cyan leaves open themselves and flatten as though they had become flaccid. She looked at the roots. They were of the same color as the leaves.
Adrianna washed the roots, chopped them off the plant, and left for class. When she arrived, she was surprised to notice that the class contained almost fifty percent of the entire senior year. Professor Lane looked at all of them and was happy that there were so many students.
"Today, we will be making a potion that can make you lose your memories for a certain amount of time. Remember this is a potent potion. If you don't add the ingredients properly, you either won't be able to make it, or you may cause an irreversible effect on memory of the person. Brewing is the most important part of making any potion," said the professor as he took a root from one of the students and crushed it with a hammer. Cyan juice flowed out of it, which he collected in a small bottle. Then, he started a fire in front of him which he used to heat up a small glass flask, in which he poured the juice. As the juice heated up, he went to get more ingredients. He laid them all out on his table and added them in, one by one. As he added them, he called out their names. "This is fermented spider eye, flower of Hibia, raven's feather, and lastly, oil extracted from olive seeds."
As the mixture boiled, a dark blue smoke started rising from it, soon filling up the glass flask. A few seconds later, the glass slightly cracked and Professor Lane immediately removed the flask from the burner. He filtered the blue liquid into a small glass bottle and showed it to the class. "Remember to remove the flask as soon as it cracks."
The students repeated what the professor had demonstrated. Within a few minutes, one could hear sounds like "boom", "clank", "phat". Glass flasks were shattered and blue liquid was strewn across the tables, floors, faces, and robes of the students. None of the students could successfully make the potion. The only person who could successfully brew the potion was Nefasky.
She looked smugly at the others and then went to show her bottle to Professor Lane. He approved of it and placed the bottle onto his table. "Don't take the bottle. This is now the property of the academy," he warned her.
Adrianna took four attempts to succeed, but it was fun. When she handed in her bottle to Professor Lane, he asked her to put it on the table. Within the next few minutes the class ended and all the students had to submit their work. They came and submitted their work before returning to their tables.
Nefasky was sitting in her chair when she saw Adrianna submitting her potion. Noticing Adrianna was covered in cyan spots all over, Nefasky walked up to Adrianna and magically cleaned up Adrianna's appearance.. Adrianna noticed what Nefasky had done and snapped her fingers. Every student in the class became spic and span.
Professor Lane smiled and said, "Submit your reports about this potion tomorrow."
As Nefasky left, she glanced at the potion bottles on the table.