I put aside the core for future study and set about cleaning the mess of the now-dead monster. Rather than waste it, once the blood and guts were cleaned up, I brought the carcass to the cafeteria downstairs so they could make something from it. Surprisingly, or maybe not, I was paid five small silver for the meat. Not nearly what I'd paid for the monster live, but it was better than nothing.

Speaking of money, I'd already spent nearly half of what Dad had given me at the start of the year. it was supposed to last me at least 5 years! Still, I needed the equipment for the expedition to the dungeon in about half a year and with how well monsters went for, I hoped I could regain at least some of it from the dungeon. There was a lot I still didn't know and most of what I thought was simply assumptions. Whether I liked it or not, I would need to find a job in the next year or two in order to have enough money for everything.

I resolved to spend some time on the weekends looking for work. A job in the market was probably my best bet to keep studying, but if that wasn't available, I could sacrifice three afternoons a week if I needed to.

I visited my family the next day. Mary was nearly two now and talking to anyone who would listen--and even those who wouldn't. She didn't have much to say, but boy did she say it a lot and loudly so you couldn't forget!

"James," Mom asked, "how is school going?"

"It's good."

She gave me a look as if to say 'are you kidding me with that answer?'

"I've made a few friends and I've been training nearly every day since I left."

"Tell me about your friends?"

"Well, there's my roommate, Dave. He's a good guy but has a knack for trouble. We were supposed to have a third roommate but that room is empty. Then there are the two girls across the hall, Keira and Alicia. We met on the wagon trip and ended up being assigned to our rooms like that. Kind of crazy, if you ask me."

"Sounds great! What classes are you taking?"

"Well, I started out with the basics like magic and Swordfighting last trimester, but this one I've got Spellcasting, chemistry, and Spearfighting. I mean, there are other classes, but they're things like reading and stuff."

"Don't neglect your reading and writing! You don't know just how useful they are out in the world. You're lucky to have been born in this kingdom. Many of the countries nearby don't have as much education as we do."

"I'm not knocking it, Mam. Don't worry."

"Then could it hurt for you to write us occasionally? I mean, it's been over four months and I haven't heard anything from you! Anna and Max send letters every few weeks but you've sent nothing!"

"At least I came to visit, right? Those two are only a couple of miles away, and I never heard from either of them nor saw them when I was home and they were gone!"

"Don't be smart with me, boy. Send us a letter at least every month so we know you're ok."

"Ok, Mom. I promise."

"How are you doing for money?"

"Dad gave me two small gold when I left. I have one left and some change."

"You spent so much already?!"

"I need gear for the year's final exam. We're going to a dungeon and I needed to buy armor and a weapon."

"You'll be safe, right? Teachers will go with you?"

"Of course I'll be safe. I'm very good with the sword thanks to Dad, and I'm progressing with magic every day. Soon I'll be able to stand back from the fighting more often than being in the front, but it's still good to know how to fight in close combat just in case, right?"

"You're right... as much as I dislike all of the fighting. I just want you kids to be safe. If only the world was like it used to be without monsters..."

"Mom, before magic, the monsters were just human, or so I've learned from history class."

I lied about learning it there, but it was the truth.

"I suppose you're right," she said looking sad.

"Where's dad? Isn't he usually home on Sundays?"

"He was needed for training every weekend this month. He should be at the barracks and training area you used to go to."

"Thanks. I don't think I have time to go there today. I'll write to you both, though."

"Good luck."

"Thanks, Mom. Bye-bye, Mary!"

"Bye-bye 'Amy!"

I mussed her hair and walked the few miles back to the school.

In Practical Chemistry the next day, the topic of monster cores finally came up. It was rather disappointing, though. We as humans, as far as our teacher was aware, anyway, didn't know what the origin of monsters was nor their cores other than it had something to do with magic. The monster cores had aspects that related to the monsters themselves. If you had an affinity to one or more of the same ones as the monster core had, you could feel the aura like I had when I first looked into the monster cores.

It seemed to me that my Manasight was unique as it gave me insight into the actual composition of the monster cores. They were condensed elemental mana with something else that either bound it to that shape or had some other function I was unaware of.

I was more interested in how to make use of the cores than the theory of what they were and how they were made. By using them, I'd be able to understand a lot more from being able to see the mana than even our teacher knew. Thankfully, lab this week was going to cover how health potions were made.

In the lab, we broke up into groups of three or four people. I was by far the youngest student there--the others being thirteen or fourteen--so I ended up with the class rejects. Silly, in my mind, but expected when there were established friendships and I was the outsider... or, as one of the female members of my group put it, I was too 'cute'.

The monster core we were given was really just a piece of a much larger one. I could see green and white mana along with the same something that the biter's core had.

"Can anyone tell me what type of core this is?" the teacher asked.

When no one answered, he continued.

"These cores come from treants. They are a pain to kill, but they have very useful aspects to their cores. You can make antidotes, anti-curse potions, and health potions from them. How you go about it will give a different result! In this experiment, we want to create a health potion. Please follow the instructions on the board. I will test your potions in three hours' time."

Step 1: Grind the core into a fine powder

One of the guys in my group broke the piece of the core we had into smaller pieces so that each of us could grind it up with a mortar and pestle. When we finished, we dumped the ground core into a central container. I observed that, although it had been ground, the fine grains all had the same mana structure as the larger piece had originally.

Step 2: Add 400 mL of water and bring to a simmer until no powder remains and the water is clear

The girl that had called me 'cute' measured the water and added it to the container. I placed the container onto the heating element and lit the flame. It took nearly ten minutes to bring the water to a simmer. I observed the process. For most of the ten minutes, there was no change. Then, slowly, when the water reached near boiling, the powdered core started to melt and merge with the water. The something I'd seen in the core was evaporating into the air. That meant it was the binder holding the mana into the core.

Step 3: Stir and drop in acid until the color of the mixture changes to red

Slowly, drop by drop, we added acid of some sort to the simmering mixture of mana and water. The color changed first to milk and then to the red we were looking for. We stopped adding acid at that point. Through Manasight I could tell that the acid was removing some of the mana. Both the Green and White mana were removed, but the acid seemed to favor removing the White mana. To me, this process was inefficient, yet, at the same time, it was brilliant because this was discovered at a time when people could only see what aspects a core had and not the inner structure.

Step 4: Slowly cool the potion and add a pinch of salt.

This step had no visible changes to the mana of the potion, but its form did change. There was no impact of the salt, but cooling the mana infused water caused the mana to solidify into strands of what was very similar to the basic healing spell.

"We did it!" The one who had called me cute exclaimed.

"Great job!" another agreed.

I smiled. We poured the cooled potion into five vials and plugged them with a stopper. We brought up one of the vials to the teacher and gave it to him. He opened the stopper and gave it a sniff. Confirming that it smelled ok, he sipped the mixture.

"Good work. Please write down your observations before class on Monday."

"What was the purpose of the salt?" I asked the teacher before leaving.

"Taste," he replied.

I took my vial of red potion and left the lab for Spearfighting class.