I ate lunch at the dorm mansion and gave one of my large pieces of snake meat to the cook to prepare for my supper. It didn't have to be cooked again; but, she was a great cook and I knew she would do something good with it.

After warning her that only I could eat the magic infused meat unless someone had a bit of magic in them, I informed Hope what I wanted her to look into. She agreed to get started on it right away and I left the mansion and went back to the classroom with Mage Marks. I was early, as I almost always was for the afternoon class, and she waved me over to her desk as soon as she saw me.

“David, the responses to your potions were... energetic.” Greta said. “It has the guild in a bit of flurry.”

“Is it because of the strength or what they do?” I asked.

“Yes.” Greta said with a chuckle, then she sighed. “I have also removed myself from the guild.”

I reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. “I'm sorry that they didn't try to fight to keep you.”

Greta gave me an odd look for a second and then she took several shuddering breaths as if to stop herself from crying. “David, how did you...” She shook her head. “Never mind. You've always been good at guessing what's wrong.” She put a hand on mine. “I shouldn't have expected them to react at all, let alone think that they would beg for me to stay.”

“You've told me a few things about what it was like there and how relieved you were to be here at the academy. It wasn't hard to guess that they were glad to be rid of you, considering how much you pointed out your supervisor's flaws. He was supposed to take this job, after all.”

Greta laughed softly. “Yes, the incompetent fool would have made a mess of this place within a week.”

“What has he been doing with you out of the way?” I asked.

“Relying on others to do his work, of course.” Greta said and then she gave me a genuine smile. “Although, I made sure that my exit gained a lot of attention and now everyone knows he was why I left.”

“Maybe they'll start to smarten up.” I said and she looked surprised, then she laughed.

“You're really developing an odd sense of humor.” Greta said and took several papers out from her desk. “This is the information they've confirmed about your potions, including the sale values.”

I looked at the pages and my eyes widened slightly. “Are they crazy?”

Greta laughed. “I have no doubt that some of them are, considering the way the guild is run; but, that was arrived at by a committee and I submitted the potions under anonymity with my name as the go-between contact.”

“So, they don't know it was me.” I said and she shook her head. “Is this accurate?”

“It is, as well as unbiased. If they did know it was you, those results would be very skewed to ensure you were ripped off.” Greta pointed to the bottom of the top paper. “As it is, they are very interested in both the recipes and placing large and exclusive orders.”

“Exclusive.” I said and she nodded. “They want to be the sole distributor.”

“More than anything.” Greta said with a chuckle. “The guild has always had a lock on the potions market. Independents almost never get a chance to break into the business before they are quickly bought out or made to sell out.”

That made me smile. “They can't do that with mine.”

“No, because both your infusion ability and your secret catalyst are essential components. The only way they could reproduce the potion is by having you do it for them.” Greta said and handed over the paper with her version of the plant killing potion on it that used my changed ingredients and techniques. “Here's what they think of my version of the same recipe.”

I took the paper and read the review. “They really are crazy to isolate you like this.”

“Yes, and they rejected my proposal to change the official recipe in the books.” Greta said with a sigh. “I thought they would see the value in not wasting their time with a slightly inferior potion and quickly institute the new recipe. I was both short-sighted and wrong with that assumption.”

“No, they are.” I said and handed the paper back. “They've been marginalizing you for quite some time and don't realize that by pissing off one of their best potion makers, they've essentially ruined whatever chances they had for acquiring your future potions.” I gave her a smile. “And mine.”

“Wh-what?” Greta asked. “What do you mean?”

“I remember someone urging me to sell potions on my own and even arranging for me to have deliveries right to my dorm mansion.” I said. “Wouldn't it be a shame if we didn't take full advantage of that?”

“What... what do you mean?” Greta asked as the classroom door opened and her niece came in.

“We can talk again during the first class break.” I whispered and turned to Jinelle. “Good afternoon.” I said and slightly bowed to her.

Jinelle's face flushed slightly red and she nodded in acknowledgement. “Good afternoon.” She didn't look flustered or embarrassed, which was good. I would hate to have to say that seeing her naked didn't give me any pleasure at the time. I was sure that would re-institute her threat to have me killed for seeing her without her clothes on.

I went to my workbench and she went to hers, just as Lorna, Nick, and the last guy came into the classroom. We all set up for writing, because Mage Marks usually gave us a lot of notes when introducing a new potion.

“I know two of you are going to be very excited to have this particular potion in your skill set.” Mage Marks said and gave pointed looks to her niece and Lorna.

Both girls looked quite eager to hear what it was.

“It's a topical cream that dissolves blemishes on the skin and gives it a nice even tone as it heals the damage.”

“Ooooo!” Jinelle and Lorna made appreciative sounds.

Is this a specific healing potion? I asked myself and thought about it. If it does damage to certain things and then heals it, that could be useful for any damaged skin removal.

“You're not going to find this in any book, since it was a discovery that someone wouldn't sell to the bookmakers.”

“Granny!” Jinelle laughed and then covered her mouth as if she had spilled a huge secret. “I'm sorry, Mage Marks! It was a slip of the tongue and...”

Mage Marks raised a hand to stop her apology as she chuckled. “It's all right. I was going to tell them it was my mother's invention anyway.”

Jinelle sighed in relief.

“Just because she wouldn't sell the recipe for publication, that doesn't mean she is hoarding it all for herself.” Mage Marks said. “The family is allowed to share it with worthy individuals, as long as they agree to not make it for sale or to produce it in such numbers that it cuts into the family business.”

Of course, I immediately raised my hand and she laughed.

“We'll talk during the break about it.” Mage Marks said, as if she knew I was going to ask about making a much better version. “For now...” She turned to the chalkboard and started writing.

The five of us copied down what she wrote, including the warnings about the ingredients, since they had to have corrosive elements in them to work. The safety procedures to ensure no one was hurt making it took nearly twenty minutes, then she moved on to the actual recipe.

I had never made a cream potion before, assuming I couldn't count grub pate as an actual potion. My mouth watered slightly and I swallowed to stop it from escaping. It had been some time since I had some good home cooking and I was really starting to miss it.

Mage Marks finished discussing the potion and the bell rang to end the first afternoon class.

“Okay, five minutes until you need to start.” Mage Marks said and then nodded to me. I stepped around my workbench and walked over to her desk. Just as I reached it, her classroom door opened and a man wearing mage robes stood there.

“David Drake.” The man said and his eyes roamed over the five students, then ended on me beside the teacher's desk. “This way, please.”

“Roland? What's this about?” Mage Marks asked.

“It involves the Head Proctor and the Director of the Academy.” Roland said. “Mr. Drake? They are waiting.”

“You better go, David.” Mage Marks said as she stepped close to me to whisper. “Tell me later?”

“It depends on how this goes.” I whispered back and followed the man.

Now that I had a chance to look at his robes closely, he had a smaller and separate emblem on his shoulder. It was the proctor badge and if what my senses were telling me was right, which surely it was, this man served in the military.

We left the student classroom building and went to the main administration building. We passed by the desks of people there and one of the women stared at me intensely. I noted her appearance and remembered her from when I had invited Mage Marks over to supper and we had passed by the small group of men and women outside the administration building.

Maybe seeing Mage Marks all dressed up for me was too much for her to take? I asked myself as I was led down a hallway and to another secretary.

The woman gave me a very thorough looking over as we stood there and she nodded slightly. I hadn't felt any magic, and yet, I knew she had somehow assessed my capabilities. Either that, or she could easily guess by my body movements. That meant she was a capable combat fighter in her own right and I wanted to see how I would fare against her. That thought was an odd thought for me to have and it made me wonder who she was.

I also had the impression that she wanted me to test her, so I darted my hand out to her in a blur. She didn't even flinch as my hand appeared in front of her face. She smiled at me and daintily put her hand in mine to let me kiss it. I gave her a smile back and did just that. I didn't do the share magic trick as my lips met the back of her hand. For some reason, I had the feeling that it wouldn't get the same result as it did from other women.

Her smile became a bit wider when I had skipped her fingers to touch my full set of lips to her skin, which meant she knew that I was giving her more respect than a noble would normally get from me.

“You can both go in now.” She said and motioned to the door behind her. “I won't even ask you to hand over your sacred knife.”

“Thank you.” I said as I let her hand go.

Her eyes went to mine and we locked gazes. “I hope you know that certain nobles can have a proxy stand in their place.”

“I assume family heads and child bearing women?” I asked and she nodded. “Are you his choice?”

Her smile grew even wider. “How did you guess?”

I bent down and leaned in to whisper. “You're much more powerful than him.”

She raised her eyebrows at me. “But, he can cast...”

“We can both kill him before he finishes his first chant.” I breathed and then stood up straight. “It was nice meeting you, even if I have to kill you in three years.”

The woman laughed. “It doesn't have to be a duel to the death, despite their rules. I just have to make you submit in defeat.”

It was my turn to raise my eyebrows. “All right. I'll remember that.”

Roland opened the door behind her and we stepped into the large office. It wasn't as opulent as I thought it was going to be, however. It was a bit ostentatious and gaudy instead, which was worse, to be honest.

“Have a seat.” The director of the academy said and pointed to the chair across from his desk.

I used Sense Magic and the chair glowed. “I'll stand.”

The man looked angry for a second, then he smiled. “I am the director of this academy and I ask you to sit and relax. Don't be shy. I've already forgotten the little altercation we had that first day.”

Roland next to me winced a little, not that I needed the visual clue. My vigilance technique easily told me that the director was lying. Even if I didn't have that, his tells were too pronounced to be missed, even by someone not trained to detect lies.

I cast Dispel on the chair and a slight glow appeared on the chair. The director's face showed shock as I took out my knife and walked over to the chair. I ducked and reached underneath the chair to slice my knife across the wildwood enchantment to snap it. Unfortunately, the enchantment was too strong for the wooden chair and when it broke, the chair did as well.

“Whatever that was, you need to use a metal chair to hold the enchantment properly.” I said and used some number ten potion to stick several of the wood pieces together. I slyly tucked the enchantment pieces into my coat as I made a chair with no back and sat down. “What do you want?”

My words angered him. “You will address me as Director or Mage Renolds.”

“You haven't earned my respect enough for me to call you by your titles.” I said and Roland made some kind of noise.

“If I had my way, I would have kicked you out before you even stepped foot into these hallowed halls.”

“It's a good thing that other people are in control and aren't as shortsighted as you.” I responded.

“You dare...”

“We already have a date for our duel and I can't agree to another one.” I said. “Although, I would like to know if I'm allowed to issue another duel when I defeat your proxy.”

The man's face changed from anger to a smile. “You don't stand a chance of winning.”

“I've got three years to train and get stronger, since I'm still young. What is your proxy going to do?” I asked and heard something like a growl come from the outer office. I turned towards the door and spoke. “I'm sorry that you misunderstood what I said. I wasn't implying that you're old. I meant that you are stuck at your current strength and can't get any better.”

The growl only got louder at my explanation. I wasn't sure what to say now, since the truth wasn't making things better. I shrugged and turned back to the director and waited for him to speak.