“Miss?”

It has been over two hours since I entered this laboratory. I spent most of the time browsing through the books but also glanced at the dark elf occasionally. I came here to learn about potion-making, not to learn about the raw materials available in the tower. It was far more interesting to watch the dark elf prepare the ingredients and brew potions.

“What is it?” The dark elf frowned lightly, unhappy that her thoughts have been disturbed. I purposedly waited for her to finish bottling the thick blue liquid from the cauldron before speaking but I ended up irritating her anyway.

“I had a look at the books you gave me. Will it be possible for me to take a closer look at the brewing process now?” From my seat, I could watch the dark elf’s actions but failed to understand the meaning behind them. I knew she controlled the flames and the runes on the cauldron to extract the residual mana from the raw materials but I could only speculate about the method she used.

“Oh?” The dark elf looked at me disinterestedly and carefully arranged the potion bottles in a clean box. “We can move on to the next step if you are ready. Look at the ingredients on this table. Name at least four of them.” Her tone was cold and sharp; she seemed confident that I would tuck my tail between my legs and quietly study the books more diligently. She was well aware that it was impossible for one person to read all these books properly in just two hours.

However, I had a cheat I could rely on: the knowledge of my past life. It was impossible for me to know all the plants and monsters living in the tower, let alone the effects and properties of each of those materials. Nevertheless, after spending almost eight years climbing the tower, I was confident I came across most of the materials and could at the very least identify them.

I walked to the workstation and stared blankly at the messy table. There were powders, plants, liquids, monster parts and various other ingredients scattered on the table. ‘To identify only four out of the ten materials? At least, she is being lenient.’

I ignored the bottles whose content I could not identify and focused on pointing out the most obvious ingredients. “This is the horn of a bicorn. I can tell from the colour and shape because of how twisted it is. These flowers should be edelweisses and this ugly plant should be the roots of a carnivorous mandragora. As for this glowing piece of rock, I would say that it is Selenite. Am I correct?”

After naming the four materials I recognised, I looked at the dark elf who momentarily revealed an expression of surprise. She clicked her tongue and put down the bottles she was sorting. “See this shelf full of jars; there should be seven of them containing mushrooms. Tell me which one are poisonous.”

The jars were all labelled which would have made the task easy if I knew the properties of each fungi. Unfortunately, I did not and relied solely on my experience with the materials to answer the question. I did not even know the names of these mushrooms before and only classified them according to their colours and pattern in the past.

“The Bolete and the Red Colus?” I replied with an uncertain tone.

“Wrong but let’s move on. Why are the scales of the Silversnake stored in ice?”

…

“Hmmp. You are not ready. It appears to me that you did not take the reading task very seriously. You seem to have only memorised the images and the name of the materials. You have been able to properly identify most of the materials but you failed to answer any questions that involved reading the description and details of the materials. Being able to identify materials is good but not enough to become a potioneer. Still, since you can recognise the materials, you can serve as an assistant but that is as far as you will go if you do not remember the details of each material.”

“…” I faced the dark elf silently with my head lowered. After being butchered by a series of questions, my pride took a serious hit. ‘I should have expected this. The knowledge of my past life is limited to identifying the materials and their prices; I have a rough idea of where they are used but know nothing about the technical details.’

‘I just wanted to try brewing a potion to see if I would enjoy it but it unexpectedly turned into a painful learning task…’

“You need to build a solid theoretical understanding before moving on to pratical experiments. Spend a few days memorising the encyclopedia. You do not need to know all the materials but at least have a general understanding. If you are not satisfied with this arrangement, you may leave at any time. It is the first time someone is learning under me since I just received my qualifications as a potioneer. You can be assigned to a more experienced mentor if you ask for it at the reception.” The dark elf continued.

“No need. I’ll give it a try for now since potion-making is the most accessible craft to a healer.”

At that moment, a gem lit up on the working station as a few knocks sounded at the door.

“What is it this time? There has been no warning.” The dark elf grunted. She got up and opened the door frustratedly.

A Bangaa, wearing the healer robe with a single golden stripe, stood on the other side. He seemed to be in a hurry and many other knocking sounds came from the corridor. “Yes?” The dark elf asked.

“Miss Eliss. I apologise for disturbing you. The Hall Master requested us to take all the available healing potions from the potioneers to help with a small emergency. We will note down your contribution and you will be compensated accordingly.” The Bangaa explained in a rush.

“You want my healing potions?” The dark elf raised an eyebrow. “What is that emergency you mentioned?”

“It’s like this. We have received a sudden large influx of patients and we expect many more to come in the next few minutes. The patients consist mainly of guards. According to them, they have been involved with a fight with a group of humans. Many guards were dispatched to capture the humans outside the city but as one would expect, the encounter did not go very well. The humans were weak but a Right to Kill and a Right to be Protected were used, summoning an Angel and an Archangel respectively. Both creatures were at the seventh circle and you can guess the rest. The guards suffered many casualties and even more injured. Now, we have to deal with this mess. The Healers of the Healing Hall can treat the patients but many remains on the battlefield. The potions will be transported there to help the injured ones survive a bit longer and make it back to the city for proper treatment.”

…

At the same time, in another hall of the Healing Temple, Lord Xylius and Lord Hedrick, two of the five Hall Masters stood quietly on top of a balcony, observing the working citizens of Tussock.

“How did it go earlier?”

“We failed. The human was indeed kidnapped by a few bounty hunters but he somehow managed to escape the bounty hunter’s grasp. In the end, I was unable to find the location of their hideout.”

“It’s a shame but there is still a chance that this is a different bounty hunter group.” Lord Hedrick sighed and shook his head. “I thought it would be an easy task to bait out the group that stole our temple’s holy crosier by using the human. Since they have already acted against us, I thought they would come out since such a huge bounty has been placed on the human. But the operation failed…”

“Well… As you said, maybe it was a different bounty hunter group.”

“…”

Silence fell between the two Hall Masters. They both raised their heads and moments later, a third silhouette appeared, gently lowering himself to the level of the Hall Masters.

“Xylius. Hedrick.” The newcomer greeted the Hall Masters as he landed on the balcony. The Blood Wing retracted his dark red wings and faced the Hall Masters.

“Athan. Aren’t you suppose to stay at the city hall to help the city lord? What brings you here?” Lord Hedrick asked with a faint smile.

“Drop that facade. There is no need for this between us. You already know that many guards are being treated in your Healing Temple. I just returned from a small mission outside. We suffered major losses but we also made the humans waste a large number of Rights.” Athan, the Blood Wing said proudly.

“Did you come here to brag about your achievements?”

“I would like to but the reason I came here is for this.” As he spoke, Athan dropped the human body he had been carrying over his shoulder. “Are you going to honour the arrangement between the city hall and your healing temple?”

“Oh?” Both Hall Masters revealed looks of surprise as the illusion that hid the human body was dispelled.

“You captured a human? Is he still alive?” Lord Xylius asked.

“He should be. Barely but he should be alive.”

“I see.” The Hall Masters glanced at each other and nodded. Lord Xylius crouched next to the human body and cast a simple Heal to ensure that the human would stay alive. “We’ll take care of this. After we finish our experiments, we’ll share the results with you as per the arrangement we made. We’ll need more specimens if we want accurate results though.”

“You know how hard it is to capture the humans now because of the Rights.” Athan said, frowning. “What about the human you are housing in your Healing Temple? Will he not make an excellent test subject?”

“He is different. He is one of us and we won’t touch him. If you do not agree, then, you can ask another organisation to test the limits of the humans.”

“Why? Is it because of the declining number of people who awakened the Healing element?”

“It’s as you say. We have no idea how many humans have the Healing element and what their affinities with the element are. Since he has the Healing element, I took him in to at least secure some fresh blood. That’s the privilege he has for being the first human to reach the Healing Temple.”

“Do whatever you want as long as you give the city hall the results we want. It’s not as if we can ask someone else since medical practitioners are the most suitable for this task.”