The Lone Wanderer-Chapter 257: Restructuring
It wasn’t until most other students had left the library that Percy registered how late it was. Getting used to Felmara’s short days would take a while. Normally, his body’s internal clock would have helped a little, but his host was the kind of guy who’d literally overdosed on sleeping pills, so… no luck there.
‘I’m not even halfway done with the books…’ he groaned.
He still wanted to research his choices a little better before submitting them. Sure, he had two more weeks until the next term started, but he also had lectures to attend. Sighing, he closed the book he was reading, getting up. Whatever the case, he couldn’t miss the Pre-casting class tomorrow. It would help him make his mind up.
‘Though I can probably skip Geography the day after.’
Technically, the academy did monitor attendance. Apparently, each academic year consisted of seven terms – a total of twenty-one courses of the students’ choosing. The kids were assessed at the end of the year, selecting eighteen of those courses to sit exams for. And they only needed a passing grade on fifteen of them to move up to the next year.
A student’s seniority simply denoted the number of subjects they had studied. That said, most courses weren’t locked to specific years. For example, one was free to pick Affinities 1 on their first or fifth year if they wanted. Of course, courses with a lot of pre-requisites would often be picked later out of necessity.
Admittedly, it was a rather generous and flexible system, but missing too many classes incurred a penalty on one’s grades, making their life harder. Still, Percy wasn’t very concerned about that. The second term hadn’t even ended yet, and he intended to be gone before the fifth at the latest – depending on how fruitful his time here proved to be.
“Excuse me, sir. Can I borrow these for a couple of days?” he asked the clerk.
“Up to three at a time.” the man replied, passing him a check-out slip to fill in.
Percy nodded, storing the ones he had yet to read in his satchel before returning the rest to their shelves. Then, he waved the clerk farewell as he left.
The corridors were much emptier than they’d been in the morning, most of the students having gone to bed to prepare for tomorrow’s classes. Finding his way back took some head scratching, thanks to the contrived path he’d taken to the library in the first place.
But he didn’t care much. He had a few more things to take care of before calling it a day. Grabbing one of the food bags from his satchel, he opened it, tossing the first of the orange flakes into his mouth as he leisurely strolled through the dormitories.
“This stuff tastes awesome!”he blurted out as the exotic snack crumbled between his teeth with a satisfying crunch.
It was really crispy! Salty too, though it left some lingering sweetness in his mouth as soon as he swallowed it. They were called krimbian leaves – according to the label – but he wasn’t sure if they’d come from an actual tree. Either way, this journey was turning better and better by the hour!
Returning to his room took him around fifteen minutes in total – more than twice what it should have taken. In that time, he finished three packs. He was tempted to open another one, but he figured he should probably ration them a little until he figured out how to get more food.
Luckily, he made it to the correct door on the first try, saving himself from a potentially awkward situation. Dropping off his stuff on his desk, he then stopped by the restroom for a quick shower, his mind still pondering over the things he’d read earlier.
As he had expected, alchemy on Felmara wasn’t that different to what they had back home. Their core-cleansing pills were made from the goo of some caterpillar-like beasts. Having consumed one earlier, he realized it wasn’t any more potent than the elixirs he was used to. A pity.
Their other products were a little more varied than the potions they had on Remior, however. Part of that was due to having a greater variety of useful ingredients, but another part was due to something else. The locals referred to it as alchemical restructuring, and he was confident it was the kind of thing that his Status would register as an alchemic principle once mastered.
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‘It’s definitely worth looking into…’
Apparently, the natives brewed their products in all sorts of different states. Potions, pills, soluble tablets, gels, lotions, and even inhalables. Suffice to say, this had initially struck him as odd, as he hadn’t encountered this elsewhere.
Alchemy on Remior had been developed entirely around the purification of nectar into elixirs, and so everything they crafted usually took liquid form, largely thanks to the underlying techniques used.
Meanwhile, alchemy was a lot more developed on Atlantis than either Remior or Felmara, but the fact that it was underwater placed a lot of restrictions on what was possible. People there had to condense their brews into dense, water-proof pills, so as to store and handle them without worrying that they would disperse.
Evidently, Felmara’s alchemists had gone down a different route, learning how to customize their brews into a phase tailored for their intended application. And it was easy to see the benefits of doing so. Some products could be more effective when applied directly to one’s skin, whereas others might be best delivered into one’s lungs or stomach.
Percy already had an idea as to how this could benefit him. The mushrooms his potions were extracted from worked better when injected directly into one’s body. Unfortunately, he’d been forced to use the potions somewhat suboptimally, as he had no intention of planting mushrooms inside his skin, and no idea how to brew them into something other than drinkable potions. But this new principle could potentially open a new door for him.
‘Plus, there are other advantages to learning this.’
The Divine Order was currently on the lookout for the Aurora Dew. Specifically, the old version of the Aurora Dew – vials containing a turquoise liquid. But Percy had brewed the most recent batches using his teal powder instead – because he’d stashed a lot of it for his constructs. Using the fused mana instead of regular pure mana didn’t change the effects of the elixir in any way, but it did change its colour slightly, giving it a silver tint.
‘If I can reshape it into pill form, it’ll be completely unrecognizable. Not to mention that it’ll probably take less space in the amulets…’
These two applications aside, he wouldn’t say no to mastering a new alchemic principle. Even on a purely theoretical level, it would deepen his understanding of the field and help him boost his yield a little faster. Not to mention that his eyes would benefit from it too, possibly allowing him to see things he might otherwise miss.
‘The only problem is that it’s taught in Alchemy 9 through 12…’ he grimaced.
Naturally, one couldn’t learn alchemy without getting their hands dirty. Consequently, the relevant courses were split into theoretical and practical, typically alternating between the two for any given topic. Alchemy 1, 3, 5 and 7 introduced the fundamentals from a theoretical perspective, whereas 2, 4, 6 and 8 gave the students a chance to put that knowledge to the test. Sadly, it wasn’t until the ninth part of the course that the restructuring principle was taught, and Percy would need four terms in total to master it if he went solely through the official route.
‘I guess I can pick 10 and maybe 12 for some demonstrations. I’ll have to cram the theory on my own in parallel…’
It wasn’t going to be easy, but Percy was already a veteran alchemist. At any rate, this should be enough to wrap his mind around the topic. If not, he could practice more at home. Yet, there was one more issue…
‘Leo’s never studied Alchemy before… Will they even allow me to skip to 10?’
He’d have to ask. If they didn’t let him, he’d have to study the topic on his own and pick Runecrafting or Affinities instead. Of course, he’d rather not, as neither of those seemed very useful for him, based on what he’d read.
He sighed.
‘It’s barely been a day since I got here and I’m already planning to pack my schedule full of work…’
At least, he didn’t intend to study for Cosmic Studies outside of the classes. He didn’t need to memorize anything for it either. Just learn some useful information that might come in handy in his future travels. That meant he only really had to split his time between Alchemy and Pre-casting for now. Well, Mana Flow too, but he’d yet to figure out how that one worked.
‘Better prepare a little so that I’m not late tomorrow.’ he thought.
Sifting through Leo’s notebooks, he familiarized himself a little better with the list of topics his host had studied in the past. Sadly, most of them didn’t interest him much.
Picking out the notes on Pre-casting 1 through 3, he placed them in his satchel for tomorrow. At the same time, he looked through the boy’s stuff for any map or other reference he could use to actually find the place.
Luckily, he did stumble upon a map of the building listing where each course took place. It also included other places of interest like the library or the cafeteria – where he hoped to get some more food tomorrow.
Based on what he’d read in his host’s diary, all students received some annual allowance from the academy, so he figured he should be able to buy food that way. Though he’d have to observe the other students to understand how it all worked to avoid making a fool out of himself.
Satisfied with his preparations, he switched off the lights, going to bed. As tough as the next few weeks promised to be, he was just as excited about Pre-casting as he was about Alchemy.
‘Hopefully I don’t have to interact with any of Leo’s friends much though…’
