Cornflower Witch

Chapter 364 Life After School
Friday's pharmacy class has arrived. The students have made a lot of preparations for this day, and some have even memorized the procedures that the teacher had previously explained.

Crafting simple potions is an essential skill for many professions, especially for mages. These potions can not only aid them on their future path but are also necessary for many rituals, and related knowledge is often used in other courses as well.

In class, the school provided each student with two portions of potion ingredients. If both portions were successfully refined, the successful potion would be a reward for the student who did well in their studies. If they failed, not only would their grades be very low, but they would also lose money in disguise. This was very distressing and regrettable for students from poor families.

The course was conducted in a dedicated classroom, where various tools were prepared on the table, and four teachers moved around to supervise the students.

"Today we're going to make a common 'Lightness Potion,' which can make the body lighter, granting faster movement speed, and also reducing the risk of injury from falls." In class, the teacher wrote down the recipe and key steps, had the students review them, and then announced the start.

As a [Lightness Potion] that falls between the first and second tiers, its preparation method is relatively difficult, and the materials are delicate. If the main ingredient, 'Wind Breath Mayfly', is not handled carefully, it will die prematurely or fail to activate its properties, resulting in the failure of the potion.

Its materials and effects are at the first level, but its crafting difficulty is close to that of the second level. It is often used by various schools for exams, which can test students' abilities and save some material costs.

Hiltiya stood in a corner of the classroom, looking at the materials on the table. With familiar technique, she first put the 'Willow Catkin White Grass' into a beaker to boil it to extract the juice, and at the same time, she processed the Kachira Stone, grinding it into fine powder...

Not far from her, Lowell and Aurora were also focused on concocting potions. Because Sylvia had purchased the materials beforehand, and the two had practiced several times under the girl's guidance, they did not appear flustered today. Instead, they slowly recreated the steps and procedures from their memories.

There are many students like them, because the teacher also said that this assessment would be quite difficult, and suggested that students buy their own materials and try it a few times in advance.

About 70% of the students in the class had done pre-reading and weren't too flustered, while the other 30% hadn't. This caused some confusion, with some students being too nervous and forgetting a step or handling things carelessly, resulting in damaged materials and getting stuck halfway through.

By the end of the course, most of the students who had not prepared in advance failed to complete the potion refining. As for the other students who had prepared and experimented, about 20% of them encountered accidents, resulting in the failure of both materials. Only a small portion of the students in the class actually succeeded in refining both materials.

Based on the results, the teacher rated the two completed potions as excellent, the one successfully refined as good, the incomplete potions with some effect as passable, and the completely failed ones as failable.

Unsurprisingly, all three students in Siltia's dormitory received an 'Excellent' grade, with Siltia's potion being the highest quality. Among the other students, the best quality they produced was 'Good', while hers was 'Rare'.

[Lightness Potion] (Tier 1, Excellent): Reduces weight by 30%, grants greater speed, and reduces the impact of falls for 40 seconds.

[Lightness Potion] (Tier 1, Rare): Reduces weight by 50%, grants greater speed, and reduces the impact of falls for 60 seconds.

Seeing this result, Hilti nodded slightly. In fact, with her strength, she could have made it even better and easily achieved perfect quality. If she could restore her Cui Mi nature, she could even use the nature's ability to activate the potion's efficacy and further improve its quality.

Although she didn't think it was a big deal, the teacher saw it as a rare treasure. Not only did the teacher praise her highly in class, but back in the office, news of Siltia's achievement in the potion class quickly spread throughout the school's teachers.

Several of the teachers here are 'Tier 3' mages. Even if they were to concoct [Lightness Potion], the result would at most be 'Excellent'. If they wanted to achieve 'Rare', they would need other assistance, either by using better materials or by using some means to improve their operational skills in a short period of time.

"Didn't she use any other methods when she was making the potions?" The office director asked the other teachers beside him, looking at the two potions on the table.

"No, several of us have gone to see it. In fact, once you've seen her process of preparing the potion, you won't have any doubts, because she operates very smoothly and skillfully, and every movement is just right."

"Oh, did she have a lot of learning and practice before she came here?" The director stroked his chin.

"That's possible. After all, potion making is a skill that relies heavily on experience. Even a genius would panic when faced with completely unfamiliar situations for the first time."

"Hmm..." The director thought for a while.

"Let's make a note of it first. After all, it's only a first-tier potion, so it doesn't mean much. If she continues to excel in potion classes, we'll have to consider reporting it."

"It is our duty to recommend talents with special abilities, which benefits both the school and us." The Mage Alliance has always offered generous rewards to schools that discover such outstanding talents or abilities, rewards that even third-tier mages would find tempting.

“Oh right, I remember the police station came by before, they were asking about her situation too.” A teacher recalled what happened last week.

After he finished recounting the police's description, the teachers present also became curious.

"So, she is indeed very calm. No wonder she does well in the potion-making course. She is meticulous, calm, and precise."

“Give her special attention, write it in this month’s report, and inform your superiors.”

"Yes."

……

After school in the afternoon, Hiltiya and her two roommates grabbed their backpacks and left the school, just as the three of them squeezed through the crowd of classmates and teachers.

"A lot of people are surrounding Hedra. The teacher said that Hedra's potion can be exchanged for 2 gold coins, and two bottles would be 4 gold coins."

"Several classmates were stunned when they heard that," Luo Weier said, recounting the scene.

"Because the potions we make are only worth 20 silver coins if they are of acceptable quality," Aurora replied, shaking her head slightly.

"The price of the materials is 40 silver coins per serving. To break even, you need at least good quality materials."

"If you calculate it this way, wouldn't the price of rare quality items increase fivefold? If I refine two bottles a day, I can earn 120 gold coins a month." Luo Wei'er felt amazing.

"That's why everyone's surprised. Many third-tier teachers can only refine 'excellent' quality potions, and even that requires a high degree of concentration." Aurora, who came from a prominent family in the Mage Alliance, had a deeper understanding of the market.

Hiltia walked to the side, listening to everyone discussing her affairs. She recalled when she first arrived in the woodland. At that time, she farmed in the valley, and a quarter's wheat harvest only yielded less than 100 gold coins. However, she did not include the portion that had to be handed over or the woodland's supplies.

In fact, she had accumulated a very solid foundation in the woodlands. Most of the students in the Mage Alliance bought materials from shops and refined potions according to regulations and procedures. But it was different in the woodlands. Many herbs were not available for purchase or were in short supply, so they had to collect them themselves from secret realms or various other places.

This took a lot of time and slowed down the advancement of apothecaries in the woodlands. However, the advantage was that they often had a deeper understanding of the properties of herbs, clearly understood where each component of the herb came from, and were able to better preserve the medicinal properties during harvesting. They were also able to obtain higher quality herbs during the refining process due to their greater understanding.

In addition, due to the difficulty in finding raw materials, people often consider using other materials as substitutes and actively experiment with them. This results in the formulation of many medicines being diverse and not fixed, and also containing a lot of personal experience and insights.

Under this mechanism, the number of apothecaries in the woodlands is far less than that on the Mage Alliance side, but each one is capable of handling things independently.

Nothing in this world is perfect. Both training mechanisms have their advantages and disadvantages. The Mage Alliance can train a large number of qualified alchemists to meet the needs of the ever-expanding group of superhumans. However, it is slightly inferior to the Woodland in terms of potion research and innovation. But with its huge size and base, this shortcoming is not obvious. It will only lag behind at higher levels.

As Hiltiya pondered the differences between the two cultivation systems, the three of them unknowingly walked to their usual dining spot.

It's highly unlikely that the dorms will cook. Even for Hilti, who has just arrived in the Asura District and is busy studying and reading, she hasn't had time to prepare anything. As for the two young ladies, Lowell and Aurora, they simply don't know how, so there's no point in expecting them to.

As the three entered the restaurant, several waiters greeted them. They were all very familiar with Luo Weier, the heiress from a wealthy family; she had treated her entire class to meals here several times. "Miss, what would you like to eat today?" a waiter asked enthusiastically.

"It's so hard to decide." Luo Weier looked at the menu she had already ordered from, struggling to decide which one to choose.

Do you have any recommendations?

"It's cold now, so I'd like to consider a spiced lamb stew with roasted parsnip slices, and a cup of slightly sour and sweet lemon tea to cut through the richness," the waiter skillfully recommended.

"Then let's order three servings."

"Ok."

The three of them then sat in the restaurant waiting, the pale golden candlelight illuminating the room, while a light snow began to fall outside.

Another corner of the city, Agate Street.

"Young lady, you're here to help out so late?" A middle-aged woman with large ears greeted her in a simple restaurant.

In a corner of the kitchen, a girl with animal horns, who is less than 1.5 meters tall, is working hard to wash the dishes, preparing for the upcoming evening dining peak.

“Because I want to make money, I can’t waste time.” She looked up and answered, revealing her two horns of different sizes.

While washing the ingredients, the woman replied, "Hehehe, that's a good idea. Making money is never wrong. You have to eat to live."

"But I'm still a little worried about you. I remember you said before that you have to go to class during the day, right? If you don't study at all at night, won't you fall behind? That would be a loss."

Hearing this, the little girl did not answer; only the sounds of work being done in the room could be heard.

Seeing this, the woman sighed and said nothing more.

Everyone has their own difficulties, so why bother asking too many questions? This is a place where orcs and laborers gather. Most of the people living here are of low status in the Asra District and have limited abilities. It's good enough if they can take care of themselves.

When the time came, the woman opened the shop's sign, and soon the laborers waiting outside came in.

"Aunt Kujina, you're a bit late opening here." A burly orc man walked in, found a familiar spot, and even picked up some pickled radishes.

"You're here to eat, why are you asking for so much?" the auntie replied skillfully, then served the orc a steaming bowl of dinner, a stew of noodle soup, vegetables, potatoes and a small amount of minced meat, all simple to make and plentiful.

"Hehe, if I had low standards, I wouldn't have waited this long. I would have gone to another place long ago. Aunt Kukina really understands me. Tonight's dinner is just right." He ate with a big spoon while talking about recent events.

"How have you been lately? I heard that Ango was crippled a while ago." Tiger-man 'Ango' was a notorious bully on Agate Street, often taking free meals from various shops and occasionally extorting money from them.

“Ango…it’s been a while since I’ve seen him.” The aunt thought for a moment.

"Aunt Kujina doesn't know yet, huh? Well then, I'll have something to say tonight." The orc with thick body hair laughed as he recounted the recent events.

"I heard it was also last week, it was a rainy evening, Ango and a few of his underlings were strolling around Agate Street, and then that kid Ronda saw a well-dressed girl and walked across the street. You know, that kid Ronda has a talent for 'night vision' and often does bad things at night."

"Seeing that the girl was well-dressed and pretty, the group surrounded her, intending to extort money from her first, as was their custom. If she backed down, they could come up with even more despicable ideas."

"Wouldn't that girl be in trouble?" The aunt shook her head, feeling that this story was not good.

“Please let me finish. The girl was supposedly going to give me money at first, but when Rhonda saw the pocket watch hanging on her waist and realized how pretty she was, he didn’t want her to leave.”

"As a result, when he was about to grab the girl, he was injured by her."

"This really angered those guys. If he just backed down and let the girl go, how could Ango face his brothers in the future? So he rushed forward, ready to grab the girl in one go."

"The two sides started fighting. Ango thought it would be an easy victory, but he didn't expect his opponent to be a 'genius boy' who took down Ango and his group all by himself, leaving blood everywhere."

"Take our orcs for example, their noses are so strong that even when it's raining, the smell of blood can be detected from hundreds of meters away. But back then, no one dared to go over there; they just watched from a distance."

“That guy Ango is really pitiful, haha, he was forced to kneel on the ground by being strangled by that little girl with a silk thread, and was taken to the police like a dog on a leash.”

"Tsk tsk, just thinking back on that scene makes me want to eat every day."

"Alright, enough said. But it's definitely a good thing that Ango has disappeared." The orc auntie continued preparing food, serving it to the new guests, and then collecting the leftover bowls from the other guests and taking them to the kitchen.

"Anali," she called the name of the horned girl in the kitchen, and then walked over.

Did you hear what was being said outside just now?

"Yes, I heard you." She turned around, revealing her small face in the dim light.

The girl named Anali had messy, dark purple hair, and the curved hair on her head was smaller on the left and larger on the right. She looked very thin, and you could see the outline of her bones. Her deep blue eyes were probably the most beautiful part of her.

"Ango, who stole your things before, is locked up now. You don't have to worry about running into them on your way home anymore." The aunt hugged the thin girl.

"You can come to the store to help earn money in the future, but you also need to study hard, try to stay with good people, and don't learn bad things from others."

“This is all the kind of work your auntie does. She works hard every day just to make ends meet. But you are different. You have a bright future ahead of you.” As she spoke, she seemed to recall her youth.

After hugging for a while, she let go and smiled as she patted Anali.

"When things calm down later, you can eat something too, so you can go home with a full stomach."

"Mmm." The girl nodded, hugged the woman's waist, and rubbed her head against her, seemingly trying to hide the warm tears welling up in her eyes.

(End of this chapter)