Chapter 54 : Chapter 54
Chapter 54 : Don’t Look at Me, Focus on the Fight
The air in the Potioneering classroom was thick with the complicated scent of dozens of medicinal ingredients mixed together. Morning light slanted in through the tall eastern windows, illuminating the dust drifting in the air and the row of bottles and jars on the lectern, each gleaming with a strange sheen.
Professor Horne stood at the front of the room, the cuffs of his gray robe marked with old potion stains. In his hand he held a slender crystal dropper, and the liquid inside it shimmered with a faint golden light.
“Awakening Potion.” His voice was as dry as old parchment scraping together. “The basic formula includes tricolor violet extract, silverleaf mint, and a trace amount of borneol powder. Today’s objective is to prepare a finished product at standard concentration and test its duration.”
He set down the dropper and swept his gaze across the class.
The room was full of third-year students from various specializations.
Potioneering was a public elective, so students from different backgrounds sat mixed together.
Ryan sat in the fourth row by the wall. Several students from the Magic Tool Application, Appraisal, and Risk Management specialization sat nearby, all of them unconsciously keeping a bit of distance from his seat.
Three rows diagonally ahead, a head of white-gold hair stood out vividly in the morning light.
Cecilia Ishtar was wearing a pale blue academy uniform today, her golden hair loosely pinned up with a simple silver hair ornament. Ilis sat slightly behind her, still wearing that same cold expressionless look, a thick notebook spread open before her.
“As usual, groups of three.” Professor Horne clapped his hands. “Same rules as always. Form your own groups. Report your names to me in ten minutes.”
The moment he finished speaking, the atmosphere in the classroom changed abruptly.
The scraping of chair legs rose one after another. Some students had already stood up and were glancing around for partners. Others quickly reached agreements with the people beside them, exchanging terms in hushed voices.
Ryan did not move.
He opened his lab manual and let his finger trace the formula list for the Awakening Potion.
The extraction temperature for the tricolor violet, the grinding fineness of the silverleaf mint, the timing for adding the borneol powder—each step had annotations beside it in charcoal. Some were standard procedures taken from the textbook, while others were minor adjustments he had figured out on his own.
Whispers drifted around him.
“…Who do you want to partner with?”
“I haven’t decided… what about you?”
“I want to join Her Highness’s group…”
The voices were kept low, but they were clear enough.
Suddenly, a shadow fell across Ryan’s desk.
Robert Fischer stood beside it, wearing the kind of smile that had clearly been practiced many times. His uniform was pressed perfectly straight, and a silver badge was pinned at his collar—the emblem of his family’s merchant guild.
“Velt.” Fischer’s voice sounded friendly, but something else lingered in the last note of it. “Have you found partners yet?”
Ryan looked up.
Fischer’s expression was natural enough, as though he were genuinely checking on a classmate. But the way he stood was slightly stiff, and his right hand was unconsciously rubbing at the badge—a habit he had when he was nervous.
“No,” Ryan said.
The corner of Fischer’s mouth twitched upward. “Then that’s perfect. I haven’t either. How about—”
“I heard your Awakening Potion at the end of last semester broke the class record for duration,” Ryan interrupted calmly. “When you were paired with Hannah.”
Fischer’s expression froze.
Hannah had been his partner last semester, a girl with excellent talent in Potioneering. During the final assessment, their potion had lasted one hundred and eighty minutes, a full twenty minutes longer than second place. Fischer had bragged about it in the dormitory more than once.
“Th-that was…” Fischer’s voice began to catch.
“So you should find a more suitable partner,” Ryan said, lowering his gaze back to the manual. His pen moved lightly over the page. “Don’t waste it.”
Fischer stood there, his lips moving soundlessly. In the end, he said nothing.
When he turned away, his steps were a little unsteady.
Suppressed laughter rose quietly from nearby.
Ryan ignored it. His gaze shifted toward the other side of the classroom.
Five or six people had already gathered around Cecilia Ishtar’s desk. There were both boys and girls, each one doing their best to wear the most proper and charming smile possible. Their voices overlapped in a blur, the specific words impossible to make out, but the eagerness in the air could be felt even from halfway across the room.
The princess sat in her chair, maintaining a polite smile. She nodded from time to time and said a few words now and then, but she never directly agreed to anyone. Ilis stood half a step behind her, her violet eyes lowered, like a silent barrier.
Professor Horne tapped the lectern.
“Five minutes left.”
That reminder only made the crowd around Cecilia more frantic. Someone began proposing specific cooperation plans. Another directly pulled out an old grade report, the page decorated with several impressive A+ marks.
Cecilia raised a hand slightly.
The gesture was very small, but everyone around her immediately fell silent.
“Thank you all for your kindness,” she said in a clear voice. It was not loud, but it carried well enough for everyone nearby to hear. “However, as for grouping, I believe we should follow Professor Horne’s arrangements. I am sure Professor Horne will make the most reasonable distribution.”
After saying that, she rose and walked toward the lectern. The white-gold hem of her skirt brushed the legs of the chair, leaving behind a graceful arc.
The students around her looked at one another, then gradually dispersed and began searching for other options.
Ryan watched the whole scene, his pen unconsciously drawing a circle on the page.
He absolutely did not want to be grouped with the princess.
Getting entangled with someone like her meant throwing himself under a spotlight—and what he needed most right now was shadow. A place that was unremarkable, that would not attract any additional attention.
Ideally, he would be paired with an ordinary student. The other person would keep their distance because of his “bad reputation,” both of them would do their own work, complete the assignment, and part ways. Clean and efficient.
Professor Horne began announcing the groups.
“Group One: Robert Fischer and Lillian Crawford.”
Fischer’s face visibly fell. Lillian was notorious in the class for being careless. Last semester, she had overturned three cauldrons.
“Group Two…”
The names went on one by one.
Ryan counted silently, calculating which possible partners remained. Ideally someone quiet, someone reserved, someone who would finish the experiment and leave…
“Group Seven: Cecilia Ishtar and Ilis.”
That assignment drew surprised looks from quite a few students—the princess in a group with her attendant? But the surprise quickly faded. After all, she was a princess. Bringing a private assistant was hardly strange.
“Group Eight: Ryan Velt and Allen Walker.”
Ryan’s shoulders relaxed.
Allen Walker. Good. The bespectacled boy who was always buried in note-taking. Last semester, the two of them had worked together once in an alchemy lab. They had exchanged fewer than ten sentences the entire time. Perfect.
He unconsciously, very slightly, let out a breath of relief.
That breath had only left him halfway when it caught.
Because Cecilia Ishtar was looking at him.