Chapter 59 : Chapter 59
Chapter 59 : Potion Examination
The two exchanged a glance, and each saw the same flame burning in the other’s eyes.
Andre’s father, Viscount Garcia, was currently competing for a royal procurement contract. It was an opportunity that could revive their family from the brink of ruin. As for the Wood family, they wished to break free from the Emerald Courtyard system and regain the dignity of a true noble house.
Both families desperately needed the favor of the royal court.
And today, Her Highness the Princess had happened to speak those words—within earshot—words that could easily lead them to draw certain conclusions.
Was that not a hint?
It must be a hint.
“We have to plan carefully,” Andre said, licking his dry lips. “We cannot act recklessly. We must… be clever. We need to show Her Highness our ability, not our recklessness.”
Wood nodded vigorously. The two leaned closer together, whispering as they began to plot.
Night had completely fallen, and the stone lanterns in the garden lit up one by one. Their light stretched the two boys’ shadows across the stone path, long and twisted.
In the distance, lights gradually illuminated the academy’s main building. The bell for the evening class echoed from the classrooms—once, then again—reverberating through the autumn night air with a dull, distant sound.
And in this deepening darkness, something had already begun to move.
Like a clock that had been carefully wound, the gears began to mesh, and the hands began to turn—tick, tick—step by step toward a predetermined direction.
Morning light had not yet fully chased the shadows from the corridor when the door to the potion classroom was already open.
Today’s atmosphere felt different.
There was no rustling of pages before class, no quiet discussions about homework. Even the scent of medicinal ingredients in the air seemed heavier than usual.
When Ryan walked into the classroom, he saw that Professor Horne was standing before the lectern with his back to the door.
The old man was not wearing his usual gray robe stained with years of residue. Instead, he had changed into a brand-new, sharply tailored dark-blue laboratory coat, its cuffs pressed with crisp creases.
He was arranging a set of glass apparatus on the desk. His movements were unusually slow. Each time he set down a piece, he adjusted its angle until the entire row formed a perfectly straight line.
To the left of the lectern stood a portable blackboard.
Written upon it in white chalk were several lines:
Midterm Practical Examination
Time Limit: Three Hours
Evaluation: Completion / Stability / Creativity
Students gradually took their seats.
No one spoke. They simply inspected the tools on their workbenches: whether the scale had been reset to zero, whether the thermometer was intact, whether the inner wall of the mortar still held residue from the previous class.
The faint sounds of metal and glass touching each other rang softly through the room.
Cecilia Ishtar sat in the second row by the window. Today she had tied up all her golden hair, exposing the porcelain-white curve of her neck, not a single loose strand remaining. Her white-and-platinum academy uniform had been pressed perfectly smooth.
Ilis stood half a step behind her, holding the Princess’s personal toolkit. The black-haired girl had changed into dark-green casual clothing today, and a leather tool belt hung at her waist, fitted with potion spoons and probes of various sizes.
The clock tower struck eight.
Professor Horne turned around. He did not knock on the lectern as usual. Instead, he placed his hands behind his back and slowly swept his gaze across every face in the room.
“Midterm examination,” he said. His voice remained as dry as ever, without any introduction. “Task: Prepare a standard-concentration ‘Winter Resonance Potion.’ Time limit: two hours. Evaluation criteria: purity, stability, and safety procedures.”
He paused, his gaze sweeping across the students again through his glasses.
“You have already studied the formula. You have practiced the steps. Today, only the result matters.”
The professor took a record book from beneath the lectern.
“Now come up in order of your student numbers to collect your materials. One set each. Begin immediately after receiving them. The timer starts now.”
The classroom filled with the faint scraping sound of chair legs against the floor.
Potion examinations rarely followed the same standard, and their topics varied widely.
The Winter Resonance Potion was indeed not easy. It required strict temperature control, and the balance point of mana was difficult to maintain. Even a slight deviation could cause failure.
But at least it was something they had already studied.
Compared to exam questions that required students to derive entirely new formulas on the spot or create potions from unfamiliar materials to produce specific effects, this was already the most merciful type.
The first student stood and walked toward the lectern. His footsteps sounded unusually loud in the silent room.
Ryan sat in the fourth row by the wall. He did not stand immediately. Instead, he checked his tools once more.
The scale needle rested at zero. The mercury column in the thermometer was intact. The mortar’s inner wall was smooth. The alcohol lamp had sufficient fuel.
Every tool was placed in the most convenient position. This had become a habit over the past several months.
Ahead of him, Cecilia Ishtar had already risen.
Today the Princess had tied up all her golden hair, fastening it with a plain silver ring ornament, revealing the porcelain-white curve of her neck. Her white-and-platinum academy uniform was perfectly pressed, and the royal emblem was pinned neatly at her collar.
Her steps toward the lectern were unhurried. The hem of her skirt swayed gently with each step, drawing an elegant arc in the morning light.
Ilis followed half a step behind her, her eyes lowered but her back straight like a silent guard.
By the time it was Ryan’s turn, half the students in the classroom had already collected their materials and begun their work.
He approached the lectern. Professor Horne took out a double-layered glass bottle from a box and handed it to him.
Fine white frost covered the bottle’s surface. It had formed when the material’s inherent cold met the room’s temperature.
“Standard quantity,” the professor said calmly, in the same tone he used for every other student. “The autumn batch has slightly higher activity. Control the temperature more precisely.”
Ryan accepted the bottle.
The glass felt icy against his palm. The frost slowly melted from the warmth of his hand, leaving behind damp traces.
He lifted the bottle toward the light and examined it.
Inside, pale blue powder flowed smoothly. Its color was uniform and its texture fine, appearing no different from the materials used during practice.
“Thank you, Professor,” he said.
Professor Horne nodded and marked a check in his record book, signaling for the next student.
Ryan returned to his seat.
He placed the glass bottle beside the scale, but he did not begin immediately. Instead, he opened his laboratory manual and quickly reviewed the formula and procedure for the Winter Resonance Potion.
The recipe was simple:
Ten grams of Ice Crystal Flower powder.
One hundred milliliters of purified water.
Five drops of Silverleaf Mint Extract.
Finally, a trace amount of Mana Stabilizer.
The key lay in the heating process.
The mixture had to be slowly heated in a water bath to sixty degrees, maintained at that temperature for fifteen minutes, and then allowed to cool naturally.
No rushing. No haste.
Otherwise, the frost mana contained within the Ice Crystal Flower would be released instantly, violently colliding with the heat mana produced by the heating process and causing an explosion.
This was basic knowledge—so basic that every third-year student could recite it from memory.
Ryan closed the manual.
He began to measure the ingredients.
Ten grams of powder. The scale needle trembled slightly before settling exactly on the mark.
Then came the purified water, the Silverleaf Mint Extract, and the trace amount of Mana Stabilizer.
Each step followed the standard procedure with meticulous precision—accurate to the milligram, accurate to each drop.
Once the preparations were complete, he lit the alcohol lamp and adjusted the water bath temperature to sixty degrees.
As the beaker settled into the water, the pale blue powder slowly began to dissolve. Gentle ripples appeared across the surface of the liquid.
The heating process had begun.