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Zilan’s eyes slowly locked onto the large frame of Hendrek Magnus.
“What a strange name,…Ancient Warring Hippo clan.”
“Interestingly, he seems to be quite different from his clansmen. The first in his clan of brutes to ever gain the qualifications to not only study at the highest level of education but also to join the Alchemy Association. That being said, he does not have the greatest aptitude for Alchemy. However, due to some ‘special’ circumstances he’s able to keep up with geniuses like Misty.”
“Hmm, it says here that he likes to act quiet and rational but in actuality is both extremely arrogant as well as confident in his superiority. An amusing character to say the least…”
As for Lorn Mokin, the only information given about him was, “Very important existence to his organisation. High profile individual.”
“For the Alchemy Association to consider you a High profile individual, where exactly do you come from?”
Finally, Zilan’s eyes drifted towards a corner of the classroom where a chair remained empty.
“Zest IronBlood, only son of the Head of the IronBlood family, the overlords of the Iron sector. Thinks very highly of himself and rightfully so. His talent even by the Associations standards is unquestioned, but like most geniuses he is plagued as well as held back his own hubris.”
“Well, he did seem rather unhappy that I, an unproven age mate was assigned to be his teacher. Can’t really blame him though.”
After seeing everything he needed to see, Zilan put away the jade slip and addressed the class.
“The Alchemy Association as its name implies is a place where all types of Alchemists converge, it matters not from where you come nor does your field of study or rank necessarily come into play. Currently, I as well as you all can be considered the new generation of Beast Alchemists however, due to circumstances that you’re all most likely aware of I have been assigned to be your teacher at this level. As such for the remainder of the year, I will guide you through the curriculum and make sure that you’re prepared for the two mandatory major examinations. The Winter ‘Concealed Scriptures’ display held in the middle of the term and the One Star Kings tournament at the end of the year. I’m also obligated to tell you that my duty as your teacher only extends as far as Alchemy is involved. Those of you, like me, who are also a part of the fire guardians will have an additional instructor to take you through the year.”
“Any questions?”
Misty swiftly raised her hand.
“Go ahead.” Said Zilan.
“Can teacher please help us decide the position of class leader? SOMEone doesn’t seem to understand the concept of Majority rule.” Her eyes never left Hendrek for even a moment as she spoke.
“Hmph! I refuse to take orders from someone lesser.” Snorted Hendrek.
Instantly understanding the situation, Zilan quickly came up with an idea.
“Why not have it this way, Misty, you will be in charge of all the females while Hendrek, you shall be tasked with managing the actions of all the males? Furthermore, since the number of females in this class are less than the men, we’ll have Lorn be the decider in cases where you try to pressure the girls into a decision.”
Misty turned towards Lorn, appearing to be giving it some thought while the latter cast an interesting stare at Zilan. It was unknown what was going through his mind but his expression showed that he was quite amused by his new teacher’s decision making.
For Zilan, it was truly a different experience having an eagle stare right at him with its sharp, piercing gaze.
Hendrek on the other hand, unexpectedly immediately agreed with Zilan’s judgement. Once again, it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
As for the teacher himself, there was of course a reason for his suggestion.
With Misty’s personality, she would surely clash with Hendrek one way or another but this was not necessarily a bad thing as healthy competition usually propelled one to success. Naturally, this remained true on the condition that it remained ‘healthy’, thus the only person who could keep the equilibrium was also the individual Zilan believed to be the strongest in the entire class. Decisions that Hendrek tries to forcefully implement would without a doubt never see the light of day. One reason was because of Lorn’s pride and the other,…well let’s just say Zilan had a feeling that Lorn would take action.
Finally, Misty agreed to the decision but not before staring at Lorn in a threatening manner.
“This girl,…because of my suggestion to have Lorn be the decider, she’s already turned him into her biggest rival. Haha, this is going to be harder than I thought.”
With the class leader situation out of the way, another student shakily put up their hand.
“Hmm, Andrete Liones. According to this, he isn’t the most outstanding of prospects. Average talent, slightly above average bloodline, average household, mostly everything averaging and yet the final evaluation given by the Association is that he may possess untapped potential. Conveniently though, they don’t know where this potential lies. How do they come up with these bios?”
Zilan directed a suspicious glance at the ‘Lost Mouse’, a species of Beast that wasn’t really respected nor did many people know much about. The reason for this? Their bloodline, due to breeding with common bloodlines had deteriorated to the point that the previous glory of the Lost Mouse clan had long been lost to the eternal juggernaut that is time.
“Yes?” said Zilan.
“Umm, is it true that Teacher has already attained the third rank?”
“Eh? What nonsense are you speaking? Everyone knows that he was only promoted to second rank.” Refuted a shocked youth.
“What an interesting little guy.” Chuckled Lorn.
“You shouldn’t say things that will cause misunderstandings for Teacher Zilan.” Lectured Misty.
Surprisingly Zilan while smiling followed up with a question of his own,
“Who told you that?”
“Umm,..ah..I just thought of it…I’m sorry…”
“Hooo, well I’m sorry to disappoint, but I’m only a second ranked Alchemist.” Laughed Zilan, narrowing his eyes as he resisted the urge to question Andrete further.
“The Lost Mouse ancient blood doesn’t seem to have died out yet…but having him guess such troublesome thoughts isn’t ideal. Hehe, having to prepare countermeasures against someone who doesn’t know the existence of his ability let alone how to use it, this is a first.”
“Okay, that’s enough for the questions. Since this is our first lesson, I’d like to begin by introducing you to Alchemy.”
“Introducing us to Alchemy? Do you mean your Alchemy or the flame Alchemy?” asked Hendrek, his eyes glowing with interest.
All of the students acted the same way. Those who were slouching, quickly sat up and those who weren’t paying attention before even took out their notebooks so as to not miss anything.
“My Alchemy? Flame Alchemy? What is that? Alchemy is one very big pathway, some people like to divide it up into smaller walkways in order to make it easier to understand but what I will teach you is completely against that sort of thinking. Broaden your horizons, walk the path set by the Universe and eventually you will reach the pinnacle. This does not mean that fields do not exist in Alchemy however, I will tell you all now it is impossible to reach the pinnacle of your field by single-mindedly focusing on just that. You must open yourself to everything and if you’re lucky you will find something that will help you improve greatly. For example, the relationship of poison and medicine. Both can be used to heal but without understanding both to an extreme degree it is impossible to become a great healer. In the same way that it is impossible for a poison master to become great without understanding medicine, the cures to his death tonics.”
“In this way the different fields interact and without delving deep into both it is impossible to reach the pinnacle. At the same time though, it is also very difficult to reach the top in many different fields because of this very relationship and that is why the barrier known as ‘fields’ exist. However, the beauty of Alchemy lies in the fact that there is always more to explore, with constant advancement not only does the road not become smaller, it expands to an unimaginable degree but whether or not you can walk the path to its end is up to if you have the passion to move forward as well as if you can live long enough. After all, Alchemy is a major ‘way’, to find out its secrets means to explore the Universe’s laws, manipulating everything from life and death, to climate, and even the elements. Things that existed from the birth of the Universe.”
Hearing all of this, all of the student’s blood seemed to boil in excitement. They’d never heard Alchemy explained in such a way to them before. It made them feel free, not restricted by tradition or the set rules of doing things, as shown to them when they lived in their clans and homes.
They couldn’t help but wonder what extraordinary teachings Zilan would pass onto them.
Unfortunately, their grand dreams were doomed to be crushed as soon as Zilan opened his mouth to give out the assignments for the day.
Important announcement ;
I will continue to release a chapter a day for a while as we get back into the groove of things. If you would like to read chapters in advance without having to wait days, then please feel free to check out my patreon page. Regardless of the amount you will get access up to chapter 100 however, after that only those who’ve pledged $3 or more will get to see the chapters in advance. (https://www.patreon.com/emeraldragon)
Finally, I would like to announce the launching of my twitter account. I’ve been using social media for a while for personal use but I’ve always shied away from using it as a platform to communicate with my readers…(don’t really know why) However, that has now changed! I will be using twitter to interact with my followers on a daily basis and not just have the usual, “chapter updates and then silence”. No! Through memes, gifs and well tweets I will strive to not only entertain but actually interact and converse…but as you know, one can’t talk to themselves at least not without having a mental problem so please follow me as we move on with our journey.
Your humble author,
emeraldragon.
