OHNIR – Chapter 34

Chapter 34: Demonstration

There was a breakthrough, but the execution was the hard part.

Kelusta, an undisputed failure in potions, found it a monumental task just to recognize the few hundred ingredients in her textbook, let alone master the complex procedure for creating the Fake Illness Potion. The data transmitted by the System even included details like the number of clockwise and counter-clockwise stirs for the potion, the precise timing for adding ingredients down to the second, and the percentage of waste liquid to be skimmed off the top... The list of precautions was so long that a piece of parchment half a person's height would struggle to contain it all.

The failure's head ached just thinking about it.

Besides, even if she knew the entire process and had memorized it perfectly... the gap between theory and practice wasn't something that could be bridged so easily.

"To be honest, I don't even understand the word the professor is saying right now," Kelusta said earnestly. "So don't even mention practical application... It's more realistic to consider how to trick Wend."

Even if the System could learn the manufacturing method, this shortcut would be useless since it couldn't control her body. Therefore, for Kelusta to obtain the Fake Illness Potion, she had to find a tool man.

From this perspective, to avoid dragging things out for too long and causing an unexpected turn of events with Gloria due to low favorability—winning over Wend was indeed the most urgent matter at hand.

No sooner had she finished her suggestion than the potions professor, his face dark, slammed his textbook onto the lectern. The force was so vicious that the precious paper book bounced before flopping open with a pathetic "thwack," its pages splayed out like a corpse on the desk.

The noise was loud enough to make the students jump. They instinctively lowered their heads and shrank their necks, trying their best to minimize their presence.

"Obstinate and dull as wooden chickens!" But clearly, submission couldn't quell the professor's towering rage. His two thick, dark eyebrows were knitted tightly together, and his already unpleasant face now looked as if it had been soaked in ink. "If you'd just sprinkled cheese on your exam papers and let a few rats with pens tied to their legs run wild, the results would probably look better than what you turned in—"

"At least—it wouldn't—be a blank sheet of paper disgusting enough to make someone lose their appetite for three days!"

The commoner students, who had turned in blank papers due to their complete lack of potion knowledge, hung their heads even lower, their faces crestfallen.

The System, which hadn't turned in a blank paper but had only answered a third of the questions: "..."

The top-tier artificial intelligence from a higher dimension felt offended.

As usual, it had been the one to answer Kelusta's last pop quiz.

Considering the temporary host's own knowledge base, coupled with the special nature of this otome game world—where most of the plot revolved around the romance between the male and female leads—even the System hadn't fully mastered all the material related to the Holy Light Magic Academy's curriculum.

In short, while some questions were deliberately left unanswered to match Kelusta's intelligence... there were also some highly difficult analytical questions that the System was genuinely unable to solve.

The potions professor's sarcasm undoubtedly included it in its range of attack.

It was the first time the System's test-taking abilities had been questioned. In its view, this was a great humiliation for an artificial intelligence!

"...It's not that bad, really, Old Sy," Kelusta seemed to sense the System's frustration and anger. Feeling a bit sympathetic, she racked her brain for a long time before managing to squeeze out a word of comfort. "Even if you're a rat, you're a rat worthy of being called the Rat King!"

System: "???"

Damn it, now it was even angrier. This dog of a host had no idea how to comfort anyone!

Whether the System's anger meter had maxed out or not, the potions professor's mockery continued.

"...I no longer expect your rotten-wood heads, which even worms disdain to gnaw, to ever see the light of day," he said with a humorless smile. "Teaching you even one more manufacturing step makes me feel my precious life rapidly draining away. Just last night, after grading the last exam paper, I swore to the Goddess Clara that I would not waste another second on you."

This level of personal attack happened in almost every class, so frequently that even the noble students barely reacted. They just hung their heads, either indifferently or uncaringly, using the posture to hide their yawns.

It was a good thing the professor couldn't see, or today's tirade would probably last until the end of class.

"I realized that in order not to be angered into my grave before my teaching career is over... I have found myself a trustworthy assistant to see if we can salvage your empty heads, at least a little, before I fall into complete despair."

The professor glanced contemptuously at the sea of dark heads in the seats, snorted, and his expression softened slightly. He turned his head toward the open classroom door and, in a gentle tone Kelusta had never heard before, said to the person outside:

"Mr. Silentdis... you've been waiting. Please, come in."

As everyone knew, in the entire Holy Light Magic Academy, there was only one person who could be called "Mr. Silentdis."

Now the students couldn't be bothered to keep their heads down—especially the nobles who had been dozing off. It was as if the invisible antennae on their foreheads had finally received a useful signal. Like sunflowers, they all turned their heads in unison toward the door.

Kelusta's eyes widened as well. She lifted her chin, trying to make herself taller, her gaze passing over the crowd to fix firmly on the tall, black-painted wooden door of the potions classroom.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, a polished leather boot stepped over the low threshold and onto the stone floor of the classroom, making a soft sound.

The silver-haired ducal heir then appeared in the students' line of sight as they had wished. His expression was calm and indifferent. The buttons on his black uniform jacket were impeccably fastened, and his shirt collar was hidden by a cravat tied with layers of thin silk. His deep blue eyes swept carelessly over the crowd, lingering on Kelusta for two seconds before showing no other sign of abnormality.

The girls were trying their best to suppress their screams, while the boys enviously sized up Wend's attire. Only Kelusta felt a chill run down her spine from that glance. Her expression turned a little strange, and she unconsciously straightened her back.

But Wend didn't spare her another glance. He walked straight to the side of the lectern and gave the potions professor a graceful and standard bow.

His eyes, the same deep cornflower blue as his sister's, were slightly lowered. When he spoke, his voice was not soft and gentle like Gloria's, which resembled a light breeze. Instead, it was like a handful of glacial water just scooped into one's palm—clear, bright, and carrying an undeniable, distant coldness.

"Professor."

The potions professor nodded in satisfaction. Under Kelusta's astonished gaze—at this moment, she was probably the only one still paying attention to the professor—he gave Wend a genuine smile, one that was neither a sneer nor a mockery, a smile as rare as a blue moon. Then he turned back to the students with their varied expressions, his face becoming stern again. "In all of the first-year quizzes this semester, only Mr. Silentdis's paper is worthy of praise. Therefore, in this class, he will act as my teaching assistant and personally demonstrate the manufacturing process of the 'Antipyretic Potion' for you."

After he finished, he paused, then added another sarcastic remark as if he wasn't quite done. "For Mr. Silentdis's selfless contribution... I truly hope you can express your heartfelt gratitude to him and seize the opportunity to repent your ignorance to the Goddess of Light, you blockheads."

While the professor was making his introduction, Wend had already positioned himself in front of the workbench filled with bottles and jars. He began skillfully lighting the fire to preheat the cauldron. Only after the professor's barbed speech ended did he look up and give the students, who were staring at him without blinking, a look devoid of any emotion. He said succinctly, "I am about to create the 'Antipyretic Potion.' The specific steps can be found on page three hundred and sixty-eight of your textbooks. Please follow along carefully."

Only then did the crowd seem to snap out of their daze, and they all began flipping through their books as he had instructed.

Meanwhile, the inconspicuous brown-haired girl in the crowd was visibly stunned upon hearing the term "Antipyretic Potion." For once, she actually opened her brand-new textbook. Her eyes moved, and lines of text were reflected in her golden pupils as she read them carefully and seriously.

Her uncharacteristically studious appearance truly shocked the System.

"No offense, temporary host..." it said with sincere, yet utterly offensive, astonishment. "I just wanted to ask—you can actually understand this?"

"That sounds awfully harsh and vengeful, Old Sy." Kelusta wrinkled her nose as she read, rolling her eyes in displeasure. "But... to be honest, if the 'Stage Three Mission' were still incomplete, I probably wouldn't understand it."

Her words were clever, but the System immediately understood. It spoke in a tone even more surprised than before, "You mean...?"

"The difference between the words 'Antipyretic' and 'Fake Illness' is just a few scattered letters. Beyond that, even their pronunciation shows an obvious, excessive similarity," Kelusta said. "The manufacturing steps for the Antipyretic Potion in the book also highly overlap with the data for the Fake Illness Potion you transmitted to me earlier, which is why I can understand it... Therefore, if my deduction is correct, these two potions are actually a pair of 'Homologous Potions.'"

Homologous potions refer to a potion and its variant, which is created based on the original. The two share a high degree of similarity in their manufacturing methods or medicinal properties. For example, the "Blood Replenishing Potion" and the "Hemostatic Potion" are a very typical pair of homologous potions.

It is worth noting that in very rare cases, the number of homologous potions may not be limited to two. According to "A Brief History of Potions," back in the era of the gods, there were three notorious dark potions: the "Blinding Potion," the "Deafening Potion," and the "Muting Potion."

"So that means..."

"That means, if Wend can successfully create the Antipyretic Potion, then even the Fake Illness Potion, which is several times more difficult... probably won't be too hard for him."

Kelusta smiled faintly and praised sincerely, "Gloria's brother is so smart. He's truly worthy of being the tool man I've had my eye on from the start!"

To reiterate, a tool man.

The System thought sympathetically. If Wend knew that this had always been his precise role in Kelusta's mind, he might just faint from anger on the spot.

He was, after all, the male lead of the magic origin route, one of the most popular official pairings in the higher dimensions...

Alas, a new heroine means a new court.

The young nobleman, for whom the System felt deep pity, was currently concentrating on the task at hand.

A sufficient amount of Milkweed flower juice was mixed with Angora goat horn powder and added after the cauldron was preheated. After boiling, talcum powder, licorice segments, cloves, and buffalo tears were added in sequence, with the interval between each ingredient controlled to be between thirteen and fifteen seconds.

According to the textbook, upon successful completion of this stage, the potion should be a dark green color. However, on the magic light screen specially projected by the professor, it was clear that the potion in Wend's hands was currently a rich, deep green—though not exactly the same as the dark green specified in the textbook, it was very close.

When the liquid began to bubble slowly, he needed to add lionfish eyeballs soaked in almond oil for twenty days, one ounce of white grape seeds tinctured at a one-to-three ratio, and unprocessed Terra City rose thorns. Stir clockwise three times, then let it sit for exactly one minute. When the potion turns a pale periwinkle—Wend's potion was a light navy blue—pour in the parasitic vine berry juice and stir counter-clockwise five and a half times...

Forget Kelusta, probably two-thirds of the class was dizzy at this point.

The preparation of medicinal potions has always been notoriously complex, and the yield is extremely low.

When Wend fluidly scooped up the last half-spoonful of liquid from the cauldron and poured it into a small glass vial only as tall as a finger, the professor stepped forward in satisfaction. He took the final product, a beautiful pale red Antipyretic Potion, shook it gently, and praised, "I must say, with this simplified procedure, even I could only achieve this quality... An exceptionally high talent for potions, Mr. Silentdis. If the Duke would agree, I would be eager to invite you to become my potions apprentice."

The teachers at the Holy Light Magic Academy were all top scholars in Nobili. Countless people would fight tooth and nail for even a few words of guidance, let alone becoming their apprentice.

And Wend had that qualification.

According to the textbook, the standard color for an Antipyretic Potion was a true red, and the production time, depending on the quantity needed, could last from five days to a week... Wend had produced a finished potion in less than two hours, which undoubtedly meant he had used a simplified method.

According to the law of conservation, since the time was shortened, the quality of the potion would inevitably decrease somewhat, which was why the small bottle in the professor's hand only reflected a pale red liquid.

"A preliminary estimate suggests that the potion will take effect within two days," the System commented in an authoritative tone. "Wend is indeed very talented. Without precise timers and measuring instruments, he added the licorice segments and buffalo tears two seconds early, and a little too much rose thorn... Yet the quality of the final product is still so astonishing. I must say, if you can successfully persuade him, your Fake Illness Potion is practically a sure thing."

"Congratulations to Wend for unlocking the achievement: Praise from the Rat King!" Kelusta said, moved. "One day, if I have the chance, I will relay it truthfully—and thank you on his behalf for your warm encouragement, Old Sy!"

"..."

If it weren't for the host protection protocol... the System really wanted to self-destruct on the spot and take this bastard temporary host with it, ending it all.

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