"Potion exams? Right now?" The trio of disciples stepped back from Nathen's home. They walked towards the girls while Michael silently watched this scene unfold, "Holy shit then we also have to run away from Teacher Olivia, she forces every student to take these bloody Alchemy exams, even those who don't take Alchemy, bloody hell!" there was genuine fear in those disciples' faces.
"Brother Gho-"
"It's okay, just point me in the direction of the potion lab" Michael chuckled, asking the disciple to show him the way while they escape this dreaded exam of Olivia.
"Ghost?!"
"Whoa!"
"How long were you?!"
The three girls were stunned to hear the voice from behind, they turned back almost jumping back in shock,
"Hello" Michael gave a shot wave at the girls who were staring at him and the dragon with open mouths. Instantly their faces turned red as they started breathing heavily,
"What? You haven't seen a guy before?" Gaya got irritated looking at these girls almost having an orgasm just by checking him out.
Her voice immediately brought back the girls from their trance, cold sweats could be seen on their rosy cheeks, they stuttered," Oh, sorry Brother Ghost...can you give us an autograph?" one of the girls reached her hand out while the other handed him over the quill,
"Sure"
"Only on hands" Gaya saw one girl lowering her top to show off her cleavage, she knew the girl was going to ask him to sign her ample chest but Gaya's eyes made the girl correct her dress in an instant.
"Lucky bastard," thought the three male disciples, sighing in envy noticing the fire in the girls' eyes.
"Huhuhu" after the disciples showed him the direction to go to the potion lab, they ran as fast as they could to escape the exams. While he was on the way, the Baby Dragon nudged his ear, making a weak groan,
"What's he saying?"
"He said that he wants to sleep" She didn't even turn to look at the Baby Dragon on his shoulder, she just shrugged and said.
"Are you okay?" Michael creased his brows, asking the baby dragon to see him nod his little head,
"Well you must have been tired" Michael gently grabbed the Baby dragon, he then placed the baby dragon in his coat inner pocket, the baby dragon's favorite cozy place to snuggle and sleep.
"Who is this Olivia?" Michael asked surprised, a few moments ago, this place was buzzing with disciples and life but now, it turned into a Ghost town, not a single disciple could be seen roaming outside except for Gaya and him.
"Do you think she's beautiful?" he asked, teasing her for his timepass.
"Why do you ask?" he could hear the gritting sound of her teeth, she clenched her fist, ready to pounce him if he tried to bang Olivia, just like he did with Sadie.
"What do you think?" he said, slyly winking at Gaya to flame the fans of her jealousy. Just like he planned, she gnashed her teeth,
"You lecherous fuck!" she couldn't control herself after seeing that wry smile on his face, she put her head into his arms and started to punch him on his gut, of course, she didn't use her full strength but only enough to hurt him a little. Michael on the other hand laughed and kept knocking her on the head,
"Ouch" squealed Gaya, continuing to rain punches on his gut.
"You two!" suddenly a shout came from their back while they were playing. They immediately stopped what they were doing, they turned back to see a green-haired woman with an almost perfect hourglass figure walking towards them. Her shiny lush green hair fluttered in the wind, the golden robes were contrasting to her hair, she seemed to be in her early thirties or late twenties in Michael's eyes. She was a tad bit shorter than both Michael and Gaya, plus, she had hazel eyes behind those round glasses, sharp eyebrows. She was beautiful, not on the same level with Gaya or Alicia or even Claire but she was definitely prettier than Celina or Nyla. Many loved green or pink-haired girls but he always held a thought that these hair colors are just weird and spoil a girl's beauty.
Michael looked closer, tracing the Arch Energy in her body to find she was at Core Formation level 7, only a few months cultivation away from reaching the next level.
"Where do you think you two are going?"
"Who-"
Gaya's question was interjected by the woman, "shut up, I don't want to hear any excuses, you can't escape this exam" Michael realized this woman is the famous Teacher Olivia who made the disciples shudder in fear.
"But we are-"
Again, the woman stopped Gaya before she could finish her sentence, she stared at Michael for a moment before speaking,
"You must be one of those disciples who think so highly of themselves because of their talent for cultivation" He knew there's no stopping this lady as she went on,
"You may know hundreds of powerful battle spells, but no spell would close a wound in your body, if you don't have a basic knowledge of Alchemy to find a herb with healing properties, you sir will die unless of course, someone bails you. You rich kids always need saving, no self-dependence at all" Gaya wanted to slap Olivia to make her stop but Olvia's status as a teacher of Aragoth saved her from getting smacked from Gaya.
"If you don't finish brewing a basic healing potion by the end of this day, you won't have any resources for your cultivation for the next two months, plus, detention"
"Lady"
"Ah" the moment Gaya opened her mouth to address her as 'Lady', Olivia grabbed the snake's ear, twisted it,
"The girls are worse than the boys, no respect for their teachers" Michael wanted to save Gaya but his instincts told him to exploit Olivia's misunderstandings to earn some sweet badass points.
"Shut up and come with me"
"Take your hands off me human! Ah ah ah"
"Human? What are you, Miss?" Olivia kept twisting her ears while walking towards the potion lab.
"Calm down, Aelia" Michael controlled the urge to burst into laughter seeing Gaya receiving a taste of her own medicine from Olivia.
"You bastard, AHHh, lady you're... ahh"
"What a foul-mouthed girl, it seems I need to teach you some discipline too" realizing that her human wouldn't save her and she beat the heck out of this teacher because of her status, Gaya gritted her mouth, no more curses came out of her mouth.
"I'm coming...let go" Eventually after walking for a few minutes, Olivia let go of Gaya's ear after she asked her to. On their way to the Potion lab, Olivia hunted down a few other disciples who were unfortunate enough to get caught.
Olivia chewed them down, explaining why Alchemy is important for all of them regardless of which specialization the disciples preferred. Michael realized that she's trying to make Alchemy a compulsory subject in Aragoth. Many displeased seemed to disagree with Olvia's plan but Michael could only pity these ignorant disciples. Before learning Alchemy through the system, even he was ignorant of the power of Alchemy but soon, he was proven wrong, very wrong. Alchemy was such an overpowered skill to have, he knew potion or pills to overcome almost every problematic situation.
If you want to temporarily increase the cultivation level? There was a potion for that.
Are you born ugly? Don't worry, there's a pill to make a girl pretty and a boy, handsome.
You want to fake death? There's a pill for that too.
Michael thought.
If one was willing to make a necessary sacrifice, one could do anything with Alchemy. Even though many would argue that Runemastery was the most overpowered specialization, Michael would argue otherwise because his most powerful weapon was created through Alchemy, the Fear Toxin, not to mention he was earning a shitload of gold coins because of his Alchemy skills.
Of course, he couldn't care less if they don't want to learn Alchemy, after all, the fewer the alchemists in this world, the more the demand for him.
Intentionally walked behind all the disciples so they wouldn't recognize him too soon, spoiling the upcoming badass points fest.
Olivia had no idea that her idol, the man who she was trying to meet in person ever since she heard about him, was just walking behind her. If she had known it was him, she would have freaked out.
Eventually, Michael reached a tall building with an attractive lawn in front of it. The lawn itself showed the prestige of Aragoth as he saw many expensive uncommon herbs planted as mere decoration. They soon entered the building following Olivia, the air inside was filled with a medicinal fragrance of herbs and Alchemy ingredients, they walked into the open door to the wide hallway. Upon the walls were the paintings of older men who Michael guessed as some famous Alchemists. The floor was an old-fashioned parquet with a blend of deep homely browns and the walls were the greens of summer gardens meeting a bold white baseboard.
Finally, after walking through the corridors, they came in front of a classroom and saw the words 'Potion Classroom' written in beautiful calligraphy on the wall above the large green door.
"Here we go" Michael was hit by massive nostalgic memories of Harry Potter as he stepped into the potion classroom with a faint smile on his face.
The classroom was large enough to allow at least fifty students to work and its walls were lined with pickled creatures and weird-looking herbs in glass jars. In one corner of the room stood a basin into which bluish water poured from a gargoyle's mouth, while in another was a line of six feet tall cupboards.
The students who were already inside the classroom were so focused on the task on their hands as they even ignored looking at the newcomers.
On the far end of the room, one of the busy students was Nathen.
Just like others, he failed to notice Michael among the crowd. Closing the door, Olivia went straight to the long wooden table under a giant statue of a tree, she then flicked her wrist as rows of herbs and ingredients appeared on the table.
"Those who are my students, brew a disease cure potion while the others brew a basic healing potion, you can refer to the books on the cupboard over there," she said, pointing at the lines of cupboards.