Way of the Knights

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"Raven."

Not bothering to introduce himself properly, Raven just casually gave them his nickname.

The old man wanted to say more but he couldn\'t since he once again broke into a fit of coughing. The old man did a brief scan of his body earlier and found out that he had some serious bruises and cut throughout his body, there\'s a couple of wounds on his face and he had inhaled a small amount of the burnt remnants from the failed product, even though he already acted on it by consuming some recovery pill, it\'s obvious that it would take some time before it take effect, this is due to his metabolism being greatly reduced because of his age.

Raven sighed and took pity on the old man, in his mind he knew that the old man already paid for his blunder earlier and simply staring at his poor condition is just further insulting him.

He walked up and crouched in front of the old man, he took out two vials containing green liquid. He passed the first one to the old man and said: "Drink this." His tone issued no refusal, the old man became somewhat dazed and followed his command.

As the green liquid slid through his throat, he felt that he swallowed a sweet jelly. Wherever this liquid passed through, it left a warm and cozy trail which cause the old man to feel great comfort. He didn\'t understand what\'s going on, he never consumed anything like this. Even without his urging, the liquid automatically circulated in his body and brought comfort to the stinging injuries earlier.

He was about to ask Raven about that liquid but he remained silent as he saw him doing something that would truly broaden his horizons.

Raven popped the cork of the second vial, he then poured it\'s contents on his hand. The liquid remained intact on his palms despite that, after throwing the empty vial back on his spatial ring, he then made a simple hand seal which caused the liquid to float out of his hands.

Using both of his hands now, he guided the liquid to spread out until it was as wide and tall as the old man. With a gentle push, the old man saw the liquid enveloped his whole body.

Comfort. That is probably the best description on what the old man is feeling as of this moment. The second that liquid made contact with his skin, he felt like he was wrapped into a warm hug. He suddenly felt like he was floating, not only that but he also felt like all of his fatigue, stress and hunger disappeared. He suddenly felt like it was easier to breathe and that his strength returned to him at this instant.

On the other hand, he also find it difficult to believe what\'s currently happening. On how a man, this young, was able to perform such miraculous deeds was beyond him.

Jacob, witnessed everything from start to finish, and just like the old man, he also couldn\'t believe what he was seeing. Who knew that this young man was ten times more capable than he was? And to think that he even tried to tell him off earlier was just plainly outrageous now that he think about it. What genius? What prodigy? This, this right here is the true prodigy!

"You should be fine now, but just to make sure you fully recover, don\'t do anything that will strain you further today."

Saying that, he smiled and helped the old man up. The old man could only nod in embarrasment as he was again reminded that he made a fool out himself earlier. He was thinking on how to recover his pride even just a little but decided against it since he didn\'t want to appear as someone who doesn\'t appreciate graciousness.

"Thank you and my apologies for offending you earlier young friend. You have truly broadened my horizons today. I guess I allowed my seniority get the best out of me, causing me to make a fool out of myself."

"All of it\'s behind us. No need to worry about it." Raven nodded and accepted his apology.

"That being said, may this old man know your true identity? I\'m not sure if I have seen you before." The old man asked out of curiosity.

"My name is Vendrick Valorheart, Raven is fine. I\'m one of the knew student for the Genius Class." Raven made a curt bow as he introduced himself.

Nonetheless, the old man and Jacob was stunned.

"Aha! So that\'s how it is! No wonder, no wonder!" The old man chuckled in realization. In fact, he should\'ve realized this already when Raven was able to name the ingredients for the Bloodburst Pill. No regular students could do such feat, only prodigies could do something like that.

"Why don\'t we switch places, this room is a mess. Jacob, please call some janitors to clean up this room will you?"

"Yes sir!" Jacob nodded immediately and went out to call the janitors.

Meanwhile, the old man asked Raven to follow him to the adjacent room. It was a regular office but no one was currently using it so the two was free to discuss everything in there.

"I believe I have yet to introduce myself…" the old man cleared his throat and continued: "My name is Richard Poon, the current director of this branch. Pleased to be your acquaintance young friend Raven."

"Same here, Director Richard." Raven nodded as he accepted the gesture.

"I\'ll speak casually if you don\'t mind?"

"Go ahead Director."

"I\'m rather curious, for someone at your age how could you have such knowledge about alchemy?" Richard was rather careful when he asked this, afraid of further offending Raven, he followed up with additional explanation so as to prevent that from happening.

"You see, youths nowadays prefer chasing after battles and totally disdain Alchemy. To them, fighting in the frontlines are more exciting and more rewarding of an experience compared to studying thick books about plants and herbs, as well as refining pills which is costly and tedious."

"So it is rather uncommon to see someone genuinely study Alchemy during their youth, specially knowing that you came from the Genius Class."

Students of the Genius Class are the cream of the crop, the best batch of students amongst hundreds or probably thousands of students. Of course, Richard was no stranger to the type of tests one has to go through in order to be included at that class, it\'s always centered about combat. So it is safe to assume that this student in front of him is also a battle genius, if that\'s so, then how was he so knowldegable about alchemy? How does he find time to study those old and boring books that no other youths touch?

"Alchemy is a very fascinating topic." Raven opened his explanation like so, which made the old man smile. "It\'s a miracle how a single, round pill, is able to pull someone out from the grasp of death. Most people forget about the benefits of medicine, up until they are in the situation where they wished they have one."

"In fact, someone might argue that Alchemy is more than just curing someone. But it makes me wonder…"

"If only the prices of pills could be reduced, then more people might be able to afford it and use it. If only the quality of pills and medicines produced as better, then people wouldn\'t be afraid of pill toxins. If only there are ways to experiment and change the recipe for medicines, maybe there would be an accidental discovery or improvements to be made. And on top of it all…"

"If only we have better Alchemy, that would certainly be another trump card that we have against those who threaten our safety."

"At least…that\'s what I think." Raven finished his explanation, leaving Richard stunned in his seat.

\'This child…\' he thought in his head. Oh how he wished that it wasn\'t only like him who thought this was. How he wished that people would realize Alchemy\'s potential. But just like Raven\'s thoughts, he could only wish for this things to happen, after all it\'s not so easy to change the crowd\'s opinion.

"I have one more question if you don\'t mind…" Richard supressed his excitement and asked Raven after seeing him nod, "Those green liquids earlier. Are those your creation?"

Raven nodded within a heartbeat. "Yes they are. They are called Healing Salves, it used two kinds earlier. One that works when injested, and one that works upon skin contact. The ones I used to you is a mid-rank C-grade potion."

Once again Richard was rendered speechless but this revelation. He wasn\'t so surprised that those potions are truly his creations since he already had an idea that it was. What shocked him was the grade of the potion. C-grade? In theory, this potion shouldn\'t have worked on him since his he was already so old and the injuries he got was rather serious, but truth of the matter was it did and it even performed excellently, which only means one thing, this potion is extremely potent!

"I want to personally invite you as an offical member of the Pill Saint Pavillion."