First Lesson

Ten days passed in a flash, and the day Mentor Clark had mentioned for class arrived.

Benjamin had deliberately gotten up early today. After breakfast, he followed the admissions handbook's directions toward the Alchemy Workshop.

Noren Academy's Alchemy Workshop stood in a relatively remote corner of the academy district. It lacked the eye-catching appearance of a tower, instead seeming low and imposing, like a solid fortress rooted in the earth.

Its outer walls were made of a dark stone engraved with basic runes.

Passing through the Workshop's entrance, Benjamin found a spacious interior. The air carried a mixture of metal, ore, plants, and the scents of various strange chemical reactions. It smelled peculiar, but it was not particularly pungent.

Seeing that there was still plenty of time before the scheduled class, Benjamin simply wandered around inside.

The Workshop's internal layout was complex, like a massive beehive made up of countless rooms and corridors of varying sizes.

There were warehouses piled with raw materials, high-temperature furnace areas, Magic Potion preparation areas filled with distillation equipment and test tubes, as well as numerous basic and advanced experimental areas.

The location of their first class was a spacious basic Alchemy laboratory on the eastern side of the Workshop.

The laboratory's walls were made entirely of silvery-white metal. Dozens of sturdy workbenches stood within, each equipped with an adjustable magic-energy lighting device, a set of fixed metal clamps, and an exhaust chimney.

When Benjamin entered the basic Alchemy laboratory, he was somewhat surprised to find quite a few people already inside.

However, judging from the emblems on their robes, the only actual Alchemy Studies apprentices were Benjamin, Amy, and another male apprentice who looked rather arrogant.

The emblems on the others showed that they were apprentices from other schools. Benjamin even spotted the genius apprentice whose soul purity had been rated level nine during the aptitude test and who had been directly accepted as a disciple by a Soul School mentor.

The other apprentices also seemed surprised by that person's presence. A group was currently gathered around the genius.

Benjamin had no intention of joining them and instead found a relatively quiet spot against the wall.

What puzzled him somewhat was that Amy was here too.

"You're not going over there with them?" Benjamin asked in surprise.

Over the past few days, whenever they happened to meet in the dining hall, they would chat a little. He had also confirmed that this girl was truly a social butterfly.

No matter what kind of personality someone had, she could always find an appropriate way to speak with them. Benjamin had even briefly wondered whether she possessed some sort of related supernatural power.

Amy greeted Benjamin. Hearing his question, she casually spread her hands. "On the contrary, I don't think now is a good time to build connections. If I went over there now, I'd be nothing more than a background prop."

Benjamin nodded noncommittally. After all, she was the expert in this area, and he truly had no place telling her what to do.

"Come to think of it, there are only three new students in the Alchemy Department this year. What are all these other people here for?"

"They're here to learn Alchemy too, of course, but for them, it's only an elective. As far as I know, aside from this Soul School genius, the eldest daughter of the Augusta Family with level-nine talent and the young master of the Horn Family with level-eight talent have also enrolled in electives from other Logistics Department schools."

"So electives are possible too..."

Benjamin looked at the genius with level-nine soul purity and recalled what Wizard Jack had told him.

It seemed that the Logistics Department really was the orthodox branch of Noren Workshop. Even if these geniuses chose the Combat Department themselves, they would still be arranged to study in the Logistics Department.

As for these top geniuses receiving special treatment, Benjamin understood that well enough. Although Wizard Jack had said that a wizard's talent was not important, Benjamin, having experienced the introduction to the Meditation Method, knew even better that good talent could put someone ahead from the very beginning.

And with cultivation, one step ahead meant staying ahead at every step. Those who could truly rise against the odds were few.

"I'm so jealous. It would be great if I could take electives from other schools too," Benjamin said with a sigh.

Alchemy Studies already suited his needs quite well, but adding Potions Department or Runology courses would definitely make it even more suitable.

"If you want to take electives, you can," Amy said, looking at Benjamin. "Our Alchemy Studies classes are held once every five days, and the rest of the time is ours to use freely. As long as you complete the assignments given by the teachers and pay some points, you can study in other schools."

"Oh? The admissions handbook didn't mention that." Benjamin's eyes lit up. "How many points do electives cost?"

"Not much. I heard that the introductory knowledge of each Logistics Department school only costs five points, though teaching materials and such have to be purchased separately..."

Their conversation did not last long, because at some point, Mentor Clark had already appeared at the podium.

He still looked as rigid as ever, bald and wearing a monocle. He had on an old Alchemy robe that had been washed until it shone.

At Clark's arrival, the apprentices gathered around the level-nine soul talent apprentice all fell silent and hurriedly found the nearest workbench, standing there like frightened quails.

"Welcome to Alchemy Studies, one of Noren Academy's most stable and foundational disciplines." Mentor Clark paid no attention to the apprentices' reactions below, his tone even and unhurried.

"Here, you will learn the core of Alchemy—understanding, decomposition, and reconstruction."

"Understanding is recognizing the essence of matter and analyzing its elemental composition and energy properties. Decomposition is breaking matter down into the basic units that make it up. Reconstruction is using mental power to guide energy and matter according to your will, reshaping them into new forms or granting them new properties."

Mentor Clark's gaze swept across every apprentice present, and his tone turned serious. "Alchemy places extremely high demands on mental power. Your mental power is your strongest tool. The precision of your mental control determines the upper limit of your Alchemy."

He walked to a small operating table beside the podium. On it lay an irregular golden metal block that looked quite heavy.

"You should have all previewed basic Alchemy already, so we won't waste time. Today, our first lesson is basic shaping." Mentor Clark spoke calmly. "This is one of the most basic Alchemy practices: using mental power to control an object's form. We will practice with gold."

At the word "gold," expressions of surprise or excitement appeared on several apprentices' faces.

In the mortal world, gold was an extremely precious hard currency.

Mentor Clark seemed to see through their thoughts and explained coolly, "Gold is not rare in the Wizard World. We control several planes and have countless ways to obtain this metal. Once your Alchemy reaches a certain level, you can even transform other materials into gold."

"Compared to other metals, gold has stable properties and a simple composition, making it easier to analyze through Alchemy. Although it repels mental power more strongly and is harder to control, that repulsion also means that even if you fail, it will not trigger violent energy reactions, explosions, or poisonous gases. At most, the material will be damaged or its shape distorted. It is the most suitable and safest practice material for beginners."