The sea mist dispersed in the morning light, and Free City slowly woke.
After a day exploring the city, Griffin arrived at the City Lord's Mansion. Annan received him in his faithful office—the Lounge.
"How did you like it?"
Griffin spoke with what seemed like genuine admiration. "Everything here is wonderful. Even the air is sweet with freedom..."
"Stop right there."
Annan still wasn't used to flattery from a near-senior Alchemist. "Did you visit the Mushroom House and the Mage Tower?"
"Yes. You have great ambitions. Pledging my loyalty to you was the best decision I could have made..."
Annan neither agreed nor disagreed. "I'm thinking of placing you at one of those two, or at Free City University. Any preference?"
He had decided to leave the choice to Griffin.
"I'd like to go to the university."
That was what Annan had in mind too, though their ideas differed slightly.
Annan wanted Griffin to teach Alchemy Studies there.
Griffin wanted to enroll as a student.
"A student?"
"I need to soak up this knowledge like a sponge."
Griffin was being modest, but the more modest he sounded, the stranger Annan found it.
Suppressing his unease, Annan said, "But making an Alchemist of your stature a student would be a waste of your talents. If you just want to attend classes... how about sitting in as a visiting professor? We can say you're studying teaching methods."
"I have no objection." Griffin accepted readily.
Annan then asked what he was best at.
"Potions and research."
"Potions... Griffin, I have an idea."
Annan told Griffin about his plan to bring potion-making into a standardized production process. As a fellow Alchemist who believed in scientific principles, Griffin ought to understand.
And he did. Griffin was very interested.
A fully automated Potion Workshop was still