Chapter 12: Potions Class

Max smiled and asked, "Hey guys, what are you talking about?" Alex, who was lost in thought, was startled and replied, "Nothing special, do you want to sit with us?" Max frowned, wondering what Alex was hiding. Could it be that he also liked Emily?

"Never mind, Alex. I just came here to ask Emily if she wants to go with me to the next class," Max said. Emily turned to Alex and asked, "Shall we all go together?"

"Alex doesn't have elementary Bible studies," Max responded. Alex checked his schedule and confirmed that his next class was Potions.

"But later, we'll have Olana's class. We could all go together," he suggested, looking at Max. Emily stood up from the table and said, "Sure, see you later, and have a good class." She then ran off.

Alex turned to Max and said, "See you later, Max. Have a good class." Max nodded and watched as Emily disappeared from view.

After a lengthy search, Alex finally stumbled upon the potions room - a dimly lit chamber with gray stone walls and a towering, vaulted ceiling. High, narrow windows allowed natural light to filter in, but the majority of illumination was provided by flickering candles and torches lining the walls. The room was lined with shelves brimming with ingredients and glass jars housing an array of potions, with a colossal cauldron positioned at its center for students to practice their potion-making skills. Several workbenches surrounded the cauldron, offering space for experimentation.

Taking a seat at a table towards the back of the room, Alex soon noticed that his cauldron was different from those in front of his fellow students. Nevertheless, he ignored it and waited patiently for the class to begin. Eventually, Klaus, the same teacher who had assessed the students' mana capacity during their first evaluation, strode into the room, his demeanor stern and serious. As he began to speak, the room fell silent. "My name is Klaus, and I am the source of knowledge for all who seek wisdom," he declared, his words grandiose in Alex's opinion. However, Alex struggled to focus as a pungent, unusual odor filled the air. Searching for the source of the smell, Alex peered under his table, only to find a fellow student sporting large glasses, a cloth covering his nose and mouth, and gloves holding two tubes of noxious solutions. Startled, Alex recoiled, drawing the attention of Klaus, who reprimanded him sharply for interrupting his introduction. "Alex Stern, I know you think you're special, but please let normal people learn," Klaus scolded him.

Dumbfounded by the bizarre turn of events, Alex apologized to the teacher and returned his attention to Klaus's speech. However, he couldn't help but glance back at the strange boy under his table, still producing the putrid odor. "Hey, what are you doing? It smells awful," Alex whispered. "You'll get caught, and this teacher won't go easy on you!" The student, his hair a disheveled mess, looked up at Alex and hushed him. "Shh, it's okay," he reassured Alex. "Just pass me the moon powder on the table." Avoiding another scolding, Alex peered down at the table, spying three powders: one blue, one white, and one green. Ruling out the green powder, he leaned down to ask the boy which one he needed. However, the boy's bottles were already overflowing with a liquid that appeared never-ending. "Moon powder, now! Quickly, before this explodes!" the boy urged, a look of panic etched on his eyes. In a split second, Alex realized it was a life-or-death situation and made a snap decision, grabbing a spoonful of white powder and passing it to the boy.

Alex realized that it was a life or death situation and quickly made a decision. He grabbed a spoonful of the white powder that was on the table and handed it to the boy without even looking at it. The boy dumped the powder into the tube he was holding, and as soon as the liquid came into contact with the powder, a noxious smoke with a terrible smell filled the room, spreading halfway across the space. The professor immediately used an arcane spell to create a vortex and expelled the smoke out of the window, but the foul odor remained in the air.

The professor then approached Alex sternly and said, "I knew you would be a problematic student, but I never expected you to almost destroy the entire classroom during our first lesson. Everyone in this room knows how dangerous it is to meddle with unknown materials. Please leave the classroom and think about what you have done. I also want a full-page apology from you."

As the professor turned his back on Alex, the young man was left in shock at his misfortune. However, before the professor could continue, a loud voice interrupted him. "Professor Klaus, the fault is mine. It wouldn't be fair for Alex to suffer the consequences of my actions." A small, dark-skinned boy with big glasses, spiky brown hair, and freckles on his face suddenly emerged from under the table. He was wearing the school uniform and had a scarf wrapped around his neck that previously covered his face.

Upon seeing the boy, Professor Klaus smiled and said, "Of course, the worst always ends up sticking together. Both of you, leave the classroom now!"

Without the ability to contest the teacher's decision, the two exited the classroom. As they walked down the hallway, the remorseful student turned to Alex and apologized, "I'm sorry Alex, I let you down."

Alex noticed the regret in the student's expression and sighed, "It's alright, I think I may have given you the wrong powder. I had a feeling it was blue..."

Confused, the student responded, "Alex, the moon powder is actually green..."

Upon hearing this, Alex burst into laughter, causing the student to struggle to hold back his own laughter. After a moment of shared amusement, the student introduced himself, "Nice to meet you, Alex. My name is Jitendrasingh Feller." As Jitendrasingh extended his hand for a shake, Alex was puzzled by the unfamiliar name. Jitendrasingh chuckled and said, "Just call me Jiten, haha."

Curious, Alex asked Jiten, "Why were you making that potion in class?"

Jiten explained, "I was trying to make a smoke potion to help people fall asleep. There's been a lot of noise near my house at night, and my father, who's getting old, needs rest."

Alex suggested, "But wouldn't it be easier to just complain or ask them to keep it down?"

Jiten replied, "We've tried, but we suspect the noise is coming from one of the church facilities, so it wouldn't do much good to complain to the church about the church..."