“Is your boyfriend here?”
“No, no, no, no, no! Erylin! That was just a joke back then, a joke! Didn't you hear it?!”
“Is that... so?”
Erylin tilted her head in an adorable manner.
Ain said, somewhat speechlessly, “Never mind Erylin. Violet, what are you doing here?”
“It's very dangerous outside right now.”
“Huh? It's just...”
He only won against a Tier 4 Mage, who does he think he's looking down on!
In the end, Violet didn't say those words out loud.
She was only a Tier 2 Mage.
Erylin answered, “We're making an antidote.”
“An antidote?”
Ain suddenly recalled that there indeed seemed to be such a scene in the original plot.
Hermetica and Persephone had teamed up to solve the mania problem of the magical beasts, but in the end, they still failed to produce a cure.
To survive the mania phase of these magical beasts, they had to wait an entire day for them to completely regain their sanity.
“If even the professors couldn't make it, how could you possibly pull it off?”
Ain shook his head in resignation.
If she could make it, Violet's name would definitely have been on the list of key characters for Act Two.
Should I praise her for her research spirit?
“Who are you looking down on? Do you think you're so...”
Violet clenched her fists, but she ultimately didn't finish her sentence.
It was hard to say for anyone else, but if it was Ain...
He might actually be able to make it.
Violet felt so bitter. She really, really resented this.
How can someone's talent be maxed out in both magic and potionology research at the same time?!
Can't you just share half of it with me?!
Looking at the dozens of leftover potions on the table, Violet dragged her feet, lazily raised her hand, and made a perfunctory “after you” gesture.
“Ah, fine, I surrender. You do it, you do it.”
Seeing this, Erylin spoke up in surprise, “Eh? Ain actually knows potionology too?”
“Sigh, I don't, I don't. I'm just a layman.”
Violet knew Ain was being sarcastic.
How is this guy so petty?
As he spoke, Ain walked over to the lab bench and began flipping through the experimental reports and potions on the table.
Before long, Violet caught a change in him.
His brow furrowed slightly, and his fingertips unconsciously rubbed his chin, looking as if he was lost in deep thought.
Seeing Ain's troubled expression, a hint of slyness flashed in Violet's eyes, and the corners of her mouth curved up uncontrollably.
What do you know, you can't figure it out either, can you?
A potion I can't make, Ain can't make either. Therefore...
I equal Ain!
“I remember Lady Margaret saying it would take thousands of samples to get it right. Underclassman, it's actually quite normal if you can't make it.”
“Try a few more times. Don't lose heart~”
Violet spoke nonchalantly, feeling incredibly pleased with herself.
That's what you get for being sarcastic with me!
After contemplating for a moment, Ain picked up one of the experimental reports and pointed at the results on it.
“This path of yours won't work. You changed the purification base, but your inducing agent is still targeting this same functional group, so...”
“Ahahahaha!”
Violet suddenly burst into laughter.
She first shook her head with feigned solemnity, and then an extremely gratified smile appeared in her eyes, as if she had finally caught an opportunity to show off.
Violet stepped up to Ain, ignored the confusion in his eyes, and very naturally raised her hand to gently ruffle his hair.
Ain: “?”
“My dear underclassman, you don't understand this, do you?”
As Violet walked over to the laboratory blackboard, she began writing down the derivation of the targeting rules for toxic functional groups.
She was going to give Ain a good lesson.
Erylin stared blankly at the long string of derivations on the board. Although she wasn't in the potionology department, she felt that just memorizing all of this would take a very long time.
“So! Underclassman! See this? This!”
Violet tapped the blackboard.
“Out of all the toxic structures, only this one is the most critical functional group! So even if you change the purification base, the target functional group remains this very one!”
“Ah, this is actually a mistake that many students make. Underclassman, you might not know much about this area...”
“It's fine, just pay attention to it in the future!”
Violet patted Ain's shoulder and gave him a thumbs-up, the smile on her face becoming even more pronounced.
You finally have your day!
I've memorized every single theory in potionology! So what if you found a flaw in the purifying agent's production process? When it comes to theoretical knowledge, you're still just a self-taught amateur in the end.
After all, the library doesn't even have many of the theoretical books on potionology!
Making a mistake here is perfectly understandable.
“You might have misunderstood my meaning...”
Ain brushed her hand aside and looked at Violet with a speechless expression.
He hadn't even finished speaking, yet she had already burst into laughter.
Ain had no idea what she was laughing about.
“What I meant was, that functional group is an inert group, not a toxin. Those magical beasts weren't poisoned at all.”
“What caused the magical beasts to enter a state of mania should be a signaling component.”
“...Huh?”
Violet was dumbfounded.
What is an inert group? Do functional groups actually have different names?
And what on earth is a signaling component? Aren't there only toxic components in potions?
What do you mean they weren't poisoned? If they weren't poisoned, how did they fall into a state of mania?
No, wait, I know all these words individually. How do they make a sentence when put together like this?
The textbooks don't say anything like this at all!
While rummaging through the potion cabinet, Ain replied, “The toxic component is responsible for creating chaos. The magical beasts' high fevers, sudden surges in mana, tissue disintegration, and so on are all related to it.”
“But this mania should be caused by a signaling component. In other words, in the potions that caused those beasts to go wild, what seems to be an obvious toxic reaction is actually just scrambling the beasts' cognition, mixing all their survival instincts together, which leads to manic behavior.”
“The toxic component is merely the arsonist. If everyone only focuses on putting out the fire, the house's valuables will probably have been stolen clean in the chaos long ago.”
“Come to think of it, is the term 'signaling component' something that won't be proposed until a few years from now...”
As he spoke, Ain began messing around with the potions and equipment in his hands.
When he was helping Sevis detoxify earlier, he had already felt that something was off.
If there was a toxin that even healing magic couldn't cleanse, did that mean what was mixed into the Soul-Shattering Howl wasn't a toxin at all?
But these were all just Ain's speculations.
He wasn't sure if they were correct either.
Relying on the impressions in his mind, in just over ten minutes, Ain had produced a bottle of deep blue potion.
This was a potion that would only be developed in the mid-game, and its effect happened to be removing certain contaminated signaling components.
“Here.”
“That's... it?”
Violet took the potion in disbelief.
Although she hadn't understood a single thing he had just said...
But! She could see the funding from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society waving at her!
My goodness! Lord Ain!
I will never slander you again!
“That's it, but this is only the initial version. I haven't seen its actual effectiveness, so you'd better adjust the proportions before using it.”
Violet nodded.
“It's just adjusting proportions, that's nothing!”
“It's different. This is just the initial version, and the ingredients inside are highly unstable. Thus, adjusting the proportions when using it is actually the hardest step.”
“Okay, okay, okay! I've got it!”
At this moment, Erylin also leaned closer.
“So... this is the potion that can cure those magical beasts of their mania?”
Ain glanced at her expression and responded, “Mm, that's right! If we use it on those magical beasts, then the Echo Forest will...”
“Underclassman! Give me a kiss!”
Violet suddenly put on an affectionate act, but Ain pushed her approaching face away with a look of utter disgust.
However, Violet didn't mind at all.
“Wahahaha! With this, the academy's Dawn's Crown of Thorns will be ours this time!”
“Dawn's Crown of Thorns?”
Seeing Ain's confusion, Violet explained the whole story to him.
After a brief moment, Ain spoke with a serious expression, “No, you can't do that.”
“Why?”
Violet was slightly startled, thinking: Ain doesn't feel slighted because he thinks I'm stealing his hard work, does he?
It's fine! I can take just ten percent!
Before Violet could speak, a mischievous grin suddenly appeared on Ain's face as he spoke.
“Violet, think about it. If you directly publish everything about this potion, you'll only get the prize money.”
“But if you first give those guys from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society some hope, tell them you've discovered a new potionology component, and that this potion is the proof—but it was just something you made by accident, and the details are still incomplete...”
“Think about how much start-up funding you can swin... ahem, earn from them!”
“As long as you report a bit of progress every once in a while to make them think you've achieved a breakthrough in this area, they will invest even more money in you!”
“But in reality, we've already finished everything!”
Violet's mouth fell open slightly.
What a brilliant idea!
Ain must be a genius!
“Only you and I know about this, no one else... well, except for Erylin.”
Erylin blinked her eyes in an adorable manner.
What are they talking about?
...
“Alright, let's head back then!”
Violet waved to Erylin, holding the bottle of blue potion from earlier in her hand.
Just as Erylin, who was sitting on the desk, was about to stand up, Ain grabbed her hand, summoned Mordred, and had it accompany Violet.
“You go back with it first.”
Ain nodded to Violet, signaling her to leave quickly.
Violet had a peculiar look on her face, her gaze darting directly between the two of them.
Ain... doesn't actually like Erylin, does he?
A lone man and a lone woman in a classroom...
Tsk tsk tsk. Whatever, I don't care about that!
Hehehe, Dawn's Crown of Thorns! The Dawn's Crown of Thorns is the most important thing!
Violet quickly left the laboratory.
“Ain, those hidden magical beasts in the academy are very dangerous. Maybe we should still...”
“Mordred is enough to deal with them.”
“But...”
“Erylin.”
“Eh?”
Ain't face was as calm as water, but a trace of coldness leaked from his eyes.
“You actually have something you want to say, don't you?”
Rate on N.U.
