100 Names

Alchemy is a very important factor to the world and every profession known to exist. Hunters heavily depend the products alchemists make, blacksmiths depend on them, even kings and queens depend on them. Some may even say alchemists are more important than wizards; Give an endurance potion to an Elemental Swordsman and he'll dominate the battlefield, give a Thief a night vision potion and he'll dominate the darkness.

But then again, who are these alchemists? They are still wizards.

The prospect of becoming an alchemist is to have Mindpower, and having Mindpower is a sign of having Spellcasters quality, now, then again who wouldn't want to become a Spellcaster, one who can command the elements and bend laws of nature?

Despite all these the path of becoming an alchemist is said to be harder than just becoming a Spellcaster. That is why alchemists are treasured by many.

...

Clap Clap

Two loud claps woke everyone and prompted them to raise their heads. Many amongst the seventy or so students were dissatisfied with the nature of the test. Those who knew little about herbs or alchemy had it worse, while those who knew about alchemy, one way or another, could not give more than half of what was in the list.

A few were satisfied with their knowledge of knowing more than thirty, some more than fifty, while a handful could give sixty or thereabout.

"Now, if you have noticed because I'm such a good teacher to you all, I had given you five extra minutes, yet, I can still see some of you were not satisfied with that. Well, that can only be your fault." alchemist Erin walked across the podium and sat behind what look to be a large customized pot specifically made for alchemy purposes. It is called a cauldron. "And now for your test, I want you to rewrite everything that was written on that piece of paper, every herbs I have taught was there, so it shouldn't be hard, now should it?" when another uproar was about to happen his voice boomed across the hall again, "You have thirty minutes to submit!"

With that everyone was silenced. They all knew the subject they had chosen wasn't an easy subject but, because of one reason or the other they were forced to put up with it. Only a handful were truly interested in the field. And Ben was one of those handful.

Ben picked up his quail and began writing, from the list Ben realized the first ten on the list were the easiest herbs to memorize and he knew some people, if not all would right those ten herbs first. He wouldn't be doing that, however, instead he wrote down the ones that were hard to remember first.

Ben decided that from this moment onward he'll showcase some of his many talents, such as in this test. He was going to write down every herbs in the list. Ben waited for a while and just looked at his classmates around him. He could only laugh in his head. He realized that no matter the place there will always be people (students) who are slow learners despite having a certain advantage.

Mindpower doesn't only help one channel the Magic power from inside the body out, it literally increases the strength of the brain, meaning the higher the Mindpower the more one can remember things. This is why wizards of over one hundred years can still remember many many things.

This kept Ben wondering, why is it that these people who have nearly the same amount of Mindpower as every other fellow student find it hard to memorize a few hundred words while other find out 'not so hard'?

'Whatever that isn't my problem.' Ben thought.

Ben took a glance at the slay queen, Ashley, she seemed quite serious when writing not showing her previous playful and teasing self. Ben was surprised to know this young lady at the front was actually a vixen. She is one of the reasons why the boys hardly concentrate in class. Not only her, but some other Chosens who became slay queens. They are simply sheep in wolves clothing.

In truth they are one of the most smartest students there is amongst the Chosens when it comes to Alchemy. How does he know this? It's because they score high scores in class. Some retards would say they use their bodies to score high scores but Ben knew that wasn't the case. Ben had seen these so called slay queens burn more than a dozen midnight candles¹ more than once. That's why he believes they are 'sheep in wolves clothing'.

"Is there a problem, Ben?" alchemist Erin inquired from the podium. All eyes quickly fell on Ben.

"No sir, there isn't a problem." Ben replied.

"If so, does this mean you're done?" asked alchemist Erin.

Ben looked at his paper and then the alchemist on the podium and then back at his paper. "Yes, sir."

Gasps rang out while laughter ensued. It hasn't been more than ten minutes and yet, someone says he's already done. They could bet he didn't write more than ten words.

"Really? Then do you wish to submit your paper?"

"Yes, sir." this time his answer made those around widen their eyes in disbelief.

Ben rolled up his parchment and walked towards the podium, on his way he passed by Ashley and took a glance at her paper and saw that she has written up to thirty names already, with enough time she could write more. Ben handed the rolled up parchment to the teacher.

"Are sure you are done?" alchemist Erin asked with a frown. He didn't believe a student is able to finish this test in less than ten minutes.

"Yes, I'm sure. May I leave, sir. I'll be having another class in a while." Ben said when the man was about to open Ben's parchment.

Erin stopped midway and looked at the young man before him frowning deeply. He would not want to be found being the worst teacher in the institute because of these students, but hearing Ben's request made him ask a question. "What class are you about to take?"

Ben considered what to say, he didn't mind telling the man but his next words would be hard to believe.

He was having Runology next!

"Answer me young man." alchemist Erin demanded.

"Runology."

Silence...

No one spoke for the next few seconds as they tried to understand what he said.

"He must be kidding, isn't he?" someone from the back shouted unbelievably.

"Silence!" alchemist Erin stopped and shouted at the class who were making so much noise. "Very well, you may leave." he said to Ben.

Ben gave a respectful bow before stepping out of the hall. His next class was going to start in the next two hours and wasn't going to waste his time sitting around when he was done with the simple test.

Alchemist Erin looked at the fading image of Ben's silhouette from the podium wondering what the student was thinking to decide studying two of the most hardest subjects known to wizardry. It must be that he's either incredibly intelligent or overly stupid.

"Sir, I'm ready to submit." alchemist Erin got broken from his thoughts when he heard someone else was done, looking up only to see one of the slay queens, Ashley.

"I hope you aren't rushing things, Ashley, because that will be bad." the teacher silently berated his student.

Ashley came closer to the teachers beside the cauldron and said in a whisper, "Forget about that brother. Have you checked what he got?"

If people knew these two were actually siblings that would have a hard time to believe it. They have clearly seen Ashley openly flirt with the teacher countless times and have even seen when she had left the teachers private office on many occasions, so it was a little hard to believe they were siblings.

"No, I haven't." Erin looked at the only parchment still on his table untouched, he even questioned himself on why he hasn't checked it yet. He wouldn't want to admit it but he feared this parchment would have a rather shocking result within.

"Well, check it out already." Ashley urged impatiently.

Going over to his table he took the parchment, glancing at the class he saw they were all looking at him and his sister, he sighed knowing there will be nothing that could be said to change the way these students looked at him and his sister.

They would always see them as teacher and students having an affair.

He rolled open the parchment and proceeded to read from the beginning. The more he read the wider his eyes widened. From the very beginning the names written were one of the hardest to remember. Running through the list those at the end of the list were actually those that were at the very top of the list when he first handed out the papers. The most shocking part of it was, there were exactly one hundred names on the parchment.

"One... one hundred names." alchemist Erin stammered when he saw the number of herbs listed.

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1 Burning the midnight candles means reading throughout the night. Because this term was made when electricity wasn't invented yet and candles were used to study in the dark it became a popular term.

2 Sheep in wolves clothing. Like the reverse 'Wolf in sheep's clothing', it means the opposite.