She had just reached page 700, diving into the chapter of tenses after boarding the carriage.
About a hundred students in the classroom were at the same point in their studies.
They learned from senior students the importance of this course, naturally delving into self-study within the carriage.
"Oh, if only I had known, I wouldn't have spent time painting for the old customers."
Anju tapped her pen on the book, filled with regret in her tone.
Xia Zuo glanced at her companion's hair and chuckled, "You should ask the higher-grade sisters about hair care. The latter part of this book is way more complex than the beginning."
The two bantered in their seats, mirroring the playful chatter among the classmates scattered across the classroom.
The continuous buzz came to a halt as a figure stepped into the room.
Almost simultaneously, all the new students focused their gaze on the figure at the head of the school grounds.
Her curvaceous figure, despite the robe and long white coat, couldn't be concealed, enhancing her mature feminine charm.
As she moved, the elegant lines outlined by her robes captivated numerous male students.
Xia Zuo appraised her companion's tangerine-colored long hair and stunning visage, his gaze shifting from admiration to something more peculiar.
Mars once mentioned that the Nightstar Kingdom was founded two centuries ago.
Ever since its establishment, the Nightstar Academy had its leader, and she had been Beryl all along.
In other words, this delicate beauty before them was at least 220 years old, several generations senior to the present students.
Xia Zuo concealed his peculiar expression, discreetly deploying his reconnaissance ability.
[Character Name] Beryl
[Status] Head of Nightstar Academy, Unknown Tier Mage
[Health] ??? (Healthy)
[Resistance] ???
[Strength] 5
[Agility] 7
[Endurance] 9
[Vitality] 8
[Perception] 15
[Willpower] 12
[Spirit] ???
[Charm] 15
[Special Abilities]
[Shadow Meditation (Unknown Level)]
(Due to inadequate perception and knowledge reserves, further information couldn't be obtained)
Wow, 15 in charm.
Xia Zuo glanced around at his classmates with a sly smile.
Whether this information from his reconnaissance reflected the true data of the academy head remained unknown. Perhaps, just like Taylorus Meiso, she possessed undisclosed abilities, concealing her true strength.
But a charm of 15 was undeniably magnetic.
Even Anju couldn't help but gaze at Beryl's figure. Needless to say, the male students were captivated.
She truly appealed to everyone.
Of course, for the female students, Beryl's allure emanated from her self-care and maintenance.
Maintaining beauty and physique was always a focal point for women.
Beryl walked to the front of the lectern, leaning lazily against the edge, arms crossed, a serene smile gracing her lips as she said, "I'm Beryl, head of Nightstar Academy and your Alchemical Linguistics teacher. Now, let me check your self-study progress."
Her clear words prompted the students to flip through their copies of "Alchemical Linguistics" placed in front of them.
The rustling of pages turned dense yet brief.
Two seconds later, over a hundred volumes neatly closed in the classroom.
"Some of you are making good progress. Feel free to study other texts as long as you don't disturb others.
"The rest of you are quite aligned in progress. Let's delve straight into studying tenses."
Beryl snapped her fingers lightly.
The wall behind the lectern swiftly descended, unveiling a grand alchemy chamber, equipped with instruments and clusters of displays.
"Let me demonstrate the effects of tenses using the simplest alchemical potion."
Bundles of herbs and vials floated above the display cabinet behind Beryl, suspended in mid-air.
"The Satiation Gel is the first functional potion you'll learn in Alchemical Potions class. These are its raw materials."
Behind Beryl, glistening silver sand condensed invisibly, arranging into lines of text in the air, exhibiting the Satiation Gel's effects, the names of ingredients, and their required amounts.
Xia Zuo had seen the Satiation Gel in potion shops.
In the book "Alchemical Linguistics," this potion was used as an example to explain tense grammar.
It was a potion requiring relatively fewer processes and ingredients but challenging to acquire materials for.
A standard dose of Satiation Gel could provide a week's satiation. Simply put, consuming a piece meant no food for seven days, although regular water intake was necessary.
It offered several times the experience of normal meals and could continuously supply nourishment for a week.
The principle behind Satiation Gel wasn't intricate.
It slowly released nutrients in the body, ensuring the stomach was in a constant state of digestion.
Extracting these nutrients was a simple alchemical process achievable by novice potion makers given appropriate tools.
However, preserving these nutrients in the stomach without causing discomfort or premature expulsion was the primary challenge in developing the Satiation Gel.
This required the use of the Cage Digestive Mucosa.
The Cage Digestive Mucosa attracted insects, flies, and even small birds with its vibrant petals and peculiar fragrance.
The moment prey touched the flower, it opened, disguising itself as a stigma, swallowing the prey whole and transporting it to its digestive cavity buried in the soil.
The prey struggled within the cavity but ultimately succumbed to suffocation, destined for slow decomposition.
Alchemists cultivated Cage Digestive Mucosa, harvesting their mucosa every five years, processing it into a gelatinous coating encapsulating nutrients, resolving the main challenge in creating Satiation Gel.
Extracting nutrients and creating the gelatinous coating had to be simultaneous.
The material of alchemical tools, temperature, and humidity in the alchemy environment affected the appearance of products at different stages and processes.
Hence, guiding alchemists with a simple timeline wasn't feasible for their actions.
This was where the grammar of alchemical language tenses came into play.
While lecturing, Beryl controlled the alchemical apparatus behind her for demonstrations, bringing life to the otherwise inert and monotonous textual knowledge.
But the content was similar to what was in the book.
After listening for a while, Xia Zuo lowered his head to read "Illustrated Compendium of Magical Herbs," no longer observing the dancing potion vials or the silver sand weaving text descriptions.
After the first class, he beckoned to Anju, relocating to the last row's corner seat alone to avoid distracting others with his flipping pages and note-taking.
Beryl's prowess in simultaneously accessing everyone's texts made any disguise futile. It was better to wear the "top student" hat proudly and immerse oneself completely in self-study.
Rote memorization, this ancient skill passed down from the previous era, was now shining brightly within the Nightstar Academy.
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