A few minutes later, the door to the room opened. Everyone turned silent as Alex, the alchemist, entered the classroom. They knew that his temper was the worst among the instructors, that it wasn't good to annoy him, so they kept quiet. No one wanted to get on his nerves and get humiliated, especially when they were burdened with maintaining their family's honor.

Instructor Alex turned to the students sitting at the tables that could house two people at most. There were more than thirty here, meaning at least sixty people have come today. The class could change its size according to the number of people entering it so he could teach an n-amount of students at any time.

He saw many new faces, so he said, "Hello, class! Today, I will start from the very basics of alchemy as there are many new faces here."

After saying that, he placed some ingredients on his table.

"Two things are the most important when it comes to learning alchemy. The first is having a good head on your shoulders as it would allow you to memorize the effects and characteristics of many herbs, which you'll have to learn to become sound alchemy. The second is knowing how to purify an ingredient from its impurities.

"Before I teach you guys how to purify ingredients, let's have a little talk about impurities. As you all already know, most magic herbs and plants absorb magic energy present in the surroundings to grow. Magic energy itself is impure in nature, meaning the things absorbing them to grow would also accumulate impurities over time. These impurities are harmful to us humans and also demi-humans and the subspecies. Some might be more resistant to them, but it doesn't mean that they don't get harmed by them. Impurities are like poison that takes roots in the body and then spreads outwards, devouring our body from inside out, causing us to get ill and, worse, become weak! So, you guys must remember always to do your best when it comes to purifying the ingredients that you will use to create a pill! And also, remember that it's hard to nigh impossible to get rid of all the impurities from ingredients, so it is impossible to create a pill that lacks all impurities; thus, you must never take pills in excess or prescribe others to eat your pill in excess. Or else, I will personally denounce you and get rid of your status as an alchemist!

"Do you guys get it?"

Alex, the alchemist, said in a frosty voice that chilled the ones who heard his words to the bones. His eagle-like eyes were staring at all the students and noticing the change in their expression. They felt threatened under his gaze. Everyone could tell that he was absolutely serious when he said that he would get them banned if they blindly chased after profits without following the ethic and basic morals of an alchemist.

"I understand, sir!" Eric said.

"What did you understand?"

"That I must conduct myself with dignity worthy of an alchemist. I must make it clear to others what would happen from taking my pills in excess or if there are any adverse effects in even consuming a single piece, no matter how high my losses become from doing so." Eric replied, looking as graceful as a handsome prince on a white horse.

"Good!" Alex slammed the table and said, "The law doesn't enforce such rules on alchemists, and most of them hide the adverse effects of their pills but advertise their benefits so that people would get fooled into buying their pills. Such acts, although they will make you reap a lot of profit, will make you fall under the weight of your own greed in the end. No matter what, justice comes above all, even law, so do everything righteously and never lower your morals even if it means losing a treasure trove."

"I hope all of you will become masters in this field, not crooks and lying bastards that put others' lives at risk or getting many diseases."

All those words, no matter how rough they sounded, came straight out of his heart and touched most of the students. Some even joked to themselves that instructor Alex could join the political party of the alchemist society with his glib tongue, and he might even become its new president for a decade.

Vincent heard his words and promised that he wouldn't let greed blind his eyes. What use was wealth if he earned it by killing the people that his parents and their companions died protecting?! Of course, such wealth was useless, and he had no desire for it.

"Now, I am going to purify these few ingredients you see on my table." Instructor Alex said, "Magic Blueberry, Red leaves, Mulberry's branch, and flower of the night, these four ingredients added together form the energy recovery pill that restores 50 to 100 units of energy depending on its grade. The alchemist association had divided pills into different grades, but I will take about it later. For now, let's focus on the purifying process."

Under the attentive eyes of Vincent, Eric, his knight, and the rest of the students, instructor Alex let his mana surge out of his body and directed it into all four ingredients simultaneously.

"To purify an ingredient, you need to have pure magic power, more commonly known as mana. It's an energy that lacks impurities. As you inject it into the herb, the mana annihilates impurities. One unit of mana annihilates one unit of impurity. Ingredients have varying amounts of impurities, and you will be able to tell how many impurities it carries by seeing whether it's rotten, dry, or has lost its color. You'll need to read the classic on magic herbs and ingredients to understand that."

By the time he finished saying those words, black sand-like grains had come out of the four ingredients. There were a lot of them. They started moving towards each other almost as if they had a life of their own!