Vincent could still increase his strength and stamina stats by ten points, but he would need to become the owner of the demon king's requiem first.

It wasn't going to be easy to do that, though.

He needed to pass a trial, and he didn't know how hard it would be and how long it would take him to finish it.

He decided to do it after solving the current affairs of his life.

Do one thing at a time; that's what Vincent wanted.

First off, he needed to train Eric, Salvador, and Gale.

After they succeed in purifying the ingredients, the rest of the class will naturally come to him and ask for advice.

He would just tell them what they needed to do, and as long as they stuck to his plans, they too will become proficient in the purifying process.

Then, once half of the class learns it, Instructor Alex would've no choice but to move his lazy butt and teach them the rest of the things related to alchemy.

It took half an hour for Eric and the other two to complete their task and return to Vincent. They dropped on the grass by his side and laid down there, breathing raggedly and blowing off the bitter sweat trickling down their lips.

"Ah, I am dead tired!" Gale exclaimed.

"I've never trained so intensely before." Salvador said, "It's like torture."

"Are you sure you're not taking revenge on us?" Eric joked while looking at Vincent.

"I'm not," Vincent said with a straight face.

"I was just joking." Eric thought that he had taken his words for real and corrected himself. Vincent detected not even a trace of imposing manner and overbearing arrogance that great royals would carry whether they went.

"Me too," Vincent said, again with a straight face.

His expression doesn't match his words; the three of them complained in silence.

"You all are exhausted, and your body is in dire need of rest. Go and take a nap, but be here at sunrise or I will take it as you're not serious about learning alchemy and go my own way." Vincent said with a decisive look in his eyes.

He wasn't their nanny. They weren't paying him to get taught either. So, he won't put up with any of their tantrums.

"6 in the morning, is it? I will be here by then, sir!" Eric said, treating Vincent as if he was a soldier or some kind of temporary instructor.

"Me too, sir!" Gale added with a salute.

"Me three!" Salvador said.

Vincent walked away.

Looking at his back, the three of them made fun of him, saying how he was a dead-face, a person who doesn't change his expression often.

The next day, the four met up in the same training room. It was still early in the morning. Most students were still sleeping. Yet, Gale, Eric, and Salvador sere here to get trained by Vincent.

"As you guys already know, with an energy circuit, you can control magic power or the purified version of it without using hand signs. That's the use of having it. But it also has disadvantages!

"It's harder to control energy using your circuit than using hand signs to do the same thing. And to discharge a determined amount of it out of certain places in your body, you need to know which veins you need to inject energy into it.

"So, how do we do that? Well, there are many, but I recommend you guys to learn my self-created magic technique, zapping, and keep on using it until you can feel the sensation of a limited amount of mana coursing through the veins in your body and coming out of the tip of your fingers. After feeling it and training repeatedly, you'll get used to it, and there will come a time when you'll know which veins to inject energy into to discharge mana from your fingers. And you guys will also gain better control over it."

Zapping was something Vincent had derived out of the magic technique, mana bullet. He didn't want to teach the latter to the others as it was one of his signatures skills, and he also didn't have the creator's permission in teaching others said skill. So, he decided on coming up with a new one and ended up creating zapping.

Like its name, it causes some units of mana to surge out of the fingers, mix into one to create a thin energy beam, and strike a single point on the enemy's body, causing them to feel stinging pain. It wasn't lethal or harmful but worked better than a finger flick.

"Are you going to teach your self-created technique for free?" Gale asked.

"If you don't want that, you can give me all your treasures." Vincent joked with a smile.

Seeing a smile on his face for the very first time, they were all shocked at how handsome he looked. Then, they coughed as they snapped out of their daze.

"You're a really good guy, but I won't be taking advantage of you," Eric said.

He gave Vincent a token.

"What is this?" Vincent asked.

"You can use this to purchase anything you like in the special shop of the academy," Eric replied.

Vincent knew that the student council was running the special shop, and his words just confirmed it.

He taught them the magic technique, and they started using it. At first, they zapped a dummy, then they became playful and started zapping each other while laughing and crying like idiots.

Vincent, who was looking at them from the sides, opened his mouth and said,

"At least after a few days, Eric, you won't be disintegrating alchemy ingredients."

Vincent turned towards Gale and continued,

"Gale, you'll become able to remove 50% impurities from an ingredient."

Vincent glanced at the leftover hunk and added,

"Salvador, you will do better than them if you just don't touch the ingredients with your hands during the purifying process. But of course, you'll gain better control over your body because of all the physical training, and picking them up with your hands won't cause them to get crushed as long as you concentrate and keep your physical exertion to the bare minimum."