"Let go!" Emily shouted, struggling as Aurelia tightened her grip before protesting.


    "No! Not until you say you will shut up!"


    That seemed to upset Emily as she nced at Neraxis, signaling for him to do something.


    But he simply pretended not to notice, earning a frustrated sigh.


    "Fine!" Emily shouted before grabbing Aurelia''s waist and tickling her.


    "Aaah! Stop!" Aurelia shouted through giggles before suddenly pulling Emily''s hair. Before long, the two of them fell to the ground, cushioned by the mana Neraxis emitted at thest moment.


    Emily red at her sister before grabbing hold of her shoulders. "Ugh... you idiot. I was only ying around. Do that again, and I will confiscate all the sweets in the house."


    As soon as her words fell, Aurelia mimed zipping her mouth shut as the two of them finally turned toward Neraxis.


    "I am sorry you had to see that," Emily apologized with reddened cheeks, purely out of embarrassment.


    Neraxis nodded, ncing at Aurelia, who seemed even more embarrassed than her sister.


    She did thisst time too, but just with the sweets I brought, he thought with amusement.


    [It looks like she''s just very shy around those she doesn''t know and way too open with those she does,] Evangeline remarked, to which he agreed.


    Seems like it. But I do hope they finally give me the schedule. I still need to get a schedule from Liora as well.


    "Right!" Emily eximed before standing up and heading over to the lone desk in the room, swiftly pulling out a sheet of paper and handing it to him.


    "These are the nned outings so far. As you can see, the first one is just next week," she exined before pointing at the three locations.


    One in particr caught his eye—Stradon Fortress.


    It was a fortress that was quite far away from his current city, yet from what he could recall, it held a gathering there every five years.


    Coincidentally, the gathering happens to be next week.


    "I see," Neraxis nodded in response before cing the schedule in his dimensional pocket and asking, "How many club members do you have?"


    "With you two, ten," she answered with a smile, making his brow rise.


    "Isn''t that a bit too low for a travel club?" Neraxis questioned, his voiceced with suspicion, but he was met with a shrug in response.


    "I don''t make the rules—the headmaster does. He told me to keep the numbers low, and that''s what I did. In exchange, he''d send us on more fancy trips," Emily said, excitement in her tone.


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    Neraxis understood what she meant. If it was really William''s doing, then the circumstances were truly unpredictable.


    "I see. Well... Emily, Aurelia, see youter?"


    "Yup, see you next time, Neraxis." Emily did a small wave before turning to Aurelia, who, without speaking, waved as well.


    He took that as his cue to leave and slowly made his way to the Alchemy club, just a few hallways down.


    Yet once he arrived, a mass of people greeted him, each one trying to get into the club room.


    However, with each person that came in, two were thrown out.


    Such a cycle continued until eventually, it was his turn to go in next, with people trying to push him aside but not even being able to make him budge.


    As he walked through, he spotted multiple sets of potions, some of which he could tell at a nce were of the highest quality.


    And then, at the very front, sat Liora, alongside two more people who were of simr age to Neraxis.


    Just as Liora finally saw who hade in, she stood up with a huge smile on her face before saying, "Neraxis! You are finally here. Come, sit."


    He spotted a chair by the side and picked it up, taking it over to where Liora was, and sat down.


    "I''vee to get the schedule, if you don''t mind," Neraxis said, earning a chuckle from her.


    "nning to leave so soon? Why don''t we y a little game?" she suggested, suddenly pulling out three vials and a sk, leaving him puzzled.


    "I thought I already joined the club. Is there some entrance test I have to pass?" Neraxis asked as she lined up each of the vials, giving one to the two students beside her and a single one to him.


    "You can refuse if you want," Liora said, twirling the sk in her hand. "This is a test I gave to the others, and as you can see, no one passed."


    Neraxis furrowed his brow. I find it hard to believe that no one passed. I saw the Alchemy club had over 40 avable slots. To not fill them would be a little...


    As he trailed off, Evangeline finished his thought: [A little stupid. And she is likely lying about it.]


    That''s probably the case. I guess she just wants to test me to make sure her investment won''t go to waste, he chuckled inwardly before meeting Liora''s gaze.


    "What is this so-called game?"


    As his words fell, a grin appeared on her face as she suddenly set the sk down, causing its contents to slightly rise in the air.


    However, just as the contents began to rise, Liora quickly grabbed a vial from seemingly nowhere and caught them inside.


    Neraxis stared at her like she was some sort of clown, before finally, she began exining:@@novelbin@@


    "The three of you will be going head to head, brewing a potion with the same materials and ingredients. But there is a little twist..." Liora trailed off as she pulled out a miniature alchemy furnace.


    Before Neraxis could question what she was doing, the alchemy furnace''s me lit up.


    What surprised him the most, however, was that instead of cing a sk on top of it, she ced a vial.


    Immediately, the effects were visible as the potion began bubbling, swirling into various colors while boiling at a much faster speed than with the sk.


    Neraxis stared in wonder as she did what others could not—not even himself.


    Liora twirled around with the vial multiple times, moving it on and off the me nearly every second, until eventually, the potion was ready.


    The two students beside her stared at the golden potion with widened eyes, and Neraxis was no exception.


    Noticing these reactions, Liora put on a smug smile before announcing, "The test is simple. I want you three to try finishing the potion using a vial instead of a sk. The mixture is already premade, so you don''t need to worry about controlling the materials inside."


    As her words hung in the air, she turned toward Neraxis.


    "All you need to do is control the heat and finish the potion. Are you up for it?"


    Can I even do it? he thought, masking his inner turmoil.


    That was until Evangeline''s soft voice rang out. [How will you know if you can''t do it if you don''t even try? Worst case scenario, you fail. But in the off chance you don''t, your value to this woman will go up immensely.]


    entuating thest part, she continued:


    [So? Will you give it a go?]