Chapter 194: My Wonderful Student

Chapter 194

My Wonderful Student

“You’re such a schemer! Using your resources to entice Professor Nico like that. Is that really acceptable?” Professor Medik said with some dissatisfaction. But Ellie knew he was just grumbling. She shrugged while looking at Professor Lucien. Then, to improve Medik’s mood, she brought up his daily task, which was to prepare a large quantity of level 1 potions. Even for Professor Medik, this was considered a time-consuming chore.

If he had an assistant or several disciples under his care, these small tasks wouldn’t be an issue. But since he was alone, even though other professors like Professor Gwen had knowledge of potion concocting, they had other responsibilities. Professor Medik was the only one specializing in potions independently. The institute, seeing that he didn’t have many students to teach, assigned these tasks to him.

All these times, Medik managed to get them done, but it took a lot of time, leaving him no resting time for himself. It wasn’t surprising that he hoped to find a student with botanic powers to become his assistant. All he wanted was some time to enjoy meals like everyone else.

“Professor Medik, for the stamina restorative, magic restorative, deodorant, wound healing, and pain relief potions, these 5 low-level potions, you need to prepare 1,000 bottles each for the institute in 1 month, right? You can assign these tasks to students, can’t you? So...how about you assign these 5,000 bottles to me? With this many potions in 2 months, I could easily pass the second year.”

Hearing this, Medik’s gloomy eyes sparkled. However, after considering the potion count, he slumped back in his chair with a bored expression.

“You can make these potions well, I know. But if you spend 1 month making 5,000 bottles, you’ll be in the Botanical Building day and night like me.”

“Don’t you know how long it takes to make these potions? On average, 1 cauldron produces 7-10 bottles, meaning you’d need to make 160 bottles a day. That’s 16 cauldrons a day, each taking 30-60 minutes at the minimum. If we average it at 45 minutes, you’d spend 750 minutes, or 12-13 hours a day, making potions. Even with more cauldrons, it would still take many hours.”

"In the morning, you have classes with Professor Regan, and some days you’ll be with Professor Nico. Do you think Professor Nico won’t have tasks for you? So, when will you have time to help me with potion concocting?”

Professor Medik calculated the time with distress. If Ellie had him as her main mentor, she could spend her time making potions without much thought. But since she was someone else’s disciple, he believed Professor Nico would teach her beyond daytime lessons. He would certainly assign tasks for her to practice. So...when would she have time to take on potion-concocting missions?

"Even though 5,000 bottles are too much, couldn’t she help you with 1,000 to 2,000 bottles?" Lucien suggested.

"Professor...isn’t it just 500 cauldrons of potions? I can take on the task. You don’t need to worry,” Ellie interjected. She had already considered that 500 cauldrons were doable. It shouldn’t be forgotten that she also had 3 helpers, so she could ask them to work together.

Or if it became too much, she could ask Young Lord Owen to catch goblins, make slave contracts, and make them work as slave labor. Handling such matters wasn’t difficult for her. Ellie’s main job would be sorting herbs.

“Hmm? Are you saying you can really make all 5,000 bottles?” Lucien raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“If you’re unsure, you can start by assigning me a task for 200 bottles. Tomorrow, I’ll bring you the potions I’ve made.”

“Huh? You...do you realize that once you accept the task, you can’t buy potions from elsewhere? When submitting these tasks, it will be checked to ensure the potions are made by you,” Professor Medik asked, still uncertain.

“Yes, Professor. It’s just a trial. If I can make the potions without affecting my other studies, then you can assign me the potion-concocting task. It would be better if I could help you,” Ellie replied dutifully. Lucien, unlike the deeply moved Medik, felt there was something the girl was hiding, but he couldn’t figure out what it was.

And so, the hellish potion-concocting marathon began. Each level 1 potion earned 2 points per bottle. Though not a lot, it wasn’t insignificant. No other student could accept a task like Ellie’s.

Back in her room, Ellie effortlessly stored the resources in her secret dimension. These resources were provided by Professor Medik because the institute wasn’t so harsh as to make them find the ingredients themselves. They prepared the materials; the apothecaries just had to work hard to earn the points.

She spent just 1 hour in her secret dimension and came out with all 200 bottles of potions. All Ellie did was setting the fire, preparing the cauldrons, and sorting the herbs. After this, she had “Camouflage Apple,” “Night Java Apple,” and “Thousand-Handed Orchid” help stir the potions. Their roots could even till the soil, so asking the 3 of them to divide their roots into 3 to stir the potions was no problem. Ellie made the first cauldron herself, then let the three follow suit. In total, it took her just 30 minutes to make 100 bottles or 10 cauldrons simultaneously.

Given their capabilities, even increasing to 20 or 30 cauldrons at once shouldn’t be a problem. However...the little ones felt somewhat fatigued, so Ellie needed to reward the 3 of them with her botanic power. After receiving Ellie’s botanic power, their fatigue vanished entirely, and they even wanted to do more work to gain more of her pure botanic power.

After testing the efficiency of her helpers, Ellie checked the potion quality again. She found that the potions were of perfect quality as per usual, but they were produced too perfectly, in an environment full of life force. Worried about potential issues, she absorbed the excess life force from each bottle. If not for the help of the Purple Mushroom, she might have taken much longer.

The next day, Ellie delivered her work to Professor Medik—200 bottles of restorative potion. Professor Medik accepted them, still somewhat dazed. He hadn’t expected Ellie to genuinely complete the task. The 200 bottles meant she had used 20 cauldrons. For a student, 2 cauldrons were the limit to produce good quality potions. Hence, Ellie had worked with 10 rounds of cauldrons, spending about 5 hours in total.

Medik recognized the girl’s dedication but also felt sorry for her.

“You spend all day practicing in the Botanical Building, cultivating your herbs, and then you return to concoct potions at night. I know you must be very tired, but you shouldn’t do this. I don’t want you to lose sleep like me,”

Medik said sadly. However, this was only his assumption. Unlike the sensitive Medik, Lucien noticed that Ellie didn’t show any signs of fatigue, indicating she hadn’t lost any sleep as Medik thought.

“Since I’ve done what I promised, please give me the remaining tasks,” Ellie said nonchalantly. She just wanted to take on the task. Working on potions for just 1 hour a day wasn’t too burdensome. If it took only 2 months to comfortably pass the second year, she would do it. Then she could focus her remaining time on seriously practicing ice-making stratagem.

“Student Ellie...I...” Medik hesitated. Having her help with his tasks would be good. As a professor, he had to spend 2-3 hours a day making these potions. If Ellie helped, those 2-3 hours could be used for rest. However...

“Don’t worry. Your student isn’t as weak as you think,” Lucien said to Medik. He felt Ellie might take a similar amount of time as Medik to make these potions. If she didn’t overburden herself, giving her the task would allow Medik to rest and help Ellie earn more points from the institute, benefiting both.

“If that’s the case...I entrust this to you. You are truly an excellent student. Even though you are not my direct disciple, you are a student I am proud of,” Medik said, touched. In his mind, he thought about how dedicated this child was to help him, without knowing that Ellie could concoct potions faster than he could.

If Medik knew that Ellie could do it so easily but didn’t help him more, he might go from being touched to being so angry that he could cough up blood. Who would have thought this girl wanted to leave him buried in work when she could handle it effortlessly...?

Seen as a self-sacrificing student, Ellie walked out of the Botanical Building. After working hard for several days, her cultivation was finally complete. Now, she only needed to water and tend to the plants occasionally. With 1-2 days left before the real classes began, she still had time to relax.

She chose to return to her room to rest. It would be better to finish the potion-concocting mission all at once and then gradually deliver the potions to Professor Medik to avoid suspicion. With this in mind, Ellie prepared to start her work. However, today she encountered a new student who, like herself, was on a scholarship, awkwardly standing in front of her room.

“Do you have any business with my room?”

“Ah!! Se-Senior!” Startled by Ellie’s voice from behind, the thin girl jumped. She quickly turned around and greeted Ellie nervously, her hands trembling and clenched tightly.

“Well? What do you need from my room?”

“N-No, I don’t have any business with your room, Senior. I-It’s just...” The girl tried to steady her trembling voice before pulling out a bag from behind her.

She carried a satchel, probably a handmade, stitched together from various torn pieces of cloth. In her previous world, it might have been considered high-priced art. However, in this world, wearing torn clothes was a sign of the lower class. The rich would discard anything with even the smallest flaw, while the poor had to make do with their old fabric, repurposing it after it was torn to the point of unwearable. This was a clear example of the “class gap,” which seemed to widen with time unless something was done about it.

“Th-This is...these are potatoes from my village. My mother told me to bring them to a senior at the institute, in case...I could seek your guidance in the future. W-Well...I heard that there are only two scholarship students at the institute right now. One of them is going to be a priestess, so these potatoes wouldn’t be of much use to her. A-And now, you’re the only one staying in the scholarship dorm. S-So, so I thought...” The girl’s excitement was evident. Ellie looked at the small girl, who probably came from a struggling family like she once did, and felt time had indeed passed quickly.

Previously, she had struggled to survive in the institute. Fortunately, her powers were useful, and thanks to the storyline she knew, Ellie was able to use them with the eldest young lord of the Setter family at the right time. Otherwise, she couldn’t see what the future would hold for this “Ellie.”

Looking at the girl in front of her, she felt sympathetic. The girl didn’t seem to be acting, but even if she was pretending, Ellie found her interesting.

Ellie accepted the potatoes. It was a gesture of goodwill, and not accepting it would worry the girl too much. But as a senior, who was also better off, Ellie didn’t plan to take the gift without giving something in return.

“Thank you for the potatoes. As a senior...I’ll give you this in return.” Ellie tossed a magical crystal to the girl. Although it was a low-level crystal, it wasn’t something a poor person could easily obtain.

The girl accepted it, not understanding what it was. However, since it was a gift from her senior, it was impossible for her to not value it.

“Thank you very much, Senior. My name is “Zoey.” I’m from the rural of Brooke City, and my magic power is earth elemental power. My power level is at level 2. P-Please take care of me, Senior!” The girl bowed respectfully to Ellie, feeling that at least, the institute wasn’t as frightening as others had said.

When she arrived at the institute, a senior scholarship student had brought her here, warning her to keep a low profile, be cautious, and avoid offending others. Otherwise, she might not be able to live peacefully. He had also mentioned that at this institute, nobles could order her execution simply for dirtying their clothes. As someone from the lower class, Zoey understood that the power of the nobles was not exaggerated by her senior.

Although she feared studying at this institute, she was the hope of her village. If she could endure and manage to graduate, she could help her village. No more villagers would die from beasts. This was Zoey’s resolve, though she didn’t know how successful she would be.

Because of this...getting to know this senior scholarship student made Zoey feel much more at ease.