Abandoned in the mountains, I was adopted by a lizard ~I mastered magic and surpassed my parents, but I didn't know they were legendary ancient dragons~ - Chapter 15

Chapter 15   Alchemy lesson

After the second period ended, it was time for the lunch break. I sat at a terrace table outside the cafeteria and used storage magic to retrieve my lunch.

As I was eating, Ian, who had just finished ordering his meal in the cafeteria, noticed me and took a seat next to me. He glanced at my lunch with a curious expression.

“…Huh? Why are you eating yesterday’s daily special, Hadar?”

It seemed Ian found my choice of meal puzzling.

“That menu isn’t available today, is it?”

“Oh, I ordered a large amount yesterday and stored it using storage magic.”

That’s right. I liked yesterday’s daily special so much that I bought it in bulk. Since time stops within the storage magic space, I could enjoy my favorite meal every day, or even every meal.

“If you find a daily special you like, just do what I did.”

“I see…! I never thought of that!”

Ian looked genuinely delighted, nodding repeatedly as if he had just solved a difficult puzzle.

“Only a genius who can shoot down a griffin could come up with such a brilliant idea…”

That has nothing to do with it, I thought, as I continued eating my meal.

After finishing our lunch, we moved to the next classroom. The third-period class was alchemy.

Since we finished lunch early, we were the first to arrive at the classroom. There was a note indicating that seating was free, so Ian and I chatted about trivial matters until the bell rang.

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When the class began, the teacher distributed about two tablespoons of sand to everyone. Today’s lesson was to “reference the magic circles in the textbook, construct an alchemical formula, and transform the sand into crystal.”

This seemed incredibly simple, but for an introductory class, that was to be expected. Without even looking at the textbook, I knew the formula, so I transformed the sand into crystal in less than three seconds.

With nothing else to do, I started reading the textbook. After skimming through it, I noticed something peculiar.

For some reason, each conversion formula was introduced individually.

For example, page four featured a magic circle to turn sand into crystal, and page five had one to turn oil into soap, even though these transformations could be combined in one explanation. The reason being that the magic circle could be adapted to convert any material by changing the parts indicating the source and the result.

It was like a language textbook filled with example sentences without teaching any grammar. Normally, knowing the vocabulary and grammar allows you to construct sentences freely, but studying from such a textbook limits you to only the memorized sentences.

The same problem applied to this alchemy textbook. Instead of countless examples, it would be far more efficient to include one or two examples and focus on explaining the symbolic logic behind constructing magic circles.

As I was pondering this, I heard a voice from behind.

“If you have any questions, feel free to ask.”

It seemed the teacher was walking around the classroom to observe the students. So, I decided to ask my question. When the teacher got closer, I raised my hand.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Teacher, I have a question about this textbook. Why does it only provide examples of magic circles without explaining how to construct them?”

The teacher responded with a puzzled expression.

“Construct magic circles? These are all different spells, so we have to introduce them individually.”

“No, for instance, this magic circle indicates the material to be converted here and the resulting material here. By changing these parts, you can turn one magic circle into the one on the next page. Wouldn’t it be more efficient to explain how to describe these parts instead of introducing each magic circle separately?”

As I elaborated, the teacher’s eyes widened, and he asked incredulously,

“Are you saying you understand the contents of these magic circles? Please explain it to us!”

…What?

Even the teacher is at this level…?

“Well, if you insist…”

Prompted by the teacher, I stepped up to the podium. I used different colors to draw the magic circle on the blackboard, highlighting each section distinctly.

“The red part specifies the material to be transformed, and the blue part specifies the resulting material. So, if we change the description in the red part to this, and the description in the blue part to this…”

As I explained, I drew a new magic circle next to it and activated the spell.

“In this magic circle, the air turns into Orichalcum.”

With that, I handed the small particles of Orichalcum, produced through alchemy, to the teacher.

“This is definitely Orichalcum…! What an incredible discovery!”

The teacher was visibly excited and restless. Was he really unaware of this?

But if even the teacher didn’t know, it means the method of constructing magic circles isn’t common knowledge. The book I read had it written down, but thinking about it, that was an ancient book.

…Could this be considered lost technology?

While I pondered, the teacher decided to try turning air into Orichalcum himself. The spell worked, and he produced the same small particles of Orichalcum.

However, simultaneously, the teacher began to breathe heavily.

“Pant… pant… What is this abnormal mana consumption!?”

Eventually, the teacher couldn’t stay on his feet and fell to his knees. He seemed to remember something and, with a trembling voice, asked me,

“I heard a rumor that one of the first-year students created an Orichalcum alloy sword during the entrance exam using alchemy. Since I didn’t know this formula, I thought it was just a trick… Was that you?”

“Yes, it was.”

“…A sword is several thousand times the size of these particles, right?”

“That’s about right.”

“…Are you really human?”

…Why do I have to be questioned like this? My adoptive parent is a dragon, but my biological parents should be human.