There is Something Wrong with This Game

Another POV:

Doren, a Native 15 years old Human Mage boy, as well as a student of Solstreus Magic Academy.

Wearing a red robe uniform, he was currently running down the corridor in a hurry. Sometimes he even bumped into other students, apologized on the spot but still kept running. And then, he arrived at the Workshop Area out of breath.

"Haah, haah, at least... Room 104... is empty."

Doren stabilized his breathing for a moment and walked over to the receptionist.

♦♦♦

It started a few hours ago.

Doren who is a second year student in the Intermediate Division in this Academy, was doing a task of brewing Potions to earn Academic Contribution Points, shortened ACP.

ACP is used by people in the Academy, whether it's students or staff to exchange resources, such as materials, potions, weapons, scrolls, etc. It can also be used to upgrade the Academy Badge to the next level, which also increases the wearer's privileges in the Academy.

If a certain loli were here and heard about this info, she might compare this system to that of the Genesis Guild. And yes, the systems of the Academy, the Player's Guild, even the Adventure's Guild and the Mage Association were basically almost the same, albeit with a few differences.

One of the difference was that Leon had raised his Guild Skill, Guild Trade to Lv10, which allowed Genesis Guild members to trade using the exchange platform on the Guild Interface, anywhere at any time within the confines of the Guild Base.

The academy doesn't have that platform, but instead, they have a separate department called the Exchange Area, which is basically where the exchange of resources takes place.

Doren who was done brewing a batch of Potions, was about to bring them to the Exchange Area.

But, as a Native, Doren has no access to the inventory, unless he learns spatial magic first. As such, he had to physically deliver the Potions, temporarily leaving his Alchemy tools in the loaned Workshop room. But, since he left the Workshop Area without telling the staff to reserve the room and he will come back later, the staff marked the room as usable.

And coincidentally, not long after he left, a certain loli borrowed the room he used.

"What did you say!? Someone used the room? Why?!"

"Yes, not long after you left, someone applied for a room. Well, it's your fault that you didn't reserve the room or stated you'll be back before you left. So according to the rules, anyone can use the room."

The returning Doren realized that someone was using the room and became panicked. Unfortunately, he could do nothing but wait for the people in the room to finish their business, and hope that this person was reasonable and didn't steal his Alchemy tools.

The tools left in the room were borrowed by him to use for 100 ACP per day. However, the price of those precise instrument was very expensive, which was around 150000 ACP. If he wanted to buy those tools personally, he would probably have to spend a year or so working non-stop.

Doren placed his Bronze Badge on the table.

"Ugh, then I'll reserve that room. This is my badge, please let me know when that person is done."

"Okay, your badge's magical frequency has been recorded. I'll message you when the room is opened."

And thus, he could only ask the staff to notify him with the badge once the room opened.

♦♦♦

After carrying out the room-borrowing procedure, Doren immediately headed to room 104, where he had previously been. He heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the Alchemy tools in the room were still intact.

"Goddess Norn who dwells above... Thank goodness, the tools is still there."

But after thinking about it carefully, he felt so ridiculous that he was being too paranoid. There was no way anyone would dare to steal at the Academy premises. After all, the Academy's Law Enforcement department was no decoration.

If Doren was a seasoned veteran, he would definitely have noticed that the Alchemy tools in front of him was mostly brand new items, not what he was used a few hours ago.

But unfortunately, naturally as a young teenager, his intuition was still not honed.

Since the goal had been achieved, there was basically no need to stay in the room anymore. It was evening and he was planning to return to his student dormitory. But then, he had a change in mind.

'Since I'm here, why not brew some more Potions. For some reason, the price of Potions has increased today.'

During the day in the Exchange Area, many people were busy delivering Potions and there was a shortage of stock. The demand for Potions, especially HP Potion, Limb Growing Potion, and Organ Regenerating Potion suddenly increased greatly.

This was a great news for Apprentice Alchemists like Doren, as he could earn more ACP during this period of time.

'Still, this kind of thing happened before because of the war with Beastkin.

The war is over, but now there is a disaster.'

Something that could lead to a shortage of Potions, it was by no means a trivial thing. From what he heard, it seemed like there was a monster disaster raging somewhere in the Empire, and the damage was not small.

Doren could only sigh.

Was this a retribution for the Empire for waging the war?

Whatever the reason, what he had planned didn't change, which was to work overtime to brew more Potions.

Doren took a small cauldron and a magic plate from his backpack and placed them on the table. He also took some herbs and dried fruits, the ingredients for the Organ Regeneration Potion.

He sliced the ingredients, conjured water into the cauldron, turned on the magic plate, and then boiled the ingredients. While the ingredients were boiling, he kept stirring them while adding some mana, until the liquid gave off a yellow glow.

'I didn't bring any empty bottle, but I can leave the Potion in the cauldron in the meantime.'

When the liquid started glowing, the next step was to leave it alone for about two hours.

; ;

You successfully performed the second step of brewing Organ Regeneration Potion.

Now the Potion will enter the fermentation step. Time until completion:  01:57:20

Since there was nothing to do until the step is over, Doren began to lie down in the floor and stabilized his breath.

"Haah, haah... Okay, the crucial step is done..."

"But, I can't waste time, I have to increase my MP before the end of term exam."

During the exams to be held a few weeks later, each student's overall ability will be assessed, which includes Spell Power, Maximum Mana Pool, Mana Control, and many more. The results of this exam will affect many things, such as the advancement to the third year, class placement, as well as the rewards for the top 10 students.

Doren immediately sat down and meditated, clearing his mind of useless thoughts. With a clear mind, he did Basic Mana Cultivation and began to absorb the surrounding mana into his body.

; ;

You have practiced Basic Mana Cultivation. An enormous amount of Mana has been detected in your surrounding. You greedily absorb the surrounding Mana into your body.

For some reason, Doren found out that his mana training this time was very smooth and his body was absorbing a lot of mana. The process felt very pleasurable to him, like a thirsty man in the desert finding an oasis.

The method called Basic Mana Cultivation that he practiced was basically to build a circle in the user's magic circuit to increase their overall potential. Each circle represents a level of this method, and currently Doren has built two circles. But right now, it didn't take him much time to gather the mana needed to build his third circle.

'Wow, my condition today is really good! I thought I still need another month to build my third circle.'

Without further ado, he started to use his collected mana to construct his third circle.

; ;

You have collected the necessary Mana to build your third circle. You started to construct your third circle.

However, despite the fact that he had enough mana to construct his third circle, he did not stop his mana absorption.

If he was alert, he should have been suspicious the moment he sensed the amount of mana in the room wasn't normal. If he only confirmed this suspicion, by opening his eyes at this moment...

...perhaps the disaster that will happen shortly after this could be avoided.

Starting from the place where Doren was sitting, the floor tiles melted, sublimated in the air as a mana, and eventually absorbed by his body. The melted area gradually expanded, and reach the table where he put the cauldron, and coincidentally, where his rented tools also placed.

The table was also melted, and the stuff placed on the table had no choice but to follow Newton's law.

*CRASH! BUK! PYAAR!

Doren who was in the middle of constructing his third circle couldn't help but alarmed by the noise and opened his eyes. When he saw the chaos that happened in the room, he couldn't help but shocked.

"What!? What the heck is happened here?"

The floor tiles in the room which has been more than 80% disappeared, the crooked table that slowly melted and turned into the air, as well as broken tools and spilled liquid scattered on the floor.

; ;

The contents of the cauldron have been completely spilled. The brewing process failed.

Doren could not believe what had happened.

How could (almost) everything in the room suddenly disappear into air?

His effort of brewing the potion has been wasted. The cauldron that was with him from the day he became student was cracked. And then, the Alchemy tools that he rented were broken.

"O, Goddess Norn who dwells above... this is must be a joke..."

The cauldron itself was fairly cheap and didn't cost much to buy, but the rented tools are different.

Tools such as liquid separators or precision scales are needed to make mid to high level potions, and they won't be cheap. The thought of him having to compensate those rented items made Doren's face turn pale.

But that was not the end.

"Oh NO! My third circle!!"

Because his concentration was disturbed midway, his third circle was left unfinished and became crooked. And currently, the leftover mana that was about to be used to build the circle had scattered inside his magic circuit.

; ;

The construction of your third circle has been interrupted prematurely. Some deviation have been occurred. The collected mana required for the construction of the third circle has been lost. You'll need to dismantle the deviated part before you can proceed.

Even though he tried to stop the loss of mana, it was like trying to stop the leaking water from a dam with his bare hands. Before long, the mana he had gathered was lost and he had to start all over again to build his third circle.

No, to be precise, he also had to destroy the incomplete third circle first before he could start again. The end of term exams would be held a few weeks later, but to reach the third circle, two months might still not be enough.

Doren bowed limply and couldn't help but cry.

• Elementary Division (equals Elementary School)
• Intermediate Division (equals Junior High School)
• Advanced Division (equals Senior High School)

Workshop Room

In the Academy, it was a multipurpose workshop for many Production Subclasses.

Though Hecate thought it was limited to Blacksmiths only.

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