WIEDERGEBURT Act V: Chapter 30

Fay had never been the kind of woman who enjoyed being in the spotlight. When she fought in the Spiritualist Grand Tournament all those years ago, she had not cared for the people watching her. Back then, her only concern had been displaying her strength and grasping the freedom she wanted. The spectators admiring gazes had been pushed to the back of her mind.

Now there was nothing stopping her from seeing the looks being sent her way, the admiring glances from the men, the jealous leers from some of the women. Not only was all the attention on her, but she didn’t Eryk by her side. Only with him not present did she realize how much protection he offered her.

“Please select one of the empty alchemy tables,” the alchemist who had guided her and Ruben said, seemingly incapable of reading the room.

Because she didn’t want to be subjected to those stares any longer, Fay hurried to find a table, leaving Ruben to chase after her. Unfortunately, she ran into another problem.

She didn’t know where to go.

“Oh, wow! What a beauty!”

“Hot damn! I’m so glad I decided to take the alchemy test today instead of tomorrow!”

“Crap! If I had known there’d be such a beauty, I would have worn my best cologne!”

“Even if you had worn the most expensive cologne in the world, it wouldn’t be able to mask your stench!”

“You wanna die?!”

No matter where she looked, everyone was staring at her, talking about her. They didn’t even try to hide it. The hungry gazes of the men were like wolves looking at the first deer they had seen after a month of fasting.

After several seconds of searching, Fay finally spotted two people who were not staring at her. It was the albino woman and the olive-skinned woman with purple eyes. They were still in the midst of arguing with each other. An empty alchemy table stood between them, perhaps purposefully placed there so their argument would not come to blows.

She immediately headed in their direction and caught what sounded like the tail end of a conversation.

“This alchemy test will be the one that finally decides who among us is better.”

“Hmph. You only say that because you can’t admit your loss. The last time we had a contest, I was clearly the one who finished refining first.”

“You might have finished refining first, but your pill was inferior to mine in every way!”

“So what? Everyone knows that refining speed is more important than a pill’s quality!”

Now that she was closer, Fay could see that both women couldn’t even truly be called women. They were just girls. Their figures were immature and young, lacking the full figures of an adult woman. If she had to guess their age, she would say they were maybe fourteen years old.

“Excuse me,” Fay said as she stepped between the two and smiled. “Do you mind if I take this table? All the other tables are… out of the question.”

Upon seeing someone stepping between them, the two girls became stunned, but while the albino scrutinized Fay with an inquiring gaze, the purple-eyed beauty became a little sparkly eyed. She stared at Fay with astonishment.

“Ah! It’s a beautiful big sister!” she screamed.

“Huh?” Fay was nonplussed.

“Of course you can take that table,” the purple-eyed beauty continued. “Nobody is using it, and now I have a beautiful big sister to admire and won’t have to look at that ugly albino.”

“Excuse me?!” said albino shrieked.

The purple-eyed beauty ignored her. “Big sister. Big sister. What’s your name? My name is Lilac Heiler.”

“My name is Fay Valstine,” Fay introduced herself with a slight smile. “Also… please do not fight with each other. I do not know what sort of argument you two have, but if you are out to prove that you are the best, then you should definitely let your actions do the talking. Arguing in broad daylight like this is unbecoming of such pretty girls.”

Fay had always possessed a very mild personality. Unless she was locked in combat, she rarely ever raised complaints and generally accepted what was happening. The only time she had ever stepped out of her comfort zone was when she decided to romantically pursue Eryk despite knowing about his love for Kari.

While this personality of hers meant she could sometimes be pushed around (such as when Kari seduced her into having a threesome ((or moresome)) with her and Eryk), it also meant she was very easy to get along with. This was proven when the purple-eyed beauty called Lilac begrudgingly agreed not to provoke the albino girl.

Fay smiled at Lilac, then turned to the girl’s rival. “I am sorry. I don’t believe I got your name.”

“Ah.” The albino seemed stunned for a moment, but then shook herself out of it and replied. “Sana Cansano.”

“It’s nice to meet you both. Let’s do our best during this test.”

In the face of Fay’s gentle smile, which she often used to soothe her son and Siv whenever they were agitated, the two girls found themselves incapable of even speaking. All they could do was nod at the woman who suddenly looked to them like an angel descended from the heavens.

Ruben, who had been entirely forgotten by Fay after she took a table, could only sulk and take the table directly behind her.

More people filled into the room. It did not take more than fifteen minutes before all the tables had been completely filled with alchemist hopefuls. Some of them looked like they came from rich families. Their clothes were ostentatious like the effeminate man in golden clothes, Ruben, and the two girls Fay stood by, Lilac and Sana. However, most of the people present wore what could have been called commoner’s garb.

Once the tables were full, an old man who had been quietly sitting in a corner of the room stood up and walked over to the front. He wore white robes with silver trim. Fay understood the trim color denoted their rank, but she didn’t know what rank they signified.

“Welcome, hopeful alchemist candidates,” the old man said. While his voice was lined with age just like his face, it was still powerful and carried all the way to the back of the room. “This is the first test you will all take on your path to becoming alchemists. The test is simple. My aids will be handing out instructions and ingredients for you to use. Your task is to refine a pill from these recipes using the ingredients provided. You will be given two sets of ingredients, and you will have one hour.”

As the old man spoke, the doors opened and nearly a hundred people walked in pushing a cart. All of them were dressed in blue robes. The carts had on them a pile of ingredients—plants, monster cores, and such—and a small scroll.

The man who pushed the cart up to Fay leered at her, staring up and down her body with the same hungry gaze as most men. Fay was glad she wore a long jacket that went past her knees, but it didn’t cover her front, and the shorts she wore mixed with the black stockings revealed a contrast between the dark clothes and her white skin.

“Hey!” Lilac suddenly shouted. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, lecher?! Stop gawking at Big Sister Fay like that!”

The girl’s loud words attracted everyone’s attention and made them all stare at the man who had just been called out. Said man scowled at Lilac, but then he noticed the old man’s fierce and admonishing gaze. He could only swallow his anger, set the alchemy items on Fay’s table, and hurriedly push the cart out of the room.

“Thank you,” Fay said with her usual gentle smile.

Lilac blushed even as she beamed and thumped her chest. “Don’t worry! I won’t let any of these disgusting boys touch you!”

“I could have protected her too,” Sana mumbled.

While Fay did not know these two girls well, she already liked them. Lilac was outgoing and vibrant, kind of arrogant and in your face. Sana was much quieter and more introspective, though it seemed Lilac could provoke her with just a few words. That was obviously because they were rivals.

The old alchemist nodded at someone who was standing in the back, and the sound of a gong being struck caused everyone to straighten.

“You may begin now,” the old man said.

Every alchemist hopeful present rushed to grab their recipe and begin immediately following the instructions. Even Sana and Lilac wore looks of concentration as they worked on refining the ingredients.

Fay was a lot more relaxed as she grabbed the scroll and looked at the recipe. Now that she was getting ready to refine pills, her mind and heart had already calmed down. She had two lives worth of experience, so even though she was in the middle of a test, tuning out her surroundings was naturally a simple matter.

When Fay looked at the recipe, her eyes widened and she could not stop the smile that formed on her face. The recipe was for the Spirit Cleansing Pill.

This alchemy pill was of particular significance to Fay. She could not help but recall how, almost four years ago, she had sat on Eryk’s bed and watched him refine these pills for her. That was the first time she had ever seen true alchemy in this life. She remembered how oddly familiar watching him refine alchemy pills had felt, but more than that, she remembered how that moment in his little room had been the spark that started everything.

It could be said that this pill was the one that had tied their fates together.

“Ah. Big Sister, is something wrong?” Lilac asked after she noticed Fay staring at her recipe.

“No.” Fay shook her head. “Nothing is wrong.”

Setting down the recipe, Fay filled a 500 mL flask halfway with water, then used her control over fire to directly heat the water to a boil. As the water began bubbling, she grabbed the wind raccoon bone shavings and dropped them into the flask one at a time, waiting until they became fully submerged before inserting another.

Like that, Fay became completely lost in her alchemy, not knowing what sort of reaction her actions invoked in the people around her.

***

Gidion Kritz had been a silver rank alchemist for nearly two decades now. He didn’t come from a wealthy family like Sana, Ruben, Lilac, or Justice. His family was completely ordinary. Everything he earned was something he had worked hard for, which was why even though he didn’t look his nose down at others, he still felt superior to many of the people who did come from those wealthy families.

Being a silver rank alchemist was the status of an Alchemist Expert, which was just one step away from an Alchemist Master, a level that only a few alchemists ever manage to reach. If it wasn’t for his deficient Spiritual Power, he could have already become a gold rank alchemist—in other words, an Alchemist Master. He had the knowledge. He just lacked the power to make many of the more advanced pills.

Regardless of whether he could become an Alchemist Master or not, he still held a very high position within the Alchemist Association. That was the reason he oversaw these tests, tedious though they were.

Because of his position and talent, there were very few things in this world that could astonish him. This was especially true when it came to alchemy. He knew almost everything there was to know about the subject.

Or so he thought.

Yet right here and now, Gidion found himself stunned.

Standing in the center of the testing room was a young woman with red hair. She was stunning in every possible manner of the word, a beauty with fiery locks who could drive even his old bones to lust. Her busty curves were the stuff of legends. Her enchanting eyes and lovely face was enough to leave any man speechless. Wars had been fought for women less beautiful.

But that wasn’t what caught his attention.

The flask of water she was using had been brought to a boil, the wind raccoon bone shavings had been added, and she was in the process of grinding up the monster core into powder. Her strength must have been immense. With a little application of pressure, she had already crushed it into large chunks and was now crushing those chunks into even smaller parts. Once it became a powder, she sprinkled it into the flask.

Her actions were smooth and precise, so practiced he could tell that she had done these motions hundreds if not thousands of times. This was not a woman who had the talent of a hopeful. She clearly had experience with alchemy—a great deal of experience from what he could see. The Spirit Cleansing Pill was a simple beginner’s pill. Very easy to make. However, the way she was refining without even paying attention to what she was doing, yet still managing to get the correct measurements, told him how skilled she was.

Of course, what really got his attention—what got everyone’s attention—was not just how incredible her refining talent was.

It was the flame floating underneath her flask.

***

After she had reached the Third State of Spiritualism, controlling her own flames had been as easy as snapping her fingers. Now that she had reached the Fourth State of Spiritualism, her level of control was even more unprecedented. Nevermind snapping her fingers. If she wanted to control fire, all she had to do was think about it.

Fay was only controlling one flame at present. Whenever she was refining pills, she would usually have more flames going because the pills she made were often more complex than the Spirit Cleansing Pill.

She had already added the monster core powder to the water with the wind raccoon bone shavings and was now just mixing them.

Because of how much experience she had with refining higher level pills, refining something like this barely took any thought. She used this time to think of other things. Mostly she thought of Eryk.

Eryk was not as skilled at alchemy as she was. He would never become a Master, much less a Grandmaster, because he didn’t have the desire to begin creating his own pills, but he was still great at refining already known pills. Whenever Fay came up with a new pill, she would always teach him. It wasn’t unusual for the two of them to spend hours together refining pills inside of her alchemy room.

Well, it wasn’t unusual before she had a child. And before they left Nevaria.

She wondered if they’d be able to go back to those days.

Perhaps it was because she had let her mind wander, but Fay soon discovered her ingredients were gone, and in her hand was a cyan-colored pill.

“Oh.” She sounded surprised even to her own ears. “I’ve refined the pill.”

It was only now that she left her trans-like state that Fay noticed she had attracted a lot of attention. She could see there were a lot of people staring at her, though she didn’t know why this time. From what she could see, no one else had finished refining their pills, so they shouldn’t have been focusing on her.

Even Sana and Lilac were staring at her with wide eyes and dropped jaws. Sana was the first to recover. She went back to her own refining. At the moment, she was shaving slices off a nirnroot and adding them into a flask of spirit essence. Fay also saw red fire grass. The girl was obviously refining a slightly more advanced version of the Body Forging Pill. It was still a tier-one pill, but it used an enhancer like spirit essence instead of a dissolvant like water for the base. Lilac had not gotten back to her work yet.

“Y-you’re so awesome, Big Sister Fay. You refined that pill in less than five minutes! And the quality is so high!”

“Thank you,” Fay said. She chuckled before looking at Lilac’s work. “You had better keep working. Alchemy tends to go awry when you let your ingredients sit too long.”

“Oh! You’re right!”

Lilac quickly went back to work. She also had three ingredients like Sana, but they were phoenix flower, heart leaves, and water. That meant she was creating the basic healing pill known as the Recovery Pill. The phoenix flower and heart leaves contained powerful healing properties. When dissolved in water, the healing properties mixed and became mild. There was a more advanced version that used an enhancer called phoenix teardrops, which was a type of red mineral water that could only be found in hot springs next to a volcano, but that was considered a mid-tier pill because the ingredients became volatile when mixed.

While Sana and Lilac managed to recover after being shocked by her performance, several other alchemist hopefuls were not so lucky. Two alchemy sets near her table exploded when the alchemists hopefuls spent too much time staring at her and not enough time doing their own work. Another man ended up creating an acid because he let his ingredients boil too long. And still there was one unlucky women who created a poisonous gas from not mixing her ingredients properly, which knocked her out.

She rolled the pill between her fingers before setting it in a box sitting on her table. It was a simple box with a basic pillow inside. The pillow formed a depression around the pill. Fay then set about cleaning the alchemy set. As she did this, the old alchemist who was monitoring this test walked over to her.

“It seems you are the first one finished,” he said.

“Oh. Yes, I guess so.”

Fay smiled, but she was a little embarrassed. The alchemists had been given one hour to refine their pills, but she had barely taken five minutes.

The old man smiled. “Do you mind if I see your pill?

“Not at all.”

Grabbing the pill from the box, Fay placed it on the old alchemist’s hands. This old man’s fingers were very long and slender, but they were also covered in wrinkles and age.

Once he had the pill, the alchemist rolled it between his fingers, studying the pill from every angle. Astonishment flashed across his face.

“Not only were you able to successfully refine this pill in five minutes, but the quality is some of the highest I’ve seen. That is very impressive considering the ingredients we allow you all to use during this test are subpar.”

“Thank you,” Fay said simply.

She wanted to tell him that she wasn’t very impressive, but Eryk had once told her that it was important to accept compliments for the sake of others. If she did not accept his compliment and tried to deny it, she would be spitting on the faces of everyone else here, who had still not refined their pills.

“Since you have passed the test, you can choose to either remain here or wait outside,” the old alchemist said as he set the pill back into the box. “Once the test is over, I will confer the robes of a blue alchemist on you, making you a Novice Alchemist.”

“Actually, I was hoping that after this test, I could move on and take the Adept Alchemist Test,” Fay interrupted.

“Huh? You want to take the next test? Well… I suppose that is fine.” The old man looked like he had been going to argue, but then he glanced at the pill she had refined. “I believe you are certainly talented enough to pass the next test.”

“Ah! Big Sister Fay, you’re planning on taking the next alchemy test?!” Lilac said in shock.

“Yes.”

“B-but that means we won’t be in the same rank anymore!”

Fay looked askance at the young woman with purple hair, who seemed to have become unusually attached to her. This wasn’t the first time someone of the same sex had begun calling her big sister. Janet and Karen had both begun calling her big sister for whatever reason. She didn’t know what this meant, but it seemed like women just grew abnormally attached to her.

Shrugging, Fay said, “If you want, after you finish this test, you can come and watch me.”

“I-I can? You really mean that?” asked the shocked Lilac. It looked like she had already finished refining her pill. There was a small red pill sitting on the pillow, though she could tell from the few bumps that its quality was lower than the one she had refined.

“So long as it is allowed,” Fay amended. She didn’t know if there were rules against people watching and glanced at the old alchemist.

“It has never been done before, but it’s not like there is a rule against watching someone else take the test.” The old man stroked his beard. “It might even be beneficial to young alchemists to see how someone as talented as you refines pills. That said, if you wish to take the second test, I will need to see your letter of recommendation.”

Fay once more summoned the letter, which had been written by Cathrine Hildre, and handed it to the old man. While he unrolled the scroll and began reading the content, someone tugged on Fay’s sleeve. It was Sana. When she turned her head to look at the albino girl, it was to find Sana staring at her with an imploring gaze.

Sana had also finished her refining. The red pill which looked like a fire was burning inside of it was a little better quality than the one Lilac had refined. However, it had also taken her much longer.

“Do you also want to watch?” Fay asked.

Sana nodded. “Can I please?”

“I don’t see why not.”

Sana’s expression brightened immediately after hearing her response. Her eyes sparkled.

Meanwhile, the old man made a shocked exclamation when he finished reading the scroll. He handed it back to her with a shaky arm. The strained and pale smile on his face made him seem nervous.

“I had not realized there was a person of such esteem in my class,” the old man said. “You may feel free to take as many of the tests as you want. It says that I and the other alchemists performing these assessments should allow you to aim as high as you can.

Fay nodded as she accepted the scroll and stored it back into her storage ring. She wondered how many more times she would have to take it out. There were several more tests for Adept, Expert, Master, and Grand Master, and she at least wanted to take the test to become a Master Alchemist. That meant she’d probably have to show this off at least three more times.

The old man blinked several times as the scroll suddenly vanished.

And while that small exchange happened between her and the old alchemist, another and far more angry exchange was happening between the two girls standing on either side of her.

“Are you trying to steal my Big Sister?! Back off!”

That person shouting was naturally Lilac, who glared across Fay’s table to penetrate Sana with her fierce gaze. It looked like there was a fire blazing in her eyes.

Of course, Sana was not about to back down. While she did not have Lilac’s outgoing attitude and seemed a lot more quiet, in front of this purple-haired girl, she became every bit as fierce. Fay supposed that was what it meant to have a rival.

“You can’t tell me what to do,” Sana said with a quiet but equally fiery stare. “Fay has already said I could come and watch her.”

“Hmph! You’re just taking advantage of Big Sister Fay’s kindness!”

“Isn’t that what you are doing as well?”

“Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!”

As the two began arguing across from her, Fay could only release a helpless sigh. Behind her, Ruben was shedding tears as he finally successful refined a Standard Healing Pill.

“Why did she not invite me to watch her too?” he asked of no one in particular.