Chapter 425: A New Path

Jake spent the next few hours researching Soulflames a bit more but eventually put it on hold and shelved the entire topic. Choosing a Soulflame was something he didn’t doubt he would eventually do, but he wanted to get a bit further on his path first. In fact, getting a Soulflame as a D-grade was generally viewed as a bad idea, and Jake had to learn how to make certain personalized arrays first anyway.

Due to that, Jake returned to studying neurotoxins. He also began actually selecting some lessons to attend in a week or so when the introductory lessons began. From a talk with Reika, he learned that another batch of new students had just arrived that day, and apparently, even more were coming. Not from the ninety-third universe, but just from across the multiverse. It seemed like the Order was really recruiting!

At least he thought so until he discovered this was just a normal occurrence every year. The real recruitment periods were far rarer and often had millions of new entries, while a few hundred every day were just the stragglers and transfers.

The reason it was like this was that – lo and behold – people talented in alchemy weren’t born according to the recruitment schedule of the Order. Due to that, it technically recruited all year round, but with just far fewer entering every day. Lessons for newer students were thus only held once a month or so when a good batch had arrived as teachers didn’t wanna waste their time holding lessons for a few dozen students only.

So far, Jake had picked a few lessons that he wanted to attend. They were widely spread out and covered a plethora of topics, as he had taken to heart the words of the scalekin projection during the dungeon. He had a shallow base, and he wanted to solidify it by getting a good grasp of many different topics.

With Sagacity, he could more easily pick up and learn skills he didn’t have the specific skill for as well. Jake still had no idea how to make some common alchemy products such as flasks and pills. Both of those were also mainstays, and Jake learned from Reika she already knew how to make pills. In fact, when it came to beneficiary products, she specialized in pills. So it looked like they would attend a few pill-making lessons together as Reika had gotten slammed during her own dungeon that her methodology was flawed, and she needed to pick up more traditional methods to shore up her weaknesses.

He did, however, notice one problem Reika also pointed out. The Second World Congress was coming up relatively soon, and he wondered how exactly that would work. Would he have to go back to Earth to attend, or would he get an invitation while in the Order? If he could enter while in the Order, where would he go, and didn’t he need to select people to enter with like last time? Many questions, so little time.

Questions he would ignore until they came relevant. He did as always and kept things simple. Even if he did not attend the Second World Congress, Jake honestly didn’t care much. He would go if he could as he was sure some important votes would prop up, but if it turned out to be annoyingly difficult to attend, he could just have Miranda handle it.

On the third day since he did his lesson with the dragon, a certain elf appeared. Almost on the dot, when three days had passed since she was given her task, Meira stood nervously outside the bedroom Jake had used to read in. What? Huge beds were great for reading.

She looked nervous as she stood with a small pile of papers. Meira kept looking down at them and even looked like she was on the edge of just leaving again.

Jake wasn’t giving her the chance to.

“Come in,” he said as he jumped off the bed and, with a string of mana, made the double-door swing open. She nervously stood outside and nearly jumped when he did so, clearly not aware Jake knew she was there despite Jake having shown to always know several times prior.

She quickly reacted as she bowed and presented the papers before her. “I have chosen five just as ordered!”

Jake didn’t move to take the papers but just stood there as he asked. “And why did you pick those five?”

He was already partly prepared to send her away again, but she unexpectedly had a good answer. “Because I believe they can change someone’s Path.”

Raising an eyebrow, Jake motioned for her to elaborate.

“The lessons of the Order will allow even a novice to step into the realm of alchemy. Even if it is impossible to become a master or even remotely skilled in only five lessons, it can help build a foundation and set a path for later development and even give access to more potent classes and professions,” Meira answered.

Jake nodded along with her words. However, he was not satisfied and threw her a look. He saw her grit her teeth a bit as she looked more nervous than before. Like she really didn’t want to say what she was about to.

“If one does prove skilled… it can allow someone to find good employment and a safe future…” she began.

Jake was about to protest as she continued.

“Or, if really skilled, perhaps even join the Order or forge their own path.”

Now, this is where Jake had to be perfectly honest about one thing… he was never sure what he actually wanted Meira to do or decide. He had no profound realization or divine epiphany in mind he wanted to subtly guide her towards. He just wanted her to, for once in her life, fucking dream a little and use her imagination.

He was already plenty satisfied as he nodded. “Leave the five lessons here, and I shall look them over. I will call for you if there is anything.”

Meira looked reluctant but did as told and left the papers. Jake closed his eyes as she left to think as he subtly picked up a small voice she no-doubt thought he wouldn’t hear.

“Maybe even a better life…”

Jake grinned when he heard it. It wasn’t his fault she thought she could hide from a ten-thousand Perception D-grade.

As for the papers themselves, only one of the previous ones remained. It was the one about finding out what you were good at. It was the one Jake fully agreed with the first time around. The others were a bit different from what Jake had thought:

Metaphysiology For Beginners

A lesson about comprehending Soulshapes of other living beings and understanding how energy traveled in their body. It was a lesson Jake himself had looked at but ultimately filtered out for now as he frankly didn’t need it. He could learn such things through infecting foes with poison and track it. Also, it was the kind of thing Jake knew he was way better at learning during live combat than in a boring classroom.

As for why Meira wanted it? Jake had some clues, but he wasn’t going to ask. Considering it was a bit of an odd choice, Jake was certain it was made with consideration.

Internal & Touch-Based Mana Control I

Now, this one made more sense as, from what Jake had gathered, Meira was entirely self-taught. Well, so was Jake, but Jake was Jake, and he had learned it was a bad idea to use himself as a basis of what one could expect after he had assumed Neil and the others to be utter morons for not being able to freely manipulate mana as mid-tier E-grades. That it was touch-based also showed it was chosen with more consideration than just “mana control good.” So yeah, a well-chosen lesson.

Novice Potioneering

Jake honestly had no comments on this one… it just touched on how to make potions for absolute beginners, and the only real thing of note was how it seemed to almost target servants and mass producers.

The final lesson was the most interesting, and he truly meant interesting.

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Tempering Your Mental State: The Basics of A Stable Mind

There were a lot of lessons Jake had expected her to maybe select. He had assumed she would pick some he would very much disagree with, maybe one about how a servant could make their master like them more or how to be a better test subject.

What Jake had not expected was for Meira to select a lesson all about dealing with Jake’s shit.

In more seriousness, it was a lesson to temper one’s mental state. Jake read it over and had to admit it was probably a good idea, especially for someone like Meira. It was all about keeping a cool head and not losing one’s head in a stressful situation or during a crafting session. For Meira, it would allow her to hopefully become able to also improve her mindset. Jake didn’t know if she recognized this or if she seriously did just want to be able to not constantly be nervous around him. This is, of course, assuming she knew these lessons were for her.

When Jake was done looking at them all, he felt oddly satisfied. He felt like he had gotten through to Meira at least partially, and she had actually put thought into her selections. There were no lessons related to poison whatsoever, and only one that was even directly linked to alchemy.

He would wait a while before calling Meira again, but he was ready to “approve” them. He just wanted to make sure she knew the lessons were for her. Based on the selections, it could be anyone. It was entirely possible her interpretation had been to pick lessons a servant or a slave could take, but her final words as she left made him doubt that. Even if it was made for those… well, they fit Meira too.

Jake returned to his books as he called back Meira the next day for a follow-up. She appeared even more nervous than the first time proving she really did need that final lesson. Not that Jake had anything against her being an open book. In fact, he preferred it.

“Who do you think these lessons are suited for?” Jake asked her first thing.

“A novice of alchemy and someone generally lacking in insight and knowledge already possessed by most,” Meira answered honestly.

“And what kind of people would that be?”

“Workers, servants, slaves, or merely those from a weak world or perhaps a suppressed faction,” she answered promptly again. He wasn’t sure if she had predicted this line of questioning, but she sure felt ready.

Jake looked up at her as he asked again, more directly. “Do you think I made you select these lessons for anyone in particular?”

He really wanted her to answer herself. It would indicate she at least believed it a possibility. Jake hoped he had made it obvious by now it was for her.

“These lessons would be ideal if there are followers back in the ninety-third universe or others who serv-“

Jake looked at her with a raised eyebrow, his mask naturally invisible as he made it every time they spoke.

His raised eyebrow was enough to make her stop talking. She looked even more nervous than before. Jake could almost see the internal battle as she considered if she should truly speak. Meira finally clenched her fists as she asked in a meek voice:

“Me?”

Jake just grinned as the first step of operation: “get rid of elf slave,” was completed.

Miranda felt the air change as the ominous verdant light lit up the hidden cave.

A pentagram around a hundred meters across lit up the neatly decorated cave. In the corners of the pentagram were five altars, all giving off intense energy as they pulsed with power and burned with verdant light. It was a ritual circle of immense power, and standing within it, Miranda felt her own power swell. That is in addition to the passive effects it already had.

These altars were naturally the Yalsten Altars given by Jake.

[Yalsten Altar of the Damned (Ancient)] – An altar created by an extremely skilled crafter from the long-perished world of Yalsten, using a single unbroken piece of an unknown metal. The metal of the altar itself makes it near-indestructible for any being below A-grade. This altar has absorbed vast amounts of blood to empower it further, as countless sacrifices have been made upon it. It has been enchanted further to increase the effectiveness of all rituals made using it as a catalyst. The effect of all sacrificial rituals increased further. Faint Records and echoes of old rituals remain imprinted upon the altar, making it passively infuse anyone lying upon it with the life energy of those once sacrificed upon it.

Requirements: N/A

On top of each altar laid eggs Miranda had gone far to acquire. They were not meant to ever give birth to anything but were simply vessels of pure vital energy. They looked more like obsidian stones than anything else and were currently just greedily absorbing the passive life energy given off by the altars.

The pentagram was done now, but that was only the first part as Miranda began working on the exterior walls with scrips and whatnot while also smoothening them out to more easily write on them. In fact, this was the kind of ritual circle Miranda would have to constantly fortify and improve as time passed.

Not that she complained… she had worked on it since the Auction ended and had so far gained seven levels just setting it up and working on it alone. She had already made a circle like this before, but the difference between the old and her new one was the difference between heaven and earth. Miranda was aware that while within the circle and her own domain that was Haven, she was near-unbeatable.

Miranda didn’t know if it was some kind of self-induced Stockholm syndrome, but she had truly begun to enjoy being a witch.

She sat down in meditation as above ground, a projection of her body appeared in the office. Miranda felt her senses be transferred, but she only managed to touch a few papers on the table before one of them accidentally cut her and the projection dispersed.

”Could have gone better,” she chuckled as she decided to just return to fortifying the circle. As a Verdant Witch, she was not a traditional mage of any kind. She was not the kind of mana-user who would be flinging spells at an enemy while teleporting around and throwing up barriers to protect herself. Instead, she was the kind to sit in a ritual circle on the other side of the planet as her spells manifested through mediums that could project her magic and kill foes before they even knew what happened.

Of course, such things were still too early for her, but Miranda had already embraced that path by now. She had genuinely not expected it, but she wasn’t half-bad at being a witch, which probably wouldn’t have come as a surprise to her first boyfriend, who called her just that the last time they met.

As she thought that, Lillian pinged her on a pager of sorts given by Arnold that the hawks had returned from the Undergrowth dungeon. Miranda was a bit worried as she remembered that place. They had only cleared it due to Sultan being present, even if Felicia and Roman also helped out tremendously.

In the final part, they had been made to fight some mechanical wolf by a projection too, which was honestly an odd experience. The projection had been a bit rude and short with them too, but that didn’t mean that damn wolf had been any less dangerous.

She feared that the hawks would have met trouble, but it appeared not, as Lillian’s message was short and concise, except for one small thing.

”Did she just say Sylphie was wearing a medal?”

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