Chapter 9: Heaven is so unfair, for closing its doors on me!

Emma’s gaze lingered on Izé’s face for a moment before she suddenly raised her hand.

Almost as a reflex, Izé’s feet seemed to have springs installed; with a “whoosh,” he retreated several steps, moving so fast that only a blurred afterimage was left where he had been. Even Emma’s eyes flashed with an unmistakable hint of surprise.

“I remember, you don’t possess any martial talent.” She raised her brows slightly, her tone scrutinizing. “This speed of evasion, now that is unexpected.” Then, her words shifted. “But, what are you dodging for? Am I that frightening to you?”

Before her words had finished, she had already unfolded a slightly worn Potion Formula Blueprint, covered with traces of revisions, displaying it clearly in front of Izé.

Izé’s eyes were wary at first, then shifted into pure confusion. He cautiously, as if that blueprint was some sort of triggered explosive, pointed at it from afar with the tip of his finger. “Senior Sister, you… suddenly showing me a blueprint, what does that mean?”

“You really don’t remember?” Emma reminded, her gaze sharp. “This is yours.”

Izé’s face was still full of blankness and innocence.

After a moment’s hesitation, he carefully took the blueprint from Emma’s hands and examined it closely.

However, the closer he looked, the more turbulent his heart became—a storm of shock within him—this, this was clearly the rough concept draft he’d jotted down in a flash of inspiration two years ago, back when he’d been obsessed with alchemy, for an improved potion!

No wonder he couldn’t find it later on—he must have dropped it when he’d overacted and rolled around, and it had ended up in the hands of this “aggrieved party”!

How many years had it been? Why did Emma bring out this blueprint at this exact moment? What was she planning?

Settling scores after the autumn harvest? Holding old and new grudges to account together? Izé’s internal alarm instantly blared at full force.

“This… this isn’t mine.” Izé quickly composed his expression, stuffing the blueprint back into Emma’s hands in a decisive, unquestionable tone, his face practically shouting “has nothing to do with me.” “Senior Sister, you must be mistaken.”

As soon as he finished, he turned to slip away again.

Emma seemed to have already anticipated this move. She swiftly chanted a short incantation, the magic power around her flickering briefly.

“Second-Tier Magic: Earth Rock Wall!”

“Boom!” A thick wall of rock rose from the ground without warning, blocking Izé’s path with perfect precision, forcing him to screech to a halt.

And just at that moment, that familiar mechanical voice echoed in his mind as expected:

[The Divine Choice System is at your service. Please make an appropriate selection as soon as possible, Host.]

[Choice 1: With lightning speed, use magic to destroy the rock wall ahead and swiftly escape. Difficulty: B-rank. Completion reward: Protagonist Value +10]

[Choice 2: Halt your steps, look at Emma with haughty arrogance, and declare in an extremely domineering tone, “That blueprint is mine. I watched your entire boot-licking process, so what, are you planning to beg for my favor now?” Difficulty: A. Completion reward: Villain Value +10]

[Choice 3: Find a reasonable excuse and explain that the blueprint belongs to someone else. Difficulty: E. Completion reward: NPC Value +10]

E-rank! Safe!

Izé’s heart settled, but on the surface, he forced out a slightly awkward smile, honeyed words at the ready. “Emma, Senior Sister, your mastery of earth magic just gets more and more refined—the control of magical power in your every gesture is truly admirable!” Then he changed the subject, continuing to play dumb. “But, Senior Sister, why are you blocking my way? This blueprint, I swear, has absolutely nothing to do with me—not even half a copper coin’s worth.”

Emma’s brows furrowed deeper, her tone firm and indisputable. “This blueprint, I saw with my own eyes fall from your body.”

“That still doesn’t prove it’s mine!” Izé spread his hands, looking innocent and perfectly justified. “Maybe I was just picking it up for a classmate, who knows? And besides, Senior Sister, do I really look like someone who can make potions?”

“Don’t know how to make potions?” Emma’s tone lifted ever so slightly. “Then who was it that spent nearly every day in the Alchemy Room those past years, forgetting to eat and sleep?”

Izé immediately adopted a complicated expression mixed with shame and determination, heaving a heavy sigh. “Senior Sister, you know best. My magic talent… it’s really pitiful. That five percent elemental affinity cap is like an insurmountable Threshold. But… but I am still Teacher Clea’s disciple! How could I resign myself to mediocrity for a lifetime?”

His voice carried just the right touch of choked emotion (all faked). “So, at that time, I thought—when heaven closes a door, it ought to leave a window, right? Seeing Senior Sister shine so brilliantly in alchemy, I wondered if maybe I too could find my own light on this path? That’s why I studied like mad during that period, trying to prove myself… but, unfortunately, the truth is, heaven must’ve been napping, not only shutting the door but even nailing the windows closed. I’m just not cut out for it.”

This passionate “confession” might have drawn some sympathy from others, but Emma’s attention was clearly not on his “tragic experience.” Her gaze once again fell to the blueprint in her hand. Her fingertips gently brushed over the lines of revisions, her eyes growing focused and fervent.

“This blueprint,” she finally spoke, her voice imbued with the rigor and excitement unique to researchers, “was originally just the most basic Initial Magic Power Recovery Potion formula, meant only to help entry-level first-tier mages recover magic faster.”

“But,” she continued, her tone suddenly rising with barely suppressed excitement, “look here, and here, these revisions… the ingenuity is simply astonishing! The modifier didn’t just optimize the formula—they also ingeniously introduced a temporary, minor increase to elemental affinity!”

She lifted her head, eyes seeming to sparkle with starlight. “Izé, do you realize what this means? To temporarily raise elemental affinity, our current understanding says you can only rely on elaborate, expensive Magic Arrays set up in advance! But now, someone has tried to achieve it with a single, basic, low-cost potion! This line of thinking, this level of understanding—it’s… it’s simply ahead of its time!”

Izé was stunned. He had imagined countless reasons for Emma to give him a hard time, but he’d never expected she would want to… discuss academic matters?

Judging from her attitude, Senior Sister Emma hadn’t come to settle old scores—she’d been completely entranced by this blueprint she’d acquired by chance, maybe even searching for him, the “original creator,” for years, only delayed by that awkward scene back then and his deliberate avoidance.

At least she wasn’t here to silence him! The heavy stone in Izé’s heart fell to the ground with a loud “thunk.” Remembering the system’s E-rank difficulty, he was all the more certain he was in a safe zone for now.

“This… Well, it’s been so long, let me think.” Izé made a show of pondering, then slapped his forehead in sudden realization. “Oh! That’s right! Now I remember! It must’ve been two years ago, when I left the academy for a stroll, at South Old Alley, I saw an old man who looked rather down-and-out take a fall. I helped him up, picked up his scattered belongings. The Old Man, to thank me, pulled this crumpled blueprint from his coat and shoved it into my hands, saying it was his life’s masterpiece, that we were somehow fated… I didn’t pay much attention, took it home and studied it for a while, but it was like reading a book from heaven, made no sense to me, so I stuffed it in my pocket. Later, it disappeared—I guess that must be this blueprint. Who knew… it was actually something this amazing?”

After finishing, he even put on an extremely shocked expression, as if he was recognizing the value of the blueprint for the very first time.

Emma was taken aback at his words.

Helping a mysterious old man by chance and being given such a precious potion recipe? This plot sounded like something out of a bard’s legendary tales!

Could it be that Izé was actually that lucky, running into some hidden grandmaster of alchemy?

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