Half an hour later, Naima and Karry had arrived at the garden after their class was over.
"Look at you, sitting all carefree while the entire academy is in flames because of you." Naima punched Felix's shoulder lightly as she sat next to him.
"I am happy that Kamil was taught a lesson. She was being way too haughty in class." Karry chuckled and sat on the other side.
"I am glad my problems are amusing you ladies." Felix smiled as he asked, "So, what's up?"
"Nothing much, the life here is pretty repetitive and boring to be honest." Naima sighed in boredom.
"Yea, the current drama is actually the first interesting thing to happen in the past months." Karry agreed.
"That's why you should stop skipping classes already." Naima started acting cute by hugging his arm while leaning close to him, "Every day will be packed with juicy drama, easing everyone's boredom."
Felix pushed her face causally with his palm as he replied, "Unfortunately, that's not an option."
Hearing so, they realized that Felix was going to miss most of the upcoming classes as well.
Naima had gotten upset immediately, "Can't you just give up on fights and such? I believe that if you focused completely on potion making, you would be earning more money than in the games. In addition, it would be much safer and comfortable."
Karry nodded her head in support.
"I am not doing this for money." Felix placed two fingers before Naima's forehead and asked indifferently, "What do you think will happen if I flicked your forehead with all of my strength?"
Upon hearing so, Naima tensed up after remembering Felix's demonstrated strength in the games. With each memory of his brutality in the games, her heart started to accelerate in fear.
Especially when his fingers were so close to her, making her imagine like he was holding a gun to her forehead.
'If he flicked, my head will explode!'
Seeing her reaction, Felix smiled and patted her head gently until she finally took control of her emotions.
"Do you understand now?" Felix asked as he eyed the sky, "You think you are living comfortably but that's merely the illusion of safety provided to you by those above you. The moment you are in a really dangerous moment, where you stop relying on them, that's when your life ends."
"In this vast universe, no one is completely safe if they remained under the whims of others." Felix added with a calm tone, "I wish dearly to have my own freedom and live not just comfortably but as I desire."
Naima and Karry didn't know how to respond to his vision as they had never thought about life like that.
In their eyes, as long as they listen to their masters, work hard in their studies, graduate, and become full-fledged potioneer, then they would be able to live comfortably after selling potions.
Even when they thought about it like this, they still didn't realize that their life was literally mapped out for them before they were even born.
They were in a bubble, a man-made bubble, and Felix could see that they didn't really care.
'Each to their own goals I guess.' Felix smiled wryly and changed the subject, "Tell me something useful about the practical exams. Any tips or tricks?"
"Tips my ass." Naima crossed her arms with a pissed expression, completely forgetting her previous fear of Felix.
"Unfortunately, but there are no tricks in this one." Karry sighed, "If you are lucky and have a high percentage, then you will concoct your desired potions and pass the exams. If not, you are screwed."
"No wonder both of you barely passed it." Felix mentioned nonchalantly.
Thud!
"Prick! Let me see you do better than us..Ouch!"
Embarrassed, Naima punched him in the arm but ended up only hurting herself.
Meanwhile, Felix merely chuckled to himself, not wanting to sound cocky and tell them that he could do it.
His invention of the Quagmire inducement merely raised his chances, not making it certain. So, he could still end up not concocting a single potion and fail horribly.
***
The next morning, Felix could be seen sitting in the same classroom away from other senior witches.
They didn't speak to him and he didn't bother glancing at them.
They kept this awkward silence for over five minutes until Teacher Sonna entered the classroom.
"Morning everyone!" She greeted with a chirpy tone.
They greeted her back politely and waited for her to start the practical exam.
Naturally, it was streamed live and this time, there were even commentators!
How could they not be here when the view count had surpassed tens of billions!
An entire day was more than enough for the news to travel to the Milky Way Galaxy and alert Felix's fans.
His club had already surpassed the ten billion mark, making it normal for the stream to reach such a high viewership for a mere exam.
"Offf, because of what happened yesterday, it seems like a lot of witches want Landlord to embarrass himself in the practical exams." The commentator hissed after seeing the censored curses targeted at Felix in the chat.
Still, Felix's fans didn't let it slide as they kept spamming cheering emojis to block out the curses.
While this was happening, Felix had already been transported into the VR classroom with others.
They were all placed before two tables and two cauldrons on a circular table.
"Felix, your assignment is to concoct two unique rank 2 potions of your choosing. Before you start working on them, make sure to ask the Queen how many points they reward after successful concoction." Teacher Sonna informed.
Felix nodded his head in understanding. Then, he named the two potions that he currently had the highest familiarity working with.
'Queen, please check The Duskwraith Potion and Tonic of Might.' He requested.
Soon, he was presented with a list packed with potions and their official ranking in difficulty/points rewarded.
//
Potion of Salvation: ★★★★★/ 1880 points
The Duskwraith Potion: ★★★★★/ 1880 points
Tonic of Might: ★★★★/ 890 points
..
Potion of Unconsciousness: ★★★/ 670 points
Tonic of Influence: ★★/ 415 points
..
Vial of Greed: ★★/ 400 points
Elixir of Corruption: ★/ 210 points
Draught of Giant Growth: ★/ 150 points //
In the list, there were thousands of rank 2 potions that could be chosen from.
The Academy didn't force anyone to concoct this or that in the exams since they understood that witches could only master a limited amount of potions.
So, it should be up to them what they preferred since those potions would remain with them for the rest of their lives.
This was the reason why Felix chose Duskwraith Potion and the Tonic of Might.
One was an exclusive potion that could be sold at 500 million+ and also to fulfill Lady Sphinx's offer conditions while the other was useful in battles even for him.
'As expected, The Duskwraith Potion's difficulty should be this high for it to be ignored by most potioneers.' Felix wasn't surprised by the number of points rewarded at all.
That's because during his practice to concoct it, he kept making mistakes even though his thought process worked faster than most witches.
"Did all of you choose your potions?"
Abruptly, teacher Sonna clapped her hands to let them know that duration for picking was over.
Seeing them nod their heads, Teacher Sonna requested, "Please share those potions with everyone."
[I bet he chose two 1 star potions to concoct, haha!]
[It's only obvious. How could he have enough time to practice the harder ones when he was in a coma?]
[Hehe, I skipped class to see him humiliate himself. He better make it worth i…]
The witch's finger suddenly froze on the key as she stared with mouth agape at Felix's highlighted picks.
Just like her, the chat seemed to have gone quiet all of a sudden.
Kamil, Lara, Naima, the teachers, the fans, and even the Headmistress herself were left shocked speechless by the number of stars on Felix's potions!
None of them ever dared to think that Felix would pick anything higher than 4 stars! Those were the ones who actually had the highest confidence in Felix's talent!
The Headmistress knew that he was Lady Sphinx's disciple. The fans blindly believed that Felix could go above and beyond.
The girls simply thought that Felix was going to aim to reach the top ten, making him choose a 4 stars potion no matter what!
Yet the f*cker chose 5 stars potion!
One of the most difficult potions to make even for Potioneer Masters, who could concoct rank 3 potions!
"Fiv-five stars! Did you misclick Felix?" Teacher Sonna cried out loud the moment she broke out of her daze.
"I can request the administration to give you another chance to pick." She offered with a worried tone.
"I appreciate the help, but I will stay with those potions." Felix rejected politely.
The moment his rejection resounded in the stream, hell broke loose in the chat!
"I CAN'T BELIEVE MY EYES! LANDLORD ACTUALLY DARED TO PICK A FIVE-STAR POTION WILLINGLY!!" The commentator shouted in excitement, "IF HE PULLED IT OFF, THEN HE WOULD BE THE FIRST STUDENT IN HISTORY OF THE ACADEMY TO ACHIEVE SO!"
That's right, not a single student had managed to concoct a five stars potion in the 2nd-semester exams!
Not even the Queen of Witches Alluna herself.
The current Queen and the most talented witch of all time!
"This is bad!" The Headmistress's expression couldn't help but turn pale at the thought of Felix actually concocting it.
She knew that it was impossible for him but knowing that he had Lady Sphinx as his master made her heart leap out of her chest at the possibility of it happening.
A human doing something that the greatest witch failed to achieve?
Forget about the 1st semester slap, this was going to smack the shit out of every witch throughout history of the Empire!
