Later that day, Felix received a call from Sage Dalilia informing him that the Queen had asked to meet him in the evening.
Naturally, Felix accepted the invitation as he had already expected its arrival after he exposed his method to affect the dark substance.
He wasn't nervous or afraid that the Queen would force him to hand out information about his method.
That's because he planned on telling her everything willingly to sustain a healthy relationship with her.
After all, she was his senior sister and also the Queen of one of the richest and powerful races in the universe.
Having her backing would always turn beneficial in the long run.
Right now, Felix was hanging out with Naima and Karry on campus.
He was about to leave the witch empire soon and he felt that not spending time with them before he goes was a really dickish move even on his part.
"You sure are busy." Karry smiled, "Are you preparing to participate in a game soon?"
"Something like that." Felix replied.
"When are you planning on returning?" Naima inquired casually.
"Probably never." Felix decided to be straightforward, "I haven't told you yet, but I am going to get my early graduation in the upcoming days."
Naima and Karry both stopped walking at once and just gaped at him speechlessly.
"You're joking right?"
Felix shook his head, "I am really leaving and I hope you keep a tight lid on it."
"But why!!" Naima yelled with an angry look, "There is still much to learn in the upcoming semesters. Even veteran witches attend some senior classes to learn new things!"
"Felix, you would be a fool to graduate early like some witches." Karry advised, "You might be much better than all of the students in the academy right now, but that doesn't mean you mastered potion-making."
Felix knew that their pieces of advice were in place. But, they didn't know that he would be receiving direct tutelage under Lady Sphinx.
"Don't worry about me ladies, I know what I am doing." Felix waved his hand at them as he walked towards a semi-full restaurant, "Catch up already, I am starving."
Seeing that he didn't want to talk about it made the girls upset. But, they knew when to stop pestering him over something.
If this was going to be their last time hanging out in real life, they might as well enjoy the most of it.
….
In a few hours, Felix returned to Lady Sphinx's castle after saying his goodbyes to the girls.
The first thing he did after he entered his room was log in to the UVR and use the invitation link given to him by Sage Dalilia.
This link took him to the front gate of the Royal Palace. It was big enough, Felix appeared like a tiny ant before it.
Out of nowhere, a gorgeous short-haired maid appeared beside Felix and bowed her head respectfully.
"Greeting Sir Felix, please follow me." She said.
Felix nodded his head lightly and walked behind her towards the gate. When they reached it, the maid placed her palm on it and closed her eyes.
Then, she offered her other palm to Felix.
"Excuse me." Felix held it softly and they got disintegrated into light particles.
…
When Felix opened his eyes, he found himself in the same mesmerizing garden as the last time he entered the palace.
Only this time, he found Queen Allura sitting all by herself while wearing comfy pajamas.
She had multiple holograms before her, showing all kinds of states and reports.
Naturally, Felix was blocked from seeing them since they were related to the empire's governance.
"Good evening senior sister." Felix greeted with a charming smile as he took a seat on her table.
He didn't bother being formal since she had requested him to be casual with her in their last meeting.
"Glad to see you in a good shape." Queen Allura smiled back at him and closed off all the holograms.
"I hope I am not interrupting your work."
"It's just a bunch of annoying paperwork." Queen Allura waved her hand nonchalantly and followed with a hopeful tone, "I am more interested in your method to affect the dark substance."
As expected of a Queen, she didn't waste time with meaningless conversations before exposing her target.
Felix loved nothing more than straightaway getting to the point.
So, he also didn't waste her time and disclosed calmly, "The mist I used is actually a poisonous inducement that has only one job. Hinder the dark substance with its complex molecules and remain non-reactive during contact with the mixture."
After he finished, Felix looked at Queen Allura's eyes and spotted a hint of disappointment.
'Was my method that shitty or what?' Felix felt like his ego got hit by a sledgehammer.
He never fished for compliments but he also didn't like it when others didn't appreciate his hard work.
Especially when he spent 20 hours a day for two weeks straight to create the Quagmire inducement.
Just like he read her eyes, she did the same and found out that he probably misunderstood her reaction.
"You misunderstood little junior." Queen Allura smiled bitterly and said, "I was disappointed because I realized that your method could not be used by us witches."
"Hmm?" Felix raised an eyebrow in surprise, "I don't know about using my exact Quagmire inducement but I believe it's possible to create a material that can achieve the same effect, right?"
Queen Allura stood up and walked behind him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and said, "Little junior, you are looking down a bit too much on us witches."
"How so?"
"We already found out that the dark substance could be stopped with complex molecules, millions of years ago. As for not affecting the mixture? It was a no-brainer solution." Queen Allura said calmly.
Thinking about it, Felix always knew that something was wrong with the whole situation.
After all, he found out a solution to a problem that plunged the witches millions of years ago? Even if he had the ego of a god, he would still not dare to voice out this claim.
So, there was something going on here that he was ignorant about and Lady Sphinx didn't bother clarifying it.
Fortunately, Queen Allura saw his confusion and spoke to clear out the fog, "We have already created hundreds of materials with every unique shape, state, and element by using the same conditions. Yet, not a single one of them affected the dark substance negatively. Instead, they end up agitating those lifeforms, making them ruin the concoction much faster."
"Why so?"
"Before answering, tell me what do you know about the difference between laws and elements?" Queen Allura inquired curiously.
Felix pondered on the matter for a few seconds but still replied, "Not much really."
"Figured so." Queen Allura snapped her finger and two realistic candles emerged before Felix.
Both of them were lighted up and projected the same light and heat.
"Can you spot the difference between those two?" She asked.
Felix examined them thoroughly and found out that they were identical to each other.
He even used his Quantum Vision, X-ray vision, infrared-vision…etc.
"No." In the end, he replied truthfully.
Queen Allura smiled pleasantly at his honestly and said, "Almost everyone whom I asked before answered that the difference was in the flames. One is made out of laws and the other elemental energy."
"Indeed." Felix nodded his head in agreement.
He easily connected the dots from when she mentioned laws and elements but he didn't say it since she asked him if he spotted the difference.
He simply didn't.
"I am glad that you are not as full of shit as them." Queen Allura complemented with a charming smile.
Felix could understand their reason for lying since anyone would want to impress the Queen of the Witch Empire.
"No matter what method used, it is almost impossible to recognize the difference between material made out of laws and material made out of elemental energy." Queen added, "Both of them have the same structure of molecules and they react the same to other materials."
She made an example by placing two twigs above those candles. As expected, they burnt just as equally.
"But in reality, there is a massive difference between laws and elements." Queen snapped her finger as she spoke.
Immediately after, the flame on the left candle and the burnt twig above the right candle ended up breaking into particles, unlike their counterparts.
"The moment the elemental energy gets cut off, the created material, ability, or whatever you imagined will disappear shortly after." Queen Allura pointed at the string of smoke rising from the candle and said, "The only thing left behind is the aftermath of its existence."
Felix realized that it was the same as drinking water created with elemental energy instead of real water.
The water would function like the real thing, giving the body what it desired as long as the creator didn't cut off providing elemental energy.
If he went and cut it off, the aftermath would remain even if the water within the body disintegrated into particles.
"In a sense, materials made out of laws are real but materials that are made out of elemental energies are perfect copies." Queen let out a long sigh and finalized her explanation, "This difference is what blocked witches for millions from affecting the dark substance."
Upon connecting everything that was mentioned, Felix figured out why.
'Materials made out of laws agitate the dark substance in a positive way while materials made out elemental energy could affect them in a negative way.' Felix smiled wryly, 'Since witches can't use elemental energy, they are left with no choice but to leave the dark substance alone.'
The only thing that was still confusing him was the dark substance agitation towards materials made out of laws.
Before he could ask about it, Queen Allura said, "No one knows why and master refuses to answer this question no matter how I pestered her for it."
Felix wasn't surprised by Lady Sphinx's silence on the matter. When he saw how those lifeforms weren't made from atoms or particles, he knew that something was wrong with them.
He knew that there was a big secret behind their existence and a reason why they target concoction potion-making exclusively.
'Exclusively?' Lady Sphinx smiled bitterly in her mind, 'If only he knew, if only he knew.'
