Part 5: Tools of the Trade

Our class today was kind of… strange.

Video- “Predictology 1”

Watch the Class

I’m not totally sure I get what Ms. Isolde was talking about.



This is the study of predicting progress and results to make decisions.
It may not quite feel like a science, but there’s no harm in learning it.
Uhm… So what does she mean?
Why are you asking me?
For example, let’s say you encounter a huge monster during your searches.
What would you do in this situation, Mr. Gossiping, Vayne Aurelius?
Y-yes! Um… Run away, I guess?
Running away is certainly an option. But check your situation first.
Do you know your enemy? Will you lose against it? How is your group doing?
How quick is it? Can you even run away? How far do you have to run?
You must know your limits, as well as your situation. And then you can decide.
Urrh… That sounds hard.
It is hard. In order to predict correctly, experience is important.
That’s why we emphasize hands-on Assignments to build this experience.
But, don’t just “do” it. Try to predict the most effective way. Understand?
Students: Yes, Ms. Isolde.
For today’s Assignment, I’ve prepared a simple task to ‘predict’.

Or how exactly fishing entered into it.



You must go to The Heights and fish there for 2 hours.
But, try not to catch any monsters… That’s it.
Fishing, huh? I like eating fish, but catching them is a different story.
I’m just not patient enough to wait.
Me, neither. I’ll end up daydreaming and before you know it, I’ll fall asleep.
I used to fish a little before I came to school…
Then, we’ll leave it to you!
Good luck, Vayne!
Uh, okay… I’ll do my best.

We headed up to the Heights. It took a while to reach the river, but it wasn’t so bad.



Yep. But she said to try not to catch any monsters.
Well, we’ll leave the rest to you! Thanks!

Professor Feinne’s Alchemy 101: Fishing
Fishing is very simple, really. Let’s take a look at the interface.



The little red line will move back and forth, and if we stop it when it’s in the orange zone we catch a fish. The size of the success zone and speed of the line will depend on what we’ve got on the hook. Monsters always take up a huge portion of the bar, so you can predict and avoid them by just letting it run for a while until it fails or by stopping it in the failure zone. For this assignment catching monsters is a penalty, so even if it means you don’t catch enough for an A I’d suggest avoiding monsters.

We caught a pretty fair amount I think.



I think so.
Well, let’s go back and get our stamps.
……
What’s wrong?
Oh! I bet he’s thinking, “These two didn’t do anything this time!”
What? Really?
N-no! I didn’t think that at all…
Hahaha, I’m just kidding. Come on, let’s go already.
Whew…

But it seemed it wasn’t quite good enough for Isolde, we only got a B. Oh well, it’s good enough I guess.



Yes. I’ve been informed. Show me your Handbooks and I will stamp your grades.

We’re also getting some strange looks around campus now.



Hm?
Whisper: Aren’t they… you know? The ones in Flay’s workshop…
Yeah, that’s them. I heard they’re even worse than Flay…
R-really!? We have to be careful then… *shudder *
W-well. It sounds like we have some sort of rumor going around…
Yeah… Doesn’t sound like a good one though…
Mrrgh. It’s so rude. Whispering in secret behind a person’s back.
???: Eh heh heh… You guys are great. Great rumors.
Who’s that!?

Though it seems the source of the rumors might be willing to help us, for a fee.



Rumor spreading…? That’s some hobby you’ve got.
Then the rumors about us were spread by…
Eh heh heh… Sorry about that. It was just too good of a rumor to pass up.
Pass up!? Hurry up and go take it back!
Yeah. I’m so embarrassed. I don’t think I can walk around campus anymore.
Well, now now there. Rumors aren’t all bad, you know.
It means that people are interested in you and your reputation.
Depending on the rumor, you could get discounts or teachers will like you.
Really? I don’t know if I can trust you on that one.
Yeah… But if it’s true, then that’s amazing.
If you don’t believe me, want to try spreading a rumor right now?
Though, it’ll cost you a little bit.
What? You charge people?
Hey, it takes money to spread rumors.
The quickest way to spread ‘em is to pay people off with a little cash…
This guy sounds way too fishy.
I’m not saying you have to do it now. Just come by if you’re interested.
Oh and remember… Even with my capabilities, I can’t spread lies.
You’re gonna have to make the seed of the rumor yourselves. Eh heh heh…

All this rumor stuff is giving me a headache. I think I’m going to get some sleep…

Professor Feinne’s Alchemy 101: Rumors
So, the rumor shop is pretty cool. We can buy ourselves bonuses that apply to the whole group here. The catch is that we have to have done something to qualify for these rumors. As you can see when we look at the interface, we have not yet:



Some come from the story, some come from us doing weird things, we’ll see them every so often as they show up.

The nurse had a class for us today.

Video- “Pharmacy 1”

Watch the Class

She’s going to be teaching us about medicine I guess.



My name is Melanie and I’ll be teaching Pharmacy for the next 3 years.
Students: Nice to meet you.
In this class, you will learn more syntheses, especially for medicine.
Today, I will teach you about plants.
Sasha: Aww, just plants?
Kaya: I wanted to learn about crazy potions and stuff…
Now, now, plants are the most basic ingredient in most syntheses.
Especially in medicine. For example, the Heal Jar. The ingredients are…
Clearwater, Blue Petal, and… Can anyone tell me what else? Jessica?
Oh, uh, me? Um. It’s Spinacherb.
Correct. I see you’ve studied well.
Hehehe. Yay.
This Heal Jar is used to heal wounds.
But the actual healing power comes from this Spinacherb.
The others just enhance the power. Now do you see the importance of plants?
Sasha: Y-yes…
In Pharmacy, you’ll learn methods to enhance the powers of these plants.
The effects of the medicine can be to heal or even to strengthen you.
Medicine is a necessity for your searches as well, so pay attention.
Students: Yes ma’am.

This lesson was just about plants, though.



I think I’ll have you all take care of these plants today.
In the Living Forest, there’s a farm. I want you to go water these plants.
You can bring water from campus, or get some from the river nearby.
Well, that sounds easy enough.
Oh, you think so? There’s a lot of monsters nearby, so it’s quite dangerous.
Well, they’ll get beaten up badly! …By Vayne.
Me!?
Hehehe. How dependable.
Oh, I know. While you’re there, gather a few things for me with this shovel.
System Message: You receive Key Item: Shovel.
Well, that’s all for today’s class.
When you’re done watering, go to Student Affairs to receive your stamp.
I’ll be watching you secretly, so don’t even think about ditching.
Good luck everyone.
The Living Forest, huh… Well, let’s go for a little walk.
Okay. Let’s go and get this done with.

Thanks to Jess’ maps we found the farm without any trouble.



Yep. Now let’s give it some water…
This should be good enough.
Good job! And now all we have to do it go back and get our stamps.
Shouldn’t we gather some of this stuff first…?
Oh yeah, I forgot! Okay, let’s root this place up!
I think that’s going a little too far…
Don’t worry, they’re plants. They’ll grow back in no time.

Professor Feinne’s Alchemy 101: Gathering
Now that we have a tool for gathering we have access to some new sources of items. The Shovel allows us to dig up plants, which is always nice. We’ll see more tools later for gathering things like fruit from trees and minerals.

I’m not sure how but Melanie had already gotten word back to campus that we had accomplished the task.



Water the farm…? Oh, from Dr. Melanie’s class. Please hold on.
Mr. Vayne, Miss Jessica, and Miss Nicole…
Yes. I’ve received records from her that you have indeed watered the plants.
What? She was really watching?
I wonder where she was… I didn’t even notice her.
She looks so nice, but she might be a tricky one.
Hehe. Please show me your Handbooks for your grades.

We’ve finished our Assignments for now, but there is still a while before the Exam.



Good job, Nikki.
We’re in Free Time! I’m gonna play and play and lay all day!
Playing’s fine, but maybe we should get some jobs.
I wanna buy some medicine and other stuff, too.
Boo, no way. I don’t wanna work.
Fine then. What about you, Vayne? Do you want to work? Or play?
Uh, I… think I’m tired so I just want to rest…
Vayne, you’re like an old man…
You’re young, you know! Shape up, get up!
S-sorry…?
Let’s go ask the Student Affairs Office about jobs and stuff later.
We can think about doing it or not afterwards, okay?
I guess. Working might be better than being bored.

We’d found some new recipes and raw materials, so it only made sense to try and create some new items. I also had some new ideas, but I think we’ll need some new items to produce them.



















I was able to refine some salt earlier thanks to that recipe Nikki gave me, but Jessica wasn’t very impressed.





What’s wrong? You seem kinda mad.
You’re boring. You only make white powder.
Uh, I can’t really help being boring, though…
Let’s make some black powder sometimes, too.
Well… I mean… You can make it if you want to, I guess…
I can!?
Well of course… Just…don’t use any dangerous materials.
I know! I know…
What should I use…? Well, if it’s black… Oh yeah, gunpowder.
Might as well make it go BOOM! real fast…
…I did a bad thing.
System Message: Item: Black Powder can now be made.

Jess also got quite excited when we made those bombs we’d found the recipe for.





Yay! A bomb, a bomb!
So, you like bombs?
Yep. It’s so alchemic when things go “Boom!” or “Bang!”
Is that so?
Oh, by the way, I read this in a book a few days ago…
Hm? Read what?
A combustive explosion requires more than a few thousand degrees of heat.
But, you only need -195C, the same as liquid nitrogen, for a cold one.
It can stop almost all organisms from their normal bodily functions.
Th-that’s a pretty weird fun fact.
Doesn’t it sound fun to make a bomb like that?
I don’t think it’ll be fun…
Especially if I give it to you…
Don’t worry. I won’t use it on you.
Alrighty then! I’ll try it out later.
Be really careful when you’re handling it…
System Message: Item: Ice Bomb can now be made.

She’s kind of scary sometimes. Anyway I think we’re going to take a look at the jobs tomorrow in the morning, was a bit late when we got done in the workshop.