Part 7: The Midterm

Well, we got our exam assignment today.

Video- “The Exam”

Learn About the Exam

Quiet down now.
The topic of this exam is, how quickly can you make a specific item. And now…
System Message: You received the recipe for [Strong Fiber].
Item: Dietary Fiber can now be made.
Go make a Dietary Fiber. It’s due tomorrow afternoon!
Jordan: Whaa!?
Elsa: Tomorrow!?
Sasha: That’s impossible!!
Aww, I’m so delighted to see you all so happy.
Well, that’s it. You’re free to go! Good luck, everyone!

Needless to say we were really freaking out.



What should we do?
I’m going to the library to look it up. Vayne, go back to the workshop.
Okay, got it.

But when we got together, everything seemed like it would be pretty simple.



Ah, there you are.
How’d it go?
It doesn’t seem too hard. If we have the materials, we can make it right now.
What kind of ingredients do we need?
Well, it said we need Spinacherb, Burdok Straight, and Clearwater.
That’s easy. And I was worried for nothing!
But if we use a Huffin instead of the Spinacherb, it’s much higher quality.
Huffin?
Yep. There’s this one tree in The Heights where we can get it…
But, we don’t have much time. I don’t think we need to go that far.

And that’s when everything fell apart.



Whaaa!? Out of nowhere again…
Using what’s at hand? Outrageous! An alchemist always aims for the best!
Err, I know what you’re saying, but…
Weaklings! I forbid you to use the cauldron until you bring me a Huffin!
But, that’s not fair! I wanna make other stuff, too…
If you want to use it, hurry up and go get the Huffin!
This is crazy…

So we headed up for the Heights. Unfortunately, there were some other people who knew about the Huffin.



Roxis…
Looks like we’re here for the same thing.
Hey, that’s no fair! You’re getting help from the Sophomores!
Of course! I can’t help it if your Sophomore partner is mean.
Urgh… I can’t deny that…
Let’s go already. We don’t have time to waste on these guys.
We should get going, too.
Yeah…

There was no way we could move faster than Sophomores.



Hey Roxis, buy us some time and stall those punks.
Stall them? How?
You hate ‘em, right? Now’s a great chance for you to hurt ‘em a little.
…My personal feelings aside, I can’t disobey orders from my superiors.
That’s good enough for me. Just take care of ‘em.
Wow, you’re sounding pretty evil right now.
Shut up!

We didn’t quite know what to expect when we found Roxis all alone in our path.

Video- “Roxis”

Watch the Showdown

……
…Uhh?
I have to hurt you guys a little. Those are my orders.
What do you mean!?
You don’t have to do this…
I would like to see the extent of your powers, as well.
Stop it. We don’t have enough time to waste any on you!
If you won’t fight, so be it. That won’t stop me from beating you all.
Our Mana will decide our fate.

I didn’t really want to fight him, but I certainly wasn’t going to just let him beat us.



Watch out. He looks serious.
So that is the power of your Mana… How pathetic!

Boss Battle: Roxis
Roxis is pretty easy even if you’ve not been as anal as I have about synthesizing everything. He’ll cast an Ice Storm that puts damaging Time Cards up, use an attack called Purify Ring that Breaks a party member instantly, and can heal himself with Megaheal. He’s not much of a threat, though being real he’s not intended to be…

But defeating us wasn’t really his goal.



It was three against one. Besides, I accomplished my task.
Oh yeah! Let’s go get the ingredient quick.
Yeah, let’s hurry.



He was just slowing us down.

Video- “Tony’s Gambit”

Watch the Horror

Yeah, and now for the finishing touch…
…Wait a minute. Isn’t that going a little too far?
Heh heh heh. I can already see their stupid teary-eyed faces…

In the end we were too late.



What’s wrong, Nikki?
The wind feels hot… Maybe it’s just me.
We’re almost there, guys. We can see it from… *gasp *



He burned it down.



This is terrible…
Well, well, well. And after coming a~ll this way…
Sorry. I tried to stop him.
This…
Heh heh, welcome back. Thanks for buying us time. Here’s your stuff.
…You did this?
Look at their faces! Haha, man I feel so much better.
……
Did you really have to do this?
This is…
Plants have lives, too! I’ll never forgive you for this, this…
Even I don’t like this… Let’s just get outta here.
Yeah, alright. Hey Roxis, you still gotta synthesize this when we get back.
How horrible… The tree didn’t do anything wrong.
Those guys’re the worst.
…Indeed, that was vile. There’s nothing else I can say about that.

None of us even really care about the exam now. Not like we can finish it even if we want to, Flay won’t let us use the cauldron…



Yeah. There’s nothing we can do about it.
This is so messed up… Why did they have to go this far?
Helpless souls. Such is an alchemist…
I don’t think all alchemists are like that…
All the alchemists I know are good-for-nothings.
So… is this tree dead?
Most likely. If I could, I would save it, but…
Yeah… If I could…

It’s like some kind of miracle. Jess and Nikki found me early in the morning, they were so excited they couldn’t even tell me what had happened.

Video- “Revival”

See the Miracle

We finally found you! Geesh, you’re so late!
Huh? What’s with you two?
You don’t know yet? Um…
It’ll be faster just to show you! Come on, let’s go!
Go? Go where?
The tree from yesterday. C’mon, hurry!

Somehow the tree was back!



The whole school’s been talking about it all morning.
But… how?
Who knows. Maybe one of the teachers secretly fixed it?
Wow… I didn’t know that was possible.
Well, what are we waiting for? We better get our ingredients, too.
Yay! Looks like we’ll make it in time to turn it in!
……

We collected our Huffin flowers, and it seems our concern for the tree yesterday had attracted some attention.



A weird little floating guy with an acorn on his back could only be a Mana.



Huh, what’s wrong? You don’t usually scare easily.
Is this… a Mana?
Th…k…u… Tr…fi…
What’s it saying?
I don’t know… He sounds really shy, though.
I think he’s thanking us for fixing the tree.
Oh, can you understand what he’s saying?
Umm, kinda.
But… we didn’t fix it.
Yeah, so you don’t have to worry about it.
U-u-u…gr…wi…u…
Huh? I told you, it’s okay.
What’s he saying now?
He wants to come with us to show his gratitude.
With us…?
This should work out since Nikki’s not bound to a Mana yet, right?
Huh? Me?
Yeah, Me and Vayne already have Mana, so…
I see, umm… Are you okay with that?

It seemed the Mana was okay to work with Nikki.



Okay! Awesome!
Aw…ome!
System Message: Nikki has made a pact with a Mana.

Anyway, with the Huffin in hands Flay let us use the cauldron, meaning we could finish our exam.



Alright, it’s done!
Look at the time. We need to hurry…
Let’s take it to the teacher, quick!

We managed to get the assignment turned in on time, so I guess it all turned out okay.



Yep. He said the quality wasn’t bad, either.
And I was so worried at one point.
Oh…
……

Roxis had shown up.



What? Say something.
…… Did you finish the exam?
We just turned it in, thank you very much! Too bad for you, huh!
I didn’t intend for that to happen yesterday. I didn’t think they were…
What!? Are you trying to tell us you’re not a bad guy?
……
Nikki, calm down…
I was in such a good mood cuz we passed, but now you ruined it! Let’s go!
O-okay…

Roxis had something to tell me before I left, though.



Huh?
I apologize for yesterday. I’m sorry.
Um, don’t apologize to me.
But, I have to make this clear. I hate you.
……
I wonder why… Did I do something to him?
Who knows? I don’t understand how you humans think.

I just wish I knew why…



And another thing… The tree that burned down…
…Urgh. I’m too tired to think. It’s been so hectic since I came here.
Starting next week, school is out. So I hope I get to have a little rest…