Part 38: A Swarm and a Test

I don’t even try to make sense of some of these things any more.

Video- “Muppy 2”

EXTERMINATE!

Jess was chasing Muppy around the workshop trying to get a look at that crazy pot thing he flies around in.



Wait. Muppy, let me see that thing you’re riding!
Mu! Mu!
Why does Jess like Muppy so much…?
It’s love.
Oh my! Really!?
That can’t be right!
Well, it’s good that they’re friendly.
Er…
Huh?
What’s wrong, Muppy?

Muppy suddenly slowed to a crawl and turned an odd sort of color.



What!? Are you alright!?
I don’t even know where your tummy is…
No. I’m going home for today…
Home, where…?
Oh, there.
I wonder if he’ll be okay… Maybe I should make him some medicine…
He’s not a kid. He can just sleep it off.
Let’s leave him alone for a while.
Okay…
(This tingle in my body… Could it be!? …Is it that season already…?)

So we are never leaving Muppy alone again now, because later on things got pretty weird.



I’m a little worried, too.
He might be hurting and crying now… Poor thing.
You’re way too worried.
Huh?
What’s wrong?
I thought I just saw Muppy…
No way. He’s sleeping.
Yeah. Maybe I’m just so worried I’m starting to see things…

So yeah, Muppys started appearing everywhere.



Wahh, he’s there!
But there’s no way…
It’s true! Right behind you!
Kourel: Wahhh, what is this!?
Millie: Ahhhhh!!
Muppy!?
See, I told you!
W-we have to catch him. Why is he in this classroom?

Like, lots of Muppys.



Mu!
Wha…? There’s two Muppys!?
Wha…? Ahhhh!
Millie: Nooooooo!!
Kourel: What’s up with this!?
Kodama: Help me! Mommy!
W-w-w-what’s going on?
I don’t know. Muppy is…

And it seems that it wasn’t just our classroom.



Flay! By, “too,” you mean the other classes are…?
The entire campus is filled with Muppys!
But… why?
How the hell should I know! Ask the cause of this directly!
Y-yeah. Let’s hurry back to the Workshop.
So, he’s finally showing his true monstrosity…

We confronted Muppy, who knew exactly what was going on.



What’s the meaning of this!?
Huh… I knew you’d come.
Why are you acting so cool?
What are those? They’re obviously like you…
Those are my kids. I guess you can call them, Children of the Muppy.
Kids… So who’s the…?
*gasp * Could it be Jess!?
Whaaa? Me!?
I knew you two were really close lately, but having kids at your age…
Jess, that’s dirty!
N-n-n-no it’s not! It’s not me!
Eeew! It’s not Jess. I require no inferior genetic material.
So, by yourself…?
…Like a slug?

Not that the explanation was very comforting. And his solution was even worse.



256… What are you going to do with that many!?
Yeah. How do you pay for their college?
That’s what worries you!?
No problem, exterminate them all. They are only shells with no knowledge.
…What? I kinda feel hesitant about doing this.
They’re 98% air inside. Poke them with a needle and they’ll pop.
What are you, a balloon?
I can’t… I can’t do it! To pop a Muppy…!
Ooh? It seems fun. Poke, poke.
That hurts! I’m already filled with meat!
Awww, too bad.
This goes beyond any notion of a normal day…
Hahaa! Let’s split up and exterminate the Children of the Muppy!
Do I have to participate in this as well?
Of course! We must hurry or else they’ll hold us responsible again.
I think it’s a little too late for that…

Professor Feinne’s Alchemy 300: EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!
So, the Muppys are all over the place in out of the way areas. Just look in every nook and cranny of the areas that are flagged and you’ll find them all eventually, then talk to them to pop them. Easy as can be.

We managed to take out the Muppys relatively quickly.



I smashed all I could fine. I don’t think there’s any more left.
You’ve worked for a good cause.
And why are you acting all big!
We got them this time, but for every 1 you see, there are 10 more.
You’re thinking about ninjas.
There’ll be more in 20 Space Years. I’ll ask you again, then.
……
What’s wrong, Vayne? You’re looking troubled.
Well, there was so much panic, I wonder if it’ll be okay…

It was not okay.



Oh… Okay then.
You again? You really do have a lot of time on your hands.
I make time in my busy schedule to come here.
I hear a student in this workshop appeared in mass quantity to cause trouble.
And because of that, the Principal’s Office is full of complaints.
U-mm… Well… That’s…
Personal items broken. Food stolen. Bathrooms clogged, etc., etc…
This is the list of complaints. Read through them all.
Th-this many…
Resolve these all today by yourselves! Do you understand!?
So, this is how it ends…
Well, don’t look at me. Good luck with that.
I said stop acting like you’re the boss!

Still, at least Muppy’s probably caused as much trouble as he possibly could…

Video- “Anna 4”

Watch Us Teach Alchemy

The Vice Principal came down this morning, and we were pretty surprised by what she had to say.



Nrh, Madame… Whenever you come, nothing good ever comes out of it…
What a coincidence. When I deal with you, nothing good comes, either.
Vice Principal, did you have something to tell us?
Oh, that’s right. Is Little Anna here?
She hasn’t shown up yet today…
I see… Then will you give her a message?
Her grades aren’t very good lately, so she needs to gather her wits.
Anna has bad grades?
That’s surprising. I was under the impression that her work was flawless.
Indeed. She is earnest, diligent, and perceptive, yet, her grades are bad…
*sigh * She was a promising student. Joining this workshop was big mistake.
What!? That’s not true…
Well, it could be, but…
Anyway, please let her know I mentioned it.
…Speaking of which, I’ve never asked Anna about her grades.
I just assumed they were always greally good…
I model student with bad grades… That’s rare.

Just then Anna came in.



Ah, speak of the devil…
Is something wrong? You’re all staring…
Um, the Vice Principal just came by and…
Oh, I see. My grades again? How troubling.
Anna, you’re not good at studying?
As far as I know, I don’t believe that you’re unskilled in alchemy.
I don’t have trouble with the studies, but it won’t reflect on my grades…
I don’t get it…
I practice so that I can help you guys, and try to follow your examples…
But I can’t seem to grasp the basics of the material in my grade.
…Oh yeah, you’re one year younger than us…
That would be two for me.
That’s skill if you can copy someone else just by following them…
So it should be fine if we explain the reasons and get you some tutoring…
No!
Flay… You better not say something strange, again.
It is our fault that Anna has turned out this way…

Flay actually had a good idea for once, since it was our fault she wasn’t doing well.



…Not too strange.
Flay… You’d do that for me?
I bet you have ulterior motives.
I won’t believe it that easily.
I wasn’t trying to outwit the Vice Principal or make Anna owe me!
I see…
But what he ways isn’t wrong. We can try.
Yeah. I’ll try to tutor you the best I can.
Everyone… Thank you!

What we weren’t sure of, though, was exactly what her problems were.



Yeah… How should we teach her?
We know there’s no problem with her technique. So it comes down to the basics.
The basics… How many decades ago did I learn that…?
What if we synthesize a difficult item in order from the very beginning?
Oh, good one!
I was just thinking the same thing.
Yeah, yeah. Let’s leave Flaya out of this.
Then what should we make? Something recent…?
How about Super Nectar? There’s many steps, and it uses basic ingredients.
It’s hard to make, even for us, so it should be perfect for this.
Alright, let’s get to it!
Anna, you know the ingredients right?
A Brilliant Stone, a sweet Fruit, a Root Vegetable, and Preservative… Right?
Then do you know the ingredients for Brilliant Stone and Preservative?
It’s um, I think… uhh.
So we should start with teaching her that.
Okay Anna. Let’s start by making Polishing Powder.
Polishing Powder? But that’s too…
Come on, it’ll be fine.
Um, okay…

It really is our fault, we forgot that by working with us Anna’s never had to go through all the steps and basic ingredients bit by bit because we’d already done a lot of that before she even got to school.



Yes, it’s done, but… What are we going to do with this?
What do you mean, what? This is the ingredient for Brilliant Stones.
Huh… Oh, I see.
A difficult synthesis is only a combination of various basic ones.
That’s very true. Not every ingredient can exist from the very beginning…
By the time you came to our workshop, we pretty much had made them all.
So I had skipped learning this important process all this time…
It’s not too late to learn them now. Let’s go get the other ingredients.
We can probably find the rest at the Dragon’s Grave and Millenium Tree.

Professor Feinne’s Alchemy 300: Danger Will Robinson!
Okay, so Anna 4 and Roxis 4 share one important thing in common: It is possible to fail them. There are two questions here that we have to get right, or the event will end poorly and we will be unable to access Anna’s final scene and ending. As we’ll see later, the same thing is going to happen in Roxis’ next scene.

We headed to the Millenium Tree to get some materials for the Preservative.



Yup, yup.
If I remember, the recipe for Preservatives can use various items, right?
Mmhm. The ingredients determine the quality, so it’s kinda fun.
I think it was a plant, some water, a flower petal and… Umm…
One more! You can do it!
Err… I can’t remember.
Well, it was something we learned our first year.
Anna. The last one is…

I’m pretty sure it’s the acid in the fruit that’s the active ingredient.



Oh! That’s right. I needed a Fruit.
Yeah. Since you’re here, you can go find any fruit you want to use.
Thank you very much. I’ll go find one now.
System Message: Anna has gathered the ingredients to make a Preservative.

We returned to the workshop before heading back out for the rest, and the Vice Principal swung by to talk to Anna.



Yes, we are.
…Are you okay with this?
Please don’t look so worried.
It affects the future of a student. It’s not too late to come to my workshop…
Stay out of this. I’ll show you how to re-educate a person!
…… I am worried… Tremendously.
I understand how you feel. I really do.
*sigh * It cannot be helped. Anna?
Yes.
I can see your effort, so I will give you a special make-up exam later on.
I’m sure you are not happy with your current grades, either.
Th-thank you very much.
Come to me when you are ready. Good day.
Heh heh heh. Our chance to prove our power came so quickly!
Uh, that wasn’t the point of this, you know?
Anna! You’re just going to have to get a good grade on this! Train super hard!
Yes. I look forward to it!

We headed to the Dragon’s Grave to finish up the Brilliant Stone.



Umm, what now?
An elemental core, healing medicine, Polishing Powder, and one more. Do you know?
Um… Sorry, I guess I didn’t study enough…
Hmph, you suck. Vayne, tell her.
Why don’t you just tell her, Flaya.
Don’t you understand? I’m letting Vayne take the credit here.
Yeah, yeah.
Vayne, please tell me.

I’m pretty sure Flay didn’t know the last ingredient is a Chrome Crystal.



So a Chrome Cyrstal? Alright!
She’s so excited about all this.
When they’re this happy, teaching is fun.
System Message: Anna has gathered the ingredients to make a Brilliant Stone.

We returned with the materials, ready to actually make the Super Nectar.



*sigh * I realize how badly I was skipping the proper steps.
So basics are important for everything, after all.
Hmph… Finally realized. You’re still an amateur.
You didn’t teach her anything, Flaya.
I trusted you guys would be able to lead Anna without needing my help.
How convenient…
Other syntheses flow the same way. If you don’t forget, you’ll be fine.
You already had the skill and knowledge. This should be easy enough for you.
Thank you all for teaching me! I will visit the Vice Principal tomorrow maybe.
Okay, good luck.

I just hope she does okay…



Well Anna took her test.



Welcome back! How was it?
I can’t say it was perfect, but I believe it was adequate enough.
Ohh!? Yay!
It’s thanks to you all.
It’s because you worked hard for it.
Even the Vice Principal was praising you all. Slightly hesitant, but…
That stubborn woman finally sees our skill.
I’m so glad. At one point, I seriously thought of quitting this workshop.
I-I see…
I’m clear of confusion now. Thanks to everyone.
Yeah. No problem.

I’m just glad things turned out well…