Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 321: Dasha’s Lab

Chapter 321: Dasha’s Lab

"Enter home."

Dasha and Xavier appeared in a flash of light, materializing in the middle of an expansive laboratory. Certainly Dash’s lab and significantly larger than it was thirty days ago. Wider and longer with shelves neatly labelled and lined with glass beakers, vials, and complex chemical apparatus.

Dasha glanced around. As anticipated, his personal dimension had been used and adjusted heavily during his absence. The lab was muttering with four alchemists engrossed in their work. Among them stood his former student Stager Meier, who was carefully in step two in the process of Dream Meth and measuring powder to several concocted beakers. The luminescence on the surface was evidence he was doing well so far.

Dasha approached Stager with Xavier a step behind. The young, short blond in a white lab coat looked up, momentarily startled by the newcomers. "Mr. X and..." Stager stared at Dasha openly. "S-sorry, do I know you?"

Dasha left a strong impression on people. The red scars currently ingrained on his skin and the Venetian mask prevented Stager from recognizing him. The longer he looked, the closer Stager got to identifying him.

"Wait...Professor?" Stager lifted a shaky finger. "It has to be, right? Mr. X said you would be here soon..."

"But the mask," he wanted to say. "What’s up with that?"

Dasha explicitly instructed Xavier to use his name to earn the trust of the grad student. Stager was the nervous wreck as he suspected he would be. That was what made him a great target for his operations. He listened because he didn’t know anything else. He listened and obeyed because that was what he was taught all his life as a dutiful student.

"I-it’s me, Stager Meier. Maybe you don’t remember, but I was one of the students that contributed to your paper on replacing carbon with nitrogen atoms."

"I could never forget. You were one of the field leaders I assigned for the experiments. You did fine work."

Stager looked glad he was remembered in the first place. "Thank you, professor."

"Stager Meier," Dasha said, looking around and pretending to be impressed. "Hm."

"S-sorry if I messed some stuff up..."

"You tended the lab to your needs. That was one of the lessons I taught you." Dasha put a hand on his shoulder. "You did well."

"I, er, I just followed your instructions. They were super thorough, by the way. As always." Stager tried to laugh. It was a nervous sound.

Dasha removed his hand and put his arms behind him, gazing down on the short blond. His eyes subtly darkened. "Tell me, has Mr. X been paying you well?"

"About a thousand points a week—"

"Double it." Dasha sent Xavier a look. "Double his pay."

To say Xavier was genuinely stunned was impossible to say. Was he acting? Playing along? Who knew? "...that’s..."

"Professor—"

"For the quality and time he has given us, that should be the bare-minimum." Dasha looked back at Stager. "I didn’t teach him for long but he was unquestionably one of the best I taught." His gaze was strong. "Never apologize for your worth."

Stager was speechless, then nodded. The energy in his eyes shifted. It was the same eyes he had when he worked. "Thank you, professor."

"As you say," Xavier said.

Dasha rolled up the sleeves of his gi. "I will be joining you for today. Follow my lead."

"Yes, sir! Here’s some items I bought too..."

Hours passed. Dasha and Stager did their work with the three alchemists doing the same in the background. Step three was occurring: for thirty minutes, they had to tend to the concoction and adjust the flames beneath the beaker to maintain a precise temperature. After this, they would do the transmutation phase and write a symbol. That was what Dasha would do anyways.

Stager was not capable of writing magic circles with his fingers. Indeed, they had a special contraption for this. An item heavily used by students in the Mage University and brought here by the alchemists who were graduates of said university.

A scroll.

Dasha observed the scroll and the giant magic circle detailed inside. He watched as Stager held it and activated it with a small burst of his own mana. The symbol on the scroll pulsed. The complex magic circle ripped itself off the parchment of the scroll and collectively flew into not one—but seven of the elixirs. The bottles shook, battled, and mixed until pink crystals remained.

"A giant magic circle on a single scroll to transmute several of the bottles, hm? Who did this?"

"Me." The one that spoke was Doctor Elise Thornton, a tall woman with striking red hair tied back in a tight ponytail. She wore a pair of sleek, silver-rimmed glasses that complemented her sharp, angular features. A very classically English woman. According to Xavier, Elise was a graduate of the Magic University. After four years, she earned the Wizardry Degree and after another three received the Sorcerery Degree. She even underwent the infamous Magic Alphabet Program.

Alas, because of her specialization in magic circles and alchemy, she struggled to find a job and lived her days by selling crude potions.

"It wasn’t too hard, good sir," Dr. Thornton said. "Your previous method of a magic circle per bottle was inefficient. I simply expanded the magic circle to incorporate several."

’And with a scroll, there’s no need to write it on the fly.’

"You did much more than that," Dasha said. "The magic circle is large but not seven times larger. The tempo is also much faster."

"I used Nordic Runes," Dr. Thornton replied. "They can be rather conceptual and thus difficult to control. Luckily, with something like transmutation for a substance that brings dreams, I managed a compromise."

"Conceptual..." Dasha repeated. He recalled the magic circle on the scroll and the specific details. "You used Younger Futhark. Nauðr, ár, and maðr."

"’Need’, ’plenty’, and ’human’. That’s right. Norse runes tend to be avoided. Do you know why?" Dr. Thornton pushed her glasses back, agitated. "It is because the symbols are intense and a mishap can lead to severe consequences. The university dislikes studying it until you at least have a Sorcery Degree. I did exactly that and even then they hardly accepted it. The Chancellor herself was against it. The Tower of True Magic...what a foolish name."

Her agitation manifested in the form of twitchy fingers. The redhead sharply inhaled and exhaled, memories of old creeping up and agitating her further.

"Have you written a book on this topic?"

Dasha’s question raised a brow from Dr. Elise Thornton. "As a matter of fact, I have."

"I would like to read it."

"Oh? It is not for the novice, good sir. Even my colleagues could barely comprehend it."

"Would you call yourself the forefront authority on Norse runes?"

"Professor Aífe teaches it. Perhaps you have heard of her, she is the sister of the Lady of the Shadows, Scáthach."

"I see."

"She taught the course on it for only one year before being forced to stop by the Chancellor. It wasn’t her fault everyone was so incompetent," Dr. Elise Thornton muttered near the end.

Incompetence. Frustration. The lack of understanding. The need to prove herself. That was what drove her.

"Then that should be more reason for me to read it. I am not incompetent," Dasha said.

Dr. Elise Thornton raised brow went higher. "Suit yourself. I should have it somewhere here."

Books were inserted on the shelves too. The doctor went over, found her book, and handed it to Dasha. ’The History of Runes and the Great Misunderstanding.’ He opened the first page and slowly flipped through the first Chapter. ’Her entire lifework is around this. It is indeed complicated.’

Then he flipped through the whole book, eyes flicking left and right, and closed it. Dr. Elise Thornton’s expression fell. For ten seconds, there was silence.

"If you’re going to read it, take your time," the doctor said, huffing and turning.

"The second Chapter on spatial manipulation was intriguing. Ordinarily, increasing the size of a magic circle increases power relatively-speaking. For runes, that is not the case, likely because of its simple design. For Younger Futhark, particularly for short-twig, their strength is already great and so size is irrelevant."

The doctor froze.

Dasha crossed his arms and casted a look over at the scroll in Stager’s hand.

"Short-twigs were historically used in everyday life. Conceptually, they have specific demands and effects." The doctor met Dasha’s gaze, equally puzzled as she was intrigued. The slow smile on her face was of wonder and awe and everything that a scientist wanted to experience. "Which is what you used for that magic circle. That is why it is able to bring the effects of seven magic circles without actually being seven times in size."

"You..."

The doctor didn’t speak any longer. Dasha didn’t either.

Stager felt like he had to say something. "Oh, er..." He gestured at Dasha. "The professor was pretty much the smartest chemist on the planet and famously the fourth youngest person to ever graduate university. He learns really, really fast."

"Ho. Learns fast?" Dr. Elise Thornton laughed. "My good sir, now that’s interesting."

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