Nightmare Mythos

Rina stared at Cesar for a moment before chuckling, "I know right? I was just testing you, silly. If you agreed to that, I might've reconsider teaching you about alchemy."

Rina shook the disgusting liquid from her hands using the cup before commenting, "If anyone calls Death Toxin beautiful, I will definitely report you for having an unstable mind. But anyways since the little test of mine is done, let's start to the real part,"

Cesar couldn't help but roll his eyes in irritation as he mused inwardly, 'Just… what a stupid test! Please, it better not be the same as that prick Hans' class that will make me just watch her do stupid experiments to waste my time!'

Rina glanced for a brief moment before she started picking up different kinds of ingredients from the side and posed a question.

"Cesar, are you familiar with the new ingredients that appeared worldwide because of the Nightmares? I think they taught it to you in the Academy and they are primarily called Exotics."

Cesar nodded once since he encountered that kind of subject from time to time, and it is a requirement for a student to learn it. He gave his opinions about it.

"Exotics can be considered as ingredients that will help reduce the potency of corruption in the Nightmare Potion. As of today, every ingredient that can help to that has the highest value in the market. But that wasn't the only purpose of Exotics.

"These unusual items can also be used to create weapons such as Artifacts and Specialized Bullets. They can even improve a food's quality twofold and are considered to be a spice as well, even better, as long as it was proven tested and healthy for consumption. Some are even good to test in the medical field. The list just goes on."

Rina nodded as he grabbed an empty jar after already grabbing a bunch of stuff from it before stating calmly.

"You couldn't have explained it better,"

Rina gestured to come closer but had to stop her actions as she almost forgot something.

"Go to the dressing room and wear gloves, protective glass, and a lab coat first. Haha, almost forgot about it,"

Cesar couldn't help but stare at her erratically, his left eye blinking in a strange motion before musing inwardly, 'I was waiting for you to say that since I will never come closer to you no matter what you say, but you almost forgot it?'

As he walked through the dressing room to dress himself with equipment, Cesar was already thinking that Rina might just not be suited to this field. If she was this forgetful and carefree, then the world might just enter another epoch.

After a few minutes of arranging himself, Cesar left the dressing room while completely equipped. Approaching his instructor, he saw something different from the way Rina was acting earlier.

The way she was arranging the ingredients on the table was delicate. Her gaze was instantly devoid of any jolliness as she was expecting everything like a hawk. Especially the atmosphere around her was different.

"I will teach you different kinds of ways to distinguish the kind of Exotics you see using different kinds of methods since others aren't viable for that one action but can be done to others," Rina paused, "For example, you can distinguish an Exotic through a smell but not touch, vice versa. You can say it is applicable to this one but not to other… which I just explained now,"

Rina paused, "And what do you think one has to have to be able to learn about them, huh Cesar? I'll give you a hint, its two words,"

Cesar relaxed as he thought deeply about but nothing came to mind. Is it related to having a skill? Or another mastery of being able to distinguish something right in an instant?

He shook his head when he didn't give an answer that Rina could understand.

"My teacher asked me the same thing from me, you see. At first, I thought he was joking when he mentioned the answer but eventually as I studied more about Exotics, it was becoming clearer that it is true."

Rina paused as she revealed, "The answer to that question is Common Sense,"

"…"

Rina then explained, "Imagine you see the Exotic emitting out a repugnant smell, of course, you wouldn't use your nose. In a different situation where having your eyes closed, either you have your sense of touch, hearing, or smell. This brings me to the method of distinguishing an Exotic,"

Rina picked up a green branch of wood using a tweezer from the table and said, "There are five categories for it. It's hard to give an explanation so I'll use this ingredient. For example, this Green Oakwood doesn't really have anything unusual from it aside from it being color green. You don't have to cover your eyes or nose. Hence, this is a Category Five Exotic, basically a very safe ingredient… but that is until it is proven in this demonstration alone,"

Rina picked up an empty jar before bringing up a cup that was filled with blue water, "Just think that we didn't have data about this. Just like any alchemist out there, the only choice they have is to do trial and error. The result will not be seen unless it already appeared,"
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Rina poured the cup of blue water into the empty jar before placing the green oak wood. Soon, the chemical reaction happened and the water became filled with green viscous liquid that had bubbles popping out.

"Now that it looks like this water is not safe enough to be touched with hands, the Category that this one had just added up. Hence the data that we'll be inputting is Category Five-Four, Greek Oakwood. The five is the raw output, and four is the final result after using the ingredient,"

Rina halted to catch her breath, "To sum it all up, the categories are heavily linked to whatever our five senses can differentiate. The more it is unavailable to one's senses, the more the final result of output will add up,"

Cesar couldn't help but be enlightened at this learning as his mind who was still hungry for knowledge was dying to have for more.

"I'm getting excited…"