Rose told me a bunch of details about the party I didn't want to know. It sounded like the party was really just a séance that happened at the tail end of a regular college party. I'd never attended any but I'd heard plenty about them growing up because my older sister was always getting too drunk at them.

I grabbed a few meatier books about the System from the library then returned to my room. I found my temporary roommate relaxing on the bed I hadn't claimed. He looked around the same age as this body. Some elf blood given the ears. He had fairer skin than me, though his was a bit ruddy. He was also blonder hair, though his hair was shaggy and had a little wave to it. Not to mention he was taller than me.

On the other hand, he had the face of a neanderthal. Big head. Heavy brow. Thick bone structure. Not handsome in the least.

[Notice]

Congratulations!

You have completed your Quest [Meet Your Temporary Roommate at Caemor Academy]. Mastery of [Lucky Number 7] has increased by .05%.

Fucking hell. Time to just ignore the notifications entirely just like it was ignoring my consent.

He looked up at me and smiled. "Hi. I'm Huxley, but you can call me Hux if you'd like." He stood up and offered a hand. He had a scar on his palm. "How's move-in day been for you?"

I shook his hand. I'd never call him Hux. "Good. I'm Gerard. Nice to meet you and all that. Where'd you get that scar if you don't mind me asking?"

As I took a seat on my bed, he took one opposite me on his. "Will you believe me if I say it's a knife fight?"

"I will, but you'll have to prove it to me." I was being serious, but I don't think he took it that way.

"Okay, okay." He held his hands up as if I'd forced him to give me more information. "I fought a guy in the streets. He tried to rob me, and I killed him."

I'd meant he should show me one of his knives. Show me how he handled it. His favorite angles. His favorite places to target on a body. That said, he was being so serious about it, so he probably had managed to accidentally kill someone who'd tried to rob him. Had I lucked out again? Probably not since he seemed still much too soft to be any more useful than Danio.

"Yeah?" I said, making sure to sound a bit impressed even if I wasn't. "Well, good for you."

His eyebrows raised. "That's not usually what people say when I tell them that."

"I'm not just anyone."

He laughed. A big, boisterous laugh. "I like you already. Where are you from? I know all the nobles in Brugge so you must be from somewhere else? Praor Swa? Edresh? Lushya?"

Interesting for him to guess everywhere but somewhere in Naedoven. Praor Swa was at least close, but Edresh was on the east coast of the continent and Lushya was in the most northern part of the Kingdom of Sørgentsen.

"All great cities," I said, "but no. I'm from a small village in the Viscoti territory of Naedoven."

We talked about the political situation between Naedoven and Broweathen for a while. He was no son of a duke, but he was the second son of a marquess. Clearly, they saved the nicer rooms here for nobility. Just what I'd hoped would happen.

In the north, although they pretended they didn't care about social hierarchies like they did in Broweathen and Naedoven and that they cared more about merit, it'd been about the same. Get into a nice school. Get treated exceptionally well because I was nobility. Make friends with other nobles to accrue more political influence. Except in my last life, I'd been sick of people and stayed to myself.

I probably didn't have that luxury now, which was why it was great luck that not only was Rose attending, but that I could make a connection with the son of the esteemed Marquess Leolamin Eshash: the young Lord Huxlian "Huxley" Eshash. I knew about all the noble families on the continent having studied them by order of Duke Viscoti. Useless knowledge in almost all of my lives in this world so far, but it'd be useful in this life at least.

Formerly a family of merchants, the Eshash family had been one of the first families in Broweathen to establish trade relations with the landlocked elvish kingdom in the deepest part of the Yeshana Forest in the middle of the continent. As they gained wealth, they'd gained status and eventually a title. Several generations later, the Eshash had some of the best territory bordering the Yeshana Forest and enjoyed considerable political influence for not being a ducal family.

So I humored him. I was well practiced in humoring the nobility. In my second life, I'd perfected it as a craft while I got revenge on the Viscoti family for having me killed. We got dinner together. He introduced me to some other sons and daughters of this noble and that. They seemed weary of him, which only made his story that much more convincing.

By the time I was supposed to meet up with Rose to go to Tespana's party, the last thing I wanted to do was be social. Huxley was a lot like Rolf and Danio: all talkative little shits. That said, he had a lot of gossip about the other nobles here. Apparently they had a special club but they didn't typically ask first-years to join since it was so typical to be dropped or drop out after a few months. He was certain he could get us in though. At least he had his confidence, if nothing else.

Rose had changed out of her uniform to meet up in front of the library. Instead, she wore a pastel pink dress that matched her looks but not her personality. She smiled when she saw him.

"Good," she said as I approached her. "You looked so uncomfortable in your uniform."

She had to be making that up in her mind. Clothes were rather irrelevant to how comfortable I was. "I appreciate your approval. Tell me, did you actually get me an invite or are you just showing up with me?"

"Bit of both. I didn't get a straight answer, but there's no time for that." She took my elbow and guided me toward Tespana House. Apparently, there was a permanent beginner's level dungeon in the forest. "I'm a princess. What're they going to do?"

"Thank you for your presence," I said. "Thank you for letting me decorate your arm tonight then, Princess Rose."

Rose scoffed, her nose scrunching. "Oh, please. I know what you're really like already. Don't with all that. You're charming enough as it is. Plus, my excuse is that I needed the extra hands for the potion. You're up for making a potion to pay me back for the one I made you, right?"

"How could I say no, princess?" I chuckled when she smacked my arm.

Tespana House was a small gothic-looking manor with steepled roofs and arched stain glass windows tucked away near the small forest at the edge of campus where a few magical beasts were kept for observation. The view of it from dusk with golden candlelight pouring out of the windows made it look like it was from some fairytale.

[Notice]

Congratulations!

You have completed your Quest [Arrive at Tespana House with Princess Rose]. Mastery of [Lucky Number 7] has increased by .05%.

Inside, it was crowded but not so much that it was hard to walk around. Also, everyone moved out of Rose's way with a smile and a nod of acknowledgment. There were servants going around with champagne flutes and wine glasses on trays. She took some white wine. I would've preferred beer, but I grabbed a glass of red wine.

First, Rose introduced me to a few people around the first floor. There was a kitchen, a formal dining room, a library, a reception room and a sitting room. Then we lingered for far longer chatting with some of what I guessed to be Rose's friend group. After far longer than I would've preferred, she finally decided it was time to make the potion.

The potion was really more like a syrup that was meant to be added to mugwort tea, which was a common tea used for divination, dreams, and visions. In the kitchen, we started a pot with a small handful of mugwort to let steep.

Downstairs, Rose showed me to their laboratory. Two rows of cauldrons, some even in use.

"This recipe is just a bunch of resins," Rose explained as she started gathering what they'd need from various places on the shelves lining the walls. "Incense, really, that connects our senses to the Divine. Then there's also a lot of oils that are good for communication and execution. We just need to get it all mixed together into something that ends up looking a lot like honey."

"Start with the resins?" I guessed based on our past conversation and what I knew from my time in the north.

"Yes, exactly." Excitedly, she set half of the resins on a small table to the right of the cauldron for me and the other half on the small table on the other side of it.

There were equal parts frankincense and myrrh, which wasn't uncommon. There was also an equal part of benzoin, which was a bit more uncommon. Then two tablespoons of another potion called Gloria, which was a mix of frankincense with musk, rose, and lavender. Then another two tablespoons of dragon's blood. Nice to know they had that here.

"Normally we'd want it to melt slowly," she said with a grin, "but it's more fun if you rush it." She started a fairly hot fire, something that I wasn't sure I could control. So that was the difference between me and an older student.

"Intentionally messing with a potion?" I asked.

She was collecting the oils now. "Yes. Doing everything by the rules is boring, don't you think? This'll be ready in fifteen minutes and we'll be having a really good time in twenty."

We'd see about that.

[Notice]

Congratulations!

You have completed your the first part of your Quest [Make Divine Communication Potion]. Mastery of [Lucky Number 7] has increased by .05%.