"Elder Balin, what do you think? Can we make use of it?"

In the underground dungeons of the Magic Academy, headmaster Errgan Glacis was currently checking in on his colleague.

The man in question smiled mysteriously and chuckled, "The results are… Well, why don't you take a look?"

He handed over a gray palm-sized oval stone with a bright-red gem in the middle, with lines and weird symbols spreading outward like a net across the stone surface.

The headmaster took the stone and examined it. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "It's a Firebolt Rune? Haven't seen one in a while!"

"Indeed! I chose to make the simplest Runestone since I didn't have much time. Hehe, why don't you try it out?" the Elder encouraged with a proud look.

"Don't mind if I do!" Headmaster turned towards a test dummy and pointed the Firebolt Rune, with the gem towards the target. "Firebolt!"

Woosh!

The lines on the stone glowed for a split second before dimming again as a small flame shot out of the blood-red gem in the middle.

A streak of flame shot across the room before hitting the metal chest plate on the dummy and shattering in a sea of sparks.

"Not bad, not bad!" The headmaster nodded in approval. "The power is somewhat lacking, but that's to be expected. Looks like we can make use of that Orc Shaman after all!"

"Eh…" The other guy made a sound expressing his uncertainty. "To tell the truth, I used up most of the blood and refined it for that single Runestone. The Orc is just too weak."

"Are you saying that it's useless to keep it then?"

"No, no… I just think that if we could advance his strength for a few ranks, the quality of his blood would go up and we could use it for the end exams in a few months. It would be cheaper than buying it from the southern battlefields anyways."

Academy headmaster Errgan Glacis considered his colleagues' words carefully before replying, "I don't exactly oppose the idea, but is it even feasible? Did you speak with Bishop Quinn already?"

The Elder gave a wry smile and sighed, "He was against it… The Ring of Water is trying to get rid of these monsters, so the idea of nurturing them is… Well, he made it clear he was against it, that's all I'm going to say."

The headmaster understood his friend's words so he didn't say much. He played with the stone on his palm before placing it on the table and saying, "I'll try to speak with him and...see what I can do… Worst comes to worst, we can just squeeze the beast dry, they shouldn't oppose this…"

The Elder laughed, "Haha, take care headmaster, don't let the Bishop's words demoralize you too much!"

Headmaster Errgan made a light smile and shook his head before leaving the underground room. His heavy steps echoed through the dungeons as he climbed the stairs to the surface to negotiate for the life of a hideous monster.

A few days went by and Gerald already had a few ideas for his future. But first, he had to wait for the God's Blood to arrive so he could increase his Mana reserves further.

He was currently relaxing in Madam Daisy's Funhouse with a pretty girl. They were currently taking a short break and the lass rested her head on his chest while drawing circles with her fingers across his body.

"Hey mister, you sure have a lot of scars... One, two, three..." She counted in a low voice while kissing each and every one.

Gerald released soft chuckles as her actions tickled him greatly.

"Oh," the girl exclaimed when her small hand rubbed across his chest, "What is this little bump?"

Gerald looked and in the middle of his chest, he really saw a small bump. "Little doll, didn't I tell you my bones broke many times?" He laughed and pulled the girl in his embrace. "Don't pay it any mind, I have a much bigger bump that needs to be taken care of."

"Tee-hee, yes mister..." The girl laughed passionately and then gently bit him on the neck to soften her moans, and hugged him tightly as a response to his movements.

Although Gerald brushed her words off as if it was nothing, he was, in fact, concerned. He already noticed the small bump a few days ago, and he was sure it wasn't there a few weeks prior.

He was certain that it wasn't a normal thing. His first thought and also the greatest fear, was the possibility of cancer.

If that turned out to be the case, he would be, pretty much, screwed. Without modern medicine and medical procedures, there was almost no hope of recovery.

Gerald didn't want to panic for no reason, so he took a few days off to relax his mind and think of a solution.

He was just planning to relax today, but the girl just had to remind him of it.

"What's wrong?" He became absorbed in his thoughts and suddenly stopped moving, which surprised her and she spoke out.

Gerald wordlessly took the girl and placed her on the bed beside himself. He stood up and started dressing up.

"What happened, did I do something wrong? Please forgive me, I'm still inexperienced..." She quickly tried to apologize, although she didn't even know if she did anything wrong.

"…It's not your fault. I... I'm just not in the mood..." Gerald took his shirt and buttoned it with his clunky metal hand.

He then left the room and closed the door behind him.

"Sigh… I was hoping he would play with me for longer…" the young girl quietly complained. She spread her naked body across the soft bed and closed her eyes to rest.

Returning to his mansion, Gerald went to check on his friends to get his mind off the bump growing in the middle of his chest.

Sera and Xilia advanced a lot in their swordsmanship and even became close friends as a result.

Speaking with them for a while, he found out that there were still problems with finding guards for the mansion. Feeling fed up with getting rejected by guys so many times, Xilia almost wanted to cry.

"Okay, just forget about the guards then. If they want to be greedy, so be it. It's not like we are in dire need of them, just let it go." Gerald said after a moment of contemplation.

"Mhm," Xilia nodded, happy to be relieved of her duty. "I'll do that..."

"How is your little sister?" he changed the topic.

"She's doing great! I have to say, your teaching seems to be really effective! She is advancing so fast, it's incredible!"

During the days Gerald was absent, Qiona spent the majority of her time training, just as Gerald wanted.

Her ability in manipulating liquids rose to a whole nother level. She was now ready to try her hand at proper potion-making just as Gerald did.

He went to visit her and was pleasantly surprised when he saw her dexterity. She was almost as fast as him, able to separate the pure water droplets from any mixture she was given. Be it ink or mud, plant juices, or blood, she did it all with the greatest of speeds.

"Good, you are ready!" Gerald nodded his head in approval and gently caressed the girl's hair. Qiona giggled happily in response.

They juiced a few Healing Roots and Qiona's job was to create a proper mixture all by herself.

After she succeeded a few minutes later, it was time to learn how to combine it with Ether dust particles.

"Okay, now observe and repeat after me." Gerald took a beaker and sprinkled a pinch of Ether dust while sending his Mana to guide the reaction.

Psssh!

During her first try, Qiona failed to assert control and the liquid started to boil after Ether dust violently bound itself to the root juice. The potion was ruined.

"It's okay, nobody is perfect," Gerald consoled her. "You just need to try again until you get the hang of it."

"Mn!" Qiona nodded and went to juice another batch of Healing Roots.

Gerald observed and guided her for about an hour more, before leaving the room and letting her do the rest by herself.

She was extremely talented and holding her hand all the time would just be detrimental in the long run.

Besides, he was training her to become his personal alchemist. She would be the one who would be making potions for them, while he would focus on more important tasks.