Research Life of a New Professor at Magic University

“Today, as mentioned yesterday, the potion you’ll be making is a health-restoring elixir. The recipe is detailed here, so refer to it and give it a try.”

“Just like that?”

“Yeah. We’re not aiming for results with this experiment, right?”

This experiment isn’t for research purposes. It’s more akin to personal tutoring for Arien.
And before teaching, it’s vital to assess the student’s current level.
When Arien experiments independently without my guidance, I must assign something that fits her level.

Arien has never tried alchemy experiments before, but she studied for four years at Magic University and graduated.
Even in natural or magical studies, there are practical classes.
Many textbooks I’ve read to prepare for lectures contain alchemy-related content, even if not directly taught.

I don’t think there’s any need to worry about accidents.

“Then call me when you’re done.”

If the professor watches from the sidelines like a hawk, there’s a chance the student might make unnecessary mistakes.
Reprimanding her would contradict the purpose, and it feels odd to just stand by knowing something’s wrong.

I’m not doing this because I’m lazy.
Well, that’s partly true, but it’s not the whole reason.

Even though it’s a simple concoction, it will take at least an hour or two for someone trying it for the first time.
If I wanted to sleep tonight, there was no time to waste.
***

After entering the office to double-check this week’s schedule and thinking about Wednesday and Friday classes, an hour and a half had passed.

I started to worry if Arien was doing well on my own, so I went to the laboratory to check.

They say the busier you are, the more you need to take a step back.

If you rush because you’re anxious, you might make mistakes.
Ultimately, you waste more time than if you had done things calmly.

That’s exactly the situation right now.

There wasn’t any accident in the laboratory.
It wasn’t that kind of risky experiment to begin with.
There weren’t any difficult materials to handle.
No lab equipment was broken, and Arien wasn’t hurt.

The manufacturing process, for a first attempt, seemed to be progressing quickly, as we were already at the final stage.

However, I couldn’t help but sigh.

Right, she was an elf…

Small-scale tribal societies often find the concept of strict and thorough regulations awkward.
In societies with a small population, most members know each other well.
Instead of governing with strict and detailed laws, it’s more about flexibility.
Ideally, decisions are made through consensus among the parties involved and, if that’s difficult, through mediation by someone with mutual respect.

For long-lived races, human rules seem futile.

Not only the ‘laws’ themselves but also the lifespan of the country making them, which were shorter than their lifetimes.
Laws and regulations being constantly enacted, amended, and repealed are truly fleeting flashes.

However, elves gather in tribal units.

Arien interpreted the detailed and rigorous manufacturing rules with remarkable flexibility.

The recipe I gave clearly states to keep the ladle upright and slowly stir clockwise while maintaining that position.
However, the ladle on Arien’s pot was rotating around the center with only the handle fixed.

The bigger issue than just that is that it wasn’t Arien holding the ladle.
It was a spirit.

A small creature, undoubtedly a wind spirit, was laboriously moving the ladle.
When I checked under the pot, the spirit of fire was also heating it.

Because I hadn’t cleaned up the tools I used yet, the residue was visible in the bowls and jars.
The size of the container was strange. Why would she use such a large vessel for making such a small amount?
Looking at the remnants in the container, the dried mushrooms that should have been chopped to the size of grains were finely ground like flour.
It doesn’t seem possible to get this texture without mixing water simultaneously, so it seems like a water spirit helped.

Is time being measured correctly?
An hourglass was dropping sand, but there seemed to be too much sand remaining compared to the progress made.

“Ah! It’s done, Professor.”

It was clearly estimated.

The finishing step is a 15-minute process, but the clock Arien was watching was a 20-minute one.
And even until the end, it was a mess.
The recipe clearly states to stop stirring the potion, turn off the heat, and slowly cool it down.
Instead, it rapidly cooled after stirring, and she kept stirring three more times.

Where do I even begin to address this…

“Haah…”

Seemingly unaware, Arien glanced around hesitantly.
Seeing her fidgeting nervously, it seemed she knew they had made a mistake but wasn’t sure what it was.

“Did I… make a mistake… perhaps…?”

“Did you follow the recipe I gave?”

“Yes. I referred to the recipe you provided…”

“I didn’t say ‘refer to’ it. I said to follow it exactly. Look at the third line from the bottom. It clearly says to keep the ladle upright while stirring slowly.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that gesture was so important… I thought I could just stir it.”

“If it were just stirring without any specific gesture, it would have simply said ‘stir.’ There wouldn’t have been the bother of specifying ‘maintain the ladle upright while stirring slowly.'”

“I apologize…”

Her long, pointed ears seemed to droop as if dejected. However, I couldn’t just stay silent.

“Furthermore, you used elemental magic?”

“Yes, I felt a bit overwhelmed… Was that not allowed?”

“Usually, it’s fine. But if it’s specified in the recipe, shouldn’t you follow it as it is? Look at it now. Wouldn’t you have stirred with more care if you hadn’t instructed the spirits and stirred manually?”

“The spirits seemed to handle it well, so I felt bad about intervening with the motion unnecessarily. Besides, it seemed like a trivial detail.”

Arien seemed to be wearing a sheepish expression.

Even if she had done it manually, she wouldn’t have been able to stir it as she pleased due to the heat from the fire spirit.

“Also, look at this. It’s ground too finely. You were supposed to chop it into small pieces, not turn it into powder.”

“Oh? But you wrote ‘5mm or less,’ though?”

“That’s right. It’s not necessarily wrong. But it’s excessive. It’s a waste of effort. Another thing to add is that you should find tools of appropriate size! Although it’s not written in the recipe, it’s only natural, don’t you think?”

“As long as the end product is good, it shouldn’t matter… No, you’re right. I apologize.”

Arien must have noticed my expression growing increasingly rigid as she stopped talking and bowed deeply. I couldn’t hide my frustration.
Though I knew I shouldn’t be too hard on her, as she was just an apprentice, I couldn’t help it.

“It’s fine as long as it turns out well! The problem is when it’s made wrong! Where will you find the cause? It’s not just once or twice that you haven’t followed the recipe, so how would you know what went wrong? Thinking that it’s okay as long as the results are good, regardless of the process, is problematic.”

There were many other things I wanted to say, but speaking about them now would only make my mouth sore.
Anyway, at this point, I need to inspect everything from preparation to the process and finishing touches.
I should have her redo it from the beginning and then provide feedback step by step.

“For now, let’s finish the experiment as planned. Once the potion is ready, pour it into this bottle and place it on the alchemy platform. Then, through this circuit, inject mana at a steady rate… No, I’ll do it.”

Analyzing the results is more important than manufacturing because if this continues, I won’t be able to trust Arien’s analysis.

“Okay, watch closely.”

“Does activating that circuit and injecting mana from the right make it come out steadily?”

“It’s not that convenient. If the output is fixed, it can only be used for one purpose.”

“How do you adjust it then?”

“It varies depending on the circuit operation, the direction, and the amount of the mana injected. Skill is also crucial. But there’s a somewhat standardized framework. It should adjust reasonably well as long as you don’t deviate too much.”

After finishing my explanation, I took a small bottle from a box in one corner of the laboratory.
The bottle contained vivid red liquid.

“Is that also a health-restoring potion?”

“Yes, it is. It’s a product sold at the guild branch near the back gate of the university. That’s where the recipe comes from. If you order it, they provide instructions, analysis, and even quality assurance.”

“…Are they the same product?”

“Yes.”

Arien noticeably shrank back.

“Now that I look at it, the color is completely different. It seems the result is already… well, that’s because the procedure didn’t include this.”

Learning and reflecting on a lesson is good, but I misjudged the situation.

“Why is the color so different.”

“This color is from pigments. It’s natural for the potion to have a cloudy pinkish hue with that recipe.”

“Is that so?”

“Of course. Each manufacturing place has different methods and ingredients. Why would the colors be the same?”

“Wait, are you saying humans make something like this differently?”

“There’s no need to wonder. The herb you used is the most commonly used ingredient for making low-grade health potions. But do you know why it’s that particular herb?”

“Because it’s effective?”

“It’s reasonably effective, but it’s not the best. As you know, there are many better herbs and animal-based ingredients.”

“Then is it because it’s cheap?”

“It’s easy to obtain and inexpensive, but there are quite a variety of such ingredients.”

“I don’t understand. Why then? If there are more effective and readily available ones?”

“It’s simple. It’s because of the taste.”

Arien seemed bewildered, at a loss for words.

“Think from the perspective of someone who’s going to drink it. They’ll have to swallow this amount. If it’s too much, they have to gulp it down quickly, and if they want to drink it slowly, they have to let it flow slowly in their mouth. Can they stomach it if it tastes unpleasant?”

“Well, I suppose…”

“Moreover, the people drinking this are usually injured and exhausted. If the taste is off, they might throw it up. Making it ‘pleasant to drink’ is a more crucial than you might think. But that’s unimportant for now, so let’s move on.”

Unnecessary explanations can be made later.
For now, we need to finish the experiment, salvage this mess, and then conduct a retest.

“Anyway, we’ll inject mana of this intensity according to this method. Let’s confirm if the appropriate output is achieved this way, and then we’ll test the guild’s product. According to the guild’s guarantee, when infusing mana of this intensity, the potion should change color and lose its effectiveness after about 10 minutes. Let’s check the time with this.”

I took a pocket watch from my pocket and handed it to Arien.
Since I’ll be operating the Alchemy platform, Arien will have to keep track of the time.
Of course, I could manage it alone using dimensional magic, but Arien needs to observe and learn.

“Is this a watch? There are three hands?”

“Yeah, the thinnest one is the second hand.”

“What’s a ‘second?’”

“You know what a minute is, right? It’s divided into 60 seconds.”

“You can measure such a small unit of time? How does that work?”

“Enough chit-chat. Let’s get started.”

I hope she doesn’t break my pocket watch.

As I continuously infused weak mana, the potion became a crimson color.

As time passed, the aftermath of the mana, like a whirlpool, gradually spread and filled the bottle, resembling an elbow.
Although it remained a deep red due to the pigment, the opacity increased, so I couldn’t see inside.
This moment is the basis for determining “loss of efficacy” during analysis.

I asked Arien for the time.

“It’s 8 minutes and… 42 seconds. Is this how we measure it?”

“…That’s too large of a margin of error. Anyway, let’s move on. What’s important now is the relative comparison in this situation.”

Considering how many experiments I’ve done, I don’t think I made a mistake.
When I analyzed the commercial product before, it consistently lost its effectiveness between 10 and 12 minutes, and the same happened when I made it myself. Did those guild bastards mess with it?

I took Arien’s poorly made potion and repeated the same process.

In the dark pink potion, a swirl of mana appeared.
The potion turned into a pale, translucent liquid, slowly losing efficacy.

“How long did it take?”

Arien, upon hearing the question, displayed a complex expression.

“It took 15 minutes and… 4 seconds.”

…What?