The Stargazer

by Nikostar A

  Alexander frowned, "You and your perverse sense of justice. Equality is the worst form of fairness. It helps the majority of the people, but it is the talented individuals that end up suffering. You want me to return the credits I work hard to obtain? Dream on!" scolded Alexander. He naturally did so internally; god knows what would happen if the headmistress heard these words.

  "Miss, I worked hard for these credits and I already have plans on how to use them."

  "The event was a mistake. Since you are so smart, you should know that Earth Credits can only bring you short term benefits. Look at the bigger picture. You took advantage that the student was already weakened from consecutive matches. Even if it was another student, I would also force him to use a portion of his Earth Credits," bluntly answered Carmen. Her fiery eyes stared at Alexander threateningly.

  'Is it a threat? She is going to make my life harder if I don't give up the credits?' thought Alexander. The words of the headmistress were absolute in the academy. She could not expel him from the school but could allocate him to some undesirable tasks.

  "Miss. As I said, I already know how to spend my credits. I will not purchase the resources dedicated to meditation. I am someone who aspires to join the crafting club. You should know how much I would spend there once I join the club."

  "The crafting club?"

  An awkward silence fell onto the room. Alexander was nervous. He was wondering what the headmistress was thinking.

  After a brief moment, Carmen finally nodded, "If it's the crafting club, I will allow it, but it will depend on your behavior. I will contact the lecturer in charge of the club. You can go there any time you want but naturally, the earlier the better."

  "Thank you." Alexander awkwardly smiled. He was planning to join the crafting club anyway; knowing the headmistress' twisted vision of justice, he knew it might be the only way he might keep all those Earth Credits.

  The situation was completely unfair but that was precisely why Alexander needed to quickly grow in strength. He was just an insignificant ant at the mercy of the decision of people like the headmistress. Carmen's vision might be twisted but it indeed did benefit the large majority of students.

  Had it been another student from a rich family who obtained all those Earth Credits, the outcome would have been the same. Alexander briefly remembered bits and pieces of his past life where several students were punished for smuggling resources or Earth Credits. At that time, as an average student, he had been delighted by the headmistress' actions.

  "You are free to go, I have another meeting in a few minutes. But I will keep an eye on you. Your attitude today during the magic lecture and the practice session was rather inappropriate. Since you are already that strong, you should behave like a role model for the rest of the cohort."

  "I will change that," answered Alexander. As he had been given permission, Alexander hurriedly left the headmistress' office. He was having mixed emotions about the outcome of the meeting, but he was relieved to not have to face Carmen's fiery gaze anymore.

  "The policy of equality is so annoying," said Alexander to himself. Whenever there would be fights between the superpowers of the world, it would always be the innocent that would be harmed.

  As magic was relatively new to the Earthling, the governments did their best to keep it under control. They did not allow magic to be openly taught and created institutions like the Earth Academy. This was to prevent the misuse of magic; if questionable individuals were allowed to learn magic, the acts of terrorism might reach an unprecedented level of violence.

  However, the various countries were not only wary of shady organizations. They were also worried about the other countries, afraid that one of them would manage to master magic at a faster rate and monopolize this strange power. As a result of the conflict between the countries, the policy of absolute equality was instated. It would be detrimental to the talented individuals but it was maintaining the thin balance between the countries and would force most mages to be at the same level.

  Was it a good decision for humanity? Absolutely not. But was it good for the countries' selfish benefits? Yes.

  Furthermore, by forcing this policy, they were shifting the blame on the institution like the Earth Academy. They were lucky enough to have found a loyal citizen like Carmen Ashmore to look after the academy. That woman with a strange sense of justice was simply perfect to maintain the balance.

  Alexander pushed these thoughts at the back of his mind and jumped onto the next bus. He was on his way to the crafting department.

  Alexander was not completely against joining the crafting club. He already had the intentions to join it as it would be a useful cover for when he would have to purchase materials. However, the fact that Carmen forced him to do so still left a bitter after taste in his mouth.

  While sitting on the bus, Alexander caught sight of a basketball court and later on, a tennis court. The Earth Academy was created to teach the students magic but it also needed to ensure the holistic development of the students. Clubs were created for this reason. Most of the clubs were commonly seen ones: sports clubs, the drama club, the writing club and so on.

  However, there was one particular student club that was unique to the Earth Academy and that club was precisely the crafting club.

  Chapter 15: Bulk purchase

  Since magic had been discovered, it became the dream of many to start mass-producing magic items. Born from human fantasy, the art of magic crafting became the center of many kinds of research by world-renowned companies. Unfortunately, with the severe restrictions placed by the governments, research on ways to make those magic items became illegal.

  The only place where such research was allowed was the Earth Academy where most senior lecturers spent time trying to find a way to make these items. They tried many processes described in ancient books: smithing, alchemy and enchanting. However, even after ten years, the only successful fruit of these researches was the talisman of protection that Alexander wore during the duel.

  It was the only item the mages could craft reliably in large amounts. Even on Loha, crafting was extremely uncommon and was considered by many as a waste of resources. There existed several unique relics with special effects but these relics were all manufactured during the old era of Loha. The manufacturing process of these relics has long been lost and since then, people had been unable to make any item.

  With the use of modern technology, the Earthlings tried to crack the code to the legendary crafting processes but in the end, even technology failed.

  As people's expectations went down, the interest in crafting slowly disappeared. However, it was not out of the ordinary for youth full of dreams to attempt to craft something. This was the purpose of the crafting club; to provide an environment and resources to such youngsters aspiring to craft magic items.

  ***

  After asking the receptionist of the crafting department, Alexander quickly found the club room of the crafting club. He knocked at the door and was greeted by a man. He presented himself as Jonas Stenson, the president of the crafting club.

  When he heard that Alexander was looking to join the club, he happily welcomed Alexander and invited him to come inside. Jonas took off his lab coat and tossed it to the side. He then guided Alexander through the clubroom to look for the supervisor in charge of the club.

  Alexander looked around him and gasped in surprise. It was his first time at the crafting club and he did not expect the clubroom to be so large. It was more accurate to call it an open office.

  Part of the room was dedicated to experiments where several dirty chemical pieces of equipment could be found lying in the nearby sinks. Another part of the room contained rows and rows of computers and bookshelves. The rest of the room consisted mainly of working spaces with several tables and seats that people could freely take.

  The students were free to come here and experiment in their free time. Even now, Alexander saw several groups of a student discussing among themselves
about the project they were working on.

  "I am sure you will like it here. We have about two hundred active members and two hundred more people who occasionally turn up. There are not many people here today as we have sent our members to the fresher's fair to recruit some fresh blood," Jonas explained to Alexander.

  Along the way, Jonas got some enthusiastic club members to talk to Alexander about their projects. Many were happy to do so and even invited him to join them in their projects. Alexander politely declined and continued to follow Jonas. He noticed that several people were staring at him with odd looks; many students recognized him but as Alexander did not have any features that stood out, they were not sure if the new club member was the same person who crushed two second years last night.

  "Let me bring you to Professor Johnson. You will need to sign a form and then, you'll be officially one of us."

  In the corner of the room, an old man was sipping his cup of coffee. His expression became serious as he noticed the footsteps approaching and quickly put down his coffee. Professor Johnson spun on his chair and faced the two newcomers.

  "Jonas? Do you need my help?"

  "Yes, professor. This chap wants to join the club. Can you give him a form to fill-in?" politely asked Jonas.

  "Sure, but we'll only process the new entry next week. It is the time of the year where the freshers are still undecided about what club to join. With the number of applications we'll receive, it would be better to process them all together and to do a group induction," Professor Johnson explained as he briefly looked for the application form on his computer.

  "Swipe your X-Driver here, I'll send you the form," said Professor Johnson.

  Alexander quickly complied. His X-Driver flashed, indicating that he had indeed received a document.

  "Do I need to wait for next week? I believe the headmistress should have sent an email about me," tentatively said Alexander. The earlier he joined the club, the earlier he could buy the materials he needed.

  "The headmistress? Are you Alexander Vagras?" exclaimed Professor Johnson.

  "Yes."

  Professor Johnson's eyes shone briefly, "Then, there is no need to apply. The headmistress has already applied on your behalf and the application process has already been done. You are an official member of the crafting club. Welcome."

  "This?" Jonas wore a confused expression. It was the first time he was witnessing Professor Johnson bend the rules.

  "Jonas will explain how the club works to you. I only have to say that you are free to purchase any material you need here. If you agree to work for the club, you will immediately receive a 10% discount on all your purchases. To enjoy this benefit, all you need to do is to sign an agreement to craft twenty talismans of protection every week. Naturally, we'll teach you the crafting process. Once you make your decision, just inform Jonas."

  "Alright, I'll think about it," answered Alexander. He replied politely but deep inside, he already knew he would not work for the club. His only aim here was to purchase his own materials and he only needed to purchase them once.

  ***

  Jonas was still confused by what just happened. He quietly brought Alexander to the computers and showed him how to purchase the materials. The online material shop had a similar design to any regular online shops. Alexander just needed to place his order and if the materials were available, a drone would gather the materials and bring them to the clubroom. If they weren't, an order would be placed and Alexander would have to wait for the delivery.

  Since he had already planned to join the crafting club, Alexander had already memorized the list of materials he needed for his potions. He browsed through the online stored and purchased the materials one by one. Alexander was well aware he was being monitored. To hide his trail, he did not hesitate to purchase larger quantities of materials that were required for the potion. In addition to the required material, he also added a few random ones and even picked a few rare materials that were not currently in stock!

  Jonas wore a perplexed expression as he saw the huge list of materials Alexander was planning to buy. The total price had already exceeded two thousand Earth Credits and was continuing to increase!

  "Gulp"

  "Are you really planning to buy all of these? Did you not just join the academy? How come you have so many credits?" asked Jonas as he started to suspect that Alexander had a very special identity.

  "Oh? I just earned them last night. Did you not attend the fresher's party?" asked Alexander.

  "Oh no. I was studying here. I almost managed to enchant a dagger with a fire enchantment but in the end, the experiment failed," answered Jonas.

  "Haha, don't worry. I did not smuggle those credits or anything and I am not one of those rich guys here to flaunt my wealth. I really need those materials."

  "Alright. That's quite a lot. Are you going to sign a working contract with us? You'll get 20% off and will be allowed to keep one of the talismans of protection that you craft every week," said Jonas. He was not trying to recruit Alexander but rather he was worried that he would not be able to pay such a huge price. Right now, the order list was already displaying the total price of 2530 Earth Credits.

  "It's alright. I'm here just to have fun. I'll pay with my own credits. I see that crafting room 74 is free. If there's nothing else, I'll set up the system to deliver the materials there," answered Alexander.

  "Ehh sure..." Jonas could only watch as Alexander swiped his X-Driver to pay for the materials. To his surprise, the order went through without any issue. Jonas did not know how to react and silently stared at Alexander as the latter stood up and made his way toward the private crafting rooms.

  After a while, Jonas silently stood up in a daze. He sat next to a group of club members. "You won't believe what I have just seen. The new guy just purchased 2500 credits worth of material!"

  "2500? Are you serious? Is he really a fresher? How did he accumulate so many credits that quickly?"

  Just like his friends, Jonas was also wondering what method Alexander could have used to earn his credits. If they were able to replicate it, their research would take a major leap forward. "I don't know. When I asked him, he asked me if I attended the fresher's party."

  "The fresher's party? What happened at the party?" asked one of the club members with a puzzled expression.

  While they were still racking their brains, one of the girls of the group quietly approached them. Her name was Macy, she was a pretty Slavic blonde, one of the popular girls of the crafting club. "I know what happened. That person is this year's strongest fresher. Last night, during the duel between our cohort and the freshers, a new student stepped up and defeated two second-year students back to back. If I am not wrong, it must be that person. He was extremely powerful and could already use advanced spells. I wonder which organization he comes from. Do you think he also knows a crafting recipe and is trying to craft a particular item? Which room did he go to?"

  ***

  Inside crafting room 74, Alexander sat at the desk and sighed. He had already checked the academy's website about the crafting club. The club promoted group work and encouraged the students to share their ideas and work in the open space environment. However, the club also provided private rooms, allowing the students to work in a more peaceful environment.

  Crafting room 74 looked like a personal mini-laboratory dedicated to chemistry experiments. There were other types of crafting rooms that were more suited for other crafts like smithing or tailoring.

  Alexander smiled when he saw the pile of materials in the corner of the room. They were freshly picked from the warehouse of the academy. They were now placed under his name but he did not need to use all the materials right now; he was free to bring them out of the crafting department or he could even send the materials back to the warehouse for storage.

  Alexander did not immediately start crafting. He first accessed the computer of the room, making sure to disable the recording cameras of the room. Each crafting room w
as equipped with a few cameras. That way, the craftsmen could rewatch themselves and identify their mistakes.

  For good measure, Alexander also covered the cameras with a few pieces of cloth. Once he was more or less certain that no one would be able to observe him, Alexander started to rummage through the pile of materials while the recipe appeared in his mind.

  "Two ounces of Mandragora Roots, one ounce of rotten applewood, four stalks of berry tree, ten tears of anglobats..." The list went on and on.

  Soon Alexander grabbed a pot and poured in some water. He placed the pot on the burner before turning his attention toward the pile of material. The recipe was pretty simple; all he needed to do was to properly crush the materials and turn them into a fine paste. After that, he would have to mix the thick paste in the boiling water and let it simmer.