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A plan formed in his mind as he waited for Meira to return. He went over some lessons while he waited patiently, trying to find some of the basic ones that would be good for an absolute beginner alchemist.

Villy had made it clear Meira would be screwed if she was just released due to her lack of affiliation with the Order. However, what would happen if, instead of just releasing her to the hounds, he had her become a member of the Order first? No rule he had seen said that wasn’t possible, and if he was told he couldn’t…

Well, Villy did just tell him to do whatever the hell he wanted, so it really wasn’t Jake’s fault, but the snake god who gave him the idea.

Meira had not had time to familiarize herself with the library before her new Master had arrived, so it took longer than she had hoped to get all the requested books. She didn’t want to miss any but get all the ones asked for.

It was lucky she at least had been given a spatial satchel to transport the books in by the warden. It was far worse than a spatial ring or a necklace or any true spatial storage and required one to physically deposit the items by hand, but it was surely better than nothing. Her father had a similar one back home too…

She shook her head as she focused on her work. The ingredients had already been gathered and placed in a secondary bag made for the purpose of transporting toxic materials. As she went through the library index to double-check if she had gotten everything, a stray thought entered her head: he probably won’t be too angry if I missed one.

Meira instantly caught herself in the act and slapped herself lightly. She couldn’t let down her guard, and she had to perform perfectly. She had miscalculated so much already and made so many blunders… but… how could she have known?

The Malefic One had descended right in front of her. Her new Master was the Chosen of the Malefic One… it was as if she had just become the slave of the Hall Master… no, the Lord Protector? The mere thought was preposterous, even if she knew that was the truth.

Moreover, clearly, no one in the Humanoid Department knew anything about this. Meira had been informed her new Master was a very talented black-Token alchemist who had been marked with the highest level of importance during the entrance test. That in itself was already someone who she seriously needed to integrate herself with, but the Chosen?

It was like going from being told she was to work for a local Lord only to find out she was actually under the employ of the emperor. No matter the metaphor, she knew she had potentially struck gold, even if she was also in a very precarious position.

The only reason she was serving the Chosen was due to him wanting to keep his identity secret for reasons she didn’t even dare ponder on. As a Chosen, he could have anything he wanted. There would no-doubt even be S-grades willing to become his servants as long as it meant a direct connection to the Malefic One. Who was she in comparison to any of them?

No… you have the first-movers advantage, Meira reminded herself. She would do anything, and nothing was out of the question, just to stay. If she somehow managed to endear herself to him, perhaps she would even find a way to help her clan back home as well as herself. No matter what, her new Master was a ticket to change her path of life in its entirety and allow her to survive. As long as she played her cards right and got lucky, that is.

After packing up all of the books, she quickly hurried over with the two spatial satchels to the laboratory. She hoped she hadn’t been too slow as she got closer and saw the door open. She peeked in as she saw her Master sit on a stool as his hand burned with a transparent flame. He looked deep in thought, and Meira was afraid to interrupt whatever he was doing.

She still peeked, though. Her Master didn’t look as intimidating without the mask, and if she didn’t know better, she would view him as just another regular human. Naturally, that wasn’t the case, but she did at least have the interpretation he wasn’t a bad person. So far, he had only been nice towards her, but there was still that tiny sliver of doubt. One borne from the reality of where they were and how the multiverse worked.

The Order of the Malefic Viper was not a nice place. The Malefic Viper was not a nice god, and the path the alchemists belonging to the Order walked wasn’t a nice one. So how would it make sense for the Chosen of the Malefic One to be nice?

Meira was still thinking as her Master turned to her and smiled, catching her peeping. A bit embarrassed, she quickly bowed as she asked: “Where should the books and ingredients be placed?”

“Ah, just leave the satchels here,” he answered. “Tell me, have you ever done any alchemy before?”

“I have not,” Meira answered, a bit perplexed at the question, but she assumed it had to do with her ability to assist him in his work. “However, I have been trained in the knowledge of alchemical work and gardening. I have also been trained to be an efficient subject of alchemical experiments if desired.”

He frowned at her answer, making Meira instantly be alert. Had she been rude or disrespectful? No, she had not slipped up, had she? She had made sure to avoid using “My Lord” and “Master” as commanded and also naturally avoided using words such as “you” and the Chosen’s name. Even if he had told her to, Meira had a suspicion it was a test of sorts to see if she would forget her place. Either way, she didn’t want to risk it.

“Have you ever wanted to do alchemy?” he then asked.

A question Meira had honestly never even thought about.

Jake couldn’t help but frown at her mentioning being used as a test subject for alchemical experiments so casually. She didn’t even fucking blink when telling a poison alchemist to test his poison on her, making him wonder what she had been put through already to get that kind of mindset.

However, as fucked as it was, Jake had already learned she had Palate, so she had to have gained something from everything they had put her through. Moreover, he was also confident in another thing that would help her if she decided to become an alchemist: Him.

Jake knew enough of the system by now to know that him merely being who he was would impact her positively. Of course, she also needed the drive to actually want to improve.

So when Jake asked if she wanted to become an alchemist, he observed her closely. He quickly got the feeling she had never even considered this question before, and she looked conflicted. Jake understood why as he added:

“Alchemy doesn’t have to be about poison either. It is one of the most varied, if not the most varied, profession-archetype of the multiverse. In fact, most alchemists focus on restoration and beneficial effects, with it also being very commonplace within the Order,” Jake said. He one hundred percent pulled the line about it being the most varied out of his ass. Hey, it was mega-varied, so it couldn’t be far off, could it?

“If requested, I can learn anything wished of me to the best of my abilities,” she answered after she thought for a while.

“You misunderstand,” Jake answered, shaking his head. “Do you want to learn alchemy?”

She didn’t answer right away as Jake continued. “Let me ask you this, what would you be doing if you hadn’t been enslaved by the Order?”

“I would be working in the mines of my clan or have been sworn to serve another,” Meira answered.

Jake was about to open his mouth again, but he felt certain she was telling the truth when looking at her. Well, that was depressing, he thought.

He realized he didn’t truly know anything about her, and looking at how long it was until the lesson on using cauldrons for combat would begin, he had some time to kill. Jake leaned back against the alchemy table he was sitting at and motioned for Meira to take a seat in another vacant chair.

“As you probably know, I come from a newly integrated universe, and I am actually quite interested… can you tell me a bit about how you grew up and life as someone born with the system?” Jake asked.

The phrasing of it being for him to learn about the multiverse was very purposeful as he didn’t feel like it would go over well for him to ask her to give her life story. No, this was better. It was only natural her explanation would be heavily based on her own experiences, so it was a real win-win as he also did want some insight into how someone lived in the multiverse. As the conversation went on, he could then segue her into more personal details.

It worked as Meira, after only a bit of hesitation, agreed. She asked some clarifying questions and then began telling him about the life her clan had lived. She didn’t say it was specifically how she had lived, but it was clear much of what she said was personal experience.

And… damn, Jake just got more depressed the more he heard. A clan of elves more or less enslaved by a more powerful faction because they happened to live close to a valuable mine. A life of servitude where the biggest concern wasn’t progressing yourself and your own power but merely meeting quotas to avoid punishment.

In fact, Jake quickly began to notice a pattern of behavior and mindset in what she described. They worked the mine to avoid punishment. If a young lord – or just a lord in general – came and wanted something or someone, they would just give it to avoid repercussions. Levels were gained to keep up productivity. Professions and classes were chosen to be more efficient servants and make life less painful and difficult.

A lot of things regarding Meira suddenly became clearer to Jake. Many of her actions and why he repeatedly failed to make any headway made sense. He had a basic misunderstanding from the beginning based on his own mindset and worldview.

Meira didn’t want anything.

Or, perhaps more accurately, the only thing she wanted was nothing. The only thing she wanted for her clan was nothing. Because to her, “something” had only ever come in one form: punishment. Her entire life, the life of her clan and everyone she knew, revolved around avoiding punishment. Apathy was the best they could hope for.

It revolved around survival and finding ways to not suffer. There was only external motivation that made Meira act as she did. Jake had believed Meira wanted something out of him from the beginning, but that now seemed wrong. Maybe she wanted him to help her clan, elevate her own status, or gain levels and such just by being close to him. But no, he got the impression that what she truly wanted was for Jake to just be accepting of her presence and otherwise leave her be. Perhaps view her existence as having some minor value, at least enough to not get rid of her.

Meanwhile, Jake acted purely on internal motivation. He didn’t need power; he just wanted it. Meira needed power, for, without it, she would be punished. Even now, she didn’t try to improve her situation with Jake, but only not to sour it. He realized his plan of making her warm up to him would never work as things were.

Jake kept listening as Meira talked. Her voice was rather emotionless at all times, and even when fucked up shit happened, she acted like it was pretty commonplace. With some pushing, she even talked about her training from the Order, and while she tried all she could to not talk negatively, it was clear she had viewed things like training her Palate as something to endure and survive. It reminded Jake of how he had done the Trial of Myriad Poisons, which was similar but far more extreme and deadlier.

But while Jake had viewed it as a great way to improve Palate, she had viewed it as torture she needed to endure to survive. The difference could not be starker, and the thing is, Jake understood why. If Jake didn’t view any power he got as truly his own, would he have been fine? Because Meira clearly didn’t view her skills and her poison resistance as more than mere tools of survival that belonged to those in charge.

All in all, Meira didn’t know the meaning of having agency. She had lived with fear of punishment as her primary motivator in life so far. Considering Jake had no plans on continuing that trend, she would have to find new motivation.

A bit more time passed as Jake just allowed her to keep talking. He didn’t stop her at all but only answered a few of her questions. Questions that were all naturally related to if he also wanted to know about a particular subject.

When she was done, she just sat there quietly. Jake saw her nervousness and slight fear return when he didn’t do anything but just looked at her a bit. He got up, and when Meira was about to also stand, he motioned for her to keep sitting.

“I think I have some understanding now. I am heading to a class right now, and while I am gone, I want you to go over these lessons and choose five you personally think are the most interesting,” Jake said as he waved his hand and summoned a stack of papers. It took only a moment to imprint the simple information provided by each lesson using mana, as more than three hundred lesson descriptions were put down before her.

“May I ask under what parameters?” Meira asked, a bit unsure.

“What you personally find interesting,” Jake said. “Nothing else. Just choose five of them that you believe a novice alchemist should learn.”

She frowned a bit but didn’t ask. Instead, she just nodded and began going them over. Jake looked at her before he left the laboratory and went to the entry-area of the mansion, where a large magic circle was placed on the wall. Jake merely mentally poked the token in his inventory as the magic circle turned into a gate leading straight to where the lesson would be held.

Jake smirked a bit to himself as he prepared to finally learn how to bonk people in the head with cauldrons. In the meantime, he would even have Meira choose her own upcoming alchemy lessons, so he was truly being efficient.