With the departure of instructor Alex, mostly there were only clueless and talentless alchemy apprentices.
Vincent stood at the back of the class and looked at how they purified their ingredients.
A couple of seconds was enough for him to assess that they were clumsy. It wasn't that they were terrible; they were just clueless and trying to mimic Alex, the alchemist. Their thought process was plain stupid. Their instructor flawlessly and efficiently purified the ingredients because he was a master at it. Even repeatedly doing what he did was going to lead them nowhere. It would take them some days to realize that and change their method of doing things.
Vincent realized all that because he was looking at the situation from above. As he had a better viewpoint, he could infer the wrongs and rights more clearly.
'Instructor Alex must have intentionally shown off his skill to mislead the students, and I added to this misunderstanding by doing what he did and effortlessly purifying dozen or so ingredients.'
Vincent realized that he had played straight into Alex's hand.
By being too impressive and good at something, Vincent not only helped Alex in creating an urn but also fell into the trap with the others.
'Instructor Alex must be feeling pretty smug for playing such a move on me. Sorry, but I am going to make you get back to working your ass off far earlier than what you must be thinking.' Vincent's eyes flashed a playful crimson color before returning to normal.
Vincent thought for a moment and realized what he had to do to set the others on the correct path and help at least half the class get the ingredient purifying process right.
The first task was making them realize that they were doing it wrong. Now, Vincent couldn't just outright say that they were all wrong, that even if they succeed one time, they will fail ten times. He had to help someone get it right and grab the attention of the others. Then, using that momentum, he will advise them carefully and attentively and unconsciously make them take a different path, one better than the trap Alex the alchemist set for them.
Before Vincent could put his plan into play, he got blocked by the same short-legged boy who not only misunderstood him but also labeled him as a coward.
Vincent could see from the boy's expression that he wanted to say something but was finding it hard to say it, so he asked, "What is it?"
"Hey, I came to apologize," Gale said, "I am sorry for wrongly blaming you. Can you forgive me?"
In truth, Gale didn't want to apologize. Who was he? Gale was a high-ranked noble. When had he ever apologized to anyone? Even the heads of a noble wouldn't mistreat him, let alone demand an apology if he mistreated their son.
However, he still came here because Eric, a great royal, wanted him to set his misunderstanding straight with Vincent, clear up the mess he caused, and invite him to join their table.
Although reluctant, Gale still agreed to go along with his idea, and now he was here, standing in front of Vincent and apologizing to him in front of the entire class.
He felt awfully uncomfortable and embarrassed and felt as if every pair of eyes was staring at his back and side profile with disdain while the owners of those eyes were jeering at him in their hearts.
Vincent saw his face, ears, and neck turning red, and he realized how uncomfortable he was feeling.
He decided to let the past go.
"Not a big deal."
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At that time, Vincent was annoyed and a bit angry for sure, but his negative emotions had cooled down a while ago.
Thus, he no longer felt annoyed at the person who blocked him and wrongly accused him.
"Really? Are you no longer angry at me?" Gale asked.
"Nope," Vincent said before excusing himself.
"Wait, I still have a thing to ask." Gale said, "Can you please join our group and help us out."
Vincent's eyes widened. He realized the real reason why this high-ranked noble came to him. Apologizing wasn't it but gaining his help surely was Gale's main intention behind approaching him.
Vincent walked past him, and Gale thought that his request got declined by Vincent.
"What are you waiting there for?" Vincent called out.
Gale turned around and realized that the latter was already standing with Eric and Eric's knight.
Vincent was going to join a group anyway, so he decided to become part of one with the most influential person in the entire class, and it was none other than Eric Ambrose!
"Coming." He walked up to them, and they started purifying a fresher batch of ingredients.
What happened to the last batch of ingredients? Well, they somehow destroyed it! 'How can you destroy ingredients while purifying them?' Vincent was so shocked that he gaped for a moment. They were so terrible that they not only failed to clear impurities for the ingredients but also deformed their shapes or poked such huge holes in them that all their medicinal essence leaked. No one buys deformed herbs as they are hard even to purify. At the same time, herbs with no medicinal essence are empty husks with nothing of value, so no one purchases them.
Eric's group now had four people, his knight, Gale, and Vincent. They decided to start with purifying one herb each so that they could get to know each other skills.
This time, Vincent finished his part within thirty minutes. It was because of multiple reasons. First off, he took some time to restore some of his mana. Then, he slowed down even further to match the pace of the people around him. But even then, he finished purifying the herb before Eric and the others.
"I'm done," Vincent said.
"Wow! You're too fast!" Gale praised.
Vincent: "…"
I took thirty minutes to do something I could complete in a minute, and you still call it fast. Boy, are you blind, or had you never learned how to calculate?