Princess Stella blinked.

For the first time since entering the classroom...

A look of genuine surprise appeared on her composed face.

Wrong...?

Her thoughts momentarily came to a halt.

She quietly replayed her answer in her mind.

Alchemy is the art of transformation and creation.

Wasn’t that the very principle every Alchemist learned from childhood?

Alchemy relied on manipulating existing materials and reshaping them according to one’s imagination. Through Cognis, resources are transformed into entirely different objects or substances.

Wasn’t that, by definition...

Transformation and creation?

Then... where was I wrong?

Stella lowered her eyes slightly.

Her fingers tightened around the side of the joint table for only a brief moment before she slowly relaxed her grip.

Without arguing...

She gracefully sat back down.

The classroom remained unusually quiet.

Many students secretly glanced toward the First Princess.

Their expressions were complicated.

Some were surprised.

Others were confused.

However...

No one dared to stare for long.

After all...

She was still the First Princess of Britannia.

Professor Kent noticed the silence that had settled over the room.

He lightly folded his arms.

"Just to clarify..."

His calm voice immediately drew everyone’s attention back to the front.

"Princess Stella’s answer wasn’t incorrect."

Several students blinked.

Even Stella herself looked up again.

Professor Kent continued.

"I said ’wrong’ because her answer wasn’t the most fundamental definition of Alchemy."

His eyes slowly swept across the classroom.

"What I asked for... was the simplest truth. The foundation upon which every other explanation is built."

Understanding slowly appeared on several students’ faces.

Stella also felt the slight frustration in her heart fade away.

She had understood Professor Kent’s intention now.

He wasn’t looking for the broad definition everyone had memorized.

He wanted the root of it.

Toward the back of the classroom...

Prince Tristin leaned lazily against his chair with his usual group surrounding him.

"Tsk."

He clicked his tongue before glancing toward Stella.

A mocking smile appeared on his face.

"The Professor should’ve just let her continue feeling embarrassed of herself."

He chuckled quietly.

"Hehe..."

Basil couldn’t help laughing as well.

Desmond, who had been leaning comfortably against his chair from the beginning of the lecture, lazily joined in with a faint smile.

Even Gareth wore an amused expression.

Only Felix remained calm.

A faint smile crossed his lips before disappearing again.

His attention never left Professor Kent.

Just then...

Another hand slowly rose into the air.

"Professor."

Professor Kent looked toward the student.

"Go ahead, Miss Fay Ashenlocke."

He nodded once.

Fay slowly stood.

She could immediately feel dozens of eyes turning toward her.

Although she tried to remain composed...

A trace of nervousness still appeared on her face.

She took a small breath before answering.

"A-Alchemy... is the power of bringing a formularized, proven imagination into reality through the use of Cognis and resources."

Her voice became quieter toward the end.

It was obvious she wasn’t entirely confident.

The classroom waited.

Professor Kent answered almost immediately.

"Wrong."

His reply carried the same certainty as before, there wasn’t even the slightest hesitation.

Fay’s shoulders dropped ever so slightly.

"...I see."

She quietly sat back down.

The girls sitting nearby immediately leaned toward her.

"You did well, Fay."

One of them smiled encouragingly.

"Don’t worry about it."

"Even Her Highness didn’t get the right answer."

Another girl whispered softly so only their small group could hear.

Fay let out a helpless smile.

"Thanks."

She genuinely appreciated the encouragement.

Professor Kent looked across the classroom again.

"Anybody else?"

Silence answered him.

He sighed softly.

"I honestly don’t understand."

His eyes slowly wandered through several rows of students.

"I’m certain... There are quite a few students here who already know the answer."

His gaze stopped briefly on Vera.

She sat quietly with one elbow resting on the desk.

Her expression remained as calm as ever.

Her black plain eyes carried the same indifferent look they always did, making it difficult to tell whether she was interested in the lecture or merely watching it out of habit.

She noticed Professor Kent looking at her.

For a brief moment...

Their eyes met.

Vera simply blinked once before calmly looking back at the front of the classroom, showing no intention of raising her hand.

Professor Kent then looked toward Diane.

The girl looked as though she might fall asleep at any second.

Her eyelids remained half closed, yet strangely enough, she still seemed to be listening.

His gaze continued moving.

Selena.

Charles.

Fatima.

Several other students whom he knew possessed more than enough knowledge to answer the question.

Yet...

Not one of them moved.

They simply watched him with relaxed expressions.

Professor Kent raised an eyebrow.

"Is one thousand Academy Points too small of a reward?"

A few students awkwardly laughed.

Still...

No one raised a hand.

Professor Kent gave a small shrug.

"If no one is willing to answer...then I suppose I’ll answer it myself."

Before he could continue...

A chair quietly slid backward.

"I will answer."

Felix stood.

His movement immediately drew everyone’s attention.

His posture remained straight.

And his expression calm.

There wasn’t the slightest trace of hesitation.

"Then go ahead, Mr. Felix Ashenlocke."

Professor Kent said.

Felix gave a small nod.

"Alchemy simply means..."

He paused.

Not because he was uncertain.

Instead...

He briefly replayed both previous answers inside his mind.

Princess Stella had spoken about transformation and creation.

Fay had spoken about turning imagination into reality through Cognis and resources.

Neither answer was wrong.

Both explained what Alchemy accomplished.

But...

Neither reached the simplest foundation Professor Kent had asked for.

Felix looked toward the front of the classroom, then calmly answered.

"Create... and Destroy."

The classroom became silent.

A pleased smile slowly appeared on Professor Kent’s face.

"Correct."

He nodded once.

"Mr. Felix Ashenlocke."

Several students quietly let out small sighs.

"So that’s what he meant..."

One student muttered.

At his side...

Tristin immediately began clapping.

"As expected of Felix."

His smile carried genuine approval this time.

Felix simply sat back down.

Basil folded his arms.

"I could’ve answered that."

He sounded completely unconvinced.

Felix glanced sideways.

"Oh?"

A faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Yeah. Like you could."

The teasing reply immediately caused Gareth and Desmond to laugh.

Even Basil rolled his eyes before chuckling.

The atmosphere inside the classroom became much lighter than before.

From the front row...

Stella slowly raised her hand again.

She looked toward Professor Kent.

"So...That was the answer?"

There was still a hint of disbelief in her voice.

Professor Kent simply nodded.

"Exactly."

He calmly walked toward the holographic display.

With one swipe of his hand...

The presentation changed.

A new slide appeared.

At the center were only two large words.

Create and Destroy.

Professor Kent stood beside the glowing projection.

"Alchemy..."

He pointed toward the first word.

"...begins with creation."

His finger then moved toward the second.

"And ends with destruction."

He slowly turned back toward the class.

"As Miss Fay explained... We first bring a proven and formularized philosophy from our imagination into reality. Then...As Princess Stella explained... We transform existing resources into the object or substance we wish to create."

He paused briefly.

His eyes moved across the attentive students.

"But... Transformation cannot happen without destroying something first."

He lightly tapped the second word displayed on the holographic screen.

"The structure of every material you use...must first be broken apart. Only after its original form is destroyed... can it be reorganized into something entirely new."

The classroom remained completely silent.

Students rapidly wrote inside their notebooks.

Although nearly everyone already understood these concepts...

Listening to them from their most fundamental perspective felt different.

Since, sometimes...

Returning to the basics allowed an Alchemist to understand principles they had overlooked before.

Professor Kent smiled faintly.

"And these two principles... actually originate from the true source of Cognis itself."

He slowly turned toward the next slide.

"The power that every civilization throughout history has referred to by one name."

His finger stopped on the glowing words displayed across the screen.

Essence.

The moment the word appeared...

Ezra immediately lowered his pen.

His hand began moving across the page without hesitation.

The scratching of ink against paper echoed softly around him.

Not only Ezra...

Several of the academy’s most outstanding first-years also began writing at once.

Felix.

Selena.

Stella.

Charles.

Fatima.

Even Vera quietly reached for her pen.

Unlike the earlier discussion...

This wasn’t ordinary knowledge.

The study of Essence was considered one of the oldest and most mysterious subjects in all of Alchemy with very few people truly understanding even a pinch of it.

Professor Kent calmly folded both hands behind his back.

"The only knowledge I can confidently teach you regarding Essence... is that it exists within every living being... and every non-living thing."

His voice became slightly more solemn.

"Because Essence...is the power that is said to have given birth to existence itself."

With another swipe...

The slide changed.

A breathtaking image of what Research result Alchemists had gotten form the Realm of stars.

The night sky appeared above the holographic display.

Countless stars stretched across the darkness.

Galaxies spiraled silently through the endless void.

The entire classroom instinctively looked upward.

For a brief moment...

No one spoke.

Letting the vastness of the universe silently settle inside everyone’s thoughts.

The image of the endless stars continued to shine softly above the holographic screen, casting a faint blue glow across the front of the classroom.

The students remained unusually quiet.

Some stared at the projection in thought.

Others continued writing as quickly as they could, afraid of missing even a single sentence from Professor Kent’s explanation.

Just then...

A hand slowly rose from the middle row.

"Professor."

Ezra’s calm voice broke the silence.

Professor Kent immediately turned toward him.

"Yes, Mr. Ezra Ashenlocke?"

His tone remained patient.

Ezra looked at the image of the stars for a brief moment before shifting his gaze back to the professor.

"Is there any proof that supports your statement regarding the existence of Essence?"

He asked the question plainly.

There was no challenge in his voice.

Only genuine curiosity.

Several students instinctively turned toward Ezra.

Because the question he asked was a question many of them had wondered about before, but very few had ever asked aloud.

Professor Kent remained silent for a moment.

Instead of answering immediately, he slowly walked away from the holographic display and stopped near the front row, placing himself closer to the students.

"Yes..."

He nodded once.

"And no."

A few students exchanged puzzled looks.

Professor Kent smiled faintly.

"The knowledge surrounding the energy we call Essence... or the energy of existence itself...cannot be directly seen."

He slowly opened one hand before him.

"Neither can it be sensed in its purest form."

His eyes calmly swept across the classroom.

"However...There are ways to confirm that it exists."

He paused, allowing everyone to follow his train of thought.

"The first example...is Cognis."

His words immediately caught everyone’s attention.

"The very power every Alchemist of Britannia uses. We cannot see Essence itself... But through Cognis... we witness its influence."

He slowly pointed toward several students sitting near the front.

"The same principle also applies to Ese."

Several students quickly wrote the familiar term into their notebooks.

Professor Kent continued.

"Ese is produced from Renite Ore together with Scalveins. And it’s another example of humanity utilizing the influence of Essence without ever directly observing Essence itself."

Professor Kent folded both hands behind his back.

"And this mainly comes from the Renite Ore I just mentioned... It is naturally formed from Essence that has been compressed over an extremely long period, or due to the high level of Essence concentration."

His voice remained calm.

"The volume of that compressed Essence eventually reaches an extraordinarily high mass. And it is that compression...which gives Renite Ore its unique properties."

Many students hurriedly copied the explanation into their notes.

Some even underlined the words compressed Essence several times.

Professor Kent finally looked back toward Ezra.

"Does that answer your question... Mr. Ezra Ashenlocke?"

Ezra briefly reviewed the explanation in his mind.

Although Professor Kent had admitted that direct proof did not exist...

He had also provided observable phenomena that pointed toward Essence’s existence.

It wasn’t absolute evidence.

But it was enough to establish a reasonable foundation.

Ezra gave a small nod.

"Yes, Professor. I’m satisfied with your explanation."

Professor Kent smiled.

"If you’re still interested in learning more about Essence... The academy library contains numerous research articles and historical records discussing the subject."

He gestured toward the enormous academy grounds outside the classroom windows.

"You’ll find many theories there. Some are accepted, others remain subjects of debate. But they’re all worth reading."

He lightly clapped his hands once.

"Now... Let’s continue."

Turning back toward the holographic screen, he casually swiped to the next slide.

The lecture resumed.

As time quietly passed...

Professor Kent continued explaining one fundamental concept after another.

Occasionally...

He would pause in the middle of a lesson before suddenly directing another question toward the class.

Unlike before...

No Academy Points were offered this time.

Even so...

Many students still competed to answer.

Sometimes their answers were correct.

Sometimes they weren’t.

Whenever someone made a mistake...

Professor Kent never ridiculed them.

Instead...

He carefully explained why the answer was incomplete before guiding them toward the proper conclusion.

At other times...

The students themselves raised questions.

Whether the topic involved Alchemical philosophy, Cognis, materials, or historical theories...

Professor Kent answered each one with remarkable patience.

The atmosphere inside the classroom gradually became more relaxed.

Even students who had entered the room looking exhausted found themselves becoming increasingly absorbed in the lesson.

Without realizing it...

Ezra had already filled several pages of his notebook.

Some notes contained important principles Professor Kent had mentioned.

Others were simply short reminders.

Research Essence.

Study more on Renite ore formation.

Read Gill Kane’s Philosophy on General Alchemy.

Review Cognis relationship with Essence.

He even created a separate section listing topics that might appear during future examinations.

His pen never stopped moving.

Before long...

Professor Kent glanced toward the clock mounted above the classroom entrance.

The lesson had reached its end.

He gently closed the presentation on the holographic display before looking back at the students.

"That concludes today’s lesson on the Study of Alchemy."

He spoke calmly.

"Your next class begins in ten minutes."

Several students quietly stretched inside their seats.

Some sighed in relief.

Others immediately began organizing their notebooks.

Then...

Professor Kent calmly added,

"I’m giving all of you an assignment."

The classroom froze.

"...What?"

Several voices escaped almost simultaneously.

"But Professor!"

Logan Drakes immediately raised his hand.

His expression was filled with disbelief.

"Isn’t today our first day of classes?"

Around him...

Many students nodded vigorously.

"Exactly."

"He’s right."

"We just started!"

The room quickly filled with agreement.

Professor Kent looked at them with genuine confusion.

"And?"

The single word left everyone speechless.

"I don’t recall there being any academy tradition... that forbids professors from assigning homework on the first day."

His expression remained perfectly serious.

"You’ll submit it tomorrow morning. Before our practical class begins."

He deliberately emphasized the final sentence.

The weight behind his words made several students instinctively sit straighter.

"...You’re kidding."

A boy buried his face in both hands.

"This can’t be real."

Another student stared blankly at the ceiling.

Soft groans spread across the classroom.

Professor Kent remained completely unmoved.

"Your assignment is simple."

The moment those words left his mouth...

Several students visibly relaxed.

A few even smiled.

Perhaps it would only be a short report.

"Write an essay... explaining what Alchemy is."

The students exchanged relieved glances with all of them thinking the same thing.

That’s all?

Maybe today won’t be so bad after all.

Then Professor Kent calmly continued.

"The essay must exceed five thousand words."

His tone never changed.

"And as all of you already know... High marks earn Academy Points."

Silence.

Every student stared at him.

Several mouths slowly opened.

One student even dropped his pen onto the floor.

Simple...?

Simple my foot...

The same exhausted thought echoed through nearly every corner of the classroom.

Writing more than five thousand words after their very first lecture...

It already sounded like a nightmare.

Professor Kent ignored every expression in front of him.

"Oh. One more thing."

He looked around the classroom.

"I’d also like to know which of you intends to join the Student Council."

His words immediately drew everyone’s attention again.

"The students who apply... will become the candidates for First-Year Class President and Vice President."

Several students quietly exchanged glances.

Some looked interested.

Others immediately lost interest.

"If you’re applying... Leave your names with Miss Karla."

Professor Kent picked up his book.

"Have a good day. And once again... Welcome to the Royal Academy."

With that...

He turned around and calmly walked out of the classroom.

Karla quickly stepped forward.

With a light touch against the control panel, the holographic display disappeared as the glass board returned to its transparent state.

She neatly gathered Professor Kent’s teaching materials before hurrying after him.

Before leaving...

She turned back with a warm smile.

"Goodbye, everyone."

The classroom door quietly closed behind her.

The moment it did...

The entire room exploded into noise.

At one of the front desks...

Diane, who had spent nearly the entire lecture fighting sleep, finally surrendered.

Without opening her eyes completely...

She reached into her spatial bag with practiced movements.

A small throw pillow appeared.

Then came a soft sleeping eye cover.

Within seconds...

She gently rested her head on the pillow.

Pulled the eye cover over her face.

And immediately fell asleep.

Not a single unnecessary movement.

It was almost frightening how efficient she had become.

Around her...

The classroom had already fallen into complete chaos.

"Five thousand words?"

A noble girl looked completely stunned.

"Does he really expect us to finish that by tomorrow?"

"I’m more worried about waking up early enough to write it."

One boy replied seriously while looking at his group of friends.

"I barely survived getting here today."

Laughter and complaints spread throughout the room.

Meanwhile...

Veda quietly leaned toward Ezra’s side.

His eyes naturally drifted toward Ezra’s notebook.

"Hey, Ezra..."

He spoke with an innocent smile.

"Don’t tell me... you’re one of those students, Young Lord."

Ezra slowly turned his head.

His calm black eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

The silent stare alone was enough.

Veda immediately froze.

He quickly sat back up as straight as a soldier awaiting inspection.

"No. Absolutely not."

He waved both hands dismissively.

"It’s not what it looks like."

Ezra silently lowered his eyes toward the notebook lying on his table.

Several pages had already been filled with neatly organized notes.

Although Veda had tried to act innocent...

It was painfully obvious what he wanted.

He wasn’t curious about Ezra.

He wanted Ezra’s notes.

And Ezra knew it.