Chapter 27: Granny Dou’s Incense

“Alright, alright. An old woman like me could hear you lot arguing all the way from the doorway. How utterly tiresome. While my class can make way for meditation, this is certainly not the way to go about it.” An elderly woman’s voice drifted in from the entrance.

Though not loud, the voice was crisp and clear, reaching everyone’s ears. All eyes turned to the stooped old woman, yet no one could muster a single thought of defiance. Even Long Shi felt an immense pressure—an absolute, crushing suppression that wasn’t even directed specifically at him.

Every teacher at the Witch Academy was a Transcendent Witch, without exception. This old woman was undoubtedly one as well.

Among all the races that knew of them, witches were practically synonymous with agelessness, even seen as symbols of the non-existent immortal races. The woman before them had clearly chosen this aged form for herself. As for why, no one knew, and no one dared to ask—save for another witch.

“Good child, come on down. The podium will be my place now,” the old woman said to Air with a smile. Air didn’t say a word, simply bowing before quickly descending the stage, as class time had already begun without anyone noticing.

The old woman walked behind the lectern, raised the cane in her hand, and tapped it against the blackboard.

A single character materialized on its surface.

“Dou.”

“You can just call me Granny Dou. Don’t bother with ‘teacher’ and all that. ‘Granny Dou’ sounds much nicer to my ears,” she said with a grin.

Everyone in the class took note. Since Granny Dou had specifically emphasized it, calling her Teacher Dou might displease her, or perhaps even violate some personal taboo.

No one was foolish enough to test that theory.

“Today’s lesson was originally on alchemical materials, but your Teacher Qieluo filled me in on the situation. And she’s right, resonating with the Witch’s Heart is more important. I’d hate to see any of you gone by next week,” Granny Dou said, her smile making her seem quite kind and approachable.

“And so, we’ll be continuing with the basic alchemy materials lesson today.”

Her sudden reversal left everyone stunned.

“Hahaha, young people are always so impatient.” From somewhere, Granny Dou produced a large chest filled to the brim with all sorts of materials.

“I’m not planning to follow the textbook’s order for today’s lesson.” Granny Dou began pulling out various items. “I’ve prepared something special for you all. Weren’t you just arguing about incense? Transcendent incense is an alchemical product—or to be more precise, a mixture of Transcendent materials.”

At her words, a flicker of understanding lit up the eyes of many students in the class.

Any lingering resentment about Granny Dou’s class supplanting their meditation time instantly vanished.

“This morning’s lesson is simple. I’ll explain the Transcendent properties of the common materials used in Transcendent incense. After that, I’ll mix these very materials into incense for you,” Granny Dou explained, picking up a piece of a material. “It’s been a long time since I’ve made incense. I wonder if my hands have gotten rusty.”

Granny Dou began passing the various Transcendent materials from the chest to the students in the front row. “This is a materials class. Of course, you need to feel the Transcendent materials for yourselves. If I just drone on and on, this old woman will talk herself to death. All these are for compounding Transcendent incense. Don’t get any sticky fingers, or else it’ll be a minor issue if the final product doesn’t work.”

As she spoke, she picked up a piece of dried, fluffy grass that was being passed among the students.

“This, for example, is bittergrass fluff, dried using a special method. Without it, the calming and focus-enhancing effects of the incense would be greatly diminished. And don’t you dare pluck the fluff off; we’ll be needing it later.”

Granny Dou seemed to be observing the entire class as she spoke, and any student with mischief on their mind could not escape her sharp gaze.

“Oh, and if you truly want some Transcendent materials, you can go buy your own and experiment. Just don’t mess with my teaching aids. Especially this one.”

She took a white, stone-like object from a nearby student. It looked more like a clod of earth, something one could easily chip a piece off of with a fingernail.

“This one has a simple name: Natural White Neutralizing Powder. See? Just holding it leaves a bit of white powder on your hand. This material has no Transcendent energy of its own, but it’s an excellent conductor. It must be kept free of any Transcendent energy contamination, or its effects will change. It’s mostly used as a neutralizer or a catalyst. You can use this to resolve conflicts between most Transcendent materials. Of course, if you don’t add enough neutralizing powder to your incense, not only will the scent become pungent, but its effects will also become far more volatile.”

“How volatile, you ask? So much so that even before you become a Transcendent Witch, you will suffer from its agitating side effects. Meditation will be completely out of the question.”

“I seem to recall experimenting with incense made without neutralizing powder to see its effect on intelligent life.” A memory seemed to surface, and she smiled at the class. “Do you know what the result was?”

“They lose all reason. It’s quite funny, actually. I believe some races use a similar mixture as a sort of berserker draught,” Granny Dou said, answering her own question without waiting for our input. “A truly fascinating line of thought…”

As I was in the front row, my desk was now piled with a considerable number of Transcendent materials. I had to admit, this sparked my interest in alchemy. After all, who could resist such novelties?

Seeing how thick the textbook was, I had assumed this class would be purely theoretical. I never expected to handle actual samples of Transcendent materials.

Despite my growing excitement, I had to put on a show of indifference, if only to not waste Kereiya’s efforts to comfort me.

I found myself constantly fiddling with the materials. Yes, fiddling. Granny Dou’s explanations were fascinating, and she interspersed them with witch jokes. We found it hard to get the punchlines, but perhaps we’d understand once we became witches ourselves.

The Transcendent materials circulated through the classroom. I opened my book, looking up the information for each one.

The tome was massive. Calling it a dictionary was no exaggeration; it functioned much like one, with an index at the front to locate specific materials within its pages.

It was easy enough to get the hang of using it.

But if someone asked me to memorize this book, I think I’d find death a simpler option. There was no need for such an extreme method to induce a fatal stroke.

“Here, for you.” Kereiya pushed a Transcendent material that had been passed to her toward me.

“Thanks,” I whispered.

The moment I touched it, two lines of data appeared before my eyes. I acted as if nothing had happened, holding the material in my hand while my gaze was fixed on the achievement effect.

[Transcendent Material Sorting Master]

[Effect: Greatly enhances the ability to learn and memorize knowledge of alchemical Transcendent materials.]

This effect seemed quite useful.