Drew woke up early the next morning.
He didn't sleep too well since he had to help clean up the room but there was still a massive soot mound in the middle of the room which everyone was too lazy to clean up so Drew took the liberty of sweeping the soot out of the room. From there, he fetched himself a cup of hot water and began sifting through all the files Senior Neilson and Jay sent him last night. It was a good thing they were all categorized by length and topic which made it easier for Drew to formulate a plan for the next three to five months. But the time granted for this would come down to the patient's willpower.
Around nine, messages had flooded into his inbox. Most of them were from Senior Neilson and Jay saying that they were preparing a warehouse to serve as the laboratory for trials and that the ingredients had already been purchased from Uenkram which would arrive later that day. From there, Senior Neilson forwarded Drew a copy of the receipt for him to double-check. Luckily, Drew had reviewed all the existing formula files for the regiment so everything on the receipt was exactly what they needed. The total cost nearly gave Drew a heart attack but Senior Neilson told him not to worry about it as he would cover all the expenses.
Drew let out a sigh of relief and continued working.
He had all the tools need in order to run trials for the next five months but what he lacked was a fast way to gain experience. After all, there was only so much Gerald could teach him in a short amount of time. Plus, with the time crunch Drew was on, he required more practice with creating regiments. Thus, the fastest way to accomplish this was through experience. But where could he get that? Then he remembered. Star offered volunteer and internship opportunities for students on the Academy Billboard. Opening another tab on his supercomputer, Drew pulled up the billboard where there were hundreds of posts ranging from club activities, coupons, odd jobs, and, of course, volunteer and internship opportunities. From there, he filtered out the posting related to Alchemy or any medicals firms. To his luck, there was a new posting looking for volunteers at Star's South Wall Hospital. The requirements weren't very strict too. As long as one was a Certified Alchemist or Medic they could automatically be assigned a position at the Hospital.
During the months Drew was preparing for the Team Exam, he had received his F-Class Alchemy Certification for taking a simple written exam but he hadn't had the chance to take the E-Class Alchemy Certification Exam. He was scheduled to take it in four months' time, which was around the end of May but by that time, Jay's mother would probably not survive. Plus, becoming an E-Class Alchemist was just a title. What mattered was skill and experience. Drew knew he had the skill but lacked the experience. This opportunity would allow him to gain experience and reinforce his current skills. Furthermore, the reward was fifty volunteer hours which can be used to reduce his time spent in Mandatory Military Service and the schedule was flexible.
Without any hesitation, Drew automatically applied for a volunteer position in the Pharmaceuticals Division at the Hospital. Within minutes of his submission, he received a response that told him he had been accepted and gave him a list of responsibilities. His responsibilities included helping to create some minor over-the-counter medications for stuff like allergies or abrasions. Nothing too difficult for a newbie Alchemist like himself. From there, the hospital also sent him a message asking what days he could come in to help out. Of course, he chose weekdays right after his morning classes since he didn't take any Position Classes at the Academy and his weekends would be occupied working on the Otrio Blood Poisoning Regiment.
Time passed and it was noon.
Drew had finished reading through all the articles since most of them were around a couple of paragraphs. However, there was only one thing he could get from reading through them. The Otrio Blood Poisoning regiment that currently existed in the market required stabilizers in order to work. Most of the regiments Drew had created did not require stabilizers as the ingredients used did not have any properties that would contradict each other. However, the Blood Poisoning regiment did. Why is that? Well, it's all thanks to the main herb utilized in the regiment.
This herb was better known as the Galigar Lotus which contains a highly potent purification property and because this property is so potent, Alchemists have to extract it in the form of a liquid then dilute it with other ingredients. If one ingested the herb as is without processing it, the water contained within their cells would evaporate until they become a hollow skin sack. In a sense, the Galigar Lotus is a double-edged sword. If used correctly it could be a miracle cure but if not, it could be a deadly poison. And it is that deadly poison that allows it to become the key to creating the Blood Poisoning Regiment. As a result, a stabilizer is required to balance out this poisonous property allowing it to only destroy the interfering beast cells within the body while minimizing the damage to the host’s own cells. This was the issue many Alchemists have been trying to solve for years.
What ratio of Galigar Lotus extract is required? What parts of the Galigar Lotus need to be used to create the extract? What stabilizer can be used to minimize the detrimental effects of the Lotus?
All these questions have been partially answered yet no one has been successful in creating a regiment that has at least a fifty percent chance of working. The highest currently was twenty percent which was created, by yours truly, Heartman around three years ago. That on its own was already a feat considering the fact that all other existing regiments had less than a ten percent success rate. Heartman even released the recipe to the public knowing since no one was willing to purchase a regiment with less than a 50% chance at working, even if they were on their deathbed. Drew didn't want to accept it but the only way he could even have a chance of reaching 50% was to improve Heartman's regiment.
So many thoughts overwhelmed him. Unfortunately, he could not afford to panic now.
I have to stay strong. He thought to himself with great determination as he continued to type away on the holographic keyboard.
"Yo, Drew." Rider's familiar voice hollered from the doorway. "You've been up early. It's the weekend!"
Quickly shutting down his supercomputer, Drew spun around in his chair facing him. As per usual, the silver-haired Unicron's appearance looked unkempt.
"It's just some Alchemy research I'm doing. My E-Class Certification Exam is later this year, just wanted to get a head start while I can."
Well, only half of this was true. Drew internally sighed to himself.
"As diligent as always." Rider chuckled climbing back up to his bed. "By the way, did you see that post up on the billboard?"
"The one about the South Wall Hospital? Yeah, I already signed up for it.”
“So fast?!” Rider exclaimed as he began to fill out the form.
Drew nodded before opening his communication device.
“Yup, I thought I would be a good way to gain some experience for my Certification Exam. What about you?”
“Same,” he said rolling around in his bed. “Plus, I think it’ll be a good way to stabilize my Core in the shortest amount of time.”
Drew laughed, leaning back in his chair until it was balancing on its hind legs.
“Seems legit to me.”
"Oh, by the way, I've been meaning to ask you something. I don't know if Elias already knows this but it's been bugging me for a while but I was finally able to confirm it last night."
Drew suddenly tensed up but tried to remain calm. He knew that despite Rider's lazy appearance, he had always been rather perceptive of certain things. From Drew's knowledge, he didn't have any Ability which could see the future so it was purely just his own hunch. Maybe it was just a Unicron thing, after all, Unicron's are known to be a rather wise and perceptive race.
"I thought you could only use Wind Otrio but it seems to be masking something. Unlike most other Otrio users, your Wind Otrio, although very faintly, seeps out of your body like a steady stream. However, beneath that stream, I sense something else another kind of Otrio. Originally, I thought I was overthinking it at first but after I broke into Mid-E Class, I realized I was right. It's as if you are suppressing this other kind of Otrio. Why?"
Drew froze but still maintained his calm exterior. He didn't think Rider would catch on to this quickly, that he could use Ice Otrio. Gerald had taught him a technique to cover it up but at his level, it wasn't perfect. He thought it would be sufficient to fool those around him but apparently, he let his guard down so his Ice Otrio seeped out a little where even Rider could sense it. So the only thing he could do was play dumb.
"I'm not too sure what you mean?" Drew said pretending to be oblivious about this 'other type of Otrio' in his body. "Maybe it's just the surrounding Otrio Particles gathering around me? Plus, I can only recall myself only to be able to use Wind Otrio."
"Don't screw with me." Rider spat. He needed to get down to the bottom of this. To be completely honest, from the first day he met Drew, he had always been on guard against him. He always knew something was off about him and Elias always seemed to refuse his questions when digging in about Drew. He even tried talking with Sylvia to see if she knew something but even she didn't know too much. But she told Rider, Elias had warned her to not dig in too much about Drew. She didn't know the exact reason but from Elias's tone of voice, it seems like the things regarding Drew's past are too dangerous for anyone to know but Rider was curious. As much as he hated getting involved in cumbersome things, his curiosity will override that hate and until he comes up with something, he will not stop. "I may not be that high ranked nor may I have known you for that long but my intuition is definitely sharper than most! Why are you desperately trying to hide something like this?!"
From Rider's statement, Drew knew that he could not play dumb with Rider nor make him shut up till he gave him the answer he wants. He knew that Rider was being wary of him since Day 1 so it's only natural that he addresses Rider's concern. However, he cannot tell him the full truth so the only thing he could answer was this.
"I can't tell you the details right now. Everyone has secrets they don't want to tell but this one is something I don't even have the ability to tell you. For now, just trust me, go amongst life as we've always done, put this matter aside. I swear, with time, everything will come to light."
Of course, Rider remained skeptical but he could tell that there was truth behind his words. This made him even more intrigued.
What kind of secrets could make Drew act like that? He wondered as stared blankly at the ceiling. Was he being threatened? Was he in some sort of danger that even the slip of the tongue could have dire consequences? If so, then why did he work with Snow? I don't think it has anything to do with Heartman nor Snow...it must be something else...
"How can I trust you?"
"Rest assured. For one, if I wanted to do something terrible, I would've done it already. The fact that you are still alive and so is Elias means that I have no intention to harm anyone here. Second, Elias already had a hunch but it was for a different reason. He knows that if he digs farther, it may not end up well. I keep these secrets not because I want to harm people. I do it to protect others I know from getting harmed. Elias picked that up a while back that why he almost never asks too much about me beyond the general things. I want you to be able to hold that same trust in me as he does."
Because I swore, I would not reveal everything until all my matters have been settled.
Seeing Drew's complex expression, Rider sighed, throwing his hands up in defeat.
"Fine, I won't pry anymore! If we go any farther, this may just damage our relationship plus, you're so damn unreadable. I can never tell what the heck is going on in that head of yours. One day you act like the most carefree person in the universe and the next thing I know... argh forget it!"
Rider groaned, thrashing around in his bed with frustration. For now, he knew he was going to have to accept his explanation. His instincts were never wrong.
"I'm going to kill the remaining brain cells in my head if I continue doing this! Just who the heck are you, Drew Li? If that's even your name."
Drew couldn't help but smile.
"Who knows?" He said in an almost inaudible voice.
"I'm still trying to figure that out."
thanks for the chapter