Drew was well aware that Soren was looking at him with complete disbelief. 

Then it hit him. Drew knew that what he was doing was considered absurd for an F-Rank Alchemist. 

While it is normal for an F-Rank Alchemist to know a few E-Rank regiments, to be able to make them with such a high success rate, that was talent. If Drew were older, it wouldn't have seemed too strange but considering his age was around Soren's, his feat could only be classified as unusual.

Not quite a genius but unusual. 

As for why Drew's success rate was so high, it was all thanks to Gerald. 

During the past month, Gerald had put Drew through spartan level training. Everything from academics, alchemy to combat, and even etiquette, Gerald taught Drew all of it. If Drew messed up on one thing, he would be required to do it ten times over until he perfected it even if he was dead tired or had homework due the next day. Yet somehow, Drew didn't even know how he was able to do it all himself in such a short amount of time without dying from exhaustion. On top of that, retain every single bit of information he learned and have time to spare to sleep and maybe watch a few random cooking videos.

If any normal person went through that type of training they would've probably called it quits after the first day. 

>>>

A loud explosion could be heard about a couple of weeks ago in Gerald's training facility at the Tavern. Moments later, a thick cloud of smoke dispersed throughout the room.  

"Ack. Pft. Ghack." Drew coughed trying to waft the smoke away from himself. "How many times do I have to do this Gerald?" 

"Well, Young Master. Since you have failed after the ninth consecutive attempt, I'm afraid you will have to restart." 

"Seriously?!" Drew moaned, resting his head comfortably on the countertop. "I've already made Iceberg 100 times in the past three days! The success rate now is around 98%! Isn't that enough?" 

"It may be 'enough' but it is not 'perfect'," Gerald said placing down a cup of that insanely strong cup of tea he gave Drew on his first day. "As the Young Master of the Winter Family and the Alchemist Axel Snow, you must uphold an appearance of perfection to cover up your weaknesses. Being taken advantage of is the worst possible outcome for someone like yourself." 

"I know." Drew groaned. "I've wanted to quit about a hundred times but I can't. Sadly, the road I'm on requires effort and without effort, there will not be any results. Yet, I still feel as though I lack conviction." 

"Why so?" 

"I'm looking for information about a family I never knew I was a part of until half a year ago. I can never get to see that family in person with my own eyes because they are gone. Why am I searching for things related to the past when the past is unchangeable? Why am I burdened with a legacy that has become obsolete? Why does everything have to be so convoluted and hidden in the dark? Why can't they just all be revealed at once?"

Gerald let out a sigh. 

It wasn't one of exasperation but one of empathy. 

"There are reasons for everything," Gerald began. "Some things are too dangerous for you to know as of now. Some where your young and clouded mind cannot comprehend. Some where it is better left unknown. Maybe that is what my foolish son intended for you. To slowly absorb everything, come to terms, and accept it. If everything is revealed all at once, it may be hard to accept." 

As much as Drew hated the suspense and the mystery, Gerald had a fair point. 

"Do you know anything about the stuff Uncle Winter left?"

Gerald paused for a moment before shaking his head from side to side. 

"I'm afraid not much," Gerald confessed. "Before your parent's passing, they entrusted Linus with keeping you safe as well a revealing everything when the time was ripe. However, if something ever occurred to Linus, you would be redirected to Mathis and me, which is why we are in this scenario now. After the incident almost 18 years ago, I had lost nearly all contact with Linus and the others except through the occasional letters he would send, but it was for the best. Linus went off to guard over you while the rest went off and settled down in Ozwarth, myself included. All to keep you safe. In those 18 years, the only one who knew if you were alive or not 24/7 was Linus." 

Drew yawned. He was barely paying attention to what Gerald was saying since making all those Iceberg regiments sapped a lot of energy out of him. 

"I see, even you were unaware of much of this." 

"Well enough with the chit-chat. Young Master, I believe you need to make Iceberg ten more times if I'm not mistaken." Said Gerald with a scary look on his face. 

Drew shirked back in his chair. He had hoped that Gerald would let him off the hook after making Iceberg so many times but it seems like his killer butler instincts were still sharp. 

Drew clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth before letting out a bitter hiss. 

"Damn, and I thought I could catch a breather." 

"Perfection is key, Young Master." 

"Shit." 

"Ah, profanity. Now you have eleven attempts." 

I think I might want to become religious... Drew thought to himself. 

That day, Drew did not make it back to the dorms until one minute before curfew. 

>>>

"You're not lying," Soren marveled, observing Drew's completed Iceberg regiment. 

Soren had never seen an Iceberg regiment as perfect as the one Drew made. There was not even a single impurity that could be found on the crystal white balm that reflected the light shining on its surface. Not even a single air bubble could be seen. Furthermore, even chilling air was emitted from the Glacier Fig incorporated into the balm despite being heated to extremely high temperatures. Even Soren who could be considered an elite amongst Alchemists for his age found it unbelievable that someone could create an E-Rank regiment this perfect as an F-Ranker. If he didn't witness it with his own eyes, he would've thought it was a hoax. 

Usually, Alchemists displayed skills equivalent to that of their rank. For Drew to be able to display such proficiency at his rank, he could be considered a False Ranker. There could only be a few explanations to this that Soren could conjure in his mind. First, Drew had high proficiency in making that specific regiment and didn't have the same proficiency when it came to other regiments. Second, Drew hadn't taken his E-Class certification exam despite already being qualified as one. Third, he was under the tutelage of some master that he was even unaware of and there was also the possibility that Drew was ignorant of what was considered normal. Finally, Drew was a complete novice in the Alchemy field and just had a really high aptitude for it. Though he couldn't be on the same level as geniuses his progress was still frightening compared to must. 

What Soren didn't realize at the time was how shockingly accurate his deduction was. 

"Do I have any reason to lie?" Drew shrugged closing the lid on the Iceberg regiment. 

Soren was at a loss for words.

"How many tries did it take you to attain this level of perfection?" 

Drew sighed.

"I don't know." He answered. 

"What?" 

"I don't know cause I made it too many times that I've lost track." 

"C'mon," Soren begged. "At least an estimate." 

Drew placed his hand on his chin. His brows furrowing hard as he recalled the number of times Gerald made him practice making Iceberg. The entire process was practically engraved into his bones. 

"Around 150 times." 

"150!" Sore exclaimed shooting up from his seat. It was a good thing there were only five people in the lab. "You do realize that most Alchemists would only make a regiment 50 times before moving onto the next one. The costs for making 150 would be around 750,000 Kalas! What the hell did you do with those 150?" 

Soren's elegant demeanor had completely shattered but he could tell that Drew's every word was the truth. 

"I sold them. You can check my account on the Alchemy Circle website." 

>>>

Every certified Alchemist in the Alchemy Circle had an account that displays their status. Any regiments they sell will be displayed on their account information which is available to the public. This information cannot be fabricated but if it were, the person could be put in prison for a year in prison and have their Alchemy license suspended. The reason for this is to give clients a sense of security when selecting an Alchemist to purchase a regiment from. Of course, the better the Alchemist was, the higher the price was to purchase a regiment fr0m them. 

Then what about the Alchemist from major corporations or those that work for the government like Mina and Keith? 

All Alchemists are freelancers but not all freelancers were Alchemists. 

Even if an Alchemist works for a private association or the government, they can still take on orders from clients who request their services in the Alchemy Circle. Why? Because Alchemists who work for large corporations are not actually a part of the corporation. They are contractors. Anything they do within the corporation is monitored but they have complete freedom with what they do outside. 

If that's the case, why do Alchemists join these corporations? What benefit do they get from this? 

The simple answer would be resources and practice materials but there's a larger reason behind this. 

Consider this. People want to go to first-tier universities so then it's easier to get a job once they graduate. The same logic applies to Alchemists. If an Alchemist works as a contractor for a corporation, they can eventually use the name of the corporation they worked for on their profile page. Of course, the Alchemy Circle does verify this information before it's published. In essence, Alchemists work in a corporation to enhance their profile information, their resume, in order to attract more customers for their services on the Alchemy Circle. 

More customers = More money

>>>

Soren tapped on his wristband, bringing up a holographic screen in which he quickly typed in Drew's name into the search bar. 

All of Drew's information was on full display. 

The fact he worked under Snow. That he was a student at Star Military Academy. Even his popularity amongst other Intergalactic Warriors. Which, of course, he was unranked. 

Soren opened up the Alchemy Circle link immediately leading him to Drew's profile page. 

Right under the sold regiments page, he saw that Drew had sold over 150 Iceberg regiments over the course of two weeks. 

Of course, he saw the other regiments that Drew had sold as well. 

There were a ton of F-Rank pill-type regiments Drew had sold months ago but most of his recent ones were E-Rank regiments.  

Despite the fact that Drew wasn't officially an E-Rank Alchemist that doesn't prevent him from selling E-Rank regiments. 

None of the E-Rank regiments he made were hard but what stunned Soren was the success rate and the quantity of each one he sold. 

There were only five E-Rank regiments that Drew had sold including Iceberg. Polar, Fractal, Crystal, and Arctic were the other four he made. Each one was a type of burn-treatment regiment, just in a different form. Iceberg was an ointment-type regiment for first-degree burns and scars. Polar was a pill-type regiment for minor internal burns caused by Fire Attribute Otrio. Fractal was a spray-type regiment for second and third-degree burns. Lastly, Arctic was a liquid-type regiment used to treat chronic heartburn. Soren looked at how many Drew sold for each one. Unlike Iceberg, Drew had sold around 100 of the others but each one had an astonishingly high success rate. There was not a single one that had less than an 80% success rate. 

Dear Lord! Soren spat to himself. Despite the formulas being quite similar for creating each regiment, achieving an 80% or higher success rate was extremely difficult. On top of that...

Soren tapped on the data for each of the sold regiments. 

They were all sold within the past month. What kind of drugs was he on in order to pull this off? 

While it was definitely possible to master the creation of five regiments in a month, to be able to make so many in a month with Drew's Otrio quantity, that could be considered pure hard work. Sheer willpower if anything. The numbers clearly told Soren everything he needed to know. If any normal person made that many Otrio regiments within a month, their Otrio channels would be on the verge of destruction. However, when Soren sensed Drew's Otrio when he was making Iceberg, he realized how pure it was. It was so pure that even distilled water would seem ten leagues inferior to it. On top of that, Drew's channels weren't damaged ever the slightest. Instead, they had been enhanced to the point where Drew could control his Otrio in less than a blink of an eye, like a tap being turned on and off. 

Soren hated to admit it but Drew had already surpassed him before the challenge had even begun. 

So this is what sets us apart. Soren chuckled. I should've done better research. How could I not even check his Alchemy Circle profile?! Have I lost brain cells or was I just blinded by my own arrogance? I already lost the challenge I put out before it began. What vast world we live in...

"Soren," Drew tapped on Soren's workspace desk. "The glycerin is burning..." 

Soren didn't waste a second nor bat an eye to the burning glycerin. 

If Drew were in his position, he might've panicked. Drew is very cautious about creating his regiments, and weirdly enough, he had never dealt with a burning glycerin situation before. 

Soren tapped on a button, cutting off the gas to the flame. Next, Soren swiftly grabbed a glass cover, using tongs to place it over the crucible without making a single sound. Once the flames were contained, Soren turned on the vent at the edge of his workspace which removed most of the smoky smell from the glycerin fire. 

Drew couldn't help but be impressed. 

To be able to deal with a lab incident like that calmly, he's definitely more experienced than I am. 

As Mr. Snow, Drew acted like a composed Alchemist when in reality he didn't even know how to deal with half the situations that occurred in labs. He was a novice Alchemist wearing the skin of a mysterious, experienced, genius figure. Mr. Snow, the renowned genius Alchemist was nowhere near his true self. A novice who was only embarking on the bumpy journey to become an Alchemist. Drew may be a quick learner but not a genius. In fact, he couldn't even be considered as one in the eyes of true geniuses like Soren. All he had was his determination and hard work (and okay his assets).

His feats were only a result of luck. Not skill. 

This thought made Drew depressed.

Especially when he watched Soren. A true genius. 

He had heard of Soren from the rumors at the Academy plus a bit of internet research. He was claimed to be the next Alchemist who could potentially rival Heartman in a few years. An Elite-Class Student from the Khan's main family. The creator of the Otrio Channel Repair Regiment, Twilight, which can restore Otrio Channels to their prime condition if damaged by most common poisons (Otrio Blood Poisoning not included). The one who improved the Bone Regeneration Regiment, Skeleton, to be able to even regenerate all the ribs, even if shattered out of existence, in a Human's body upon taking one dose within five minutes. Something that even nanomites might find a challenge to do. Most importantly, he used zero support from his influential family in Bauxite. Not even a single pence. 

Soren was the very definition of a self-made Alchemist. 

Even more so than he was as Snow. 

So this is what sets us apart. 

"Are you still going to make that Iceberg regiment?" 

"Nah, The glycerin is burned so it's no longer usable," Soren replied removing his safety goggles. "Plus, enough of my Otrio has depleted so I'll save it for whatever we're doing today." 

"The challenge's still on?" Drew would never back down from a harmless challenge like this. 

So this guy still wants to test his skills. Well, it wouldn't hurt for me to see them all for myself. I want to see the potential this rookie, Snow's assistant, has!

"Of course," Soren chuckled putting his goggles back on. "But let's add some stakes onto that. It wouldn't be fun without them." 

Drew couldn't agree anymore with his statement. 

"What are we adding on?" 

"If I win, you will have to work under me for the duration of the semester. If you win, I'll comply with your demands." 

Drew smirked.  

"Then my demand is simple." He said. "I would like you to clear up any grudges you've had with Rider. It's more than obvious that you have quite a number of them with him. I don't know what they are but I would rather have no one holding grudges against each other from the past." 

"Deal." 

Drew couldn't believe he just agree like that. Most Elite-Class students wouldn't even accept a term like that. 

"Well, that's settled. You better not back down on your promise." 

"Don't worry." Soren laughed. "I'm a man of my word."