“Who knows some good pill books?”

Maggie jumped up and down, her hand waving in the air. “Me, me!”

Oz pointed at her.

“Basic Potions and Pills!” she said, excited.

Holding out his hand, Oz concentrated on the name of the book. He circulated his qi, scanning internally through the books in his library. When he came up empty, he extended his qi outward. It pushed through the wall and resonated against the bookshelf opposite.

The book isn’t right there… but I didn’t expect that. Oz furrowed his brows, focusing. He pulsed his qi, pushing waves of it toward the books.

I have blue qi, and so do these books. If I’m guessing right, qi of the same color can communicate with itself. In other words, all I need is to be able to reach one book, and I’m able to reach all books!

As he pushed waves of qi into the books, the books began to replicate his call, extending it outward. One by one, they chained together through the library, each book taking up the call of Oz’s qi. Oz grinned. Just like a wifi extender. Exactly as I planned!

Titles flashed past his eyes. Ten Thousand Hands, A Fool’s Journey, Black Cat’s Battle Book, hundreds and hundreds of titles blurring by so fast he barely had time to register them.

Abruptly, he raised his hand. The titles stopped, fading away. Only one title floated in front of his eyes: Basic Potions and Pills.

Oz closed his hand, grabbing for it. The book dropped into his palm.

“Whoa…” Sim and Sine stared, their eyes wide.

Unimpressed, Riona crossed her arms. “Suuuuper exciting way to summon a basic manual.”

Ignoring her elementary-school snark, Oz turned back to the kids. “Anyone else?”

Mici raised his hand. Oz pointed.

“Sugar Apple Fairy Sweets!” Mici said.

Oz gave him a look.

Mici blinked innocently at him. “No, really! Really really! It isn’t candy, it’s pills. Cross my heart!”

Oz sighed. He lifted his hand again, shrugging internally. It doesn’t cost me much to summon an extra book. “Anyone else?”

“Black Cauldron, Yellow Furnace,” Sine said confidently.

“Secrets of the Brew,” Sim added.

Riona tossed her head, letting out a little harumph.

Harold shrugged. “I don’t know any pill manuals.”

Three books landed in Oz’s palm. Aside from Riona, all the other kids crowded around him, their eyes big. Riona crossed her arms and did her best to look unimpressed, but secretly snuck a glance from the corner of her eyes.

“Wow…” Mici whispered.

“He really does have every book in the world,” Maggie murmured.

Riona rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

Oz scanned through the books one at a time, loading them into his mind. He flipped through them mentally, searching for antidotes. Disappointment awaited him, and his brows furrowed. Herbs, herbs, and more herbs flickered before his eyes, with barely a recipe in sight. These are very basic. Most of them only have one or two extremely simple pill recipes, with a focus on listing and describing the various herbs and their effects. If I were to compare this to medicine back home, it’s an anatomy book, when what I need is a surgery how-to.

I’ll have to do what I can with what I have. It’s that, or hope it’s as easy to regrow arms as it is to regrow eyes.

He touched his face, then grimaced. No way it’s easy to regrow eyes. Madame Saoirse had to do that personally. I’d probably have years of practice ahead of me before I could regrow my arm. Can’t rely on that.

As he finished speeding through the books, he ran back through the data, categorizing the herbs mentally into four groups: detoxifying herbs, healing herbs, cleansing herbs, and useless herbs. His brows furrowed. Detoxifying… cleansing. Quickly, he consulted the manuals, but no answer key jumped out at him. Huh. I’d really like to know the difference between those two before I went about trying to create a pill from scratch. But how…

His eyes landed on the kids. Turning, he beamed. “Who can tell me the difference between detoxifying and cleansing herbs?”

It’s unfortunate, but I’m basically at these kids’ level right now. I wasn’t born yesterday, but it’s pretty close.

Maggie bounced in place, waving her hand.

Oz pointed at her.

“Detoxifying herbs force toxins out of your body. Cleansing herbs remove filth.”

“So what’s the difference between toxins and filth?” Oz asked.

Maggie paused. She put a hand on her chin, and her brows furrowed.

Riona sighed derisively. “Seriously?”

“Riona, why don’t you tell us?” Oz turned to her with a smile.

She rolled her eyes, sighing again, then waved her hand. “Filth is accumulated by living. Eating, breathing, all those things accumulate filth in your body. Although filth isn’t a problem for mortals, it can interfere with the flow of qi inside a mage’s body. Toxins can also be accumulated by simply living, but it’s more common to notice when it happens, since even mortals will suffer the consequences of toxins. Toxins can sicken and kill mages and mortals alike.”

“Filth is filth, and toxins are poison,” Mici added helpfully.

Riona looked down her nose at him. “Yes, I said that.”

“Thank you, Mici. And Riona, too,” Oz said. He set the cleansing herbs aside mentally for a moment. In that case, I need to focus on the detoxifying herbs.

“Are you trying to figure out an antidote for your hand?” Maggie asked, touching the back of her hand.

“His hand?” Sim stood on his tiptoes, trying to get a look.

“You’re hurt?” Sine asked, tears welling up in her eyes.

Oz twitched his robes, letting the vast sleeves hide his hand. “I’m fine. We’re focusing on antidotes because they’re a fascinating subject, that’s all.”

Riona gave him a look. “We’re not stupid, regardless of what Professor thinks.”

Oh well. It was a nice try. As long as they don’t start crying, it isn’t a big deal if they know. He put his hands up. “Fine, fine. You got me. Yep, we’re learning about antidotes because I’m a little bit poisoned. I’ve got it under control, though. I’ll be fine.”

“Mmm,” Maggie murmured, unconvinced.

Sine sniffed. She rubbed at her eyes, nodding silently.

“Does anyone know a recipe for an antidote?” Oz tried.

Big eyes and shaking heads all around.

Didn’t expect it. In that case, it’s time to figure out an antidote for myself. He picked up one of the cauldrons, recognizing it from the books now. Setting it upright, he looked around, opening drawers and doors until he found a pile of slender sticks in a cabinet. They don’t look like much, but according to the Sugar Apple Fairy Sweets book, this is what cauldron fuel looks like. I’d like to have more than one book saying it, but all the rest of them skip the absolute basics of how to start a fire. I’ll just have to believe in that questionably titled book.

He set the sticks on the small platform under the cauldron and pushed his qi into the sticks. They sat there obstinately, refusing to light on fire.

Oz squinted. He consulted Sugar Apple Fairy Sweets mentally, flipping to the absolute beginner section of the book.

…push qi into the fuel. It should burst into flames. If it doesn’t, try using more qi, or ask a higher-ranked mage to set the fuel alight for you. Any kind of qi can light fuel, but certain types may be more aligned to fire and therefore more suited to lighting fuel.

“Eh, Mister, do you need help?” Maggie asked, tilting her head.

“What? The teacher can’t even light cauldron fuel?” Harold asked, laughing aloud.

He pursed his lips. Circulating all his qi through his body, he shoved it into the fuel all at once. A wave of weakness passed through him, but in the next moment, a small flame flickered atop one of the pieces of fuel. Slowly, the flame spread to the rest of the fuel.

Oz took a deep breath, calling the library’s qi to him. A trickle of qi swirled into him, replenishing his nearly-empty core. Damn. That took almost everything I have. Why is it so easy to summon books, or even search the library, but so hard to light things on fire?

Sim squinted at the flame. He glanced at Sine. “I guess that counts as lighting fuel?”

“It’d be a failing grade from the Professor,” Sine confirmed, nodding.

Oz pursed his lips. “It’s on fire, so that sounds like a pass to me, and in my library, my opinion is what matters.”

“Uh huh,” Sim said, waggling his eyebrows at Sine, who giggled back.

Putting the books down beside the warming cauldron, he walked to the cabinet full of herbs he’d seen days earlier. It’s unfortunate that I only have one copy of every herb, and doubly unfortunate that I have to use my only copies, but beggars can’t be choosers. After I heal myself, I can try begging Aisling for fresh herbs.

But for now… He walked to the cabinet and pulled out his copy of every detoxifying herb he had. Consulting the books, he paused, then drew out another two herbs, one a serrated red leaf, the other a glittering blue berry. According to the Black Cauldron, Yellow Flame book, these two are toxic alone, but detoxify when smelted together.

Aside from the two negating herbs, he held four ingredients: a small, dry stick, the green stalk of some flower, a blade of pink grass, and a small white seed. He held up the small dry stick, considering it for a moment, then looked at the students. He grinned. “Shall we make some pills?”