Hearing him call her by her first name, she glared at him, "You–"
Damien quickly interjected her and said, "I see you as my friend now. So, I can call you by your name just as friends are supposed to. Or are you trying to go back on your word, princess?"
Small, flushed circles appeared on her cheeks, feeling nettled that she had totally fallen for his tricks. Other than her father and ones she considers close to her, no one else had ever dared to call by her name.
But she decided not to let him win that easily and said, "Fine. But now it's your turn to keep up your end of the bargain. You told me you would help me with the rest of the medical formulas."
Damien smirked, "Of course. A man like me always keeps his promises."
"And you may see me as a friend but don't think I think the same." Reva wanted to make sure that Damien doesn't think otherwise.
Damien chuckled, "Princess, you seem like you have been alone for most of your life. Loneliness only breeds darkness in your life. And even if you want to stay in that darkness, don't you think it would be better to walk together with a friend in that darkness than being all alone?"
Reva was silent for a moment and answered with narrowed eyes, "What do you know about my life?"
She didn't like the fact that his words seemed convincing because they went against her beliefs.
"Your eyes seem vibrant, but I can see that they are dull with loneliness. One's eyes can tell many things about themselves, and I don't need to know you for years to know that. You seem like the kind of girl who only focuses on her objectives and would ignore everything else till you achieve them. And it seems to me that in your heart, you are carrying some kind of–"
"That's enough," Reva said in a cold tone as she motioned with her hand. She felt as if she was laid bare open in front of him.
She wondered how such a young boy's way of talking doesn't seem to match with his age. She felt like she was sitting before a mature man. The more time she spent with him, the more shocking he seemed to her.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Damien's eyes flashed as he felt as if he was right on point somewhere.
Damien coughed, "Forget it. But I can promise you that in this lifetime, we can only be friends or enemies, hehe."
Damien continued with a narrowed gaze, "Whichever you prefer. Anyways, coming to your medical formula…"
The two discussed for a while, and Damien occasionally teased her by asking her flippant questions, to which she only gave a cold glare.
Damien, "Reva, are you happy about your life?"
Reva, "…"
…
Damien, "Reva, can you really control the seas as the rumors say?"
Reva, "…"
…
Damien, "Reva, why don't you answer my questions? Do you think they are meaningless?"
Reva, "Yes."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Damien, "…"
…
But as Damien helped her with the medical formulas, she learned that his knowledge and understanding of alchemy was even deeper than her.
She thought that there was no need for him to sit in her theory class, and he could even start a tuition class of his own where he could teach others. It would only be a matter of time before he could earn tons of Spirit Stones from those classes.
She also felt surprised at herself that she was spending so much time closely with another boy.
However, she didn't feel weird about it, and as time passed, she quite felt it natural and enjoyed learning more about alchemy from him. His way of explaining things and how he sees things from a different perspective was very clear and crisp.
She wondered if he asked her whether she was qualified enough to be a teacher because he was confident in his knowledge of alchemy and felt that her teaching wouldn't be of much use to him.
It was almost going to be dusk when they finally wrapped up their discussion.
"I have to go now." Reva said as she got up and continued in a soft voice, "And thank you for helping me out. You can still ask me for Spirit Stones once this pill enters the market."
Reva felt like she owed Damien too much as he helped a lot to complete her Rank 6 Pill's medical formula. Usually, grand alchemists would charge millions of Blue Spirit Stones just to sell the medical formula of any Rank 6 Pill.
Even some alchemists would pay a huge amount of Blue Spirit Stones to procure other expert alchemists' help to help them write up their medical formula or just to get some pointers or suggestions from them.
Even though Damien made a deal with her, in the end, she didn't feel as if she lost anything just because he decided to see her as his friend.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Damien shook his head, "No, no. I already asked for your friendship. But even though you don't want me to be your friend, I will consider you as one because of my big heart. In my eyes, no amount of Spirit Stones can have a bigger value than being your friend." He said artlessly.
Reva asked with an unclear expression, "Why do you want to be my friend so badly?"
"Because you need one. See you later, Reva." Damien walked away as he waved his hands.
Reva stood on the spot for a while, thinking about the things he said and the things that happened today.
Between all the nonsense he spoke or asked her, she felt that some of his words stung at her heart, making herself ask questions she previously never even thought of.
'A friend?...' Reva muttered in a dazed manner as she left the alchemy study hall.
Through his messaging talisman, Damien found out that Valentina was sitting in the library with Yara Haley.
As he got inside the library and saw the two, Valentina rushed up to him and hugged him, "Damien, why did you take so much time?"
Before Damien could answer, Yara Haley scoffed with a smile, "Looks like somebody had a good time with his instructor, or should I say, the princess?"
"Pfft, girl, you have no idea the amount of training I had to do today."
"Damien, you have broken through!" Valentina said with an elated smile as if she was the one who broke through.
Yara Haley got up with a blinking expression, "Wow… it seems like whatever training it was, it surely paid off. Hmm, good for you. Now you are one step closer to facing off Roy Clive."
The two soon bid goodbye to Yara Haley and started walking through the streets.
As the two walked, Damien asked, "Do you want to see something surprising?"
Valentina nodded eagerly.
Damien smiled and flicked his fingers as a small amber fireball manifested in his hands.
Valentina's lips opened partially with astonishment as she asked in an excited tone, "You awakened your Fire seed?"
Damien said with a satisfied smile, "Yes. It's all thanks to my teacher, the princess. She taught me a way to awaken my Fire seed by comprehending my Etheric Fire Laws."
Valentina felt that Reva seemed to be more capable than she thought and wondered if she could also help Damien like her.
"By the way, how are your alchemy classes going?" Damien continued with a question.
Valentina said with a face wide smile, "I am doing great. I manifested my etheric flames just like you taught me, and even the teacher said that my etheric flames were the best in the class and was very impressed with it."
Damien beamed, "Of course. I already knew you would be the best in the class. After all, no one can match up to your powerful soul. My Valentina is the best."
Valentina rested her head on his arms with a sparkling smile, proud that he was happy with her prowess.
Valentina said in a confident tone, "I am sure after a month, everyone will know how awesome you are. Right after, you beat down that Roy Clive."
"Of course. It's just a matter of time." Damien said as his eyes narrowed, thinking about the bet he made with Roy Clive.
"You still haven't told me why you made such a one-sided bet with that big dumbo." Luna mentally asked Damien.
