CHAPTER 95— Alchemy City(1)
Roomm... Roommm...
The high-speed magnetic train thundered down the tracks, cutting smoothly through the picturesque landscape of Aetheria.
Inside the passenger cars, the freshman students of Grand Aetherion were scattered across various cabins. Some were chatting, others passed the time playing mobile games, while a few gathered around folding tables for card matches and board games.
Inside one particular cabin, Rowan sat pressed against the window, staring blankly out at the blurred scenery rushing past. His chin rested heavily in the palm of his hand, a thick aura of exhaustion clinging to his face.
"I honestly didn't expect the academy to drag us all the way to Alchemy City for this field trip," Ritvik said, practically vibrating with excitement in his seat.
Alchemy City.
The name immediately triggered a memory from one of his elder brother's old letters.
Rowan mentally recited the lines he had read so many times:
"The Alchemy City feels like stepping into an entirely different world. There is technology here that completely dropped my jaw. We visited the Grand Academy of Alchemy (GAA), where I met a ton of brilliant students. One guy, in particular, was fascinating—he was fiercely passionate about advancing alchemy. He explained complex theories in such a simple, elegant way that anyone could grasp them instantly. We ended up hitting it off and becoming fast friends. His name is..."
As Ritvik continued chattering beside him, Rowan kept his thoughts locked on the letter.
'One of the people Bhaiya specifically mentioned in his notes is located right here in Alchemy City. He was written down as a close friend. So If I can meet him, maybe I can finally find out what really happened to bhaiya.'
"You seem unusually fired up about this place," Sarina commented, breaking into his thoughts.
Rowan flinched slightly, turning his head to meet her gaze. "Oh... yeah, just thinking."
"Right? I wonder how much this place has changed since last time." Ritvik chimed in.
"Wait, you've been here before?" Rowan asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well... Um cough yeah, years ago. But this place literally reinvents itself every single year. You visit once, and the next time you come back, you honestly wonder if you're even standing in the same city."
"What do you mean, 'it changes'?" Rowan asked, tilting his head.
"What else would I mean, idiot? Alchemy advancement never stops here. It's a given that every single year, brand-new buildings, entire districts, and cutting-edge tech are introduced and integrated into the city grid. If Aetheria is called the epicenter of learning, then Alchemy City is the undisputed Epicenter of Advancement."
While Rowan and Ritvik chatted, Sarina kept her eyes fixed squarely on Rowan's profile.
She couldn't help recalling the intense, complicated expression he had tried so hard to mask back in the academy's honor room while staring at the vandalized senior boards.
There was an underlying gravity to Rowan's focus—an unspoken feeling that made it painfully obvious he was searching for something deeply personal.
Sarina let out a soft, silent breath, watching him intently.
A few cabins down, Seraphine sat with her two closest friends, Selene and Marna.
She lazily rested her head against the cool glass of the window, staring out at the horizon while sharing sliced oranges with her companions.
'Alchemy City...' she mused quietly.
With a long, rhythmic hiss of pneumatic brakes, the train finally ground to a halt inside the central terminal of Alchemy City.
The students spilled out onto the massive, sunlit platform. Ritvik tried valiantly to maintain a shred of academic composure, but the sheer glee leaking across his face made it a total failure.
Rowan stepped off the train, his eyes immediately sweeping across the terminal.
The station looked absurdly futuristic—a dazzling display of towering glass arches, floating holographic transit schedules, and automated transit drones humming softly overhead.
His brother's words echoed in his mind:
"When I first arrived at the Alchemy City station, it blew my mind. Even the transit hub looked completely otherworldly."
He wasn't exaggerating, Rowan thought, staring up in quiet awe. This place really is incredible.
"Hey, guys, look over here!" Ritvik called out, waving a hand.
Rowan blinked, snapping out of his thoughts.
The Ritvik who had been standing beside him a microsecond ago was now standing in front of a large, upright rectangular metal unit embedded into the station wall. The front featured a heavy glass door displaying various brightly colored beverages inside.
Rowan and Sarina walked over to join him.
"Wanna grab something to drink?" Ritvik asked, holding up a small, shiny coin between his fingers.
Rowan whipped his head around, scanning the immediate area. "Where is the shopkeeper running this counter? I don't see anyone tending the stand."
Ritvik let out a loud, mocking snort. "A shopkeeper? Hahaha... this doesn't need a shopkeeper, genius."
"Then are these drinks for free?" Rowan asked innocently as he reached out and grabbed what looked like a metal door handle on the side of the machine.
Rowan planted his feet and pulled hard, but the heavy casing didn't even budge.
"What the...?" Irritated, Rowan placed one foot directly against the glass front and hauled back on the handle with all his body weight. "Are you kidding me? Why won't this thing open?!"
"Hahahahaha—!"
Ritvik completely lost his composure. He doubled over, covering his mouth with both hands as helpless laughter wracked his body. He pushed his glasses up slightly and wiped a genuine tear from the corner of his eye. "You... you really are a total country bumpkin, aren't you?"
Rowan stared at him blankly. "....?"
"To get a drink out of an automated vending machine, you don't use brute force, idiot—you use a coin," Ritvik wheezed, holding up his coin again. "Now please take your dirty boot off the display glass before you shatter it."
Rowan hastily lowered his foot, and lowered his head in embarrassment . Sarina kindly patted his shoulder in silent solidarity.
"Alright, watch and learn. What kind of drinks do you two want?" Ritvik asked, flashing a prideful, smug grin.
"Uh... that blue one looks decent," Rowan muttered, pointing a finger at one of the glowing bottles.
"And for you, Sarina?" Ritvik asked smoothly.
"I'll take the one right next to it," she replied casually.
"Piece of cake. Watch how a civilized person operates." Ritvik closed his eyes with exaggerated flair, turning his body slightly as he moved to slide his coin into the narrow slot on the machine's faceplate.
Right at that exact millisecond, another fair hand shot out from the side, dropping a matching coin directly into the exact same coin slot.
Clack.
Both metal coins jammed hard inside the narrow aperture, wedged halfway in and halfway out.
"Huh?" Ritvik blinked, freezing mid-motion. His eye began to twitch violently and his jaw hardened as he slowly turned his head to follow the fair, slander arm belonging to the person that had just sabotaged his transaction.
'Which bastard is —'
Ritvik raged internally. His eyes widened into blank saucers the second he recognized who the hand belonged to.
Seraphine was standing right beside him, staring down at the jammed slot with equally wide eyes. She had leaned in to make her purchase, only for her coin to collide squarely with Ritvik's.
"Excuse me," Seraphine said, her voice dropping into a dangerously sweet, clipped tone. "Can you pull your coin out for a second so I can finish buying my drink?"
"Why don't you pull yours out?" Ritvik snapped back defensively.
"Why should I?"
"Because I was clearly here first!"
"Please. I dropped my coin in the slot first; you just aggressively rammed yours in from the side."
"Are you kidding me? My coin was half-inserted while you materialized out of thin air!"
"Hey," Seraphine whispered. Her tone was lethally low, carrying an edge of sheer, unadulterated fury. A prominent vein pulsed violently along her jawline, and actual tendrils of crimson fire began to crackle and dance around her . "Did you not hear me? I said pull it out."
Deep inside Ritvik's brain, his survival instincts began flashing neon red warning lights.
'Screw it.' Ritvik thought recklessly. 'I've had completely enough of this violent redhaired Tyrantness's daily bullshit.'
Behind them, Seraphine's two best friends, Selene and Marna, watched the escalating disaster with completely deadpan expressions, their lips pressed into flat, resigned lines.
Over on the other side, Rowan and Sarina shared an identical expression: eyes blown wide open, mouths locked into thin, horrified lines of secondhand dread.
"Hey, Sera... take it easy," Selene murmured, trying to intervene.
"Don't worry, Sel. The only reason this idiot is still drawing breath right now is because I am taking it easy," Seraphine shot back without blinking.
Ritvik's jaw tightened until his teeth clicked audibly.
Noticing the lethal tension, Rowan slowly reached out and placed a heavy hand on Ritvik's shoulder. "Hey, man... let's just breathe. Calm down a little."
"Oh, don't worry about me. I'm calm. I'm so insanely calm that nothing has spontaneously combusted yet." Ritvik ground out through clenched teeth.
Both Ritvik and Seraphine locked eyes in a fierce staring contest. Their thumbs remained stubbornly pressed against their respective coins, wedged tightly in the machine's coin slot. Neither was willing to yield an inch, baking the surrounding air in mutual hostility.
"What on earth are you students doing standing around over there?!"
A sharp, authoritative voice cut cleanly through the tension. Both Seraphine and Ritvik flinched violently at the familiar sound, whipping their heads around to find the source.
A few yards away, Instructor Valeria stood with her hands buried deep in her pockets, glaring straight at them.
"We need to get moving toward the GAA campus immediately. The rest of the student groups are already heading down the boulevard, and I'm not waiting around for stragglers!"
"Tch..." Seraphine and Ritvik clicked their tongues in simultaneous, burning irritation.
They both snapped upright, shooting one final, venomous glare at each other.
Seraphine crossed her arms tightly over her chest and spun on her heel, huffing and turning away with an exaggerated, textbook tsundere pout.
Seeing her walk away, Ritvik lashed out and gave the innocent vending machine a brutal kick in pure frustration.
BEEP—BEEP—BEEP—!
The machine's emergency siren instantly blared to life, flashing blinding red lights on the machine.
Panic seized Ritvik. "Ah, crap!" Without waiting to see what happened, he bolted down the concourse at full sprint, leaving Rowan and Sarina to scramble after him.
Seraphine watched Ritvik's retreating figure disappear into the crowd, letting out a sharp huff.
'Who does that glasses-wearing jerk think he is?'
She shoved her hands deep into her jacket pockets and picked up her pace. "Let's go."
"Wait, what about your juice?" Marna asked, pointing back.
"He completely ruined my mood," Seraphine snapped.
The two stubborn coins belonging to Ritvik and Seraphine remained firmly jammed together inside the dark coin slot, left behind as a permanent monument to their petty rivalry.
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CHAPTER ENDS