A day later, Im returned to Linden Pine Valley, his cloak dusted with travel dirt. He gathered Leon, Dahlia, and Flower in the main room of Moonlight Cottage, dropping a stack of leather-bound journals on the table. "I brought new journals from Wickham City," he said. "You might not understand everything, but they'll broaden your horizons—magic applications, herb discoveries, even trade news."
He pulled a small pouch from his pack, pouring out a handful of tiny seeds. "These are spice seeds. Plant them in spring—see if they grow. The merchant claimed they add a sharp, warm flavor to food."
Leon picked up a seed, rolling it between his fingers. "Can we plant them now? If we had a greenhouse, we could grow them year-round."
Im shook his head. "A greenhouse that ignores seasons needs a large temperature-regulating rune circle. It's expensive—more mana required the bigger the temperature difference. We can't afford it yet." He didn't catch Leon's reference to a "greenhouse," assuming he meant the standard mage temperature ward. Leon didn't correct him—building a greenhouse would need glass or thin film, neither of which existed here. Even a simple earth-heated indoor garden wouldn't work for herbs, which needed consistent sunlight.
Dahlia flipped through a journal, her nose wrinkling. "These runes look like scribbles. How am I supposed to learn from this?"
"By asking questions," Im said, smiling. "Focus on the application articles first—they're simpler. Leon, your charcoal filtration paper was published. Look—here it is."
Leon's eyes widened as he grabbed the journal. There, on the page, was the title: "Charcoal Filtration: A Low-Cost Method for Potion Purification" by Im and Leon. "It's actually printed," he said, tracing his name.
Im nodded, pride in his voice. "It came out last month, but only reached Wickham City recently. The alchemists are impressed—especially after they saw the pure mana restoration potions. Royalties will start coming in soon—enough to upgrade the herb garden's runes."
Dahlia sighed. "When will I publish a paper?"
Flower echoed her. "Yeah, even Leon has one now."
Leon grinned. "Next time I invent something, I'll add you as third authors—if you help with the experiments."
Im shook his head, amused. "Don't get ahead of yourselves. Papers require rigorous testing and deep understanding. Focus on your lessons first." He thought Leon was getting overconfident, unaware his apprentice's mind held half of Earth's basic science—ready to spark new inventions with the right tools.
That evening, Leon snuck to the workshop, his mind racing with an idea. Since mentioning the greenhouse, he'd been obsessed with making glass. Back on Earth, glass was everywhere, but here, it was unheard of—at least, not in a usable form. He remembered the formula: sand (quartz), soda ash, and limestone. With the high-temperature furnace, he could melt them into glass.
He loaded pure sand into the furnace, cranking up the mana crystal to max. The sand melted into a glowing red liquid, like magma. Leon activated his Mage Hand tentacles, carefully lifting the liquid and spreading it into a thin sheet. He blew a stream of cold magic over it, cooling it rapidly. The result was a translucent slab—quartz glass, he thought, grinning.
He rushed to show Im, but tripped on the workshop threshold. The glass slab slipped from his tentacles, hitting the stone floor. Instead of shattering into shards, it exploded into tiny fragments, slicing his palm. "Good grief," he muttered, sucking the blood from his cuts.
Confused, he returned to the workshop. Maybe quartz glass was too fragile? He'd try the standard formula—sand, soda ash (gathered from a nearby salt lake), and crushed limestone. The mixture melted at a lower temperature, and Leon spread it into another sheet. This time, he set it on a stone to cool naturally. When it hardened, he tapped it with a small rock.
Boom. It exploded again.
Leon stared at the shards. "Why is this happening?" He'd seen glass on Earth survive far more than a tap. Maybe the otherworld had different physics? Or maybe he was missing a step. He resolved to keep trying—he needed glass for the greenhouse, for potion bottles, for a dozen other uses.