Ning spent the next 3 hours of the lecture explaining about cabbages. He told them what you could make with them and why they worked the way they did in those pills.
The alchemy students who hadn't even heard of cabbages being used in alchemy were beyond shocked to listen to Ning tell them so many uses of it.
"And when you mix a little bit of cabbage with Sun Pears, you can get the juice known as the Poor Man's Elixir that you can later use during alchemy. You can use it to make a pill called the Grasping Free Pill which can be used to elongate your limbs to your desired length," Ning said.
"That is the 40th pill you can make with the cabbages. Any questions?"
The students were pretty surprised once all of the lectures was out and it was time to leave. A lot of students raised their hands.
Ning chose one on random.
"Teacher, you explained everything gracefully, and I feel like I at least understand the gist of it," the student said. "However, How can we be sure that you are telling the truth at all? After all, I have never seen a pill made with cabbages before, or have heard of other teachers talking about it."
"Hmm… how about this?" Ning said. "I gave you 40 pills, you can choose 3 of the pills and I will give you the recipe. Why don't you try and see if it works or not?"
The student thought for a bit and nodded. "That's fair. Can I choose?" he said.
"Sure," Ning said.
The student chose 3 pills based on their effects and Ning gave him, and the rest, the recipe. Once that was done, he looked to the class and spoke.
"I hope you all learned from today's lecture," he said.
"Yes, Teacher. Cabbages truly are great; we never knew about it," one of the students that was truly happy to have chosen today's lecture spoke out loud.
"No!" Ning said. "That was not the point of today's lecture. It's not about the cabbages."
"…it's not?" the student asked.
The other students looked in confusion. How could the point of a lecture about cabbages not be about said cabbages?
"No, the point of today's lecture was to make you realize that there are many everyday alchemy ingredients that you ignore just because you see it every day," Ning said.
"Cabbage is not the only thing. Tomatoes, potatoes, long beans, apples, oranges, berries— There are so many everyday foods that you simply ignore, even when it has hundreds of uses in Alchemy."
"It's not just you guys. The other high-grade alchemists ignore it too, and it's just ignorant. There are a million things in the world that can help you make pills and you guys only focus on one that's rare.
"Try to switch it up. Use an everyday item and see how it can produce a similar type of pill. It might not have the same amount of energy, but when mixed together with other ingredients, it will certainly step up to at least be an average pill."
"Making an average pill with everyday items, you would call that a massive success, wouldn't you?" Ning smiled.
"What you learned today was just the beginning of what I can teach you. If you want to learn more, come to my class tomorrow under the name of Ning. I hope to see most of you then, goodbye."
With that, the lecture ended, and Ning walked out of the door, leaving behind nearly 3000 students who didn't know what to do or think.
"That… was a weird lecture," a student said.
"It all sounded so… real. You guys think it's real?" another student asked.
"We can try, right? He did give us 3 of the recipes after all."
"If what he's saying is true, and this is only the beginning, then… I will go to his classes."
"I'm going to the guild to try and make some."
"Me too."
Nilo stayed on his bench for a little longer as he tried to process everything he learned today. 'Pills with cabbages… if he knows that then… maybe he knows that too.'
Nilo's eyes shined as he felt like he finally found a teacher that could help him.
*****
"Urghh! Giving lectures is so hard. I'm exhausted, and I couldn't even show it to the students," Ning said out loud.
"Haha, you'll get used to it. How many students did you get?" Ryuger asked.
"3000 or so," Ning said.
"T-Three THOUSAND? Did the cabbage trick work?" Ryuger asked.
"Trick? You mean topic?" Ning asked.
"Uhh… didn't you write cabbage to just catch their attention?" Ryuger asked.
"No, I taught them about cabbages as an alchemy ingredient," Ning said.
Ning then had to quickly explain Ryuger how it was all true and how cabbage as well as other household ingredient was perfectly usable.
"Teacher Ning! You have a student here to see you," someone shouted from near the door.
"Huh? I'll be right back," Ning said walked over to the door and saw a young man standing at the doorway.
"Can I help you?" Ning said.
"Yes, I think you are the only one who can," the young man said.
Ning got a little confused and didn't bother hiding it. Seeing the confused face, the student spoke again.
"My name is Nilo, teacher Ning. I was in your class earlier. I heard you talk about how easy it was to make pills and was hoping you could help me in making a pill," Nilo said.
"Uhh…" Ning didn't know what to say. 'Damn, I only know the theory, kid. I've never actually made pills before. I don't know how they will come out.'
Still, he couldn't say that as a teacher. "What sort of help do you want?" Ning asked.
"Teacher, I have a very rare condition that makes me sleep. If I don't sleep overnight, my body get's really lethargic the next day," Nilo said.
"That's... weird. So, you want me to make a cure for you?" Ning asked.
"No, I want you to help guide me towards the cure that I will make myself..."