If it was just a night without sleep, Claude's 18-year-old body would be able to take it without a problem.
However, casting Featherfall had used up all of his mana and left him feeling incredibly tired. So, the moment he laid on the carpet in the lab, he fell into a deep sleep. He only woke up when someone knocked on the door for a long time.
He rubbed his face and got up to open the door. Outside stood Eriksson, Welikro and Siori.
Looking at the sky, it was already evening. Claude had slept for almost the entire day.
"What are you doing?
Why did you only open the door after such a long time? We thought something happened to you and were about to break in, "said Eriksson.
"It's nothing. I spent the whole morning experimenting and wanted to rest for a bit. I didn't think I'd fall asleep so deeply.
If it wasn't for you, I might have only woken up at night, "said Claude as he stretched lazily.
"Supervisor Claude, I'll be heading back if there's nothing else.
Oh, I've already moved the branches from the stream ashore. I'll bring them back to use as firewood after they dry, "said Siori. Only then did Claude notice that he was carrying four longtail swordfish in his hands.
Claude nodded. Siori thanked Eriksson and Welikro a little more before leaving.
"Why are you here?"
Asked Claude as he picked up the cold water flask on the tea table and gulped down half of it.
"We came back in the afternoon and heard from Uncle Pegg that you were late last night because the carriage's wheels fell off on the mountain path. You even went to the lake to look for us but didn't find us.
So, we decided to come visit you and get some grilled fish to eat.
"Oh, we brought a fishing net last night and were quite lucky. We caught about twenty longtail swordfish when we cast it in the morning and brought half of them for you.
"When we met Siori, we gave him four of them. He told us that you stayed in the lab for a whole day and didn't come out. He even told us not to disturb you.
"By the way, did you make any concoction?"
Eriksson asked curiously. They already knew that Claude was learning herbalism from Maria.
"Nope. Learning herbalism isn't an easy task. I'm only confident in handling some simple medicinal ingredients, and that's because Maria's laboratory has a complete set of advanced tools and equipment for handling medicinal ingredients.
I've tried to refine and synthesize Beginner Healing Potions, but I've failed. None of them are up to standard … "
Claude sighed and said, "Let's go to my hut. We'll cook something delicious tonight."
Eriksson and Welikro arrived in a carriage. From the looks of it, they had borrowed Baelin's family's delivery carriage from the fishing net workshop next to the docks. There was even a large basket of fish and a small barrel of rye wine on it.
Welikro took the fish basket down from the carriage and shoved the barrel of rye wine into Claude's hands before driving the carriage to the stables.
Claude called out to Welikro to unload the carriage and add some food for the pack horses. Otherwise, Aunty Baelin would nag at them for starving and losing weight when they returned.
Welikro raised his hand to signal that he heard him.
Eriksson took the fish basket and went to the stream to deal with the longtail swordfish. Claude thought about it and went to Siori's place and gave them two riyases to send over two roosters, which was a little more expensive than the market price.
So, Siori brought two roosters and a basket of eggs with him. There were about fifteen of them, so Claude gave him a bottle of gran wine and Siori returned happily.
That night, Claude made Eriksson his favorite roasted chicken wings. He ate three of them and Welikro ate the remaining one.
Apart from providing four chicken wings, the two roosters from Siori's farm were turned into poached chicken and braised chicken for Eriksson and Welikro to eat happily. In the end, Eriksson downed half a barrel of rye wine and was carried away by Welikro in a drunken state.
After sending Eriksson and Welikro off, Claude packed up his things and took a bath. He checked his meditation space and found that his mana in the hexagram had only recovered by half. His mental power, on the other hand, had recovered rather quickly after a good night's sleep and he no longer felt sleepy.
It seemed that he would have to be more careful not to use up all his mana in the future. Drawing Featherfall out of thin air and casting it nonstop was far too taxing on his mana.
Based on his calculations, Claude's Featherfall and Long-Range Arrow Barrier only required around ten spells to cast. In the end, his mana was completely drained.
On the other hand, if he were to cast Magic Missiles with the rune formation carved into the hexagram, he would be able to cast forty to fifty of them in a single breath.
Even the Luminous Orbs in the tome he carried around with him could only cast around twenty of them.
From that, it could be seen how wasteful it was to draw a rune formation out of thin air to cast a spell.
So, after some thought, Claude decided not to set up the alchemical rune formation that night.
Even though he had all the necessary ingredients, he only had half of his mana left and his mental power wasn't at its peak. Under such circumstances, he wasn't confident that he could set up the alchemical rune formation perfectly. He didn't want to waste precious ingredients due to his own mistakes after investing so much into it.
Claude planned to write the rune formation for Featherfall and Long-Range Arrow Barrier into his tome that night. That way, not only would he be able to cast the two spells in a shorter time, but he would also be able to reduce the mana consumption by more than half.
At night, he would go to the terrace on the second floor to meditate and speed up the recovery of his mana.
By the next night, he would be able to use his best mental state and sufficient mana to set up the alchemical rune formation.
The next day was Monday. Claude drove the carriage to school.
After spending the day fooling around, he returned to the wood for a round of inspection. He patiently chatted with the Sioris for a while and helped them with some errands before returning to his hut to make something to eat. Then, he started thinking about where to set up the alchemical rune formation.
It would have been the best choice to set it up in the lab, but he considered that the lab didn't belong to him. Instead, it belonged to Maria.
He heard from her that she would bring a few of her students or relatives to the wood every summer to spend some time leisurely.
The first reason was to avoid the heat and the second was to give himself some peace and quiet so that he wouldn't be disturbed and could do his favorite experiments in the lab.
Apart from that, a few of Maria's relatives would also come to the wood on a whim and they had the right to enter the lab as well.
That was one of the reasons why Claude was hesitant. If he set up the alchemical rune formation in the lab, it might expose his identity as a magus if someone stumbled upon it.
Apart from the lab, the only other choice was the two-storey wooden hut.
Maria had written to allow Claude to stay in the hut for as long as he wanted.
From a certain point of view, the hut had become Claude's private residence. Without his permission, even Maria wouldn't be able to barge in.
However, if he were to set up the alchemical rune formation in the hut, he would have to clean up another room.
Because it had been renovated, the hut looked completely different from the original one.
It was said that it was the fault of the designer. Maria's father, Baron Alphis Normanley, who was made a hereditary baron by Stellin IX, wanted to rebuild the hut or wooden shed that his father used to live in to commemorate his father.
However, the designer who designed the white villa in the forest had misunderstood Baron Alfie's intentions. He thought that Baron Alfie wanted to experience the primeval scenery of the forest and build a cabin in the woods for leisure and vacation.
Therefore, after tearing down that shabby wooden shed, he meticulously designed and built the two-storey wooden hut. In the end, Baron Alfie was greatly disappointed, but he couldn't do anything about it. He could only pinch his nose and acquiesce, leaving the wooden hut empty from then on.
For Claude, the hut suited him very well.
When Maria brought him to see the hut, he fell in love with it at first glance.
So, he couldn't wait to move in right after Maria left.
The hut wasn't built directly on the ground. Instead, it was half a meter above the ground. Below it were dozens of wooden pillars that were half a foot in diameter.
Except for the toilet, the drainage pipe was directly connected to the ground.
From the outside, the cabin looked like it was made of logs. However, once inside, one would realize that the rough and primitive appearance was only the exterior. The walls and floors of the rooms inside were made of expensive, milky yellow oak planks.
Apart from the kitchen, toilet, and living room, there were two other rooms on the first floor.
There were only two rooms and a toilet on the second floor.
In terms of overall layout, the cabin was very suitable for a family of four to live in.
After Claude moved into the hut, he only tidied up one of the rooms on the second floor as his bedroom. He only used the kitchen and hall on the first floor. The hall was often used as a dining room to entertain his friends for a sumptuous meal.
But now, it seemed that Claude would have to clean up one of the two empty rooms on the first floor and use it as a room to set up his alchemical rune formation.
Actually, the two empty rooms on the first floor could be turned into a study, a parlor, a guest room, or a room for servants.
Claude made his choice and started cleaning the innermost room on the first floor.
But after cleaning the room, he noticed a serious problem. The room was completely empty. There wasn't a single piece of furniture in sight.
If he wanted to set up a room to set up his alchemical rune formation, he would have to buy some furniture and two curtains to block out the light.
That was because he had to use Luminous Pearl to light up the room during his alchemical experiments at night.
But if the room was too bright, it would raise suspicions, so he had to buy curtains to cover the windows and the door to prevent prying eyes.
Back when Maria was around, she could use Luminous Pearl to light up the room and nobody dared to question her.
But if Claude were to use Luminous Pearl now, he suspected that the Sioris would spread the news of him being a magus to the entire town by the next day.
Even though the couple behaved submissively in front of him and were usually very polite, Claude knew that the Sioris didn't really like him.
When he found out that his monthly salary was almost the sum of the two of them put together, he felt even more indignant and wanted nothing more than to find fault with him so he could tell on him behind his back. However, he had no choice but to endure it because he was highly regarded by Maria.
He needed a thick, solid wooden table that measured 1.1 meters by 1.1 meters. He also needed a desk and chair to record his notes on his alchemical experiments. He also needed a long, bookshelf-like cabinet with a door to store his experimental materials and finished products.
He also needed a notebook, empty glass bottles, or crystals. Once he finished setting up his alchemical rune formation, he could use crystals to make crystal bottles.