“Hooo, that was relaxing; then again, I really can’t get used to manually heating the water and cleaning myself. Thankfully, this guard's test didn’t start until early spring; otherwise, it would be very uncomfortable.”

  About half an hour later, Ren was drying his head with a piece of cloth as he returned to the dormitory. Compared to the modern, comfortable showering experience, showering in this backwards world is very troublesome.

  Ren locked his dormitory room door before heading towards the small desk.

  “There should be around one hour left before sunset. Well, there’s enough time.” Ren muttered while looking out of the small window.

  ‘Well then, let’s see what kind of tricks our young lord Wade will prepare for tomorrow’s exam.’ Thought Ren as he picked up a piece of parchment and materialised the pen of destiny and the celestial glove.

  [Wade Bloodhound.]

  Ren wrote this name and let go of the pen.

  [Wade Bloodhound was following behind knight apprentice Julian. They waded through the dim streets of the eastern district of Lonest City. Wade restrained his disgust as he avoided the filth and excrement that filled the muddy roads. If it wasn’t necessary, he wouldn’t have wanted to ever set foot in this filthy place again.

  Julian and Wade stopped in front of a shabby store in an alley. They’re looking for pharmacist Joe. They entered the store and communicated with Joe, looking for the temporary physical boosting concoction they had previously asked him to prepare.

  This is the only way Wade can be sure of overcoming Levi and ranking first in tomorrow’s exam.

  Joe reached below the counter and… ]

  Ren reached for the pen and pondered.

  ‘So this is his plan… This is a bit difficult. I don’t always use the Pen of Destiny to check what he’s doing, so I didn’t know about this before. It would have been much easier to change the effect of the concoction before it was made. In this case…’

  After thinking for a moment, Ren wrote a sentence on the piece of parchment before releasing the pen.

  [Temporary physical boosting concoction made by pharmacist Joe.]

  [Temporary physical boosting concoction made by pharmacist Joe, aka “Joe’s Bonebrew”, made of ground nettles, oakleaf extract, pickled garlic cloves, crushed eggshells, old crow’s foot herb, honeywort syrup, dried beetroot, and a splash of apple cider vinegar. It’s a stimulant that can enhance physical performance by 20% for approximately one to two hours, but with a side effect of nausea, and stomach cramps after use, lasting anywhere between a few hours to half a day.

  This concoction was accidentally created by Joe while experimenting in …]

  ‘That’s enough information for now.’

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Feeling the gradually worsening headache, Ren stopped the pen and pondered for a moment before writing again.

  [Wade Bloodhound.]

  [Wade was walking back, holding Joe’s Bonebrew tightly in his arms. He was filled with confidence about tomorrow’s test. With this brew…

  Ren held the pen and wrote

  [Wade is confident that he’ll be the undisputed first. Levi won’t be his opponent once he uses this brew, but he didn’t know that this brew was a failure; Joe didn’t notice that the oakleaf extract and two other ingredients had either expired or had gone bad. He is getting old after all. However, miraculously, the smell and appearance of the concoction didn’t differ from usual, that’s why he didn’t notice anything wrong. After all, this is just an accidental creation of an old pharmacist.

  This concoction is a failure. It has turned from a temporary physical boosting concoction into a laxative, which Wade will consume before the exam and make a fool of himself.]

  “Sigh… It’s coming.”

  Ren released the pen and watched as it disappeared, bracing himself.

  He vigilantly looked around, bracing for any eventuality. Suddenly, from the corner of his eyes, he noticed something flying towards him from the window.

  Ren quickly jumped to the side while protecting his head with his arms.

  “Dang!”

  The stone struck the corner of the bed before springing back and hitting his arms.

  “Aah!”

  Ren screamed in pain as he was pushed back by the stone, falling onto the ground.

  Rubbing his aching arms and back, Ren quickly stood up and looked out the window.

  “Who threw that?!”

  Ren shouted furiously, looking for the guy who threw the stone.

  “Sorry!!”

  He watched as a bunch of teenagers scurried into the groove not far from the dormitory, quickly disappearing.

  They should have been playing around, maybe throwing stones at something or each other, but one stone has ‘accidentally’ been thrown at him.

  ‘Changing an established destiny and an uncertain destiny really have vastly different consequences.’

  Ren thought as he rubbed his aching arm.

  ‘Changing an established destiny is akin to warping reality, changing what had already happened; the difficulty is much, much higher. I only slightly changed the composition of an object, a concoction made by an old pharmacist. I even provided a reasonable change while leaving room for interpretation, adding to the fact that the concoction hadn’t been drunk yet, its effects are still unknown. However, the backlash of fate is still so huge…’

  Ren looked at the thin glove on his hands solemnly.

  ‘If it weren’t for the celestial glove that shielded me from 99% of the backlash, the consequences would have been much more serious.’

  Ren has no doubt that his dormitory room might have collapsed or that the guards would suddenly burst through the door and execute him on some bogus charge if he hadn’t had the celestial glove.

  ‘I should be very cautious about rewriting reality and changing established destiny. This isn’t a power that I should be using at my current level.’

  Ren picked up the piece of parchment and burnt it with a match, then threw the ashes out of the window.

  Looking at the fluttering tinder, Ren walked to his bed and sat down, constantly massaging his bruised arm.

  ‘It hurts, but it shouldn’t have much of an effect on tomorrow’s test.’

  Ren heaved a sigh and lay down on his bed.

  'Tomorrow marks the end of phase one of the plan. Depending on Wade’s actions, it won’t be long before I get the method to becoming a wizard.’

  Ren dazedly thought, a smile creeping up on his face.