A New Star Chapter 13

The next day I was up rather early, even if my maids were a touch late. I assumed they had stayed up a bit in the servants' quarters after the banquet, likely enjoying themselves with a bit of good food and alcohol. I wasn't particularly upset, as they were simply tending to my minor needs; it would be a different story if they had an important duty to carry out this morning. But that was neither here nor there, and I allowed them to quickly help me clean up before dressing me in my training gear. 

I hit the kitchen first, getting what was essentially a massive omelet, though the chef fried the eggs in some way before creating the dish, which made it a bit odd to my taste. Not bad though, by any means. After the eggs and vegetables, as well as a portion of bacon, I made my way to the training yard, the first one there this day. I had noticed I didn't have an obvious shadow today, but I decided not to make any untoward movements and simply follow my routine.  

I trained until around lunch time, noticing one of the captains I wasn't as familiar with overseeing part of the morning training before the guards all went about their duties. I returned to the kitchen for a noontide meal before making my way to my lab. Today, I wanted to experiment a little bit before anything else, though I wouldn't be able to do much. I had few materials, barely enough for two days of experimental brewing, and I intended to go search up some materials rather soon. 

The thing I was focused on today was the same potion I had made successfully the day before. While I was not a perfectionist, in particular, I was interested in seeing if I could create the same potion with a higher completion rate. One of the things that getting a level in a profession did was instill a bit of instinctual knowledge of how to perform certain processes of that profession better. It also conveyed a very vague knowledge that let one have just a little bit of familiarity with the ingredients and materials used.  

That was one of the few places alchemy shone over the other professions, as it provided far more knowledge than the others on materials. It was by no means as if a complete encyclopedia of herbs was just shoved into my brain, but I had attained a decent bit of basic knowledge of A-grade herbs and materials and some general knowledge on how to identify unknown materials. The first few grades of alchemy would provide me with the most benefits in this respect; after D or perhaps E grade, I would get far less information on materials as part of achieving the grade. 

I made sure everything I needed was in the room and moreso, everything for the health potions was within easy reach. I was rather thankful that nothing I would be doing for a long time would require cooling or chilled ingredients, as well as nothing I had really needed to be kept frozen or even in a very hot environment. I wouldn't be able to avoid such things going forward, but these basic ingredients and materials would stay shelf stable for anywhere from a few days to a month or two, and refrigeration wouldn't much change that. But, speaking of refrigeration, I knew how both heat and cold worked, and if it worked for fire… 

Fifth Affinity unlocked.  

Unlocked: Pure Ice  

Grade: A  

Compatibility: 100%  

Well, that was just as easy as I had thought. I saw no reason to not continue to unlock new affinities if I could. Just having the affinity wasn't any strain on my mind, body, or qi pool…uh, or rather, my mana pool. Not from what scanning my own body and mind could detect, nor did that space I could sink into rapidly by using meditation, the one with the spheres representing my affinities, have any negative appearances or effects from having more affinities contained within it. I held up my right hand, palm up, and formed a small crystal of ice hovering just a couple inches over my palm, feeling the cold but not affected by it. While I was by no means immune to hot or cold environments at this point, I already had some resistance to various temperatures just from having the affinities. If I cultivated them to a high grade, I could sit naked within a glacier or walk through a sea of fire without fear, but that level would take me quite some time to reach. 

It also didn't really aid me much in my thoughts on refrigeration; I couldn't just sit in my lab twenty-four hours a day concentrating on making something cold and keeping it that way. I could make an ice chest or the like, but that seemed rather inefficient. I would have to think it over for a time and possibly see what solutions were currently available; who knows, I might be able to make a small mint inventing the refrigerator if there wasn't a similar piece of technology already available. I expect enchanters would already have it covered, but perhaps I could make something more affordable or accessible to more diverse peoples.  

I started some water boiling while I pondered, getting ready to mimic the process I had just done the previous night. I made sure to arrange the herbs and materials on the table, waiting to crush the beast core for now. Crushing such an item would allow the mana to start rapidly seeping into the air, so such steps needed to be done at the exact right time. Trying to save some time later might have a very adverse effect on the whole process, as the key to alchemy was pulling the mana out of the ingredients to form the potion or pill. Letting all that mana fly away into the air long before the item was used in the creation process would not lead to a very good final result. 

I performed everything the same as the last time, but this time I sliced the root of the shrub into much smaller pieces, though I let them boil in the water for the same amount of time. One of the reasons that my new little bit of knowledge gave me for the potion not reaching perfection was not cutting the root into small enough sections to allow all the essence and mana out into the water before the process was completed. I finished the rest of the process in the same way, including removing it from the heat and pouring it through a filter so only the liquid entered the two bottles. I examined what I had made after I capped the two bottles. 

Grade A Potion of Healing 

90% Completion 

I frowned a bit at the bottles, but I made a few mental notes about what I thought was happening. Fortunately, I still had a handful of the herbs left in the room, a small pile of both the flowers and shrub roots, and my family certainly didn't lack for beast cores, especially low-grade ones. I would, however, be securing supplies of even beast cores myself, and rather soon. I shelved that thought for now and returned to my notes, thinking I had understood the crux of the issue.  

On my next attempt, I repeated the process, but this time I added the shrub root pieces and the crushed beast core at the same time. It required speed and precision from me in cutting and crushing the ingredients very quickly, almost at the same time, but I was able to easily handle it. I was careful to monitor the heat this time, as well, making sure that adding the various ingredients didn't cause the heat to drop too drastically, using my fire affinity to help control the flame and temperature. I was quickly understanding why it was said it was highly preferred for an alchemist to have some kind of flame or temperature related affinity. 

This third attempt was far better than the first two, I could almost instinctively feel it. Everything also went very smoothly from beginning to end, without the least hint of a problem popping up in the process. The light red liquid that was produced (a result of the shrub roots having a red core and sap-like fluid that was the primary ingredient extracted from them for the potion), was very translucent and flowed very smoothly, without the least bit of friction as it entered the bottles. The liquid almost glowed, though I knew that was simply a property of the highly concentrated mana; well, highly concentrated for an A-grade item. I inspected the results, nodding at my surmises being proven correct. 

Grade A Potion of Healing 

100% Completion 

I had perfectly understood all the components of the potion; both the ingredients as well as the steps to properly incorporate them. As both a healing potion, which were considered fairly easy to brew, and a very low-grade item, it was quite easy to understand its properties. In particular, because it was a healing potion, it was an agglomeration of powerful vital energies, extracting the vital energies and life mana from several herbs and combining it with the powerful life force contained within a beast core. It was almost harder to screw up than it was to make, though getting it to the full one hundred percent completion still required time, skill, a good deal of understanding, and boundless patience. Alchemy was an art of time, a technique of using heat and, later, mana manipulation to transform many items into a different item over a long period.  

I was finished with my experiments with healing potions, at least for the day, and I shelved the potions, other than a single 100% healing potion. I had gotten a small pouch that I could wear with my belt that had four cushioned slots within that could hold potions, an item common for quite a few people to carry. Nobles, of course, would have extremely fancy belt pouches with space for quite a few items and with a ridiculous level of detail, but I had found a very simple and sturdy leather pouch in the armory made from a black beast leather.  

The other thing I had discovered was that the glass bottles were, or could be, enchanted for highly increased durability, making them even harder than steel. It was important they remained glass, as it wouldn't cause any interference with the potion within, and that was also the reason for the corks made from cork. It was a neutral substance that wouldn't negatively interact with a stored potion, contaminating it over time. A steel or aluminum bottle or can could have a negative effect on the potion, so those were scratched off the list, at least for now. 

There was another thing I wanted to try today before doing a bit of practice with my external arts, or affinities, as they were called here. I wanted to attempt to concoct a pill, which was a rather different process than potion-making. Whereas when brewing a potion, one would start with a base of liquid, sometimes using several steps to create the desired liquid, and then add ingredients to it, concocting involved breaking down herbs into their essences before combing those essences in a furnace or chamber to create a pill.  

Some alchemists would prepare the herbs in advance, reducing them to powders or liquids first, extracting all their essence and then combing the essences, while others would refine the herbs during the main concocting steps themselves. Some recipes would even require the herbs to be refined during the process of creating the pill in the pill furnace, so it was definitely a wide-ranging and complex branch of alchemy. Skilled pill makers were incredibly powerful, with the ability to create pills that healed and improved the body, but far more frightening than that, pills were used to increase affinities, whether temporarily or permanently.  

That was the chief use of pills, reinforcing an affinity, and the two main types of pills that were still somewhat often seen. The first type would aid a person in increasing their connection to a specific type of energy and thus, allow them to improve their grade with a specific affinity. Such pills were hard to create and incredibly valuable, especially considering no other profession was able to do so, even the other branches of alchemy. The second pill of this type was even scarier; berserking pills. These pills would stimulate a person's potential to increase their power explosively, but would ask a heavy price for doing so. Often, berserking pills would leave the user weakened for weeks afterward, and it was extremely difficult to shorten that time. In more extreme cases, berserking pills could cripple, or even kill, the user, making them a somewhat taboo subject. Not that the pills were outlawed, not in any of the five countries, but they were considered a dangerous and cruel item, not to be used by a person of real class. 

I had no such qualms, but I intended to start experimenting with concoction by brewing some rather basic reinforcing pills. Even calling them basic was a bit of a misnomer, as all concoction was decidedly difficult, often far more so than potion-making, but I was starting with something relatively simple in comparison to what was possible. I was going to try to make a pill, or set of pills, as a good alchemist wouldn't be satisfied if a set of herbs didn't result in at least two or three pills in the pill furnace at the end of the pill-refining process.  

I was hoping that I could make some Lesser Fire Heart Pills, which were a B-grade pill that improved a fire affinity. I had spent some time in the last couple weeks searching the library, the same searching that had produced the healing potion recipe, but I was unable to find a recipe for a pill below B-grade. That should tell one just how difficult pill concoction was considered; the weakest possible pill I could find a recipe for was a B-grade product, and a powerful one at that. 

I was interrupted as I was laying out the herbs by the door bursting open, reminding me I would really need to install a lock, with Mina striding into the room. "Young lady!" she exclaimed, causing me to roll my eyes. 

"Mina. I hope there isn't another banquet tonight?" I asked with a sigh. 

"No, young lady, but your parents want to see you," she replied with a shake of her massive head. 

"And what is this about?" I asked as I started cleaning up. 

"They did not inform me," Mina said a bit hesitantly. "They just requested your presence." 

"But you have an idea, yes?" I questioned, giving her a firm look. 

"I really shouldn't say," Mina said, watching as I finished the last of my cleanup. 

"Very well, captain, let us be off," I said, dusting my hands before leading the way out of the room and down the hall. 

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