A New Star Chapter 12

My first task was to create one of the most basic and easiest of potions; a simple healing potion. I was not yet an alchemist, but one couldn't become a profession in this world without doing it. For every profession, the requirement to acquire them, and to level them, was to create an object using that profession. For me, this would mean I would need to brew a potion, or elixir, or pill, or so on. There were different requirements on those different methods, as well, but the most basic form to analyze would be the potion, as that was the easiest craft and stuck to the rules most simply.  

Professions had grades, the same as affinities, but did not have compatibilities. Someone's innate wit, their skill with their hands, their predisposition for a certain craft, the time and effort they spent training that profession; all these contributed, but there was no natural level of compatibility with a profession. Instead, each creation was graded on a scale of completeness, with the scale a percentage of how close to perfectly crafted the final product was. For example, I was now attempting to make a very basic grade A healing potion, and I would receive a score from zero percent, a total failure, all the way up to one hundred percent, a perfect success, when I finished the brewing process.  

The requirements for Alchemy were much stricter than other professions such as Forging or Enchanting. With Forging, just to compare, one had to create an item of a grade with a sixty percent completion rate to attain that grade. A brand new forger that created an A-grade sword with a completion rate of sixty percent would now be an A-grade forger. The requirement for alchemy was much stricter, as I would need to create a potion with an eighty percent completion rate to achieve the next grade. Alchemy got even more complex with the various different items one could make as well as different types of crafts such as transmutation or essence refinement, but the requirements were all quite high compared to other professions. 

My current focus, however, was the most basic of potions, and I needed only clean, pure water as the base. I would use some of the water I had just purified, setting it in a small cauldron that had been in the room and starting to heat it. I had cleaned everything in the room very, very thoroughly before I had started to do any work, so there was very little chance of any contamination from any dirt. Once the water was boiling, I added the first of three ingredients, a simple flower that was often found in open meadows, known as white daffodil. This plant didn't require any more preparation than cutting away the roots, which I could do in a matter of seconds with the small knife I had at the worktable. After tossing the daffodil in, I trimmed the next ingredient, a small root from a shrub that commonly grew in wooded areas. I needed to peel the outer layer of the root before dicing it and tossing it in. I had to wait for the daffodil to have had its essence thoroughly extracted into the water first before doing so. 

While I waited, I took the third ingredient, an A-grade beast core, and smashed it in a mortar and pestle. This might have been a challenge for a new alchemist who didn't have a very good body tier or grade nor had increased their affinities, but I had a tier six body and multiple affinities at B-grade with more than a hundred percent compatibility; crushing something like an A-grade beast core was easy. By the time I had turned it thoroughly to powder, the cauldron was ready for the root of the prickly shrub. I tossed the diced root in, adjusting the temperature a little, slowly stirring the cauldron for a minute before letting it simmer. Once the essence of the root, which was from a plant at A-grade, as were the daffodils, was extracted, I slowly poured in the ground beast core while vigorously stirring the liquid. Once the dust was all poured into the liquid, I stirred for exactly one minute before removing the cauldron from the heat source and letting it cool naturally. Once cool, I poured the mixture into two vials, stoppering them before setting them on the worktable and examining them. 

Grade A Potion of Healing 

85% Completion 

Profession unlocked.  

Unlocked: Alchemy  

Grade: A  

I had succeeded on my first attempt, and rather brilliantly at that. I had followed a recipe from a simple book of basic recipes I had found within our library, boiling for certain times, adding certain ingredients at certain times, and finishing it in a certain way based on the instructions. I had managed to make two potions of eighty-five percent completion thanks largely to the recipe and the quality of ingredients. An herb could be highly damaged if harvested improperly and still be rated at the same grade, so having quality ingredients was still a big requirement in alchemy.  

I frowned at the two bottles and then down at my clothes; pockets were not exactly a common thing, yet, in this world's fashion. I also was not in the habit of wearing a pouch or backpack, something that looked like it would have to change. The potion bottles were little bigger than my hand, though, again, I was quite large for a four-year-old. They were about the length of my hand from the base of my palm to near the end of my middle finger and slightly thicker than my curled fist, tapering at the top to a narrow neck and opening. I also wasn't particularly happy about them being made of glass, nor about them being stoppered by bits of cork; I wondered if I could invent aluminum pull-tabs. A thought for another time. 

I was just cleaning up, washing out the cauldron and doing a bit of maintenance on the flame element that was used to heat it, when Mina threw the door open. I gave her a rather deep frown, wiping at the cauldron as her eyes darted around the room before settling on me. She quickly strode across the floor to stand opposite me. 

"Young lady! There you are!" she said, relief evident. 

"I had said I would be here," I replied, just a touch crossly. 

"The banquet is about to start! Come now, we need to get you dressed. Honestly, still hanging about down here at such a time," Mina scolded. 

"I haven't the faintest clue what you're talking about," I replied, now definitely cross. 

"There's a grand banquet this evening, young lady," Mina hurriedly explained. "There are going to be a large number of guests from the surrounding area in attendance, including the two counts responsible for the counties closest to the estate. It's going to be a formal affair with all the appropriate bells and whistles. Quickly, we need to get you dressed and prepared." 

"I deplore such stuffy events," I complained, finishing with the cauldron before following Mina out, not forgetting to grab one of the two potions. I would leave a lot of my product in the work room, for now, but I would also like to have some of them close at hand, including in my suite.  

Returning to the suite, both my maids were present, and they immediately began fussing over me. I just sat back and let it happen, not interfering, but not adding any suggestions or comments. They whisked me into the bathroom, stripped me down, bathed me thoroughly, and dried and prepped me. Then they dressed me in a very fine dress, which was not at all to my taste, but the fashion of this world had centuries to go to catch up to what I liked. The dress was red and black with a large skirt, though thankfully, it didn't have any hoops within to give it far too much extra volume. It had a high collar and long sleeves, covering everything but my hands and face. The ladies had helped me with my underwear and stockings firstly, and now they finished the outfit with a pair of finely crafted, soft shoes over said stockings.  

"Excellent, young lady," Mina said, having returned from going…somewhere while my maids prepared me. "Come, we'll head to the formal reception room first." 

I followed the minotaur to the room, walking easily and comfortably in the dress. Dresses were not my first choice, but I had plenty of experience wearing them, though normally the hem was never lower than my knees. I wondered if this world had any designs similar to a qipao, but that would be something to investigate later. I had far too much to do to spend a lot of time buried in fashion, and it would do well to wait until I had matured a bit more before developing any new dresses or clothes. 

The formal reception room was near the front doors of the estate, at the start of the same wing that my parents had their office within. There was also a massive room commonly used as a ballroom next to it, along with a huge formal dining room and several parlors and reception rooms. The gathering tonight was rather formal, as all noble gatherings tended to be, but it wasn't all that large. Despite Mina's panic and protestations, there weren't more than a hundred people, outside of our family, gathered tonight, including the several hangers-on of a number of the other nobles.  

Mina escorted me into the reception room, hovering over me for a moment until I shooed her away. She was only going to make me stand out within the moderately crowded room, and I was already large enough that I wouldn't be trampled underfoot in such a gathering, anyway. I moved through the room quickly and snagged a drink from the table set off on the north side of the room by the windows. One sniff was enough to determine it was a kind of spiced juice, non-alcoholic, and I slowly sipped it as I moved through the crowd. This was still a time where alcoholic drinks were incredibly common, including drinks with a very low alcohol content such as short beers and half beers and so on, so one always had to be careful about just what they were grabbing, though a short beer had so little alcohol in it that it was really not even noticeable. 

The first person to actually speak to me was Marianne, of course, who seemed out of her depth around so many people, though it was certainly not her first time at such an event. I reassured her as best I could, though she was swept away by one of our parents in short order. That left me to continue to move around the edges of the room, having no desire to enter the center of the room and directly put myself in the midst of the guests. The next person to stop was, not to much great surprise from me, my maternal grandmother. This would be the first time I had ever actually exchanged words with her, though I heard more than one discussion she was involved in over the last couple years. 

"Granddaughter. What a pleasant surprise," she said, though there was not a trace of surprise in her eyes. 

"Grandmother," I replied neutrally. 

"Hmm, let me have a look at you," she said, eyeing me up and down. I could sense how powerful she was for a moment, though I had no real way to gauge what rank she was at. Nowhere near the strength I had achieved in my former life; that was all I could tell. 

"Impressive, isn't it?" I asked with some slight sarcasm in my tone as she stared at me. 

"It doesn't do to be so crass," she chided me with a slight shake of her head. She was wearing an elegant black dress drenched in lace with rubies at her throat and silver bracelets on her wrists, with her hair bound in an elaborate braid. 

"I'll keep that in mind," I said calmly. 

"What do you think of the gathering tonight?" Grandmother asked me. 

"I don't know that there's much to think," I replied. "People with too much time and money on their hands trying to act extra important." 

"I would not go around shouting that out loud," Grandmother said sternly. 

"Good thing I was saying it, and just to you," I replied, glancing around us. 

"You are too uppity, girl," she said. 

"Anything else, Grandmother?" I asked as I finished the drink and handing it to a passing servant. 

"Slow down, Granddaughter," she said, restraining me with a wave of her hand. "I hear you've been rather busy, as of late." 

"Indeed," I replied. 

"A swordswoman already, are you?" she asked, making it seem a casual question, but her glance making it clear she was intently probing. 

"It's not hard," I replied blithely. 

"Again, don't go spreading that around," Grandmother said with a frown. "How are your affinities coming?" 

"Oh, they're coming," I said blandly, turning to survey the room while standing next to her. 

"Don't sass me, girl," Grandmother said tartly, trying to thwack my ear. I reflexively dodged the flick of her finger, swaying out of the way without moving my feet. "I must be getting old, if a child can avoid me." 

"It was a lightning strike, Grandmother," I said calmly. She tilted her head to stare down at me icily, which I caught out of the corner of my eye.  

"We shall have dinner in just a moment," she then explained. "I would tell you not to be nervous, but I find myself rather nervous. How about I tell you that children are best seen and not heard." 

"It would be best if I had not been interrupted from my work, but I shall endeavor to be cordial," I said with a nod, saved from a reply by a bell ringing, calling the hall to dinner. 

We moved from the reception room to the dining hall, where five tables had been laid out with very fine silverware and plates. Servants waited in the wings in a multitude, all dressed impeccably and still as statues. The rest of those in the hall ignored them, but I gave several of them nods as I passed, seeing a few twitch in response, though they maintained their poise rather impressively. I was led to a seat at the main table at the head of the room, though I was at the far end. The table was turned so that the long side was facing the room with my parents occupying the middle and the rest of the family arranged around them. Thankfully, someone had informed the servants that I could eat real food, so I was served the same meal the rest partook in, minus the wine everyone else drank. I preferred water anyway. 

I was sat next to Marianne, but third sister was clearly not in the mood for talking. I assume she had suffered some torment this evening, which certainly did not make me happy, but at some point, she would also have to bite back. Despite the refinement all around us, I knew from my studies so far that the history of this world, or this continent, at least, was one where the strong ruled. A strong fist was basically all that mattered, and if my sister trained her affinities, which she seemed wont to do, the mocking would certainly be cut down.  

I cut the meat myself and ate rather quickly, hoping that I would be able to get out of the dinner, and subsequently, the rest of the evening rather quickly. That wasn't going to happen, however, as I was prevented from leaving by a servant when I attempted to stand. With a heavy sigh, I simply settled in for a long, and annoying, evening.  

I was proved right in more than one way, as the dinner dragged on for what seemed an endless amount of time before we were then ushered into the parlors, where the conversations became interminable. I managed to avoid being trapped in too many inane discussions for the next nearly two hours, but by the end of the evening, I was ready to start smashing something. Or someone. Luckily, I was able to slip away without getting trapped by any members of the family to go over the evening, and I returned to my room, weary and frustrated and determined to skip as many such events in the future as I could. 

Previous

Next