A New Star Chapter 41

Speaking of that soul-based affinity, I had not really looked all that much into it in recent days, though I did get a strange feeling from it a few times as I healed. In particular, when I thought of this life, of the life I had now, the life I had stolen, the warm feeling came back, stronger than ever, along with the feeling of a whisper on the edge of my mind. I couldn't really place it, and it fled in the same manner it appeared, like a leaf carried along a fleeting breeze, but I was paying far more attention to it now than I ever had. I spent a number of hours in meditation over the course of a few weeks, besides everything else I had going on, trying to isolate that feeling and track it down. The warmth was consistent yet elusive, pervasive yet unidentifiable, a transitory state that slipped through my fingers like rain through spring flowers. I had to spend some more time in meditation and devoted to working through this feeling to figure out exactly what was happening to me. 

One thing I could say for sure was that the feeling was in no way a threat, which didn't exactly go for everything else going on in my life. Taking care of the assassins and cleaning up Robert's gang had brought a level of heat that I didn't really want to deal with, including a certain level of scrutiny from the rest of my family that I would rather avoid if at all possible. Knowing that, and understanding where best I could be utilized, and where the best place for me to increase my strength, not just physical, nor affinity, but also my resources, I planned several expeditions into the Untamed Wilds. Considering I was mostly healed up, and that I wouldn't be going too deep during these forays, I was happy to get started immediately. 

What I was far less happy about was the count muddling along after me the first time I went out. I'm not exactly sure how he realized that I was leaving, other than that he was likely watching me like a hawk, not something hard for him to do with his level, likely considering he was even splitting his attention between multiple things at once. Whatever the case may be, the count was along for the ride, though he was thankfully more circumspect than some others I could name. He mostly floated along through the air, watching what I did and where I went as I explored the region around the mountains. This meant I couldn't really go to any of my shelters or fallback locations, but I was more than well-versed in camping in the Wilds by this point, the knowledge of camping quite rough many times in my last life, in hostile territory no less, aiding me in this life. Calling upon those memories really did make me a bit nostalgic, and I longed for my family, who I had no reason to believe were alive, but I also had no reason to believe they were dead, either. 

I shook those thoughts off as I explored further to the west, a region I had not delved much into in the mountains as of yet. I noticed right away that the lower reaches of the mountains in this direction were more abundant with life, the temperature just a bit higher on average and the plant life rather thicker. This was both good and bad; good, in that it meant there were more plants to gather for my alchemy, but bad in that it meant there were more animals and beasts roaming the area. More plants meant more herbivores, and more herbivores meant more carnivores, including carnivorous beasts. Fortunately, I had the answer to that, my ability to walk the Dark Paths allowing me to avoid most trouble I did not want to direct confront. The count didn't have to worry about the same things, as flight took him out of the range of most beasts, and the few that would still bother him were deterred by his aura alone. And if not his aura, a dozen ten feet long, three inch thick spikes of steel shredding through their body at close to the speed of sound really let them know to leave, even if that was to meet the boatman of the dead. 

If there was one good thing about having the count hovering overhead, occasionally blasting a bird little stronger than a pigeon into giblets, it was that he was a rather good spotter for anything rare that I might have missed. He did seem to not be entirely willing when I roped him into his new role, but several blasts of fire and lightning that signed his eyebrows and had him cursing for once got him to agree to the program rather quickly. I spent a few days gathering herbs and various materials, including delving into a few of the shallower caves I spotted to gather some rocks and minerals. Much of the Untamed Wilds was relatively untouched by the hands of civilization, though that didn't mean I always found treasure just laying around. Beasts and monsters had a great desire for treasure themselves and would often used things found in nature to increase their own strength, jumping ranks from eating certain rocks or devouring a rare medicinal herb being a common occurrence for beasts in particular. 

I spent a day moving up north to the woods beyond the mountains, moving around through the edge of the foothills there to collect a few rarer plants and mushrooms. After about a week of this in total, I returned to the estate, making my way to the lab first, where I dropped off all my ingredients. I didn't just toss them in a corner, either, but carefully stored them, cleaning what needed to be cleaned and doing preliminary work on anything needing special attention. There were definitely ingredients that wouldn't do very well just sitting on a shelf, and alchemy had a thousand ways to store things. The best method was, of course, to use some kind of spatial storage to lock the object in time, but I had access to nothing like that. The count confessed that he had a single spatial storage object, and that didn't even have a particularly large amount of space, though I had had several demonstrations that the count's reckoning was a bit skewed. Who knows, perhaps his ring could hold half the estate within it and he considered that a small amount.  

In any case, I had to prepare a number of the herbs and fungi in certain ways, storing this one in a rosewood box with a powder of crushed limestone coating the bottom, storing this other one in a jade bowl with a silk cloth covering it, and many of them stored in various liquids or airtight containers. Creating an airtight container, and one that had a specific atmospheric composition, was something that was relatively easy with enchanting, and also something my alchemy skill would be able to do without an enchanters help at some point, and I had several such containers in my lab. The count had observed me for a few minutes with a jaded eye, occasionally rubbing a singed eyebrow, looking like he was pondering whether I was going to suddenly disappear or hurl lightning at him out of the blue. Well, he had nothing to fear, as he wasn't actively making my life difficult at the moment; besides, the lightning hadn't been that strong. I had pulled my punches somewhat, though I wouldn't tell the count that. No reason to hurt the man's pride any further.  

Weeks went by and blended into months, with my trips to the Wilds followed by a couple weeks of training and alchemy before I would slip out of the estate again and go hunting. I worked with Pietr still, everyone forgetting his involvement in the little scrum from a few months ago, not that it would have mattered much to me either way. He was still involved in some less than savory movements of goods, routes which I was still leveraging to move my product, mainly my alchemical concoctions. As my alchemy skill increased, and as I increased the grade of the affinity, my products were only becoming more and more popular. I was now making a significant amount of coin, which also meant making Pietr a significant amount of coin, every single time I had anything to sell. It wasn't the same level of coin as my parents were generating through their territories, but it was a lot more than the average laborer was making in a week or in a month.  

As it was approaching my tenth birthday, the Silver Lady, who was still hovering around, though I knew not why, finally deigned to discuss the alchemical arts in more than a superficial manner with me. I was in my lab, concocting a brand new set of pills, one that I was using to learn the ins and outs of boosting pills, when she entered the room. Despite moving with grace and a subtle poise, the Silver Lady still dominated any room she was in; I assumed it was a combination of her nature, her Z-rank power, and that same said power influencing how she comported herself. She looked over what I was doing before browsing the shelves, of which I had several more along the walls, scanning my ingredients and finished product.  

"Shall we discuss the fine art of alchemy?" she asked. 

"There is no reason to put on airs," I replied mildly. "If you want to talk about brewing potions or concocting pills, just say so." 

"You should be careful of that irreverent attitude," she replied, frowning at me from the corner. 

"Any time you feel you're ready," I said, understanding the ambiguity of the statement allowed it to be interpreted in several different ways.  

"Do you understand the basics of alchemy?" she asked.  

I sighed, but answered all the same, "Alchemy is the process of transformation; transmutation of substances from one form to another. The basic methods of alchemy involve drawing out the latent mana within one or more objects, changing it into a form that is more useful to people. For example, potions draw out the strength of the refined mana of medicinal and spiritual herbs which, when combined in a specific medium, will induce a certain effect upon consumption." 

"An accurate assessment," she replied. "Do you know much about the more advanced aspects of the art?" 

"Only what little I have read," I said, completing the concoction I was currently working on. I opened my pill furnace to find seven shiny, round pills sitting in the bottom, the medicinal smell wafting off of them filling the entire lab. I put them in a small stone bottle before wiping my hands on a clean towel, turning to face the Silver Lady and leaning against the edge of the table as I thought. "While drawing out and combining the essence of plants and minerals, as well as the strength of beasts, is the basic form of the art, the real power is from true transmutation. By that, I mean to say that the heart of alchemy is the total transformation of one substance or element into another. Such is where the legends of transforming lead into gold and many other things come from, alongside the ever rumored Philosopher's Stone." 

"The Stone is not a myth," the Silver Lady stated calmly. "Though, you are mostly correct in your assertion. Through the power of mana, the knowledge of the alchemist, and the control of powerful runes and formations, an alchemist can transform one material into another. This means that higher-grade pill-making consists of creating entirely new substances through the art of concoctions, while higher-grade potion-making consists of creating never-before-seen liquids from the process of precisely controlling and directing the brewing stages. Such base things as transforming lead into gold are theoretically possible, but no alchemist worth their salt would waste their time on understanding the structure of such things." 

"Well, be that as it may, some base elements are far more useful than others, and that's not even considering what's needed for superconductors, let alone room-temperature superconductors," I replied calmly, turning slightly to drop the towel on the table.  

"What is a superconductor?" the Silver Lady asked, one lovely eyebrow quirking just the right amount.  

"Never mind that," I dismissed with a wave as I straightened. "If superconductors are too much for you right now, I won't even bother with the islands of stability, or the super exotic periodic table of elements. Just understand that science possesses quite a lot of possibilities; one should never dismiss pure scientific endeavor, without the use of mana, as it could provide substantial answers." 

"Yet more terms I am unfamiliar with," the Silver Lady said a bit crossly. "They are your secrets to share as you will, however. Instead, let us move on." 

We spent another hour discussing the general principles of alchemy, not even touching on any of the work I had yet done, though I knew the Silver Lady had taken careful note of everything with my laboratory. The discussion was rather pleasant, despite her slightly superior attitude, and I certainly gained some new knowledge from her concrete understandings of the basics. I was eager to put some of it into practice, perhaps pointing to me having become a bit of an alchemy obsessive, but the art was just so useful. If I could elevate my alchemy to the next level, and by that I meant more than in just grade, I meant in terms of understanding and theory, I could create far more powerful concoctions. I could, in fact, push my body to a whole new level, as I needed something really powerful to help in climbing the grades; standard ingredients and procedures simply wouldn't cut it for a tier seven body.  

That led to a long bout of research in the library, which then necessitated a long sojourn in the Wilds, as I had plenty of ingredients to gather. I returned from the trip just on the cusp of my tenth birthday, though I was little bothered with that. I had alchemy to focus on, as well as my daily and weekly training, and I intended to push myself rather hard in the coming months. That was all brought to a screeching halt by an announcement by my parents, one that caused me no end of annoyance and frustration: 

I would be having a full celebration as my birthday. 

What that meant was that I would be having a weekend-long party where guests from across the country, and possibly even beyond, were invited to participate. This would also act as a bit of a soft introduction into official noble society, though there would not be any expectations on me to do more than be present for years to come. The whole thing really meant a giant waste of time and resources, in my humble opinion, but it was made very clear to me that it was not at all an option function. I could not, in fact, hide away in my alchemy lab for my own tenth birthday while others partied in my stead.  

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