Imri Padar has reached Level 7 in Relativity Mage (1E) Imri Padar has reach Level 7 in Primordial (1F) Primary Stats Gained New Value +1 Intelligence 145 +1 Willpower 130 Secondary Stats Gained +5 MP 197 +4 Mana Efficiency 215
Imri took solace from the gains he had made. While his Time Dilation spell had become noticeably more efficient than the first time he had used it, it was still far from sustainable. Fortunately, the fight had been brief. He had been almost full on MP before using it, so he still had a decent amount of his MP remaining. He also felt that his Time Dilation spell was nearing a breakthrough to E rank.
Next, he examined the cores they had claimed. All were small, as the creatures they had slain were only levels 3 to 8. While they were tempting to absorb, he could feel a limit being reached. It was only possible to progress so far through absorbing cores. After a certain amount of experience, it was impossible to absorb more. Eventually, the body would fully absorb and integrate the energy and be capable of absorbing more, but that took time. He suspected that there was a primary stat that governed the amount of core energy that could be absorbed, likely constitution or willpower.
He briefly tried to meditate, but the sounds from Zhaire and Teresa kept breaking his concentration. They were loud enough to alert any Chixel or Ulfr Hounds within a few kilometers. Imri was eventually joined by Srez, who sat beside him without comment.
“Those customs are strange. How can one sit so still?” the Chixel asked.
“It’s called meditation. It's a practice of placing oneself out of the body and mind, at least this type of meditation,” Imri explained.
“Such a thing is not possible. Ones are made of body and mind,” the Chixel countered.
“It’s difficult,” Imri admitted. “I’m not a meditation expert, but the idea is that we are everything: the wind, the trees, the earth, all of it. Our body and mind are but a small piece, a focus but nothing more.”
“That one is stranger than this one thought. Such things make no sense. This one is not a rock; this one is Srez,” the Chixel said, pounding its chest.
“This one would be interested in learning,” Zathri said as they joined the conversation.
“Like I said, I’m not an expert, but I do have a skill. I would be happy to teach you what I know. In return, you could teach me some enchanting?”
“It’s a deal,” Zathri agreed. Srez seemed slightly more interested when Imri mentioned it was a skill but quickly grew bored.
“Have fun pretending to be rocks,” Srez said as he left, practicing his fighting in a kata.
Imri did his best to instruct Zathri through a simple guided meditation. The Chixel, even the more scholarly ones like Zathri, were not disposed to sitting still. They lasted only a few minutes, beating Emelia’s record for the shortest meditation attempt.
“It’s not working,” Zathri complained.
“It was designed for humans,” Imri said with a shrug, knowing that someone who couldn’t sit still for two minutes was destined never to meditate.
“Perhaps,” Zathri conceded. With the guided meditation session ending, Imri resumed his own meditation. It took him a while, but he eventually found serenity.
The next morning, they made their way back to camp. They were all slightly encumbered as he carried large portions of salted monster meat. While most of them were growing tired of eating the strange creature, it was still far preferable to starvation.
As they returned to camp, a general malaise hung over it. While some were beginning to adjust to their new reality, many simply sat around when not actively on watch or engaged in keeping the camp orderly. Their number had steadily grown each day, with more than thirty people now living in the camp. Still, they were surviving, not thriving. Every single person needed a purpose.
His musings were cut short when Emelia came over to greet his return with a kiss. His mood instantly improved. “We’ll get there; it will just take some time,” she reminded him. She understood how he felt when he looked at the apathetic camp.
“I’m going to deliver these to Thrisk,” he said, holding several of the cores they had claimed. Thrisk, the Chixel alchemist, had agreed to teach them alchemy in exchange for keeping the first batch of potions created. The Chixel had their potions seized when they were brought to camp, and while they were technically entitled to the use of potions, just like any other member of the camp, they feared they would be denied access if the potion supply ever ran low. Emelia had agreed to their request, knowing the knowledge they possessed was far more valuable than the raw ingredients they had gathered. Those ingredients were useless without the knowledge, except for the cores.
Thrisk was waiting expectantly as Imri approached. Beside the Chixel sat a short younger woman with dark wavy hair and glasses. Her name was Caroline, and she had been a chemist before the integration. She was one of the few who seemed to approach the integration with an open mind, having an innate curiosity for all the strange new herbs and minerals. When Imri mentioned his deal with Thrisk, she jumped at the opportunity to learn alchemy. While Caroline had been given a class similar to what she had been in before the integration, Thrisk assured him that if Caroline had the aptitude, she could learn alchemy skills.
“One’s class or profession is not permanent. One could change either with aptitude and desire in a different area, though one would lose any existing levels and abilities related to the lost class,” Thrisk explained to him.
“So, given enough training and aptitude, Caroline could become an alchemist?” Imri asked. Thrisk confirmed with a tail nod.
“That sounds great. Most of my formal training was in large labs with various equipment. It will be a long time before anything like that is up and running,” Caroline agreed.
“The quality of the product is dependent on two things. A weighted average of the quality of ingredients, with the primary ingredients taking the majority of the weight. The second is obviously the skill of the crafter. The greater the difference between one of the two aspects, the less future improvements will be added. A skilled alchemist could not create the greatest potions from inferior stock. Likewise, a novice alchemist would waste a precious ingredient. However, improvement in either is always good,” Thrisk explained as he showed them the ingredients. For simple recipes like this, there were only three ingredients. The first was a bright yellow flower speckled with blood red, which Imri identified. The other two were water and the core.
Item Tier/Rank Quality Description Blood Arfaj 1F 3 A flower with medicinal healing properties. It can be consumed for a 10.3 % increase in HP regen for 2 hours. It can be used as a material in alchemical creations.
Thrisk took a few of the flowers and separated the petals, placing them in a mortar and pestle. They ground the flower down for a good while until it was a reddish paste. When Imri identified it again, it added paste to the name but was otherwise the same.
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“When refining or harvesting, the goal is to reduce the quality as little as possible,” Thrisk explained as they showed the paste. “For example, the flower might have been of slightly higher quality but lost quality levels when it was crudely harvested by an amateur. This is why having specialists at every production level is important. A botanist to cultivate the plant, a gardener to harvest it, and an alchemist to refine it. For higher level ingredients, there are even more specialists, to refine the product, a generalist wouldn’t dare touch such a precious resource, lest it be ruined.”
Caroline scribbled down notes as Imri translated. She was meticulous, stopping the Chixel and asking for clarification on nearly every point. Thrisk didn’t seem annoyed by the frequent interruptions. Instead, they seemed relieved to have an engaged audience. Caroline also wasn’t the only student. Many other people had gathered to watch, though most of them had no interest in becoming alchemists, simply bored and finding a lecture from the Chixel fascinating.
Next, the Chixel added the core to a bubbling water-filled cauldron. They explained that this part of the process would take some time, as the water needed to be infused with the energy within the core.
“Depending on the core, one will get several uses from a single core, its energy being depleted from each use. Generally, the solution cannot be of greater quality than the core level. Higher level cores also tend to last longer, so a level 10 core is far preferable to 2 level 5 cores,” Thrisk explained as Caroline continued her furious notetaking.
Thrisk continued answering questions during the relative lull of the infusion process. They occasionally checked the solution, using what Imri assumed was a specialized version of Identify. The entire infusion process took a couple of hours, during which most of the casual spectators lost interest, though a few remained with little else to occupy their time. Thrisk fished out the core with a slotted ladle when the infusion finished. The core had visibly less luster, though it still had a faint sheen to it.
“This has nearly been spent, and it does not have enough energy to make even a small batch. Someone could absorb it, as it would be wasteful to discard, but it is scarcely worth anything,” Thrisk said as he proffered the pea-sized gem to Imri. Imri just shrugged and passed it to Caroline. She seemed taken aback, until this point all the fighters had been the sole recipients of the cores.
“We had been giving them to those who could fight because they were the main contributors. Now, we will be relying on your potions at least as much as our combat abilities. At least I will be, with how often I keep getting stabbed,” Imri explained.
“The next part is where an alchemist proves one’s worth. The ingredients must be combined, but most do not do so willingly. One must use one’s mana to facilitate the combination. For a relatively simple potion like this one, it is just a matter of infusing a small amount of mana. Others are not so simple. Observe,” Thrisk explained, waiting for Imri to finish the translation before continuing. Compared to infusing the liquid with the core, this part took only a moment. Thrisk cast a simple spell to direct the mana as the Arfaj flower paste combined with the infused water. Within a moment, the liquid turned red like the familiar healing potions. The batch contained over a liter of liquid, enough for over a dozen doses of the potion. He quickly identified the potion.
Item Tier/Rank Quality Description Standard Healing Potion 1F 4 Improves HP regeneration by 53.04% for 2.05 hours.
The potion was slightly superior to those given by the system in every way, increasing HP regen by 2.5% more and lasting .05 hours longer or 3 minutes. Imri had learned that everything had a quality level, and each level increased the effectiveness by 1%. However, the 4% improvement from the quality level should have increased the effectiveness to 52%, not 53.04%. The duration was also extended by 3 minutes, which also didn’t appear to be related to the quality of the potion.
“Do you have an ability that increases the effectiveness and duration of potions?” Imri asked.
“Very Astute. Yes, this one has two skills related to brewing potions. One which increases the effectiveness of potions by 2%, while the other increases the duration by 2.5%,” Thrisk admitted.
“I had another question: what would happen if I drank two potions in rapid succession? I’m assuming it wouldn’t double the effect?” Caroline asked as Imri translated.
“Most certainly not. If one consumes a second while still under the effects of the first, it will extend the duration, not the effect. It also has diminishing returns, so drinking two would not give a full two hours of benefits, closer to one and a half. The body would also be overwhelmed with potion toxicity, and a third potion would be unwise. It would still extend the duration, but only by roughly an hour, and it would come with major discomfort. However, this can be overcome with a higher constitution,” Thrisk explained.
With Thrisk’s explanation of potion toxicity done, they moved on to create the second batch of potions. Caroline did the crafting this time under Thrisk's watchful eye, with Imri remaining as a translator. Imri didn’t need Emelia’s empathy skills to know the young woman was nervous. She double-checked her notes during each step despite the process not being overly complex. They made a smaller batch this time, with the expectation that the first attempt likely wouldn’t be a success.
“Are you sure it’s alright?” Caroline asked, holding the lowest level core procured from the Ulfr Hounds.
“Zhaire will be more than happy enough procuring more cores. Having someone else in the camp as an alchemist would be worth losing all these cores,” Imri explained. The unsaid statement was that it would be good to have a human alchemist.
Slightly more confident, Caroline placed the core in the bubbling water. The infusion process took far less time with the smaller amount of liquid. During that time, Thrisk had Caroline practice infusing her mana into a dormant pool of water. This was the trickiest step, and Caroline had yet to use her mana on any spell successfully.
“One needs to will it into the water. One’s mana is an extension of oneself like another hand to be ordered,” Thrisk explained. Imri agreed with the sentiment, when he had learned his spell it had come as naturally as breathing. Curious, he tried following Thrisk’s instructions. He willed a small amount of mana into a separate supply of water. His mana leaped to his command, a smell tendril extending from his hand, visible thanks to his Discerning Eye, before settling into the water.
New Skill Learned Tier/Rank Description Mana Infusion 1F Transfer mana from yourself to an external source. The rate of transfer varies by mana channeling. Inefficiency varies by the medium of transference. Reduces transfer inefficiency by 5% and improves transfer rate by 5%.
This wasn’t the first time he had infused mana, and his ability to easily channel mana was probably thanks to his ability to see mana at will. He had done so when experimenting with the magical lights in the Chixel temple. That had been done directly with a material designed for conducting mana. That hadn’t risen to the difficulty needed to acquire the skill, but it had helped him understand some of the concepts of mana. Starting with something like that would likely be easier than infusing mana into water. Imri went to his pack, digging around until he found the copper setting with the small gemstone. He returned and presented it to a confused Caroline.
“Try practicing mana infusion on that. It’s a system designed to pull in mana, so it should be slightly easier. The gem will light up when it's working, so you’ll also get instant feedback,” Imri explained. Thrisk seemed slightly taken aback when they realized Imri was carrying around a Chixel light fixture, but they didn’t comment. Caroline took the small device and began practicing. It took a while, but eventually, the gem sputtered to life for a moment before fading again. She continued practicing, eventually able to sustain the light. Caroline was elated with her achievement in mana control.
While they had been practicing mana control, Thrisk had finished the small batch of potion when it became apparent that Caroline wouldn’t master the mana infusion skill in time to finish the potion before it spoiled.
“That one should continue practicing mana infusion. These ones can try again tomorrow,” Thrisk suggested. They all agreed though Caroline was clearly disheartened by her lack of progress.