Potion-making was, at a glance, relatively easy. Start with a base liquid, then add in some ingredients. Colthorn was thoroughly disappointed when the potion exploded into a pink foam. For the sixth time.

"Dad! Why isn't this working? I'm adding everything in the right order!"

Jornan glanced over from his own workstation, where he was stirring a beaker full of a blue liquid and a red liquid with a silver rod. Where the silver rod passed, a glimmering purple liquid swirled behind it. Jornan chuckled as he saw the pink foam.

"What was it that you learned about potion-making when you learned the simple Basic +50 HP healing potion?"

"It was that every ingredient needs to be added in a certain order. The first ingredient added to the base is the ingredient whose attributes are the effect of the potion. But I am adding them in order!" Colthorn complained, waving the sheet of paper with the recipe in the air.

"Yes, you are. But what did I say before you started? I said to focus on the timing. Have you been doing that?"

"Um... I think so," he scrunched his nose, the pink foam was evaporating and it smelled like rotten oranges, "but how am I supposed to know what the right timing is?"

"Keep an eye on what is happening inside the beaker. When you add something, there will be a reaction. When that reaction stops is the best time to add the next ingredient, for this potion at least. Other potions will require a different timing."

"That's what I'm doing though! But it still explodes!"

"It needs to be right when the reaction stops. Don't worry, you'll get it eventually," Jornan said, still stirring the now half purple mixture.

Colthorn huffed and turned back to his own failed potion. The pink foam had evaporated, leaving behind a relatively clean beaker. Only a little bit of red liquid was left at the bottom. He dumped the residue into a bucket meant for waste materials. His dad would take care of it later, he had a Skill called Neutralize for that. Colthorn grabbed a different cup and dipped it into the water bucket that was between his and Jornan's workstations. He used the cup of water to rinse his beaker clean, the waste water going into the waste bucket.

With his beaker clean from his failed attempt, Colthorn resolved that he won't fail again. He set the beaker in the iron stand in front of him. He jumped as a chime sounded in his mind, nearly knocking the beaker and stand over.

New Quest!: Novice Alchemist

Task: Craft a +100 HP Potion!

Time Limit: N/A

Restrictions: N/A

Reward: +1 Willpower

Penalty: Quest Restart

“Woah! You ok, Coal?” Jornan asked worriedly, glancing over as he sprinkled golden colored dust over a shimmering purple liquid.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m good. I got a Quest to make the potion, and the chime scared me.”

“That’s great! What’s the reward?”

“Plus 1 Willpower!” Colthorn exclaimed, “Now I can put all my free Stats into Alacrity and Acuity! This is awesome!”

His father just chuckled and continued his own potion making.

It has been a few days since the last time he had gotten a Quest, and that Quest only gave him some experience. This Quest gave him +1 Willpower! He rarely had a Quest give him Stat points, most of the Quests that he’d done before gave him EXP in levels, EXP in Skills, or gave him a Skill. Colthorn took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for the task in front of him.

Alright, 300mL of mana water.

Mana water was just water that had been infused with mana, but was the base of most Tier 0 to Tier 2 potions. Other liquids were used as well, of course. The only real requirement was that it needed to be a liquid that has mana in it. If someone infused milk with mana, then the mana milk could be used as a base. It would need to have a completely different recipe though, because the milk would react differently to the ingredients than the mana water. It is possible though. Blood is another common base used in potions, but blood also carries its own physical and magical properties to consider. The blood of higher tiered beasts are often used for higher tiered potions. Water was the most abundant resource and it doesn’t spoil, thus it was the most used base liquid.

He grabbed a second beaker, this one had black marks and numbers painted on the outside to show measurements, and went over to the large barrel in the corner of the room. Colthorn lifted the wooden lid and dipped the beaker inside, scooping out some of the faintly glowing water. He carefully poured out a little bit of water at a time until he got to the desired 300mL. With the needed mana water he went back to his workstation, stepping up onto a little step-stool, and poured the liquid into the beaker in the iron stand.

Next, 100mL Essence of the Dremora Weed.

Colthorn had never worked with any essences before today. The first potion he learned, the +50 HP healing potion, had used 100mL of powdered Dremora Weed leaves instead. And it was interesting to see that the Essence of the Dremora Weed was the same green color as its leaves. He had assumed that it would have been white like its sap.

Essences were the result of concentrating the magical properties of a plant, mineral, or other ingredient into a liquid form. Colthorn had no idea how his dad did it, but it had something to do with the series of glass tubes and spheres and other contraptions along the wall to his left. Because the essence was already processed thoroughly before being used in a potion, no further processes were required for it to combine with the base liquid. At least for these basic potions. With the powdered Dremora Weed leaves, he had to have a flame under the beaker to heat the mana water while he stirred in the powder.

He grabbed a cup of water from the bucket and rinsed the measuring beaker over the waste bucket. With the measuring beaker clean, he grabbed the big jar of the needed essence from the group of jars in front of him, and a pipette that had been sitting by the beakers. He squeezed the hardened leather bulb, then stuck the tip of the pipette into the jar of essence and softened his grip on the leather causing the essence to be sucked into the pipette. He brought it over to the measuring beaker and slowly squeezed the leather bulb again to release the essence. The pipette could only hold 10mL at a time, so Colthorn repeated the action 9 more times to get the required 100mL.

He checked the markings on the side of the measuring beaker to double check that he had the right amount. And, seeing that he did, he set the beaker with the essence next to the beaker in the iron stand.

Now, 50mL Essence of the Red Lily.

The Red Lily, like the Dremora weed, was found in nearly every forest, plain, and mountain in Malroth and the surrounding countries. Which was a good thing in Colthorn’s opinion; the Red Lily was one of his favorite flowers. Its 6 petals started as a dark red in the center, brightening to a bright red at the curled petal tips. Sometimes the tips would be a pink color, showing the old age of the lily. But it was best to harvest the flower when the petal tips were a blood red to get the maximum potency.

Colthorn grabbed another cup of water and rinsed the pipette by sucking up and releasing the water into the waste bucket a couple times. Then he grabbed another measuring beaker from the collection of beakers that were off to the side. This one was already clean, so he got to work with the pipette. The essence reminded him of droplets of blood as he collected the needed 50mL.

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He set this beaker next to the other beakers with the mana water and Essence of the Dremora weed.

Finally, 50mL Essence of the Abalor Vine.

The Abalor Vine was fairly common, but Colthorn hated it. It looked like it was dead, with its shriveled brown leaves. And because its roots were good for pain, his mom made him chew on them if he got hurt when out hunting! And they are super bitter!... they did help, so he couldn’t be too mad.

Once again, he rinsed the pipette and grabbed another beaker. He easily collected the glowing gray essence from its jar. Then he set the beaker with the other collected essences. He had everything he needed for the potion now, neatly measured and ready in front of him. Now he just had to pour them in order, at the right time, into the mana water.

I can do this... I can do this... just when the reaction ends, pour in the next essence. I can do this.

Taking a deep breath, Colthorn grabbed the beaker with the Essence of the Dremora Weed and gently poured it into the beaker in the stand.

Instantly, the green Essence started fizzing, with small bubbles rising to the surface of the mixture. Green and clear liquid swirled together, the green slowly dissipating into the clear water. The mixture’s surface was now covered in bubbles, popping and quickly replaced with another. Slowly, the green Essence faded to clear as it merged with the mana water. The bubbling slowed, and Colthorn grabbed the next beaker of Essence. Right when the last speck of green became clear, he poured in the Essence of the Red Lily.

The red Essence and the mana water didn’t seem to do anything at first, but then the mixture started swirling. Colthorn watched as the mixture started moving in a circular motion. Slowly at first, but it quickly picked up speed, forming a miniature whirlpool in the beaker. He grabbed the last beaker and waited for the whirlpool to stop. This time it was the clear liquid that changed color, turning a bright red color.

Five minutes later, the whirlpool started to slow. His dad had warned him that the mixture would form a whirlpool, and that it would keep going after the reaction stopped due to the momentum of the liquid. So once the whirlpool started slowing down, he poured in the Essence of the Abalor Vine.

The faintly glowing gray liquid disturbed the flow of the spinning red mixture, and the whirlpool instantly stopped. The mixture was now calm, brightly glowing red, and Colthorn felt heat coming off of the liquid. A warm heat, like a small candle flame.

He had no way to tell if he had done it right, so he waited... and waited some more. The warmth hadn’t stopped yet, and the Quest wasn’t completed, so Colthorn could only assume that the last reaction was still taking place. He stuck his hand out to the side of the glass beaker, not touching, but hovering close enough to feel the little bit of radiating heat.

Eventually, the heat and the glow of the mixture started to fade, leaving a dull red liquid behind. Colthorn held his breath... no quest completion. It failed.

“Dad, it didn’t explode like the last six times, why?” Colthorn asked, scowling at the mixture that refused to complete his Quest for him. He looked up and over to his dad who was using the potion bottler.

The potion that Jornan had been working on was a purple liquid that had swirling gold specks inside, and had a faint black glow that seemed to burn a silhouette in the eyes. He was pouring the potion into a funnel at the top of a series of glass tubes and levers. Colthorn watched as the potion spread throughout the tubes, but only a small part, leaving most of the tubes empty. Jornan waited until all of the potion ran its course and emptied into the five 50mL vials at the bottom of the contraption, then he grabbed five corks from the drawer beneath the counter and corked the vials. Each cork had a rune burned into the top to protect the cork from the effects of the potion, and to prevent the cork from accidentally opening. Once done, he looked over to Colthorn.

“Sorry about that little Coal. I had to bottle those potions quickly. Anyways, what’s up?”

Colthorn was staring at the five potions. “What potions did you make?” he asked.

“Oh, these?” his dad grinned, “These are Tier 2 See The Ethereal potions that were commissioned by the Blazing Lions party.”

“The Blazing Lions?” he gasped, “No way! When did they come?”

“They came the day before yesterday. Apparently, they found a Lair filled with undead in the Green Ridge Mountains, and they wanted to prepare before they went in.”

The Blazing Lions were a well-known adventuring party, one of the two Tier 3 parties in the city. The other party was the Rusty Shields. Of course, Alagossa was Colthorn’s personal hero, but he did like hearing stories about these two parties.

“I’ll tell you more later tonight, but right now let’s focus on training your skills, alright?” Jornan said, ruffling Colthorn’s hair, “Now, you had a question?”

“Oh, right. I was wondering why the potion I made didn’t explode like the last ones did.”

“Hmm, looks like you added one of the Essences too late. If you add the Essences too early, you get an explosion because there’s too much mana in the mixture all reacting at once. But if you add an Essence too late, there’s too little mana to complete the reaction, so it goes dull and inert. It looks like you got really close though! You’ll get it soon enough.”

“So the timing is important because that’s when the mana is just right for the next reaction to happen?”

“Yep. For potion recipes with Essences and Tinctures at least. The timing doesn’t really matter if the recipe is only the raw ingredients... Well, depends on what the ingredient is. Like the +50 HP potion, it uses all raw ingredients so all the mana that will be in the potion is already in the mana water. But the +100 HP potion uses Essences, which adds mana to the mix. Because we are adding more mana, we have to be careful so we don’t get the results we don’t want. This would be a lot easier if you had Mana Sense, but it is still possible without it! You’re super close, just keep trying until you succeed.”

Colthorn just sighed and poured his failed potion into the waste bucket.

It took him three more attempts until he finally got it.

He stared at the glowing red liquid in the beaker in front of him, wide-eyed. Then he gasped and grabbed the beaker and showed his father.

“Dad, I did it!” he shouted, grinning ear to ear.

“You’re not done yet, Coal! You have to bottle it; use the bottler here. I already rinsed it for you.”

Colthorn checked all the levers on the contraption. He’d used it before for all the +50 HP potions he’d made in the past, and he knew what to do. He flipped the lever for ten potions, and then grabbed the box of vials and placed the ten vials in the slots at the bottom. Gently, he poured the potion into the top funnel. Red liquid filled the glass tubes, running its course to the vials below. Each potion needed to be 50mL to get the effect of the potion, so technically he made one big +1000 HP potion, but no one could just chug a whole 500mL in the middle of a fight, so each potion was divided into the minimum 50mL. Besides, his dad could make a +1000 HP potion that was 50mL, so who would want a whole bottle to chug if they could just have a small vial for the same effect? Not that Alchemists would even sell potions by the jug; for some reason EXP was only rewarded after the potion gets bottled into 50mL vials. If an Alchemist brews a bunch of potions but never bottles them, then they won’t get any EXP.

He grabbed ten cork caps out of the drawer and corked his potions. Once he finished putting the corks in, a series of chimes sounded and blue screens appeared in front of him.

You have crafted (10) +100 HP potion. +10 EXP.

Quest Completed!

For successfully completing the quest, Novice Alchemist!, you have gained +1 WIL

Basic Alchemy gained 7 levels. +7 EXP.

Cleaning gained 2 levels. +2 EXP.

"Hey, these potions gave a whole EXP for crafting them! The other ones only gave half an EXP. Is it because of the essences?" He asked, looking up at his father.

"That's right. The harder the potion the more EXP," Jornan explained, "and guess what? This potion I made gave me enough EXP to level up!"

"Awesome! What level are you now?" He gasped.

"88!"

"Woah! You're awesome, dad!" Colthorn exclaimed, wrapping his arms around his dad. They both laughed as they hugged. Jornan released Colthorn and looked him in the eyes.

“Just remember to never tell anyone what my level is ok? Or mom’s or your level. Let’s keep it a family secret, alright?”

“I know dad. I won’t tell anybody.”

"Come on little Coal! Let's go tell mom the good news. You made some good potions and completed a Quest, and I leveled up. Maybe she'll get us a cake from next door, what do you think?"

Colthorn gasped again, already drooling at the thought. He didn't even respond to his father and just ran out. Jornan chuckled as he followed behind.