Arthur took the healing root and placed the healing root inside of the mortar and used the pestle to grind the root up into something that reminded Arthur of a paste made from vegetables. He then scraped all of the grounded healing root into a small metal bowl filled with a cup of water which he mixed well.
Arthur then placed the metal bowl into the calcinator and with a small dial on its side set it to boil the mixture for a minute. While he waited for it to boil he grounded up the witch’s ivy and the knotweed and placed it into a bowl to add once the mixture finished cooling.
Upon cooling for a minute Arthur added the witch’s ivy and the knotweed before mixing thoroughly. Then he used the retort to distil the mixture into a light brown liquid that he placed within an empty bottle.
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+ Alchemy Level 0
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Arthur compared his potion to the one made by Master Calvus. His was a bit lighter in color likely meaning that it wasn’t quite as potent as his teachers but still an excellent first try.
“Not bad at all for a first try Arthur. You have learned well.” Master Calvus inspected the potion and gave his approval. “Now for the best part. Testing them out.”
Master Calvus smiled at Arthur who looked a bit confused. “Normally you wouldn’t just make one potion at a time, you would make them in batches. And before you sell them you should test them out to make sure that there aren't any side effects. The potion of nutrients for example just contains some of the lesser nutrients that are necessary to recover from injuries and keep from getting sick, so the odds of any side effects are low but we should still be careful just in case.”
Master Calvus took the potion that he made and had Arthur take the one he made before he drank it and had Arthur drink his. Arthur did not notice anything other than the taste of the potion which was quite bland, so he asked Master Calvus if there was something he should be expecting.
“In this case no you should not. Since this is non magical alchemy the effects are not all that strong or instantaneous but they can be helpful in day to day life or in the case of the nutrient potion helping healers with the recovery of their patients.”
“So this helps healers heal other people when they feed it to them?”
“That is exactly what it does. And I know it doesn’t seem like much but when you need some up on their feet as soon as possible every little bit helps. Oh and they also go for about 3 copper coins on the market but usually go up a bit during times of conflict or war, so if you make a bunch of these for me you can make a good bit of money.”
Master Calvus placed the empty bottle on a nearby table and pointed to a nearby box. “If you are still up for some more potion making you can find more empty bottles in that box there, just be careful because they are fragile.”
Arthur, now alone with his own devices, chose to brew some more potions until he ran out of ingredients. This time he decided to make about ten potions in a batch instead of the one he had previously made. The recipe just said that for each healing root there needed to be a cup of water and all the other associated ingredients, all he in theory needed to do was increase the amount of each by five.
So Arthur took a bowl and filled it with five cups of water and ground up five healing roots that he added to the water and placed into the calcinator to boil for a minute. He did the same with the witch’s ivy and knotweed before adding them and distilling the liquid via the retort into a large bottle.
The five portions of the potion looked to be about the same quality as the one he brewed prior with the same light brown color. Arthur of course filled five smaller bottles each with one portion of the potion before he repeated the process and ended up with twenty three potions of nutrients.
But since it was getting quite late and it had already passed dinner time Arthur quickly ate one of the burritos he kept in his dimensional bag and placed all of the potions in his bag before he locked the door to his room and went to sleep.
First thing in the morning at nine o’clock when Arthur awoke he looked around the building to see if Master Calvus was up, and when he found him in his personal laboratory he knocked on the door.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Knock Knock.
Master Calvus turned around from his work station and smiled as he saw Arthur. “Good morning Arthur. How is your morning?”
“It's been alright Master, I did want to tell you I used up all the ingredients and I brewed twenty three more potions.” Arthur promptly took one of the said potions from his bag and handed it to Master Calvus to inspect.
Master Calvus brought up the potion to his face as he looked over the light brown liquid. He removed the lid and smelt the potion before he gulped it down in one go. For a moment he pondered on it before casting a simple spell on himself and when he was satisfied with the results he looked to Arthur and spoke.
“Not bad, not bad. I don’t detect any side effects so that is a good sign. It could have been a bit more concentrated but for a novice it is excellent. I will buy these off of you for 1 copper coin for each potion if you want.”
Arthur furrowed his brow at his master's offer. “Didn’t you say that they could go for three copper coins each?”
“Oh my apologies. I was talking about the one I brewed as an example. With the lower quality they are worth at best only 2 copper coins, but I still need to make money so the best I can offer you is 1 for each potion of nutrients of this quality.”
Arthur paused for a moment and began to think if he should take the offer. Master Calvus seeing Arthurs contemplation decided to speak up. “You will still earn 23 copper coins, that is a whole silver coin plus 3 copper coins all in one day. Most commoners can only earn that much after a whole 5 or 6 days of work. I would consider that a good deal.”
Arthur had to agree, despite the fact that he wasn’t getting as much as he would have liked he could still easily buy seven burritos from the Free Parrot Bar if he earned that much every day. It was more than enough to live off of. And when he finished up his classes in the next two weeks he would have all day to work on alchemy and potentially earn even more money.
“Alright then. I accept your offer of one silver and three copper for the twenty three potions of nutrients.”
********
Arthur continued to work hard in both the mages guild and his apprenticeship completing the course near the top of both his classes and garnering the praise of Master Calvus for his quick progress in alchemy.
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Hydromancy Level 14
Pyromancy Level 11
Aeromancy Level 10
Alchemy Level 4
Foraging Level 5
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Arthur could now conjure fire with just mana, which helped him when he needed to light a flame to distil liquids with the retort or if he needed to boil something and his calcinator ran low on energy.
Even though he had finished his courses he did not stop experimenting with magic. He would always try to make time during his lunch break to talk with Calavia about just about everything that came to their minds from magic to strange looking people that they saw in the market.
With his skill in alchemy improving, Master Calvus also gave Arthur more recipes to try out. Some of those recipes included potions of bravery that induced a feeling of calmness and stoicism, potions of stamina that gives the drinker a temporary boost in their energy levels, and drowsiness potions that cause the drinker to feel drowsy to help fall asleep. All of the potions that Arthur was given were of the non magical variety due to specific types of spells that either allow for the effects of the ingredients to work or are held by the potion itself to apply to the drinker when consumed.
Arthur also acquired a decent amount of savings now that he now had an actual source of income which he used to buy some things that he needed that included a magic handheld clock that would align itself with up to three different time zones, and a wet stone to keep his blade sharp. Despite learning a lot about magic and alchemy he would always find a bit of time every so often to train his martial skills with the northern city guard under Captain Pelagius even if he did not make all that much progress.
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Heavy Armor Level 10
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Occasionally he would stumbled upon more bandits in the forest and quick dispatch them with magic and his fighting skills, and when he finished he always kept one or two of the bandits alive to bring to Captain Tasius in the southern district who would thank Arthur with a small amount of money before sending them down to the dungeon for interrogation. Arthur did not know how it was progressing but the captain certainly did.
***********
“Please I told you everything I know!” A disheveled human man no older than twenty five was tied to a chair in the dungeon under the barracks of the southern district of Antium.
“Oh yes, I know. This is not to extract information.” The elfen torturer chuckled to himself as he picked up a metal tool that looked something like a knife for cutting very precisely.
“W -what? What do you mean?” The bandit was confused since that's why he was tortured before, to stop withholding information.
“You see this-” The elf brandished the knife. “This is for my own enjoyment. I just watching people like you fall apart after they know there is no escape.” The elf gagged the bandit with a thick piece of cloth to both prevent him from biting his tongue to kill himself and to keep him from screaming to deal with the pain.
“You know I was told by my father that if I kept hurting people I will end up alone and with no one to rely on. He was also the very first person I interrogated when I got my job here. It's just so ironic isn't it?”