Upon entering the alchemy club it took the supervisor a good minute to recognize the newcomer as the very same young man from two months ago. With his longer hair and change of attire he looked like a whole different person.
“Well well, look who has returned. Are you actually interested in joining the alchemy guild this time or are you just looking for information like last time?” The supervisor said as she approached Arthur.
“Believe it or not, but I am here to join this time. With my finances in order I now have the time to participate.”
“That's is good to hear. To register and join the club you will need to speak with Lydus, he is over at the table there with all the piles of paper.” She said while pointing to a middle aged man that looked like he just returned from a coal mine.
His clothes were covered in stains and dirt while his hair and face were unkempt. He also looked like he missed a few hours of sleep. Despite his appearance he was rushing through the paperwork by the pile.
Arthur slowly walked over to Lydus and his piles of paperwork, but before he could say anything he was interrupted. “Hang on, I'll be quick!” Lydus practically shouted as he increased the speed at which he filled out forms and other documents that Arthur could only catch a glimpse of.
After a very awkward ten minutes of waiting Lydus eventually finished up with the current pile and turned his attention to Arthur. “How might I help you son?”
“I wanted to join the alchemy club.” Arthur took notice of just how exhausted the man looked, despite the energetic voice he looked as if he was moments from fainting.
“Of course, just one moment.” Lydus reached down below the table and brought out a large folder of documents. Upon opening Arthur could see that it was full of registration forms and promptly took one and began to fill it out with the quill and ink pot.
Upon finishing the form he took out a single silver coin, the form stated that there was a monthly fee of one silver coin to be a part of the club.
‘These fees probably go towards helping out the newer members and those with little experience. The rest likely goes towards instructors and basic training.’
Arthur placed the silver coin on the form and pushed it towards Lydus who had already found himself pushing through another pile of paperwork. He was so engrossed that only a loud cough managed to get his attention without yelling at him.
“Oh sorry, are you finished already? Here let me take that.” Lydus took the silver coin and the form and placed each in their respective place, the form a folder, and the coin a small box with a coin slot in the top.
“Welcome to the club Mr. Arthur. Now unless you have any questions I need to get back to work.”
“I do actually. Is it possible for me to sell some of my alchemical creations through the club? I currently have a large stock of various potions, salves, and other such things I currently have no current use for.” Arthur demonstrated by placing a small handful of his creations on the table.
Lydus took a potion of basic healing from the table and a small singular eyeglass fashioned from iron and of course class. Upon placing it over his eye it glowed slightly and Lydus let out a humph in surprise.
“The actual healing capabilities are a bit weak, but the potion does well to retain its potency. But unfortunately there is a small test to prove you have actual knowledge and experience in alchemy before the club will buy and sell off anything you make. And even then you won't get the market price, likely just enough to make a decent living for a mage.”
While taking Lydus inspected the rest of the alchemical creations Arthur presented nodding in approval every so often.
“I was expecting something like that. When can I take the test?” By this time Lydus had already finished inspecting his creations, so Arthur returned them to his bag.
“The tests always fall directly in the middle of the week, so you will need to wait for another three days, not counting today. Also you need to fill out this form.” Lydus placed another document on the table before returning to his paperwork.
Arthur finished that document far quicker than the last, mostly because it was only one sided, but also because it had no legally binding agreements.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Done already? That was quick.” Lydus commented upon seeing the document being pushed towards him.
“So I should come back here in three days for that test?”
“Yes. They always take place at noon and we will dedicate a small section here for you to take part in it. But feel free to spend some time here as well, you might learn something.”
**********
Since he did not have much else to do while he waited for both the test and the house showing he decided to spend a bit of time in the alchemy club. For the most part he just helped a few newcomers to the trade fix a few of the more common mistakes he himself made bad habits of before he was forced to correct them.
There were also a few very basic recipes that were given to everyone who joined the club, they weren't all that useful to the average mage but good training practices. The only one remotely useful was a powder called glow dust. A very simple recipe that resulted in a small vial's worth of glowing dust that would remain glowing for about a week.
Soon it was the very middle of the week and time for Arthur’s test to see if he was a qualified alchemist, or at least qualified enough to sell his creations. Arriving half an hour early Arthur quickly set up his equipment in the west most bottom corner and retrieved small portions of all the ingredients from his bag.
Since that only took him about ten minutes in total, Arthur decided to make a few things with what he had available while he waited. He wasn’t going to make much, just a potion or two to pass the time.
It was just one potion at first, then it became two, then five. It wasn’t until he used up half of the wisp grass did he realize that he got a bit carried away. But he still had time to put all the extra potions away while he restocked the ingredients he had set out.
After he just finished resetting everything up, Lydus followed by three other people including the supervisor of the club entered. The other two consisted of a dwarven man with a large thick beard and an elegant elven woman.
“Just one participant today?” The dwarf asked while looking to Lydus. “I expected there would be more than one.”
“I am sure this is just a fluke Hekrel. There will probably be more next time.” The elven woman said with a desperate attempt to lift the mood, her enthusiasm feeling quite fake. Clearly something was happening regarding new members to the club.
“You always say that, and yet nothing changes.” Hekrel the dwarf said while avoiding eye contact.
“Now now, why don’t we calm down and give our newest participant our undivided attention.” The supervisor interrupted the bickering of the elf and dwarf just as the elf was about to fire back and escalate the disagreement.
“Thank you Caria. Now if we are done bickering in front of the young mage we should begin the test and the reason we are here.” Lydus Said as he placed three pieces of paper on the table before Arthur.
He continued. “These are the three recipes that you are expected to finish. We will give you one minute to look them over before you begin. When you do start you will have ten minutes to finish all three. If you do not finish the recipes or finish them after the ten minute mark you will fail, and you will need to schedule another for next week.”
“I understand. When does my one minute start?”
“Right now.”
***********
Arthur was rather surprised by the sudden start but he took a moment and calmed down. ‘Rough start, but it doesn’t need to be a rough finish. I just need to relax and focus.’
Putting his attention towards the recipes Arthur was rather surprised to find that one of the three was something he could already do from memory. It was phantom ink, the other two were new to him, the others being something called jolly juice and “the blues.”
Jolly juice appeared to be something that uplifted someone's emotions while the blues did the opposite. The potions were so simple that it took only half the time he was given to understand how to make them.
“Do I need to wait for my minute to end or can I just start whenever?” Arthur asked while he began to sort out all the ingredients he needed, those he did not went straight back into his bag.
“You can start whenever you want to. The minute is a simple courtesy for those who are nervous.” Hekrel spoke up. ‘This one probably doesn’t even need the full minute. He must have received some training from someone else before coming here.’
Having permission to start whenever he felt Arthur started with the phantom ink, with the process practically ingrained in his muscle memory he finished a batch in but two minutes. The jolly juice and “the blues” were new but with around eight minutes Arthur was calm.
Since they were both very simple recipes he was able to finish a batch of each in a matter of five minutes. Weirdly enough the only difference between the two potions was a single ingredient, jolly juice used a plant called bliss weed that in large doses could dull pain and slightly improve moods, while “the blues” used a plant called bur sorrel that for most was just another plant that didn’t do anything but provided food for small wildlife.
Since Arthur had finished his potions he placed a single vial of each before the three judges for them to inspect. Like Lydus did three days prior they each took out a singular eye glass that glowed slightly when they used it to look at the potions. Then suddenly both the dwarf and elf took the jolly juice and the blues potions and downed them in one gulp, the dwarf drinking the jolly juice and the elf the blues.
Arthur was so surprised that he just froze there completely baffled by the sudden actions of the two.
“You can close your mouth there lad, or everyone will think you are trying to be a fish.” Hekrel said with a smile that reminded Arthur of all the drunks he met either in bars or on the streets.