Lily was quite excited to go into Camilla's atelier. Now that it involved actual potions rather than herbal remedies, she found it far more magical and enticing. Entering the room, Lily first noticed that there were already five bottles of blackish-red ink.
It caused Lily to gasp in surprise. "You made that many already?"
Camilla chuckled. "Girl, if you knew how simple it was to make the blood ink version, I think you'd be rather upset… But I have made an additional bottle of glyph ink for you to take at the end of the day."
Lily was dumbfounded. In the time it took her to make one bottle of the glyph ink, she had easily produced five bottles of the blood variety?
Talk about unfair… Although... If I compare that to what Arakil did, where he took completely mundane ink and instantly transmuted it, that's far more impressive! And once I have my own Mana, I will be able to do the same!
Camilla led her to a work table and started pulling out beaker stands and their accompanying bottles in various sizes.
"Unfortunately, I do not have many stands with exactly the same height. Will that be an issue?" Camilla asked. "I know you can adjust the glyphs, but we may need to reduce our number if it can't be done."
"No problem!" Lily said confidently. "I'm very good at the distance sigils."
"Wonderful!" Camilla expressed happily.
Camilla set up her various supplies and then started giving Lily instructions for each setup, which Lily wrote down and labeled each stand. If Arakil was correct about the reusable glyphs drawn in blood, then having them properly labeled for easy reuse would make things far less complicated.
I could probably just read the glyph and figure it out, but I don't think Miss Camilla could do that. Even if I explained it to her…
Lily and Camilla had a bit of back and forth on creating the labels for each setup, discussing the period and temperature required for each one. Camilla initially hesitated about not keeping it relatively simple, but she felt Lily's confidence was infectious and soon eagerly anticipated the success.
Once the initial setup was done, Lily was eager to draw the glyphs. Camilla handed over one of the blackish-red bottles and what looked like a relatively new pen.
I'm glad I don't have to worry about getting my pen tainted. I still wish I wasn't drawing in someone's blood… So gross...
And so she got to work. While Lily drew the first glyph, Camilla watched her eagerly. It was a relatively simple setup, a 60-minute flame at 90 degrees, so Lily had no trouble creating the required sigils.
When setting the parameters of the distance and size sigils, Lily hesitated and began trying to estimate the values. When Camilla noticed Lily trying to guesstimate using her own hands and fingers as measurements, she produced a ruler and handed it to her.
I need to buy one of these, and maybe some measuring tape, too? Magic is really expensive, and I need to buy so many things!
As she drew, she felt surging confidence, especially now that she had ensured the flame wouldn't expand outside the stand or that the flame would be produced inside the beaker.
Actually... I wonder what would happen if the apparition point was inside an object? Would the glyph fail entirely or cause the spell to manifest inside something? That would be pretty scary… Imagine a flame growing inside someone's stomach! I'll ask Arakil about it later…
When the glyph was complete, she smiled happily. "Done!"
"My-my, you work fast!" Camilla praised. "I know I witnessed you doing it yesterday, but doing it without any reference at such speed and accuracy is startling."
"Thanks…" Lily blushed.
"Right… So this is the long and slow flame; I need this solution to simmer, so this is perfect," Camilla said as she took the flask from the stand and walked over to her reagent table.
She pulled out some pre-ground materials and placed them into the flask. Then, she added a strange silvery fluid to the contents. She corked the flask and began shaking it to mix it up. Once everything had dissolved, she smiled and placed it on the stand.
"Right! Let's begin brewing!" Camilla said excitedly.
She touched the glyph Lily drew, and it began to glow. Lily found herself holding her breath again, a bad habit she hoped to grow out of once she had drawn more glyphs.
Exactly where she had measured, an elongated pyramid of flame appeared under the beaker, and it took only moments for the contents to start bubbling.
Lily released her breath. Success!
"Excellent! Truly excellent!" Camilla praised, and at the same time, she placed an hourglass on the table. "Not that I don't trust you, but this will confirm for us that everything is accurate."
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She also held a thermometer near the flame and smiled happily. "You've already got the temperature perfect, too; this is simply marvelous!"
Lily nodded; she didn't doubt her configuration of the sigil. But she did end up giving a tiny glare at the sand ticking down in the glass.
This thing better not be faulty… I know my glyph is right!
There was nothing to do but wait while the first one worked, so after having a refreshing cup of tea, Lily began working on the second glyph. Camilla, meanwhile, began grinding various ingredients together and preparing the solutions for the next setup.
Working together in relative silence, they found themselves in their own rhythm. The soft sounds of the pen scratching and gliding across the pages mixed with the sound of the mortar and pestle grinding ingredients.
However, when both noticed the hourglass running low, they finished their current task and positioned themselves to watch the still-burning flame and see if it would turn off correctly. Camilla even pulled out her thermometer to check the temperature and smiled happily when she saw the result.
Camilla clapped her hands excitedly when the flame winked out a few moments before the final grains of sand in the hourglass.
"Excellent! This is utterly amazing! I want you to make another one of these as soon as possible," Camilla requested.
"For a different setup?" Lily asked, tilting her head.
"No girl, for this same one," Camilla explained.
"But…" Lily said, pointing towards the glyph. "This glyph will still work. I'm not sure how potent your blood ink is, but since I focused on the efficiency, it should at least be able to be used another one or two times."
Camilla looked completely taken aback. "Are you serious?"
"Yes?" Lily tilted her head again.
"You're telling me this glyph is reusable?" Camilla asked to confirm.
"Yes. Because of the time-limit sigil, it turns off and still has the remaining leftover Mana to spend," Lily explained. "But, like I said, I'm not too sure how potent your blood is, so it might only be one or two more, but it could be even more."
"Girl…" Camilla muttered, then corrected herself. "No, Lily… You may have just revolutionized my entire shop!"
"Is it that big of a deal?" Lily questioned. "I mean… I haven't read your alchemy glyph book yet, but I assume it probably also has time-limit sigils…"
"Presumably! I haven't gone past the first few chapters since school!" Camilla admitted, chuckled to herself. "To think I was shooting myself in the foot by not getting more into glyphs… No wonder my professor suggested glyphs as my elective subject, to think I thought he did that because he hated me…"
Lily couldn't believe her ears. Her teacher had specifically told her to learn this, but she disregarded it entirely!
I promise I won't let your lessons go to waste! Lily swore to herself, thinking of Arakil's teachings.
Camilla retrieved the bottle and ran rudimentary tests on the slow-boiled solution. The more she examined it, the happier she seemed. Eventually, she placed a new bottle on the stand and filled it with the same ingredients before reigniting the flame glyph.
"It really works again!" Camilla exclaimed. "Lily, you're brilliant!"
"Thanks, Miss Camilla…" Lily blushed again. "I hope now you'll understand why I want more glyph ink and to get a plant with better Mana."
Camilla nodded. "Most certainly! I'd almost say it was a cruel prank of the gods to have someone as talented in glyphs as you but unable to use your own blood. Why, I swear I'd write you a recommendation letter to Blesmore Academy myself; you might even get in on your glyph work alone!"
"Thanks for the offer, Miss Camilla, but I have my heart set on Regarth to join my big sister," Lily politely rejected the offer. "But I'll gladly pay for any better Mana plants! Please!"
Camilla sighed, wishing the girl would be a little more realistic. Then again… She did all of this when I doubted her. Maybe she can get into Regarth?
"Very well. I'll consult my catalog and then speak to my supplier… But be warned, they are expensive," Camilla agreed.
"You promise you aren't saying that to discourage me?" Lily questioned suspiciously.
Camilla winced. "I guess I deserve that after what I did… But I promise you I'm not lying about this. Swear to the gods. I'll even show you my catalog if you don't believe me!"
Lily shook her head frantically, her ears flopping from side to side. "No. You promised, so I believe you. I'll make sure to save up as much as possible!"
"Well… On that end, I probably need to increase your wages," Camilla said, pointing to the glyph and flame. "Because this is going far beyond minor assistant work."
"Really?" Lily asked, eyes sparkling.
Camilla chuckled. "Yes, really, girl! I don't want any government workers or the orphanage kicking my door down for labor exploitation! Besides, if I can start making the good potions again, my profits will skyrocket!"
"Great! Then let's get back to work!" Lily demanded.
"Cheeky brat! I'm supposed to be the slavedriver, not you!" Camilla teased before cackling with laughter.
Lily giggled and twirled her pen. This idea sounded far more exciting to her, and she loved every minute of it.
I can't wait to tell Arakil! We will have so much Mana his belly will burst!
Time flew by as she worked. She had completed numerous sets of varying glyphs at different times and temperatures, all nicely labeled for each brewing stand. Lily proudly looked over her work while Camilla took stock of each one and its label.
"You did all of this before lunch… Aren't your fingers sore?" Camilla teased.
"Lots of practice… I don't get out much, so writing and drawing are all I can do," Lily explained.
Camilla nodded. "Tell me, can you draw bigger glyphs?" She asked.
Lily nodded. "I certainly can, although not at this speed, as I'm a little unpracticed. Why?" Lily questioned.
Camilla grinned as she pointed to the large cauldron in the corner of the room. "Well, I want a glyph for that big boy sitting in the corner."
Lily giggled. "Miss Camilla, I could just change the sigil for a bigger flame and use the same size glyph."
Camilla genuinely blushed, looking mightily embarrassed. "But… No, that can't be right… I know for certain I was told the bigger the glyph, the better!"
Lily giggled. "Well… A bigger glyph would mean more ink and thus more Mana."
"Right…" Camilla nodded.
"More available Mana means a better chance at overcoming imperfections and inefficiencies," Lily explained.
"Oh…" Camilla frowned. "So they're pointless?"
"Well, not pointless," Lily admitted. "A bigger glyph would also allow more activations. Or a longer activation with a stronger effect. Since we don't have an estimate for your blood ink, it might still be beneficial."
"Well, that's good at least… I'm glad I wasn't fed entirely wrong knowledge," Camilla sighed. "Makes me wonder if the glyph artisans are making up a scam or something. Charging triple for a big glyph, bah!"
"They're scamming people?" Lily questioned.
"They might be," Camilla shrugged. "I've heard they charge a fortune for their work, and since only they can activate it, it's not like anyone can just steal it."
"I mean… Doing it takes a lot of practice and learning, so I can understand why they might."
"True, I certainly don't hold back on my potion prices, so who am I to judge?" Camilla cackled with laughter.