By the end of the first day, Amelia, Malor, and Trillia were exhausted. A lot of smithing work required a large stamina pool. Amelia's songs and the frequent use of [Restorative Chant] helped some. But it was far more than the three were expecting.

Trillia sat on the smooth cold stone floor and just rested. She had gained seven alchemist levels in the span of ten hours. Marg said she'd go over the class at length tomorrow, so not to worry about choosing skills now. Trillia was just fine with that. Amelia groaned and flexed her hands while glaring at Frederick. "How are you not worn out?"

Fred chuckled and glanced at his parents, who were still full of energy and working on another project. "You get used to it when it's your entire life. I have a lot of passive skills and a couple of traits to help with stamina drain. So do mom and dad. I've heard some combat classes use a lot of stamina, but it's mostly mana or health that's used for skills. It just means none of you are used to having your stamina constantly drained and refilled. Whenever we had a big order come in during our time in D'Jamu, we'd actually brew or buy stamina potions specifically so we could work longer hours."

Trillia rolled her head to the other side to stare at him as he spoke. Most of the group was comfortable enough in the human tongue that they were all speaking it. It was still rough at points. But it was better than Trillia constantly translating. "If we keep up this way, we'll also get a trait or passive for it. That'd be a huge boon in prolonged fights. I just don't know how many days of this in a row I can take."

As she finished that sentence, Marg walked over and placed cool bottles of liquid in front of each of them. "It's a potion of minor restoration. It will help with some of the fatigue. You, kids, did good today. I'll warn you, it won't get easier before it gets worse. That's true in fighting and in crafting. Tomorrow every inch of you is going to be sore, and I'll still expect you here after breakfast and ready to work. I promise, though, that the hard work will pay off."

Trillia groaned and pushed herself to a sitting position. Happily taking the potion and sipping at it. It had a bitter but fruity taste. Mostly it was just cold, which was relief enough. "I'll be here. That was a lot of alchemy levels, and you obviously have a lot more experience with the class than me."

Marg smiled and tousled her hair as she walked back to her husband. The others sipped their potions as well. Malor rubbed his eyes and looked at the group. "I gained three enchanting levels today. I didn't think I could still level that fast. But I guess working on armor instead of the wall makes the enchanting lattices work differently. I think by the time I need to enchant our armor sets before we delve, I'll have some potent enchantments to use."

Layla, who also wasn't exhausted since she mostly just chatted and acted as a beacon of joy to everyone, piped up. "I have some ideas for that! I've heard you can make enchantments that last until a command word is spoken. The humans use things like that in little sticks to cast spells."

Frederick nodded at her words. "We call them wands. Do your people not use wands?"

Trillia shook her head. "Ba'Shoon had some wands. But we use staves to channel our own magic. I don't think most warriors ever used wands."

Layla nodded excitedly. "If Malor can do something similar for some of our gear, I can help him with restoration spells. This way, you can all heal yourselves if we're ever in a pinch." She looked down a bit. "Though, I guess that's a lot more work for Malor."

The minotaur offered her a smile. "If it makes it so that you aren't having to overwork yourself, keeping us healed, I can look into that type of enchantment. Plus, it will be another challenge I can overcome for the purposes of my leveling. "

Trillia finished off her potion and flopped back onto the cool stone. "Just kick me when it's tomorrow."

That got a laugh out of Fred, who finished off his own potion and bid them good night before going to help his parents with more work.

The next few days were more of the same. Marg eventually convinced Layla to join Malor with enchanting work, using their scrap armor to perfect the command word enchantments for healing. Amelia got more involved with the armor smithing and even managed to make some of her song skills work to the beat of a hammer. By the end of their 'probation' period. Trillia had maxed out [Alchemist] the first time.

Trillia and Marg sat inside the armorsmith's house at a table. Marg had several journals filled with various classes and skills. Trillia copied a lot of it over to her own journal as the two discussed skills.

"So. [Refine Purity] is a class skill that most smithing classes will get. But the process is more involved for alchemists. Other skills that have some overlap are [Temper], [Transmutation], and [Alloying]. Though, that last one isn't used in the context of the word or skill itself. An alloy is a metal made up by combining other metals. Alchemists use it when they mix in liquid metals into unstable concoctions to create potions such as iron skin or shrapnel clouds." Marg paused as Trillia scribbled furiously while nodding.

Marg pulled out a few flasks from a nearby cabinet. One that caught Trillia's eye was a swirling golden color that had the same iridescent quality that people like Mort's eyes held. [Mana-Sight] turned on in an instant.

[Gold-Infused Mana Essence]

Known Alchemical Compounds:

Known Alchemical Applications: This liquid can be used to coat a blade in a mana-rich metal plating which allows it a significantly increased enchantability. It can also be used to form pure mana blades.

Known List of Alchemical Ingredients:

Creation Process: The creation process for this item is unknown to you at this time. You must either learn it from another alchemist or from an alchemist's working notes. You must create this item at least once on your own to garner more information about the process.

Trillia blinked her [Mana-Sight] away and glanced back at Marg. "There's so much more information now that I'm an alchemist."

Marg offered a smile and unstoppered the bottle. Laying out a few thin strips of different metals on the table, as well as a few pieces of wood and bark. "The beauty of alchemy is in the variety of applications something has. You're still an amateur Alchemist. Of all the classes I've seen, it has the most variation in evolutions. Now what application did the system give you for this item?"

Trillia used [Mana-Sight] again and read it off verbatim. Marg nodded and slowly drizzled the concoction over the various metals. Trillia's eyes went wide as the liquid seemed to be drawn to some metals and coat them. For other metals, it simply burned through. Most interesting was that a couple of pieces of wood seemed to adapt to the metal to the point that the wood itself looked metallic. Trillia stared at everything for a few more seconds before looking back at Marg.

"Read these notes and scan the remainder of the bottle." Trillia took the notes offered.

It took her fifteen minutes to read through the notes once, and half of the language was lost to her. There were so many technical terms she didn't understand that Marg had to explain. Once she was done, she looked at the half-empty flask once more.

[Gold-Infused Mana Essence of Corruption]

Known Alchemical Compounds:

Known Alchemical Applications: This liquid is used to corrupt the natural mana of an item. The most common use of this item is to plate iron, bronze, or steel pieces of equipment which will raise their enchantability. If used on weaker metals, it will instead consume and entirely burn away the old metal blade leaving a pure mana blade in its place.

This liquid can also be used as a way to dirty enchant biological components. Opening up many wooden pieces of equipment to enchantments that would normally be reserved for metal equipment instead.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Known List of Alchemical Ingredients:

Creation Process: The creation process for this item is unknown to you at this time. You must either learn it from another alchemist or from an alchemist's working notes. You must create this item at least once on your own to garner more information about the process.

Trillia sat back and once more let her [Mana-Sight] fall. "This is....complicated."

Marg nodded and put forward a second flask. This process repeated a couple of times, and by the end of two hours, Trillia's head was spinning. Marg put a plate of warm bread and cold water next to her. "Everything I've shown you is from the basic [Alchemist] class. Albeit, some of those skills are only gained when you're on a long duration."

Trillia took a long drink of water before swapping over to eat some of the bread. Looking between Marg and her own notes. "It's difficult to imagine how much knowledge Grand Alchemist Mort has."

Marg grinned. "I've heard a lot about this man. My husband says that some of his traits are extremely interesting. If he's even half as talented as his class and traits appear, he's an incredibly dangerous individual. There are alchemical compounds that take months to come to fruition but can level stone walls in an instant. In the crafting world, everyone has a great deal of respect for alchemists. Especially lifelong alchemists. It's more frequent for an alchemist to die to their own creations than to be killed by an enemy or old age."

Trillia sat back and stared at Marg. "Are...are you trying to talk me out of the class?"

Marg threw her head back and laughed at that. Taking a moment to compose herself and shake her head. "Not at all! I think you'd make an incredible Alchemist. But I'm not going to pretend it's going to be easy or a walk in the park, either. I want you to be well aware of all the dangers you're going to face. My journals are yours to read anytime you need them, Trillia. I'm always open for a discussion on the matter as well. One day I'd like to go back into Alchemy, but for now, my family needs me to be an armorsmith, so I am."

Trillia nodded. She could understand that need. She felt it was a bit like her mother enforcing the combat class-only rule onto the tribe. "I hope you can follow your dreams again. I'm sure you will be able to, here in this city. What skill should I take as my first mastery?"

Marg didn't hesitate to respond. "Alchemical Encyclopedia is a required skill. Not only will it open up a lot of other options, but it's a skill that teaches you a very important lesson about the class system."

Trillia tilted her head curiously at that. Marg continued. "What level did you max out at?"

"Thirty-Six. I was really hoping it would be closer to fifty."

Marg nodded and leaned back, tapping her fingers to her lips for a moment. "You have...thirteen or so skills available?"

Trillia went through the list and nodded. "Fifteen if we count [Refine Purity]."

Marg stood and grabbed another journal from her shelf before extending it to Trillia. "The first few pages."

Trillia opened the book and, once more, could only stare. "This is a list of every skill at every level."

Marg nodded. "Notice how many you're missing? I've written down what stats I had as well as all of the relevant skills I had. I'm sure Mort has dozens of journals like this one. I know of three different skills. Two from [Alchemist] and one from [Master Armorsmith] that will change what skills you get from your class. Even just taking [Alchemist] a second time at a short duration will change the number of skills you get and their potency because you will have Alchemical Encyclopedia mastered. The system doesn't tell us even a fraction of what's available to every class. Probably because there are an endless amount of possible synergies that would give you more skills to lean on."

Trillia shook her head. "Surely someone has figured all of this out."

Marg shrugged and motioned to her journal. "How many [Berserkers] does your tribe have?"

Trillia sat back and thought on it. She knew it was one of, if not the most popular evolution to warrior and fighter there was. "A lot, I guess."

"Do they all share the exact same skill set and list?"

Trillia opened her mouth to respond but stopped. Taking a few minutes to go over all the conversations she had overheard in her life. "I guess not. I just thought it was a matter of stats."

Marg smiled and took the journal from Trillia, flipping through a few pages and handing it back. The page that had been flipped to was a list of all the other alchemists that Marg had met in her life and their skill list, passives, and traits. There were dozens of names through the next few pages. "I compiled that journal over more than a decade of dedicated research. Most folks aren't willing to share a lot of information about themselves. So worried about it being used against them. Alchemists are a different breed. Most of us are so taken with a lust for knowledge that we're willing to risk more to gain more. I would be willing to bet our forge that every class is the same. People just aren't willing to share information as they should be."

Trillia sat there for a long time in silence. Marg tidied the table up and put up various alchemical ingredients. Fred and Alfred walked into the house, and as they did, Marg served all four of them big bowls of steaming soup with warm bread and cold mead. Alfred looked at Trillia and then at Marg. "Are you ok, lass?"

Trillia wore a frown as she looked at him. "People are stupid. I know everyone tells me not to share my traits or other things because I'd be taken advantage of. But how much more would we all know about ourselves, and how much happier and safer would we be if people knew what classes to take together for the purpose of getting certain skills? It's dumb that we hide so much information."

Fred nodded his agreement as he dug into his food. Alfred gave Marg a rather knowing look before nodding himself. "You should visit the Library of Scales one day."

Marg's face instantly dropped, and she shot a glare at the man. Trillia and Fred both perked up at that. Alfred continued, unperturbed by the daggers in his wife's eyes. "It's a library that is run by a dragon. You have to barter to get in or offer the dragon a piece of knowledge it didn't have. The dragon himself is under a permanent geas so that it can't lie or take advantage."

Marg snipped a bit. "It's still a dragon, Alfred! It doesn't have to take advantage to snap you in two and gobble you up!"

Alfred chuckled a bit and shrugged. "Seemed a reasonable enough fellow to me. I only saw him eat a single petitioner who was being an asshole." Alfred looked at the two kids. "It's a library that has tens of thousands of books in it. That's how I learned to unlock [Master Armorsmith] for Marg and I. See, that dwarven metal technique I learned? They taught it to me because only a [Master Armorsmith] can use it. Mind you, it's not a skill that can be mastered either. You have to actually be a [Master Armorsmith] to use the technique. I traded that dragon two years of servitude for two hours in its library."

Trillia's eyes went wide at that, and so did Frederick's. "Two years?! For two hours?"

Marg sighed, sitting back and staring at Alfred. "It was a hard two years for us. But in the end, it was worth it. The Library of Scales isn't something to be taken lightly. Dozens of deities have set up extremely hefty protections around it. I believe the [2nd Axle] set up a rune that disables the use of temporal mana while inside the library. So that you can't cheat time while you're there. If either of you gets it in your head to seek it out, just be careful. There are creatures there far more dangerous than a dragon. Which should be warning enough."

Trillia nodded and jotted down the library of scales in her journal, wanting to get more information. Seeing a bit of tension in the room, she changed the subject. "Our armor is done tomorrow, right?"

Alfred nodded with a wide smile on his face. "It is! We'll spend tomorrow putting the finishing touches on it and let Malor enchant it. After that, I'm happy to stop being an overprotective papa bear, and you kids can run off into a dungeon."

The excitement coming off of Frederick was palpable at this point. "I can't wait! Plus! I've been learning a bunch of skills to make accessories and temporary equipment from dungeon items. Dad knows so much about dungeons and has so many skills for it! I know our group is gonna do well! Have you decided on whether you're going to stay an [Alchemist] or not, Trillia?" Frederick looked over at her with his big dumb dopey smile. Trillia had to admit between him and Layla, the two were infectious when it came to joy.

"I think I'm going to take [Alchemist] again at Medium. Between helping Miss Marg in the shop and doing dungeon delves, I think I can level it quickly. I also think..." She paused and chewed her lip. No one pushed her to continue or for an answer. She liked this family. They let her work things out on her own and only helped when she asked. "I don't think I'm going to listen to other voices. I think I want to try this on my own and make my own skill set work. Lord Arlyss has helped all of us so much, but I don't think mortals should be beholden to the words of deities."

Marg grinned a little but hid it with a drink from her mug. Alfred chuckled and shook his head. "You really need to meet the Queen. Marg and I heard her give speeches before. Even seeing her from afar...it's just."

Marg's grin grew wider as she finished for him. "Majestic is the only word that comes close. Given that your Mother is Amara Demonsbane, I'm quite certain that the queen would offer to see you in person. You share a lot of her beliefs. That mortals shouldn't bend the knee to deities that don't earn it. That mortals should share amongst one another so that we can all rise. I, for one, am excited to see what Trillia Demonsbane becomes of her own free will. I think Alchemy is a good step in that direction."

Trillia smiled at the encouraging words. She thought more about the queen. She had never met a single person who hadn't at least heard of her before. Trillia wondered what sort of human she had to be that the whole realm knew of her. A small part of her wanted to be that sort of legendary figure. To prove that orcs could be more than the savages they were often thought to be.

She grinned more as she dug into her food, followed shortly by Amelia and the others peeking their heads in. Marg rolled her eyes and ushered her apparently ever-growing adopted family into the kitchen and fed them.