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Seeds of Discordia
Tutorial 105 - Experimenting with Alchemy and Mana

Tutorial 105 - Experimenting with Alchemy and Mana

“Man, that was some good food,” Roman commented after letting out a loud belch.

Ariyana crinkled her face as she looked at him with disgust. “Excuse you.”

Roman shrugged not caring.

Liam shook his head as he watched the two start to bicker.

“Hey Liam,” Artem started as he turned towards him.

“What’s up?” Liam asked.

“I was wondering if you had any empty vials I could use?” Artem asked. “I bought a few and thought they would be enough, but I didn’t realize I would need more.”

Liam chuckled a bit before pulling up his inventory. After looking through it he frowned. He then looked at Artem and said, “I don’t have any empty ones right now, but I could grab more tonight and give you some tomorrow?”

Artem nodded. “Thanks.”

“What level do you have your Extract at?” Liam asked.

“Hold on,” Artem said as he pulled up his Crafting Window. “Hm, level three.”

“Not too bad,” Liam stated. “It’ll level easier when you have multiple extracts going on at a time.”

“What’s yours at?” Artem questioned.

Liam pulled up his Alchemy section in the Crafting window and took a look at it.

Alchemy

Level

18

Progression

17%

Skill

Extraction

Level

18

Progression

17%

Skill Description

Separating compounds from solids into liquids

Skill

Distill

Level

18

Progression

17%

Skill Description

purify the extracted liquids to a more consumable/or deadly item

Skill

Mana Extraction

Level

15

Progression

51%

Skill Description

Skill to add your mana to a liquid extraction.

Skill

Potion Making

Level

15

Progression

23%

Skill Description

Skill to make HP MP or Stamina Potions

Skill

Medicinal Creation

Level

0

Progression

0%

Skill Description

Skill to make medicinal Balms and tonics

Skill

Poison Craft

Level

13

Progression

25%

Skill Description

Art of making poison usable as a weapon

After closing it he looked back at Artem and responded, “It’s at level eighteen.”

“Eighteen?!” the others shouted.

Liam looked at them with a confused expression. “Yeah.”

“How?” Artem questioned.

“You’re not overworking yourself again are you?” Mercer asked with a look of concern.

“No,” Liam shook his head. “Extraction is one of the easiest to level and doesn’t require a lot of focus since all you have to do is mix the ingredients together and let them sit. I’ve had multiple going at a time while I do other things. It helps to have a lot extracting so when it comes to the Potion Making process I have a lot of material to work with and mass produce health and stamina potions for us and to sell.”

“So, it doesn’t wear you down while you do your extractions?” Mercer inquired.

Liam shook his head. “No. You are thinking about Mana Extraction. That one requires a lot of focus to make sure the mana is properly mixing with the liquid.”

“I didn’t realize there was different extractions,” Blair stated as she looked at Laim. “I just thought you needed to focus on everything when you do your alchemy.”

“Not everything in Alchemy needs a lot of focus when you’re making items,” Liam started. “Extraction, distillation, Health, and Stamina Potions are the only ones you don’t need to spend all your focus on. Mana Potions don’t need it either after you make Mana Extracts. However, Mana Extraction and Poison Craft need all of your attention while creating. I haven’t reached the level to try the others yet, so I can’t say much about them.”

“What other things is there in Alchemy?” Ariyana asked.

“The ones that I have been told that I haven’t dipped my foot into yet are: Medicinal Creations, Chemicalized Creations, and Magic Potions,” Liam answered.

“I know when you reach a certain point in the craft you can specialize in a section. Have you thought about what you want to specialize in with Alchemy?” Mercer asked.

Liam thought about it.

He wasn’t sure how the specialization really worked. For example, if he specialized in Extraction would it make things easier to extract? Would it make extracting faster? He needed to ask Galin how it worked.

Out of the ones he was already used to working with Poison Crafting looked like it would be fun to specialize in, but then again Potion Making would probably be more beneficial in the long run.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

However, he really wanted to know more about Chemicalized Creations and Magical Potions. From their names alone, they seemed like they would be a lot more helpful with his current style of fighting.

After thinking it over, he looked at Mercer and said, “I’m not sure yet. I know that I don’t have to rush on choosing since I can’t specialize in anything until I reach level thirty in one section. However, I know I don’t have to worry about being stuck specializing in one since I can switch between them.

“What do you mean?” Mercer questioned as he looked confused.

“Galin spoke about specializing in a section of a craft. Apparently you can’t specialize in something until you reach level thirty in a section of a craft, but you aren’t locked in to that section so you can switch your specialization into a different section, but only if that other section is level thirty or higher,” Liam explained.

“That’s interesting to know,” Mercer responded as he wrote down what Liam told them.

“So, then you can switch specializations whenever you want to as long as you are level thirty in that section?” Mercer questioned.

Liam nodded. “I’m not sure if there is any other limitations, but I was going to ask him when I went over there.”

“Let me know what you find out,” Mercer asked.

Liam nodded as he stood up. “Will do. Is there anything else we need to discuss before I head out?”

“Not that I can think of,” Mercer answered as he looked at the others.

They each shook their heads.

“I guess we’ll just train until we find out what they decide to let us do,” Mercer stated.

“Alright. Let me know if you hear anything,” Liam said as he walked out of the room.

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Liam stared at the vial full of purified water in front of him.

He was going to make some Mana Extracts when an idea popped into his head.

Since he found out that he could use different types of mana and could control and manipulate them, he wanted to see if he could extract those different types of mana using Mana Extraction.

However, he wasn’t sure if using the method he used to coat the mana on his hands would be enough since it only covered up to his wrists. He knew it didn’t need a lot of Arcane Mana, but was that the same for the other types of mana?

Only one way to find out. Liam thought as he set the vial down and thought about which mana. Now which mana type should I experiment with?

He knew he probably shouldn’t use Shadow Mana since he was trying to keep it a secret for now. He would use the same logic for Lunar Mana, but he still couldn’t get that one down yet. No matter how hard he tried the Lunar mana wouldn’t connect, almost like there wasn’t enough to latch on to.

So it came down to Gravity and Lightning Mana. His control over Gravity Mana was a level higher than his Lightning Mana, but he felt like if he was going to try and experiment then it should be with his weakest one. Why? He just felt like it.

He looked over to see where Galin was to make sure he wasn’t around him if it backfired.

Galin was standing on the other side of the room, so he didn’t need to worry. Alicia was in the Poison Craft room so she wouldn’t be around either.

He activated his Mana Sight, closed his eyes, channeled some mana over his body and started to quietly chant the Static Grasp spell. “Lightning surge bright and engulf my hand with the sparks of your stunning force…”

He felt and watched as the purplish-yellow mana started to form as he started to chant. When he got to a certain part of the chant he cut it off and tried to grasp the Lightning mana before it disappeared.

He was successful in keeping the mana type from disappearing and noticed the Lightning Mana covered a bit more past his wrists. As he noticed this he heard a chime sound echo in his mind.

Must have leveled it up. Liam thought with a grin. His grin then turned serious as he stared at the vial before him. Ok now time to see if this will work.

He grabbed the vial with his right hand and started to channel a little bit into the liquid. He started with the amount he would normally channel in when using his Arcane Mana.

As he watched the Lightning Mana connect with the liquid, he noticed the amount of Lightning Mana didn’t stay, but instead disappeared.

Liam frowned.

Okay, maybe I need to pour in a little more. Liam thought as he channeled five percent more than the usual amount he used.

Once again, the amount of Lightning Mana he channeled in stopped and disappeared.

Liam furrowed his brows as he watched this failure happen.

What am I doing wrong? Liam thought.

He thought about what he saw as he was channeling the Lightning Mana into the vial. He could tell it was working, however the moment he cut the mana off it disappeared.

Am I supposed to continuously channel the mana into it as the extraction process is going on? He thought as he stared at the amount of Lightning Mana he had left. Would I have enough to make it to the end?

Liam thought about it and tried to do the calculations in his mind.

I might have just enough if I don’t screw this up. He came up with after running the numbers three times. Guess the only way I can tell is by trying. I mean what’s the worst that can happen? I run out of Lightning Mana and it ends in failure?

Liam grinned. Like they used to say in that one kids movie. Nothing to it but to do it.

Liam brought his other hand over the vial and started channeling the mana he had.

He started slow at first, but notice the mana barely entered the vial. He decided to increase the amount of mana he was channeling.

Liam watched the Lightning Mana pour into the vial from the top and start to mix with the liquid. As it mixed with the clear water, Liam watched the purplish-yellow mana start to take a liquid like form inside the vial and sank to the bottom.

Liam was amazed to watch this because as soon as the mana sank to the bottom it started to spread out and change the color of the water. However, the mana didn’t spread upwards towards the top like he thought would happen. Instead, it condensed at the bottom and started pushing the water above it upwards.

Liam’s eyes furrowed. The more Lightning mana he channeled into it, the more it sank to the bottom and the more the water started to push towards the top, coming close to push the stopper off.

Liam started to panic internally as he couldn’t figure out what to do.

If he stopped channeling his mana there was a chance it would disperse and end in failure. On the other hand, if he continued to channel more mana into it, it would push the stopper off the vial and push the water out.

Liam turned down the amount of mana he was channeling, making the streak of liquified mana turn into a thin line.

As he looked at the thin line he remembered his training at the Smithy when Fia taught him how to infuse mana into a bone.

Maybe the process is kind of similar, but instead of trying to fuse the mana with a bone I need to find a way to fuse it with the water so it can start the Extraction process. Liam thought as he took a deep breath.

Liam closed his eyes as he slowly let the air roll off his lips. He felt his body start to relax a bit as his mind started to calm.

As he opened his eyes he stared at the vial before him. His eyes focused and zoomed in a bit as his sight was set on the liquified Lightning Mana he had produced at the bottom of the vial.

He felt his connection to it still there through the thin line pouring down from the top of the vial. He then focused his will to move the Lightning Mana.

He watched as a small portion responded to his will. A small blob started to move up. Then a second one broke off from the bottom. Then a third, a fourth, a fifth. He was able to break down the condensed liquified mana into blobs and spread them out throughout the vial. As the blobs moved it reminded him of a lava lamp.

After he was able to spread the blobs around he made them stop. The clear water now looked like it was spotted with purplish-yellow dots.

Liam wasn’t sure what to do from here, so he decided to try some things out. He moved a small speck over, but noticed it merge with the speck next to it. He frowned. He didn’t want the speck to merge with each other, he wanted it to mix with the water.

He separated the slightly bigger speck again and thought over what he could try.

Maybe if I swirl the specks of Lightning mana fast enough it would mix with the water? Liam thought.

He wasn’t sure if that was the answer, but he figured it was worth a try. After all this was going to be a trial and error experiment.

Liam grabbed a holder to place the vial down so he could free his hands.

After placing the vial into the slot to hold it up right, Liam focused on all the purplish-yellow spots. He placed his hands around the vial but didn’t touch it. He could feel the lightning mana still even though he wasn’t touching it.

Here goes nothing. Liam thought as he started to move all the purplish-yellow bubbles in one direction.

The movement was slow at first, but after pushing his will a bit more onto the bubbles the speed of the spin picked up a little. After a few seconds the speed was moving faster. It was almost like a blender had started inside as a small whirlpool formed in the middle of the vial.

Liam grew a smile as he watched through his Mana Sight and saw the liquified mana start to blend with the clear water.

That smile lasted a few seconds as he noticed something else start to materialize within the water.

It was a spark of lightning.

It happened for a brief moment and was so fast that he wasn’t sure if he was just seeing things.

However, a second spark flashed on the bottom of the vial. Then a third at the top.

More sparks started to appear throughout the vial as he felt a pressure start to build within the vial as he continued to spin the water.

He was about to cut off the mana he was channeling within the vial and release his control over the mana within, but lost his focus on that as a small arc of lightning suddenly connected with the thin line of his Lightning Mana he channeled.

As the arc connected with his mana line, it flowed up the line and out the vial and shot out, crashing into an empty glass vial, shattering it.

A second, third, and fourth arc of lighting followed suit destroying a couple more empty glass vials that were close by.

“Shit!” Liam cursed as he felt the pressure of the Lightning Mana start to take form outside of the liquid filled vial in front of him.

I need to stop the lightning mana from escaping! Liam thought with some urgency as he cut off the channel of Lightning mana he was feeding to the vial.

He swiftly glanced at his hands and noticed there was still a little bit of Lightning Mana coating his hands. It wasn’t a lot, but there was still enough for him to control the Lightning Mana that was going out of control.

He tensed his hands and tried to grip the arcs that were sparking out from the vial. He failed to stop the next arc from escaping as it shot out and fired towards the wall behind him.

“Fuck!” Liam muttered as he tried again.

“What’s going on over there!?” Galin shouted.

Liam ignored him as he focused on what was going on in front of him.

After a couple of failed attempts, he was finally able to stop the next three rampaging lightning arcs and tried to push them back into the vial.

They resisted at first, but after pushing his will as hard as he could he was able to forcibly pack it back into the vial. However, a new problem occurred after he did this. The arcs he pushed back into the vial started to bounce around against the glass vial.

The vial started to shake violently as the arcs of lightning pinballed around like a pro level pong match was being played.

Liam locked his hands in place, straining to not let the arcs of lightning escape while trying to keep swirling the liquid inside.

He could feel drops of sweat roll down his face as a headache started to pound inside his skull. After a minute of trying to keep this going, he started to internally panic as he noticed the last bit of Lightning Mana that was coating his hands start to dim out and disappeared.

Right as the last bit of Lightning Mana disappeared he noticed the arcs of lightning started to calm down and the swirling of the liquid smoothed out. The chaotic happening that was going on had finally stopped, revealing a vial full of purplish-yellow liquid with small flashes of lightning appearing here and there throughout the liquid.

Liam panted as he stared at the vial in front of him. His vision faded in and out as he stared at the vial. A smile appeared even though his head was pounded even harder as a couple of chime sounds echoed in his mind.

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“Congratulations! Your Control over Lightning Mana has reached level 4! Progression to level 5: 100%!”

“Congratulations! Your Control over Lightning Mana has reached level 5! Progression to level 6: 100%!”

“Congratulations! Your Control over Lightning Mana has reached level 6! Progression to level 7: 1%!”

“Congratulations! Alchemy has reached level 19! Progression to level 20: 2%!”

“Congratulations! Alchemy – Extraction has reached level 19! Progression to level 20: 2%!”

“Congratulations! You have discovered a new Extraction Ingredient!”

“New Extraction Ingredient – Liquified Lightning Mana Extraction (Weak)!”

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