Jeb was relieved to find that Professor Quicksilver was waiting inside of his office. He quirked an eye at Jeb’s arrival.
“I did not expect you to arrive so quickly. Will someone else be maintaining the Emporium while you are away?”
Jeb shrugged. “Catherine and Declan both agreed to take over while I spend some time improving my skills. Neither of them want me to stagnate either.”
Quicksilver nodded slowly, and Jeb realized that he might not know who Catherine and Declan were. “Catherine and Declan are friends that I’ve made in my courses here,” Jeb explained. “They have been in charge of the different business aspects of the Emporium.”
Understanding flashed in the Professor’s eyes. “Given how reluctant you were to name a price for your services before, I will admit that I was surprised to hear that you were operating a business. That explanation does clear much of it up, thank you.”
Jeb gave a quick nod. “So, how would you recommend we begin?” he asked.
Quicksilver stood, gesturing for Jeb to leave his office. Jeb ducked underneath a pile of papers that had somehow appeared as he sat down. The Professor started leading him through the halls before suddenly pausing and turning around.
Flushing slightly, he explained, “I realize now that I do not know exactly where you have been performing your Brewing.”
“Oh!” Jeb said happily, taking the lead. The hallways bent backwards on themselves as he led the Professor to his plot of land. When they reached it, Jeb saw that his barley was nearly grown. It was a bit of a surprise to see the large stalks waving in the wind, but Jeb shrugged it off. He was focused on Alchemy right now, not Farming.
When Jeb opened the door to his Brewery, he cringed a little. He had not been expecting anyone inside except for himself, and the surroundings showed it. There was exactly one path through the space between all of the barrels, bags of grains, and other assorted detritus. Nothing in it was dirty, exactly, it was just all very cluttered. Quicksilver hardly seemed to notice the mess as he deftly danced around the hazards on the floor. When Jeb caught up to him, he was looking intently at Jeb’s notes on Inkstain Ale.
Jeb heard him muttering something about “trying to fly before learning what a bird is,” before Quicksilver turned to him.
“I would like to watch you Brew a barrel of the Eyelight Ale,” he said.
“Sure!” Jeb replied happily, beginning to gather the ingredients he would need. His concern about the condition of the space began to fade as he moved, each piece placed perfectly where he could reach. As he was waiting for the wort to cool, he asked, “is there a reason that you had me start with Eyelight Ale?”
Quicksilver nodded. “I was wondering when you were going to ask. It requires a single Alchemical, which should make it easier. I know that you have significant experience with Fireleaf, though, which means that you may have already trained your Skills to work with it unthinkingly. The same cannot be said for Alchemical Eyebright.”
“That makes sense,” Jeb replied. The wort had cooled sufficiently, and so he added the yeast to the mixture, stirring it. When the yeast seemed ready, Jeb poured the Yeast Energizer and watched the beer almost instantly Brew itself. Jeb poured the beer into a serving barrel and looked over.
“Where would you like me to begin?” Quicksilver asked. Something in his tone let Jeb know that there were any number of right answers, but that the Professor would not be giving him them. Jeb mulled the question over for a small while. In the end, he was deciding between two different questions: what he could most quickly improve, and what needed the most improvement. When he realized that those were his choices, his choice became clear.
“What do you think I need the most improvement on?” he asked.
Professor Quicksilver gave an approving nod. “I cannot comment on the specifics of anything you did regarding Brewing, so it is possible that there are mistakes that I could not catch in that process. However, there are two major issues that I see with regards to your Alchemy. First,” he held up a finger, “I believe that many Brewers have different yeasts which they use for different beers?” he lifted his voice as though it was a question, so Jeb nodded.
“Similarly, Alchemical Brewing has historically used different strains of yeast which have been Attuned to the proper Essence for whatever Brew is desired. Unfortunately, only the Druids know how to produce Essence Attuned Yeast. If you wanted to learn to produce it yourself, you would need to do an apprenticeship with the Druids. Second,” he began, and Jeb tried to interrupt him.
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It sounded as though an apprenticeship with Druids was not out of the realm of possibility. Quicksilver did not pay attention, however, and he continued speaking. “I think that it would be best for me to simply demonstrate the second part of your process. You are using the basic Yeast Energizer, correct?”
Jeb nodded, and Quicksilver pulled out another bottle from the folds in his robes. “Please prepare two more barrels of the Eyebright Ale, stopping after you add the yeast.”
Jeb hurried to do so, silently hoping that the Emporium was selling a lot of that brew. When he had finished adding the yeast to both, he turned to Quicksilver.
“Watch the difference,” he said, pouring a bottle of Jeb’s own Yeast Energizer and the potion that he had produced. Jeb activated his Magical sight, trying to watch the difference. At first, he thought that the basic Yeast Energizer was doing a far better job. The Essence coming off of that barrel was far more potent. As both beers finished fermenting, however, Jeb realized his mistake.
Any Essence that the beer gave off was Essence that was no longer within the Brew. The beer he had made with his own Yeast Energizer felt almost hollow compared to the dense Magic within the other barrel of beer.
“What do you see?” Professor Quicksilver asked.
“The beer that you put the other Yeast Energizer in has far more potent Essence,” Jeb replied.
“Good,” Quicksilver confirmed, “what else?”
Jeb frowned slightly. There did not seem to be anything else different between the two beers. As he looked more closely, however he started to see something. Or, rather, he started to taste something with his Magical sense.
The beer that had been made with the Professor’s potion tasted like a perfectly tuned chord. Jeb shuddered a little as he tried to make sense of something tasting like a chord. When he accepted the feeling without trying to understand it, however, it was the right description for the flavor. The other barrel of beer was still a well tuned chord, it was true. It was not, however, perfectly tuned.
“The Essences in the beer with your Yeast Energizer are better aligned,” Jeb said hesitantly.
Quicksilver’s eyes glinted a metallic grey. “How did the difference in alignment appear to you?” he asked, tone carefully neutral.
“I don’t quite know how to explain it,” Jeb admitted, “but I tasted chords from each of the beer’s Magical signatures. The beer from your potion was perfectly tuned, while mine was ever so slightly off pitch.”
“Interesting,” Quicksilver said, eyes unfocusing as he thought of something. He quickly shook the thought away, refocusing on Jeb. “We can discuss that later. What do you think the difference was between the two potions?”
“The potion I used just makes the yeast work more quickly,” Jeb said. “I assume that, much like some delicate flavors can be blown off during fermenting, the same is true of Essence. Yours trapped the Essence somehow.”
“Your explanation for the first Yeast Energizer is correct in broad strokes, if nothing else. Any details that you missed are not particularly relevant right now. However, you are incorrect in your assessment of the second potion. Tell me, do you know how Alchemical Brewers used to work before Yeast Energizers were discovered?”
“I do not,” Jeb admitted readily.
“Alchemical Brewers have to hold the Essences in the beer as it Brews, much as any Alchemist must hold the Essence in an Alchemical. Unlike the simple distillations that you performed in Introductory Alchemy, however, I understand that most beers take multiple days to ferment.” Seeing Jeb’s nod, he continued, “Alchemical Brewers were forced to either work without rest for days on end or else find a team of other Alchemists that they could trust to hand the Essences off to. Now, I will gladly tell you that there are Yeast Energizers which will hold and bind the Essences in place for a Brewer so all one would need to do is pour the Energizer in and have a perfect beer, at least as far as Alchemy is concerned. What I used, however, simply allowed me to continue manipulating the Essence within the beer as it Brewed.”
“Which Yeast Energizer was that?” Jeb asked.
“Jeremiah’s Fourth,” Quicksilver replied easily. Seeing the lost look on Jeb’s face, he continued, “I am sure that we have referenced different texts. If nothing else, the tome I referenced is not written in Republic Standard. Still, it is a simple enough Alchemical to prepare. Do you prepare your Yeast Energizer in this room?” he asked looking around.
Jeb shook his head. “When I realized how much the Yeast Energizer helped, I made a large batch of it. I haven’t had to make more since then.”
“You didn’t struggle to keep the Essences in line?” Quicksilver asked.
“Not really,” Jeb admitted, “something about the process felt similar to making Woven Fire, though.”
“Interesting,” Quicksilver said, turning and exiting Jeb’s Brewery. Instead of opening to his plot of land, however, the door opened to an Alchemical Workshop. Quicksilver strode in, and Jeb quickly hurried to follow him.
The new room was significantly cooler than his Brewery. Jeb wasn’t sure if that was because his Brewery was hot or this room was cold, but it was a strange contrast either way. When he had recovered from the sudden blast of cold, there was a piece of paper floating in front of him. It was labeled “Jeremiah’s Fourth”, though Jeb did note that the entire page seemed to be written in Republic Standard.
Surprisingly, it did not appear significantly more difficult to produce than the recipe he had been following. It was fewer steps, even if it did require tighter tolerances on all the measurements. Looking up and seeing Quicksilver watching him from a desk in the center of the room, Jeb felt like he was back in Introductory Alchemy. He set the page down on the first desk and saw that it was already stocked with all the reagents he would need. Humming to himself, he started to measure and grind the different plants.