Jeb found that he grew steadily more focused as he continued to prepare the Yeast Energizer. When he put all of the liquids and extractions into the alembic, his mind had reduced down to a single goal: rewrite the world so that the Alchemical existed and the precursors no longer did. The Essence tried to resist changing. The Alchemicals he had added together joined in a disparate but unified opposition. Once again, Jeb was reminded of the Bard’s explanation of the different mental Statistics.
This process did not seem like one best solved by force, which took Willpower out of contention. As Jeb tried to reason with the disparate Essences, he realized the futility of that approach as well. He had not realized how out of practice he had gotten in working with Alchemy. More than that, though, Jeb still did not feel like he understood how Alchemy worked in relation to the other Magics he knew. The more that he tried to unify his Magic Skill, the more he realized that truth.
Shaking himself out of the thought, Jeb refocused on the alembic in front of him. It doesn’t matter why these Essences are resisting me, he finally decided, I am a Wizard, and I want to accomplish this Magic. The world sharpened, just for an instant, and Jeb watched the Essences blend. He tasted music once again, as the different voices were forced into perfect harmony. It was no less strange of an experience the second time through, even if Jeb was less surprised by the sensation.
Quicksilver came over as he was bottling the potion.
“I notice that you seemed to have some difficulty creating the Alchemical,” he noted.
Jeb explained his goal of unifying Magic within his soul. Quicksilver nodded, seeming to agree with Jeb’s rationale. “I had forgotten that you no longer have the Alchemy Skill,” he admitted. “With that in mind, you may be best served by making a few more vials of this Yeast Energizer. I am less than confident in your immediate success.”
Jeb tried not to be hurt by his Professor’s lack of faith. The next batches came together far more easily, and Jeb soon had half a dozen vials of the new Yeast Energizer ready to test. Pocketing them, he led Quicksilver back to his Brewery. Inside of the Brewery, Professor Quicksilver watched quietly as Jeb once again prepared a barrel of Eyebright Ale. When the yeast had been added, Jeb reached into the folds of his student’s uniform and withdrew a bottle of Yeast Energizer.
In the scattered sunlight of the Brewery, the Yeast Energizer almost seemed to glow. When he uncorked it, a drop flew out, burning a crimson gold in the light. It seemed to be drawn to the barrel of wort, and Jeb hurried to add the rest of the vial.
As soon as it entered, Jeb felt the space within the barrel suddenly speed up. Because he had been the one to add the Energizer, however, he was able to split some of the timing difference. The world within the barrel was still moving incredibly quickly, but the world outside the barrel seemed to have stopped. Jeb felt the Essences in the beer trying to fight him.
The moment that he tried to control them, however, the Eyebright Essences fell directly in line. Jeb tasted the chord as it slowly came into tune. In just a few subjective minutes, the entire barrel was thrumming with the same taste. However, that was not the end of the process.
The moment that Jeb tried to pull back, the Essences started to slide out of tune. As a result, he was forced to maintain his grasp on the beer through the entire Brewing. It was not difficult at first, any more than holding his hand out at shoulder height with a small weight was difficult. As the minutes turned to hours, though, the process grew more and more difficult. By the time that the process had finished, Jeb was shaking with exhaustion and sweat.
He pulled back as the beer started to carbonate, confident that the Essences had fully stabilized. Pulling back, he took a deep breath, noticing how the world seemed to suddenly jump forward again. Quicksilver began speaking, but the words came out in a rush, and Jeb had barely realized that the Professor had started speaking before he stopped.
Quicksilver stared at Jeb patiently.
Jeb stared back at Quicksilver.
“It looked as though you managed the Eyebright Essences,” Quicksilver commented. Seeing Jeb nod, he continued, “is there a reason you let the Essence of Ale escape?”
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Jeb cocked his head. “I didn’t realize that Alchemical Eyebright had Essence of Ale,” he replied honestly.
Quicksilver frowned. “It does not. A barrel of Alchemical Beer, however-”
He trailed off, clearly unsure how he was supposed to finish the sentence.
Jeb felt a connection in his mind suddenly form. It was as though he had been wearing a blindfold during all of his Brewing, and it had suddenly been pulled off of his eyes. “What is Essence of Ale?” Jeb asked.
Professor Quicksilver sighed. “It is exactly what it sounds like. Have you truly not noticed it?”
Seeing Jeb’s blank expression, he nodded. “I suppose that it would tend to be diffuse enough that you could miss it, especially if you are working with Alchemical reagents. Still, it is an essential Essence in order to stabilize any higher level Alchemical effect,” he nodded at Jeb’s notes of failed Inkstain Ale recipes.
“How would you recommend that I make it?” Jeb asked.
“Do you need any Alchemical to make your beer?”
Jeb bobbed his head, considering the question. “Not as such,” he finally concluded, “though I do need something to balance the sweetness in the wort.”
Quicksilver waved his hand, and a shimmering silver portal appeared behind him. He reached through, pushing the liquid away, and pulled out a handful of fresh hops. “Would these work?” he asked, handing them to Jeb.
Jeb smelled the herbs cautiously. They smelled almost identical to the hops his aunt had used on the farm. Frowning, he cautiously nodded.
“Then I would recommend you Brew a barrel of beer, using these,” Quicksilver glanced to the side, “hops,” he carefully enunciated, “and use your old Yeast Energizer so that we are not waiting weeks for it to finish Brewing.”
“Won’t that lose the Essence?” Jeb asked.
“What Essence would a barrel of ale have other than Ale?”
Jeb could not think of a rebuttal to that, so he nodded and prepared another barrel of ale. Even though he was certain that the end result would never be drunk, it felt wrong to Jeb to waste the hops on anything other than his best barrel of beer. He forced his Skills down, trying to recreate the beer that his aunt had taught him from memory and instinct, rather than relying on the System.
As Jeb started rolling the malt, he felt as though he were in the midst of some song that had been playing in the back of his head for years. Each motion he made was exactly as large as it needed to be and not a modicum more. As the malt slowly steeped, the smell rising from the barrel changed, growing sweeter and darker as the room started to steam slightly. When he had extracted all the sugars from the base malt, Jeb transferred the liquid to another container and, on impulse, added a small handful of his darkest malt. The heavily roasted color spread though the liquid, dying it a flaming red.
After straining the grains off again, Jeb sniffed the hops again and added a scant handful to the beer. He brought it to a rapid boil, carefully Controlling the Fire so that the entire barrel heated evenly. When the bitter flavors had been fully extracted, he pulled some of the heat away from the barrel and carefully added the rest of the hops.
As the wort cooled, Professor Quicksilver seemed slightly confused at how much longer this process had taken. He seemed unwilling to question Jeb, however. As the dance came to an end, Jeb added the Yeast Energizer to the barrel and watched it quickly brew.
When it finished, he grabbed two tasting glasses and filled them. Handing one to the Professor, they toasted each other and tried the beer. It was the best beer that Jeb had ever Brewed. He hadn’t really thought that he had been relying on the Alchemical effects of his beer, but the flavor here was just so much better that he questioned that conclusion. Even if part of what made this beer taste so good was the nostalgia, Jeb was positive that the overall Brew was a higher quality than his Alchemical Beers.
“Fantastic job, I assume,” Quicksilver said after savoring his own glass. “Now then, you remember how to concentrate an Essence, correct?”
Jeb nodded, internally breaking a little. The only way that Jeb knew to concentrate an Essence required destroying the starting reagent. Quicksilver missed Jeb’s expression, already walking back into the Alchemy laboratory. Jeb followed, lugging the barrel of beer.
Inside of the room, Quicksilver refilled his tasting glass. “Ale is the most dominant Essence in this,” he said, staring at the liquid. “If you do a primary concentration, it should be the only Essence you produce.”
Jeb nodded and brought the barrel over to one of the larger alembics. He would need to boil off the entire barrel, and that would go more quickly if he started with a larger volume. Filling the Alembic, Jeb Created Fire, wrapping the tongues of flame around the glass container. As more and more of the liquid boiled off, Jeb kept topping it off. When he had finished pouring and evaporating the liquid, there were a scant few ounces left in the alembic. They radiated Essence, however, so Jeb felt comfortable assuming that it was Ale Essence. As he studied it more closely, he became more confident in that assertion. It was hard to describe it as anything but Ale. There were aspects of sweetness and aspects of bitterness, to be sure, but they were so minor as to hardly matter.
Quicksilver came over, interrupting Jeb’s musings, and Jeb noticed that the Professor had a slight sheen on his face. “Good job,” he said, clapping Jeb on the back, “do you think that you would be able to find this Essence while Brewing?”
Jeb shrugged. “I suppose that there is only one way to find out!”