After straining out the Fireleaf and adding yeast, Jeb paused. Adding Mana to the yeast was simple enough. No matter what he did, however, he could not make the Mana flavor itself. When the Brew finished, Jeb tasted it.
It was identical to the last batch he had made. Even though a part of him was proud of himself for being able to make something so reproducibly, the largest part of him was disappointed that he had not been able to complete this Quest as easily. After failing to flavor the Fireleaf infusion another half dozen times, he gave up and went to find Colton.
Colton looked up from his latest project, seeming confused at how soon Jeb had finished his explorations. Looking at the still dark sky out the window, Jeb understood the confusion. Truthfully, he was more than a little shocked that he had come out so early as well. Even though he had explored all of the individual batches of Fireleaf, he had barely begun exploring their combinations, let alone any of the other Magical ingredients.
“Is there something I can help you with?” Colton asked, and Jeb realized he had just been staring at the Druid.
“I just got the Notification for a Quest to flavor a Brew with my Mana,” Jeb said by way of explanation. “I didn’t see anything in the book you gave me, and I couldn’t figure it out after a few attempts.”
“Interesting,” Colton replied.
Jeb waited for a few more moments, hoping that Colton would elaborate. It seemed as though Colton had something to say; he kept opening his mouth as though he was about to explain before closing it again. When the pattern had repeated a dozen times, he shook his head, looked down at the Brew he had been working on, and sighed.
“Come with me,” he said, covering the fermenter with a lid.
Jeb followed the Druid to a door leading out of the workshop. It opened into a room that smelled of old books and knowledge. Jeb felt a smile grow on his face as he saw that there was a Librarian manning a desk. Colton introduced him to Jeb and walked away.
“I understand that you have experience with Libraries,” the Librarian said to Jeb when the door had closed. “If you would rather browse this space yourself, you are welcome to do so.”
“Thank you!” Jeb replied, before hesitating, “but I’m not entirely sure if I’m comfortable navigating this space alone during my first time in the space.”
Clearly that had been the right thing to say, because the Librarian suddenly beamed. He came out from behind his desk and looked Jeb up and down.
“I can smell the Brewing on you, so I am certain that you do not need help learning how to Brew generally. What in particular can I help you with researching?”
Jeb explained his Quest.
“That should be easy enough.”
The Librarian looked back at Jeb, then hesitated.
“Well, assuming that you do not need the books to be written in Republican.”
“I can read Druidic,” Jeb said. “At least so far.”
“Oh good.”
The Librarian flicked his fingers, and a dozen small tomes flew out towards them. They landed on the desk, and each had a small card slip out of them. The Librarian looked at them, then Jeb, and then back at the cards, before sighing.
“The Enclave has yet to establish a protocol for visiting non-citizens to check out Library material. Unfortunately, that means that I will have to ask you not to remove any books from the Library. We have a reading room, which you are of course more than welcome to use, however.”
Stolen novel; please report.
Jeb nodded, accepting the books and sitting down at a desk. He rapidly flipped through the pages, skimming the text for any explicit mentions of Mana. When he saw one, he read through the paragraphs mentioning Mana more carefully. As the sun rose on the Druidic Enclave, Jeb nodded, setting the final book to the side. Academic writing was apparently at least somewhat independent of the language that had produced it.
All twelve of the books had spent at least a full chapter describing what, exactly, Mana was. Thankfully, all twelve’s different descriptions did not affect the workability of their advice. Jeb looked at his page of notes, nodded, and returned the books to the Librarian.
When he exited the Library, he found Colton standing outside the door. He led Jeb to an empty workstation.
“The Radius said that this was where you should work,” he said by way of explanation.
Jeb nodded, quickly ran to the storeroom, and took a small box of Fireleaf. He still had the spent yeast from his trials, where he had cut off the flow of Mana well before the yeast killed themselves. Returning to his workplace, he looked at his Quest again, making sure that he was not missing anything.
Minor Quest Fifth Tier Druidic Brewing You have demonstrated the first piece of the Art of Druidic Brewing. Advance your knowledge. Brew something using your Mana as the only source of energy, imbuing it with flavor from your Mana.
The books that the Librarian had given him described different forms of flavoring. Some suggested pushing Attuned Mana of different varieties to imbue the Brew with the flavor of the Mana. Others of the books gave directions for how to imbue flavors that a malt might be lacking. Why someone would want a light lager to taste like a dark stout, Jeb wasn’t sure, but he trusted that the example had been given as a hypothetical, rather than an actual description.
Jeb Conjured Water, filled the fermenter that each workstation came equipped with, and added Fireleaf. Now that he had an actual heating source, he used it, rather than wasting his own Mana. Even though it only took a few points to do all the extraction, that was still a few points that he could not use with the yeast. When he had finished extracting the Fireleaf, he added the yeast and began to pour his Mana into the Brew.
Like when he had worked on adding Attuned Mana into his lute, Jeb quickly forced the stream of Mana exiting his body to run through a Glyph to Attune it to Darkness. He was more than a little curious how it would interact with the bright colors from the Fireleaves. Wanting to be certain that he had imbued actual flavor into the Brew, he continued to pour Mana into it until the yeast died. He carefully decanted the liquid into another jar, forced carbonation into it from the line available.
Tasting it, Jeb let out a sigh of relief. The Brew, though still not a beer by any stretch of the imagination, was nonetheless a significantly more complex flavor. The Darkness Mana had added a depth to both the yeast notes and the Fireleaf. Trying to express it, Jeb could not find any words other than the idea that the two dimensional images that the flavors had been before suddenly gained shadows. Despite that, he could not point to any particular shade in the flavor which was directly Darkness.
Holding his breath, Jeb looked at his Status.
Congratulations! You have completed the Minor Quest Fifth Tier Minor Quest “Druidic Brewing” You have added flavor to your Brewing with Magic alone. Rewards: 50 Mana, 98 EXP, Minor Quest: Druidic Brewing
Once again, Jeb looked at the Quest of the same name.
Minor Quest Fifth Tier Druidic Brewing You have demonstrated the second piece of the Art of Druidic Brewing. Advance your knowledge. Imbue a Brew with Magical flavor without using your Mana as a source of energy for the yeast.
Jeb was grateful for the clarification that the System had provided. Without the final three words, he would have assumed that he could have just Brewed a Firebeer again. Instead, he knew that he would have to work to make sure that he cut off the flow of Mana at the exact moment that the yeast finished consuming the sugars from malt.
He returned to the store room and took some light malt to practice with. After failing a few times, Jeb returned to the Library. The Librarian looked at Jeb with confusion when he asked about how to cut off the flow of his Mana at the exact moment that the yeast had finished consuming the wort’s sugar.
“Why don’t you stop pushing Mana into the Brew before it finishes fermenting?”
Jeb paused, then ran out of the Library.