Despite the sudden realization that he was using his Mana, Jeb was still remaining calm. After all, if nothing bad had happened yet, then everything was probably fine.
His breathing began to slow as he timed his breaths to the constant drip of the still. As he kept focusing on his breath, he slowly slipped into Meditation. The part of him still aware of reality noticed that his flames were shifting in unison now. His breath, flames, and heart all pulsed in a harmony to the steady drip of distillate.
Something about that resonated with the note in his mind, even though they were totally different harmonies.
As each jar filled, Jeb replaced and capped them. He didn’t know how many he’d filled or how many were left to fill. All that he saw was the single jar in front of him, slowly being filled by the steady drip of the still.
When his Mana finally ran out, Jeb realized that he was covered in a sheen of sweat, and there were twenty or so jars filled and capped.
Unlike when he’d lost control of his Mana in the Song, though, there was no backlash. Instead, the flames just died out, because they had nothing to feed them.
His uncle, of course, noticed immediately.
“Did you run out of Mana?” his uncle asked, “or are you just taking a break?”
“I’m out of Mana,” Jeb said, “What should I do now?”
His uncle showed him how to build a fire of wood, and Jeb tried to build the flames to a similar level as he’d been using with his Glyph. It felt strange how unresponsive the fire was to different stimuli. Unlike the flame he created with Mana, this one did not simply grow larger when more wood was added.
Although he was not able to fall into the same deep Meditation while watching the flame, Jeb tried to Meditate as much as he could. When his Mana came back, Jeb let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding in. He’d been worried that his Mana might not refill, so seeing it back quashed a fear Jeb didn’t know he’d been holding in.
By the time that his Mana had emptied a second time his uncle came over to stop him.
“Great job Jeb,” his uncle said, “at this point you’re well past the drinkable alcohol, and you’ll start getting into the bad parts of the distillate.” His uncle showed him how to taste the different jars to find which jars were worth saving for drinking and which were better used for cleaning.
To his surprise, the first jars, despite being allegedly undrinkable, still had a nice flavor. Apparently wood alcohol, as it was known, had a sweeter taste than normal alcohol. As Jeb kept trying the different jars, he noticed how the flavor changed. It was a subtle shift. The taste of wood alcohol slowly faded out as the taste of alcohol grew in. Underneath it all, Jeb had the impression that there was still a fair amount of water, at least if the way they all called to the Magic in him was any indication.
“Which of these would you keep?” his uncle asked after he’d gone through the entire row.
“So assuming that the flavor of the first jars is something I shouldn’t drink,” Jeb saw his uncle nod, “I would use these jars,” he said, pointing to the middle ten or so jars. It was hard to know for certain, as the different flavors grew in and out slowly between the jars. Still, he felt confident in the answer.
“That’s correct, good job! Also, drink this,” his uncle said, handing Jeb a glass of what looked at first glance to be water.
After sputtering, Jeb realized it was one of the ten jars he’d pointed to.
“Why did you have me drink that?” he demanded.
“Wood alcohol is toxic, and causes blindness. The treatment is alcohol, which we conveniently had lying around. I doubt the amount you had would do anything too bad, but better safe than sorry.” His uncle said it all matter-of-factly, which helped slightly.
That was good to know. But, between the dehydration from sweating and the alcohol he’d just drunk, Jeb found that he was feeling lightheaded again.
His uncle must have noticed.
“And I should have thought about this before, but, let’s go get lunch,” his uncle said, “and maybe not tell your Aunt Esther that I had you trying wood alcohol on an empty stomach.”
They walked back to the house and each took a bowl of stew. As he ate, Jeb realized how hungry he’d been. Meditation had its benefits for sure, but it also did so much to take him out of what his body was saying.
After lunch, Jeb felt much better. Part of it was certainly just that the alcohol had time to process, but the food and water certainly helped as well.
“I’m ready to get back to the lesson!” he said.
His uncle chuckled, “then let’s get back to the barn.”
Back in the barn, his uncle looked around for a moment.
“Honestly, I was hoping that distilling that barrel would get you the Skill,” his uncle admitted, “it’s been long enough since I’ve taught anyone that I’ve forgotten what all needs to be done.”
He considered for a moment.
“Well, no point complaining. How about you distill out another batch of mash in a column distiller? Get some practice with the different kinds of stills.”
Once more, Jeb controlled the small flames that licked the bottom of the distiller. His uncle had him build the flames as high as they had been before.
This time, though, it took far longer for the first drops to exit the device. As they did, Jeb noticed that it quickly turned from a steady drip into a steady if thin stream out of the still.
“Uncle Albert, is this too fast?” he asked. Jeb remembered that the still moving too quickly meant that he wasn’t separating the parts well enough.
“Hmm?” his uncle looked over, “no, that looks about right for the output speed of a column still. Because they’ve got the temperature gradient, they can separate much more efficiently at high speeds once they get going.”
Once more, Jeb ran out of Mana before he’d emptied the still. This time, though, he planned ahead and started burning logs before he ran out. It made the transition far smoother.
His uncle stopped him before his Mana had fully refilled.
“Looks like you’ve got most of it. I’d say we should taste them again, but,” he looked at how sweaty Jeb was again, “why don’t we grab something to eat first?”
Jeb was about to protest, since he’d eaten something only an hour or two ago. As he began to voice that, though, his body pointed out how hard he’d been working since then.
“Maybe something small?” he ended up suggesting.
After the small meal, Jeb once more tasted all of the jars he’d filled. This time, there was far less of a gradient between the flavors.
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Sure, one jar tasted of both wood and standard alcohol but it was just the one jar. It made pointing out which to keep much easier.
This time, Jeb felt far less light headed after the drink to keep safe from wood alcohol.
And, blinking in his vision, he saw the Notification he’d been waiting for.
Congratulations! By successfully distilling under the tutelage of a Master Distiller, you have unlocked the General Skill: Distilling.
“Well, that took about as long as I was expecting,” his uncle said when Jeb told him, “I’ll go grab your grandfather, and we can plan the next few steps.”
“Why was it so much faster for me to learn Distilling than Brewing?” Jeb asked.
“Partially because a lot of the knowledge you need for Distilling is covered in Brewing. The mash that you distilled had to be Brewed first, and you already had that training. Partially, it’s a much simpler process. Rather than having to rely on living beings digesting and changing your starting material, you just have to heat and collect it. Finally, I had you distill two entire barrels of hard alcohol alone. If you’d brewed a single barrel alone you also would have unlocked the Brewing Skill that easily.”
“If I could have unlocked it that easily, why did Aunt Esther have me unlock Brewing the way that she did?” Jeb knew the answer his aunt had given, but he was curious if his uncle might answer it differently.
Either his aunt and uncle had communicated the plans, or they had a similar life view. They were married, so it was hard to know.
His uncle answered, “Most likely because if you mis-brew something, you end up wasting all the material. If you distilled something badly, I could always just mix it back together and distill it again, so there would be no waste except for the firewood, and you didn’t seem to need too much of that.”
Jeb deflated a little at that. He didn’t think he’d done that poorly, but it made sense. After all, he was only First Tier and had no relevant Skills.
His uncle continued, “Though, to be fair, I think that what you distilled was a fine job for a first pass. I rarely use that copper still for firewater anymore, because you really need a few passes to get the alcohol totally smooth. In the column still you did a perfectly serviceable job. I’d feel comfortable selling that firewater.”
His uncle seemed to stop and think for a moment.
“Oh, I guess your aunt probably also though that it was important to understand what happens at every stage of a brew. To some extent, I agree, but there’s far less that happens in distilling. As I mentioned before, the aging process is where most of the art and difficulty comes in, especially if you already have a still. Since you’re learning Woodworking and Glassblowing, aging and making a simple still are probably skills you’ll develop there, though. Also, unless your plans have radically changed, you aren’t planning to make alcohols. I have no idea how aging potions works, if it’s even done, so teaching you would be useless to your long-term plans.”
That all made sense to Jeb.
He made his way over to his grandfather’s workshop. His grandfather opened the door, and Jeb was nearly blown over by the rush of hot air coming out of the room.
Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter:
Jeb Human Age: 16 Class: Least Mud Initiate Level: 1 Experience: 3705/100
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Total Statistic Load: 250 Physical Load: 124 Strength: 28 Dexterity: 21 Endurance: 30 Vitality: 41 Presence: 4
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Mental Load: 126 Intelligence: 25 Willpower: 20 Magic Affinity: 43 Mana Depth: 21 Charisma: 17
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Mana: 570
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Glyph Attunement: 18 Least Shape Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Earth - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Move Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Conjure Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Move Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Mud (Modified) Tier 2 Spell
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Skills: Least Mud Magic Meditation Mana Manipulation Spell Glyphing Improved Glyph Groking Gift of Gab Running Identify Soil Savvy Animal Handling Fertilizing Lifting Athletics Lute Playing Singing Musician Pollination Brewing Distilling
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Achievements: Focused Meditator Student of Magic
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Quests: Major: Slay the Dragon of the West (Progressive)