The forest was alive with various birdsongs. Not much had happened so far on Bjorn’s solo hunting trip. The hydra had a brand new carrying harness which he very much liked. It had some metal plates which offered limited protection to his belly which was by far his most vulnerable area, as the scales there were the thinnest and most flexible.
The harness was primarily used for its storage; it had two tactical compartments on either side of his body which had a storage space powered by ambient mana. Each one holded up to sixty pounds and would reduce the weight of whatever was inside by seventy percent. Bjorn could easily place things inside, but taking things out would require more dexterous hands than he possessed. Something about having pockets cheered him up though and made him feel more human or in his case more nephilim.
He kept control of all three of his heads despite Failsafe’s insistence on helping with the search. He wanted control of all of his senses for the hunt. During the inevitable battle with the crawlers he would, but he wanted to get better at tracking. Now that he had hunted the crawlers once he could recognize their scent and magic. After a few hours of travel he finally picked up the taste of crawler magic in the air.
“You know, now that we are away from everyone it is a good opportunity to see what your Aetheric Breath does,” Failsafe said.
The breath attack that replaced his maya was one that neither he nor Failsafe knew what it did. The maya version strengthened his scales and gave him a boost to his attacks. For all they knew the aetheric version would do the same. However there was a chance that it would do something totally different and unexpected. Given the fact they are in a potentially monster infested area and those monsters could track them if they use too much magic at once he was against trying a power he didn’t understand.
“If it comes to it we can. I don’t want to attract more than we can handle,” Bjorn said. “Monsters are drawn to magic and the crawlers can track us quite accurately when we use Poison Cloud. What if it acts as a beacon and brings who knows what our way?”
“Fair enough, just thought I would suggest something.”
“It is a good idea, I should know what my abilities are and having a huge blank spot on potentially a new attack or defense as powerful as the Hellmouth is foolish. Can you bring up both the Hellmouth ability I lost and this new one really quick?”
“Sure.”
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Hellmouth (Excised Ability)
Your middle head can exhale all the maya stored in your body. This maya can be breathed in by your other heads to use maya-infused breath attacks. It can also enhance the durability of your scales and potency of your venom.
Aetheric Breath
Aether Cost: 15
I have know idea what this is or how it works. It replaced Maya Breath, but until you use it, I don’t know what it will do. I recommend trying it when no one is around.
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“Can you figure out anything else about the Aetheric Breath ability before I use it?” Bjorn asked.
“No. I can analyze it after the effect is used once. Although the use of other aether abilities might give me more insight into it if you are adamant in not using it. Studying the effects you experienced in your memories as Isin helps too. Although you didn’t use Aether much back then from what we have seen so far, aside from studying it with your Aetheric Sight. The way the Angels used aether seemed almost as though it was just an inherent magic to them almost like animal magic to you now.”
Bjorn was silent for a while as he trudged along the forest. He was careful to make as little noise as possible and his predatory instincts as well as his six eyes across three heads meant his spatial awareness was extremely high. Failsafe didn’t rush him to respond, which Bjorn was thankful for.
He didn’t really want to talk about the Angels or anything to do with his past life. The memories of the death of his mother were fresh and he felt all of the emotions his past life felt when he saw it happen. Bjorn wanted to distance himself from those feelings and tell himself that he is a new being now. Despite being reincarnated he is still Isin and he has seventeen years of memories as his previous self with all of the implications, emotions, and anxieties those memories entailed. For all intents and purposes, he had watched his mother die, and it felt as fresh and visceral as if he had seen it for the first time.
“I—uh.” Bjorn paused not only his thoughts but also physically moving. “I think we should continue going through the memories later. We are at a point where I'd rather not have to relive all at once.”
“Noted. I can still talk about the important parts of what I discovered in terms of your magic, right?”
“Yeah, that’s fine. I still haven’t picked up any scents of the crawlers yet.”
***
Tanisha was finishing the brew process with more herbal health potions. The inside of her wagon served as a mobile alchemy lab. She had plenty of equipment and ingredients neatly stored away in special storage boxes that had far more space inside. It was thanks to the First Princess that she had such an impressive set up. The bottleneck in her production now was the lack of space. That was something she could only remedy if she got a bigger wagon or purchased a store which she was not going to do just yet.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
She corked the last bottle and took a tray of twelve new potions outside to a waiting man. He not only ordered all of them but also waited outside for nearly two hours while she brewed the still hot potions. He promptly paid for all twelve and left without even haggling for a better price. The demand for potions was primarily due to the lack of shipments of the supplies from Lavi and the Apothecary's Office which had been closed.
Throughout the day, Tanisha was not only approached by people needing recovery potions and draughts, but also craftspeople who needed specialty material and oils. Potions was only a small part of what an alchemist could do and in fact was the most basic application of the magic alchemical process. Vital Elixirs was the term that encompasses potions that enhance vitality, including buffs, healing, magic, and stamina recovery, as well as other endeavors beneficial to people or animals. Tanisha knew how to make those potions because it is a lucrative business, but she was not a healer. She was an alchemist.
Studying and understanding materials and even changing their states, qualities or magical attunement for further refinement was a deeper part of alchemy that Tanisha also thoroughly enjoyed. When the blacksmiths found out an alchemist was in the camp, Joel brought her metal ingots they needed treated. The process of doing so was known as infusion metallurgy and was something Tanisha only understood the basic theory behind. Joel was insistent she tried despite her telling him she had never done it before.
“Joel, are you sure you want me to try?” Tanisha asked as her nerves twisted inside of her, and her tail flicked behind her anxiously. “Like I told you, I know the process behind infusion, but only cold infusion, and if I make a mistake, it could ruin the metal.”
Joel was a stout dwarf, his body perfectly suited for the intense labor of blacksmithing and spellcraft enchanting. If not for the wide smile on his face he would be intimidating despite being so much shorter than her. The man was not swayed in the least from Tanisha’s admission of her skill. She understood why, while infusion metallurgy was not absolutely necessary for enchanting it made the enchantments far easier to stabilize and could even add efficiency, additional effects or a host of other benefits. It is like priming a wall before painting, not always required, but if done correctly, could increase the final product dramatically.
“There’s a first time for everything. Ya’ know the process don’tcha?” Joel said as he held up one of the ten ingots he had in a small box. “I’ve seen what’cha can do with these potions, but that’s apothecary work. You’re an alchemist. As one artisan to another, ya gotta keep expanding yah skillset.”
Tanisha took the ingot in her hand and looked over the slightly blue tinged metal. “Blue steel? I appreciate the confidence you have in my ability, but this? It’s already known for its mana conductivity; it would make the process even more difficult having to account for the metal's natural mana frequency. Although… cold infusion would be the best choice for this type of material.” She placed the ingot on a clear spot on her stand. “Blue steel will be temperamental at best.”
“The metal’s natural mana frequency. Hmm, yes that’s true isn’t it?” Joel rubbed his beard in contemplation. “I also have the essences I want. Stariten powder and dreamweaver blood.”
“Did you listen to what I said?” Tanisha asked.
“Don’t worry about it. If it doesn’t turn out right I’ll just melt it down again and reforge it and you can try again. No harm done. So, where do you want me to leave these?”
Tanisha just looked at the man for a moment, then nodded more to herself than to him.
“All right. I’ll do it, place the box on the tailgate of the wagon.” Tanisha pointed to a spot. “I’ll need to prepare the Infusion Basin and Catalyst Stones. I am going to go one at a time so it’s going to take a while.”
“Sure, no problem. How long do you need?”
“Uh… Let's be safe and say a day.”
“Fair enough. Oh, and before I forget, your knife will be repaired soon. The enchantments are taking a little longer than I originally thought. The original rune enchantment work was impressive but required different techniques than what is common today. Shouldn’t take too much longer.”
The two continued talking for a bit before the dwarf blacksmith was called back to his shop. Tanisha was eager to get started on the cold infusion so after packing up her belongings into her wagon she resolved herself to figure out how to properly infuse the ingots. She cleaned her work station and all of her equipment. Her meticulous decontamination of her tools took an hour as she did not rush such an important part of alchemy.
There was a knock on the side of her wagon. “Hey, is anyone here?” The voice was female but unknown.
Tanisha placed the last of the equipment she wouldn’t need in a storage box, then walked to the back of her wagon and jumped down.
A young woman and a teenage boy about her age were standing outside her wagon who she had never seen before. The young woman had tribal tattoos covering nearly every available surface of her skin. Her hair was in a mohawk. The boy didn’t have nearly as many tattoos and only half of his head was shaved. However, the long wolf-like ears and piercing amber eyes arrested Tanisha’s attention.
The two were in hide armors that looked to be too big for them. They didn’t have any weapons though by their build they looked to be warriors. The young woman looked Tanisha up and down and appeared to be somewhat surprised at her appearance. Her gaze rested on Tanisha’s long tail which swayed slowly for an uncomfortable amount of time. Tanisha took the awkward silence to identify them.
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Identify
Name: Falko Strider
Species: Werewolf
Level: 37
Vocation: Beastborn Thunder Wolf
Identify
Name: Adelheid Strider
Species: Werewolf
Level: 70
Vocation: Beastborn Berserker
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“Werewolves?” Tanisha said absently. “Hello, how can I help you two? I am all out of health potions unfortunately and won’t have any until tomorrow.”
“Oh sorry, I think you are the wrong person,” Adelheid said as if she was just snapped back to reality. “We were looking for a wendigo girl who is also an alchemist.”
“I think I am the only alchemist in the camp and I am not a wendigo,” Tanisha responded. “If you lost your friend, maybe a town guard could help you find them.”
“Yeah, we will have to do that,” Adelheid said. “Sorry for interrupting, come on Falko.”
The two werewolves walked off without another word. Tanisha shrugged and jumped back into her wagon; she had a new alchemical process to start. A smile stretched across her face as he rearranged her work station to begin.