Ray
Ray assessed the lab properly, noting the locations. The room was white, with a table running through three sides of the square lab.
A distillation machine stood on one side, a synthesizing beaker in the middle table and an assortment of herbs on the right. Ray removed the distilled water and poured into the beaker, preparing to begin, he would need to act quickly if he was to finish in fifteen minutes.
The first step was to pour enough mana into it that it started to glow instead of just shimmer. Ray conjured pellets, pouring them in, little by little. After 15 pellets, the water finally began to shimmer.
The next step was adding ingredients. Herbgreen lavender was the first to be added, the crushed powder would have to dissolve in the mixture to make it ready for the Sawroot. Herbgreen lavender would enhance the cough reducing properties of the Sawtooth into something that could cure instead.
The herbgreen lavender dissolved slowly, taking over ten minutes and most of his time, but the solution was now ready for Ray to synthesize into a potion. The next part was the hardest one, Sawtooth lost its properties on being crushed, so it had to be carefully guided to merge little by little.
The process was slightly mana intensive, but Ray was sure he could do it if he was careful. Ray submerged the Sawroot and activated his perception. The process would take less than ten seconds but had to be guided carefully.
Ray concentrated on the Sawroots perimeter, watching as its herbal fluid left it in haste, the Herbgreen lavender dissolving it. Ray conjured more glitter, pushing the mana in places where it would guide the fluid away so it wouldn’t stay in one place. The reaction started occurring in the corners as Ray continued this process.
The process continued, the herbal fluid spread out, spreading into the fluid and Ray tried to distribute it uniformly. At last, the ten seconds passed and Ray successfully completed it. Now for the last part, stir the pot.
Ray pushed more of the pellets in, nearly exhausting his mana as he stirred the potion leisurely. The potion was nearly done now, and so was his time, but hopefully the other person would be late enough that he could finish it.
Ray felt the mixture turn dark green as it neared completion, ready to be finished, but his senses saw another thing. An outflow of mana from a location. Ray turned his attention there, feeling to see what was happening. A herbal fluid stockpile, apparently this part was moving a step behind the rest, it had too much herbal fluid and not enough herbal lavender.
Ray poured some herbgreen lavender to the beaker, letting it sink in. And then carefully implemented a mini rotation in the place by levitating the water, letting it oscillate as he isolated it.
The problem had two solutions, one was to remove it after isolating, and second was to neutralize it by adding the necessary component. The hergreen lavender’s slow dissolving made the latter hard, but not so hard that Ray wouldn’t try. But the best plan was to isolate and remove that part from the potion.
Ray continued edging the part out, using mana liberally to levitate it. The next step was even harder, he had to spread the herbal fluid evenly in that isolated area, the problem was that Ray could not do that.
The pellets began turning into neutral mana within seconds, and there was not enough space to guide the fluid anywhere. A Tier 3 could manipulate neutral mana itself, but not Ray. But Ray decided to take the risk and put mana in, hoping that it would dissolve. And he was doing well when a sudden distraction occurred.
The door slammed open, making him lose concentration and breaking the isolation, but Ray reacted quickly, spinning it some more to make the part dissolve more. The rest of the potion was already ready, just this part remained, a ticking bomb taht might spoil the potion.
But Ray’s cautiousness had paid off, there was enough herbgreen lavender dissolved that the Sawroot had been nullified. But the concentration was still not even. Ray spent the last of his mana, making the entire potion spin in an attempt to equify it, and he succeeded. The potion was a success, even if barely.
“Do I want to know why you were using this room while I had booked it, Mr.Rosenmund?” Ray heard the voice of the white robed girl that had first welcomed him in the College say from behind him.
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“I am sorry, the potion grew long, the herbgreen lavender took too long to dissolve and there was a buildup of the Sawroot’s herbal fluid.” Ray apologized.
“Yes, I could see that you were dealing with some form of trouble, and I am sorry for barging in, but why did you occupy this room?” she asked.
“The student responsible said that this was the only available one.” Ray replied, sensing that something was wrong.
“Did he now? A thing to note, Mr.Rosenmund, is that the College has over a hundred basic labs in this building. The likelihood of one not being free is negligible, and only occurs during major events. The student was attempting to get you into trouble with me. I have something of a reputation for demanding punctuality and being rather strict about it.” the girl said.
“Why? Why would he do this, when I haven’t even met him before?” Ray asked, confused.
The girl sighed, saying, “Zaire, that is the student in question, has a sister. Now said sister had initially gained admission into the College as a student, but was denied because you took her seat. And now she will have to join as a gray robe, costing his family a great amount of money.”
“Oh.” Ray said, a bit shocked by the situation. Zaire’s anger did make sense now. “I don’t suppose it would matter that I was sorry for it?”
“No, I doubt he would care. And besides, if you did succeed here, he has little to complain about. The College is happy to have a Tier 0 that can make potions.” the girl answered. “Did you succeed?” the girl asked.
“Yes,” Ray answered, presenting the beaker to her, “A completed Cough’s cure”
“A simple potion. I approve, it is always best to start simple. And I am sure this contributed in no small part to your successful performance.” the girl said. “Though I did see you using a rather ill advised technique in the end. What went wrong?”
Ray was surprised at her question, but still answered, “I couldn’t directly control the mana concentration, so I tried to wing it. But even that failed when you barged in, but spinning it evened the consistency enough that it works.”
“An ill advised technique indeed, I would advise against using it again, most potions would explode if spun them so. I do not have time to give you specific advice, but the College offers assisting artifacts for potion-making. I strongly recommend you get a wand if its control you lack.”
“The artifacts are available in the main office, it should be on the College map. Now, if you will excuse me, I do have a potion to make.” she said, moving towards the table while levitating ingredients to the right table, preparing water on the right, and replacing the beaker all at once.
Ray could not help it, he was jealous, he could barely levitate powders, let alone all of this. But he also knew when to leave. As he turned to leave, he came face to face with a blue screen.
[Alchemy] skill leveled up to level 2: 30 mana gained +1 to Aura Force
[Learning] skill leveled up twice to level 3: 54 mana gained (18+36) +1 to Perception, +1 to Combat
Tier level up initiated
Tier 1 (123/200)
Ray felt mana pour into him as his tier increased, finally reaching the first tier.
“Uhum.” the girl cleared her throat, letting Ray know that she wanted to leave.
“I am sorry, the System decided to show me a blue screen.” Ray explained.
“Yes, I felt your Tier increase” she replied
“Yes,” Ray replied, but at the last moment, turned back and asked, “Why did you help me?’
The girl paused for a second before replying, “I felt that your situation was pitiful. I always thought about how it would be if I didn’t get a suitable element or had a small mana pool.”
“Wait, you know about those things?”Ray asked, shocked.”I thought the records were sealed.”
“No, but I have an inkling now. The name is Luna by the way, I was expecting you to ask ages ago.” Luna replied. “I am, however, serious about you leaving. Do be careful, there are things happening that you do not want to get involved in.”
Ray nodded and left, weirded out by her warning. What did she mean? But he had a feeling that it would be a while before he found out.At least Ma was going to be happy that he had gained so much man. But how did he gain so much mana? The System’s level ups implied that it thought he had learned something.
And then there was the thing with a wand. Ray had heard of those, they helped people concentrate their powers into a single focus, letting them cast with much greater strength. A wand could help, he supposed, the potion making process had shown him a host of problems with his mana.
Ray could only control the glitter, not what it formed, and it formed things within seconds. The fire would combust too soon, water would be useless, and he could only provide food for plants with wood. To use it in combat Ray would have to venture close to his enemies, something he would not survive.
Well, at least he found out about it during potion making, not in the middle of a battle.