‘Ea’s Gift? What’s that?’ Percy asked.

‘Are you kidding me? The thing you just made pop up right in front of our eyes!’

Thinking of something, Percy’s heart skipped a beat. But he didn’t show it. He wanted to pry some more information from his host first.

‘We call this thing a “Status”. Everyone has it where I’m from.’

‘All of them?! You mean, for free?! Don’t you have to pass the brewing test first?’

‘Brewing test?’ Percy struggled to contain his excitement.

This was getting better and better! Did these people have some sort of alchemy-based version of Phoebe’s Decree? If so, he had to get his hands on that, whatever it took!

‘Yes.’ Enki confirmed, oblivious to Percy’s inner turmoil. ‘Why would you even need Ea’s Gift if you can’t brew a simple potion?’

Percy considered explaining that Phoebe’s Decree probably had a different purpose to what they used their version for, but he was more curious about something else.

‘I’m guessing this Ea guy is one of your gods?’

The boy appeared taken aback by Percy’s question. Almost insulted, even.

‘The Holy One isn’t just “one of our gods”!’ Enki protested rather animatedly. ‘He’s the one who invented the supreme art, allowing Atlantis to flourish. All our gods look up to Him!’

‘Alright, alright. I get it already.’ Percy rolled his eyes. ‘Kid, please tell me it’s your lifelong dream to become an alchemist, and you’ve spent the last 10 years of your life preparing for the test.’

Enki tilted his head.

‘Why would I say such a thing? Of course I’d like to become an alchemist – who wouldn’t? It’s the greatest honour for one of our people! But getting into this profession is expensive. Not something a Red-born orphan could afford. Hell, I can’t even buy the pills to cleanse my core.’ he smiled bitterly.

Hearing that, Percy felt his heart clench. It was only now he realized just how much he and his host had in common.

‘And you’re just going to give up like that? I’ll have you know, I started off in a similar place myself. Still, the thought of surrendering to my fate never once crossed my mind.’

‘Did it work out for you?’ Enki asked, some hope seeping into his voice. ‘What grade have you reached?’

Like a needle’s stab, the boy’s question caused Percy to deflate a little.

‘Well… On paper, I’m still at Orange.’ he said, trying to mask his embarrassment. ‘But I’m getting dangerously close to Yellow! And I’ve even defeated a Green in single combat before!’ he hurriedly added upon seeing Enki frown.

The boy remained silent for a few moments, seemingly contemplating Percy’s words.

‘Even if that’s true, I’m guessing it has something to do with your strange ability to possess people. That’s just cheating.’ he said.

Though he seemed to catch himself a second later.

‘Sorry… I didn’t mean it like it’s a bad thing! It’s great that you have this option! But I’ve got nothing like that. Just a useless fire affinity.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Percy asked, a smile tugging at his lips. ‘You’ve got the greatest cheat in the universe, right at your fingertips.’

‘Hmmm? And what’s that?’ the boy asked.

‘Me!’ Percy exclaimed.

The boy didn’t seem convinced, however.

‘How exactly can you help me?’

‘I’ll have you know that, amongst my many, many talents, I am first and foremost a master alchemist. In fact, my main body is currently on the run from multiple gods back home – each of them eagerly yearning for my wisdom.’

‘So, can you brew a lesser regeneration pill?’ the boy asked.

Percy scratched the back of their head.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

‘Well, I’ve never encountered that particular recipe before… But how hard could it be? Just find me a book – or 10 – on the topic, and I’ll get us both that Gift thingy in no time.’

***

Apparently, Enki’s orphanage did have a library. Even better, it contained a few books on alchemy. Though, seeing their condition, Percy wasn’t surprised his host hadn’t thought it possible to teach himself the basics. He held a stack of loose sheets, trying to rearrange them into the correct order. The blurred page numbers weren’t making his job easy.

‘Only three books… and one of them is missing half the pages…’ he groaned.

For an entire world that seemed to survive by selling alchemical products to outsiders, their libraries were surprisingly poor. Even the Guild’s library had been in a better state.

Then again, this might not be the fairest comparison. The Alchemists’ Guild was the central hub for all alchemists on Remior, whereas this was just some random library in an orphanage, in some remote town…

‘I thought you already knew how to brew stuff. What’s the hold up?’ Enki asked.

‘Well, I’m great at brewing elixirs – not “regeneration pills” or whatever you called them.’ Percy explained. ‘I’m sure some of the principles are transferable, but I’d still need to study the ingredients and methodology involved.’

‘Methodology?’

‘Yes. The tools and procedures aside, I’ve never done this underwater before.’

The two remained silent in the library for several hours, as Percy tried to make sense of the alien books. Their pages weren’t made of paper, apparently, but some slightly oily pieces of parchment, crafted out of some creature’s skin.

Every now and then, Enki grew hungry – or bored – or, probably, both – asking him to take a short break to grab a quick snack from his room. It was some kind of pink roe stored in a sealed bowl. It tasted quite nice too, its rich, salty flavour reminding Percy of a cross between crabsticks and eggs.

In any case, despite the semi-frequent interruptions and the poor condition of his reading material, Percy did manage to piece together an overview of the locals’ alchemic ways.

Their main product – the thing they exported to their trade partners – were some cultivation pills that didn’t differ much from the elixirs on Remior. They were made from some kind of amber pearls – a local ingredient rich in stable beast mana, not unlike the nectar the Starry Wasps produced.

‘I don’t think the cultivation pills will be very useful for me…’ Percy grimaced.

He had no idea how the lifespans and advancement speed of the natives compared to a human’s, but their potential seemed to be confined within the same range as theirs. In other words, Red-borns here could only ever make it to Yellow, Orange-borns to Blue and so on – just like on Remior. Suffice to say, it probably meant the pills weren’t much better than elixirs.

However, that was not to say there was nothing to be gained here.

What set the locals apart was precisely Ea’s Gift that Enki had mentioned. Percy assumed it was a Decree – it had to be – and it was the reason other races didn’t dare to touch Atlantis.

Apparently, this Decree was a lot more proactive than Phoebe’s, directly affecting an alchemist’s ability, allowing them to greatly increase their alchemic yield. As for how exactly it achieved that, these books didn’t say, but Percy guessed it had something to do with the weird glowing eyes he’d seen on some of the natives earlier.

‘Can I even get the Decree though?’

He wasn’t a native, which should automatically disqualify him based on everything he’d read. Then again, he was currently inhabiting the body of a local, so maybe he could trick whatever mechanism was responsible for disseminating the Decree? At the very least, it had worked with the Moirais’, so it was worth a shot.

Beyond that, there was also the question of whether this Decree could even stack with the one he already had. Would he have to carry two separate Statuses from now on, or could they merge?

He shrugged.

‘I suppose there’s only one way to answer all those questions. But first, I need to turn the kid into an alchemist.’

Luckily, the books hadn’t been entirely useless on that front. Cross-referencing the gist of their contents with his own expertise, Percy had been able to discern a few important details about the locals’ branch of alchemy.

Apparently, many of the central concepts carried over from one world to another, and even from one product to another. Whether he was brewing an elixir, a potion or a pill, and whether they were on Remior or Atlantis, similar techniques were involved.

When brewing cleansing resources in particular, the so-called ‘three pillars of alchemy’ – pacification, redirection and deattunement were paramount. The people of Atlantis referred to them as ‘alchemic principles’ and had their own name for each of them, but Percy could tell they were functionally the same. After all, beast mana always had to be handled in the same manner.

‘But this book mentions more than three principles.’

There was one Percy had chosen to translate as ‘extraction’. It involved separating and condensing an ingredient’s properties, which was more relevant when brewing potions and potion-adjacent products, as other affinities weren’t as potent as beast mana, and needed to undergo this procedure to become useable.

In fact, Percy was almost certain they had this back home too – it was probably the missing knowledge about potion-making that he’d never had the chance to study. And it was also the very thing he needed to master and teach Enki, if he wanted to get his hands on that Decree.

‘Well? Any progress?’ the boy asked after noticing Percy had stopped reading for a while.

Enki had tried not to sound too eager, but he’d done a poor job keeping his excitement from spilling through their bond.

‘A little. I’m going to have to play around a bit to figure it out, but the basic idea isn’t too different to the things I’ve studied in the past.’

‘Really? You mean there’s actually a chance we can do this?’

‘Hold your seahorses, kid.’ Percy said. ‘We’ll need lots of ingredients to practice with. And I have no clue where to get them. Do you have any idea where we can find “fast-growing moss”, “kroakoa pincers” or “belimin tears”?’

‘Do we need all of that?’ Enki asked.

‘No. They’re interchangeable – any one of them should do. But we’ll need at least a dozen batches. Probably more.’

The boy remained silent for a bit, seemingly considering it. Eventually, he spoke.

‘I don’t even know what a “belimin” is. And you can forget about kroakoas too. They are Blue beasts. Besides, there aren’t any around here.’

Percy frowned, thinking this wasn’t going to work. Yet, his host rekindled his hope a moment later.

‘But… remember that Marble Reef I mentioned? The place has enough fast-growing moss to last us forever.’