Chapter 18: Intricacies of Alchemy
Alexander Cordis never had high expectations when it came to Eden.
He knew he was lucky to have been born at a time that allowed him to be one of the first people to join a new server, but his ambition had always been to simply follow in his mother's footsteps. He'd study hard, learn to synthesize medicine, join a well-established and reputable guild, and live his days peacefully exploring the world with friends. He had never liked fighting or dangerous situations and had no real desire to be a famous Ranker capable of slaughtering monsters at will.
This was how the Elf used to feel, but slowly and surely, his mindset had begun to change.
He had made friends.
He had lost his mother.
He had found love.
He had experienced the cruelty and the beauty of the world.
He had encountered good fortune, the likes of which many people only dreamed.
And he had tasted the possibility of what one could achieve with power.
Alexander was not a man driven by greed. Rather, he was driven by kindness, and seeing how he was able, he became committed to using his abilities for the greater good. Knowing the NPCs of Eden were just as alive as any Player, in their own way, filled his heart with sadness. He wanted to help them but knew changing the entire social order of the game would not be easy.
At the same time, he was in love with a woman quite out of his league in the real world. Luckily, one's identity in Eden was almost as important as one's identity outside and could allow one to gain fame and influence. Allana had said she would like him regardless of his status, but he couldn't help wanting to be more for her sake.
Beyond this, with his mother's memory burning in his heart, he didn't want to live on the sidelines anymore. He wanted to live for himself and be the best he could be. To blaze his own path, whether it led to glory or disaster, he could at least say he remained true to himself and tried his best.
Thus, with a heart full of kindness and love and a yearning for self-actualization, his goals for the future had changed.
Alexander wanted a peaceful life, but he knew he could do more.
He had been blessed with extraordinary magic and wanted to explore its mysteries. Rather than a mere medicine synthesizer, he wanted to be an Arch Wizard; no, he wanted to be more than this. He wanted to be the greatest magic user ever.
Then he could protect his friends, be they Players or NPCs.
Like so, the Elf wholeheartedly threw himself into learning Alchemy, one of the most respected Magic Crafting professions, along with Potion Brewing and Magic Smithing. There were many other side branches of magical crafting; however, the ability to process monster drops into useful materials was an element of Alchemy that was hard to replicate. Mob drops and other materials could be used for crafting without the processing of an alchemist; however, the result would always be of lesser quality if not defective.
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After all, an Alcemist's role was to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, to identify a material's magical properties and magnify them. They were a foundation for crafting any magical equipment or elixir of the intermediate grade or above and thus were greatly revered.
Alexander was startled to be offered to learn Alchemy, but once he began receiving lessons, he slowly started to realize just how incredible and difficult the craft was.
Every material had to be identified, telling a trained Alchemist its Elemental Attributes, magical characteristics, and other properties.
Once this was done, the item would have to be tested for quality and to verify that there were no abnormalities or mutations.
At this point, the material could be treated using secret techniques to elevate certain qualities depending on its intended use. There were countless such techniques, each with various costs and benefits. Some could elevate a material's elemental properties but ruin its magical characteristics, while others could retain all the material properties but turn it into a powder that wasn't very useful in crafting. Thus, an Alchemist had to choose the proper refinement process needed to yield the best possible product for the client.
Like magic spells, many of the great Alchemy Skills of old had been lost during the 100-Year War of the Gods. Hence, it was also a profession that involved a great deal of guesswork and personal exploration. Alchemists were seriously protective of their secret techniques, and even fellow craftsmen may not share even the simplest of techniques with each other. Due to the great deal of guesswork and high cost of materials, most Alchemists were also notoriously greedy and desperate for funds needed to pursue the perfection of their craft.
After completing the necessary prerequisite skills, Alexander only took another week to acquire the Basic Alchemy skill. A few days later, he, too, began to be infected by the curse of an Alchemist's Greed. He rationed his materials down to a hundredth of a gram using a scale and finely crafted counterweights. The Elf would practice his treatment process on nothing for a certain amount of time before using it on an actual ingredient. Even so, his rate of failure was above 80%.
Thanks to his cognition and mana sensitivity, Alexander quickly improved, but his success rate did not surpass 50%, even with his most familiar techniques.
His mentor enjoyed seeing him struggle though was surprisingly supportive as he failed, evaluated his flaws, strategized, and tried again. The Tiefling's mood also undoubtedly improved due to the exponential growth rate of his student debt. He only allotted five sets of ingredients to practice per skill. Given that he planned to pass on nearly 100 skills, this may appear generous; however, in reality, it took Alexander around 15 attempts to truly become familiar with a technique.
The subtlety of the craft fascinated the youth, so he quickly threw caution to the wind as he practiced seamlessly. In a day, he could master 5 or 6 techniques and still have time to partake in additional study now that he knew what the magic felt like.
His dedication impressed his mentor, who grew surprisingly friendly and fuelled by passion for his craft and desire for money.
Following three more weeks of mad extermination, Alexander reached Level 3 of Basic Alchemy and, at the same time, learned all his meteor was willing to impart at the moment. Stormbeared was an Intermediate Alchemist, making him one of the best in the kingdom. Still, he wasn't one to take on students, especially long-term, as imparting higher-level skills required sacrificing increasingly valuable resources. Seeing how he and Alexander were of the same order, that the Elfling had great talent, and that the youth was willing to pay through the nose, he was willing to make a rare expedition to his life of solitude. However, now that his student could essentially stand on his own two feet and begin to practice and learn independently, he was unwilling to waste any more time teaching.
Alexander was disheartened by this, but having acquired his Darkness Symbol a week prior, he also began to feel it was time for him to move on. He had learned a lot during the last two months but couldn't be sidetracked by Alchemy, as alluring and profound as it might be. His heart still longed for the path of magic, and the Elf knew it was time to refocus himself.