Book 3: Chapter 42: Nitro

Book 3: Chapter 42: Nitro

The more I thought about it....

The more I didn’t want to live forever.

Reincarnating in Erd had been a traumatizing experience – the feeling of being ripped away from my loved ones and acclimatizing to a new world was one I never wanted to feel again.

Yes, I had new friends and family now, but I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to do that again. And again. And again.

There was a reason popular culture back home often turned living forever into a curse.

[Otherworldly Elchemist] seemed interesting, but it just didn't quite mesh with what I wanted. Which was more magic. And given that early Specialisations impacted future choices, there was only really one choice for me.

Farewell, [Bottomless Barrel]! You were my favourite, and you saved my bacon more than once, but in the long term, I don’t really need you.

*Bing*

Specialised!

You have become an [Otherworldly Arcane Crafter]!

Done, and done. Let’s test these new Abilities out!

“[Crafter’s Eye]!”

I had the Ability on for a bare second before holding back a scream and turning it off. I slumped back into my chair and groaned.

The world of Mana had been a fascinating experience of bright flowing colours and glowing ethereal landscapes. It was a joy to look at and would probably remain so forever. The world of flaws was a horror for any serious crafter.

The brew I’d been holding, the brew I’d poured my heart into, was a bright red that indicated it was flawed.

A quick run around the brewroom confirmed it. Everything had flaws. Everything!

The brews in the tanks were bright red.

The various arcano-mechanical pieces we had around the Brewroom had bright red spots all over them.

Even the little makeshift goat-bed I’d helped Balin make for Penelope had a few spots of red!

It was a nightmare. It was all wrong.

And the worst part was, I really did already know it. Crafter’s Eye just instantly brought into focus problems that I was capable of finding on my own. All the tech in here was slapdash – first generation machines meant to fulfill the job of something that didn’t exist in this world. And all the brews were, deep in my heart, imperfect.

It really went to show that as much as we’d improved, there was still so much more we could do.

I turned [Crafter’s Eye] back on, then tried to adjust my vision. With some practice, I found that I could turn specific types of flaws on and off. I could focus on material flaws, or process flaws, and even my own ideas of what flaws were. For example, with my personal concept of flaws turned off, our brews were practically pristine. I peered into the mug of barista brew, glowing a pure yellow from the Mana within and nary a speck of red to be seen, and smiled.

Finally, I walked over to some of the bags of malted erdroot against the wall, and some bright red spots indicating bad malt popped up like stop lights. I made note of the bags to deal with later.

Yes, this new Specialisation was very me.

Time to test out the other new Ability.

I wasn’t quite as sure what it meant, though I had some ideas.

[Lesser Mana Crafting]–You can infuse and manipulate Mana within your crafted items directly, without the need for a medium. Additionally, you can infuse your Mana into Enchantments.

This Ability is always available.

More than half the battle in learning Sigils was getting the Mana to properly infuse into the new Fundamental. Changing my own personal Mana was fairly simple, but properly transferring it and manipulating the Mana outside of the body was trickier.

This Ability seemed to bypass or simplify that step.

I activated the wand again, drawing green Mana from my body. This time, I focused on the part of the Sigil that changed my own Mana into its new form. The sigil for that was quite simple: a basic circle and some criss-crossing lines. It was the work of moments to leave a glowing green series of lines hanging in the air.

Next, I brought the Sigil up to the mug, focusing on both it and the drink. With [Crafter’s Sight] on, I could clearly see the Mana flow within the beer – a murky yellow with bits of blue.

“I still don’t understand.”

“I replaced all the carbon dioxide in it with nitrogen.”

Annie sighed. “Okay, but why.”

I gestured at the mug again. “You’ll need to taste it to know why.”

Everyone stared at the mug with blank eyes, until Johnsson finally moved to take it. “Whatever, tha sooner I drink it, the sooner we can all go to sleep.”

He downed the mug in a series of chugs, and I mentally applauded. He’d clearly been practicing his competitive drinking.

When he was done, he put the mug down with a look of consternation on his face. “It... doesn’t taste like beer? But it does?”

“Hah! Yes!” I shouted, pumping my fist.

“It’s not beer?” Aqua asked, peering into the glass suspiciously.

Johnsson hummed and hawed. “Mmm... best way to describe it would be like beer’n... I dunno. Cream? Nah, that’s not right. Dunno, never tasted anything like it. I like it!”

Everyone turned to look at me, and Annie gave a nod. “Alright, you have one minute to tell us what it is and why it’s special before we pass out. Go.”

“Alright. Like I said, It’s beer with the carbon dioxide replaced with nitrogen. Seventy/Thirty nitro to carbon dioxide to be precise. You know how the fermentation process creates carbon dioxide bubbles, and that’s what makes the fizz, right?”

“Ayyyye,” everyone droned.

“Well, I used MAGIC!!!” I punctuated this by making finger wiggles. “To change tha carbon dioxide into nitrogen. It’s possibly the world’s first magical beer!!!”

I waited for cheers but was merely met with some tired clapping.

“This is what you and Richter spent the past half year working on??” Aqua choked. “A spell to make bubbles!?”

“Yes.”

She broke into laughter, slumping back into her chair. “Ahaha! It’s so you!”

“You got it on your first try? I’m impressed.” Richter said with arched eyebrows.

I shrugged. “Eh, not quite. I got an Ability that helped me cheat a bit when I Specialised.”

“Oh, what’d you get?” Aqua sat up, suddenly interested.

“Later.” Annie groaned. “Continue, Pete.”

“Well, Nitrogen changes the smell, flavour profile, and even the texture of beer. If you take the exact same beer and change it to nitrogen instead of carbon dioxide, you’ll get a completely different flavour.”

Back on Earth, the most famous nitro beer was Guinness stout, which had quite literally invented the process. Nitro beers were a fairly recent creation from the 1950s when a mathematician by the name of Michael Ash created a nitrogenating system to solve a problem with cask pouring Guinness. His invention added the creamy texture of nitrogen that soon became synonymous with the beloved Irish stout.

Then, in 1988, Guinness invented the rocket widget, a plastic cap that essentially recreated Ash’s process in a can, and the now-famous tall-can of Guinness was born.

And the world rejoiced!

Sometimes literally. The modern ball widget found in every can of Guinness was voted the invention of the year in 1994 for the UK Queen’s Award for Technological Achievement.

I personally loved the taste of nitrogenated beer, though it had a few quirks. Nitrogen had a poor solubility, which made it hard to keep properly infused into a beer. That was why Michael Ash had so much trouble getting it to work, and why modern nitro beers had widgets in them in the first place. However, infusing nitrogen with magic seemed to bypass the problem entirely, acting more like modern liquid nitrogen techniques.

“The important thing is, we may be able to pitch nitrogen beer to the Brewer’s Guild as a different thing from ‘Sacred Brew’ entirely. It’s still beer, but it’s so different that it may as well be a completely different drink.”

Annie sat up straighter. “And if they approve of that...”

“They may be more receptive to other changes in the future!” Aqua finished, catching on immediately.

Annie clapped her hands together, startling all of us. “Good! I like it, Pete. We’ll talk more in the morning. Now, BED!”

I grinned ear to ear as we trooped off to bed. My initial foray into magical brewing had gone perfectly. And there were so many other things I could still try! I could hardly wait!

But first, sleeeeeeeep.