Chapter 75

Chapter 75: Don’t mess with alchemy, please! part

“What you say is groundbreaking!”

Sophie exclaimed almost yelling, If Ryu didn’t know any better he would think she was mad.

“How so?”

“Do you even know how much time I’ve spent trying to figure out the way to become a mage? yet my mana pool has never grown and I didn’t know how to replenish my mana. If I knew this from before I would have saved so much time!”

It turned out, she was mad.

“Now it’s my turn to ask you, what are the craftman stations?”

“They are stations used for crafting of course”

.....

Ryu wasn’t amused by her attempt to mock him.

“Can you please explain in detail?”

“Since you didn’t answer my questions I don’t have a reason to do so, unless master Ayumi orders me to, of course”

“It’s not like I don’t want to answer, my circumstances are very different from the rest. For starters I lost my memory, so I don’t even know if i was born in here or in the other world. Even if I was summoned I wouldn’t know. According to Luke, I don’t have a class and about why did they chose me as their leader, my answer is as good as anyone’s”

Ryu shrugged, irritating even more the usually calm and composed girl.

“Fine... A craftman station is the name of any station made with the purpose of crafting. Before you accuse me of stating the obvious, there are several kinds of stations but they all work in a similar way. You need the ingredients, the blueprint or recipe and they craft the item. All it takes is someone with the proper skill and enough mana”

“I see, so, that’s why I can’t get this thing to work properly”

Ayumi said pointing at the convoluted glass equipment on the table.

“I Don’t know, I’ve been making some experiments with different extracts. I’ve managed to discover some recipes but I ended up wasting a lot of ingredients and most of my potions have awful secondary effects”

Ryu took a small vial with an orange bubbling potion and passed it to Ayumi.

“What’s this?”

“It’s just a random bubbling potion, those only last about three days before they spoil completely. Although as soon as I make them, they start losing their properties, so they are mostly useless. I always carry them around in case I get the chance to use them”

“What does it do?”

“This one... If I’m not mistaken it gives a small boost to defense”

Ryu used identify on it and nodded at Ayumi, who hurried to drink it.

“It tastes wrong... and I don’t feel any different”

“Here, try cutting your finger with my knife”

He passed the knife to Ayumi who then made a small cut on her index finger and it started bleeding.

“Ouch! why would you ask me to do that!? are you insane!? Aww my finger hurts”

“I said it gives a small boost to defense, you weren’t supposed to use so much force”

He glared at Ayumi who was sucking on her finger to make the bleeding stop.

“Well, I did feel something weird, as if my skin was somewhat slippery”

“I know that feeling, it’s because it repels the damage. I think it hardens the skin or something”

Ryu and Ayumi discussed his experiments for a short while until they realized Hiraku was not amused in the slightest, on the other hand, Sophie was in awe.

“I can’t believe you were able to recreate recipes from scratch! so many people have tried to do so and failed. Even better, you made them work properly!”

“Not really Sophie, I’m sorry to disappoint you but they don’t work as intended. I mean, healing potions are one thing, they do a fine job and somehow I managed to reduce side effects to a minimum. But every batch I make is a bit different, even if I try to follow the same steps, the quality varies too. Also, the only way I found to make the potions work without poisoning is by mixing them with an antidote, every single extract is poisonous”

Ryu shrugged, yet Sophie’s look didn’t change in the slightest. Ryu went from a worthless outsider, to the person she respected the most after Ayumi.

“I think that If we join our efforts we’ll be able to make something even better Ryu”

Ayumi giggled.

“Why are you laughing at me?”

“I’m not laughing at you, it’s just that your mistake is something so basic, and still you somehow found the way to make it work. Extracts are not supposed to be consumed directly, you need to mix them with an excipient”

“And what in the hell is that?”

Ryu’s joyful mood was completely ruined by Ayumi’s mockery, but his curiosity got the better of him and he asked her anyway.

“It’s a neutral substance that doesn’t alter the quality or the effects of the mix. Try to see it this way, If you eat herbs you’ll gain some nutrients, but the effect is mild compared to when you drink it as an infusion correct?”

“Yes, I remember that from the time we spent at the settlement. Whenever I ate red berries as medicine I had to eat a lot, instead when I made an infusion just a bunch were enough to cure stomachaches”

“Exactly, but how many red berries would you need to fill a vial with their extract?”

“Many more than I would eat, that’s for certain”

Ayumi pondered for a second, then replied.

“And in that case, the medicinal properties are condensed, but red berries not only have those medicinal properties, they also contain several other substances. In short, when you eat them you absorb nutrients, medicinal properties and whatever your body doesn’t need goes to waste. But when you make an extract, you include even the waste, thus making it poisonous”

“And how will mixing it up with something without properties would help? also, whenever I try to dissolve extracts in water their properties decay even faster”

“I think that depends on the different extracts and we should experiment on it, but if my theory is correct either alcohol or oil would make great excipients. The quality of the medicine may be lowered a bit for being mixed with something else, but the secondary effects should be reduced since you wouldn’t need to add an antidote to the mix”

“Master Ayumi you’re a genius!”

Sophie exclaimed, the intensity on her voice and her heavy panting made her look as if she was aroused, distracting Ryu for a while.

“I wouldn’t go as far as calling her a genius, but this is exactly what i was looking for. That’s why I trained Ksenia in the use of the distiller. My alchemy skill doesn’t level up when I distill extracts, but it does whenever I experiment mixing different extracts. Maybe If I manage to create some good quality potions I’ll be able to increase that skill even faster!”

“Mister Ryu, did you just say alchemy skill!? are you a mage too? no, scratch that, what I meant to ask is how did you even get that skill?”

“It was actually pretty simple, I started getting elemental stones whenever I turned wood into charcoal. If I’m correct transmutation allowed me to unlock alchemy”

“Thank you so much Master Ayumi, if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have been able to learn so much. This is the best day of my life!”

“This is exactly what I was looking for, Ayumi, would it be ok if I come to experiment in your lab?”

“As long as you share what you find with me or with Sophie I think it’ll be ok”

Sophie’s eyes started shinning in hopes of learning new things.

“Thanks, that would be great.”

“Why don’t you tell Ksenia to come here too?”

“She’s not interested in experiments, though she doesn’t mind distilling ingredients or cleaning the equipment, which I find tiresome and I appreciate her hard work. I really don’t think she would make a good partner for experiments and whenever Rina assists me we end up... getting distracted in other issues”

“Ohhh! I know what you’re talking about! Finally I understood something!!! I was feeling so left out I almost fell asleep”

Hiraku exclaimed making the rest laugh.

“Anyways, I’ll get things ready for tomorrow. Bring as many extracts as you can so we can try new things. Also, I’ll show you my biggest breakthrough so far, but I need some more glass vials.”

She said the last part looking at Hiraku trying to look cute.

“Again? I’m tired of glassblowing, It’s hot and sweaty”

Hiraku pouted.

“well darling, if you don’t want to miss other hot and sweaty activities I suggest you do your best”

Ayumi giggled, both Ryu and Sophie noticed the meaning of her words and felt a bit awkward about her shameless behavior.

After what Ryu thought was the most productive day he had spent with Ayumi, he went back to the brothel and asked Ksenia to distill as many different extracts as she could before the next day since he intended to spend the whole day making new potions.

He was indeed excited to learn about alchemy, but what hurried him the most was the need to provide Anne and Helena potions that were good enough to last for weeks and with strong effects that could make a difference if they found themselves in trouble. He was worried for them, mostly because Anne had been drifting away from him ever since he started a relationship with Rina and he felt guilty about it, especially if because of it she ended up doing something reckless.