3.11 Alchemy 101

3.11 Alchemy 101

“Base preparation,” Sabina said. “Let’s start with liquid type. You truly remember nothing?”

Zoey paused. Her ‘amnesia’, Sabina meant. The easy answer would be ‘yes’, but Zoey felt a more honest disclosure was in order. “I remember some things. But there’s huge black spots. You can assume I’m a blank slate.”

Sabina pursed her lips. “That may be difficult. I’m sure I’ll assume some sort of prerequisite knowledge ... but I’ll try not to. Inform me if I take something for granted.”

“Sure.”

Sabina turned back to her cauldron. She’d withdrawn a giant metal spoon—the utensil looked a bit amusing, to be honest—and was stirring the thick red sludge with it. Zoey wanted to ask what potion she was working on, but she needed to stay focused. She’d always had a problem with being distractible.

“Liquid types, then,” Sabina said. “The standard is, of course, mana-imbued distilled water. Moderately reactive, pure and consistent, but most of all, cheap and simple to obtain in bulk.”

Zoey scribbled down notes, listening attentively.

“And palatable,” Sabina added, “though that’s far from highest consideration. But blood potions do tend to put some customers off, as well as other bases. It’s not an irrelevant consideration, in our field.”

“Blood?”

“Highly reactive,” Sabina explained, misinterpreting Zoey’s question. “Typically useful for experimentation ... except for financial restraints. Ethically sourced sapient blood is difficult to acquire. Livestock ... easier, but far less effective. Might as well use various liquors, at that point.”

Zoey was starting to understand. “Every liquid has different properties, and is useful in different situations?”

“Mm. Not exactly. Some are strictly superior to others. Plain distilled water is strictly worse than mana-imbued. Some materials aren’t strictly superior ... but in nearly no situations would you use the inferior type. For example, honey and fruit juice.”

“Fruit juice?” Zoey’s eyebrows went up. That didn’t sound like a particularly ... potion-y liquid. “I guess it’d taste good, at least.”

“Sweet-tasting potions are particularly popular with low-rank adventurers,” Sabina said, nodding. “They haven’t found the stomach for upper-level potions yet.” Sabina paused, then tacked on as an explanation, “The most effective bases aren’t the ones that sit well, as a general rule.”

“Yours didn’t taste too bad.” Er, was ‘not too bad’ an insult? They certainly hadn’t been tasty, though. “What were they, anyway? The infertility potions.”

Sabina’s lips curled. “You wouldn’t like the first iterations. Blood and liquors are reactive ... and don’t cook well. They’re used for finding an effective recipe, then when discovered, stabilization using more ... normal ... bases are sought out. The general invention process. I gave you the first palatable batch. Water, with some post-brew taste additives.”

“Ah.” That made sense. Zoey was kind of curious what the ‘first batch’ tasted like. By the way Sabina was making it sound ... seriously hard to stomach. Though, cooked blood ... yeah. Reasonable.

“You’re side-tracking us,” Sabina said. “Let me start over. The most common bases. Mana-imbued distilled water for bulk, common potions—health, mana, stamina, so on. The bread and butter of alchemy; perhaps fifty percent of any given alchemist’s sales. Beyond that, other bases are used for experimentation and specialized potions. Blood and liquors for their reactivity, and easy mutation ... but worse final quality, detriments to efficacy and duration. High level, unique effects often require blood or liquor, though not always—and depending on the advancement and skill of the brewer. Honey is the standard for potency, but with significant downsides in longevity. Useful for short-term, powerful effects. The opposite end of the spectrum, various milks. Long duration, moderate decrease in potency.”

The inappropriate question that flashed into Zoey’s head was entirely her fault ... she coughed, and pointedly didn’t voice it.

Sabina glanced her way. “What? Ask.”Rêạd new chapters at novelhall.com

Zoey wished she hadn’t caught the reaction. “Um. Nothing. Just had ... a thought.”

“Ask.”

Zoey really shouldn’t. But she found herself inordinately curious. “It’s inappropriate.”

“Ask.” There was a hint of exasperation, now.

Okay. Zoey guessed plenty of other things had been inappropriate, considering their arrangement. “What about semen?”

Sabina’s stirring stilled.

Zoey coughed. “As a base. What’s it do? Just, you know, out of curiosity.”

Sabina turned slowly, and gave Zoey an amused look. It had Zoey flushing, because Sabina wasn’t an easy woman to amuse.

Sabina nodded. “I’m giving you an overview, but you’ll want to dive deeper on your own. Where I’ll come in most use for you is hands-on oversight, or questions you might have that self-study couldn’t provide answers to.”

“Makes sense.” It seemed Zoey had some work cut out for her, poring over a textbook. That wasn’t Zoey’s style, but again ... when it came to magical potion-making, which would eventually result in lewd potions to play with ... she thought she’d be able to make herself sit still.

“After brewing is the final step,” Sabina said. “Bottling. Outsiders might assume this step is irrelevant. It is not. The physical properties of what you pour a completed brew into affects the final result.”

“Oh,” Zoey said. “You’re right. I wouldn’t have expected that. What kind of properties? Material?”

“In much the same way imbued water is the standard, so is glass,” Sabina said. “But I’m sure you’ve noticed some deviation.”

Zoey had. Sabina’s shelves were predominantly filled with thin glass vials, but there were plenty of exceptions.

“And shape,” Sabina added. “Not just material. Again, I’ll give a bird’s-eye view. As with everything else, finances come into play. Glass is cheap, and vials are easily manafactured—or collected and repurposed from expended shard loot. As for the properties ... glass is inert. It doesn’t affect potions in any particular way. Something like wood, however, is preserving. Even under extreme temperatures, or long storage times, the potion won’t spoil.”

“Potions spoil?”

Sabina quirked an eyebrow. “I just said they did.”

Zoey nodded. “Yeah. Just surprised, I meant.” Sabina’s blunt reply had showed, again, she wasn’t the best at interpreting Zoey’s non-direct responses. She really was a bit odd. It was kind of cute. Maybe it’d be abrasive if Sabina had sounded annoyed, but she said everything so matter-of-fact, not irritated. “And metal?” That had been the third potion-holder she’d seen in Sabina’s shop.

“Iron,” Sabina corrected. “Iron is an interesting one. It’s good for a ... sort of fermentation. Letting a potion sit inside an iron container can result in curious final products.” Her lips quirked. “And, more mundanely, it’s a material not prone to shattering. Which has certain use-cases during a hectic mission, so I’ve been told.”

Zoey usually took potions preemptively, so she’d never needed to take one out in the middle of a fight ... but yeah, she saw Sabina’s point. “And all the funky shapes,” Zoey said.

“Shaping is an odd thing,” Sabina said. “And unreliable. But yes. Each has noticeable effects. Vials, as I said, are common because of their inertness; many alchemists prefer not to deal with temperamental bottling. Even I keep it to a minimum. The results are usual more detrimental than helpful. I prefer to refine a process than experiment with bottling.”

“That makes sense.”

“Round containers—truly round, not oblong like a vial—tend toward improved duration. Blocky, toward potency. And finally, odd shapes, reactivity ... what the final result might be, after settling inside the container.”

“Odd shapes?”

“Odd shapes. Non conventional. Do I need to specify?”

“No, I get it.” Anything that didn’t fall into conventionally ‘round’, ‘blocky’, or a ‘vial’, she guessed. Wacky designs, like Zoey could imagine being in a mad scientist’s laboratory. “This is pretty cool. There’s some things I had no idea about.”

“We’ve barely scratched the surface.”

“I’ve got a question, though,” Zoey said. “Not related to what we’ve talked about, if that’s fine?”

Sabina waved her hand, indicating to go ahead.

“You mentioned a while ago there were ‘adventuring alchemists’. That some people’s alchemy rune advanced in different ways.”

Sabina bobbed her head. “Since you seem intent on wayfaring, I presume that’s the shape yours will take.”

“What’s that entail?”

“What does any advancement entail? I couldn’t begin to answer.” Sabina hesitated. “But generally? Skills that aid in field-brewing. Likely, you’ll never create potions as powerful as mine, or ... inferior in every way, truthfully, but you’ll be able to do so in difficult environments, with minimal equipment and resources. It’s quite useful, I’ve heard, tailoring a potion—even if it may be weaker than average—to whatever situation you find yourself in.”

“Huh.” Zoey could see how it would be.

That her potions wouldn’t be quite as strong did suck a little bit, but of course there were trade offs. The ‘lab worker’ alchemists could produce better product, but Zoey would—eventually—be able to throw something together in the middle of a shard.

“Now,” Sabina said. “This batch is done, so let me handle it before we continue. You can watch me pour.”