Master Of None

Walker was overcome by the sight of a master alchemist’s lab. The amount of herbs and different tools he had never seen in this entire life was impressive. The smell of powerfully refined and dried herbs was much stronger than the little shop downstairs. This alone spoke volumes to the difference in quality. The cauldron in the middle of the room was the same as the one he had cleaned at the mansion, the only difference was that it was in perfectly spotless condition. 

”Well take a look around, I will have the mansion’s alchemy lab looking like this in a few weeks. I already contacted a carpenter to make a wall of shelving with drawers like mine. It is a must for any alchemy lab.” The old man said this like he had just requested for a snack from a vendor.

Walker wanted to tell him that it wasn’t necessary but Remey was giving him a death glare. He could feel the threat that if he spoke to stop this from happening his torment would never end. Instead he heeded the old man’s words and took a look at all the unique tools. There were small picks that were made to extract seeds from certain herbs. Thin knives to slice the finest parts off tough nuts. Even larger tools to scrape bark from trees or roots. The most striking piece of equipment he had not seen before was a large press. The huge weight on the top would crush things to extract the juices from whatever was put under it. This alone seemed like a very useful piece of equipment to have for an alchemist.

”Walker check these out, they are some of the cooler things that real alchemists get to use.” Remey was holding a jar full of round pearls. ”These are from Iced shell oysters that live in the north sea. They are put inside a vial of potion to keep it cold. They can even keep some potions frozen so they won’t degrade.” Walker could feel the chill coming from the jar in her hands without touching it. 

”So some potions need to be stored at a colder temperature? Do they all need to be like that or are there ones that need high temperatures?” Walker was finding that he found a whole new portion of information on alchemy that he had yet to consider. 

”There are some that need to remain boiling until they are used. Some need to stay in the dark or they will degrade instantly. I even had a potion that could not be stored in glass because it melted through glass. You would think that one was toxic to humans but it was actually the best medicine for hair loss. Once it hits the air it would lose its acidic properties and absorb in to someone’s head causing hair growth over a month. It was a weird but amazing potion.” The old man was pulling herbs from the drawers and placing them in to a bag to carry back. He heard their conversation and had remembered the request from a village elder years ago. 

”What about the vials or bottles they are held in? Do they need to be made from certain things or have spells weaved in to them?” Since there was a master alchemist so willing to share some of his knowledge Walker figured it was the best chance to ask more and more questions.

”Well most are easily contained in glass without anything special about it. Some can’t even be held in  a physical vessel but need a spiritual or magic container. Others need to be kept in molten rock or in frozen bowls. If i remember right those alchemists that make those potions always need a mage of a certain element around. It is a huge pain.” The old man shook his head unhappy with some past troubles resurfacing in his memory.

Walker himself was trying to imagine the sheer amount of mana to contain a potion in a constant amount of ice or molten rock. Let along what they could do or what they would cause to happen. ”What could a potion held in molten rock even be used for?” He had to ask, his curiosity was starting to eat away at him.

”Huh? It would be used for healing a dragon of course. What did you think it would be used for? Taking a bath? Potions aren’t just for humans you know. There are potions that can heal or even help certain monsters learn skills. You should have met some tamers who told you about this before right?” The old man’s voice was pretty annoyed hearing a questing that to him was incredibly common sense.

”Remey did you know that there were potions that could help monsters?” Walker looked at Remey with all seriousness.

”Well yea, of course, how could I not.” She just shrugged not seeing what Walker was getting at.

”Well then why would you not share this or bring it up when we were at the tamers guild? They could potentially have given us some ideas to help Midnight and even Onyx…” Walker’s voice started to show a tinge of anger, he had not learned this at all and Remey could have changed it.

”Oh right, and while we were at it we could decide not to go home and journey up to the mountains to get the herbs we would need. Then we could go to the forest to find the water we need and then we could go all the way to the oceans to find the proper kind of seaweed too. Those are just three ingredients that when made in to a potion for a creature with scales they have a small chance of making their scales grow stronger against magic. A small chance, so when I didn’t say anything it was because it wasn’t worth our time.” Remey huffed and crossed her arms giving Walker a death glare to really push her point.

Walker was a little stunned, she had known so much yet shared none of it because she didn’t see it as being important enough to bother the party with. He wasn’t sure if Remey was lazy or just smarter than he had ever given her credit for. ”Hahaha you would never have gathered herbs like that!” The old man was on a step stool grabbing at a drawer high up for an herb he had not used for some years. ”The herbs for potions like that only grow every few years in their own life cycles. For a dragon you would need some snap dragon flowers. Not just any snapdragon flowers but albino ones. Do you know how rare an albino herb is?” The old man laughed even harder, nearly falling off the stool he was standing on. 

Walker was feeling as if he was thrown in to an ocean of knowledge. He had no bearings on potions at all, he had yet to even study the basics. Was Remey so far ahead of him that he would never catch up? This massive distance between a beginner and a master was incredibly daunting. 

Remey was still looking at Walker a little angry that he had insinuated she did not care to help members of their party. ”So what do you think? Should we forget our new gear and rush off to hunt for some herbs that may not have even grown this year in the hopes that we may get a tiny tiny TINY chance to improve two party members? Or should we get this cauldron all set then start to get you some alchemy skills so we can make our own potions?”

”I don’t know why you bother asking him these useless questions. He will be coming back to learn alchemy skills. You will be teaching him what herbs can do and how to store them while I give demonstrations of my experiments with those new plants growing in your garden.” The old man had placed the last herb in his bag and slung it over his shoulder. ”Now see that crate of vials? Put that in your inventory magic and bring it along for me, I will be making at least half of those today.” 

Walker didn’t speak due to his currently muddle mental state, he stored away the crate of vials and followed the old man who had gotten more energy due to his desire to go make some new potions in a cauldron that had surprised them all. The elemental cauldron was really that great, with it there he would be working at the same pace as  he would in his own lab. This meant that he would not need to go back to the alchemist building as often to try out more sensitive experiments. 

”I’ll show you how to clean the elemental cauldron then I will show you the new high healing potion formula. You won’t be able to make it for a while but if you think about it you can start to discern some important differences in low, mid, and high tier.” The old man shined a sly smile at Walker knowing this would gain his curiosity and fire to learn something new. 

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