When Alice and Sam reached the Magic Arts building they were welcomed by an elven woman standing by the door. “Welcome first years to the Alchemy, Enchanting and Potion Craft class commonly referred to as Magic Arts. My name is Marisha and I’m one of the two teaching assistants working under Professor Waterwind this year. Please head through to room two which is the second door on the left” she said as she greeted them. “Nice to meet you Marisha” Sam replied. “A pleasure to meet you” Alice greeted.
Sam and Alice passed by Marisha and headed to the room with a 2 written above it. When they arrived, they were greeted by the second teaching assistant. “Good morning students, mine name is Jack and I’m Professor Waterwinds other assistant. May I please have your names” he asked them. “Alice Keivania” “Samuel Holdridge” they both replied. “Alright Samuel and Alice, please head over to table 4. When you get there you will find 2 sets of equipment, a set each. That equipment will be yours for the remainder of your time here in the academy so be sure to take good care of it. Once class starts one of the first things that we will go over is the safe handling of the equipment, its storage and its use. The use, however, will be brief as you will be taught in depth how to use it properly before we begin any practical work” Jack explained to them. Sam and Alice both nodded in acknowledgement and walked over to table 4 where they took a seat and waited for the class to begin.
As more students funneled through the door to the classroom and over to their seats Sam turned his mind to the equipment in front of him. There were some things he knew like vials and a couple of glass beakers like those his mother had in the clinic but there were also quite a few pieces of equipment laid out in front of him that he didn’t recognize. It was quite exciting to think about what they might do and how they might be used to create magic potions, enchanted items and alchemical objects.
As Sam was looking at the items in front of him a voice spoke up from the front of the classroom. “Good morning students and Welcome to Magical Arts which is not the official name but is what everyone calls it, so we’ll go with that. My name is Professor Lorna Winterwind and I’m going to teach you the magical arts this year along with my two teaching assistants Marisha Hollowroot and Jack Blackridge” she said pointing to Marisha who was standing to her right and Jack who was standing to her left. Sam’s eyes were drawn to the professor’s ears. Like Marisha she also had pointed ears which was most commonly a trait of the elves.
“Today we will be going over the equipment in front of you. Along with the equipment is a manual which includes a maintenance guide for all the equipment. You are to familiarize yourself with the guide in your own time. For this lesson I will do a bit of a demonstration on and give a brief overview of some of the equipment. As this is the first less we won’t be going too in-depth so don’t worry too much if you don’t understand straight away” the professor said. The two teaching assistants moved to either side of the room to allow the professor room for her demonstration.
“Now, I will show you how to make a lesser healing potion and explain what I am doing and why. First we need to prepare the equipment we will need to use to make this potion. Firstly we need a heat source which for us is a magical burner designed to use fire elemental magic stones as a power source to produce a small flame from the top of this tube” the professor said as she raised the burner up showing it off to the class.
“We will then place a small copper pot on top of the burner here.” She said as she pointed to a triangle shape that was placed over the burner. “The reason we use copper when making potions is because it’s non-reactive to the large majority of substances used to create potions. There are a few exceptions and in which case we use a glazed ceramic pot instead” the professor explained.
“Now pour some water in the pot and turn on the burner. You want to heat it up to a slight simmer and then add two grains of purified salt and stir it clockwise seven times with a copper spoon. Once the salt has dissolved into the water add either one full sized leaf of Redleaf which is what we will be using today or one sprig of Aether mint to the simmering pot. Once you have added the Redleaf you should see the colour of the water begin to change to a red hue. Once you have seen the colour begin to change you need to drop the heat on the burner down to a low heat and steep it for 5-7 minutes depending on the size of the batch you are making”.
Sam watched carefully as the colour from the Redleaf bled into the water turning it into a shade of dark red. Potion craft was quite complicated he thought as the professor spoke again. “Next you need to sprinkle in a pinch of silver yarrow and then stir it counterclockwise. Once this has been stirred into the mix raise the heat again and bring the mixture to a simmer for 8-10 minutes. Now while we wait for this to simmer please open your flora textbooks and read over the descriptions for Redleaf, Aether mint and Silver Yarrow” the professor instructed.
Sam opened his textbook and began to read the descriptions for the different plants. He was nearly done when the professor spoke up once more. “Now that we have let the concoction simmer for 8-10 minutes we need to add in one tablespoon of Dewter Honey. You then need to stir the honey into the mixture until the surface of the concoction begins to give off a faint glow” the professor explained as she mix the honey into the bowl. “Once your concoction is now glowing add in a half pinch of ground Clawper Pearl. The concoction should now go from a slightly translucent liquid to an opaque lighter red liquid. Once the colour has solidified turn off the heat and let it cool” the professor said as she took the bowl off the burner with some woolen gloves and placed it down onto a calk mat.
“Now please continue with your reading and if completed open your potion ingredients basics textbook and read the descriptions for purified salt, Dewter Honey and Clawper Pearl.” The professor instructed.
Sam turned back to his flora textbook to finish off the description for the silver yarrow before moving on to the potion ingredients book. By the time he had gotten started reading about purified salt the professor called out to the class again. “Alright students, for this portion of the demonstration I want you all to come down the front to watch closely” the professor said. Sam got up and followed Alice over to the professor’s desk at the front of the room. “Normally we would all be wearing masks as potion creation can be dangerous as if you make a mistake you could accidentally create a poisonous gas. However, the ingredients for the lesser health potion cannot be combined to create and noxious gases so we’re letting it slide for this example but do remember that when making potions during lessons we will all be wearing masks” the professor explained.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Okay, now that the potion has cooled down we need to pour it through a filter to remove any solids still within the solution. We use this fine cloth which we just call a filter cloth to filter the liquid into a flask” the professor said lifting the cloth us so we could all get a good look at it. “You will want to place the filter cloth over the top of a funnel and place it into your flask. Now most people will have a filter cloth for each different potion they make as a contaminated filter cloth could damage your potion. Most potion crafters use different colours to help differentiate their cloths from one another. Now, once your filter cloth is in place slowly pour the liquid into the filter allowing it to slowly filter through into the flask” the professor explained and she lifted the flask up ready to pour it in.
Sam watched intently as the professor poured small amounts of liquid into the filter and watched as it slowly dripped through and into the flask. Once this was done the professor continued her explanation.
“Once filtered you will then want to pour the contents of the flask through a fresh funnel into your potion vial’s. Once filled place a glass or calk stopper into the top of the vial to seal the top. This prevents air and impurities from getting into the potion and degrading it. These potions have a three week shelf life so when you’re diving into dungeons you may need to either get longer lasting potions which can be quite expensive or have someone on your team who can brew potions on the go to replenish your supplies” she explained.
That seemed like quite an important thing to remember Sam thought. Not only would they need to prepare potions to take into the dungeon with them but also have the equipment and ingredients required to brew more of them while down in the dungeon. Sam made a mental note of this as he thought it was something that they should discuss with Albert before their next dungeon diving class.
Not long after the demonstration the professor showed them how to properly clean the equipment they had used and how to properly store it. They were then given a case to put all of the equipment in and placed it into their storage bags. Apparently the bags were designed to fit one of these boxes in a separate compartment which Sam thought was pretty convenient. Once that had been completed the class was dismissed with both Alice and Sam excitedly discussing what they had seen as they walked to their considerably less exciting final class of the day… Mathematics and Finance Sam thought with a sigh. It had been a long and tiring day and the last thing he wanted to do was math. Oh well, it’s only a single period, he should be able to get through that he thought as he and Alice walked into the academic building and headed up the stairs to the classroom.
By time the class had ended Sam felt as if his mind had turned to mush. The professor had given them what he called a simple assessment to get a feel for everyone’s level. What he had called a simple assessment was in fact the hardest math’s test he had ever seen. He was sure he had only gotten the first few questions right and expected to get separate from the rest of the class for special tutelage. The rest of the test he had just been guessing the answers, and he was almost certain his guesses were wrong.
While he struggled with questions the more noble of their group Albert and Alice had both gotten through it with relative ease with Bryce being the first in the class to finish it. Luckily he wasn’t alone and had found a comrade in arms in Chloe who had also struggled with the test. She had explained after the test that she had spent a lot of her time learning practical skills in service to Alice and therefore things like Math’s weren’t focused on as much.
After they finished class Albert and Sam agree to meet up at the dining hall to discuss their findings from the Magical Arts class while Alice and Chloe had to return to the palace. Once Sam returned to his room he flopped down onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling. As he lay there he reflected on his day. It had been extremely busy and exhausting. From practicing mana manipulation, taking combat and riding tests, learning the basics about dungeons and the adventurer’s guild and magical arts his brain was fried.
Despite how tired he felt he managed to pull himself up and changed into some casual clothes before he headed down to the dining hall to meet up with Albert. “I see, so basic lesser health potions have a shelf life of three weeks. That’s certainly something we will need to keep in mind when diving into dungeons. We would have to account for that and ensure we had enough supplies to brew some more if we were planning to dive for an extended period of time” Albert replied to Sam’s explanation. “Yes, although I was wondering about whether time has the same effect on the potions if they’re held within a storage skill” Sam queried. “That’s a good point I’m not sure. I guess that’s a question we should asked the professor for our Skill Up class tomorrow morning” Albert said.
After they had discussed their course of action and had finished their dinner Sam returned to his room to get some much-needed rest. He had managed to hold his head up during dinner but afterwards the fatigue really set in, and he had to drag himself up the stairs to his room. Once he entered his dorm he went straight to his bedroom and flopped back down onto the bed before quickly falling to sleep.
When Sam awoke it was still dark out. He checked his pocket watch, and it was around four in the morning. It was one of those times where it was too early to go out but it was late enough that he likely wouldn’t fall back asleep before the sun rose. That being the case he decided to spend some time on his mana manipulation exercises Professor Tinderfall had given them to do as homework. The more he practiced the easier he began to find making the different shapes with his mana.
Sam practiced until the sun began to rise over the horizon and he finished a final trapezium when he heard an exciting sound ‘Ping’. He quickly opened his notifications to check to see if it was the notification he thought it was. ~ Natural Skill Gained. ‘Mana Manipulation' LV1~ Sam smiled as he read the notification. It had only taken him around an hour of practice plus the practice he had done in class before he got the skill. The professor had made it sound like it would be quite difficult to gain the skill but here he was after just a little bit of practice, and he had already gained the skill.
Now that he had the skill he was eager to try and get some quick levels into it and continued practicing up until he had to get ready to head into class. Sam quickly read the two notifications he had gotten over the last hour. ~Natural Skill ‘Mana Manipulation’ level gained. 'Mana Manipulation ' is now Level 2~ ~Natural Skill ‘Mana Manipulation’ level gained. 'Mana Manipulation ' is now Level 3~ Sam smiled with joy at the notifications before quickly changing into his uniform and running down the stairs to make sure he wasn’t going to be late to homeroom.
“Level 3 already?” Chloe gasped as Sam told his friends why he was almost late. “I practiced last night for a couple of hours and got nothing. Maybe you’re well suited to it” Albert said sounding slightly dejected. Neither Alice nor Chloe had found time to do any practice overnight so he couldn’t judge his progress off of them. “Bryce, did you do any of the mana manipulation exercises last night?” Sam asked him. “I did but struggled with those other than the square and the circle. Anything more complex and I struggled to keep the structure steady. With those ones the mana normally dissipated before I could properly form the shape” he explained.
Sam decided to take it as his win. It was unlikely he was the only one to gain the skill on the first day of practice, but it seemed as though he must have an affinity or something that made it easier for him to learn the skill. As his mind wondered the professor walked into the room to begin homeroom and the classroom fell silent as their focus changed to the new arrival.
