Day 12

Yesterday after I finished Vlad immediately kicked me from his room. I noticed that he was abnormally pale.

Probably the energy consumption was too much even for him.

'I directly lose consciousness if I try to move it for too much.'

//Note in red pencil above the line//

- Hahahahaha, a loser with no energy.

Today I woke up early and, a bit excited, tried to meditate immediately.

The good news was that I could sense the raw energy.

The bad news that it was extremely difficult to guide it.

'Damn, without Vlad's help this is difficult…f*ck.'

I continued to control the energy and move it slowly. I screamed and stopped immediately.

My head was splitting in half from pain.

I Rested for a bit and went to Marian's room.

He was concocting some potion. Drops of sweat dripped from his forehead but a crystal floating around him shot two nearly unnoticeable sparks of energy and evaporated the drops.

'What is this…thing?' I thought but remained quiet. 'Fortunately, I opened the door quietly.'

I had to wait for 10 more minutes before suddenly the glass flask in front of Marian exploded. A few sharp shards shot towards him but were stopped by an energy shield. – "F*ck"

He sighed. – "Oh, hi Eliot, how's going?"

"Everything is okay. And you…" – I looked towards the spilled liquid on Marian's desk.

He just dismissed me with a hand. – "Don't worry, even if you're a Tier III Alchemist the failure rate is high…"

"Alchemist?"

"Oh, right…apart from the warpath there are other occupations in this world that are still dependent on the energy level somehow. One of them is the art of alchemy. There are the same XIII levels for Alchemists as for the Warpath. The main problem of Alchemy-Warpath relation is that the most effective are the potions of the corresponding level to the Warpath. Anything lower is…nearly useless."

"Aren't you II Hex mage?"

"Yeah, but I'm not concocting these for me."

I looked at him for a second. – "Are you selling them?"

He smiled. – "Fortunately, you're not stupid, overwise it would be difficult to teach you magic theory later."

Once again, I had to reconsider my social standing. A slave who can even sell things and has his own money.

"Actually, I sell the things to Old Man. He takes a huge percentage, but these conditions are godly compared to normal slaves outside of the arena." – Marian explained as he saw my bewildered expression. – "Anyway, do you need something?"

"Yeah, I have this problem…" – I explained my predicament.

Marian was surprised. – "You've already sensed the raw energy? Hell, that's quick. I guess that your method was somehow ingenious."

That he added. – "You own one to Vlad."

I nodded. – "Yes, I know…anyway…"

Marian interrupted me. – "Here, take this." – He threw me a massive book. I somehow managed to catch it without falling.

On the cover, I read 'Introduction to Alchemy'.

"Have fun. I can lend you my equipment. But for the ingredients you will have to pay me later." – he smirked and added. – "Page 582 for your request."

I sighed. 'Free lunches are rare.'

"Thank you!"

Marian's smile became wider. – "Learn well. Any warrior knows a bit of Alchemy to gather the useful ingredients during the travels and to know the value of potions."

I nodded and returned to my room.

//From 'Introduction to Alchemy'//

- …the main parts of an alchemy concoction are flame/heat, mental power, and passive element powers.

Flame can be natural, magical, and innate. Natural flames are found in nature and are difficult to control. Some examples are: nine levels of Earth Flame, Natural-Death Dragon Flames, […]

Magical flames are usually the ones of the Flame Mages.

Innate flames are the ones produced by the alchemist's body and powered by his bloodline. The characteristics of these flames are unpredictable, and the alchemist must study their flame himself to use it well.

I suddenly understood why Marian gave me this book. 'He thought that my flame must be good for Alchemy…'

- Mental power is an invisible type of energy/wave produced by a particular interaction between the brain and soul of the alchemist that permits to control efficiently the variations of flame intensity and to use the of passive element powers.

'And here is my problem: lack of mental power I guess.'

- Passive element powers are the different energy sources added during the concoction. Some examples: Flame Crystals to add some highly unstable flame energy, Crovus Serpent Heart to balance the energy of Harv Grass mixed with the blood of Malakit Lord of light elemental affinity, or […]

The examples continued but I knew nothing about the creatures of the Astria, apart from one sub-species of Malakit.

I stood up and returned to Marian's door.

He opened the door and directly gave me two other books. – "Yes, I know!" – With a smile, he closed the door in front of me.

These books were even bigger than the 'Introduction to Alchemy'.

One was 'Basic Bestiary' while the other one was 'Guide to Plants of Astria. Volume I'.

I returned to my room and decided to read about the potion I need to help me with my mental power.

- Clear Perception Potion. Tier I.

Ingredients:

Water type catalyst powder – 1 gm

Harv Grass – 25 gm

Pink Imp's blood – 500 ml *

*Can be substituted with the blood of any creature with an illusion-bloodline.

After that, there was a long and detailed description of the whole concoction process.

I didn't understand anything.

'Guess I will have to start from the basics.' I mentally sighed and went more than 400 pages back.

- Simple Life Essence Potion. Tier 0.

Ingredients:

Any creature's blood – 1 l for Tier 0 creatures; 0,5 l for tier I creatures; 250 ml for Tier II creatures…

Process:

Boil the blood using your flame for one hour. The heat must be constant through all the process.

In the last 2 minutes, one can also infuse the potion with refined energy to increase the efficiency of the potion.