11 When the recipe is easy but the ingredients aren't

Ian was in a pinch. He was a bit too happy after getting the method of manufacturing that he forgot about the rarity of the materials. 

•Silver

•Gold

•Platinum

•Dried Seaweed

•Scorpion Tail

•Pigeon Feather

•Cat Nail

•Human Blood

Till this part all the things mentioned were viable. Easily accessible for Ian but the last ingredient mentioned was not something that he could just procure out of thin air. 

•Rougarou Blood

This right there was the problem. Rougarou wasn't a housepet that could be found everywhere. 

It was a foul beast that hunted humans and monsters alike. It was a beast inclined towards darkness, often admired by dark wizards. Many confused it for a werewolf because of the striking similarity it shared with the wolf creature but in the case of a Rougarou it had the head of a wild dog instead of a wolf. 

`Rougarou's blood is to be used to coat the pendant which will give it anti-curse properties as well as make the pendant sensitive to dark arts which can work as a sensor to locate dark wizards and dark creatures.`

'That's great.' Ian smiled before nearly snapping the pencil in his hand. 'But where am I supposed to find its blood?!!'

Ian felt like cursing. When he got the reward, he was ecstatic. But he forgot that the reward wasn't the finished product but just the instructions for making it.

'Why did I think this would be easy?' He slumped onto his chair, wondering if it would be possible for him to make the pendant before the event in any way.

'Should I ask uncle?' He wondered as he looked at the ingredients once again. 'Rougarou hair was used by some other wandmaker as a core, so uncle should possess rougarou related things…'

He frowned. 'But how do I ask?'

He couldn't just say that he was crafting a pendant, and even if he did… there was no way for him to explain how he got the crafting recipe.

He bit his nail in annoyance as he went through the procedures. He read each and every step twice, making sure that there wasn't anything else that might annoy him later on. Thankfully, there wasn't any and instead what he found was that the application of the Rougarou blood was the very last step. This meant he could carry on with the initial steps and add the Rougarou blood when… and if he found it.

'Let's just start with what I have.'

`Step One: Melt gold, silver and platinum and prepare a mixture in the ratio of 2:2:1.`

That wasn't too troublesome and hence Ian went through his wardrobe drawer and took out the jewels and ornaments he had —heirs often wore such items so it wasn't uncommon to possess them. He had bracelets, earrings, rings and many other things but he never wore them as most of those were too 'girly' for his taste. 

He picked a golden bracelet, a silver pendant and a platinum ring and quickly measured them. Once he had the items in his hand, he proceeded to find a burner and using the china bowl he had in his room, he tried melting the things. 

It would have taken him a very long time if the burner he had wasn't a magical one. The burner was procured by his uncle while making a trade with a group of alchemists. The alchemists had been using the burner for their craft and since they were running a bit low on funds, they sold it to his uncle. Now, knowing how much Ian loved magical antiques, Garrick gifted the burner to him. The burner was made in a way that prevented it from ever running out of fuel and it had the ability to allow its user to control the temperature of its flames.

Ian made the burner burn at a temperature that could easily melt the metals but not form any unnecessary ash or impurities in the process. 

It took him ten minutes to let the metals melt, and once they melted, he reread the rest of the steps.

`Step two: Mold the liquid in the shape you want your pendant to be, but do not let the liquid cool.`

Moulding it was fairly easy, he just had to prepare a mould and voila, he would have the perfect shape. However…

`How do I keep the liquid from solidifying?` 

This was a tad bit troublesome but then he figured that if he used a mould made out of something that doesn't melt, he can just place the entire thing over the burner and the solution will remain liquidy.

And what's something easy to mould and hard to melt?

Mud. 

He quickly took out the dirt from the pot he kept next to his window and mixed some water to make it mouldable. Once the mud was mouldy enough, he started to shape in the form of a hollow crescent moon. 

Why a crescent moon? Because it was easy to shape and he didn't want to make a circle or a heart-shaped pendant.

Once the mould was made, he evaporated the water using the burner, leaving him with a perfect mould. 

Placing the mould over the china bowl and putting the liquid inside of the mould, he kept the burner running.

`Step three: Boil the solution of the dried seaweed, cat nail, scorpion tail and pigeon feather in human blood, preferably the blood of the one wearing the pendant.`

The listed items were pretty easy to find as a quick run to his uncle's storeroom allowed him to find the necessary ones. 

'This is going to hurt a lot…'

Biting his lips, he quickly sliced his palm to draw out some blood. He half filled a bowl with his blood, which ended up making him a bit dizzy. He knew drawing out so much blood at once was a mistake but he had enough magical herbs that stopped the bleeding immediately.

As he poured the mixture in the bowl filled with his blood, he thought to himself.

'Why does this feel like something a witch from children's books would be doing?'

He wasn't a fan of what he was doing but he did understand that most magical practices weren't very elegant.

He sighed and waited for the solution to boil properly and as he waited, he read the next step.

`Step four: Read the following spell to prepare the solution.`

Below the instruction was a massive spell written in Brythonic which kind of surprised Ian but as he remembered it was Merlin that made the spell, it made sense to him. Following the instructions, he continued to read the spell which surprised Ian a lot. 

The solids in the blood that would have never been soluble in it naturally, began to melt and got mixed with the blood. Ian, without being fazed, continued chanting the spell until the solution was a perfect mixture.

With the chant of the last spell, he took a breath of relief. The solution had been perfectly formed and it was surprisingly easy as well, albeit tiresome.

He was almost done with the procedure as there were only three more steps left.

`Step five: Draw the magical circle in the pendant using the solution as paint. Chant the spell as you draw the circle.`

Below the step was a circle with two octagrams, one straight and the other inverted, drawn inside of a circular ring. And under the drawing was a spell.

Quickly taking out a needle, Ian dipped it in the solution and started following the commands. It took him a lot of effort to draw such a pattern on a tiny pendant, whilst chanting a spell. But with determination and an unwavering will, he was able to draw the perfect magic circle.

`Step Six: Keep the pendant in a salt solution.`

Salt was often used to keep evil and impure stuff away and Ian guessed that even now it was being used for the very same purpose.

But finally…

`Step Seven: Dip the finished product in Rougarou blood to complete the process.`

And this is where he was stuck.

"Looks like I will have to lie to uncle… once again"

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[[A/N: Got myself a lil' discord server.

link: https://discord.gg/HCK8XUQ84k ]]