Goodbye?

Arjuna opened the gate and walked into the Dawn Alchemist courtyard. He took a deep breath as he surveyed the surroundings one more time. How many times had he walked into the courtyard to practice alchemy?

Almost every single day for the past few months he had gone into his place, from noon till the afternoon.

It wasn't bad though, he enjoyed alchemy the process of making a potion was always mesmerizing to him.

He smiled to himself as he remembered how he got recruited. Just for some valuable herbs, he was introduced into the guild. Being taught by Master Nycodus, he learned the skills of a dawn alchemist. From regular health potions to unique speed potions. He had learned many recipes and many skills in alchemy.

This was the place where he made all of his potions, some he sold for a good price, others he transferred to Jason and Perseus for the silver wings guild members to use. He had learned many skills, but as time moved on, Master Nycodus just started to give recipes letting him learn everything by himself.

Thinking many thoughts Arjuna walked over to the 7th building in the courtyard, the oldest, and most unkempt one of them all.

He reached out with his hand to open the creaking door. But another person opened it right before Arjuna's hand landed on the handle. He looked up to see Cadmus Nycodus staring down at him. Cadmus turned around and beckoned to Arjuna.

"come on, we don't have a lot of time"

Arjuna followed Cadmus in confusion. Together they passed through the old wooden halls past the alchemy room up the stairs and finally up to his office.

Cadmus leaned back in his chair and looked at Arjuna who was left standing, still in total confusion. In the white room, there was a wooden table stacked with all sorts of alchemy equipment. Most of them seemed to be normal. A transmutation tablet, storing beakers, pipes, instruments, and much more that could be used in alchemy. Most of these items Cadmus had already taught him the uses of and he could now use freely. But why were they on the table in his office?

Cadmus watched Arjuna look over the equipment in confusion. With a small smile, he tossed a scroll over to him.

Arjuna caught it with both hands, he unfurled it to reveal what was inside. A mist of darkness fell to the floor as he opened it. In the darkness of the scroll, bright green words revealed themselves onto the scroll.

[you have acquired a new potion recipe]

[breath of darkness]

[rank: epic]

[effects: +350% damage to all darkness based skills, +40% damage to all wind-based skills, +30% damage to all nature-based skills, +5 affinity with the darkness element, +10 darkness resistance, +10 light resistance]

[description: a potion made with the combination of a genius dawn alchemist's skills and a famed Nightfall Archer's power and knowledge, made from magic crystals, Ent Bark, Hydra Heart infused with the energy of a Nightfall Archer. Its ingredients are extremely rare.]

Cadmus handed over to Arjuna three items. One of them was a huge magic crystal about the size of his fist. It glimmered blue in the light streaming through the windows. Then a rough bark, that looked extremely old, but as Arjuna held it, he felt some sort of sacred presence wash over him as he held it.

The last one was a heart, about the size of a basketball. Arjuna wasn't so sure it was a heart anymore though. It pulsed every now and then and steams of black energy fell from it.

Arjuna easily recognized the energy and looked up to Cadmus. He grinned

"only tell those you can trust your life with right?"

Arjuna's eyes widened and he looked at the hydra heart in front of him.

Cadmus pointed to the wooden table and said to Arjuna readily.

"This is your final test and lesson, make a (breath of darkness) you have only once chance if you succeed your status of trainee will be lifted, and we will welcome you into the ranks of a dawn alchemist"

[new mission]

[dawn alchemist quest]

[description: you have finished your course in training! all that is left is to successfully create the potion given to you by Cadmus. You have only one chance.]

[rewards: (Dawn alchemist class), (set of alchemy tools), (bag of ingredients), (1 Dawn alchemist tool) (1 Dawn alchemist skill)]

Arjuna took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he stood in front of the table. All of the ingredients and tools that he needed were in front of him. He just simply had to deliver it. He repeated the recipe in his head. Crush the magic crystals into just, then carefully coat the ent bark with it. He needed to inject mana steadily into the ent bark as he did that so that the magic crystal dust could soak into the bark. While that was happening he also needed to siphon the rest of the spare magic dust into the heart itself and when that was done, he needed to mix the bark and heart at a precise ratio. Then finally transmute it.

It sounded simple, but it was an extremely delicate process. Arjuna could only imagine how long it took for the makers to come up with the recipe.

He opened his eyes and ran over to the magic crystal. He raised his hand over it and slowly moved some mana into it. The magic crystal quickly reacted shining brightly. Seeing that it was a good enough quality Arjuna grabbed a hammer and chisel. He needed to break it apart so that he could grind it into dust.

Cadmus nodded to himself proudly as he watched Arjuna start to hammer. It was a good move to check the quality of a mana stone. Many alchemists forgot that step, and the rank of their potion went down because of that.

But the potion Arjuna was making was different from regular ones. Unlike others, it had a fixed rank, which meant that the potion had to be either epic or above in order for it to work. If it was lower than that, even just slightly lower then the potion would be a failure.

Cadmus shivered remember when he had to do something similar to what Arjuna was doing. Sadly he had failed that one and had left the guild in a fury. Thankfully he met made some good people along the way and they journeyed the world together, he returned one day to try out the final test one more time. Suffice to say, he completed it easily.

Cadmus looked back at Arjuna who was now carefully applying the mana stone dust to the end bark. Sweat dripped down his face as he applied a steady stream of energy into the end bark.

Cadmus remembered the hours he spent months pouring his mana into a mana conduit just to learn how to keep his flow of mana steady, he never thought that training was needed, but after he failed the final test, along with the help of some of his comrades he started to learn the importance of it.

Cadmus smiled to himself as he watched Arjuna toss the rest of the mana stone powder into the hydra heart being sure to spread it evenly, otherwise it would explode.

Cadmus remembered when he first took Arjuna in. At first, it was just a simple way to gain more access to herbs. But when he saw Arjuna's skill, he changed his mind and took him under his wing.

Perhaps he saw his old self in Arjuna. Or perhaps the person he wanted to be when he was younger. Talented but humble, ready to learn, and diligent to an uncanny degree.

Arjuna started to combine the ent back and the hydra heart together. He carefully cut pieces of each and placed them into a vial. He was making calculations every single second just to make sure that he was using the correct amount.

Cadmus went completely silent as he watched Arjuna slowly carry the vial of ingredients to the transmutation table.

With a small clink, he placed it on the tablet. Cadmus grimaced, this was where he failed his test. The mana needed for the transmutation table would increase steadily as the potion was being made and Arjuna had to adjust his mana output perfectly in order for the potion to be completed.

Arjuna placed his hands on the tablet and closed his eyes. The vial of ingredients shone slightly. From the bottom up a bright blue liquid started to rise. Mana, the central part of every potion. It rose at a steady rate, the ent bark was at the bottom-most part of the vial. And soon the mana swallowed the bark, the color of the mana shifted into a light green.

When it got to the hydra heart, Arjuna grimaced suddenly. But he pushed through the mana rose and soon the hydra heart was dissolved into the mana. The potion turned into a pitch black with tiny bits of dark green being seen in its midst.

Cadmus looked at Arjuna who looked back at him expectantly.

Cadmus smiled and shook his head.

He went on an adventure to clear his mind, to learn what he was missing, but the person in front of him. Perhaps he wasn't missing anything.