Chapter One Hundred And Thirteen - I begin to aid my Master

The rest days passed quickly for all those within the school, for whether you were truly at rest and playing or working hard to practice your craft or organise your new room to perfection, the number of rest days you had never seemed to be enough.  After that, things became a little more serious, at least as far as the first years and one senior (who might as well have been a first year considering the length of time that he had attended this school technically speaking was only thirty or so days greater than theirs and part of that was spent convalescing) were concerned.

The first years now should be considered used the way things were at the school, should have lost some of the arrogance they held on entering the school or gained a little confidence.  Many had been tempered by events in the school as well, such as the Standings for the Martial Artists (the Mages and Beast Tamers had something similar).  Freshly enrolled alchemist students learned that pill making was not an easy path, despite it being the easiest school to enrol into and hopeful Beast Tamers learned that it was not so easy to coax a wild beast into becoming their partner, more so if they were of rare or strong bloodlines.  It should be noted, that the scholars were serious by nature, so the first years there were about to experience what for them amounted as excitement; allowed to access new levels of the library and aid seniors with their research!

As for Leon, his first duty to his new Master was to help him carry his things to a lecture in the inner alchemist school; Teacher Sagi would speak to a gathering of first years giving them a lecture on control and conservation of spiritual energy during pill making.  The outer school students would be able to attend the same lecture the following day.

Lectures were considered optional for students even now, but those who wished to progress would attend them and those who were either too lazy or thought that they knew enough would likely opt out, but their choice would be quietly noted. Perhaps it was due to that and perhaps it was due to the fact that they were older and wiser, but not fewer than two handfuls of seniors also attended the lecture.

By now, it should be clear to most first years that their control over their fires and cauldrons was not as adept as they might have believed when forming those first few pills, even here in the inner school where talent was higher.  So this lecture could be said to reveal some secrets to help them with this and Teacher Sagi was lured into having high hopes for these first years, thanks to the great attendance of students to his lecture this time around.

The students in the lecture hall quickly settled as Teacher and disciple entered and the Teacher began reciting the words that he had used each and every year for more times than he could count, while Leon set up the man's cauldron and stove.  A stove was a portable device that produced flames for a cauldron.  It was a magical device using a firestone to produce the flames without physical fuel.  The reason that students had to use fixed fireplaces were that stoves were very expensive and the costly firestones produced by mages needed replacing frequently.  Only top alchemists would use them as they had several additional benefits other than not requiring wood as fuel and being portable.  It was easier to control the flames of the firestone than the flames of a wood fire.

That being said, Leon, unknowingly, had exceptional control over his spiritual energy already, having learned quickly and early on.  The reasons were simple; he hadn't a huge pool of spiritual energy at that time so if he was to save his own skin, he couldn't be wasteful of it.  It might also be to do with his former life's upbringing as well, as waste was not tolerated, his small family did not have the money to spare.

Teacher Sagi had three disciples currently, but he had chosen Leo(n) to help him with this lecture due to this reason, even though the other two had more experience.  He also recalled how Leo had attended this lecture, actually most lectures, with complete and utter rapt attention.  It made a Teacher feel as if his lessons were worth giving when a student was so diligent.

Leon listened carefully now, not aware that Leo had listened just as carefully a year prior as Teacher Sagi explained the importance of control.  If an alchemist were to only focus on tempering the fire, he could neglect the forming of the pills and should he focus more on the pills, he could neglect the fire that would ultimately effect the quality of the pills.  And if they focused on both, but neglected themselves, they could squander their spiritual energies and fail in the end as their inner pools would become drained.

The key partially lay in their ability to multitask and partially in finding a balance that felt right within their work.  Sure it was to be expected that this was a difficult task, mistakes would be made and pills would fail, but so long as one learned from their failures and did not become too conceited over their successes, such a balance could be found.

He gave a demonstration, his skill was so profound that he could form the basic Burning Energy pill and explain all of the steps at the same time.  The Burning Energy pill required a very hot flame, but the temperature needed to be consistent, so the students should practice to ensure a steady stream of spiritual energy poured into the heart of the flames.  This should not cease at the pill forming stage, but a second steady stream ought to be sent into the cauldron to stir the liquid and begin to congeal it into round pills.  At this time, students should not worry about how many pills form in the cauldron, if they can only cope with creating one pill, then focus on that one pill. If they can cope with more, then that is fine as well.

After a few moments, the flames of the stove went out completely and Teacher Sagi explained that he had withdrawn his spiritual energy, reclaiming it into his sea or it would dissolve into the air and be lost.  Leon was not the only one to grimace as they were greatly aware of this already.  From his cauldron, the Teacher produced rich and fragrant Burning Energy Pills, their spicy aroma filling the entire hall.  There were ten in total, not a single drop of potion wasted and each and every one was of high quality, with two being considered perfect and one just slightly of weaker quality than the rest.