Alchemists-In-Training

At the alchemy workshop.

"Mhmmm..Alright, as I said, you five were chosen because we determined that you have talent in alchemy."

"Let me give you guys an introduction. Basic Alchemy is very similar to cooking, it's just that you need much more precise knife movements and more delicate actions to handle the rare herbs."

"Your elixirs will lose purity if you are too clumsy with your movements. In addition to this, you guys need to read a lot of books not only to learn ingredient properties but also to learn new alchemy techniques."

"The reason you were chosen is, because among all of the young teenagers in the cooking team, you guys have the most refined knife skills and heat control skills."

"In addition, you guys seem to know a lot of recipes which means you guys enjoy reading as well. Not just everyone can be an alchemist, it takes discipline and dedication to be one."

"I see those qualities in you guys and that is why you were chosen. I will do my best to teach all of you guys basic alchemy. However, whether you can level up to intermediate, advanced, or master alchemist will be up to you."

"I will provide you guys with all the materials that you need in order to learn so you can just focus on brewing potions for now."

All five of the apprentices were burning with enthusiasm. They indeed had the qualities that their village chief spoke of. 

Can they really be such respectable and accomplished individuals? They were eager to try.

*Knock* *Knock*

"Blanc? Are you guys there? I brought the harvests from the past expedition."

Helena knocked on the door. 

She brought the mushrooms, the rare herbs, the beast core, and the prime meat.

"Helena? Perfect timing! We were about to start with the hands-on activities."

"I see, that's great."

Helena then scanned the five new apprentices and smiled at them.

"Well then, good luck to our five future master alchemists!"

The five new apprentices had stars shining in their eyes. 

She was the respected captain of the warriors! The undisputed strongest out of all of them!

They couldn't believe that they just got encouragement from her. 

She seemed so harsh during training but she was actually so kind!

Blanc smiled upon seeing the star-struck apprentices.

*Clap* *Clap* 

"Alright everyone, that's enough! pay attention."

"For this hands-on activity, you guys shall follow what I do. We will be brewing the most basic lesser health potion with these red mushrooms here as the main ingredient."

Seeing that the apprentices are about to start with their potion crafting, Helena left in a satisfied manner. 

These health potions will save lots of her comrades in the future so she cheered for the upcoming rookie alchemists.

The apprentices also stopped paying attention to Helena and focused on their task at hand. 

Blanc patiently explained every step to the apprentices until they finished a batch of lesser health potions.

Blanc's potion cannot be considered perfect but it is of high quality. The apprentices however only managed to craft a low quality lesser health potion.

It was their first time crafting a potion after all so it's understandable.

Next, Blanc patiently explained the effects of a lesser health potion to the apprentices.

They felt like they were dreaming. 

The apprentices did not expect that the small amount of potion that they crafted could help save lives.

Blanc then proceeded to teach them more potion recipes such as the lesser stamina potion crafted from the yellow mushrooms, the lesser physique enhancement potions using the green mushrooms as the main ingredient, and lastly, the lesser concentration potions that can be crafted from the blue mushrooms.

So basically, the effects of each potion are:

Lesser health potion - heals a small amount of damage sustained by one's body during combat.

Lesser stamina potion -  restores the stamina of a person by a small amount.

Lesser physique enhancement potion - provides a slight boost to the sturdiness of one's body in addition to a slight boost in physical strength.

Lesser concentration potion - provides a slight boost to one's concentration.

Upon learning the potion recipes, the apprentices again followed Blanc's step by step demonstration until all of them successfully crafted a potion of each kind.

Blanc then let them make another batch. This time, they're all on their own.

Some of them forgot a few important steps and failed.

Blanc didn't get angry though, he just let them do the steps over and over until they can all make their own potion without his help.

Finally, a few days later, all of the apprentices finally managed to successfully craft their own potions. 

Although the potions were of low quality, they can improve as time goes by.

Seeing that the apprentices were lost in their own world trying to perfect potion crafting, Blanc smiled and let them practice on their own.