A Trial for Opportunity

Mayers' back room was one full of wonder. Strange contraptions outside of Saiph's comprehension were strewn about haphazardly all over the place. No vegetation was growing in here, though; the room was kept tidy and clean despite the contraptions' layout.

"This, my boy, is my triumph- the accumulation of all my years' hard work. Everything in here has a specific purpose pertaining to Alchemy. You'll learn what each does in time, but first, to the next room."

The old man hobbled over to a door that Saiph had previously not noticed in the back corner and entered whatever room it led to.

Saiph hurried over and went through. Inside, there were a plethora of books lined up across two large bookshelves that were placed along the walls, leading to a desk in the back.

This overwhelming mass of knowledge shocked Saiph's foundations and made him question the true rarity of books. In his whole life, the boy had never seen more than a few books. His parents certainly didn't -- and probably never did -- own any books.

Mr. Mayers made his way down one of the bookshelves and picked out a book.

"Boy, can you read?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah, of course. I, uh, learned a few years back from my mother since apparently you have to be able to read to take the test to get into the Academy."

Mr. Mayers smiled lightly and handed Saiph the book. It was reasonably thick, thicker than almost all books Saiph had seen before. Saiph turned it around and read the title: "Ubiquitous Flora Magicae and Alchemy Essentials, by Carl Worsnop."

"Memorize the contents of this book in a few days while surviving in the city on your own. Come to me when you're done and I'll officially let you be my helper until you go to the Academy." Mr. Mayers spoke flatly and turned to go back into the main room, the one with all the plants.

Saiph stood in a daze for a few seconds then ran out of the store.

The old man's tempo was far too abstract for Saiph to comprehend. What was he thinking? Why did he give away a book to a stranger that could easily just run off with it? Then again, he obviously wasn't too benevolent since he had made Saiph fend for himself for a few days.

Walking away from the store, Saiph pondered a bit more then dropped the subject. His goal was to memorize the book as fast as possible to get Mr. Mayers' housing and to impress him.

The area around the river that the lone boy, with nothing but a book, found himself at looked comfortable. The bank was grassy and had a large enough area to lay down and roll around in. Saiph laid down with his feet to the trickling water and opened up the book that he had thrust upon him.

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Prelude, by Doctor H.W. Higgin

Alchemy is something of a Gorgeous Nightmare. I've walked the path of Alchemy my entire life and I still feel as though there's infinite possibilities ahead of me. I hope you, dear reader, find yourself disagreeing with me one day. For, if that is the case, then you have seen -- if just a glimpse -- the culmination of my life's work. For those of you who have never heard of me before and are just starting their own walk down this path, I am a Rank 4 Mage who has lived for almost 1,000 years and studied Alchemy and all of its known branches for almost all of that time. This book, I hope, will ignite the fire of your Spirit and launch you down the path of Alchemy, as many have before you. Good luck in your studies, future fellow alchemist.

Chapter 1: An Introduction to Alchemy and Spagyric

Alchemy can be viewed by its branches. There's a portion of Enchanting that uses chiefly Alchemy, Spagyric, Pure Alchemy, Khemia, High-end Rune Formations utilize some Alchemy, Wandcraft, Spell Imbuing, and some portions of Blacksmithing. From this, we can see that Alchemy is related to a majority of the branches of magic. Alchemy, summarized to a single sentence, is the esoteric art of utilizing physical materials to make magic.

This definition is so wide that no Alchemist can ever know all there is to Alchemy, given the projected 2,700-2,900 years humans have to live, even at the peak. This book, per the title, focuses primarily on Spagyric and includes a list of the common Flora Magicae -- magical vegetation -- in the middle worlds of the Tower of Worlds.

Spagyric is the art of making potions. A potion can have a very wide definition and that line is spread thinner and thinner every single day that a new potion gets created. A potion can harm or heal and be liquid, solid, vapor, or even energy. They can even be live creatures, form Spirits, or only be a form of lingering intent.

A spagyrist needs to own a plethora of equipment in order to make all of the types of potions, on top of needing to be a Mage to make a vast majority. The high difficulty is, financially, worth it most times. Potions can always be the difference between life and death, failure and success; anyone would pay vast amounts in exchange for the potions they need.

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Saiph kept reading the book until the Sun went down over the horizon and he could no longer see the words of the pages.

He was hungry and tired, anyway, so he just laid out on the bank and went to sleep. He was used to sleeping without desirable conditions normally, so it wasn't much for him.

The next day, Saiph awoke with a thin veil of dew coating him. He looked over to the book and saw that it was in a similar state. He sighed and got up to go get a drink from the river.

Was there anything else to do, now? He was hungry. Hunger, that savage beast, gnawed at his gut and urged his instincts to make a move for him or else he'd die.

All pain would end in due time. Saiph would finish memorizing the book and get food from Mr. Mayers. That was the only possible outcome. Failure here would mean that he'd never get into the Academy...

A future that Saiph would never let happen.

Saiph picked up the book and dug back into it.

While he could read, his mind was not as flexible as one accustomed to it would be, and the terminology involved with Alchemy and Spagyric was completely anomalous. Hence, Saiph read at a suboptimal pace.

It took three whole days for Saiph to finish his first reading of the book in its entirety. The list of Flora Magicae was bountiful, too much if Saiph were to be asked.

Nightrot, Devil's Spite, Blood Urchin, Bear-Back Elder Knot, Wolf-Back Elder Knot, Dog-Back Elder Knot, Sky Fire, Lighting Lei, Heavenly Monarch, Yethir Bramble, Golten Floret, Black Velvet, Applegrass, and Jin Root were the few names and plants that stuck out to Saiph in his first read-through… a whopping 1 or 2 percent of the list had been memorized.

Saiph sighed and wondered if he was just an idiot and wasn't meant to be a great Spagyrist. The hunger hurt quite a bit. Perhaps he wasn't able to focus because he was hungry. Perhaps he should go take some food from somewhere…

No, no. Stealing is amoral. It would go against his convictions as a person.

"Fuck!" he yelled, then felt his face turn hot from embarrassment. Fuck was a word that only grown-ups could use, his mom had said.

Saiph still had a few hours of sunlight left since he finished the first time around, and the second would only go faster. With a force of determination, Saiph picked up the book once again and skimmed through the introductory chapters before going to bed.

The next day, he went through the entire list of flora provided before running out of sunlight. He had about 20% of it memorized after that run.