Potions and Apprentices

The work was difficult, and we had to sleep outside that night to let the resin on the floor dry, but it was worth it to see the final result when it was finished. No more floor with mouse holes in it. No more cold updraft from the too wide cracks in the floor at night when I'm trying to sleep. I had a sense of accomplishment when looking at the newly built floor. It was the first step that we'd taken to make a better life for ourselves in this world.

Mostly I was just happy that I wouldn't have to worry about the rats nibbling on me in my sleep anymore. 'I don't know how I haven't caught the plague or something.' The day came sooner rather than later that we had to have a discussion as a group. We had been eating breakfast when Grace brought it to our attention that we were running low on funds again after having bought the supplies for our recent project.

"What can we do about it, though?" Laura asked her. Grace snuck a sideways glance at me before answering.

"There's really only one thing that we can do. We have to get back to hunting monsters." The whole group looked at me as if I was about to break.

"You don't have to go if you're not ready!" It was Derek that spoke this time; his words surprised me though he wasn't exactly "Mr. Sensitive" in this group. He wasn't mean, but he didn't think about how others might feel about things a lot of the time. I shook my head at him in response, and then I addressed the room.

"No, I need to be out there with you guys. I'll worry to death if I have to sit at home waiting for you guys to get back. Plus, I think it's important for me to get back out there, I have no way to help make money otherwise." The others listened to my explanation. Tim had a concerned look on his face, though.

"Are you sure that you're ready for this?" He asked; I nodded my head to him.

"Just give me a day first. I want to go talk to my Master before I go back out if I'm going to do this, I want to be ready."

"But you don't have the money to pay her for a lesson. Will she teach you?" Sarah asked me. I shrugged my shoulders.

"I don't know, but I'm sure that I can work something out with her." I thought about the extra bark and leaves that I had from Shina's cast. 'I wonder if she'd take some of those for payment. The others agreed, and I decided that I would go later Today. I spent a few hours working on my Daysprinkle sprout, but still, It was only about the size of my index finger when I was done. I decided it was time to go see Master.

I decided to jog on the way there to try to work off some of my nerves, so it only took me about an hour to get to the little cottage. I knocked on the door and waited for my Master to come to it. It took only a few seconds for the door to swing open, but to my surprise, it wasn't Master that came to the door. It was some guy he looked like he may have been a little older than me, but not by much, and he had strikingly blonde hair.

"Can I help you?" He said while looking down on me from the front stoop.

"Um yeah, can you tell my Master that I'm here?" The man sneered at me.

"Your Master? I didn't know that Master was taking on such pathetic looking apprentices these days." 'Who is this guy?' I thought.

"Well, I don't know about pathetic, but yeah, I'm her student." It was then that the alchemy teacher stepped out of a room and came up behind the blonde man. She gave him a quick smack on the head, which made the man wince a little.

"And just who told ye could answer mah door?" She glared daggers at the man who was apologizing profusely. "What can I do fer ye Todd?"

"I was wondering if I could get you to teach me a new skill Today? My party wants to start hunting again tomorrow." She nodded at me, understanding.

"And ye don feel comfortable going back out yet, so ye came te me fer help." I gave her a short "Yes Master," as a response. "Do ye have money?" I shook my head but then pulled out a small piece of bark. The man's eye bulged out of his head.

"How did this wet dog get his hands on Daysprinkle bark?" She glared at him for two reasons. The first was that he shouldn't be talking to his fellow students like that, and the other was that he'd given away information about how valuable this bark could be to her. She simply sighed and held out her hand, taking the bark as payment.

"Fine Todd, I'll help ye out Today. Ye can sit in with us on Roman's lesson since he wants to degrade his fellow apprentice." She turned around and whisked her way back into the house. The man who was apparently named Roman shot daggers at me with his eyes before following after her. We went to the laboratory and sat down.

"Today's lesson is about potion-making. It's about time that both of ye started te learn the real business of alchemy. I've taught ye both the basics of using alchemic circles, and ye've both done well in using them in combat. But this lesson will be different, and by the end of it, I want ye both to start thinkin differently about how an alchemist can do battle." I was starting to get worried. I came to get a new combat skill, not start a cooking class.

But I stayed respectful and silent as my Master went on to explain what we would be doing today.

"Potion making is more advanced than what either of ye has learned up until this point; it deals with multiple skills at one time and ingredients that ye must have memorized, includin where to find em and what they look like in the wild." Roman scoffed.

"You want a talented combat alchemist like me to waste my time on potions?" Master gave him a death stare, and Roman shrunk back into his seat. She then moved her eyes to me.

"Todd! I gulped, afraid of being chastised as well. "Do you remember yer first-time huntin? And how I saved yer butt when yer Cleric ran out of magic?" I nodded, wincing at the embarrassing memory.

"Yes, Master." She nodded approvingly.

"Do ye know how I did that?" I had a guess.

"Potions?" She gave me a wide smile.

"Exactly! Potions are not what ye think they are. They don't always have to be mixed up in a bowl; sometimes ye can just mix em up under the skin and sew a wound to save someone's life." I understood now. That was not the only time that I could have used potions, my friends and I had been hurt quite a few times, but we'd always relied on our Cleric to be able to heal us. 'How much praying does he have to do in a day to save up enough mana to last us through the day?

I thought back and realized that even in the middle of the day when we would stop for meals or rest, he would continue doing prayers. 'He's been working harder than all of us.' I realized I made a mental note to thank him later. But right now, I needed to pay attention to the Master's lesson.

"Potions can heal; they can be explosive; they can be poisonous, or provide sustenance without the use of food. This is the real help that ye two young alchemists need to get to the next level of yer learnin." It made sense to me, and instead of the initial nerves that I was feeling a few seconds ago about this lesson, I was starting to become interested.

Master took out two copies of a book out of a drawer and handed them each to us. These are books on ingredients. Look up the ingredients that I tell ye to right quick." She went on to tell us only two ingredients. One was Blood Root, and the other was Wado, which was an herb found commonly growing in the forest. "Memorize what the ingredients look like." We did as she asked us to I took notes in my journal, which earned me an approving nod from Master.

"Now ye have an hour te go out te the forest, find those ingredients and bring 'em back te me. Go now." I rose out of my seat and headed to the door. 'I wonder what we're going to make?" I wondered.