Letho reserved a room and put down his luggage before handling the griffin’s parts. Then he asked Roy about the events in Aldersberg, and the boy told him about the childhunter under the hornbeam in the House of Cardell.

“That was some good luck. Childhunter’s on par with a drowner in terms of battle power and danger. It’s perfect for training newbies like you,” Letho said. “As long as you dodge its fangs and claws, using fire and salt should kill it easily. Using Dancing Star was a bit of a waste, but since you lived and it died, it was worth it. Good job with the House of Cardell’s case, boy,” Letho said, praising sincerely. He wasn’t talking about Roy’s performance in battle, but his performance during the investigation. A witcher who knew how to think would outlive those who only resorted to violence.

And then Roy showed the yellow vomit he took by chance to Letho. Letho analyzed it thoroughly and nodded. “Childhunters are rare, and of all the witchers I know, only Auckes and Serrit managed to kill one fifty years ago, but regrettably, they didn’t manage to retrieve enough fresh vomit.” He frowned. “I’m not sure about its composition, but I felt my mana flow being blocked when I held it. I couldn’t even cast any signs. It’s not enough for the separation effect to take place, but at least it has the effect of dimeritium. It can counter spellcasters and monsters that rely on magic to a degree. Maybe some sorcerers would buy it at a high price. Keep it well, since it’s your spoil.” He handed it back to Roy. “Keep it in a bottle for best effects. It degrades if not fresh.”

Roy’s eyes gleamed, but at the same time, he regretted not taking all the vomit with him. He didn’t need to keep it in his bottle though, for he had a better way of preserving it — his inventory space. They chatted for a while, then Letho took him to a vacant plot outside the city to check on his crossbow training and herb knowledge.

Roy had unlocked Crossbow Mastery Level 1 and trained every night. He was perfect in terms of shooting position, aiming accuracy, and reaction speed, though it was relative to his short training period. Naturally, the witcher was satisfied. Even after getting the herb knowledge imprinted in his mind by the witcher, and knowing more than fifty herbs along the way, Roy had seen more herbs when he was working for the scammer, Tross. He came into contact with common ones like buckthorn, marigold, belladonna, and mandrake every day, and he even saw rare herbs like beggarticks’ flowers, bloodmoss, and paris.

Right now, Roy could discern more than eighty herbs in terms of habitat, effect, and appearance. Letho had nothing to add to that anymore. Since Roy’s theoretical knowledge was enough, it was time for his practical lessons. 

“You spent most of the month learning common speech, yes?” Letho rubbed his bald head. “Yeah, I forgot about that, my bad. Since you haven’t looked into the potions in the notebook, I can teach you. Since I’ve depleted my potions and bombs, it’s time to replenish the stock. Oh, and there’s the decoction for the trial. It’s a troublesome one, so I’ll need your help.”

***

Potion making was a branch of alchemy. The potions, decoctions, oils, and bombs made through alchemy needed mana to keep them under control. Some of them could only be used by witchers, while potions could be created and used by most people. In the game, alchemy was just a simple matter of collecting materials and pressing a button, and then the item would show up in the player’s inventory space. But there was no such thing in this world.

Alchemy was an extremely complex skill to master, and the same applied to potion making. For potions, the maker had to possess the skills, tools, and correct materials. The materials were categorized as either base, main, support, or neutralizer. The tools and apparatus to make potions were even more complex, and together, they were called the alchemy workstation.

***

Letho spent the day buying herbs and bottles, and then he rented a room and modified it into an alchemy lab. Roy was stupefied when he went into the room. This is just a kitchen! The first thing he saw was the stove powered by a blower in the middle, and a cauldron sat on it. A mortar, bowl, plate, and gooseneck distiller propped on a mini stove were placed before the cauldron. A clock was hanging on the right, used to see how long the herbs had been brewed for, and beside the clock sat dried herbs that were needed for potion making.

The second layer of the rack on the right had a pestle on it, used to crush the herbs in the mortar. On the left, beyond the blower, pots filled with dwarven liquor, water, oil, and other fluids were placed on the topmost rack. They were used as the base for different potions. The second layer held the containers for the potions, and they came in various sizes.

“It’s, um, different from what I had expected,” Roy said.

“What do you mean different? Have you seen a different workstation before?” Letho asked.

“I just think it’s a bit too crude. Does the school use this kind of workstation too?” Roy couldn’t believe that the tools would be so basic. It felt more like a workshop that made illegal substances rather than potions. In his imagination, alchemy was related to chemistry, and he thought they must’ve at least had test tubes, alcohol burners, and retort stands.

“You’re unhappy with this?” Letho was surprised, and he wondered why Roy was so upset, but he explained patiently. “The tools in the school are of course better and prettier, but you have to understand that we have limited resources here. Having a basic workstation is already hard enough. Of course, it’d be a different story if a sorcerer would lend us his lab. Those guys are perfectionists and want nothing but the best for everything, so they’d have the best equipment lying around.” Letho continued. “But this here is enough for a beginner like you.” Then he knocked Roy’s head and lectured, “Now concentrate. I’ll show you the way to make a marigold potion, the simplest one there is. Only once, though.”

Roy massaged his forehead and concentrated on the process.

***

Letho first took a bag of marigold and nettle, and then he put them on the workstation on the right to balance them on the scale. Next, he placed and crushed them in the mortar with the pestle before handing a sample to Roy. The crushing process was a delicate one. Insufficient strength would make the potion less potent, but too much strength would cause a higher chance of overbrewing, thus causing them to fail to create the potion. The only way to gauge the strength needed under such conditions was none other than through experience.

Once Roy had seen enough, Letho filled a quarter of the cauldron with water, an ounce of crushed nettle, and two ounces of crushed marigold. Then he stirred the mixture with a ladle, and the liquid turned light yellow. Letho used the blower to light up the flames under the cauldron. At the same time, he looked at the clock, waiting quietly.

Roy took the chance to ask about the amount of the main materials used in the making of the marigold potion, as well as the base. Letho explained patiently, and he observed Roy’s mastery of alchemy’s theoretical knowledge and herbs through questioning.

The potion hadn’t started boiling after fifteen minutes, and a faint, fresh scent wafted from the cauldron. Letho doused the fire and held the cauldron by its handle, and then poured the potion into a translucent bottle. Despite his muscular figure, Letho surprisingly handled the potion with great care, not even spilling a drop. It might’ve sounded weird, but it was like seeing Letho knit a sweater with perfect mastery of the needle. Letho corked the bottle at the end.

Roy boiled down the whole process into a few parts: add water and the materials to the cauldron, pull on the blower, cook it until it forms a slurry, then kill the heat. A funny idea popped into his mind. If he were standing behind Letho, he would’ve thought him a chef cooking something up.

“You can rub this potion on your wounds or ingest it. Helps with regeneration and prevention of infection. Better than plain eating the plant.” Letho shook the bottle, looking satisfied. “You have to master this. It’s the basic among the basics, and one of the most useful potions around. You aren’t strong enough to take Swallow and such.”

This is more like a medicinal brew than a potion,Roy thought, and he looked at Letho expectantly. “How potent is it?”

“You’ll know once you take it after sustaining an injury,” Letho said. “Probably halves the recovery time if your wounds aren’t that serious.”

“Can I try?” 

Letho stepped aside, giving the stage to Roy. Roy rolled his sleeve up and took a bag of marigold and nettle. Then he reproduced the process by memory. First he weighed and ground them into powder. He thought it’d be easy since he’d memorized the process, but a problem arose the moment he started. Weighing alone took a lot out of him, and he was considerably slower than the witcher.

When he finally finished weighing and went on to the crushing, he ran into another problem. How fine should I make it? Hm, a bit larger than what mills make? As he crushed the materials, he glanced at Letho, trying to get a hint, but Letho was prepared. He raised his chin at Roy, telling him to continue.

Roy sighed. No point in thinking too much. He let go and went with his instincts. He poured the water from the pot for ten seconds and stopped when it filled about a quarter of the cauldron. He kept the heat low, and the blower only blew on the flames three times. Fifteen minutes later, the potion was done, but it was much darker in color, and it radiated a sharp, pungent smell.

Roy looked tense. Letho’s potion was light yellow and smelled nice. What the heck is this? He wasn’t let down though. It was normal to fail the first time.

He went on with the bottling, but his middle finger was placed incorrectly and was scalded by the cauldron. The potion splashed everywhere, but he ignored it and poured the remaining liquid into the bottle. He shook it once and corked it before placing it on the workstation.

“You call this a marigold potion? The thing that can stop bleeding and prevent inflammation?” Letho took and observed the potion, his face inscrutable. When he opened it to take a whiff, his face twitched. “The only thing this thing can do is ease bowel movements. Fail. Again!”