I finally got the message I'd been waiting for in Spearfighting class. I was able to make a good strike a few times by the end of the class and was rewarded with the Spearfighting Skill at level 1. It granted one each to CHA and FIN. As with many things, it'd take a concerted effort to raise the Skill to level 2 or 3 by the end of the trimester.

After the afternoon's practice, I spent time in my room with the two cores. I started with the damaged core. I tried to tug at the Black and Red mana. The resistance was less than I expected, but I could only slightly alter the pattern of the core, not actually move the mana or use it in any way. I knew that if I touched the something that held it together, I'd probably cause the core to collapse. I didn't have any equipment to handle that, though. It looked like I'd have to spend some more money to satisfy my curiosity.

Saturday, I returned to the market to find a job and get the equipment to run some basic experiments. After wandering for a couple of hours, none of the stalls had the glassware I was looking for, so I went into the nearby shops instead. These shops had more upscale items, generally, than the market or they were places that people went to often enough to justify the expense of a permanent location.

The pharmacy was one such place. Unlike before the Calamity, this pharmacy had potions and potion-making equipment. It wasn't a very large store, mainly a counter with two helpers and the wares on shelves behind. I walked up to the counter and talked to one of the clerks.

"How much are potions?" I asked the man.

"That depends on the grade," he answered. "For the lowest grade of health potion, you'd be looking at around a small silver. We carry grade 1 through grade 3 in this shop for most potions. What are you looking for?"

An idea hit me, but I needed to check a few more things first.

"What grade is this potion?" I handed him the vial from class the other day.

The clerk looked at the vial. He opened it and placed a drop on a piece of paper and compared it with other drops.

"This is a grade 1 health potion."

"Do you purchase potions?"

"This potion we would buy for eight large copper."

"Hmm. What about poisons and fire potions?"

"A grade 1 poison would be two large copper to sell to us. A grade 1 fire potion would be five large copper."

"What about higher graded potions?"

The clerk pulled a couple of vials from under the counter. The vial of health potion I'd brought was a light red color. These two were the same red color but more intense. I could see the density of the mana as being higher.

"This one," he raised the middle-strength vial, "is a grade 2 health potion, and this last one is a grade 3. We sell these for two small silver and four small silver respectively."

"Thanks! How about potion making equipment? How much are vials, beakers, and that sort of thing?"

"Vials are five small copper. Beakers, graduated cylinders, and other glassware range in price from one to two small silver. Heating elements are two small silver."

I confirmed my interest. I bought 25 vials and a fair amount of glassware in addition to the heating element. I spent a total of two large silver on the equipment. I kept my potion vial just in case. I wasn't planning on making anything related to health potions right now. I knew the costs of making the potions of poison and of fire, if I could refine them successfully, of course. The biter cores were cheap enough. If the ratio held from making health potions, then I'd be able to get about twenty vials of grade 1 potion out of a full core.

I carefully packed the glass and trekked back to my room to offload it.

With actual containers to play with, I was able to run some experiments. I placed the damaged core into a glass dish. Unlike before, this time I tried to pull at the something that bound the mana into a monster core. It was surprisingly stubborn, but I could feel it. I quickly gave up on that avenue of approach, however. No amount of pushing or pulling, tugging or twisting was able to anything to it.

The next thing I tried was to push mana into it. This was mana that was all types, or maybe no types. It was the mana that encompassed the idea of mana, anyway. The kind I'd used internally to increase my stats in general instead of one or two. It was a formless mass of mana rather than any kind of weave. I wasn't trying to cast a spell, simply prod the something in the core to see what happened.

To my surprise, the something in the core and the generic mana combined into one, fluid mass that I could control. I tugged this mana back inside me and felt strange. It felt like I was overly full. It wasn't the same stress of mana as when I'd tried to push too much mana through before I was ready. Instead, it felt like I had too much mana in me. I pushed the mana through my system reflexively, and a few minutes later, the feeling was gone.

I checked back in the dish and was happy to see a soupy mess of Black and Red mana filaments. There was no pattern to them and the mana just moved randomly while maintaining its shape as a liquid. This state is what I had hoped for. I didn't need to heat the monster core, thus destroying the binding mana and some of the mana that had attributes. Instead, however, I was left with a blob of liquid mana that I could have to find a way to separate.

The solution turned out to be rather simple. It took a lot of time, mana and concentration, but I was able to pull Black mana with my own Black mana and drop it into a separate vessel. The same could be done with the Red mana. I had to go back and forth to separate them, which is what made it take so long. In the end, I was left with four parts black mana and one part Red mana in two beakers.

I poured the Black and Red mana into different vials. The Black mana came up to about half of the height of the vial. The Red mana was much less than that. Through Manasight I could see the potency of these potions was as strong and pure as they could be. I did not want to get either of them near my skin!

I added pure water to the Black mana one and oil to the Red mana one to dilute them to fill their vials. The mana quickly diffused into their respective solutions, dulling the vibrant, almost luminescent, color they'd had when pure. I added a stopper to each and packed them carefully in my bag. I quickly went back to the shop to sell them before going to the hunter's stall to see what cores they had.

When I arrived at the shop, I was greeted by the same clerk as before.

"Back again so soon?" he teased.

"Mmm. I completed my tests and wanted you to take a look." I pulled out the two vials and placed them carefully on the counter.

"They're potent," I warned.

The clerk nodded and went into the back room. He brought with him another person.

"This is Bridget, the owner," he told me. "She handles these kinds of potions."

With a nod to her, he went to help other customers.

"What is your name, young man?"

"James."

"Well, let's see what you brought for me today then, James."

She pulled the stopped off of the Red mana potion and dropped one drop onto a special kind of paper. It burst into flames on contact and in a flash, the paper was gone.

"That's a good fire potion. Grade 3, if I'm not mistaken."

She took the other vial more gingerly and placed a drop on another piece of the special paper. This time, the paper was instantly shriveled into a spot of black sludge. Her face lit up in surprise, but she continued to add paper until there was no more reaction.

"This, on the other hand, is amazing! I didn't expect to see a Grade 5 poison in a place like this! You must give my compliments to your master."

I nodded my head. It was for the best that I didn't correct her. The fewer people who bothered me for now, the better. People get jealous of talent, after all.

"I will give you five small silver for the fire potion and one large silver for the poison. To see them this pure and this potent... Again, I thank your master for shopping with us. If he has any other potions to sell, bring them and I will take a look."

"Thank you, Ma'am."

"You're welcome. I hope you can learn from him to be just as good when you grow up."

I nodded my head and left for the hunter's stall.

Like always, the hunter's stall was filled with monster parts, monster meats, monster cores, and, well, anything else monster related. After inquiring on prices, I purchased five biter cores for one small silver, and ten treant cores for one large silver. Even after buying all of those cores, I was able to gain four small silver just from selling two potions. The high-grade potions seemed to bring in a lot more money... especially those above grade 3.