Chapter 27 : A unique potion

It was almost two weeks since Nikolaï had made his first Meditation Medallions. During this time he had pretended to work exclusively on his talismans when he had actually taken this time to learn new spells and read more theoretical treatises.

Like many Aspirants, Nikolaï had limited himself to the past when it came to expanding his reading. There was a danger in trying to learn too much too fast when you didn’t own your basics yet. He didn’t feel like that anymore, his Third Eye hadn’t just brought solutions but also all-new kinds of questions.

The other reason many Aspirants avoid too much theoretical stuff was that they could never completely know how accurate it was. On the same shelf, they could find two books completely disagreeing on the same subject with both claiming undoubtedly that they were the ones with the truth.

Nikolaï knew how egomaniac an Arcanist could be so he wasn’t surprising that some of their published work didn’t display reasonable doubt. The Tower solution to proving the legitimacy of authors was to give the students a way to check their lineage. Which prove very little in Nikolaï’s opinion and didn’t mean that they were right.

In the past, Nikolaï had been careful with his reading but after getting used to his eye he didn’t feel the same way. His eye wasn’t capable of discerning the truth in the written word but it was something he could rely on. When it came to elementium and ether, Nikolaï wasn’t blind anymore. Having this power made him feel safe to challenge what he knew about Arcanes.

Nikolaï was no longer afraid of reading something wrong because even if the author didn’t make the right conclusions he still had pieces of the truth. That was how Nikolaï saw it now and he was collecting from everywhere to form his own opinion, his own understanding of what he could see.

The Third Eye had become a lifeline in an ocean of paper. Nikolaï had dived into it, challenged what he already knew and emerged more knowledgeable. Even for a little bit.

Nikolaï had also added new spells from the one he was already practising. From the Incandescent Arcane, he had learned Spark. A tier 1 spell capable of igniting a small area. It didn’t work on everything, if the caster really wants to start a fire he would have to use it on a combustible. It was perfect for lighting a fire, not for attacking potential enemies.

From the Aqueous Arcane, Nikolaï had learned Minor Aqueous Collection. It was a tier 1 spell too and its purpose was to gather moisture in the air around the caster at one point. The spell was just enough to fill a cup of water as long as it wasn’t cast in a really dry place.

From the Ground Arcane, he had learned Minor Ground Levelling. Also a tier 1 spell, that could alter slightly the topography of the ground on a diameter of one step. Contrary to the two previous spells, Nikolaï hadn’t thought of a practical way to use this one. He had been interested in the spell because it was unusual for one of this tier to be able to affect that much area.

Air Hole took also effect on a wide area but it only worked for an instant. Minor Ground Levelling was a continuous kind of spell so as long as the caster could power it, it would work. The alterations on the ground were limited but it was still an interesting spell for someone like Nikolaï who tried to explore his potential.

The last spell he had learned was from the Metallic Arcane, a tier 1 spell again, called Minor Metallization. The spell purpose was to magnetise metal elementium inside an object and enhance its hardness. It worked amazingly on metal or mineral matter and it was the Forgerune side of Nikolaï who had wide interests in this spell.

He had already made a few tests to see its limits. There was an equilibrium to find because if too much metal elementium was put inside the object then any other spell attached to it would be nulled (or at least diminish) if it didn’t use metal elementium too.

Today, Nikolaï was meeting with Aspirant Soreco. He had been too scared of losing his actual wealth and wanted to put it to good use. He couldn’t use a Trance Potion anymore but there was another compound that could give him what he wanted.

Nikolaï was currently heading to Bourquet’s Brother shop, where he was supposed to meet Aspirant Soreco. This time he was better prepared for the meeting. He had checked if he could take the potion and its current price on the market. Which was around 90 gold pounds.

Nikolaï pushed the store door and Aspirant Bourquet (the apothecary) welcomed him. Aspirant Soreco was already here too and Nikolaï saluted them both before joining Aspirant Soreco at the small table next to the window.

“_ You didn’t bring any gift this time.” Joked Aspirant Soreco.

“_ I’m afraid no, but I came with a proposition.” Said Nikolaï back in a similar tone.

“_ What kind ?” Asked Aspirant Soreco more seriously.

“_ An order for a potion. One that could fetch for 100 gp.”

Nikolaï had expected that she would be a bit destabilised by his claim but she showed very little reaction. She was listening carefully but she didn’t fidget on her chair or show any signs on her face that could betray what she was thinking.

Nikolaï was a bit disappointed. He had inflated the price to make her react, maybe to have some ascendance during the upcoming negotiations but she was better at this than him.

From their previous interactions, Nikolaï knew that she prefered a direct approach so he stopped beating around the bush.

“_ I would like to hire you to brew an Ether Elixir for myself.” Stated Nikolaï, who had prepared this sentence earlier.

Aspirant Soreco looked at him for a few seconds. Her eyes were half-shut as if she was suspicious of something. Nikolaï on his side tried to stay natural.

Eventually, she looked up. She didn’t really look at something but was thinking and perhaps calculating.

“_ I refuse.” Finally Said Aspirant Soreco.

Nikolaï was a bit throwback. He hadn’t expected such a peremptory answer but a more arguing one.

Ether Elixir wasn’t easy to do but it would increase the amount of ether an Aspirant had. For someone like Nikolaï, it would add the equivalent of the energy for ten tier 1 spells. For an Aspirant, it was a lot and so it made sense that the potion was very expensive.

Even after her blunt response, Aspirant Soreco hadn’t left so Nikolaï believed there was still a chance to change her mind. He was confident that she was able to make the potion. Even if she had never sold one she would have at least made one for herself. She was skilled enough for it.

“_ Can I ask why ?”

“_ Do you know why it’s hard to find an Ether Elixir on the market ?” Responded Aspirant Soreco.

“_ It’s hard to make.”

“_ It is, but the biggest problem is its manufacturing cost.” Explained Aspirant Soreco before a small pause. “You are probably aware that there are more potent versions of the Elixir.”

“_ Yes.”

“_ They are only reserved for Arcanists for the simple reason that you need a powerful enough vessel to endure it. Aspirants could die if they use them.”

Nikolaï furrowed his brows, not seeing where she was going. He didn’t want the Arcanist version of the Elixir and he had assumed that Aspirant Soreco understood that when he had specified it was for himself.

“_ Those Elixir are very expensive but rather fairly estimated when you are taking into account the materials and difficulty to brew.” Continued Aspirant Soreco.

“_ I’m not sure what’s your point ?” Wondered Nikolaï.

“_ My point is that the price of a potion affects the price of its lower version and because of that, the Ether Elixirs for Aspirant doesn’t match their real price. Even if I reduce my profit margin I couldn’t afford any mistake during the preparation or I could lose money from our transaction.”

Nikolaï stayed silent for a moment. He hadn’t expected price regulation to act against him but he was understanding Aspirant Soreco position. In alchemy, it was wise to have enough room for potential errors. When a contract was made, the ingredients were the Alchemist responsibility so if an error waisted their initial materials they had to replace them. Not the client.

Every Alchemist added safeties in their contracts to have spares included in their initial price but when rare materials were involved they couldn’t necessarily do so without increasing their price beyond what a client would accept.

“_ Is there a way to reduce cost ?” Asked Nikolaï. “Which factor would be the biggest issue ?”

Aspirant Soreco sighed but thought about it.

“_ Obviously one of the main ingredients, which would be the flesh of an arcanic creature powerful enough to fit its purpose. Also the tools.” Answered Aspirant Soreco.

“_ Tools ?”

“_ Yes the compound is very delicate to do so you need more precise tools than usual. Skip them would only increase the risks of failure.”

“_ What kind of tools are we talking about ? Could we make them ?” Asked Nikolaï.

“_ Make them !”

“_ You already know that I’m a Forgerune and I guessing that we could find details on them if we know what we are looking for.”

“_ No offence but I don’t think it’s in your reach.” Bluntly stated Aspirant Soreco.

“_ I could still try.” Said Nikolaï with a smirk.

“_ Don’t get me wrong the candle you have made for me is quite useful but we are talking of tools requiring precision.”

“_ Let me worry about that and if they work I’ll let you keep them after you honoured our agreement.”

This offer didn’t seem to convince her but she was intrigued.

“_ As the ingredient, we could hunt it ourselves.” Added Nikolaï.

He had learned from Giles, the other Bourquet brother, that Aspirant Soreco knew how to defend herself. He hadn’t shared any details but simply told him that he had accompanied her a few times to explore the gardens.

“_ We are not talking about a creature from the closest areas. The ones fitting the requirements will be at least semi-sentient.”

“_ I’m sure Aspirant Bourquet could help us find a manageable target and let us ‘rent’ his bow.” Argued Nikolaï.

Aspirant Soreco paused for a moment. She wasn’t convinced at all but it didn’t prevent her to negotiate.

“_ If we do that, you will take care of the reinforcement fees, I will keep the tools and the excess of ingredients we would have collected.” Offered Aspirant Soreco.

“_ I could agree to your conditions.” Said Nikolaï after a moment. “But if I do and involve myself in the hunt I won’t pay full price for the potion.”

They started to argue about the price for a moment and finally agree on 71 gold pounds. Aspirant Soreco had insisted on the 1 gold pound because 7 was a bad luck number according to her. Nikolaï had offered 69 gold pounds but she seemed keener on money than superstitious.

“_ Let’s see first if you can deliver the tools.” Concluded Aspirant Soreco with a doubtful tone.

“_ It seems fair.”

“_ Let’s meet in two hours in the laboratories I will show you what I will need.”

***

The next day Nikolaï was in the library, doing research. Aspirant Soreco had shown him the different tools yesterday and how they were supposed to be used. Nikolaï had cast Simple Identification on each of them to look at their glyphs. Even with that, he had to admit that Aspirant Soreco was right. They were a bit above his current capacities.

Nikolaï hadn’t given up either, right now he was looking for alternative solutions and had already several ideas to make similar tools. He didn’t need to reproduce them exactly but focused and what Aspirant Soreco needed them to do.

The first tool they needed was a basin at constant movement. At different stages of its preparation, the potion required resting for long times but if the liquid stayed too static he could coagulate and ruin the next steps.

The simple stirring of an alchemist would be enough for some steps but few of them were too long to be humanly possible. The stirring needed to be light and constant not something that a tired alchemist could do, or a relay of ones.

The second tools were cold stones. Something to maintain the blending to the proper temperature. Luckily Nikolaï didn’t require to make some that went under 0° (freezing water temperature) and he already had ideas how to make them.

The third tool was called a purification wand. Nikolaï believed that this one would be the more simple for him. The wand had similar properties that his Dissipation spell but each part of the wand needed to have a different level of effectiveness.

The wand point was made to be sunk into the potion and the deeper it was, the more the effects needed to be. By using Dissipation on some filters, Nikolaï was confident he could make the object.

The last tool was the one that was bothering him the most : a magnifying glass for micro minerals. It was used to observe the potion at a very small scale and Nikolaï didn’t know where to start. He had researched how to enhance materials but not that way.

He couldn’t use a random magnifying glass even if he found the right glyph and properly attach it to glass, which was one of the most complicated materials for a Forgerune. To make the tool he would have needed to work hand to hand with a specialised glassmaker.

In the evening Nikolaï was working on his designs for the wand, the stones and the bowl. When he was finished he had a pretty good headache. After all, he had spent most of the day with the nose in books and ideas colliding in his skulls.

His healing stones were very useful in those situations but couldn’t replace real rest. Nikolaï rubbed them on his temples before going to bed, tomorrow was going to be a busy day.

***

After his breakfast, Nikolaï went directly to the open market to look for materials. He avoided the specialised shops and instead look for treasures in second-hand ones. Nikolaï had a soft spot for repurposing objects from daily life. Like when he had created his arcanic candles using a set of regular candleholders.

Whether it was the Aspirant or the Arcanist, almost all of them were part of the noblesse. Or at least from a family with means. So the daily necessities trade in the Tower weren’t made with lesser quality goods. Even Nikolaï, who was part of a minor family and hadn’t been raised in a “fancy” environment, was used to a certain level of quality for simple things like bedsheets or such…

In Nikolaï’s home region there was a popular phrase to describe people born into wealth : “His spoon never touched wood !”. It referred to the fact that most people use wood plates to eat. Ceramic plates or others were considered a luxury or something to use at special events. It was an old phrase and even if it wasn’t meant to be taken literally, Nikolaï suspected some of the Tower residents had never taken a meal without silverware.

Anyway, it was why Nikolaï was confident he could find his happiness in second-shops rather than ordering specifics.

He wasn’t wrong and found a very nice ladle. Apparently, its “container” part had been dept in the wrong compound which had attacked the metal. Big oxidation marks were visible but Nikolaï didn’t care, he was interested in the handle of the object and was going to remove the other part.

It was the main thing he had looking for. The rest of what he bought was mainly tools for detailed woodwork and stone cutting.

Nikolaï went back to his room and cut the damaged part of the ladle with a swing of his Spectral Sword before using Deoxidation on it and polishing the remaining metallic parts with some chemical he had bought earlier. Once done he cast Dissipation on it before letting it on the side.

He repeated the same process and two runic coins and put them on the side too.

He took his stone cutting tools and started to dig 2 notches in one of the stones he had left from the mongoose. The notches were meant to be the size of coins and he made them on opposite sides of the stone. He collected the dust created by his work and blended it with a glue kind of paste of his creation that needed to be boiled.

While keeping an eye on it he turned his attention on the ladle. It had a wooden handle and Nikolaï pierced several conic holes along its length. Each one was deep enough to expose the metallic rod inside but each hole had a slightly different width, depending on where it was on the handle.

Once he was satisfied, Nikolaï poured wax into the first hole and engraved an attach-glyph in it before it hardened forever. He repeated the process on the 6 holes before weaving Dissipation in them. The ladle turned wand had now 3 levels of Dissipation on it. To protect his work, Nikolaï wrapped the handle with a thin lace of leather. Maybe he would apply varnish on top of it later but the “wand” was functional.

Nikolaï put it away and brought his acid kit. Seeing what was left of it he regret not having noticed it before going to the market. He still had enough for today but his reserve of some of them was dangerously low. Maybe it would be smart to test the alloy of the next arcanic Runic coins he would buy before buying random acids.

Anyway, Nikolaï poured wax on two coins and use his press to imprint glyphs on them. After the wax had cooled down he started to scratch the wax inside the engraving. He was getting good at it and had diversified his tools since the first time. The pointy blade had been replaced by a long needle, a small hock of sort (very useful to get the wax out of the slot) and a tool with a square and flat head. This last tool was made to be heated and repaired eventual damages were made by the other tools. All of them had a wooden handle in case their head need to be heated.

Once Nikolaï finished his “sculpting” work he put the two coins in the small acid bath and waited for chemical etching to do its part. Nikolaï had also been better at timing how long the runic coins need to stay in the acid. When the time was up he disposed of the acid, heated the coins to make the acid-resistant wax go away and clean the coins.

The manual part over, Nikolaï started to weave Minor Elementium Filter on both of the coins but each one for a different elementium. One was fire and the other was air.

When Nikolaï finished assembling the coins, the “glue”, and the stone together; it was already late and Nikolaï stopped for today, satisfied.