While Micky was nervous for his own reasons, the alchemist Merry didn’t give a rats ass. She had been a single woman out in the wilds for a few years now. She hadn’t even realised she was overstimulating the poor boy. But probably if she had… she wouldn’t have cared? Maybe teased him about it? She wasn’t really that young anymore. With crows feet, and her skin… well it was creamy smooth with a perfect amount of tan.

But that was because she was an alchemist and a single woman. So of course she would dabble in ways to keep her skin smooth... And perfume, and a few other things. She was pissed she still hadn’t cracked menstration and PMS yet, it just made her so mad!

But yup, she was completely oblivious to Micky’s plight. Maybe if she weren’t she wouldn’t have been single. But she never did have a problem at the bar.

Anyways, Prin did eventually have to go, while laughing her ass off at the pleading eyes of Micky. She obviously took Micky’s last hope with her, even Squishy seemed to think he was being pathetic when he sent his mental plea for help.

So now he was alone with the alchemist girl, who changed from a thick but revealing bathrobe, to a thin and even more loose and revealing relaxed robe. After crossing her legs and tucking her hear behind her ears, she just kept looking at different papers and text books. She wasn’t even paying attention to Micky. But Micky was trying his best, and failing, to not pay attention to all of that hot freshly bathed mess.

Micky watched her noble her lip as she passed a piece of papyrus over towards him. Micky was about ready to explode, on multiple levels. “So here is what I want you to start with, you can watch me perform some simple alchemical primers after you read this. This is the recipe for a primer. It’s just a simple primer that will be used to help with a batch of higher level healing potions.

However, by itself it is actually toxic and lethal. It’s even been used in the assasination of kings, and was illegal at some points in history. So I think it’s a good start since this can show you how poison can heal and other useful components. Most alchemists start with a basic [Health Potion]. But that is such a complicated subject that really [Health Potion] and [Mana Potion] should be kept until you have advanced well into alchemy.

The reason why most masters start with basic [Health Potion] and [Mana Potion]s is because first they are exciting, and second they are so common that every region not only has a recipe for the local ingredients, but also they are available to even the commoners and the uninitiated. So keeping ‘secrets’ on your basic potions is just stupid paranoia and dragon hoarding.” She said.

Of course Micky was only absorbing what she was saying through osmosis. While she was talking she crossed her legs 3 times nibbled on her lip 7 times, pushed her hair back 13 times, and leaned forward to point out various things in the recipe at least 21 times. Needless to say the boy was a very active young boy at the moment.

Micky sat there and listened to her explaining the prosegure and about alchemical primers themselves. If potions and pills were an end product then primers were the industrial level of manufacturing. By making a primer one could make the primary ingredients necessary to make a potion and then use that and a small number of ingredients to make hundreds or even thousands of potions.

Of course primers with more uses created weaker potions, however it didn’t matter as much with health, mana and stamina pots. This was because a health pot was a health pot was a health pot. They all did the same thing. So it didn’t matter if they were ‘weaker’ than they should be. They still did the same thing at the same level if they were a [Low Health Potion 42] that recovered 42[END]x1%[Vitality].

So if you made a batch of 42s or a single 42 they would be the same. This is where the primers come in. This was why she was making Micky start with a primer. Because it was the start of the cornerstone of alchemy. On the other hand, making a health potion the ‘hard way’ not only stunted the growth of the alchemist, but also made things needlessly complicated with what was basically useless.

This was why Merry was starting with primers instead of a useless potion or a niche potion. Also, Micky could go right out there and start work as an alchemist should he be capable of making a primer, even though the final product needed more skill to accomplish.

Micky still wasn’t paying attention at all, but he understood “Blah blah blah. I’m not trying to be sexy. This is a good place to start. And even if I’m not trying, I AM sexy.” Or at least that’s what his juvenile lizard brain was translating from his osmotic notes.

So the two went into her private alchemy room. Why did Micky think that was so intimate? It wasn’t intimate, she probably brought tons of guys back here… Why did that come out so wrong?

Micky watched as she slowly (Not really but that’s how his mind processed it… it may have added the slow motion effect, are those hearts?) bent over the apparatus. Micky tried to get around to a better view… Of The Alchemy!... yes the alchemy…

Merry for her part, fiddled with some nobs. She vaporized some substances even without actually lighting and candles. It was a fairly quick and easy process that almost anybody could do. The only problem was to no the magic table of elements and their interaction between one magical signature to another.

Another part was trying to maintain a stable magic environment that would interfere with the end product by creating unnecessary visualizations and expectations. This was why it was best to meditate and focus during alchemy. Of course some expectation and visualization was beneficial and for some potions, necessary, but nothing like that was needed for a basic health potion primer.

Unexpected visualizations are the main source of alchemical poisening that reduces the cooldown of potions. So, if Merry knew that Micky was basically having a heart attack from watching his knew ‘favorite’ teacher bent over an alchemy table and working, who knows what she would think and do… She might have even changed what potion she made, juvenile puppy love would make a great love potion, or virility potion!

Unfortunately for both involved neither one knew the thoughts of the other. Who knows how she would have acted if she really knew Micky’s thoughts. Probably teased him some more. After all puppy love was only something you got when you were really young and no longer jaded to relationships. Even the long lasting old married couples didn’t have that same youthful verility. As an alchemist how could she not capitilize on it?

Unfortunately for Micky, this was the path not taken. He was still on the long journey to becoming an Archmage. Because Merry was also oblivious to his own feelings. After all, she wouldn’t be single if she knew a young mans heart now would she?

The primer was finished and Micky didn’t know WTF was going on, but he knew one thing, he was loving ‘alchemy’. At least a lot more then enchanting. He would have blacksmithing tomorrow but he still had plenty of time to finish his tutoring here before he went on to the other adventurer’s mainstay profession.

So Merry went on to making a health potion with the primer. It was pretty simple, though it required a lot more alchemical knowledge and skill then making the primer did. In addition it took less material overall so it increase PPU while decreasing overall CPU. Of course Micky was running low on CPU at this moment so it didn’t really matter.

After finishing up she closed the lid on the jar of primer. Another thing about primer was that it didn’t waste away as fast as either the pots themselves or the ingredients. So Merry actually had several jars of primer laying around.

After she finished with the mass produced alchemy that was the mainstay, Merry trid her hand at persanalised alchemy. She decided to use one of her personal recipes for a [Mage Eye Potion]. This type of potion had multiple uses the least of which was allowing a mage to actually see magic. Of course it was also expensive and hard to obtain. Not to mention it required a complicated process that a beginner wouldn’t hope to understand.

Which was why Micky was staring fish eyed and blank faced at the spectacle before him. He even forgot to look at Merry while her hands were in a flurry to create the potion. Had Micky not known better he would have thought she had four to six hands, and was performing some type of arcane magic.

When she finished, Micky did not learn her recipe for [Mage Eye Potion]. He did not have an epiphany about how she could perform the recipe better. And Micky was both mystified and entranced by the skill displayed. For the first time since coming here he was actually not watching Merry. Instead, he was entranced by the alchemy itself!