“Frost elixir is out, as I still need to locate a Glacies bufo.” I sighed looking over the list I’d compiled of projects I was working on.

The eggs I’d gotten from the loot box had hatched with mixed results. Those I’d left in the jar inside my lab did not hatch at all, and began to give off a foul smell after a day in the lab.

However, both batches of eggs I’d placed outside in the snow hatched into tadpoles on the second day. The batch of tadpoles that hatched from the eggs in the jar I’d partially buried in the snow, were now in the pond, which I checked on each day.

I wasn’t sure how long it would take for the tadpoles to begin their development, as I didn’t even know what they would become. I hoped it would be the Glacies bufo I needed, but knowing Tris, it would be something completely different.

“And I already powdered the slime cores I had. So mimic experiments are also out because I don’t have any slimes.” I continued, tracing my finger over the next items on the list.

Caw. Zosimos nipped sharply at my ear, and I winced, raising a hand to shield the furry appendage from the crows wraith.

“Ow, stop!” I scolded, trying to push the bird away. “I didn’t know they were actually useful. Besides, Darius said boiled cores can’t be revived into slimes, and are only used to create dye pigments.”

Slimes were admittedly a creature I’d overlooked until reading the worn research notes on mimics in the book I found in the private library of the high priestesses quarters.

The gelatinous blobs were commonly found in the forests surrounding Caruan, and in lowlands south of the Almer mountains. Many crafters sought out slimes for their ability to color change depending on what the gelatinous creature consumed. The most common color of slimes found around Caruan were green, with the slimes consuming vegetation of that color in the forests. Though, many people had taken up slime farming to create slimes of varying colors to be sold at market.

After capturing, or purchasing a slime of the desired color. It was placed into a pot where it would be boiled until it became fully liquified. Then it was a simple matter of fishing out the core, and soaking the items you wish to dye in the remaining liquid. The harvested slime core would typically be crushed to create a powdered dye pigment. The powdered cores could be mixed with water to create a lighter shade of the boiled slime dye.

When I’d first heard about the slime's ability to take on the coloration of the plants it consumed. I was rather excited at the idea they might also attain the alchemic properties if fed certain plants.

That thought process quickly turned to disappointment, when Darius informed me that red slimes were fed Red Amanita Mushroom caps, which was the main ingredient in the basic pain relieving tincture. According to the guild leader, lots of people thought the same as I did, and experimented with feeding slimes various herbs to see if they could be used to make potions or tinctures by boiling those slimes.

So far, everyone reported the same thing. The liquid created by boiling slimes, or mixing the crushed cores with water did not have any beneficial effects.

What had been discovered was that slimes could dissolve almost any material given enough time, which was how golden slimes were created. By feeding a slime enough pure gold, it would take on the metals coloration, but it took far longer for the metal to dissolve than plant matter. A gold slime also required boiling at a higher temperature, which might have been an indication of it potentially taking on some of the gold's properties.

On hearing this, I’d initially theorized it might be possible for the slimes to take on the properties of alchemic plants if fed them over an extended period of time, but had sidelined the idea due to the upcoming trip to the desert and forgotten about it until recently.

“Perhaps I should look into slimes further.” I mused, furrowing my brows as I tried to remember where I’d put the book with the mimic research. Did I bring it up to the lab, or leave it in the library?

The book spoke of a person's experiments to create a mimic, by ‘corrupting’ the slime cores with dark, or necromantic magic. Which led to the belief that it was possible to change the nature of the core, but first I needed fresh cores, and slime with which to experiment.

The issue I was faced with for the most part was a lack of resources. Even with the guild's help, it wouldn’t be enough. Eternia wouldn’t be able to properly supply the temple, and its own laboratories.

I needed to ensure the temple could be self-sufficient, and also gain a source of income. Resource gathering was the primary role of the temple scholars, and from what I understood of the way the ranks worked, the scholars were rewarded with either gold or access to advanced resources.

Gold wasn’t something I was currently able to freely hand out, as I hadn’t secured the temple's income. That meant I could only use access the temple's books as motivation.

The libraries were already split into different rooms, and presently, the two libraries mirrored each other, with the books being the same in each. But, if I separated the books, placing more advanced ones in the higher library, and the rarer ones into the private study rooms, then I could use access to those books as a reward for quests.

Points, I’ll use points. I decided, moving towards the door which led out of the lab.

The guild used contribution points to rank the hunting teams, with the teams being able to use points to buy equipment or raise their rank in the guild. Higher ranked teams were also given tasks that gave out better rewards, and sent on more quests than those of the lower ranks.

If I use the same premise for the scholar ranks, it would be much more efficient than merely handing out gold in exchange for resources.

Implementing the changes would be best done now before too many people arrived in the temple. The first thing I needed to do was sort through the books, and restrict access to rooms beyond the very first room of the library to those not currently residing in the temple.

“Meissa, Kip and Roswyn. Come to my office,” I mentally called, summoning the astrology priestess, and my two transmutation disciples to the private library as I entered the room.

Eyes drifting closed, I focused on the mental schematic temple as I waited for the three to arrive. As high priestess, I held full control over the temple, and it took only a thought to seal off the libraries, and workrooms, preventing anyone not currently within the temple from entering them.

Later, I would need to find a way to keep track of points, and to grant them access without needing to personally give them permission to enter the sealed rooms.

Perhaps the tokens spoken of in the books left behind by the former priestess would be of assistance. I’d yet to have the time to fully investigate the creation of tokens, or altars, but would need to soon.

So much to do. I sighed, adding yet another item to my long list of things that required my attention.

“High Priestess, is all well?” Meissa’s soft voice flowed into my mind.

I opened my eyes, dismissing the image of the temple from my mind.

“It is,” I replied, seeing that Roswyn and Kip had also arrived. I smiled at the gnome. “Roswyn, nice to see you again. I’m glad you were able to join us here at the temple.”

I hadn’t gotten the chance to speak with the Gnome woman when she’d arrived with Darius, and now that she was here, I was looking forward to seeing what Roswyn would achieve with the additional resources within the temple.

Roswyn was by far the most dedicated of the transmutation disciples I currently had, and I suspected she would be the first to discover the means of creating custom transmutation arrays.

Roswyn ducked her head, cheeks taking on a reddish hue as she mumbled something I wasn’t able to pick up, even with my vulpine ears.

Gesturing the group further into the room, I moved towards my desk, taking a set behind it. Eyeing the three, I made a mental note to have some chairs brought up to be used for guests, as it wasn’t viable to drag the armchairs across the room every time I wanted to hold a meeting.

“I’ve called you all here to discuss the future of our temple, and to gain your assistance with an important task.” I informed them, before continuing on to explain my plans for the scholar ranks, and my intention to restrict access to parts of the temple beyond the current restrictions based on the disciple rankings.

“Outer disciples will have access only to the first level library, with the exception of the private study rooms. Those we select as inner disciples will also gain access to the work rooms, and the second courtyard where some resources will be grown within the temple. At the inner rank, a disciple can choose to either the path of scholar, or the path of clergy. However, the latter will only be offered to a select few.” I told the three, getting nods from each.

Before I could continue with my explanation, Roswyn raised her hand in the air, and I laughed, shaking my head at the sight. “Roswyn, we are not in school. There is no need to raise your hand, merely voice your question if you have one.”

“High Priestess, how will inner disciples be chosen? And how will it be known who is of what rank?” She asked.

In response, I slid a hand inside the left sleeve of my robes, pressing my fingers to the tattoo on my inner arm and removing the guild token. With a smile, I held up the golden token with its howling wolf insignia, and the words “Guild Advisor, High Priestess of Trismegistus” emblazoned on it.

“Those outer disciples who show talent, or a true desire to learn will be given the chance to test into the ranks of the inner disciples. Testing will be held once every two months, and positions will be limited for each of the three branches of learning. As for how disciples will be separated, all disciples will be granted a token which shows their rank.” Once I figure out how to make them, that is. “Uniforms will also be issued to inner, and direct disciples. They will also be given to the clergy, and those who join the scholar ranks.”

“Uniforms?” Kip muttered, his brows creasing as he glanced down at his finely crafted tunic.

“Uniforms will be required within the temple, and if attending to official duties as clergy. It will be only a basic item of clothing, such as with the guilds who issue cloaks.” I informed the dwarf who nodded, looking a little relieved. “Rainy is already working on designs, as it was her idea initially.”

“Of course it was,” Kip chuckled. “First item of clothing free, and replacements at a cost?”

“That is the plan,” I confirmed, before looking towards the dark elven priestess. “Meissa, I’ve asked Rainy to consult you regarding the uniforms for Astrology disciples.”

“Thank you, High Priestess. I shall speak with her on the matter,” the priestess said, inclining her head.

“Your ideas have merit Kads, but I’m thinking we need to set up an administration office of sorts. A place where we can turn in quests, and get new ones.” Kip commented, twisting the bead threaded into his mustache braids as he appeared lost in thought. “We can set it up outside the temple, which would also act as a checkpoint for any seeking entry. Those who aren’t disciples, but wish to enter would need to be escorted by a disciple or guard. Some will come wishing to become disciples here in the temple itself, as people claim devoting oneself inside a temple of the god grants better boons. Those who do, can be escorted by a member of the lower ranked clergy.”

“Good idea,” I complemented. “You can start building it once you’ve finished the lanterns for High Priest Icarus.”

“Oh, we finished those this morning.” Roswyn chimed in, her eyes bright. “Can I help build as well?”

“If you want to,” I agreed, eyeing the now grumpy looking dwarf with amusement.

“How about Roswyn builds, while I work on sorting out the books in the library, and not freeze my balls off in the snow?” Kip suggested. “It’ll take several days to move all the books around.”

“No, it won’t.” I said smugly. “I called you all here because with all four of us working on the task, we should have it sorted in a few hours at most.”

“Kads, that’s a fuck ton of books. We’d be lucky to get half of one tower done in that time frame with just us.” Kip refuted.

I shook my head at the dwarf. As Meissa sent an angry glare his way both for his use of ‘foul’ language, and the lack of respect in his tone.

“The books in the towers are fake,” I informed him. “Something you would have noticed when trying to take them out of the library.”

“Ay, they turn into blank books when removed, but the words come back once they are returned to the shelf.” Kip admitted. “It’s a nifty enchantment.”

“It’s not an enchantment.” I said, fighting back a laugh as I thought about the books Noctus no doubt stole during his stay here. It was amusing to think he’d no doubt waste days trying to break the non existent enchantments. “It is a very powerful illusion. The true books are here in my library.”

“But there are hundreds of books in the libraries,” Roswyn said, eyes wide as she looked at the shelves. “There’s only about quarter of that here.”

“The libraries contain multiple copies of the same books, determined by a marking placed on the version kept here. However, these are not those books.” I said, moving to one of the shelves. “The books you see on the outer shelves are the original untranslated versions of each book.”

Reaching out, I grabbed the edge of the shelf and pulled it towards myself as I walked backwards. In a smooth motion, the shelf moved away from the wall swinging outwards to reveal the bookshelf built into the back. Moving to the next shelf, I pulled it out as well, pushing it up against the first one to create a double bookshelf.

“There are six shelves like this, each one representing the two libraries. The top shelves are for the books located on the shelves inside the four private study rooms in each library. You will find at the moment, the shelves are the same for both libraries,” I told them, gesturing at the other book shelves. “Our task is to sort the books from one shelf to another, splitting them between the first, and second levels.”

“Er, don’t we have to read them all to do that?” Roswyn asked, but I shook my head.

“Not really. A brief flick though should suffice to gain an understanding of the contents. Books containing basic information, such as this one detailing different plants would go on the first floor. This book here, detailing the advanced method of using transmutation to distill plants without a retort, would go into a private room of the second level.” I said, mentally noting down the second book's title for later.

“I shall begin with the books on Astral magic then,” Meissa said, eyes scanning the room "Are the star maps within my halls also illusions?”

“They are,” I confirmed, pointing to four shelves with books and scrolls about astral magic. “Those four shelves are connected to the hall of Astrology.”

Nodding, Meissa headed for the shelves, and following my example pulled them out to reveal the hidden books.

“Neat little set up,” Kip muttered as he and Roswyn worked to pull out the remaining shelves around the room. “What other secrets do you have in this joint? A secret escape tunnel, hidden treasury?”

“Well, there is a tunnel, but I don’t know where it leads. The temple doesn’t show it past the first few steps.” I told the dwarf, not really paying much attention as I pulled books off the shelves to stack them on the floor.

“A secret tunnel, and you don’t know where it leads? Foxy you’ve been holding out on us.” Kip scolded. “What if it leads to a hidden treasure room or something?”

“Knowing my patron, it’s in the or something category.” I grumbled, still pissed every single loot box I’d gotten for bringing the guild under Trismegistus’s patronage contained blocks of clay.

Sure, it was a material I needed for creating constructs, but it was also something I could have attained elsewhere. My complaints about shitty loot, ended with Tris arguing that technically the guild weren’t disciples, and threatening to take away the dummies for dummies book.

“Still, we should take a look.” The dwarf said, and I sighed, looking at him over my shoulder.

“Be my guest, but don’t come whinging to me when you end up Tris knowswhere. I don’t have time to explore right now.”

“And you think I do?” He scoffed, flipping through a book with a look of boredom. “I was going to suggest sending Pia hunting with the boys. She’s been complaining about being bored, and the boys haven’t had a chance to do much hunting in a while. Roswyn’s team is here, and will be wanting a break after their trip so they can fill in as guards. Let the boys, and Pia do some collection quests so they can stretch their legs.”

“Well, I do need someone to collect slimes and some other items.” I mused, setting a book on alchemy instruments onto the shelf. “Darius has a list of things I want, so I’ll suggest he send them to be the ones to gather the items. Yuki will be bringing things from Caruan, but other items are best hunted fresh.”

“We should open up the resource gathering quests to more than disciples.” Roswyn suggested. “Members of the guild, or even normal citizens could turn in items for points. Those points could act like money to buy potions or other items such as transmutation arrays.”

“My disciples can create blessed tokens,” Meissa added, looking up from a scroll she was examining. “I am beginning to teach them how to imbue constellations magic upon a person's flesh or a scroll to be activated when they have need of it.”

I nodded, glancing at the golden stars that decorated the woman’s cheeks. Those the priestess wore on her own flesh were the highest tier blessings she knew, and required no less than four people to perform them, as eight different star points needed to be activated simultaneously.

From what Tris told me, such a task could be done by a Kitsune if they had enough tails, but I’d yet to attempt using my tails to imbue stars points. I was still trying to memorize the second tier constellations, which admittedly wasn’t going well.

“That's all well and good, but it doesn’t exactly generate much income for the temple.” Kip said.

“Then I'll make it so items can be purchased through gold, or points. This means that people who may lack gold have a chance to gain the items through other means.” I said, but he was right that we did need to create income for the temple.

“You should charge admission fees.” He hinted, and I glared at him in response.

“No, there will be no fees to enter the temple.” I said firmly, ears pressing flat to my head. “The only fees will come from renting rooms or housing on the plateau. Eternia will run the village side of things, with the temple taking a cut.”

The issue of income for temples was an important one, but I didn’t think I would have much trouble with finding means to make money.

If I set it so that disciples could turn in a certain number of potions, transmutation arrays or star blessing scrolls for points, we could then sell those items to outsiders.

The only issue was ensuring the items sold by the temple were high quality, any items that didn’t pass standard would not be accepted for points. The plan would take time, both to put them into practice, and to find someone to oversee it.

For now, I would accept only alchemical items created using my personal recipes that were marked with the silver Kitsune which appeared on items that were magically copyrighted by me.

That would ensure the potion was of high quality, and once I’d worked out how to recreate the signet ring, I would help my disciples create their own for the recipes they created.

There’d also been a passage in the high priestesses journal, where she spoke of discerning a potions quality based on sight. In the journal entry, she spoke of a potion that a man was attempting to sell the temple as a rare potion.

Hemera II described the potions as having a bronze glow, showing it to be of a low grade. In response to this attempt to scam her, she’d burned the man to death with her flames, using his corpse to fuel what she called death flames to distill an unspecified rare plant.

This information on not only alchemic sight, but of burning different items to imbue fire with different essences was a priceless boon.

The journal entry led me to the belief that alchemic sight could be upgraded, in the same way other sight based blessings could. Noctus, and Markion both said they could see the quality of an enchantment or in my brother's case a smithed item, simply by looking at it.

So it made sense an alchemist would also be able to tell the quality of a potion, or ingredient if they channeled mana into the ability to upgrade it. So far, I’d overlooked improving my alchemic sight, or even my inner flame in favor of enlarging my mana core, as that was the first thing I was taught to do when learning to absorb mana.

If I wanted to improve my sight, and my own strength, then I either needed to make a grand discovery as I had when creating the scorcher antivenom, or go hunting.

Potions from already created recipes gave little in regard to mana, and each time I brewed the potion the gains would become less until it was only that which an ant would give.

Even creating the scorcher antivenom no longer produced a reasonable amount of mana, which was disappointing to say the least.

The first time I created the venom I felt as though I’d slain the desert dungeons boss alone, and it was that onslaught of mana flowing into me which signified I’d succeeded in creating the anti-venom. Even the variations gave some boons, but none as much as the first success of LeoP-1.

Perhaps it’s time to continue working on a universal antidote to nullify poisons using Leosaur blood. I mused, glancing around the stacks of books cluttering up the room with sigh. But… not until we finish here.