Richter’s smile fell off his face completely. His lips started twisting into a sour expression, but he still understood, that her dangerous experimentation was necessary. One of the Dragon Cauldron’s abilities was to give information about combinations of ingredients and whether it was possible to make a potion out of them. It was one of the most useful traits of the building, because it took much of the guesswork out of finding new recipes. All knowledge in The Land was jealously guarded and could be more valuable than gold. The only problem was that the ability could only be used once per day. He was actually surprised that she had stumbled on a new recipe so quickly.
“Even with the Cauldron’s ability, I can’t believe that you found a new formula in the two weeks that you’ve been back,” Richter said.
“I understand your point. I have to thank Queen Elora for that.”
“What does my Companion have to do with anything?” Richter asked.
“She is a Professed Herbalist,” Tabia said excitedly. “With her help and the perks of my journeyman rank in Alchemy, that was all it took!” The chaos seed thought she was being a bit fangirl, but then he realized that an Herbalist and an Alchemist were kind of a match made in heaven. “She has a Talent that lets her see up to six uses for any plant. I just gathered four or five that had explosive or fire properties and experimented. By the fifth day, I had stumbled upon a working combination! The vessels in the central cauldron started to throb. At first I was concerned, but then my mind was filled with the formula!”
The central cauldron had vessels running through its walls like a circulatory system. Richter could well understand being freaked out when it started beating like a heart. The building had been made out of the blood of an aged, crystal dragon. Richter still wasn’t completely sure that it wasn’t alive in some way. He had another question though.
“If you learned the formula more than a week ago, why haven’t you told me about it before now?”
Tabia nodded, “It takes about three days to create it, and it is a very difficult formula. It has failed several times already. Even when it seems to be progressing well, it has a tendency to explode. I haven’t been able to stabilize the reaction yet.”
“Well how strong is the explosion?” he asked.
“I have never gotten to this point, so I cannot say how strong the final reaction would be. I can say that you do not want to be nearby when these detonate though.” She tapped her face and he noticed for the first time that her eyebrows were missing. A scant bit of stubble showed where they were growing back. His eyes widened and she nodded again. “I was fifteen feet away.”
“You weren’t hurt?” Richter asked. He would have expected at least some faint burns.
Tabia looked embarrassed, and simply said, “Sumiko.”
Once again, the Life master had saved the life and limbs of one of his villagers. He didn’t want to think about what state his people would be in without her. He prayed that the Hearth Mother’s healing magic would be enough to save the lives of his people after the inevitable wounds they would receive in the upcoming battle.
“So after losing your eyebrows, you decided to put the solutions in a cubby until you knew it was safe,” he said. It made sense. Despite being clear like any glass back on earth and sharing the same name, the substance that made up the Dragon’s Cauldron was impossibly hard. That translated into a durability that was crazy high. The clear cabinet they were standing next to should be just as good as a bomb disposal unit. That being said, he still took a few steps back now that he knew what was going on.
The two of them watched the fifteen bubbles continue to slowly rise. Every once in a while, they would collapse and Richter’s heart would skip a beat, but then they would start rising again. He and Tabia watched this pattern repeat itself several times until each of the fifteen rose a final time and visibly hardened. The entire time they had been observing, the mixture had looked wet and smooth, like red, latex paint. Now, the surface of each golf ball-sized sphere was craggy, though still a deep red. No more movement could be seen.
“Now what?” Richter asked.
“I have no idea,” she said frankly. “I have never gotten this far before.”
“So how do we know when they are safe?”
She just looked at him for a few moments, blinking. When she spoke, he had to resist the urge to strangle her, “Uhhhh, you could touch it.”
Richter closed his eyes and prayed for strength. He had been transported to a magical land, across probably a bajillion parsecs of space, become the head of a fledgling village, unlocked Mastery of two branches of magic… and was still being given the same stupid fucking advice that had started this whole thing! He opened his eyes and sighed deeply. Dumb as the advice was, all in all, it had worked out for him the last time.
Part of him wanted to drag the moment out and ask Tabia if she wanted to be the one to open the cabinet, but he knew that he was the right choice. If he died, he would be reborn after all. If he lost Tabia she wouldn’t be coming back. It would be a personal loss and a great blow to the village. Richter told her to take cover. She started to protest that it was her responsibility, but he just waved her away. If it was to be done, best to be done quickly, and he had never had tolerance for wasting time. After she was safe, he opened the cabinet, keeping his body behind the door. It wasn’t much protection, but if the introduction of more air catalyzed a reaction, it would be better than nothing.
A second later, he was still in one piece and he opened the cubby the rest of the way. He picked up one of the red crystals.
You have found:
Crystallized Red Foxfire.
Alchemy Class: Unusual.
Alchemy Level: Solution.
Alchemy Strength: Processed.
Durability: 3/3
Weight: 0.2 kg.
Traits: Breaking the fragile shell of this sphere will release the power within. Will cause 167 fire damage within its effective radius of ten feet. Damage drops quickly after this distance. Chance to cause Burning status.
Richter smiled broadly, though he gingerly placed the foxfire back into the tray. She had made him grenades! Well not grenades exactly, more like highly unstable napalm, but still, it rocked! He closed the cabinet again as he turned to speak with her. No reason to take chances.
“This is amazing, Tabia! I don’t understand the relevance of the potion’s level though. I thought that just dealt with potion duration.”
“For liquid alchemy, it normally does, my lord. Potion level can also describe the area of effect for certain alchemies like this, however.”
Always more to learn, Richter thought. “Do you have the ingredients to make more?”
“I have most of what we need and should be able to find the rest relatively easily. I used up two of the ingredients when I made these five doses though.”
“Five? There are fifteen.”
Tabia clarified, “Each dose makes three crystals.”