Walking into my new alchemy class there was a difference between the druids room. This room had lots of beakers and burners and fewer desks.
I was one of only a handful of students. Mostly because these classes were extremely expensive. We had to pay for our own herbs. There weren't any druids or elves left as I figured they took the first class mostly for plant care.
I was left with a couple older teens.
"We will be starting with tier 1 alchemy. This will be learning about dry and wet medicines. Which would be powdered medicines and creams. These are usually used for long term storage, Lack of proper facilities to make medicines, or on the go fixes when your out of supplies. These are also great for burns, or to be mixed into drinks for things like colds and flus." The man at the front of the class says writing down examples on the board.
"For starters you will be learning proper cleaning procedures as if you have contamination in your medicine that could make your medicine defective and cause problems." he explains.
He starts showing us how to properly maintain herb cutting knifes. Wash beakers and vials. just complete workstation cleaning. After that we are taught how to properly disect and grind herbs where I get to put my multi-tool to use by making a nice pestle and mortar.
He shows us how to measure and combine properly for dried herbal medicine. If you add too much herbs you could overdose a patient and if you add too few you won't get the desired effects. We learn about dry medicine storage which is usually wrapped up in special paper to keep everything dry.
Which ones to add to drinks and which ones to sprinkle on wounds. We learn medicines to burn to keep away bugs and kill fungal infections.
It was us memorizing dry medicine formula ratios and making medicine for the teacher to grade and test for 3 months. We got points for correct ratios and proper storage.
The next 3 months were wet medicine. Creams, gels, and salves.
We used the beakers and fire stones to properly slow cook different herbs and liquids down to effective medicines. Burn creams, Rash creams, Breathing medicines, Muscle rubs.
These could all be stored in little air tight jars. We were given points for correct thickness and measurements. Some would have runny medicine or medicines that was gunky like glue. These were no good. Of course there's always that one kid who just burns everything. Literally just burning through money.
I had saved loads of money. With the help of Cassie and the wood fairies I had made a large herb garden to save on expenses and have my own medicine garden. We had learned how to get seeds out of herbs in our planting class so I could constantly regrow things.
I had built a medicine room next to the garden that was filled with bottled and dried herbs. I couldn't put them in the cellar as there was lots of moisture there. I also stored finished medicine and creams when I learned them there. All properly labeled in neat vials and pouches.
When we pass this class we get a tier 1 alchemist certification allowing us to sell medicine to shops. However they are very strict and if you give them 3 bad medicines your banned from selling anything else.
My afternoon classes were quite fun.
I walked into the room and instant was hit by wonderful smells. Looking around it was much like the alchemy class except instead of beakers we had pots and pans and cooking utensils. The only students in here were either girls or fatties who were drooling over the girls and the delicious smells.
It was a cooking class. Some people went on to own taverns or work at restaurants or become army chefs. People who can cook mouth watering food are very powerful in a society where people eat crazy amounts of food. Doing exercises and using magic energy burns a lot of calories so good chefs are welcome everywhere.
A jolly looking fat man in a chefs outfit walked into the room.
"Ah my fellow food lovers welcome." he said happily. "I see that some of you are lacking a bit of meat on your bones we will have to try and change that while I teach you to cook world class meals." he looked at me specifically as I was the only skinny male in the room.
"Hey don't look at me I eat a lot of food it's just I burn it off with combat practice." I laugh patting my stomach.
"Haha fine fine I'll be teaching you how to make proper meals for people like yourself who burn massive amounts of energy daily anyway." he laughs and begins doing what the other classes do. Proper clean cooking utensils. Washing fruits and veggies. How to identify ripe fruits and veggies. Identifying Mushrooms that can be eaten and cannot be eaten. Good meats and bad meats and what are prime cuts. How to cook fish. I learned this from a distance while he chuckled at my fear of fish. I don't touch or eat fish but I now know how to clean and cook it.
We learned about spices and oils. Made seasonings and sauces from scratch. Learned about what kind of foods to fry what kind to boil or steam how to properly cook on an open fire or campfire. The man was a vast well of knowledge regarding cooking. Top chef in the kingdom. We learned all sorts of techniques from cutting techniques to how to properly prepare magical beast meats.
We learned how to preserve food for long periods of time. Salted meats, fruit preserves, soup broth blocks, all sorts of tips and tricks.
We learned how to make teas properly and coffees. Different styles of spiced wines he knew which sold for high prices. All sorts of tips and tricks and recipes. Lots of things I had no idea even existed but tasted delicious. It was a good class.