After nearly making himself dizzy with how hard his imagination was working, Aiden finally determined how he wanted to fight. He wanted his alchemy to be his greatest ability, so whatever weapon he chose needed to fit in line with that. Having determined his fighting style, Aiden was refreshed, and started searching vigorously.
Eventually he picked up a rather delicate hand crossbow. The grip was crafted out of a dark polished hardwood, but the flight groove was made of some sort of bright red metal. When Aiden held the crossbow in his hand, he knew this was the one. It was small and compact, so it wouldn't affect his agility. It was also ranged, so he didn't need to engage in close combat. But the most important point, was that it provided an effective means to utilize his alchemical concoctions in combat. He could coat bolts in poisons or perhaps some weird potions like diminution or petrification. Or he could have specialty bolts made that would house pills like the Sparkfire pill and explode on impact. He felt that his options were limitless.
Aiden had made his decision and confidently strode over to Anton, "I have decided to learn the hand crossbow." Anton was not surprised, in fact he had wanted to suggest that Aiden look at ranged weapons in the first place. However, the young boy had seemed so caught up in his own world that he didn't want to interrupt. His young master also seemed to enjoy watching the younger boy's antics so he refrained.
Marcus had already decided on the longsword, so he was quite happy to see that his Little Alchemist had made his decision. After the two of them had chosen their weapons, Anton went over the basics of each weapon and made a training plan.
During the next several weeks Aiden was so busy that he wanted to cry. Every day he was exhausted by alchemy in the first have of the day, and nearly killed by Anton's devil training in the latter half. You would think that crossbow training would focus on accuracy and that Aiden would be doing target practice, but that is just because you do not know the ways of Devil Instructor Anton.
At first targets were set up and Aiden complacently thought that he was in a much better situation than Marcus who had to complete hundreds of swordswings every day. Reality quickly taught him a lesson. While shooting the target, Anton would throw rocks at him, forcing Aiden to dodge or else get a nasty welt. If he missed the target, Anton would draw a tally on the large slate board he had set up. At the end of target practice, the number of tallys equaled the number of laps he had to run.
Aiden didn't even want to think of those dark days at the beginning where his accuracy was abysmal. He wasn't even sure how he had made it through alive. Now he had reached the point where the number of laps that he had to run were within his tolerance. However, Aiden had seen the sinister glint in Anton's eyes and knew that his devil instructor was devising some new and cruel torture. Aiden never complained to Marcus because he knew that although it was painful, this training was allowing him to improve at an incredible rate. That didn't stop him from throwing aggrieved glances to the older boy though, which unbeknownst to him amused Marcus greatly.
If it wasn't because Marcus was afraid that laughing would cause his Little Alchemist to explode like a Sparkfire pill, he wouldn't have been able to contain his mirth after looking at those sad and pitiful amber eyes. Of course, that was only because he knew that Aiden was within his tolerance range. If he ever felt as if the training level had exceeded what Aiden could take, he would step in. But, he could rest assured in Anton's ability. Seeing the progress that his Little Alchemist had made, Marcus decided that it was a good time to give him a little reward.
That night after Aiden had finished his meditation and was getting ready for bed, he heard a knocking at his door. Slightly puzzled, Aiden opened the door to see Marcus holding a small box.
"Marcus? What's the matter?" Aiden asked as he let the older boy into the room. Just like last time when he came to deliver a satchel of gold to Aiden, Marcus took a seat on the bed next to Aiden.
Once they were both seated Marcus handed over the box and stated, "A gift for all your hard work recently." Aiden's amber eyes lit up immediately, a gift? He couldn't wait to open the box as it was in his hands. Inside the box were two dozen delicately crafted crossbow bolts. Different from normal bolts however, these bolts had slots for either pills or vials. Aiden smiled wide, he had mentioned to Marcus some of the ways that he wanted to incorporate Alchemy into his offensive ability.
"Thank you so much! I knew that my Young Master of the Sommerset clan could pull through for me!" Aiden giggled as he held the box tightly.
"Of course. My Little Alchemist's wish, is this Young Master's command," Marcus' emerald green eyes twinkled in amusement as he replied to Aiden's banter.
After receiving such an awesome gift from Marcus, Aiden woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and full of energy to try out some new alchemical concoctions. His laughter sounded slightly treacherous in the ears of the servants he passed on his way to the Alchemy Room, drawing a few concerned glances.
Today, Aiden was going to make a Potion of Diminution. According to the description, when ingested or applied externally this potion would cause the target to shrink by as much as half their current size. Imagine a huge hulking man suddenly becoming the size of a child! Not to mention their shock, but their reach and strength would decrease drastically. Of course, those effects were only available to the higher levels of Diminution potions unfortunately. The one that he was capable of concocting only affected one body part. Which may seem kind of useless, but if you consider that the shrunken body part could be someones foot or head, the possibilities start to open up.
The ingredients for this potion were kind of strange so Aiden had to have Dylan prepare them in advance. Luckily, this had been on his mind for a while and he had plenty of advance notice. The ingredients were; Springtime Bamboo shoots for rapid growth, the powder made from the shells of the Reverse Snail which only travel backwards, and the whispers of yesterday which were very difficult to gather and Dylan looked at him as if he was crazy when he asked.
Aiden set up the cauldron and prepared himself, he had spent a lot of his time on pills and cuisine, potions were the area he had the least experience. The reason was that unlike a lot of the potion recipes that could be found here in the Golden Lion Kingdom, the recipes his mother left him were very strange. The ingredients they asked for were perplexing, like the whispers of yesterday. If he didn't also have extensive material gathering books that detailed these things, it would be almost impossible to make any.
Never the less, Aiden began to form symbols with his hands. First, the ground up snail shell powder. The water turned a pale gray and Aiden stirred it clockwise for thirteen rounds and then counter clockwise for thirteen rounds. Once he finished stirring, the bamboo shoots were tossed into the water that was now flowing in reverse. He sped up the formation of his hand symbols and stirred the water counter clockwise for another thirteen cycles. Then he used his mental strength to carry over a small porcelain jar and held it over the cauldron, as it opened a faint voice was heard before it disappeared into the rotating water.
Now that each ingredient was in, Aiden focused on reigning in the aura that was attempting to break free. Potions that defied the natural laws of the world were particularly unruly. The whispers of yesterday were thin and faint, and if Aiden was not careful they were too easy to be broken up by the fast moving solution. And the waters were only moving faster under the stimulation of the gathering aura.
Aiden worked hard to prevent the reagents from imploding. His fingers danced and flew, conducting the aura to follow his command. At this time the color of the potion began to change as a faint light seemed to emit from within. The pale gray darkened and took on an almost blue hue, and light ran along the surface clinging to the liquid. With a quiet pop, the tension in the air released as the aura settled down. Aiden smiled quite proudly as he looked at the solution, succeeded on the first try! He careful ladled the potion into bottles which were subsequently labeled.
After cleaning up, he grabbed a bottle and strode off to Marcus' study. He wanted to show off and also get it tested to see if the potion worked as described. Aiden always had the feeling that where his mother lived, there were higher level herbs and materials, so he was worried that the potency of the things he crafted would be less due to the quality. Not to mention, Aiden had a secret wish for Anton to one of the testers. That way he could feel a small sense of revenge for the torture that devil put him through on a daily basis.