Once the class has departed, I turn back to Lector. "Will there be any issues to come of this? I don't suspect anything too severe, as I only responded to a duel, but…"
"There is no reason to worry about that noble brat's death. That wizards and soldiers will duel is commonly accepted, especially among the nobility. In fact, that a member of their house loss to a commoner, a slave, no less, will be something his family will try to desparately cover up. Furthermore, with me around, a noble family of such low repute as the Elrons poses no threat even should they pursue this issue. The insults may have been a bit much, but they are nothing so severe as to likely even be relayed in detail."
"Well, that is a relief, I suppose."
"Yes, there is truly nothing to be worried about," Lector says, hoisting the noble's corpse over his shoulder. "Now, onto your displays today. Though the sword was sloppy and the cube was small, you were overall quite successful in your replication of my early stunt. That you can pull that off shows that you are truly worthy of being called an elementalist. Furthermore, your duel was quite well done. Your preparation showed itself clearly, and you dealt with every spell in a superb manner. While you were a bit lucky that your opponent had relatively little resistance to magical exhaustion, and that he was foolish enough to pour all of his efforts into one set of attacks, your victory was certainly well deserved. And, considering what I have taught you, there is not much more in the realm of elementalism for you to learn. While there are many techniques for you to yet master, you have been provided with the basic knowledge to accomplish nearly anything in that realm, and further gains will come only from further practice. So, that said, I would like to devote our nights solely to teaching you alchemy, at least until our departure. Of course, you will still have the time during my teaching during the day to practice on your own. Understood?"
"Yes master," I reply as we reach the dining hall, having flown slowly all the way. I take my usual spot while Lector hauls the noble's corpse to the commander's table, presumably to explain some things to General Lion.
My dinner, which only possesses the noteworthy feature of only having water to drink, fails to occupy my attention as I continue to pursue the book I had begun at breakfast this morning. Though the current topic, the administration of the principalities of the Eastern Empire, hardly holds much import for me at the moment, I still read intently. After all, I need to learn more about this world and I can hardly rely on Lector for everything. And it's not as though any piece of information about this world is truly useless; you never know when you may end up in a far away nation and need to know how its government works!
After dinner, we return to Lector's dwelling. Though I have been receiving one lesson a week on the matter of alchemy for a while now, such lessons have only built up a most basic understanding of the subject.
In short, alchemy consists of extracting the natural magical aspects of specific ingredients to create potions that will exert a certain effect when consumed. The line between alchemy and artificery of single-use items simply falls on alchemy requiring the imbibement of a potion to activate the effect, while artificery of single use items produces items that are used in other ways and whose effects do not usually pertain to the body of the user (though such is not always the case).
"As the basics have already been established, we can immediately start getting into actual recipes," Lector says. "To start with, we shall make an incredibly useful potion, one that I have great experience in making: a sleep nullification potion."
[Ah, yes. Alongside endurance potions, the most useful of concoctions. I am glad to be learning how to do this; this one potion allows a great bonus to training, and I will not always have Lector around to make them.]
Lector takes out a rather thick tome, and opens it to a bookmarked page. "I no longer need to check the recipe to make this potion," he explains, "but it will be helpful for you to see how these instructions are laid out. Now, what does it say is the first step?"
After that, we make our way through the instructions. I will read a step, such as 'mash one eye of boar,' or 'sprinkle powdered goblin nails until mixture turns purple,' and Lector will direct me towards the mentioned materials. He leaves the actual processing to me, only speaking up when I do something very wrong.
In the end, after close to two hours of work, I am left with a thick purple mixture that does not at all resemble what I am supposed to be making.
Lector sighs, before saying "The ratio of raven feathers to goblin nails must have been off. And now you see the greatest challenge of alchemy: obtaining enough time and resources to master a recipe. While the potion you made will work to a degree, substituting for about an hour of sleep, the sell value is only a tenth of the ingredient cost. This one failure cost about two silver coins, and to get a recipe down often requires hundreds of failures. To even learn a single recipe, an aspiring alchemist often must plunge himself into debt; such is why the prices of high-quality potions outstrip ingredient costs to such a degree - the alchemist is still trying to recoup costs."
[Ah. I had always wondered why a fire resistance potion sold for more than I did at that auction - this must be why. Still, potion making is quite difficult, more so than I expected. I have always been good at following directions, so to mess up this badly… well, the room for error must be truly minute.]
"Well," Lector continues, "still better than my first attempts at making a potion. I burned down the laboratory I was working out of, which, when compared to a potion that is at least functional, is quite a bit worse. Now, the only way to get better is to practice, and I can assure you that you'd rather learn out of my wallet than your own. Go back to the start, and try again."
And so another night of training passes. Unlike with, say, mana shaping, the improvements, while small, are definitely noticeable. Every time I make a mistake, I know to be careful with that step the next time through and know how not to do it. My potions look better and better each time, and, according to Lector, also increase in potency. By the time morning comes, I am able to make a potion that, according to Lector, would sell for at least half of the material cost. While that doesn't sound particularly impressive to me, it still is better than one-tenth.
[Still, this is an expensive industry to enter. If a commoner tried to learn this art, he would have to sell all his property and his family into slavery, and even then still have to hope he is adept in the art of following strict directions. And to try to make a new potion, I cannot even imagine the cost. With how strange this recipe is, to throw materials at each other in specific ways until a result is achieved… truly a pricy endeavor.]