Note: Edited on 08/02/24. Minor fixes in grammar and prose.
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"The Challenge of the Aqua Vitae shall begin soon," she revealed. "I assume you've heard of it."
Every alchemist worth their salt has heard of the grand competition that occurred every eight years to determine the great alchemists of the decade.
More than simply showing off an alchemist's talents, the Challenge of the Aqua Vitae was a means to prove a long-regarded theory among alchemists. To discover, or rather, to rediscover that which modern alchemy once knew to be an unimpeachable truth but could no longer prove in these modern times—the existence of the final element, or, as we in the alchemy biz called it, the Quintessence.
No, the Aqua Vitae wasn't the same thing as the Philosopher's Stone, that other great invention of alchemy.
