Elaine trudged behind the guard assigned to escort her to the barracks, her mind a maelstrom of questions and fears. The faint glow of the Veilshard Nexus interface followed her like a ghost, occasionally flickering with unintelligible runes.
Her surroundings were equally alien. The streets of the guild compound bustled with an odd mix of medieval aesthetics and strange magical phenomena. Artisans in leather aprons wielded glowing tools to engrave runes into weaponry. A lumbering creature—half ox, half crystalline construct—hauled a wagon piled high with shimmering minerals.
The air itself seemed to hum faintly, charged with some invisible energy that prickled at her senses. Elaine's mind turned to the problem at hand: alchemy. The term might be familiar, but she had no guarantee the principles here bore any resemblance to the chemistry she knew.
The guard finally stopped in front of a squat, weathered building. "Inside," he said curtly, jerking a thumb toward the door.
Elaine stepped inside and was greeted by a dimly lit common room lined with simple wooden furniture. A narrow hallway extended beyond it, dotted with small, identical doors.
"Your room's the last one on the right," the guard said, already turning to leave. "Someone will fetch you at dawn. Don't be late."
Before she could respond, he was gone, the door slamming shut behind him.
Her assigned room was spartan to the point of insult: a single cot, a small wooden desk, and a chair. A narrow window let in the faint, eerie glow of the auroras overhead. Elaine sank onto the cot, her body aching and her mind spinning.
She stared at the Nexus interface hovering in her vision. "Okay," she muttered aloud. "Let's start with the basics. What exactly is alchemy here?"
The interface flickered, then displayed a new message:
QUERY RESPONSE: Alchemy in Substrate Realm Liradelle combines empirical material science with rune-imbued essence extraction. Standard tools required: Essence Crucible, Catalytic Runes, Stabilization Medium.
"Essence extraction?" she muttered. "Rune-imbued? This isn't chemistry; it's sorcery with a bad vocabulary."
The Nexus displayed another brief flash of information:
Basic Essence Concepts:
Essence Types: Vitalis (life), Ignis (fire), Aetheris (arcane), Terris (earth)Catalysts: Materials or runes that amplify essence potency.Stabilization: Prevents essence reactions from destabilizing during combination.
Elaine groaned, pressing her fingers to her temples. It wasn't just the terminology; the entire framework was alien. She could barely comprehend the mechanics, let alone master them by dawn.
Her eyes fell on the desk, where a small stack of tattered books had been left. Curious, she opened the topmost one, a thin volume filled with dense, looping script. The title was emblazoned across the first page: "Fundamentals of Basic Alchemical Preparation."
"Thank you, mysterious benefactor," she muttered, flipping through the pages.
The text was written in an archaic, formal style, but her temporary Cognivore class helped her parse the gist:
Step 1: Identify and isolate an essence from a raw material.Step 2: Stabilize the essence using a compatible medium.Step 3: Catalyze the stabilized essence to amplify its properties.Step 4: Combine essences according to a predetermined formula.
The book included diagrams of strange contraptions—glassware connected by rune-inscribed tubing, glowing crucibles suspended over sigils. Elaine frowned. None of this resembled anything she'd seen in a lab back home.
"Isolate an essence," she repeated. "What does that even mean?"
The Nexus flickered again, presenting her with a new notification:
[NEXUS TASK: BEGIN BASIC ALCHEMICAL EXPERIMENTATION]
Objective: Successfully isolate a single essence. Time remaining: 6 hours.
Reward: Unlock Advanced Alchemical Insights. Failure Consequence: Nexus Instability.
"Wonderful," she muttered. "Because I wasn't already stressed enough."
The desk contained a small alchemical kit, its tools rudimentary but serviceable. She recognized a mortar and pestle, a set of small vials, and a strangely shaped flask etched with glowing runes.
"Essence extraction," she murmured, holding up the flask. "Let's see if this thing actually works."
She rummaged through a drawer and found a small pouch labeled "Ignisroot." The book described it as a common material used to extract Ignis essence—fire, heat, or combustion.
Carefully, she ground the Ignisroot into a fine powder using the mortar and pestle. Following the book's instructions, she poured the powder into the flask and whispered the activation word printed in the margins: "Luminaris."
The runes on the flask flared to life, glowing a vivid orange. Elaine watched in fascination as the powder began to shimmer and dissolve, leaving behind a faint, fiery glow.
A sudden notification flashed before her eyes:
IGNIS ESSENCE EXTRACTED.
Stabilization required within 5 minutes to prevent destabilization.
Her pulse quickened. "Stabilization medium," she muttered, scanning the desk. A small vial labeled "Aether Sap" caught her eye. The book had described it as a universal stabilizer.
Quickly, she added a few drops of the sap to the flask. The fiery glow dimmed slightly, coalescing into a small, stable orb of light.
IGNIS ESSENCE STABILIZED.
Reward: Advanced Alchemical Insights Unlocked.
Elaine let out a shaky breath. "Step one down," she murmured. "Let's hope this gets easier."
The Nexus shimmered, and a new notification appeared:
[INSIGHT GAINED: ALCHEMY LEVEL 1]
New Abilities Unlocked:
Essence Resonance: Identify hidden essence signatures in materials.Nexus Alchemical Schematic: Access basic recipes via Nexus interface.
She slumped into the chair, her exhaustion giving way to a flicker of hope. It wasn't much, but it was a start. If she could keep this up, she might just survive whatever came next.