Chapter 84: Recipe for Success (Patreon)

While a few people had naturally taken note of Edwin rattling up to the entry of the town, none paid him much attention. It made a certain amount of sense, they probably had loads of travelers and merchants coming in and out of the town on a regular basis.

In fact, he could even tell where the inn for the town was thanks to the row of wagons that had pulled up beside it, a few individuals milling around them. A few individuals caught his eye- one Skyguard and two Hired Guards already had Almanac tags on them from when he’d last traveled with a merchant caravan. He was vaguely hopeful he’d spot more familiar faces out and about, but it seemed that the trio had simply been hired by a different set of merchants. Even the wagons weren’t the ones that he had seen before, and Edwin couldn’t imagine they had an excessive number of those lying around.

As they pulled up to the inn, Edwin allowed Bill to loiter as he hopped down and drifted inside. The tireless pony lowered his head and started nibbling at a few tufts of hardy grass that had survived on a hard-packed dirt road.

While Edwin’s eyes didn’t need to adjust too much as he entered the building, the massive leafy boughs of the tree Panastalis was built around already casting the entire city into shadow, his ears certainly did. Inside, a couple dozen individuals with a mix of travel-related classes and more typical Identify results sat around, eating, drinking, and enjoying a Melodic Wanderer’s song as he sat, playing a stringed instrument that Edwin recognized from the road.

The innkeeper- a Canny High Merchant- looked at Edwin with a skeptical eye as he approached, “We don’t serve your type here.”

Edwin looked down at himself, “Look, I know most people don’t like adventurers,” he started, confused, “But I assure you, I have dispensation for-”

“No, not adventurers, you daft fool. Alchemists.”

“Hold on, what?” of all the things he was expecting to potentially run into trouble for, being an alchemist in the alchemist town was not one of them.

“You’re not Guilded. I serve you, I’m inviting all kinds of trouble onto myself.”

“Well, okay, but-”

“Out! Don’t want your trouble.”

“I was sent by the emperor?” it was perhaps a bit of a stretch, but not that much of one. He would argue that the emperor telling him to go and learn stuff on his own merit did include visiting Panastalis and learning about alchemy. He might not have specifically said to do so, but

That caught his attention, “You’re lying.”

“Nope! Talked to him just a month ago.”

“You’re either brazen or stupid.”

Edwin gave a slight shrug and a smirk.

“Five ager a night.”

Edwin scoffed, “That’s robbery! Back in the city I got half a month for that price.”

“This isn’t the city.” He shot back, and Edwin noticed a Skill interlacing the words, “It’s a lot more expensive out here. Four.”

“That’s not how money works at all. Things are always pricier in a city because more people want the stuff.”

“Yeah, well look around. I’m not exactly hurting for business, and they won’t get the place burned down by just existing. Non-guild alchemists are not welcome here, and I’m not taking that on my head.”

“I’ll look to join the guild? Actually, how do you know I’m not already part of it?”

“Well if you were, you wouldn’t be staying here.”

“Any idea how I join the guild?”

“Nothin’ specific.”

“Anything general?”

“Well, I don’t know where you come from, but it’s usually considered bad business to give something away for free.”

“Where I come from, helping out potential customers is a great way to get on their good side and make them want to choose your place.”

“Ha! Where else would you go?”

“Well, apparently where- ah. I see.” Edwin sighed and grabbed a few ves from an internal pocket, “Will this do?” he slid the coins over.

“It’s a start.” The avior swept a wing over the counter, making the coins vanish with the hint of a Skill, “You can find the guildhouse on Stalis.”

“The tree?” Edwin guessed.

The avior gave a quick nod, “You can’t miss it.”

“Sounds like I didn’t get my money’s worth,” Edwin grumbled, “So a room?”

“If you join with the guild, then you won’t need one.”

“I have a traveling companion. Would she be really welcome in whatever guild-approved housing they have?”

“Two of you?”

“I would have asked for two rooms, but not at those prices. We’ll settle for one.”

“Hmmm,” The innkeeper tucked his head into his shoulder and preened some of the feathers there in thought, “I suppose there’d be no harm in renting to a passer-by. She’s not an alchemist, right?”

Edwin shook his head.

“Two ager a night for the two of you, you get the largest room I don’t already have claimed.”

“Please, I’m not a fool. I can sleep in my cart if nothing else- I did it on the road. One. Though I do have a pony that needs stabling, I could go up a bit for that.”

“Three per two days, and we feed and stable your horse.”

“Deal.”

----

It didn’t take long for him to get Bill and Inion properly situated in their respective places- though the latter immediately fled the inn, claiming she wanted to play in the river. Honestly, he felt like a parent at times, despite Inion being at least a hundred times older than him.

He didn’t waste any time once he was free, and quickly made his way to Stalis. In some ways, Edwin felt that his sense of grandeur had perhaps shifted slightly since he had arrived in Joriah, in large part thanks to Vinstead’s garrison and living in a literal fairy-tale home for a year. It was perhaps the primary reason the massive guild hall-complex built into a tree larger than a football field didn’t amaze him, with its grand, sweeping roof and skylights spilling golden shafts of light across the floor.

The latter feature caught Edwin off-guard, though it took him a moment to put his finger on why. Then it hit him. There wasn’t any direct sunlight underneath Stalis- the apparent sunlight spilling into the room was artificial, mimicking the lighting away from the massive tree that was the town’s namesake. That was… Well, Edwin didn’t even know how to begin doing something like that.

Okay. That’s not entirely true. The first step would be figuring out if they have some sort of light-storing or light-transmitting material that they could use to bring sunlight in. It might even use sunstalk. Perhaps by making some sort of transmission method or alchemical preparation to keep it active? Though that would just diffuse, not stick in cohesive sunbeams. Unless they had some kind of focusing effect. Maybe an alchemical crystal of some kind? Though that’s basically just saying ‘magic.’ Just saying ‘A Wizard did it’ is not a real answer, darn it! How did the wizard do it, and how-

“Can I help you, sir?” a mildly annoyed voice cut in, and Edwin sheepishly looked back at the receptionist. He looked human, but had oddly purplish-gray skin and a dour expression. A quick Identify let him see the man was a Fastidious Alchemist, and Edwin nodded in apology.

“Sorry. Just admiring the architecture,” he apologized, “I’d like to try and join the guild? What sort of thing does that require, what does it entail, that sort of thing.”

“Yes, well. You need the Alchemy skill-”

“I have that, yes.” Edwin interrupted, then glanced away in apology when the man glared at him, “Sorry.”

“The Alchemy skill and Alchemist’s Insight at level thirty, then you’ll need to undergo a series of quality and knowledge tests before you can become a full member.”

“Knowledge test? How does that work?”

“I was getting there,” he replied, annoyed. Edwin avoided eye contact as the receptionist continued, “If you need additional tutelage in alchemy for the examination, the Guild offers classes for aspiring alchemists for a mere seven ager per week.”

“Mere?” Edwin was shocked, “That’s half a grai per month! Why is everything so expensive in this tiny town?”

“If you cannot afford the prices, the guild offers loans for perfectly reasonable interest rates and may be paid off once a full member via commission work or general labor.”

Edwin just glared at the receptionist.

I swear, it’s student loans all over again.

“How long do most students take to learn everything?”

“Oh, usually a year or two if being trained from the Six. I don’t know how long you would require, but likely a few months.”

Edwin stewed for a few moments, “What about just taking the test? Can I prove that I’m a competent enough alchemist without having to take the classes for the specific terminology you all learn? I’m sure I can pick it up quickly enough anyway.”

I hope.

“Hmm,” he sneered, “Well, I’m not sure what we can do about that, but I suppose I can pass the message along to my superiors and see what they say.”

“Thank you.” Edwin nodded, though he internally wondered what the guy’s problem was, not that he was really surprised that he was already annoyed with him.

He shuffled between his feet awkwardly, “So… what now?”

The receptionist looked up at Edwin, “Where can we find you?”

“I heard you guys had housing or something?” he checked. He doubted that it’d be open for him, but he didn’t want to bring trouble on to the innkeeper if he could help it.

“Guild members only. If you’re applying… see about getting a room at the inn. Tell the innkeeper you’re a Prospective if he gives you any trouble.”

Edwin nodded, “Thanks. You’ll... find me there, I guess.”

From there, it was rather simple to retreat, only slightly marveling at the massive displays of Skills that were omnipresent in the guildhall and faintly permeated the air. Inion was still gone when he got back to the inn, and so Edwin shut himself in his room and kept playing with his Skills.

-----

Apparatus was as interesting as ever; as the Skill hit level 40, Edwin managed to create a fine chain reminiscent of a necklace string. In fact, he decided that was what he’d use it for, and looped it around his neck, the crystal glittering in the light of his glowing potion bottles next to where Inion’s Muse Token hung.

It was easy, if tedious, to layer instances of the Skill, and Edwin got his marble box about half restocked with recursive marbles- spheres stacked within one another- before giving up. He had made one marble of about twenty layers of Apparatus before deciding it was way too much work, and his future creations only had three nested spheres. Hopefully it would be enough, because he was already so very bored just making marble after marble.

He’d finish them up at a later point, and make his caltrop-marbles at some point in the future as well. But for now…

Edwin swiped through his Status. He’d done well and he couldn’t help but feel a bit proud. He’d gotten a lot in just the last few months. Sure, his pace was nowhere close to what he’d had in his dedicated year of training, but it was also so much less stressful- and he’d gotten so many new Paths too!

Name

Edwin Maxlin

Age

1 year

Race

Extraplanar Human

Class

Alchemist-Errant

Attributes

Health 22

Impact 7

Mana 33

Perception 19

Stamina 30

Skills

Alchemical

Alchemy 83, Alchemical Analysis 15, Refine 1, Alchemical Dismantling 6, Sapper’s Apparatus 40

(Purify: 75)

Magical

Basic Thermokinesis 16, Fey’s Caress 36, Ritual Intuition 20, Mana Infusion 85

Flight 9, (Basic Mana Sense: 82), (Basic Mana Manipulation: 9)

Physical

Overcharge 8, Longstrider 29, Fresh Air 14

(Athletics: 81), (Breathing: 76), (Flexibility: 74), (Nutrition: 73), (Packing: 92), (Seeing: 72), (Sleeping: 73), (Survival: 76), (Walking: 74)

Mental

Numeracy 14, Prototyping 16, Anatomy 28, Polyglot: 60, Memory 60

(Language: 36), (Mathematics: 74), (Research: 50), (Visualization: 80)

Combat

Bomb Throwing 49, Adaptive Defense 26

(Throwing Weapons: 48)

Utility

Outsider's Almanac 130, Watchful Rest 18, Skillful Assessment 32, Arcadian Elixir 16, Improbable Arsenal 23

(Firestarting: 94), (Improvisation: 14), (Status: 22), (Identify: 80), (First Aid: 82), (Harvesting: 76), (Construction: 77)

Paths

Skill Points: 576

Combat

Assassin 0/60, Bomber 0/60, Giant Slayer 0/60, Heedless Hunter 0/60, Hunter 0/30,  Killer 0/30, Titan Slayer 0/90, Warrior 0/60, Way of the Empty Hand 0/60, Trapper 0/60,

Alchemy

Alchemical Medic 0/60, Demolitionist 0/60, Makeshift Alchemist 0/60, Potioneer 0/60,

Science

Chemist 0/60, Experimenter 0/60, Researcher 0/60, Purifier 0/30, Scientific Revolutionary 0/90, Scientist 0/60, Engineer 0/60, Physicist 0/60, Mathematician 0/60, Material Scientist 0/60

Magic

Aerialist 0/60, Fey Friend 0/60, Feybound 0/60, Feycaller 0/60, Mage 0/60, Magical Gardener 0/60, Micro-Biomancer 0/90, Primal Constructor 0/90, Primal Ritualist 0/90, Realm Traveler 0/120, Skilled Arcanist 0/60, Fey Supplicant 0/60, Feykind 0/90

Mental

Dedicated Student 0/60, Lecturer 0/30, Scholar 0/60, Unbowed 0/90, Canny 0/60, Steady Mind 0/60, Mentalist 0/60,

System

Almanac Administrator 0/60, Forerunner 0/60, Outsider’s Almanac Specialist 0/90, Pioneer 0/60, Skill Researcher 0/60, System Scholar 0/60,

Trophy

Blackstone Conqueror 0/60, Deepwoods Panther-Hunter 0/60, Stonehide Vanquisher 0/60,

Career

Brickmaker 0/30, Butcher 0/30, Diver 0/30, Gardener 0/30, Lumberjack 0/60, Merchant 0/30, Potter 0/30, Scribe 0/30, Woodsman 0/30,

Physical

Ascetic 0/60, Daredevil 0/60, Physical Alchemist 0/90, Survivor 0/60, Physical Laborer 0/30,

Traveling

Escapee 0/30, Exile 0/30, Traveler 0/30, World Traveler 0/60

Medical

Field Medic 0/60, Medic 0/30, Steadfast Medic 0/60,

Misc

Arsonist 0/60, Autopyromaniac 0/60, Burglar 0/60, Child 0/12, Expert 0/60, Imperial Ally 0/60, Novice 0/12, Pyromaniac 0/30, Razer of the Ruined Tower 0/60, Rebel 0/30, Slave 0/12, Trainee 0/60, Traitor 0/60, Brushed by Power 0/60, Lirasian Citizen 0/30, Royal Advisor 0/60, Favored by Power 0/90

Completed Paths

CharLimitCanttalkmuchNocluewhathappenedDidmybesttohelpyouli, Mage, Skilled Arcanist, Physical Alchemist, Bomber, Linguist, Beginner, Warrior, Path Less Traveled, Athlete, Scout, Unkillable, Superior Alchemist, Adventurer, Explorer, Outsider, Skill Researcher, Wanderer, Alchemical Warrior, Novice Pyromancer, Novice Ritualist, Alchemist, Physicist, Engineer, Physical Arcanist, Biologist, Practical Alchemist, Fey Scion, Feytouched

He idly toyed with the message, musing about what he wanted to evolve Flight with. Aerialist was the boring option, no doubt. If he were to hazard a guess… it might improve his maneuverability in-air? Meh. What he really wanted was telekinesis, because that was perhaps the single most awesome and broken superpower ever.

Plus, it would be great for sealed experiments and making volatile stuff without risking his own life and limb.

But mainly it was just obscenely broken. Be able to flatly violate the 3rd law of motion? Yes please. He’d tried picking up a Tactile Telekinesis skill by messing around with Packing and Mana Infusion again, but to no avail. He just couldn’t get it to ‘click’ quite right. Maybe one day, unless there was some sort of strange one-new-skill-per-combination rule to the System, which he didn’t think was the case but he couldn’t totally rule out either.

He didn’t really know what he should try to use to get Telekinesis from Flight. None of his Paths particularly seemed to lean in that direction. Hmm…

Ah well, it wasn’t like he was in any kind of rush. He didn’t want to evolve Flight until it was at least level 60, and he had a pretty solid spread of abilities already. Tier 3 would bring with it a whole suite of awesome new powers, sure, but why rush it? Leveling all of his current Skills to super-high levels would help a lot too.

Satisfied, he dismissed the notification and rose from his bed, looking outside. Hm. It was starting to get dark. Inion had yet to return, but that was hardly a surprise. She’d be out playing in the water for a week if she could. They’d spent relatively little time traveling by rivers, so this was the first time in quite a while where she’d had extensive time submerged.

Well, maybe he’d hear from the guild tomorrow.

Bedtime for now.

-----

“There was a message for you this morning.”

The voice snapped Edwin out of his morning stupor slightly as he stared at the innkeeper. He’d just descended from his room, “Sorry, wha?” he blinked.

“A runner from the Guild dropped this off for you. It is for you, right?”

He swept a wing across the counter, depositing a small black pebble on the wood. Edwin blinked at it uncomprehendingly, “Ummm. I may still be waking up, but that’s a rock?”

Edwin was still awful at reading Avior expressions, but it was clear even to him that the innkeeper was looking at Edwin like he was an idiot. Which wasn’t really a surprise, but it didn’t help him much here.

“Some problem?”

“Well… it’s a rock.”

“You have an issue with rocks? Where did you come from?”

“A very long way away, apparently.” Edwin responded, “I still don’t see how the rock plays into this.”

“Have you never seen a message stone before? What did they use back for you?”

“Ink and paper, usually. So, what am I missing here?”

“The stone. Identify it.” He was really done with Edwin, wasn’t he? Sigh.

Edwin shrugged and triggered Identify on the pebble.

Itsa rock!

A very rocky rock. Rocking all over. It rocks. Not a very big rock, though. It might be stoned. Maybe it will roll?

Okay, that didn’t work. Material?

I think this is Granite?

Alchemical Analysis?

50 - 90% Quartz

50 - 90% Elemental Oxygen

He should update his Quartz tag to be silica, shouldn’t he? It would also be nice if he was able to get actually pure substances so he could Almanac them properly and definitely… Eh, project for another day.

He shook his head, “Not getting it. Not sure what you’re trying to get me to do?”

“Didn’t you Identify it?”

“I did. No messages, though.”

“You don’t even have Common Knowledge?”

“Look, I come from so far away, you wouldn’t even believe it. I don’t suppose you could read it for me?” he sheepishly asked.

“Fine,” the innkeeper squacked, “But you’ll pay.”

“How much? I’ll pay double for my breakfast.”

“Hmm. That’ll be ten ves, then, and you need to wait until I’ve got everyone else taken care of.”

“Fine,” Edwin acquiesced, mostly just not wanting to make any kind of scene- being seriously overcharged was fine when the payment was on the order of ves- and slid the copper coins to the avior, who swept them up off the counter with the same Skill.

“Thank you for your patronage.”

“Food and message, please?” Edwin tapped his foot on the floor as he took a seat.

“Certainly, certainly,” the innkeeper stepped into the next room over and returned a moment later with a small loaf of bread on a wooden platter. Edwin took it and tore off a chunk, chewing on the food while waiting for his answer.

“To the Alchemist Errant, come to the Cope Hall at noon for an assessment of your capabilities.”

“That’s it?” Edwin was incredulous, “There’s really nothing else?”

“You’re welcome to look at it yourself. Or perhaps not?”

Edwin glared at the bird, snatched his pebble and loaf off the counter and returned to his room.

----

Noon came around quickly enough, and brought with it Edwin at ‘Cope Hall,’ a location he’d had to ask for directions in finding, and turned out to be a smaller building with doors surrounded by intricate carvings depicting some kind of story. Edwin was sure that it would be meaningful to somebody, but he couldn’t make heads or tails out of the scenes depicted. Something about people and avior, along with children. Trees were involved somehow… ah! It was the history of Panastalis, wasn’t it? Hmm. So, that would probably be representative of alchemy somehow? What were they doing?

His slow piecing together of the decorations was cut short as Edwin realized he might run late if he spent too much longer on the task, and cautiously crept inside. The interior wasn’t particularly well-lit, with the only sources of illumination being torches burning in an eerie green color, casting a pallor upon every surface and making it all look… sickly. The walls were lined with skulls and bones, darkly bubbling vials and bottles that were either faintly glowing or just catching the light in an odd way.

It was, in short, an extremely theatrical recreation of what a ‘potions lab’ might be, sans a- oh wait, no. There was the cauldron, though it wasn’t bubbling and the presumed firepit it sat over remained unlit and stocked with white rods that Edwin couldn’t Identify. There wasn’t anyone that Edwin could see in the room, though.

“Hello?” he cautioned, looking around for whoever was supposed to be examining him, “I was told to come here?”

There was no response, so Edwin took a seat on a nearby stool and waited.

----

After five minutes, Edwin was starting to get a bit impatient. Was he supposed to do something? He was pretty sure this was Cope Hall, and it was noon. Was his examiner running late, or was seeing what he was able to come up with entirely on his own part of the test?

Hm. Well, he didn’t know enough about any of the miscellaneous things in the room to do anything with them, so what did he have on him? He patted down his pockets, looking in his satchel. Hm. He mildly regretted offloading pretty much all of his ingredients into his cart, but it wasn’t like he could do precision mixing on the fly when fighting. Besides, they were likely safer when secured under several layers of Apparatus and hidden on the underside of his shelf than they would be on his person.

Some of what he did have was more appropriate for use in further experimentation, though. Concentrated firevine and sinbalyne oil, a few dried talsanenris berries, a flask of distilled water, and… not much else. Well, he could always make a healing potion. Maybe something to counteract hypothermia?

It was easy enough to make his tools- Sapper’s Apparatus meant he was never without a mixing bowl or stirring rod- and he settled in, geared up, and got started.

The primary component was water, naturally. The substances he dealt with were all far too potent to be used undiluted. It was also the one ingredient he could be generous with- he could concentrate the potion later by boiling some off if need be, and it was the one ingredient he had a functionally unlimited supply of. His heatstone had been set on permanent duty in his carriage as a source of heat for his distillery, and by consistently filling the water feed tank, he had nearly a barrel of distilled water ready for use at all times. He also had set up a charcoal filter to try and purify fresh water and… well, he was getting distracted.

He took a small measure of the water and, with a flex of Basic Thermokinesis accompanied with Infused Firestarting- his new Skill wasn’t strong enough to boil water yet, though he liked to exercise it- he boiled two of his talsanenris berries in it until they were completely rehydrated. Then he kept going until they had turned to mush, and filtered out most of the skin and pulp- instead of discarding it, he slipped it in a vial. It tasted good when he cooked, after all. Loads of nutrients.

Level up!

Basic Thermokinesis 16 → 17

Edwin mixed his talsanenris juice into the greater bowl, and guided by his Alchemy, measured out a few drops of his sinbalyne. If he had molai, this would possibly work as a preventative measure, as the buffering plant would help spread out the effects of the talsanenris. Using sinbalyne would instead encourage the potion to spread quickly into and through the bloodstream and combine with the talsanenris to deliver a jolt of metabolic energy to the entire body, rather than being digested normally. When he’d made potions before with it, it had resulted in Edwin jumping straight into the air as his body demanded he move. This one was much more diluted, so it shouldn’t be as dramatic, but he knew the theory was sound.

Once the potion was homogenous, Edwin took an Apparatus toothpick and allowed it to take a tiny drop- barely more than a bit of film clinging to it- of firevine oil. Too much, and it would probably be fatal, giving whoever ingested it instant heatstroke if not worse. The trick was using as little as possible, and even still Edwin would need to find a lab rat to try his potion on before drinking it himself.

A few more minutes of stirring, and Edwin was surprised by a pleasant pair of notifications.

Level up!

Alchemy 83 → 84

Arcadian Elixir 16 → 17

He must have been close to that Alchemy level if his little experiment had pushed him over the edge, and it probably also signified the completion of his potion. Very nice. He nodded in contentment and started bottling up the elixir, only to be stopped by a new, commanding voice.

“That will do for now. No need to bottle it, I can look at it now.”

Startled, Edwin looked around, only to spot a man with carefully combed hair and an enormous moustache to match standing off to the side. He strode over to the table Edwin was using for his experiment, and grabbed a spare beaker Edwin had set out, scooping up a measure of his elixir and holding it up to the light.

“Hmmm. Experimental flash-fever potion, medium quality. Interesting. Care to explain why you decided to make this?”

Fever potion? How did- oh wait. Alchemist’s Insight, isn’t it? It lets him Identify potions, I guess?

“It wasn’t entirely my intention, mister…” Edwin had made the mistake of improper address once lately, he wasn’t keen to repeat the incident any time soon.

“Cope. Shorob Cope.” The man continued to examine Edwin’s creation, not looking at Edwin.

“Mister Cope. I was hoping to make an anti-hypothermia potion, but I suppose if the result was a flash fever potion, I do need to add in a bit of molai to help lessen the severity. I thought I might be able to get away without it, but it seems like that isn’t so.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that! This might serve to shock a patient back into health, particularly if their blood is a bit low!”

Blood? What does any of that have to do with blood?

“Um, I guess? I wouldn’t really know about that. I was hoping to join the Guild, and I was told to come here? Then, I got a bit bored and thought it might be some kind of test, so I just tossed together a new potion with what I had on me. I wanted to try and make something new, you see.”

“New? You hadn’t made this before?”

“Well, no. Like I said, I was trying to make a-”

“Yes, yes. Well, well done! It’s nearly as good as I might have managed at your age. And this,” Cope tapped the apparatite container, “And this… apparatite substance? You made this, it seems?”

“Uh, yeah. I got a Trophy Path, and this was the result. It’s super versatile.”

“Indeed. Mostly alchemically neutral, too. Very useful.

“So,” the Prodigious Pioneer-Alchemist made some kind of grabbing motion at the bowl of fever-inducing elixir, and the liquid vanished, reappearing as a faintly lavender sphere in Cope’s hand, who slipped it into a hidden pocket in his fancy clothing, “Why should I sponsor you?”

“Well,” Edwin was marginally prepared for this, “I have extensive alchemical training and quite a bit of experience mixing my own potions. I believe that I would be able to fit in nicely within the Guild and contribute as needed to any projects, or undertake research of my own, even without the schooling the Guild mandates. My Alchemy is in the eighties, along with several supporting Skills, though those are admittedly much lower as they’re freshly evolved.”

“Hm. I see. Cocky, are we?”

Edwin shrugged, “I know what I’m capable of.”

“Ha!” he laughed, “You’re lucky I like a bit of attitude! Alchemy in the eighties…” he stroked his moustache, “Let me see some of what you’ve made in the past. If it’s good enough, you’re in.”

Edwin mentally shrugged and withdrew a few of his potions, the hexagonal vials they were in allowing his fingers to find them without even looking, “Some of my more standard healing potions.”

“Hm. Not much of a healing potion. Elixir of boosted recovery, medium quality. No Health-optimizations?”

“Errr… no? I don’t know how to do that sort of thing.”

“How’d you make these?” He asked, looking over the vial, and Edwin hoped he wouldn’t pocket those as well.

“Talsanenris and molai mainly, a bit of sinbalyne to reduce pain and hasten delivery. It’s my most general potion, meant to be imbibed as a bit of a quick stabilizer.”

“I see. Well, it’s not the best I’ve seen or even done, but did you come up with the formula yourself?”

Edwin nodded, “I did, yes.”

“Hm. That explains the pitiful ingredients. Brewing instructions?”

“Oh, you- Uhhh… actually, I think I’ll hold onto that one until after I get in to the Guild.”

“Smart man,” the alchemist winked at him, “Not that you need to worry about me. Now, Othniel…”

“Who?” Edwin asked.

“Oh, he’s another alchemist in the Guild. Keeping him around is a disgrace, the man barely contributes anything! No, he just has his apprentices repeat the same thing time and time again, yet he keeps pushing me out of my rightful positions! Funding is diverted, he’ll destroy curious samples meant for me, steal my notes and present them as his own and worse! He’s the quiet sort that you need to keep an especially keen eye upon. He’d rob your own mind blind and sell you what he took!”

“That… doesn’t sound great. Why don’t they deal with him?”

“Beats me! The man wouldn’t be able to figure out white gold if he had the Gaiash tell him everything.”

“So… am I in, or not?”

“Well, I won’t be able to get you full membership of the Guild yet, but I can pull you in on my team! I’ll get you set up with some lodging, you can work with me, and we can show the Master how deserving we are, eh?”

“Um, sure I guess. Will I have some books?”

“Of course you’ll have books, my friend! So, what do you say?”

Edwin nodded, “I mean, I guess? I don’t suppose I could get some more details about what this would entail, could I?”

“Oh, I’ll have one of the paper-pushers write up something for it. It’ll go great, my friend! Just you wait and see!”

Edwin smiled awkwardly as the large man clasped him in a side hug, trying to squeeze out from the grasp.

It was only hours later when Edwin was back in his room that he realized Cope had kept his healing potion as well.

Dang it.