Beastborne

by James T Callum

She was an amazingly good teacher. Gone was the soft-spoken, kind woman. Ashera took her role seriously and expected Hal to do the same.

  At first, he wasn’t sure if Alchemy was for him. He fancied himself more of a Blacksmith or maybe a Goldsmith. Making fantastical weapons or delicate rings and items that fetched a high price.

  If his Sanctum was going to thrive, they would require skilled artisans and a metric ton of sparks. It was one of the main reasons he was hoarding them from each kill. The Sanctum would need it more than he did.

  But the more he learned of Alchemy, the more it appealed to him. It allowed him to make a whole host of things that he didn’t even know was possible. Oils to coat his weapons and armor, poisons to hurl at his enemies, potions to heal the sick and embolden the weak.

  Alchemy could do a bit of everything. It could heal, attack, strengthen, or weaken.

  The more he learned, the more he wanted to know. He was never a natural student back on Earth. He hated studying and reading textbooks but the tomes that Ashera gave him to study from were far from dry and boring.

  They spoke of rare and fantastical ingredients that produced wondrous potions. What was more, Alchemy used many of the Monster Parts he received from fighting as ingredients – reagents as Ashera kept trying to beat the proper terminology into his head – which was right up his alley.

  As a Beastborne who would naturally be scouring the countryside for rare and exotic beasts to fell for their powerful magic, he would naturally accumulate a great deal of Monster Parts.

  So, Hal took to Alchemy with a fervor unlike anything before over the many days of slow going over muddy, crystalline terrain.

  Alchemy is the art of mixing reagents and components to produce the desired effect when the resulting mixture is used. Typically this comes in the well-known manner of drinking a potion but the methods of receiving the effects are many and varied. Hal put down the book, [Alchemical Treatise: Volume I] Ashera had given him to read, and rubbed his tired eyes.

  He laid in bed late that night, unable to sleep. Naturally, he decided to get a bit of reading in since he couldn’t do much else.

  Potions, being the most common, are fast-acting alchemical mixtures that provide specific effects upon their ingestion. The manner in which the concoction is suspended partially determines the power of its effects.

  While Ashera was teaching him recipes and having him work with his hands during the day, at night he split his time between reading the [Balesian Codex] and loaned Alchemy books in order to learn more about the Craft as a whole.

  But that was boring after a while.

  Studying and reading – while fine on their own – were not Hal’s strong suits. His attention waned after enough time and although he found he could remember the details of what he read with crystal clarity, he was bored.

  Working with his hands was always his preferred way to learn.

  And so, as quietly as he could, Hal gathered up his [Alchemist’s Supplies], various tinctures and reagents, then stepped outside the wagon.

  The clearing they stopped in was drier than the last two. Hal didn’t have much trouble finding a free table among those still sitting out.

  After all, it was a caravan with dozens of people. They posted sentries every night and many of the dwarves preferred the dark of night to the glittering brilliance of day in the Mirrorlands. The bright light reflecting off the crystals could be quite disorienting.

  A few dwarves raised a mug of foaming ale to Hal in salute but they largely left him alone, seeing he was intently setting up a table full of alchemical supplies.

  Not big fans of Alchemy, dwarves, Hal thought, remembering the first time Durvin asked him what he was doing. The face the bronze-bearded dwarf made was priceless.

  If Hal had told him that he was killing babies, he doubted the dwarf would have made a more disgusted expression.

  As Hal moved around the table setting everything up, the partially crystallized grass crunched and crackled beneath his boots. Uncharacteristically, the dwarves sitting out, drinking and eating were doing so quietly enough that Hal couldn’t hear their conversations.

  It was a measure of respect he didn’t expect from the rowdy and tough folk.

  They were loud and boisterous at the best of times. That they were trying to stay quiet – as quiet as dwarves could be, anyway – told him they cared about the others in the caravan that would need to be awake when the sun crested the glittering fields to the west.

  Alone for the first time in a long while, Hal sat down and considered what he should make. He knew five Alchemy recipes so far: [Health Potion], [Antidote], [Stamina Potion], [Poison Potion], and [Silencing Potion].

  There were three primary states in which you could suspend an alchemical concoction: pills, potions, and vapors. Each state had its own ups and downs.

  Every Alchemical recipe altered slightly based on how you dealt with its three primary stats. Much like a person had their own stats, each item had three: Potency, Stability, and Toxicity.

  Which helped to explain the stats on the items he received from the Corvids. Eager to rid themselves of the gross items, most of his party had dumped what Monster Parts they received onto him.

  The result was that Hal now had a veritable treasure trove of Monster Parts to work and experiment with.

  Technically, he could turn a [Health Potion] into a [Health Pill] if he chose to. He knew enough now about Alchemy to make the necessary adjustments.

  But making pills was useless in his eyes. Sure, they were more stable which meant they were less likely to react violently or decay over time. The shelf-life of pills was in years or decades compared to months of potions.

  It wasn’t too dissimilar from the states of matter. The more excited states were more volatile but as a result, contained more energy. In this case, potions were more effective than pills, but vapors were more effective than potions.

  Originally it had confused him. No other Craft seemed to possess such convoluted stats or states of matter like Alchemy.

  As Hal set up his supplies, he went about lighting the small fire beneath the tiny double-fist sized cauldron he set up on the table. He would try making something more delicate than a typical [Health Potion].

  Under potions were three sub-categories. He could stabilize the potion with an infusion of reagents that would turn it into an ointment. More stable but less effective than a typical potion.

  But Hal wanted something better. He wasn’t about to try vapors yet, the risk was too great. Ashera had beaten it into his head that vapors were beyond his skill and to attempt it would likely invite disaster.

  Attempting a recipe that was too far beyond your actual skill – Hal’s Alchemy was only Level 3 – was a surefire way to get an explosion. Other Crafts, Blacksmithing, Carpentry, and the like were mild with their failures. Sure, you might get a big splinter from failing a Carpentry recipe or a burn from Blacksmithing but an explosion was unlikely.

  Alchemy could blind you, burn your lungs, or worse.

  As much as Hal wanted to try making a [Health Vapor], he wasn’t willing to risk that much just yet. And so he set out to make something harder. Aerosols were a step above potions but what he wanted to create was the hardest potion sub-category: injections.

  Chemically unstable, they needed to be kept out of direct contact with both light and air to remain stable and useful. He had a stock of [Vials] that contained a tiny mana needle hidden within the pointed tip that could be used.

  Unlike dirty metal needles back on Earth, a mana needle took a small – almost imperceptible – amount of mana from the individual and created a tiny spike that would conduct the contents of the vial into the person.

  All you had to do was press the flat end of the vial and put the pointed, slightly rounded end of the vial against your body. The needle did the rest.

  Unlike potions, injections were incredibly potent and fast-acting. Many of the stronger potions sported healing over time instead of all-at-once. In
jections could heal everything a stronger potion could heal in an instant.

  They were literal life-savers.

  And as much as Hal appreciated Buffrix’s healing, without Ashera they needed a backup. Using his Assimilation, Hal could quickly top people up at range. But he needed a way to recover his own HP, SP, and MP.

  Now that he had some time, he had a lot of experimentation to do. With Alchemy, with his new bone skills, and with Assimilation. He needed to know how far he could reliably heal people. With a fistful of [Health Injections], he could keep himself topped up while healing his friends in a pinch.

  17

  Hal took out some of the spare [Witherroot] he had and began to prepare it by slicing off its thin green membrane to reveal the pale flesh beneath.

  In Alchemy, how each reagent was prepared mattered. By peeling away the thin membrane of the [Witherroot], Hal could alter its stats.

  After reading about them, and getting relentlessly quizzed by Ashera, Hal had their uses hammered into his head. All Alchemy relied on those three stats: Potency, Stability, and Toxicity.

  By preparing the [Witherroot] the way he was, it would amplify its Potency while reducing its Stability. Something Hal wanted because every recipe had a required stat threshold to hit. Even if you did everything right in the recipe, it could still fail because you failed to hit the thresholds.

  Potency was the strength of any given alchemical effect. The stronger the effect, the more Potency an item or recipe naturally had. It was like a multiplier that amplified any of the effects – good or bad – in the ingredients.

  A [Health Injection] was relatively simple. But even that simple recipe took a lot of care and patience. Crafting on Aldim was very different from what Hal knew back home.

  Successfully completing a recipe a certain number of times – the amount was based on the difficulty of the given recipe – gave mastery over that recipe. Only when you possessed mastery could you alter the recipe into a different type.

  Because of its ubiquitous usage, Ashera had trained Hal on [Health Potions] primarily. And after his fifteenth successful completion, he mastered the recipe.

  That was a day ago.

  And though Hal’s Alchemy was going up a Level every few days, it was too slow for him. He learned, that much like with any other ability or skill, taking on more difficult tasks rewarded higher returns. By attempting something more difficult like a [Health Injection], Hal would fast-track his Alchemy.

  Considering its many benefits and how well it synergized with his Beastborne Fabled Class, Hal was ready to dive head-first into Alchemy.

  He took a look at the [Witherroot], analyzing it.

  [Witherroot]

  Type: Alchemical Reagent

  Grade: Prepared Plant Matter

  Quality: Decent

  Potency: 15

  Stability: 4

  Toxicity: 7

  The way he was preparing the [Witherroot] increased its Potency by 50% up from 10 to 15. But at the same time, it nearly halved the Stability from 7 down to 4. Toxicity remained mostly the same.

  Every action mattered. While a Blacksmith might hammer harder or softer, or use differing amounts of heat, an Alchemist had to be careful with every cut. Every twist of their wrist when using a mortar and pestle, even the direction – counter-clockwise or clockwise – mattered to the end product.

  His tools were basic; a granite mortar and pestle kit, silver knife, crystal-glass vials and beakers, a black iron cauldron, and spirit burners. As his skill grew, he’d outgrow his tools. But for now, they served him well.

  Alchemy had three distinct stages: Preparation, Mixing, and Storage.

  Since Hal was preparing the [Witherroot], its Grade changed to that of prepared plant matter. He wasn’t skilled enough to increase its quality, though Ashera assured him that it was possible.

  There were 5 distinct stages of Quality; Horrifying, Poor, Decent, Pristine, and Flawless. Anything from Decent and above was good to work with and didn’t provide any negatives. Decent was the middle-ground where it neither hurt nor helped the final product.

  Horrifying and Poor both possessed a Potency penalty, and any Aspects they might have were lost. Not that Hal could do anything with Aspects at the moment, but they were an important future step.

  During the prep stage, Hal set aside the peeled [Witherroot] and moved onto the [Waterwheel]. As a Monster Part, [Waterwheels] needed to be carefully prepared to remove various internal organs that would otherwise befoul the recipe.

  Sure, he could put it in there wholesale like he did on his first attempt back in Murkmire. But doing so dramatically altered the balance of the recipe. It introduced impurities that Hal didn’t know existed back then.

  Now he was wiser. Adding in the ingredient by itself would work fine for a typical [Health Potion] but Hal wanted to make something better. And introducing any impurities would only hurt the final product.

  No, he needed to be careful. With steady hands, Hal held the [Waterwheel] and made one tiny incision after the other. Using the curved edge of his [Silver Knife], Hal scraped out the black seed pods within one quadrant.

  There was a severe shortage of alone-time among the caravan. But this was as close as Hal could get to seclusion. He found that he missed it. He loved his friends – his new family, really – but ever since he was a child, he had enjoyed a good stretch of solitude.

  It was there, while he was alone and absorbed in a task, that he could work out his various problems in the back of his mind that plagued his day-to-day life. Ashera’s affliction, Noth’s wandering aloofness, his own feelings about how fast everything had changed – and not all of it for the better.

  He could still feel Besal in the back of his head, prowling like a caged animal. While the Beast no longer fought with every effort of will to escape, Hal knew without a shred of doubt that he would leap on any opportunity to break free.

  And when the Beast broke free, Hal would lose himself. Worse, his friends would be the ones that would pay the price. How was he supposed to live with that? The constant struggle for control, when the very mechanism of his Fabled Class was to ride that line?

  That’s probably why you’ve never seen any other Beastbornes around, he thought wryly. A shudder coursed down his spine and he stopped his work on the [Waterwheel] when he realized he was wrong. No, I have seen another Beastborne, he corrected. At least one other… those things back in the Murkmire Adventurer’s Guild gave off that same aura. I’d recognize it anywhere.

  It was a wonder how they managed to retain control of their own Beasts. Or, he wondered, was he somehow different? He thought to ask Besal but dismissed it out of hand. While the Beast didn’t lie – as far as Hal could tell – he didn’t seem willing to offer up answers except when it suited him.

  Flipping the [Waterwheel] over in his hand, he went to work on the last quadrant, gently scraping the fibrous flesh out of the cavity while avoiding the delicate walls within.

  Around this stage of Preparation, he would normally be able to Extract or Infuse Aspects, elemental alignments that provided magical boosts to the recipe. But with Level 3 Alchemy, he wasn’t skilled enough.

  Finally finished with the [Waterwheel], Hal turned to the cauldron. He took out his vials of [Tree Sap] and [Fresh Water], pouring them into the cauldron. With a double-tap of his two fingers on the small silver-threaded black disk below, a tiny spirit flame blossomed beneath the cauldron.

  A gentle adjustment to the heat and Hal had the mixture at a steady low boil in a matter of seconds. He immediately moved the distillery funnel and cooling coil over the cauldron to catch the vapors.

  Alchemy was all about removing impurities, distilling everything down to its purest essence.

  By boiling the mixture, he hoped to prevent the [Tree Sap] from burning which had too little moisture content to properly boil on its own. While at the same time infusing the water with the properties of the sap, leaving behind the heavier impurities in the cauldron.
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br />   It was a risk, but a calculated one he made based on his nascent alchemical knowledge. The purified essence of both the [Fresh Water] and [Tree Sap] was extracted to be cooled and condensed in a separate jar.

  What was left, much to his relief was [Distilled Tree Sap]. A potent admixture of the two ingredients with greater Potency and Stability than either on their own while Toxicity was almost entirely removed.

  It was surprising how much an improvement [Distilled Tree Sap] was compared to the straightforward mixing of [Tree Sap] and [Fresh Water]. Hal still had some [Tree Sap Mix], so he brought up the item specs to compare.

  What alterations could I make to improve other recipes, he wondered. The recipe was not nearly as exact as he was originally led to believe.

  [Distilled Tree Sap]

  Type: Alchemical Reagent

  Grade: Distilled Mix (Tree Sap & Fresh Water)

  Quality: Decent

  Potency: 20

  Stability: 10

  Toxicity: 1

  [Tree Sap Mix]

  Type: Alchemical Reagent

  Grade: Simple Mix (Tree Sap & Fresh Water)

  Quality: Decent

  Potency: 9

  Stability: 3

  Toxicity: 5

  With all his ingredients properly prepared and set up, Hal began arranging everything for the next stage: Mixing.

  To Hal, this was the easiest step of Alchemy. A set of prescribed instructions on how many turns at what temperature, and until a set stage took over the concoction was all it took to mix an alchemical recipe together. Each recipe had different requirements and therefore different motions.

  Some, like the [Health Potion] Hal hoped to turn into a [Health Injection], preferred figure-8 stirring motions while others were more demanding based on the lunar phase.

  It was one of the most boring parts of Alchemy as well because it could not be rushed. The mixture needed to be changed through a series of physical, chemical, and magical reactions. That last part was largely facilitated by the use of sparks, the magically infused currency of the world.