Second Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  If this is true, then his talent can only be called that of a monstrous genius! To create a Journeyman-level potion in his early thirties and with just his own flame and cauldron! This rivaled the skill of Expert-level Alchemists!

  “It’s too bad we don’t have a daughter.” Hiao Xen sighed.

  “Seems that I’m not the only one who wants to play matchmaker!” His wife laughed.

  “It is hard to find someone as skilled who is still able to remain humble.” Hiao Xen sighed and slipped into bed.

  “It has been some time since I saw you this excited to meet someone from the skilled professions,” his wife said.

  “I believe it won’t be long until he makes it to the Third Realm and rocks the Alchemist Association.” Hiao Xen laughed. “Think what those old fogeys’ expressions will be when they learn of his talent and his friendship with the Blue Lotus!”

  Nuo Xen shook her head, a smile on her face, pleased for her husband’s joy.

  ***

  Delilah was scared when she had first arrived at Erik’s private residence. Other than Hiao Xen’s house, she hadn’t seen a place as opulent before.

  Erik went into the workshop and organized different ingredients, talking to himself and taking down notes as he planned out what he wanted to make.

  Listening to him, Delilah wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but from the snippets she learned that he was looking to mass-produce concoctions!

  She looked at the sleeping area with anxiousness. A part of her was still scared that he might take advantage of her and ask her to warm his bed.

  As he set to work, she relaxed more and sat in the parlor where guests would be entertained and started reading her books.

  She couldn’t help but glance to the door periodically, nervous. She had just met Erik earlier that day and her previous experience with alchemy Masters was a bad one. She had a dagger hid in her sleeve in case he did anything untoward her.

  The door opened. Her heart jumped into her throat as she saw Erik step out of the workshop.

  “Good, looks like you’ve got some actual interest in Alchemy.” Erik slumped down in a seat opposite. “Quiz time!” He cracked his neck and sat up a bit.

  Delilah looked to Erik. She closed her book and put it down as she reached for the blade in her sleeve.

  “What are the three stages of creating any Alchemy concoction?” Erik asked.

  His question surprised her some. “What?”

  “If you didn’t learn this, then were you even reading the books?” Erik asked.

  “Three stages? I thought that there was four.”

  “Oh, and what might they be?”

  “Growing, harvesting, preparation, and concocting,” she said.

  “Good! Looks like you were reading! Now, what is the right temperature one needs to concoct a powder?” Erik asked.

  “I, uh, don’t know? Don’t they need different kind of temperatures?”

  “Was that a question or a statement?” Erik asked.

  “Statement?”

  “Come on! Have some more confidence in yourself! If you’re questioning if your answers are right and wrong, when will you be able to say anything with surety?” Erik asked. “Now, have you got a flame controlling art?”

  He continued to ask her questions about her strengths and weaknesses, while sowing in questions about Alchemy. His questions were filled with tricks and riddles to make Delilah have to fight to answer them and pay attention. When she didn’t know the answer, instead of being hit or scolded, Erik would take the time to discuss the question and work their way to an answer.

  She forgot about the blade in her sleeve as she racked her brain to fill in the necessary answers. He didn’t once talk about her body nor did he look at her in a covetous way. When she answered a question right, he would smile and he encouraged her to interrupt him and supply information that would let them reach the right answer.

  “Good. You’ve only been reading for a day but you haven’t wasted it. Being an alchemist is a lot about memorizing information. From ingredients to techniques, formula and the rest,” Erik said.

  She raised her hand, something Erik had introduced when she wanted to ask a question.

  “Go on,” he said.

  “When will I be able to make an Alchemy product?”

  “That depends on how well you can remember the different ingredients and then your skill with harvesting, preparation, and formation,” Erik said.

  Her mood dropped as she lowered her hand slowly.

  “Don’t worry. I hope to have you making powders in a short enough time. After all, they’re not as complicated as potions or pills. They’re barely even classed as Alchemy concoctions with the lack of work they need. Their effects are much worse than potions and pills, but their form offers some more options. You can easily use powder to cover an area in poison,” Erik said.

  Delilah let out a gasp.

  “Something wrong?” Erik asked.

  “Why would you talk about poison so easily?” Delilah said.

  “Healing and improving people’s bodies and constitutions is just one side of an alchemist’s abilities. If we can heal and improve a person’s life then we can, of course, do the opposite. This is the power we hold. Some alchemists believe in only healing, and some only in making poison. They are both wrong. In the world of Alchemy, to make truly powerful items, a poison might be a healing elixir and a healing pill might be death’s kiss. When someone rides the blade between life and death, your concoctions will have the greatest impact. If you don’t find the solution in healing, then maybe you can find it in poisoning. Alchemists are powerful people. People will want to pull you to their side or get you to do things for them. It is up to you if you will side with them and is not a decision anyone else should make for you. If someone attacks you, then you need to be ready to defend yourself. Poison is the greatest way to do this,” Erik said.

  Not only is he showing me how to heal, but also defend myself. Delilah dropped her head, embarrassed that she thought her Master might want to take advantage of her.

  Her eyes became itchy as she heard the way he talked. His stiff manner reminded her of her father. His words sounded harsh and hard, but they hid the care that lay behind them.

  This is a true Master.

  “All right, eat up!” Erik pushed the food over to her. “For doing so well to memorize all that content, I’ll show you something.”

  Erik pulled out some paper and an odd writing item. He started to write on the paper but looked up at Delilah. “You going to eat or let it go cold?” he chided.

  Delilah quickly grabbed the chopsticks and a bowl of rice.

  Erik nodded and continued to write.

  She tried to read the words as she ate the food. Even though they were delicacies, she ate quickly, wanting to know what he was writing.

  After a few minutes, he stopped and put the piece of paper in front of her.

  “All right, don’t lose that. It’s a minor healing powder that can be either sprinkled on one’s wounds directly, or it can be combined with water and the patient can drink it,” Erik said.

  Delilah stopped chewing, looking down at the powder formula. He just gave me a powder formula like that! Does he just think Alchemy formulas are that easy to find!

  If she only knew that Erik could figure out any Alchemy concoction he ate, she might collapse in frustration and fury.

  “Many alchemists use multiple different kinds of tools and instruments to increase their abilities. We won’t be doing this! Instead, we’ll get you a flame manipulation art and work with it, so that you can increase your control over it. You will only use tools and instruments once you know how to make the concoctions yourself with nothing more than your flame manipulation skill and your cauldron.” Erik’s words made Delilah look at Erik as if he had grown another head.

  Isn’t this too hard! Why can’t I use the instruments and tools first then cre
ate the concoction afterward when I’m sure I’ll succeed? Won’t I just burn through ingredients?

  She might be from a rural town, but she had gone to the Blue Lotus and run her apothecary stall. Ingredients used by alchemists were expensive and worth many times what she had saved in her time spent at the stall. Hell, her family’s savings were less than what a lot of Alchemy ingredients were worth.

  Erik clicked his fingers, waving them in front of Delilah. “Earth to Delilah, you there?”

  “Huh? Earth?” Delilah asked, shaking off her thoughts.

  “Never mind, that’s far away,” Erik said. With a wave of his hand, a red flame appeared, turning into a blue flame in just a few moments. “Now pay attention! I’ll make that powder right now. This’ll be good for you to figure out how to make it in the future.”

  Delilah let out a little shriek as she watched Erik throw an ingredient into the flame without pause. Does he not care about gold!

  He continued to throw in ingredient after ingredient. Different balls of flame separated out. Some were cold, others lukewarm, and others scalding hot.

  Delilah stopped flinching and watched these different flames. Inside were the ingredients he’d tossed in. They were changing into different forms and being combined together with different techniques.

  Erik threw in the final ingredient and seven balls of flame floated around him, giving off various temperatures.

  The balls of flame started to combine together, sometimes letting the different solutions drip onto one another. Other times, they were grilled into one solution. Others were swirled together.

  The balls of flame started to disappear. Erik stored different ingredients in bottles he held out, not letting anything go to waste.

  It’s beautiful, Delilah thought as the complicated movements flowed into one another like a dance.

  The last three balls of flame combined together above Erik’s left hand. The three solutions integrated with one another perfectly.

  Erik pulled out a powder box.

  The ball of flame dropped to the mouth of the powder box; it opened and the powder filled the box. It had a purple and blue look to it.

  Delilah looked to Erik, who didn’t show any strain on his face.

  “Don’t forget to eat everything up.” Erik put the powder on the formula and stood. “We’ll have a quiz tomorrow night to see how much you remember. Then we can go onto ingredient identification. I’ll see if I can’t get you some information books to speed up the process,” Erik muttered, turning. “See you tomorrow morning!”

  “Master! Why are you leaving this box here?” Delilah asked.

  “Well, you can study it and maybe get inspiration from it when making the concoction yourself. And call me Teacher. Ugh, even that sounds horrible—was much better when I was just Doc,” Erik said as if it were only natural, not stopping his footsteps as he walked through the house. “Where the hell is the bedroom in this place?”

  Delilah sat there silently for a long time. He didn’t want her to warm his bed and didn’t make her complete a master-disciple binding. He gave his information freely, helping her to gain an understanding in Alchemy. The items he had given her thus far would be able to fetch a number of gold. He didn’t worry but instead looked to get her more resources, like an information book. Delilah had looked at those books proudly displayed in some of the more prominent bookstores in Taeman, covered in protective runes and magical circles. She never thought that she would get the chance to use one.

  She looked to her meal. She thought he might not let her eat out of his anger. It looked as though he cared little for holding grudges and used the food to push her to remember more.

  His preparation and forming ability was unlike anything that was talked about in the books she had read.

  Where the hell did he come from? How were his skills this powerful in the realm of Alchemy at only thirty years of age!?

  Chapter: Rolling Intimidation Stat

  Erik spent the rest of the night working on different concoctions he already knew. He had wanted to go to sleep but once he started working on Alchemy, he had gained a second wind.

  His focus was simple: it was time that he earned some gold!

  First were Stamina and Health concoctions.

  With his control, Erik could make forty to fifty doses of each powder in one shot. This reduced the time he needed to spend on making concoctions. And with the complexity of making so much of the powders at once, combined with his few successes in creating new concoctions, he was able to increase his Alchemy skill for the first time in a long time.

  ==========

  Skill: Alchemy

  ==========

  Level: 37 (Apprentice)

  ==========

  Able to identify 1 effect of the ingredient.

  ==========

  ==========

  281,340/355,000 EXP till you reach Level 20

  ==========

  Erik continued on, making more batches of the Minor Healing powder and Stamina replacement powder.

  He exhausted the ingredients about the time the sun had come up.

  He rubbed his eyes and stood. His Mana channels felt sore from being used constantly and to a high degree. He had a headache coming on from the degree of control he had needed to control his Mana and the Mana flames.

  He went to the living area and kitchen to get a drink and take a break.

  Delilah was on one of the seats. She had fallen asleep reading one of the books.

  She’s had a hard day—lost a Master, come to me and gained a new one.

  Erik grabbed some water, drinking it as he went into the sleeping quarters and pulled a blanket off the bed. He threw it on Delilah and continued drinking down the water. He finished the glass and got another as he sunk into thought.

  Three hundred vials of Minor Healing powder, seven hundred of Stamina replacement. Sold in batches, that should be worth about three hundred gold. With everything else that we have, just need another five or six hundred gold to go. Hopefully Rugrat can make up some of that. I was able to make that weak Strength Enhancing powder, but I want to keep that to myself. It’s barely a concoction, more of an apothecary product at this point.

  Erik had tinkered and tried out different concoctions, but none of them were really Alchemy products, only giving him a little boost to his Alchemy level.

  “Then the only true item I can make for gold is the Age Rejuvenation potion.” Erik pulled out a Lidel leaf from his storage ring and twirled it in his fingers. “No time like the present.” Erik stretched as he walked back to the workshop.

  The Lidel leaves he had this time were ranging from ten years to one-hundred-year-old leaves. With one-hundred-year-old Lidel leaves as the basis of the potions, he could hope to increase the strength, but to match the potent leaves, he would need to use other ingredients to temper them.

  Erik didn’t rush right in and start trying to make Age Rejuvenation potion with the one-hundred-year-old leaves. First, he started to make potions with the ten-year-old leaves. Time passed outside of his residence, with people waking up and going about their day. Erik paid it no attention; with his high Stamina, he didn’t need that much rest anymore. Although his mind was tired from performing Alchemy for so long, he continued on, oblivious of what was happening around him.

  ***

  Lord Ekeem made sure to come early to the meeting. Hiao Xen and some staff from the Blue Lotus were already there and waiting for him at the residence that the meeting was supposed to be held in.

  People looked on from the sidelines. Seeing the leader of the Ekeem clan and the head of the Blue Lotus in one place wasn’t a normal sight unless there was a large auction being held or grand event.

  Hiao Xen nodded to Lord Ekeem, who cupped his hands and bowed slightly.

  The other members of the Ekeem family all bowed lower behind him.

  “Thank you for setting up this meeting, Head Hiao Xen,” Lord E
keem said.

  “It is no problem. I will send Grandmaster West a message and see if he is available to see us,” Hiao Xen said.

  Ekeem silently noticed the title and his chest constricted a bit as he nodded to Hiao Xen in agreement.

  As Hiao Xen was sending a sound transmission, Ekeem frowned and looked over to Jole and his father Endalh, who rested his hand on the boy’s shoulder—partly to comfort and partly to restrain.

  It took some time before Hiao Xen was able to get a message back.

  “Sorry. It seems that he was busy. He will meet us inside,” Hiao Xen said to Lord Ekeem and headed into the building.

  The residence was not simple. People staying here needed to have a high reference to be considered for a room. Most of the people would be on the level of the elders in the different five ruling groups of Taeman.

  A staff member guided them to the meeting room that had been set aside. There was an aide there with a tea set that had been prepared.

  “Fifteen failures…fifteen! I need to do better. I got one right then got all jumpy and messed up four more. The ingredients aren’t easy to get either…” Erik entered the room. His eyes were unfocused and his clothes looked to be shabby and there was a medicinal smell coming from him.

  A woman followed him into the room. Seeing the people there, she lowered her head and trembled. Grandmaster West didn’t seem to be fazed at all, speaking to the high level he had attained and the strength he controlled.

  Lord Ekeem wasn’t able to get any concrete information from anyone on who Grandmaster West was. He seemed to have come from the desert, unknown by any.

  Though he had a deep connection to the Blue Lotus.

  If it is a connection made because of the sect or group he belongs to, for that kind of treatment, they must be stronger than my own clan. If it is based off his own strength, then he has made a deep relationship with the Blue Lotus and has something that they deeply desire.