"I am a druid. I possess magic. I don"t need to just use my hands." I explained out loud. This elicited a soft, surprised, gasp from Dr. Cortes. I thought back to when I first entered the forest outside of town. I recalled what my grimoire revealed to me: the list of spells at my disposal. One of them stuck out to me as I glared at the annoyingly hard clump of iron that had stubbornly resisted my initial attempts to break it down.
[Embers: Produces a small sphere of flame that can be used to illuminate your surroundings or as a ranged attack on enemies.]
I focused on the spell and activated it through sheer annoyance. Before both my eyes and the eyes of my potential teacher thin gouts of flames escaped from the two fingers I had placed next to the pestle and mortar, with the vigor of newly created life. They came to life while producing a soft hissing noise, one that was quieter than the sound of delighted laughter that escaped Dr. Cortes" throat.
"Magic... what a diamond in the rough." The old man muttered, unable to hide his excitement. I grinned, and studied the little line of orange flames that were emanating from my fingertips.
I gently moved my finger as close as possible to my clump of iron and watched as the flames that were jetting out of my fingertip began to collide with the iron ore.
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"I am going to heat this iron ore, and then break it." I said, determinedly. Dr. Cortes nodded as I watched the iron begin to glow.
The iron before me transformed from a colorless clump of ore into an eerily radiant, misshapen block. It took several moments, moments in which both Dr. Cortes and I were both obsessively observing the iron ore situated in my pestle. But that wasn"t the only thing I was doing.
I slyly pressed my other flaming fingertip against my mortar and watched as the blunt object began to change colors in my hand. The weapon-like tool also turned a stunning shade of orange, due to it being heated to a high temperature. I lifted the glowing weapon into the air and brought it down hard on the ore.
The impact of the mortar against the ore produced a spectacularly loud noise that filled the room. It was the sound of a hard object slamming into another hard object combined with an explosive hiss of escaping steam. I watched as a whole chunk of the ore instantly fell apart under the force of my blow, turned into a mixture of dust, powder, and a thick, syrupy liquid.
Dr. Cortes covered his eyes and shouted something that was indistinct to me at the time. This was because I had just received a new message from the system.
[Your first time experimenting with fire and it was truly explosive. Nice. Just so you know, it"s these sorts of neat little interactions with the world that increase your influence over domains and subdomains alike.] My companion revealed, surprising me by not offering to unlock something just now. I shook my head and refocused on the situation in front of me.
At this point the explosive noise from earlier had died down. Dr. Cortes was looking at me expectantly, before sighing and preparing to repeat himself.
"I suppose you must not have heard me. I was complimenting you my boy!" He said, excitedly. There was an energetic tone in his voice, a genuine and surprising level of excitement.
"Now... go on, do it again!" The old man declared, giving me orders. I chuckled and repeated the process I had just done for the first time. I"d spend the next two hours doing this.
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Two hours later I was covered in sweat, and well over a dozen chunks of iron ore had been thoroughly transformed by my fusion of magic. I grinned at the scene before me. The table between myself and Dr. Cortes was littered with pestles containing iron dust, powder, and what I now knew was something called "molten iron".
"Hehe... Haha... HAHAHA! I can"t believe this! Althos, you are great. You have some strength, some magic, and can even transform iron into molten iron. It"s... you"re something special." The elderly individual said to me. There was a tone of unexpected awe in his voice at the end of his remarks.
I grinned at him. My grin was sincere and my lips were open, so my grin was showing my teeth. This caused Dr. Cortes to chuckle gently.
"I believe it"s time I receive an explanation." I said while the man I hoped to make into my educator was still chuckling. He fell silent after he heard my request though, which was a bit disappointing. He held his silence for a few moments before acquiescing to my request.
"What you just did was use heat to soften metal, before suddenly and explosively slamming it with an abrupt change in temperature. That caused it to dramatically and handily explode." He revealed to me. There was a smugness in his voice that I could plainly and easily hear.
"Iron and its various states of being, are handy items. They are used in the creation of health potions. This is because iron is a critical part of blood and health potions replenish blood, among other things." The human said to me, speaking gently and plainly.
"Health potions are excellent and capable of restoring a significant amount of health in those who imbibe them. They close wounds, heal cuts, and can even cause the undead to writhe in pain." The elderly fellow said, before pausing and considering what to say next.
"Now to show you how to create them." Dr. Cortes said to me, his voice filled with audible excitement.
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A few moments later the enigmatic alchemist was hard at work barking orders at me. The room resounded with his voice.
"Now Althos, grab some of the dust from the iron ore and sprinkle it onto some of the forest roots!" The man commanded. I obeyed him and sprinkled some of the dust from the iron ore onto two thick roots, huge green things that filled one of the pestles in front of me. The roots were ugly and smelled bad, but they were also apparently capable of restoring significant amounts of health to those who needed it.
The dust fell from my fingertips, sliding through them and covering the roots in a fine, silvery powder. It smelled faintly of the earth underneath me, and I chuckled at that.
"Now use the mortar in front of you to pound the roots. Beat them until they are nothing more than an ugly, green paste." My educator commanded. I chuckled and obeyed his command, finding this much easier to do than pounding iron. I did this for two minutes, only stopping when Dr. Cortes commanded me too.
"Halt!" He roared, after thoroughly studying my labor.
"Now... it"s time for a test." He said, approaching me and sticking out a finger so that he could deftly grab enough of the thick paste I had just created. There was a smile on his face as he did so.