The plaza in which the Food Hall, Herb Hall and the Lecturers Hall were located was bustling with students, both first years and seniors, who swiftly moved between Herb Hall and Lecturers Hall and in the reverse also. Leon had to wonder just what was occurring. However, he was never one to step forward and enquire, so he just slipped inside the Herb Hall to exchange his pills.Teacher Sagi was there with two seniors, checking pills and handing out bundles of herbs to those who entered. When the Teacher saw Leon enter, his eyes lit brightly and he beckoned the boy to his side.
"Leo, thank goodness," Teacher Sagi exclaimed. "I hadn"t seen you since the start of the Standings! Where did you disappear to? Actually never mind that! We"re in a bit of a crisis and to rectify it requires the a.s.sistance of all students."
In fact, two rather large events had occurred at the same time. Poachers had been discovered on the Hidden Vale mountain, that part of the Sky Reaching Mountain range that was protected by the Beast Taming school in order to train martial artists and beast tamers alike. And upon Silver Spire mountain, where the foliage was significant less and the stone skin of the range was more dominant in appearance, there had been an explosion in the outer mage school, when a student had lost control of their magic and caused others to lose control as well.
The stocks of healing pills and potions had been depleted to aid the latter first, with Beast Calming pills, Hidden Mist Pills and the beast orientated Dream Blossom potions sent to the former to ease wounded and orphaned beasts, while students were conscripted to make healing pills.
On hearing that, Leon handed over his stock of pills, feeling a little guilty that he had left the better quality ones behind. Nonetheless Teacher Sagi was grateful as Leon produced twenty one heart pills and ten blood pills along with the clear spiritual pills, that while would not help with the crisis, were always needed at this time of year for first years throughout the inst.i.tute.
"As always, Leo," Teacher Sagi said with a smile, "I can rely on you. Are you able to perhaps make Fox Bandages?" Leon frowned as he considered all of the pills and potions in Leo"s diaries and realised that the recipe was not noted down at all, so he shook his head. "Well, I am not surprised. I usually teach it to students a little older than you as it requires a focused mind and touch. But I only have two students able to create them now as they are not usually in high demand, seeing as they are only needed for wild beasts. Come with me for a moment."
Fox bandages were an external remedy for beasts, a mix of a healing potion called Spring Willow Salve and strips of silk soaked in river reed sap-water. River reeds were very common and grew in clumps in rivers and lakes, the main plant submerged with a stalk coated in tiny, wispy flowers emerging from the plant. These stalks had a sticky sap within them, which if the plant was damaged, would seep out and harden immediately. This made harvesting it a more difficult job. One way to do so was to cut the reed while submerged in water. The diluted sap would not harden until the water evaporated.
The Spring Willow Salve was an old recipe, hardly produced by most alchemists and even pharmacists kept only a small supply. Smearing it onto a wound would cleanse it and improve the rate of which the wound healed. However, more people relied on cheap one heart pills to heal themselves nearly instantly, should the wound be an annoyance. It was hard to get wild beasts to take pills, so the salve was a better solution. Coupled with the silk bandages, their wounds would be protected from dirt, water and infection until the sap weakened and the bandages fell off the healed wound.
However, the worst thing about making Spring Willow Salve, Leon discovered, was the smell! Once Teacher Sagi was satisfied with Leon"s reproduction of the recipe, Leon was left alone with a spare cauldron to mix and create the potion and to deal with the smell by himself.
The recipe"s primary ingredient was called Lilyfoot and also required a whole flowering version. The flower resembled a lily, just like the ones from his old world with six large petals and long stamen coated in pollen, although this one was a wet-sand colour and speckled with greenish spots. The flower"s scent was a bit like sweaty gym socks, should one get a good sniff of it. However, this smell was only enhanced while the roots and flower were boiled until Leon could safely say it was like being in a changing room belonging to a rugby team who have just come in off the field and removed their footwear.
In the meantime, Leon removed the thorns of the Falcon rose plant, the large curved thorns resembling the beak of the bird of prey. These required spiritual energy to remove them, hence why Teacher Sagi could not rely on others. In the past, harvesters would just wear blacksmith"s gloves and tear the thorns off with brute strength, but not only did that spill some of the inner acid inside the thorns, which was the ingredient needed for the Salve, but it also damaged and weakened the plant, which would eventually die from the abuse. This had caused the plant to become rare and forced alchemists to create new healing products, which is why the one heart pill had been invented.
Coating a blade with spiritual energy, the alchemist could carefully slice the thorn off without damaging the plant and the energy would also "seal" the thorn to stop the acid from being lost. Leon caught onto the concept of using his energies surprisingly fast, Teacher Sagi had been exceedingly pleased and could not regret pa.s.sing on the old recipe into Leon"s reliable hands.
The acid from the thorns was mixed with the leaves of the lilyfoot, dissolving them into a slimy goo that was then added to the cooled and drained stinky water and stirred until it began thicken. It was then placed in a keg to finish setting. Only once the valve was stoppered and the remnants tossed was Leon able to breath again.