As hopeful as Leon had felt when he stepped into the library, he soon found that reality was not so kind. But then, he mused, if discovering ways to improve pills was easy, it would have been done many times before and not just by a curious boy who had the audacity to question recipes that had been in use for centuries!Leon had gathered up several indexes of herbs as well as books containing basic potion recipes, but what he generally discovered was that the facts within were common knowledge. The recipes were identical to those handed to apprentices and students. The indexes simply stated what the plant looked like and what part of it was used in what pill or potion or on rare occasions as spice upon cuisine. Well maybe there was some small snippets that hinted more such as an added detail about sweet sunclover that he hadn"t known before.
Many alchemists argued whether the herb was better used fresh or dried, but in the end it came down to preference, not any real benefits. The herb in dried form was acrid and bitter, more so than in fresh form. However, it was more convenient to use in dried form when making pills. Only when the herb flowered had it a sweet undertone that cut through the bitterness, which is why it was used while flowering in basic purification potions. Hence the whole argument did not help him with his research at all.
With a sigh, he turned the pages to find another herb he was familiar with. He settled upon Purple Spirit Gra.s.s. He had used this herb in many concoctions and there were a few other pills that he had not yet made that also required the gra.s.s. The herb could be used in seed form, but also leaves and roots were used. He had used it whole in clear spiritual pills and in burning energy pills and boiled it within a tea for blood pills. The seeds he had used in one heart pills. Now in a large patch of his garden, the gra.s.s was growing fresh and tender, close to needing harvesting.
The description basically repeated what he already knew, but also added that it was no good to use while it flowered. That was something he was not aware of as Leo had not cultivated or gathered the herb himself. The herb was as hardy and hard to kill as sweet sunclover, but unlike the latter, it grew in many places, from gra.s.sy plains that were open to the elements to sandy deserts that struggled to maintain life. It also varied in purchasable cost, which Leon found odd; surely something so common would not have fluctuations in price. Alchemy could be expensive when it came to making more uncommon pills as they used more uncommon and pricey ingredients, so why buy a high priced weed when you could get it more cheaply elsewhere.
It did not say much more than this, so Leon noted it down. Best ask a merchant or an experienced alchemist why it was expensive in some places and not others.
He flicked the pages of the book once more and came across the red lantern plant. As he had not used much of this herb, only flowers and seeds in the making of blood pills, he had never seen the whole plant before. The painted image revealed that the leaves of the plant grew thick along the ground, shaped like rounded peac.o.c.k feathers. They were of a deep green, but their veins were a vivid red. That same fiery colour blossomed into dangling bulb like flowers, hanging from tall stalks that burst from the foliage.
Leo had stated that the flower used was best as fresh as possible in the improved recipe, leading Leon to now wonder why. This was revealed in the text, written down as the author noted that herbalists harvesting the flower would know when it is due to die as the red veins, the vividness of which varied between plants, would become dim or disappear altogether. From others perspective, Leon guessed this was just a pa.s.sing quirk of the plant even to himself who had never much interest in gardening in his previous life, but he knew to Leo"s observant eye, this meant so much more.
Leon tried to place himself into Leo"s mindset, to read between the lines and see what the original saw. He recalled a nature program in the past where reptiles and insects used the colour red as a warning, perhaps they were inedible, poisonous or it was a bluff. Maybe something similar was true to this plant. It was not listed as poisonous, though Leon was aware that even medicines and pills could be poisons if abused. So was it a bluff?
No, it was simpler that that, he felt with a groan. Tree leaves turned red in the autumn, this was due to them filtering the waste products into the foliage, causing them to die and fall. What if it was something similar? What if the red represented waste or impurities and the plant transferred them to the flower after it bloomed? So if the flower was plucked before it was due to die, wouldn"t those impurities transfer to the pill?
He shook his head, feeling that he was right about this and marvelling over Leo"s very unique point of view that allowed him to notice these things. He wasn"t sure he could follow suit, but he knew that he would never know unless he tried.