Translation: DarkHeartedAlchemist
Editor: Weasalopes
The workshop was filled with a bizarre smell.
I arranged all the magic mushrooms and placed them on the desk.
「Master Juna, maybe you should put more back into your work?」
「I know, I know! See, I"m helping!」
「And Keith, there is something I need to tell you.」
「Yes? What is it?」
「Don"t rely on the training team so much! If possible, I"d like you to only use it for【Quick Recreate】.」
「I see you still hate training teams as always, huh?」
「I know they have their uses, but using them also has demerits. I thought as a fellow researcher to at least tell you that.」
But Junsan had some more comments for me.
What is the advantage of using training teams?
Simply put, by using them it is easy to make a product of a certain quality regardless of the Summoner"s actual skills.
It is said that even beginners can use it effectively.
And since it will be used in future generations, nothing will be lost.
That seems to be Junsan"s understanding of the matter.
So are there any risks of using training teams?
There is one, and a quite obvious one at that.
The risk of the user neglecting other areas of his character in favor of pursuing alchemy.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with a beginner doing something like that just to have fun, but this raises a question of whether the know-how acc.u.mulated by the user will be pa.s.sed for the future generations to use.
Even if a master would take on a disciple, the knowledge might now get pa.s.sed on.
But even if that was the case, the disciple can still grow in his own way, making new, unique discoveries.
It seems that Master Aurnier found great value in that.
Master arranges empty bottles while quarreling with Junsan.
「Your next task is to create 200 Mana Potions.」
「Will I be able to do it?」
「If you do everything exactly the way I showed you than yeah, you will do this no problem. 」
「Do we have enough bottles?」
「I requested for another 100 to be delivered the day after tomorrow.」
「Hmm….」
「If you wrap up all the work today, then you"ll have the whole day tomorrow to play around.」
Play around, huh?
I don"t know why, but for some reason those words sounded kind of disturbing.
「It will take some time, but I"ll teach you everything from the start.」
「Then maybe I should make those Mana Potions? That way you could begin teaching him right away, Aurnier-chan!」
「Don"t address your master with a {-chan} at the end, Juna!」
「All right, I"ll be borrowing your equipment then!」
And just like that, Master"s dignity as a master has been completely curb-stomped, and absolutely destroyed without mercy.
Mana Potion making 101.
First, the materials.
Naturally, magic mushrooms.
Pre-processed ones, ideally.
「Evaporator!」
The teacher used a spell to forcibly dry the magic mushrooms.
What a skill!
「They"re supposed to be dried in a shaded and well-ventilated place. With this spell, the process can be shortened.」
「Yes!」
I can also use that spell since it belongs to the dust magic category.
So Master can also use it, huh?
I should have expected as much from him.
What is the next process?
Crushing the mushrooms using the Alchemy skills.
In the case of potions, the sharp gra.s.s was crushed with a mortar, but it seems that this can be done by drying it as well.
I see.
Next, the powdered mushrooms and gra.s.s were placed on a filtering paper.
「This will serve to create 1 Mana Potion. You can measure the exact amount yourself if you have the Pharmacy skill {Measuring by Eye}.」
「Huh….」
「This is quite important, so make sure you remember that, okay?」
While saying so, Master arranged the same amount of powder on the five filter papers with practiced, steady movements.
「All right, this is the part which you have to keep secret no matter what.」
「Yes!」
「You have to use this too.」
Master had a handful of Paingra.s.s in his hand.
「I have to use… this?」
「Yup. You"ll see in a minute.」
Saying that, Master continues his work.
It is the same procedure as with the Magic Mushrooms.
Drying and grinding, then measuring a certain amount on the filtering paper.
「Remember this amount. It"s exactly one bottle.」
「Yes.」
I take the bottle in my hand.
It"s pretty light.
The magic mushrooms and Paingra.s.s powder were placed in separate containers.
Next, exactly the same amounts of water are being poured into said containers.
The amount of Paingra.s.s powder is considerably less than the magic mushrooms powder.
「Remember the proportions here. No more, no less, exactly that much.」
「Yes!」
「Originally, the process of distillation by stirring takes up to several hours.」
「Eeeh?」
「I know, right? That"s why this little trick here will allow us to save a great deal of time.」
「Yes!」
「Now then, let"s proceed with the reaction. By using the {Dissolution} skill.」
What followed was a repeated process of using the Pharmacist skill, Dissolution and leaving it to ferment for a while.
After that was done, the time has come to filter the two solutions.
「You ready? You have to carefully mix the two liquids together. Watch out so that you don"t mess this up.」
「Understood!」
「Now you have to look out, because when those two get mixed together, they will start producing toxic fumes.」
I started stirring the concoction while carefully adding the Paingra.s.s extract to the Magic Mushroom extract.
It smelled pretty good, to be honest.
「It smells good, right? But don"t let that fool you.」
Master then used another spell.
「Air Current Control!」
The scent disappeared rapidly.
Yup.
So that"s the way to do it, huh?
「You have to watch out from now on. If you try to pour too much at once the fumes will emerge again.」
「It"s quite dangerous, now that I think about it.」
「It is. That is why the shortening process is so important.」
Master turns his gaze towards Junsan, who was pouring some liquid into an empty bottle.
「You won"t have to risk that if you use short reproduction.」
「There really won"t be any problem with that method?」
「Of course there will be. There always are unless you"re a skilled enough Alchemist. Worst case scenario, your clients might get sick if the potions you"ve created that way turn out to be irresponsible.」
「Sick?」
「You"ll become an addict, to be more exact.」
So something so helpful can be turned into a drug so easily?
No way…
Master showed me the potion created by Junsan.
All of them had C in Grade.
I should expect nothing less from someone like her.
「I have to say though, this constant stirring is making my hands go numb.」
「That was to be expected, but it is also a sign that you are not slacking off. If you continue at this pace, you should be able to finish the required amount by the end of today.」
「And then I"ll have tomorrow off to do whatever I want?」
If that"s the case then what should I do? Should I go hunt some more monsters, or maybe practice my alchemy a bit more?
「Master, when I"m done, can I use some spare ingredients to practice?」
「You can use the leftovers of Paingra.s.s, but be sure to dispose of any Magic Mushrooms leftovers.」
「Are they dangerous?」
「Yes, due to the poison fumes. The only way to safely get rid of them is by burning them.」
「All right, leave it to me.」
Junsan incinerated the remnants of magic mushrooms with her fire spell in such a way that they didn"t leave any kind of smell behind.
How exciting.
「What about the rest of the Paingra.s.s that I won"t be using? We burn it too?」
「No, we"ll just boil it until it hardens so we can preserve it longer. But we"ll get to that tomorrow.」
With all of the instructions now clearly in my head, I was ready to do this without Master"s help this time.
I crush all of the ingredients into a fine powder, weight them and then dissolve them in water.
I"m not using any skills to do so.
Now that that part was over, I use the Evaporator spell.
Master and Junsan both seemed surprised, but didn"t say anything to stop me.
Okay, let"s try to do all the other processes without using any spells or skills.
This might seem pointless at first glance, but it"s better to do something normally the first time around so that you would memorize everything for when you"ll be using shortened production.
I now memorized every step up to the middle stage.
「That way I won"t have to waste time the next time I"ll be doing it.」
「Okay, that"s enough. You can continue the rest tomorrow.」