In addition to instructing me how to prepare the healing potions, he also explained more fully why the extra base we added was not an issue. It went beyond just ensuring full potency with full volume.

  “Once you have finished pouring the potion into their vials through the filtered cloth at the proper levels, which in nearly all cases will be just below the line where the twist tops rest on the vial when closed, you burn the remaining potion contents. By burning them, or dumping them over hot coals, and only by this purifying process through fire, you concentrate their magic back in the remaining vials without dilution.”

  “It is a thaumaturgic effect,” I noted.

  His eyebrows raised. “That was an observation I did not expect from you.”

  It was my turn to smile. “I am friends with a journeyman thaumaturgist, and we talk a lot. We don’t share guild secrets as such, but we do have magical theory discussions that are fascinating.”

  “Be cautious what you reveal, but gaining knowledge is sometimes the price you pay, eh?” And he smiled at the irony, given our current situation.

  He had me clean out all the containers and the white silk filtering cloth before we began the next batch, which was destined to be the skill recovery potions. He joined me in the cleanup, and we were done in half the time. I was sure that he would not ordinarily wash his apprentice’s equipment, but we had a spirited talk, and I was proud that I had just made my first seven minor healing potions.

  Alexander even had me clean the silver bell used during the fifth sensory stage of hearing despite the fact that it never touched the liquid. I just rang it seven times over the slowly bubbling mixture.

  We concluded by wiping down the silver vials, and I observed that the red cap also had one raised dot on top. I recalled his explanation from yesterday that in the dark, you can’t tell the lid’s color, and so he has a texture on every lid to help differentiate one potion from another. The red-capped healing potion had a single central raised dot. The yellow skill recovery lids had two raised dots, and the blue magic restoration caps had three raised dots set in a triangle, with each dot as a point in the triangle.

  The dots coincided with the order in which I was learning the potions. He was a very thorough teacher, and the order of my learning and making them reinforced the raised symbol of the vial caps.

  He had me go through all the ingredients for the skill recovery batch, checking to make sure I had all the ingredients, measuring tools, wet and dry glassware, heat source, filtering cloths, and destination vials. When I say he was by-the-book, I mean it literally. The skill recovery batch went off without a hitch, and I used two reusable wyrds with that effort, a thin silver dagger and a set of bone dice.

  His measuring tools were of pure silver, and they ranged from shallow, tiny spoons as small as 7ml (labeled as 1*) up to cups as large as 231 ml (33x7ml) that he labeled as 33*, which was around an actual measured cup. The * followed a number that was intended to be multiplied by seven to get its measure. It was all very orderly.

  The magical restoration potions also went smoothly. I realized that, since they were probably the most important to me, Alexander wanted my best skills ready for that effort. I had a set of seven silver vials for each of the three potion types.

  The AL whispered into my ear. Enchanter Gwydion successfully learns the First Alchemist Orbital Minor Healing Potion, First Alchemist Orbital Minor Skill Recovery Potion, and First Alchemist Orbital Minor Magical Restoration Potion. That leaves you one point remaining.

  It was close to 11 pm when I helped him finish cleaning up. He cleaned every surface, and we even mopped the floor for good measure. I think he wanted to impress upon me the utter reliance of procedure and discipline necessary for a successful, in other words, “alive” alchemist.

  I also picked up that he wrapped all his blessed objects in a blue cloth. For him, “blue” meant “blessed,” and it helped him keep focus and reduce later confusion.

  He had also insisted that we both wear cloth bandanas over our hair. “Stray hairs falling into your potions could be very, very bad for you or whoever drinks it later.” He had insisted. “You may also need to wear them over your nose depending on the magical effects or toxicity of ingredients.”

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  There was certainly a lot more that went into alchemy than I had ever appreciated. And I told him as much.

  He nodded and responded by saying, “Thank you for a wonderful evening, Gwydion. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed teaching. My own work has taken me afield, and perhaps I will consider taking on an apprentice next season.”

  We stood in the lab, and he asked, “Did you decide whether or not you still wanted a potion of Magical Restoration?” He asked.

  I thought about it. “I believe I do. I feel confident in my ability to make a number of these minor potions, but in a pinch, and I felt very pinched today, a more powerful potion could mean the difference between life and death. What options do you suggest?”

  “I have some minor potions available, but that hardly meets your needs. I am out of the Lesser potions, which is the typical choice of journeymen. But I do have a Major Potion of Magical Restoration. It will provide thirty casting points. Would that be wasteful to you?”

  He had just asked me if I had thirty or more casting points as a way to measure my magical strength. But he was still my master, and it was not inappropriate for him to ask such a question, even if it was a bit invasive.

  “No, master. In fact, that would be more useful to me than the lesser potion.” I admitted.

  “I see. Your strength is greater than I estimated. Come back into the main showroom, and I will retrieve one for you.”

  “What is the cost of the potion, Alexander?” I asked.

  He chuckled. “You are always careful to allow my honor to be protected and not suggest that, as my student, you should get a discount. Few hold such values these days, Gwydion. I commend you.”

  He pulled down a potion that was already in a silver vial. “As you will no doubt understand, the volume of most potions is nearly always the same, but potency can change. In this case, the potency of a major potion is stronger than either the minor or the lesser potions.” He handed it to me to inspect.

  I felt around the lid for leakage, twisted off the cap, and wafted my hand over the top toward my nose instead of directly breathing in the contents. I put the cap back on.

  “I’ll take it. How much?” I asked.

  He smiled. “That is a poor negotiation technique, telling the shop owner that you planned to buy it.”

  I laughed. “But you already knew that.”

  “True, true. The potions increase in price as much as enchanted items do. There is not a linear increase. A magical ring of protection +2 is better and more powerful than merely double its predecessor. The same goes for potions. There is also now a striking need that increases product demand and, therefore, pricing. A typical price for this major potion would be from 500 to 750 gold. A minor could go for 100 to 150 gold, a lesser for 250 to 350 gold. With the current market, it could be as much as double for a motivated mage.”

  He smiled. “For you, 500 gold will be a fair price.”

  I withdrew my gold from my backpack and handed him a bag of 500 gold. I had another 600 gold remaining.

  He accepted the bag and said, “It is a pleasure doing business with you, journeyman enchanter.”

  We walked back into his lab, and before I departed, he had another gift for me. “In addition to the book, which you added some keen notes into, I want to give you an Alchemist journeyman kit.”

  I held the wooden box in my hands but decided to set it down before opening it. It seemed more prudent, and I got a nod of approval from Alexander for the effort. The kit was a wooden box made of a thin but dense wood around the size of a small toolbox, with a hinged lid. When I opened it at his urging, I saw that the top held a variety of tools, and one side opened to reveal a cabinet with seven rows of seven drawers.

  “Open one.” He said.

  I did, and I noticed that the small drawer expanded when I opened it.

  “It is made by a specialist summoner in the capital who is also a master carpenter. Here.” He said as he handed me the tiny silver bell I had used in the healing batch. “Place this in the first drawer and close it.”

  When I closed the lid, it shrank back to size, and a label appeared on the drawer that read “(1) Tiny Silver Bell.”

  “That’s amazing!” I exclaimed.

  “And it is safe for you to put it in your adventurer’s backpack. Normally, putting an extra-dimensional object in another extra-dimensional object creates a paradox, and bad things happen, but this kit is shielded, and doing so is not an issue. Just be sure to lock it up before you put it away.”

  He also gave me the set of bone dice I had used in the skill potion, but figured I could get my own silver dagger.

  “You will need to gather your own ingredients going forward. Be cautious. Ingredients must be fresh, although powdered ingredients could last many months. Also, any ingredients you place in your kit will remain fresh regardless of what they are; however, they need to be alchemical ingredients for them to fit in the drawers.”

  I would need to collect my own alchemical cauldron, measuring tools, and all the necessary glassware and heating sources on my own. But he did throw in some extra silver vials and lids to go with my earlier purchase. There were three black lids with a textured X, three green lids with a textured square, three orange lids with a textured circle, and three purple lids with a textured wavy line.

  I put away the 21 silver vials containing my three potion batches completed this evening along with the new empties. As I was doing that, I saw him briefly open the cover and scrawl something into the front of his gifted textbook, titled simply, Book of 7 Minor Potions for Apprentices. I waited until I had departed by the shop’s back door before I opened it to see what he had written. It stated,

  To a most enchanting student.

  Stay curious. Seek knowledge.

  Share for enrichment.

  Slow, complete, and low heat.

  Perfect focus means survival.

  -Alex

  I looked forward to a night’s rest in my bed at the guild hall. For a moment, I thought about stopping by to tell Sundance all about my evening and felt like I had been punched in the stomach when I recalled the day’s events. I couldn’t bring myself to stop by to pick up a fresh robe I had left there. Maybe tomorrow. I hoped that whoever took over for him in the now-abandoned shoppe would honor his memory.

  I missed him and realized sadly that I would likely continue to miss him the rest of my days.