D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

Chapter 2081: Chapter 2081 Alchemy Lessons Part 2

--- Kat ---

Appoline continued to add ingredients to the pot and make some comment about each of them as they went in before they disintegrated into the mixture. It was interesting to see just how quickly they fell apart. It felt like there had to be more to it... but Kat supposed there was. Turning ingredients into that goop was probably the main skill of alchemy so it was something you could study for a lifetime. As the ingredients were added you could start to see what Kat thought might be the incompatible parts of the potion. They were more clumpy and clearly a different colour to the green of the potion. Though that did give Lily a question for Kat to ask. ”Appoline, if a lot of the stuff that gets stuck to the cauldron is the waste products or incompatible parts of the ingredients... how does it have such a little effect on future potions?”

”Because the mana leaves it swiftly. Remember, it was one of the first things I mentioned. ’Essence’ likes to bleed off into raw mana and vanish into the atmosphere? Well that’s what happens. The important parts for the potion, the magic, dissipates swiftly. As long as you either give the cauldron a basic cleaning or even wait for a bit then all of the mana will go.

”It’s also why it can attune slightly to the same potion over time. Even if it’s not got any mana in it to start with... if you keep making the same thing over and over, the little bits and pieces of incompatible magic get forced out by the constant potion making. Eventually it starts to capture little bits and pieces of the potion’s flavour and then make things easier in the future. Arguably anyway. I still wouldn’t use that method myself and personally prefer to clean my cauldron because there are always exceptions to the rules. Better safe then sorry and they aren’t too hard to clean if you get to them straight away,”

Kat nodded, noting that all down on the paper she’d set aside for that purpose. Appoline turned back to the potion as Kat was writing and threw in a few more things before walking away back to the ingredient storage. From it, she pulled a jar that had been sealed much better then everything else. Appoline cracked it open, and you could hear the air getting sucked back inside. Appoline nodded at that and pulled something out. It looked a bit like a dried grape that had been blown up to three times the size and painted blue.

”This here is the core of the potion. Now, don’t be fooled into thinking the core is always one ingredient, it isn’t. However, despite that the main signifier for the core is how its used in the potion as well as the fact that it all goes in at the same time. If you have multiple cores you either need to merge them all together when placing them in the potion, or you need to merge them towards the end. Those tend to be harder because you essentially have to build two or more potions in the same cauldron without letting everything fall apart. That’s for the really crazy potions though.

”Another thing that usually dictates the core ingredient is magical power. They tend to have the most though this is less of a firm rule then some of the others. The other notable thing about the core is that, as you might be able to guess, instead of spreading it out across the potion we instead keep it clumped together and essentially force the rest of the potion around it. Now... watch,”

Appoline twisted the grape thing into three pieces and then placed them inside of the cauldron without explaining why she’d not used one of the many knives, or even why she’d bothered splitting it up at al. The cauldron was stirred vigorously and then all three pieces were dropped in the centre at the same time. Immediately, they broke into glowing red lights that spent a moment just barely touching before Appoline forced them all together.

Kat got up to watch as the green that had clouded the entire potion looked like it was sucked in by the red. The potions was kept constantly moving as the colour leached from the edges and the red light became less vibrant but more spread out. Some of the water was even clear. As this was happening Appoline flicked the temperature up and the water started to bubble not long afterwards. Notably just the water, not the red mixture Appoline had created.

”This is the final step of the potion making, if you don’t include the bottling. For some potions you don’t need to do this, for others its part of the process. Here, it’s to ensure that the potion remains stable after I stop directly manipulating it with my mana. What I’m doing is allowing for the pure water to evaporate away. The cauldron will be about half full once we’re done with it,” explained Appoline.

After a few moments of silence, something seemed to occur to her and Appoline spoke up again. ”Oh, and don’t listen to idiots who suggest watering down a potion once its finished. They like to say you can make more, slightly less potent potions that way. It is SLIGHTLY true and they use that to justify their idiocy. It creates an imbalance in the ingredients, because water IS an ingredient just a mostly neutral one.

”If you leave too much water in the cauldron or intentionally water a potion down then you’re drastically reducing the shelf life of the entire batch. I’ll make some exceptions for when you’re doing this in the medical field and have the intention to immediately administer the potions to an overwhelming number of patients. It reducing the potency by an extra percent or two for every ten percent you water it down. So a potion that’s fifty percent water is closer to forty percent effective and lasts for only a tenth of the time.

”For some potions that might mean they only have that potency for like... five minutes or less. It’s a massive waste in my opinion. If you’re planning to SELL them? It’s practically robbery. There’s a reason that healing potions tend to be at least a certain level of effectiveness. It’s hard to reduce the power by much more than that unless you massively overcomplicate things or ruin the shelf life. The basic potion is considered the basic potion for a reason. It’s easy enough to make and hard to destabilise.”

Appoline nodded to herself before pausing once again. ”Oh, and one more thing. Watering down potions is most effective immediately after making them. If you bottle them and leave them to sit then watering them down at all can completely ruin the batch so whatever you do, don’t water a potion down after its made and the magic has time to settle.

”If you HAVE to split a potion for some reason and you can’t just use half of it as it is, then get two glasses of water, quickly throw the potion in one and use it immediately. You have less then ten seconds before you waste it for healing potions, and it gets worse for other more intricate things. Its much, much better to just use half of the potion in these cases,”

”I’m sensing some targeted anger in that rant,” Kat noted.

”You bet your ass there’s some targeted fucking anger,” hissed Appoline. Apparently noting it was giving permission for her to properly rant because her face transformed into a deep scowl and she looked ready to spit at someone. Still attended to the potion properly though, even with the anger and the fact she was answering questions.

”I’ve had so, so many dumbass students that keep wondering why their potions don’t work as good as mine. How, despite following my instructions perfectly, they just don’t work. More than once, these have been important people I’ve been told to teach for political reasons rather then because they were interested in the craft or at least looking to make some money with the profession. Anyway, I give them various tips and tricks and they all fail.

”So finally, I watch them... and there’s nothing wrong. They seem to be doing it right. So I fucking hire someone else to watch them brew at home... and they’re WATERING DOWN THE POTIONS. The amount of times I’ve heard ’I don’t see why it would matter’ when confronted is INFURIATING! GAH! Especially after these assholes INSIST that they aren’t doing anything weird. That they’re following the recipe. That they just copy what they do in class...

”BUT THEY HAVE TO KNOW. Surely the fact that they don’t dare water down potions IN CLASS implies they know on some level they’re a fucking disgrace to the word sentience but then they still have the sheer FUCKING GALL to say that they didn’t do anything weird. FUCK OFF. Why, this one time...”