Once an isolated and dying township, an influx of academics, adventurers and thrill seekers have made Scalvoris Town their home. From scholars' tea shops to a new satellite campus for Viden Academy, this is an exciting place to visit or make your home!
Ymiden Day 16 Arc 718 (Let me know if this day works for you)
It had been another grueling day on the job and things were finally starting to settle down. It was a little past noon when Hikaru stood from his workstation and headed towards the lobby of the jewelry store. The customers had made an absolute mess of things today by touching the glass displays and requesting to wear so much jewelry that the poor soul tasked with sales for the day was nearly passed out. Hikaru would take his time re-organizing the wares and making sure their price tags were correctly labeled. After this he would take out alcohol and a rag to clean the glass displays. When all things were said and done the lobby looked ready to go for tonight’s inevitable rush.
Hikaru pulled out a ring he had been working on all day and started to examine it. It was gold, fourteen carat by his measure. It had a little bit too much of a reddish hue to it for his liking and he made a mental note to not use too much brass next time he made a batch. He wished the shop had an accurate scale; how could customers get a quality product if he couldn’t even measure out the right ratios of gold, brass, and copper? If he ever ran his own business he swore he would buy good equipment and make sure it was maintained.
To anyone entering the shop, Hikaru would be found behind the front counter fiddling with a ring and working wire around its exterior. The jeweler had a box of small tools on the counter that he would use whenever he needed to change tools. He sat next to a sign labeled “Custom Orders”. If interested, there would be another employee sitting attentively under a sign reading “Sales” willing to answer any miscellaneous questions.
Albert straightened his ruffled lab coat, hands running through certain stiffened splotches on the coat where his reagents had spilled in the past.
Albert cursed. He was horrible at dealing with people. Chemicals were predictable. They acted within the confines of Natural Law.Put him in a lab full of reagents over a throng of people any day.
People could do anything, which was a remarkable property he wished he could find in a reagent. They could be friends, enemies, traitors, lovers. Such versatile a property, he wished he could distill it himself, rather than having to deal with it.
But talking to people was part of an Alchemist's job. They bridged the gap between the Mundane and the Magical. And so it was important to understand the different trades and crafts that surround human life.
Albert entered the Jewellery shop. It was empty, thank god, and had only two employees he could see currently.
The shop was the right size for him, Albert thought. If ever he had one, it would be like this. Not too big, not too small.
The jewelery around the shop calmed him down. Seeing precious metals always made him feel better. Precious metals were among the first things taught to him, since they have very little chemical reactions and were easy to memorize. Maybe he would have a display like this in his shop too.
He looked up, reading the signs that said 'Custom orders' and 'Sales'. He nodded to himself and made his way over to Sales.
He cleared his throat, trying to make the very best first ìmpression he could.
'Hello. My name is Albert Magnus. I am an Alchemist by trade. I was hoping to offer my services to your business'
He flashed his biggest, whitest smile.
Hikaru worked away at his small ring, barely noticing that someone had come into the shop. He only looked up when he heard that the man was an alchemist and looking for work. Hikaru didn’t know much about alchemy, but he knew that it was often associated with magic. ”I wonder if he has a spark as well,” the jeweler would think as he took in the mans’ appearance. ”He certainly looked the part, lab coat and all. I wonder why an alchemist would want to work here.”
The exhausted salesman would likewise look Albert over and wonder why he wanted a job. “I don’t know how to say it sir, but what does alchemy have to do with jewelry? We’ve got the boss to cut gems, Hikaru over here to do the lower level jewelry, and the rest of us just keep things running…” The salesman gave Albert a puzzled look and Hikaru felt it was time to take over.
“Hi there, Albert, my name is Hikaru. Why don’t you come to the workshop and we can talk about what you can do?” Hikaru would place the tools back into his small box and leave it on the counter. He would then hop to his feet and excitedly beckon towards the workshop where the two could talk in privacy. Should Albert follow then they would walk into a large workshop filled with every common and semi-rare metal imaginable. Jars of beads, boxes of animal bones, and gemstone shavings littered the floor making every step a risky one.
“So,” Hikaru would say, not sure how to begin, “alchemy is magic right? Were you hoping to apply your magic our jewelry or something?” The jeweler was eager to learn and more eager to meet a potential fellow magician.
Albert was about to enter into a full lecture on the poor exhausted looking salesman when he was pulled aside by the man who was sitting in Custom Orders section of the shop.
'Ah. Yes of course. Lead the way' Albert gestured at Hikaru, following after him as they entered the workshop.
He mentally scolded himself for almost entering a full blown explanation of the intimate details of Alchemy, Its history and its teachings with the poor salesperson who was probably exhausted from his work.
This was why he had a hard time around people, he thought.
Though why anyone wouldn't listen with rapt attention to discussions of Alchemy was beyond him.
The workshop was quite quaint. He imagined it probably belonged to Hikaru, as there were a lot of semi-rare and common precious materials for jewellery.
More suited for an apprentice of some sort rather than a proper jeweller.
'No no no. Alchemy is....well.
Its the aim of magic but the method of science.
In simple terms, its the art of imbuing the properties of one material into another object.'
He stroked his beard in thought, wondering if he explained it clearly.
He had a tendancy to ramble on a lot....
Ah, Hikaru seemed interested anyway.
'And yes, I was hoping to use Alchemy to supply you with better base materials. Im not like my father, I only know the basics, but I can offer you this service at a very small cost.'
Albert walks around the workshop, picking up tools he found quite curious.
He picked them up gingerly, making sure not to break anything.
Having to buy lab equipment had taken its toll on his coffers lately.
Another thing he wanted to establish as an alchemist was a degree of skill in craftsmanship. Most alchemist merely made the base material to be crafted, and left the rest to the craftsmen to do.
Being able to learn the trade could help him in understanding the kinds of materials Craftsmen deal with, and the problems that arise.
He was hoping to establish a working relationship with the Jewellery shop, in order to understand their trade and all its intricacies.
'Gold, especially. Gold is a fine precious metal. Doesn't really react, and can therefore be preserved without rusting. No wonder why we use it as currency.
It does, however, have one problem. The purer it is, the softer the metal. I don't know much about Jewellery, but Im sure it is quite a pain to use.'
He turned to face him, grinning.
'There are ways around this problem however...'
”The aim of magic but the method of science. What does that mean? He plans on granting properties to jewelry to perhaps increase value. That’s actually a really good idea, but I’m not sure if the boss would be convinced.” Hikaru would think to himself as Albert explained alchemy in basic terms. If alchemy could grant non-natural properties to materials then that had to be some sort of magic, in Hikaru’s mind at least. But if the alchemist seemed pretty sure that it was not necessarily magic which made Hikaru wonder whether or not Albert had a spark growing within him.
When Albert had finished speaking, Hikaru spoke up, “Yes, we categorize gold by carats. Pure gold is twenty four carats but it is especially soft, much too soft to use for jewelry or most anything since it will deform on its own. That’s why at this shop we typically use fourteen carats of gold. We use fourteen parts of gold and some parts brass and some parts copper. In the end you get a much more durable metal, but it will never look as brilliant as pure gold,” Hikaru paused when he realized how much he was rambling. He tried to wrap it up with, “well that’s our solution for getting around the softness of gold. What’s this solution you speak of?”
The jeweler bustled over to a shelf and grabbed an amulet made of twenty four carat gold. It had been custom ordered by a wealthy man who was furious when it started to deform. He had returned it and now the more or less blob of gold was kept to show customers why pure gold was a bad idea. Hikaru held the gold out so that Albert might take it and demonstrate his solution to the ‘problem’ of gold’s softness.
Last edited by Hikaru on Sun Jul 29, 2018 7:55 pm, edited 1 time in total. word count: 311
Albert nodded along as Hikaru spoke. It made sense to mix the metals together like so. It was, however, leagues behind Alchemy, atleast in his mind.
'Ah so thats how you do it!' He muttered to himself as he listened attentively.
'My solution? Hmmm' He stroked his beard thoughtfully.
'Well lets look at it this way. What we want is a harder, purer gold. We can achieve the former property by adding metal. But adding metal cancels out its purity.
So what can we do?'
He added a dramatic pause. He was loving every second of this conversation.
'We take what we want'
He raised his hands in a show of grandeur.
He took the...blob of gold? Based on weight alone, the Gold seemed to be quite pure. Albert didn't have an eye for jewellery, but it felt obvious that this nugget of gold was a bit too much on the pure side.
'Its elementary Alchemy to imbue hardness into a recieving medium from a base material, say, Iron.'
He waggled the weird lump of gold.
'Imagine. Gold, pure pure....er what was it, 24 carats?
Pure 24 carat gold, but the hardness of Iron!'
He chuckled. Alchemy sometimes felt like a strange joke being played on a cosmic scale, as if Alchemy were nature's sense of humour.
'I could show you what I mean, rather than just speaking, back at my lab at home.'
He gave the gold lump back to Hikaru.
'Imagine being able to sell 24 carat gold, with the hardness of iron. It'd be revolutionary! You'd be talk of the town!'
Albert was, ofcourse, overstating things. But such is his nature when discussing anything Alchemy related.
'There could be a parade in your honour. In my honour! There would be cakes and trumpets and....'
Albert's eyes glazed over as he was lost in his fantasy of fame and fortune.
Hikaru felt the suspense build up as Albert teased him with the knowledge that he wanted. He had been expecting the visitor to channel ether into the metal and transform it into… something. However it seemed that alchemy was like jewelry crafting in the sense that you needed the right tools to do it. There was also still the suspicion as to whether or not Albert could really do what he claimed. Hikaru would get lost in his thoughts as Albert got lost in his. “If I could sell pure gold that would attract every wealthy family on the whole island! If what he’s saying is true then… then… I’ve got to see if it’s possible. If it is, this could be a magnificent opportunity for the both of us.”
After a long pause, Hikaru spoke up, “Well if you can do as you claim, it’d certainly be quite lucrative. I see now why you’ve come to a metal worker; it would be much more practical for you to add properties to finished products rather than having a smith try shaping a hardened material.” Hikaru would squeeze the lump of gold in his hand then continue, “This here is far too valuable for me to take out of the store. Perhaps you could give me a demonstration at your lab? If you can do what you claim cheaply then I’m sure any jewelry store in Scalvoris would benefit from your skillset.”
Hikaru would emphasize the world “cheaply”, although the wealthy probably wouldn’t give a damn how much it cost. In fact, being more expensive was probably a turn-on for those sorts. In any case, Hikaru was prepared to head back to the alchemist’s lab now or later. Or perhaps Albert had something else in mind?
'Ah. I believe you misunderstood something. Alchemy works best on the base material over the finished product. The alchemical...'stuff' simply doesn't seep in as well on the finished goods.
For best effect, I'd suggest doing it on molten Gold. The end result would be Gold that is as hard as diluted version, but much much purer.'
Albert ruffled his coat as he turned to leave.
'If you want to follow me to my lab now, I'd be more than happy to demonstrate this effect.'
Albert walked home. On the way, right outside his home, he picked up a pebble of some level of hardness.
Perhaps he could try the effect on a handkerchief, with a rock as the base material?
That'd make a good demonstration.
Albert was getting giddy with excitement when he entered his home.
He led the way to the kitchen, and gestured at the lab equipment he had set up.
'Its not much, compared to what my father worked with, but I do what I can with what I have.'
Albert began to set up two beakers, stuffing a spare handkerchief in one, and started to grind the pebble in the mortar and pestle. It proved to be quite durable and he had to give it a few whacks with on the table to break it into smaller pieces for grinding.
The powdered rock, he put into a beaker. He reached for one of the other test tubes which contained some tree sap, which he'd been often relying on as a binding reagent.
He poured the sticky sap into the beaker, shaking it to be mixed properly.
'I should consider buying some glass rods to stir with. Or a spoon.'
Hikaru followed the fellow with a lab coat to his home, wary of what he might be getting himself into. It turned out that his impressions of alchemy were wrong from the get-go and only served to show how much he had to learn about the magical arts. If the solution truly was to harden molten gold then he wondered what implications and limitations there would be as far as shaping it later. All this thinking about material properties made his brain hurt something fierce. ”I’ll be damned if it actually works though. If alchemy can harden metals I can’t imagine all the other possibilities it could bring.”
And so the two arrived in what had to be a kitchen. Except in addition to typically kitchen furnishings there were many weird containers and utensils that the jeweler had never seen before. If Hikaru had stumbled across this room on his own he would have thought that this was a place for evil rituals to be performed. Perhaps he was just scared of the unknown. In any case, Albert handled the odd containers as if they were no different than everyday objects. Soon enough the alchemist had some sort of mixture, was he finished? The process had been performed so seamlessly that Hikaru had barely noticed what had been going on.
“I’ll have to admit,” Hikaru said cautiously, “this seems a lot like mad science than a craft. Is it worth explaining what you just did, or is it a bit more complicated than a layman could understand?”
Albert laughed. 'Is it complicated? Hmmm, not really.
Alchemy is the art of seperating properties of materials and transferring them to other materials.
What I have in this beaker, is a heavily and systematically distilled alchemical form of certain properties found in stone.
Anyone can learn to do it, provided they understand Chemistry and the basics of Alchemical theory.'
He poured the contents of the beaker into the beaker with the handkerchief stuffed inside.
The liquid suddenly dissapeared, absorbed by the cloth.
He carefully took out the handkerchief, the cloth was completely dry.
He raised an eyebrow at Hikaru, as if to say 'How about that for a demonstration?'
Albert laid the cloth flat on the kitchen counter, and grabbed a knife.
'As my father used to put it; "Alchemy is easy to understand..." '
He drove the knife hard into the handkerchief, making loud audible stabbing noises, to make sure Hikaru knew he wasn't faking it.
' ".....but difficult to master." '
Albert showed the cloth off dramatically, stretching and bending the cloth, showing that the cloth was completely unharmed. No holes, nothing.
Albert was loving every moment he got to show off his art.
'I imbued the toughness of rock but not its hardness, so that the cloth retained flexibility.
