• Solo • Persuing a New Love

[Rei'sari]

11th Ymiden, 720

Location: Scalvoris University


Ari'sora felt a thrill of excitement as she got ready to go to the University. Totrial was her first alchemy class, and after seeing Professor Thetys' fire flowers and falling in love with the field of alchemy, she couldn't wait to learn as much as she could about it. Thanks to his lecture and the notes that he had given her, she already knew something about alchemy. She had even made a paperweight that felt cool to the touch under his careful instructions and eye. But she wanted to learn more.

Her mind was filled with exciting possibilities of what she might learn and do in class as she nursed her youngest son. It was all she could do to remain outwardly calm so that she didn't startle or upset him and put him off of his food. When he was finished eating, she burped him and handed him over to Mi'zuri, who would be looking after the kids for the trial. Her sister wished her luck half heartedly, but Ari'sora barely even heard it as she rushed to grab everything she would need for class.

As soon as she was out the door, she was in the air, and speeding towards the University as fast as she could fly. She was in luck, because she found a wind current heading in the direction that she wanted to go that would aid her flight. Ari'sora eased into it, and felt the difference immediately as the wind gave her a burst of speed. When the wind current she was using failed her, she quickly searched around for a new one. Once again she was is luck because it didn't take her too long to find another one that she could use. Sure she could fly there without taking advantage of the wind currents, but using them boosted her flight speed. It also meant work for her in the way of wing flapping. Less work during her flight meant she would be less tired when she arrived at her destination. And being less tired meant that she would be able to concentrate on her studies more easily.

Before long, the University was in sight, and Ari'sora began her descent. She landed in the grassy area beside the University when she saw a space big enough for her to land without disturbing anyone. Once she was safely on the ground, she headed into the University. Ari'sora checked the information she had been given to make certain that she was looking for the right classroom as she began her search. It didn't take her too long to find it, fortunately, and when she did, she slipped inside quietly.

Ari'sora wasn't the first person to arrive, but judging by the number of empty seats in the room, she wouldn't be the last student to arrive either. She wanted to be able to see and hear everything clearly, so she quickly made her way to the front of the classroom, and took a seat in the front row.

[Rei'sari]

11th Ymiden, 720

Location: Scalvoris University


Once she got settled, she began going over the notes that Professor Thetys had given her during the lesson he gave her. She flipped to a random section of the notes, and began to read.

Blood Magic is one of the most advanced and dangerous branches of alchemy. The risk of backlash increases exponentially when you work with the blood of mages and blessed individuals; this is one of the reasons why some knowledge of chemistry, specifically how substances interact is very important for an alchemist.

Ari'sora paused to try and memorize what she had just read. She was reminded once again of why she wanted nothing to do with Blood Magic until she had mastered the basics completely, and knew what she was doing. She was about to continue reading when the professor walked into the classroom and introduced himself as Allyn Freid. A hush fell over the classroom as he approached his desk and began to speak.

"Each of you is here for your own reasons. Some of you may know more about alchemy than others. Because of this, I will start at the very beginning. Those of you who have some knowledge of alchemy already may find this lecture boring, but I ask you to bear with it. It never hurts to reaffirm what you know about the basics. That is the only way you will ever truly master them."

Ari'sora noticed two things about her professor immediately. His flat, bored tone suggested that he would rather be anywhere than here in the classroom. That was the first thing that she noticed. The second was that the man spoke in a mumble. His words were difficult to understand, and it would require her full attention if she wanted to learn anything from him. That would make taking notes difficult, but hopefully she would be able to manage it somehow.

The professor started talking about different kinds of bases and what reagents. primers, sealants, triggers, and metabolizers were. Ari'sora had already learned about these things from Professor Thetys, so she used this time to familiarize herself with the professor's voice in the hopes that that would help her to understand his muttered words more readily. As she did this, she skimmed through the notes that Professor Thetys had given her. It certainly couldn't hurt her, and it might even help her.

And as it was, it did. While she remembered a lot of what the professor was talking about, she did learn that different primers are needed depending on what kind of item you use, and on whether your creation needs to be safe for consumption or not. She also learned that some reagents could damage certain materials, but that the negative effects could be reduced by adjusting the dosage and mixing them with other reagents. Ari'sora wrote these valuable bits of information down dutifully. But as she consulted the notes that Professor Thetys had made for her, she remembered that he had told her those things first.

[Rei'sari]

11th Ymiden, 720

Location: Scalvoris University


As she continued to listen to Professor Freid speak, Ari'sora couldn't help but notice how disorganized he was. His lecture seemed to wander all over the place, and that made it even harder for her to understand what he was trying to say. But having the notes that Professor Thetys had given her was a big help to her. So she vowed that she would bring them to class with her every time she attended class until she didn't need them any longer. She also promised herself that she would rely on her textbooks as much as she could, and would take very detailed notes as she read ahead so that she would have something to follow when she listened to the professor's lectures.

The man's lecture jumped from a discussion on the different types of things used in alchemy to the idea that making an item from scratch and imbuing it during the creation process gives you a far more potent effect than imbuing an item that already exists, and it ensures that there is no gap in the effect being imbued into the item...all without mentioning that the various bases, reagents, and such were supposed to be used to imbue a desired quality into an item to begin with. If given the benefit of the doubt, maybe Professor Freid wasn't used to dealing with absolute beginners. If that were the case, the man could be forgiven for assuming that his class would know that. But right at the beginning of his lecture, Professor Freid had mentioned that he was going to discuss the absolute basics. And that some people in the class might be bored because of that fact. So it was obvious that he was aware of the fact that some of his students might not have a clue what he was talking about. That knowledge made it even more painfully clear how disorganized the professor was.

But that didn't mean that Ari'sora was any less determined to learn what she could from the man. Instead, it made her that much more determined to learn as much as she could from her text books and from Professor Thetys' notes so that she could keep up with Professor Freid's lectures even if they did jump around a lot, or if they were hard to understand through the man's mumbling.

Once he had covered the absolute basics, Professor Fried explained that litmus paper was a tool that was used in chemistry, and that it was used in order to figure out if liquids were acidic or basic. Then he told the class that they would learn how to make litmus paper during one of their classes...all without explaining that a knowledge of chemistry was vital to one's safety when doing advanced work in alchemy. With that, he dismissed the class, gathered up his things, and hurried out of the room. Ari'sora watched him go with mixed feelings. It was hard to tell after just one lesson, but it was obvious that if Professor Freid was like this all the time, they would be learning alchemy despite his lectures, not because of them.

[Doran]

Ari'sora:

Knowledge:
Alchemy: the risk of backlash increases exponentially when you work with the blood of mages and blessed individuals; this is one of the reasons why some knowledge of chemistry, specifically how substances interact is very important for an alchemist
Alchemy: making an item from scratch and imbuing it during the creation process ensures that there is no gap in the effect being imbued into the item
Alchemy: different primers are needed depending on what kind of item you use, and on whether your creation needs to be safe for consumption or not
Alchemy: some reagents can damage certain materials, but the negative effects can be reduced by adjusting the dosage and mixing them with other reagents
Alchemy: Blood Magic is one of the most advanced and dangerous branches of alchemy
Chemistry: litmus paper can be used in order to figure out if liquids are acidic or basic

Loot: -
Lost: -
Wealth: -
Injuries: -
Renown: -
Magic XP: -
Skill Review: Appropriate to level.
Points: 10

- - -

Comments: When I saw your request, I immediately decided to claim it. I’m always curious about how other people write about alchemy. I’m happy that Ari’sora’s meeting with Professor Thetys had such an impact on her and that seeing his fire flowers made her fall in love with alchemy!

Ari’sora was very reasonable in this thread in my opinion. It’s good to wait until you have mastered the basics completely before you give Blood Magic a try. I also appreciate that you provided a link to the NPC’s writeup. You depicted Allyn Freid very accurately in my opinion!

I thought that Allyn Freid’s class provided a good overview of alchemy. Sometimes, I would have liked it if you had actually written what he said rather than just summarizing it, but in the end, it worked well. It was quite an education class in my opinion!

You had Allyn Freid mention that making an item from scratch and imbuing it during the creation process gives you a more potent effect. The effect won’t really be more powerful if you do it that way. By already imbuing the materials rather than the finished product, you get a seamless effect though. According to the alchemy writeup, there is a risk of gaps in the effect if you imbue the finished items.

For that reason, I amended the knowledge that you requested in that regard.

As for the base, as I see it, that’s just the liquid that you add the various alchemical reagents to in the case of brewing potions, for example.

You also mentioned the importance of chemistry, especially when it comes to practicing Blood Magic. The alchemy writeup is a little unclear in that regard. It mentions the importance of high levels of chemistry (and Ari’s former teacher is very focused on chemistry, of course), but in the end, there are three protective skills when it comes to Blood Magic: Medicine, Chemistry and Attunement. As long as one of them (or a combination of them) is sufficiently high, you should hopefully be on the safe side.

If you are already aware of some or all of those things, I apologize. I thought I’d clarify, just in case. That being said, I look forward to reading more of Ari’sora’s alchemy threads!

Enjoy your rewards, and let you know if you have any questions, please!