Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Ostwald, The Wise Alchemist

Two weeks have passed since the first time I woke up from this world. The healer decides that I only have personal memory loss, or whatever she wants to say it. The cool name for it is dissociative amnesia according to the healer. I know amnesia, but I don’t know what the other term means. Still, it doesn’t mean everyone doesn’t accept me anymore. 

They just accept me as ‘Helen’ that forgot everything personal about herself. Rachel’s reaction falls into the category of ‘I told you so.’ She’s already expecting her sister to have some memory loss and the truth is told, I am too oblivious to this world, and that is shown by my reaction to several things. 

I am now observing Ostwald and Rachel during the class since Albert is sick. As usual, we study at the library, I am reading a book that I borrowed earlier from Albert, just for fun reading, even though Albert is reluctant at first. I am just a quiet observer in this class. 

“Now, young miss, be very careful, one drop can be harmful, so please, pay attention.” 

Both of them are wearing white clean lab coats alongside a piece of cloth wrapped around their mouth and nose to act as a gas mask. When I heard what Albert says about Ostwald, I’m thinking about the usual court magician or court scientist pictured in a fantasy world, wearing fancy clothing or anything like that. However, my impression changes drastically. 

Ostwald is an elf, a dark elf, in fact. His skin is gray, and he has pointed ears. Not stopping there, he also wears glasses on top of his eyes. The glasses are round, and he also wears a pair of thick gloves, probably made from rubber. He wore a lab coat with his gloves encasing his whole hand with some parts of the gloves encasing the lab coat.  

To be honest, the library seems to be transformed into a makeshift chemistry class. Especially with the number of glass beakers, pipettes, and other things. Rachel also wears a lab coat, with her hair tied down to ensure safety. I am silently observing from the other far side of the table. 

Rachel drops the chemical into the glass beaker, and it ignites spontaneously, “This is useful but dangerous in particular. Of course, oxidation can happen, and most of the time, it is not this controlled.” 

Rachel just nods. However, from quick glance, I know that liquid that she just dropped is something that will react with that particular black powder, glycerine, perhaps? Rachel immediately giggles after seeing the chemical reaction. 

A loud giggle came out of her. 

Yeah, my sister is a pyromaniac, as previously expected, and Ostwald is not that much different either since everything that I have seen so far will either explode or ignite. It will make things easier if I want to make smokeless gunpowder. 

“Sir, Ostwald, can I ask something?” I ask him. 

“Yes, young miss?” He nods at me. 

“Do you have acetone or something similar?” I ask. 

“Oh, nail polish remover? Hahahaha, just kidding. Yes, I have that, it’s a solvent for chemicals, after all,” Ostwald says. “It’s in every chemist's back drawer, if I may say it. However, an apothecary like Miss Rachel won’t have it, usually. Still, Apothecary and Alchemist are not that much different from each other.”

“How so?” I ask. 

“Both can learn interchangeably, it’s just they are born with a different set of spells, even though, as time goes by, they can’t be differentiated. So an apothecary teaching alchemist or vice versa is very common nowadays,” Ostwald says. 

“Hmm?” I nod my head a bit. 

“Traditionally, an apothecary is more fitting for researching chemicals that can be consumed, since their body has more than quadruple the resilience to the status effect of chemicals, such as corrosion, poison, irritants, and so on.” 

“How resistant is Rachel?” I ask. 

“Well, if you, young miss, drink a hydrochloric acid, you’ll be killed. Miss Rachel will probably have slight discomfort, but she’ll be fine. If your skin touches the same acid, it will dissolve. In Rachel’s case, she can lick it and don’t feel anything but the intense sourness on his tongue.” 

“So, how about an alchemist, it sounds like an apothecary is more advantageous than an alchemist,” I comment. 

“Alchemist has a better ability to differentiate ratios, make precision adding, and chemical synthesis. We also have the ability to separate chemicals naturally. Apothecaries can’t synthesize chemicals on their own, we can,” Ostwald says. 

“Like, when you want to create sulfuric acid, you can create it on your own?” I ask. 

“Sort of. Chemical synthesis requires an absurd amount of mana. Let me show you, and Rachel, do you want to see what I am doing?” Ostwald offers as he grabs his leather bag from the floor. He then puts his hand into his bag. 

Rachel nods, “Yes, it’s always amazing to see you create something from the tip of your finger.” 

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Ostwald puts a glass beaker in his hand and then, he grabs a purple glowing stone in his left hand. Then, slowly, droplets of liquid appear on the surface of the bottom of the glass beaker. Slowly, the glass beaker is filled up with the content of the liquid. The stone that he holds shrinks in size as more liquid is generated. 

Eventually, the whole stone disappears and the glass beaker is filled with syrupy liquid. The consistency is really like syrup. “This is Erythritol syrup. Don’t consume it, this is very sweet in large quantities. However, it is pretty famous among apothecaries for its diabetics patient, or so I was told.”

“What’s profession similar to Materialmancer?” I ask Ostwald. 

Ostwald put his hand on his chin, “Smith, I guess? Their hands are absurdly resistant to heat, alongside handling molten metal like liquid water. Materialmancer is more for precision work. They need each other, to be honest.”

“Molten metal???” 

“Yeah, but nowadays, they are more famous for making ingots or barrels for gunsmiths. Practically, their profession is interchangeable. However, life is better if they work together, just like the apothecary and alchemist. Smith can manufacture guns, but they require materialmancer spells, and the same goes for materialmancer, they can manufacture gun barrels at high quantity, but they require smith spells to manufacture the raw ingredients..” 

I couldn’t agree more. If that is the case, no wonder I didn’t see any furnace on Albert’s house yet. He simply doesn’t need it at the end of the day, since smith handles all of the melting and hard work while materialmancer manipulates it. “Then, does multi-profession is possible?”

“Yes, good question. That’s possible and quite common. Two to three classes at one person are the norm, four to five are amazing, six to seven are absurd, and above eight are superhumans. For example, I’m an alchemist, apothecary, and mage.” 

“Hmm, why apothecary second and alchemist first?” 

“There’s a point of diminishing return based on the class that has been learned. So, practically, if you want to do a specialization, choose wisely, there’s a school for it, but for now, it’s better to master the basic class first, the class that you are born with,” Ostwald says.   

“I see,” I nod. “Can Rachel and I experiment with liquid mana?” I ask Ostwald. At this point, I only need to go straight to the point. 

Ostwald squints his eyes. “Excuse me? Young miss, playing with liquid mana is dangerous, really dangerous, especially without any supervision, and I’m responsible for your and Mrs. Rachel’s safety.”

“But my father allows it,” I say, giving my own reasoning. Truth be told, my father just said yes the moment I barged into his room. Of course, it’s after Albert tells my father what I am up to. “Besides, Rachel founds something new.” 

“Is that true, Rachel?” Ostwald looks at him in suspicion. 

Rachel glares back at me, feeling betrayed. She then looks down towards the table, “Yes, sir. I make a pyrotechnical without your permission.” 

Ostwald sighs, “It’s dangerous to make something like that young miss. You can get hurt easily.” He then smiles from behind his mask. “Still, if it can be lit on fire, then it must have been fun, isn’t it?” He pats Rachel’s head. “I’m proud of you.” 

“Thank you, sir,” Rachel says. 

“Anyway, it seems that your sister has an ulterior motive, doesn’t she?” 

“She is, sir.”

“Well, then, Miss Helen, do you have any idea what you’re trying to do? Because, as far as I can see, you seem to have an interest in pyrotechnic as well.” Ostwald realizes my intention. It makes the whole thing easier, to be honest. Yeah, I have an interest in pyrotechnics, mainly because I need some propellants for my bullet, and I doubt magical powder will operate swiftly in modern systems. 

The problem with black powder, or magical powder, is it won’t work in a modern system since it doesn’t produce enough gas to cycle the modern system. Just watch an AR-15 filled with black powder, and you’ll see how it turns into a bolt-action rifle. So, yeah, not effective, and magical powder seems to be expensive. 

“Rachel, grab another lab coat, and another mask, Helen may want to join us, do you want to, Helen?” Ostwald offers. 

“Yes. Thank you, sir.” 

“No problem, my dear.” 

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