Chapter 47: Forty five

The sound of laughter and drunken rambling alerted me to the return of the men who’d gone into town. Letting out an annoyed huff at the disruption to my peaceful working environment, I examined the branches of the thorny bush I’d harvested the day I first met Leo. 

I’m so glad Markion was able to get all my herbs and other alchemic components. I’ve only been able to work with the few things I could harvest in the tunnel and buy at the market these past few days. 

“I wonder where Zosimos is.” I mused as I tossed the branches into the furnace. 

The branches had dried, and the sticky sap I’d encountered when first harvesting them was hardened. Now the branches no longer glowed to my alchemic sight, which meant the plant had lost its value. 

The sap must only be useful when fresh. Next time I find the bush, I’ll need to harvest and store the sap properly. At least the flowers I picked are meant to be dried according to the old lady in the market. First she said I need to boil the flowers in the goat's milk, then incorporate it into pure honey and tallow. According to the old healer, this concoction will fight any bacteria in an infected wound, so I’m guessing the flowers, which she called  ‘Prickly pears,’ have antibiotic properties. She also said the dried flowers could be steeped in hot water and to create a tea that is good for treating a variety of illnesses. 

Eyeing the few flowers I had, I forwent making the salve as it wouldn’t be needed with Dorian’s ability to heal wounds. It still struck me as strange that with people capable of magical healing, that there was a need for so many potions and salves with healing benefits. Though, I suppose that was because of the limited number of people who could use healing magic. Dorian claimed himself to be one of only a hundred people able to use healing magic, and in a virtual world of almost two million inhabitants, that was a tiny number. 

Presently Kaledon was only open to those holding a platinum, and gold life plans, or those who were offered a relocation deal by Gaia corp, like the guild was. Those who could currently access Kaledon, were, as my brother called it ‘the first wave’ who acted as a test population before the world opened up to full public access. 

It was speculated that Gaia would allow greater access to Kaledon once the barrier fell and those of us already in the world started migrating off the ‘starter’ continent. This made sense to me, as Salvia wasn’t an overly large continent, according to Markion it was said to take a month to ride across it. Many People were already getting frustrated with the inability to explore further into the world, so I doubted it would be long before the barrier fell. With Kaledon entering its eighth month of being ‘live’, I suspected the barrier would fall somewhere around the year mark. 

Despite there being close to two million people, there is so little advancement in alchemy. There are a dozen ‘potioneers’ in Hathus that I found, but none of them have even tried to make adjustments to the recipe other than to water it down. In Caruan, I could find a potioneer on almost every street, yet so very few move beyond that first step in the profession. Even some of those who claim themselves to be alchemists, like Ge Hong are nothing more than potioneers themselves who only follow the recipes others create and make no advancements of their own.

What was it that potioneer said to me on my first day here? 

Furrowing my brow, I tried to recall my conversation with the potioneer I’d met in the market shortly after leaving the temple of new beginnings. 

‘Anyone can be a potioneer, but only the most dedicated can become an alchemist.’ 

I don’t think it is a lack of dedication, but lack of passion and desire to further their knowledge. They don’t want to know why the tincture works as it does, only that it works. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, if I was to compare this to the real world, these potioneers are the equivalent of a pharmacist, preparing and selling medicines. While Alchemists are the pharmaceutical scientists creating the medicines to be made and sold by pharmacists. 

As I placed four of the prickly pears into my retort with a small amount of water and set it onto the stand, I felt like I was on the verge of something. There was something there, just out of reach in my mind. 

“Alchemists are the pharmaceutical scientists creating the medicines to be made and sold by pharmacists.” I murmured softly, staring down at the retort. 

“But they can’t make the medicines an alchemist creates if all the alchemists hoard their recipes.” 

As those words left my lips, warmth filled my body, I felt like I’d been wondering around in a fog, and the sun had just broken through the gloom, lighting up the bleary world around me. Fueled by this sensation, I pulled a leather-bound book from my bag and cleared off a section of my work bench. When pen met paper, I became lost to the world around me as I filled page after page. 

Starting with the tinctures and salves that could be found in the book ‘A Potioneer’s guide to basic Salves and Tinctures’ that all the potioneers seemed to have a copy of, I wrote out my improved versions of the recipes. Then I wrote out the recipes for the herbal tea blends I’d created, along with my cooling balm and even the hang over pills Zosimos had me make the first night I’d met him. As I wrote each recipe, I included notes on the ingredients and other information which the potioneers guide lacked. Once I’d finished adding the recipes I wanted to include, I listed off each ingredient used in all the recipes along with a page detailing everything I felt was important to know about each ingredient, such as how it should be stored and where it grew. Finally, after some thought, I added a suggested retail price for each concoction. 

There was no set price for alchemic creations that I knew of, aside from the basic tinctures and salves made from the recipes in the potioneers guide, and even those prices changed depending on who made the tincture. Though, I had my doubts Ge Hong was actually making those items himself, and was just using his ‘name’ to boost sales. So far I’d just been pricing my concoctions based on what I felt they should be worth, but if I added a recommended retail price to my recipes, I could balance the fluctuating price of the basic tinctures and salves. 

 

What should I call it? I really need to come up with some kind of system to denote ownership over my creations. I already use the Eternia insignia on all my containers, but that isn’t enough. Then again, Egenor Barothlas named all his potions after himself, and that didn’t stop Ge Hong from stealing them. Now instead of being Barothlas Daylight salve, it’s called Ge’s Daylight salve. 

 What I need is a brand name and insignia. Tapping the end of my pen against the cover of the book, I tried to think of a name, not only for the book, but what would be my ‘brand’. 

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As my pen hit the cover for what was probably the hundredth time, a soft golden glow lit up the book and when it faded, a golden circle had been embossed onto the cover of the book. In the center of the circle was a purple eyed nine-tailed fox, with its tails spread in a circle. Around the Kitsune, placed at the tip of each tail were the symbols that represented earth, wind, fire, water, sun, moon, life, death and magic. With the symbol for magic directly above the Kitsune’s head. 

Written above the insignia were the words, ‘Basic Salves and Tinctures for the every day potioneer.’  

“Well, I guess that works.” I muttered, examining the insignia closely, it looked like liquid gold had been pressed into the leather. 

There was no mention of an author anywhere on the cover, but I didn’t mind that as I been contemplating using a pseudonym. If I forwent using a name at all, and just used this symbol, it should grant me some anonymity. A second flash of gold beside me had me turning my head to see a scroll and a small gold signet ring appear on the bench beside me. Picking up the ring, I saw it was engraved with the same symbol as the book, with tiny purple jewels for the foxes eyes and after a moment's hesitation slid it onto my right pinky finger. 

The scroll showed the image of a transmutation circle, and the text above it stated that the circle could replicate any non magical text onto a supplied surface.

Smiling, I pulled three leather journals from my bag, making sure they weren't any of the ones I’d purchased from Gaia corp. I’d need to buy many more in order to properly distribute my book, but for now these three would serve to test this new transmutation circle. 

After several attempts at drawing out the circle, I finally succeeded in creating one which flashed blue upon completion, signifying it was a working circle. Placing the piece of parchment with the circle on top of the blank books cover, I placed the completed book on top of it, sandwiching the circle between the two. 

Hand pressed to the top book, I intoned the activation phrase of ‘replicate text’ and saw a blue glow surround both books. When the light faded, I removed the top book and saw that the parchment had disintegrated during the process, just as it did when I used the create water circle. The formerly blank book, was now a perfect copy of the one I’d written, except for the insignia which had not transferred. 

The circle said it would transfer any non magical text, but it did not transfer the insignia. A quick search inside the book showed that the few sketches I’d drawn of different tools and plants had transferred. 

Does that mean the insignia is magical?

‘It is indeed disciple, I have seen how you despise the act of stealing another’s work for ones own. So have gifted you this signet ring. Anything you create that is marked with your symbol can not be claimed by any other. If one should copy out a recipe marked with your insignia, a silver version of your insignia shall appear upon the paper on which it is written. When a marked recipe is used to create an alchemic concoction, your insignia shall appear on the container in which it is stored.’ 

‘What if the recipe is not originally mine, but one I have improved?’

‘An improved recipe is no longer the original recipe as the resulting concoction has been altered, so long as you are the first to create the recipe in the ‘current’ age it shall be considered your creation.’

‘Thank you great teacher, this lays to rest many of the concerns plaguing my mind. I gift you this book, the first written by my hand in offering.’ 

‘May it be the first of many,’ The god said, as the original copy of Basic Salves and Tinctures for the every day potioneer disappeared in a flash of golden light. 

‘I’m sure it will be.’ I responded already working on drawing the next circle, planning to perfect the circle on paper before attempting to inscribe it onto leather so I could use it more times before needing to recreate it. 

The remainder of my night, and most of the following day was spent copying out my book. I’d also taken a brief trip into Hathus and purchased every leather-bound book I could find. While using vellum was an option, I decided against it, wanting to have my books be more durable and of a higher quality than the vellum bound journals. 

While I was in town, I visited each of the potioneers I’d met during my few days there, and even located two more. After showing them my book, without revealing it was my own, I sold each of the potioneers a copy at a very low price while pretending not to know the real value of a book containing this kind of information. That wasn’t the only book I sold either, and it took everything in me not to cackle with malicious glee as I handed the last potioneer a copy of my second book. Though this book lacked the golden Kitsune insignia. 

After searching through all the recipes I bought from Gaia corp’s book, I’d picked out twenty-seven that had been created by Egenor Barothlas. Out of the hundred and sixty four recipes, there were thirty nine the master alchemist was credited with creating, but only the twenty seven I’d selected were ones I deemed suitable for distribution. The remaining twelve were incredibly complex, and I struggled to understand some of the concepts written within the recipes. Using the copying circle, I’d carefully copied each recipe page by page into a leather-bound journal to ensure the book’s text was in the same flowing script of the old alchemist and not my own. Once completed, I’d titled it ‘The works of Egenor Barothlas, Master Alchemist of Calisium’ and proceeded to make several copies, which I sold to the potioneers. I had also ‘dropped’ a few copies of each book in various places around the settlement. 

 I’d decided that for these books, that I would not sell the first several copies for more than what someone was willing to pay. I needed to build up the books reputation, to have people know its value before I could expect anyone to pay the same several thousand gold that was paid for the potioneers guide. Even then, the idea of selling my book for several thousand gold seemed wrong. The economy in Kaledon was driven by supply and demand, with supply of books being high demand with little supply. Though, I had a feeling that would change as time went on, and people either began writing new books as I had, or making more copies of pre-existing ones.

I hadn’t told Darius about either book yet, as I was worried how the guild leader would react to me distributing the recipes, Hopefully, he would understand my reasons, and not be overly angry with me. 

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