Chapter 12: Alchemy

  “Of course I'll teach you!” Sam was ecstatic.

  It wasn't long before I started learning the basics.

  “As you know, mana cores are used in machines and for light and heating because mana is energy.

  Plants also have mana, and animals eat those plants so animals also have mana.

  The difference is that only animals have mana cores. Still though, we can only regain mana we lose because we eat plants and animals.

  What would be even better is if we were able to eat mana cores directly, but your body can't actually process it that well on its own.”

  It was hard to keep up with Sam’s rambling.

  “That's why we put things in potions so that your body can actually absorb the mana in the core.

  This creates the most basic form of potion, the mana potion.

  There are different levels and speeds of how you gain mana after drinking one depending on the ingredients.”

  So my theory of eating food is how we regain mana is correct. And since plants get their energy from the Sun, and I'm pretty sure the ambient mana that I feel in the air is from the Sun, then it really is true that the Sun provides all the mana in the world.

  Sam showed me some examples of mana potions.

  The process to create them was somewhat similar, it was mostly the ingredients that changed.

  Another time, we continued with a more complex topic.

  “Just like how you can make mana potions, you can make healing potions.

  It basically gives your body the power to work in overdrive to heal you. Of course power is just mana so it's just a different application of a mana potion.

  Instead of trying to get the mana into your core, we get it into your body in a way that speeds up your healing.

  We can make a ton of different potions by applying mana in different ways because it's so adaptable.

  There are potions that keep you awake, potions that make you laugh, there are even potions that make you incredibly horny.

  I love alchemy because of how many different things it can do. It just makes it so fun!

  There are infinite things to discover when making potions.”

  She showed me a few more examples involving healing potions and love potions and I bought them from her for purposes.

  We spent a lot of time in the guild library together, looking for books in alchemy and weird potions, but we didn't find much that Sam didn't know already.

  I guess she is pretty really strong in the field.

  Even by studying just a bit of alchemy, I felt closer to Sol.

  It seems that by furthering my knowledge of mana in different ways, I will grow closer to my goal of understanding this God and spreading Her word.

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  Being closer to Her now, there was something I had been theorizing ever since my first fire conjuring lesson with Hilvire. Yet again, it took me many months to learn.

  Being Expert tier at the guild, I was able to reserve spots in one of the training rooms to test in daily.

  As I had learned, fire magic is easiest to conjure because it is the purest form of energy.

  You aren’t creating water or rock, you are just heating up the air, igniting it, and continuing to feed it oxygen. Concentrating the air into oxygen at a higher percentage is one of the main ways to get more volatile fire magic.

  Still, I think the fundamental understanding of magic in this world has been wrong up until this point. It’s also possible that it’s known to higher tier magicians and the secret has never been let out, or maybe I just never learned it.

  My thought process is the fact that there is a more pure form of energy/mana that can be used for battle than fire.

  The literal flow of electrons: electricity.

  There is some element of visualization needed for magic. I doubt that anyone could conjure water if they have never seen a liquid.

  Someone could theoretically look at a lightning strike and conjure lightning, and maybe they did, but I haven’t. In this territory I have a huge advantage:

  I was reincarnated.

  The world I came from was filled with electricity. I used it on a daily basis in many different technologies, and being a techy-person I understood them to some degree.

  I also had knowledge of the science behind what electricity is and how it moves and behaves.

  Using that knowledge, I spent nearly another year learning about conjuring electricity.

  It was possible.

  Not only was it possible, but after my visualization was down, it was in fact a purer transfiguration to turn mana into electricity than mana into fire. It was easier and therefore stronger than my fire conjuring.

  It was still hard to control, but I was definitely a Master tier electric conjurer at the end of that year.

  I was still curious. Was this something new to this world?

  I sent Hilvire a letter. He told me he was staying in Torvus’ palace, acting as a teacher and personal soldier to the royals there.

  Through the efficient mailing system within the city, he was down in the guild less than a week later.

  “Why are you barefoot?”

  “I feel closer to Sol this way.”

  He smiled, an event I had learned was rare. I knew he understood exactly what I had meant. Hilvire was one of the few people I had known that understood the connection between mana and nature. Still, I don’t think he associated it with Sol exactly.

  “So what exactly did you want to show me?”

  “I think I found an element purer than fire to conjure.”

  He reacted the same way he did when my parents told him I could cast antimagic. Back to straight-faced. “Show me.”

  So I did.

  I extended my arm and shot lightning straight through the training room as far as I could get it without a target for the arc to catch onto, maybe 50 feet.

  I turned to him. “Has anyone learned to capture the power of lightning?” I put it in words people of this world would understand.

  He wasn’t exactly impressed. Not because the conjuring was common, but because a different emotion was taking priority.

  Fear.

  Hilvire continued to act professionally. “It’s been long theorized but never before has it been conjured. It’s almost impossible to visualize considering how rare and dangerous lightning is.

  You were right to call me. This truly is a new element with a closer transfiguration from mana to fire.

  I’m grateful you called me and I’m sorry to do this to you but I really do have no other choice. I kept your secret of antimagic because it was already known to this world. It had been studied to enough length to which it was understood.

  However this world has never seen conjuring of lightning. This is something that must be reported to the World Association of Magic for study.”

  Oops. I didn’t think this one through did I?

  So I got my confirmation that I am the first to hold this power and in return I’m going to become a lab rat.

  I mean it’s not like I could keep this a secret forever though, right? At least I can use my power openly now.

  Not only that, but I don’t think Hilvire would subject me to anything painful or close to slavery or anything like that. He did say that the Association has changed and they would want to be on my good side.

  Maybe this won’t be so bad.

  I sighed. “I understand.”

  And so my somewhat slow and unnoticed life swiftly ended.