On the day of the exam, Ian lined up to check into the exam hall. Several people ahead of him flashed their badges identifying their sponsor. The clerk recorded the information and allowed them to pass. It didn’t matter who the person was, as long as they had a badge, they were allowed to enter. That included a short average looking 7-years old boy, an odd looking bearded man with two horns and several people hidden behind masks. Magical disguises and hidden identities were common in Halland City.
As Ian approached the stone counter, he revealed his coin chip from Orcon. The clerk scribbled down something on the stone tablet with a pen that looked more like a chisel. None of the words were visible.
Thirty-one examinees stood around the courtyard and sized up the competitions as they waited for the instructions. There was a group of three who were together. They were dressed in uniform, most likely students from the Halland Academy. Their noses were high, but as they appeared young, not even twenty, it was possible that they were born within the realm. There was a natural aura around them suggesting some sort of royalty.
The head proctor led everyone into the examination hall. The hall was a large open inverse theater where the two levels of box suites were the stage and stage was the audience consisting of twelve proctors. None of the examinees could see each other, but the proctors could see everyone. Each box suite had workstations typical of an alchemist laboratory, a large work bench, cauldrons, and an assortment of equipment. The three large jars with the hidden ingredients were spaced in the center of the work bench.
After the examinees entered their assigned box suites, the head proctor gave them an overview of the test. They were to create a spiritual pill using the assigned ingredients within 90 minutes.
When the proctor gave the signal, everyone removed the lid covering the ingredients. Ian was hoping the third ingredient would be some sort of plant. However, to his disappointment, it was a green glowing chunk of quartz crystal. The base was cloudy, but the sharp crystalized tips were clear. He had been warned of the possibility, but he really didn’t know anything about minerals. He had to make due with the jupine and aquamint. Luckily, he knew a lot about the two plants already. In his illustrations, there were notes and descriptions of both plants.
Jupine
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Nitrariacaeae
Genus: Nitraria
Species: N. jupine
Manifestation: flamed fruits
Elements: Pyr, Aero, Strength, Fast
Aquamint (not really a mint!)
Class: Gnetopsida
Order: Ephedrales
Family: Ephedracease
Genus: Ephedra
Species: E. H.aqua
Manifestation: ice needles
Element: Hydro, Kyro, Illusion, Slow
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The jupine and aquamint manifested mana in their flowers and fruits. However, none of the testing samples had flowers or fruits.
Ian was disappointed he couldn’t watch the other examinees perform the purification. From the proctors reaction, someone had likely casted something impressive. He heard it involved using magical spells to break down the plant into its most useful component. For jupine, it was the fire element. For aquamint, it was the water element. When combined, they usually cancel each other out and often result in a failed fusion, so the right ratio was needed. Quartz, a neutral ingredient, could be used as a binder and for amplifying effects.
After purification, there were two common ways to approach spiritual pill creation. The first was to use one plant as the main element and the other was to use the other as a sub-element. The sub-element of the aquamint was ice, still a conflicting element that was difficult to fuse with fire. Most alchemists approached by extracting the water element from the aquamint and fusing it with the air element of the jupine. The majority of the time, a successful fusion would create the storm pill.
Storm pills were useful pills for increasing storm-based magic. Water and wind pills increased the respective magic type spells.
The second method was to transmute one of the main elements into the adjacent elements.
Khaos(property)→ Astra (shockwave)→ Plasma (state)--> Elektro(movement/state)→ Pyr(movement)→ Thermo(property)→ Aero(state)→ Anemoi (movement) → phyton (binder) →Cyma(movement)→ Hydro(state)→ Kyro(property)→ Seismo(movement)→ Petra(state)→ Gravity (property/movement)→ Metal(state)--> Null(property)
Although transmuting was the best way to create higher grade pills, it also took longer. Most experienced alchemists could complete the process in less than two hours. However, they were only allowed 90 minutes to create a pill.
The last step in pill creation were more diverse. Some used the baking method with fire spells, some prefer condensation method, and some prefer to freeze the pill.
Ian, despite knowing the general principles behind alchemy, could not purify or transmute anything. Each spell required around 10 SP. At a minimum, 30 SP was required to create an alchemy pill. As the other examinees determined the pathways and started purification, Ian took out his sketchbook and did the only thing he knew, draw. After drawing the two plants from multiple angles, multiple illustrations appeared in the item creation space.
Afterward, Ian held the pot of jupine leaves and smelled the different parts of the plants. The aura scent from the leaves was the strongest. Ian carefully snipped the jupine leaves into a stone mortar. He took out as many leaves as possible until the green glow from the jupine plant disappeared. Then, he used the pestle to turn it into a paste. For the aquamint, the strongest part of the plant was the base of the stem. He carefully held the base of the plant and wiggled the plant until it was uprooted from the pot. He removed the soil and smelled the roots again to locate the location with the highest concentration of man. Afterward, he cleaned the mortar and formed the second paste.
The proctors were curious about Ian's methodology.
“Is he taking the right exam?” Some of them asked. “Why is an apothecary taking an alchemy exam?”
“Well, practical examination doesn’t restrict apothecary,” said the head proctor. “Most alchemists and apothecaries can create the same type of pills and items. The main difference is the method. Alchemists are aided by magic and apothecaries by their craft.” There were different lines of thought and even the chemical composition was different, but the end effect was the same. That said, he was curious about how apothecaries were able to mix together the ingredients to form the pill as it required something more than luck.
There had been apothecaries who had taken the alchemy test, but not all were successful. Even if they were successful, most remained as lower ranking members. The proctor hadn't seen one in Halland.
Ian mixed the two pastes together in his hands and rolled them up into six round pill balls. With 15 minutes remaining in the hourglass, Ian waited. The last grain of sand emptied out to the bottom container, but the round pills remained the same, without a green glow.
