Chapter 21: Alchemy guild and alchemy skills chat
Let's see how Kotetsu and Konoha are doing. Their opponent is Desnia. Now, come on!
As it turns out, Lily and I didn't have a turn......when Desnia jumped out of the river, Konoha released something like a wind blade with wind magic from the side and blew Desnia to the land. After that, Kotetsu bites and holds Desnia down with his claws and Gray also bites. Then it was over.
Apparently, Kotetsu had used his assault skill when he attacked. There were red effects on his fangs and claws.
Lily and I were incomplete, but we got enough water-based stones. We've also saved up some ore from today and yesterday's mining in the Young Tree Forest. Now that we're all set, let's head back to town.
We have two objectives for today. The first is to evolve Kotetsu and Konoha and the second is to magic stone summon, using a water magic stone I'm sure I can make from the water-based stones!
I went back to town, finished my meal and went to my room to use my alchemy skill, but I couldn't figure out how to do it......what the hell. I'll have to ask Lily and the others.
"I don't know!"
"Hoo?
""Gau?""
Lily replied cheerfully, while the other three tilted their heads. I guess so. Now, Crow-san and the others might know, but it's early in the morning and it might be a nuisance. I should go to the Adventurer's Guild and ask them.
So I headed to the Adventurer's Guild and for some reason the whole town was opening up to me. I've never had this happen before, but I don't know why. When I arrived at the Adventurer's Guild, I asked about the alchemy skill and they told me about it.
"Ask the Alchemy Guild about alchemy skills"
That was the answer. So I asked them to tell me where the Alchemy Guild was and headed there with a letter of introduction from the Adventurer's Guild. I prayed that I wouldn't be put through the ringer.
I thought the Alchemy Guild was small, but it seemed to be headquartered underground. I went down to the basement and opened the door to find a scene that reminded me of a science lab.
There were many beakers and flasks lined up. And a vague smell of a dangerous organization.
"Are you a youngster from the Adventurer's Guild?"
"Ah...yes. Yes, I am"
A grandma called out to me. She called me a youngster, so I should be okay with this.
"You've got quite noisy summoned beasts with you. But animals are strictly forbidden here. Return them to their summoned stones"
"Emm, how can I do that?"
I don't know how to do that.
"What? ...Hou, this is unusual. Did you tame them by feeding instead of summoning them?"
How can she tell just by looking at it? I don't know...maybe this grandma is strong?
"Yes"
"I see. That's why you´re a summoner and you´re taking out summon beasts all over town"
Eh? Is it wrong to take out summon beasts in the town?
"Usually you don't take them out. Think about it. Can you see a saber-toothed tiger walking around the town"
I look at Kotetsu. It's definitely scary. That's why the front was open when we were walking through town.
"Emm, what should I do in this case?"
"You just have to make a magic stone for those children and make a contract. I'll tell you how to make a magic stone"
That was the main point. Ah, let's ask by the way.
"Thank you very much. Can you tell me what else I can do with my alchemy skills?"
"You're eager to learn. But I can't tell you how to do it"
Oh, not good.
"Can I ask why?"
"Sure. Unlike magic, smelting and alchemy is not only a science, but also a matter of business and strength. It's not something that can be taught easily"
It's a pretty disturbing story, but if you're doing business with a secret technology, you can't teach it to others. I understood, but there was something that bothered me, so I decided to ask a question.
"I see. I understand. I just don't understand the difference between the smelting skill and the alchemy skill...also, what do you mean by, unlike magic?"
"It's natural to have doubts about magic. First, let's demonstrate and explain the difference between smelting skills and alchemy skills"
Grandma takes out two stones.
"Material bond!"
When she said that, the two stones stuck together and became one big stone.
"This is a smelting skill. To put it simply, it's a skill to forge existing minerals. In the case of material bonding, you can use two minerals to make a bigger and harder mineral. Check it out. The quality should be better"
Oh! Yes, the quality has increased!
"In response to this, the alchemy skill does something even more advanced. Metal Forging 【Iron】!"
When a magic circle was drawn under the stone, a lightning bolt appeared on the stone and the next moment the stone turned into iron. I dare to say it. It's cool!
"This is alchemy. The magic of turning ore into a completely different metal. If you master it, you can turn a mere stone into silver or gold. Of course, it takes a certain amount of training to get to that level"
Well, gold and silver don't just appear out of nowhere, do they? In the case of metal smelting, it only turns into metal and the rarity depends on the original material. In a sense, this is the key to distinguishing metals created through alchemy from those obtained through ordinary means.
"You seem to have understood. Next, let's talk about magic. Magic is the use of magic power and mana that exists in nature to cause natural phenomena"
If you want to use fire as an example, magic is the use of magic power and mana to create the phenomenon of ignition. I'm not sure what the difference is between that and alchemy.
"In contrast, alchemy and your summoning magic use only magic power to cause phenomena that don't exist in nature. You need a medium or something, though"
The explanation is that magic stones don't exist in nature? I've heard from Ruin-san that items are not available for purchase.
"You can't call magic a science because it only causes natural phenomena. There are many phenomena in alchemy and summoning magic that humans don't know about. That's why they are studying. Of course, there are those who consider magic to be an academic discipline, but in that case, we call it magic"
In any case, the moment it becomes an academic discipline, it is called magic.
"Thank you for your explanation"
"You seem to understand it well. Well, I can tell you what you can easily do with your alchemy skills. Do you want to hear it?"
That was the main subject.
"Please"
"First of all, the boy's goal is to create a magic stone. This can be done by adding magic power to the mana that resides in matter to create a magic stone. You can only make ordinary magic stones from ordinary stones, but depending on the ore, you can also make more advanced magic stones with attributes"
"Does that mean this?""
"Hee.... Do you have an aqueous stone? It's an ore that contains water attributes and you can use it to create a water magic stone using magic stone creation"
I knew it! It was worth the effort.
"The other thing you can do is to restore the durability of a weapon. The good thing about alchemy is that once you reach the level of alchemy, you can do almost anything"
"Almost?"
Is that okay for manufacturing jobs?
"There are advantages and disadvantages. For example, in the case of HP potions, the ones made by pharmacists are of high quality and depending on your skills, you may get some bonuses, but if you make them with alchemy, you won't get any. Instead, with alchemy when you make a medicine, it's quick to make and the quality is constant"
"In other words, if you're looking for quality, use manufacture skills, but if you're looking for mass production, use alchemy"
You can either make a good medicine and earn a lot of money at once or sell a lot of ordinary medicine?
"That's right. There are advantages and disadvantages to recovering the durability of the weapon I mentioned earlier"
I'll have to listen to that.
"For example, that stone sword that the pretty lady is carrying, with the alchemy skill, you can use the stone that the weapon was made from to restore its durability. The blacksmith, on the other hand, has to use his skills to make the weapon. Naturally, this takes time and money for the business"
For a moment, I thought the alchemy skill was a panacea, but then I noticed something that bothered me.
"Do you need the original material the weapon was made from? That seems like the rarer the item, the harder it would be"
"That's the drawback of alchemy"
I see. The rarer the weapon, the more difficult it is to restore it with the alchemy skill, but the blacksmith can fix it with the skill and by re-forging the weapon.
"That's about it"
"Thank you very much. I learned a lot"
"Don't thank me. If you want to know more about how to do it, you can use the library in town"
What? I just heard something important.
"There's a library?"
"Of course there is. Though it takes some reading skills to read a book. But it's a facility that a studious person like you could make good use of. You can ask the staff about the reading skill and they will give you a skill scroll"
That's a new word.
"A skill scroll?"
"It's a scroll that contains a skill. They're useful because you don't have to spend any skill points to get them"
Oh! That's convenient! I mean, it's priceless. So you can get skills for free by going to the library...I have to go there!
"Now, let's teach you how to create magic stones, which is the main subject......though it's easy. First, select magic stone creation from your alchemy skills"
"Yes"
I did as I was told and two magic circles appeared. I didn't understand what this meant.
"The magic circle on the right is the source material and the one on the left is the material used for smelting. When you use different materials, you should use the better material on the right. You don't need to think too much about it, because you can use two stones for a normal magic stone"
"I understand"
I put the stones on the magic circles.
"Now you're ready. All you have to do is use magic stone creation. Try it"
"Yes! Magic stone creation!"
I activate the skill, the magic circles become one and the stones disappear. There's nothing there......ah? Where's my magic stone?
"It looks like a failure"
Ah......I remember Crow-san saying that. There is failure......if you make a mistake with a material with a high degree of rarity, the damage will be huge.
"Well, do your best after that. The higher your skill level, the less mistakes you will make"
"I understand. Thank you for everything"
"I didn't teach you anything important. However you should ask the Beastmaster´s Guild about making a contract with your summoned beasts. You should also join them. All summoners and beastmasters are in the guild"
"I understand. I'll go there now"
I thanked the alchemist's grandma and left the alchemy guild.