Stellar Echo: Heart of the Myst

"To make your job easier?" Erik could only respond uncertainly to his master's question, who smiled cheerfully before answering.

"Hehehe, no, you're wrong, it's so that knowledge isn't lost."

"Lost knowledge?" Erik asked, confused, prompting Sigrún to explain with a smile.

"Yes, things were different before. Artisans valued their knowledge so much that many died without passing it on, causing humanity to lose much valuable knowledge and countless resources have to be spent rediscovering it. In some cases, it was never possible to recover it.

To prevent this, the Arcane Order imposed a rule where any artisan wanting to trade their creations had to apply for a license that verified their skills and the quality of their products. But one of the requirements to obtain it was having a certain number of assistants actively helping in their work.

Assistants, for their part, could not disclose the knowledge without the artisan's express permission while they were alive. But if they died without passing it on, the assistants would help recover the knowledge for the faction's database, preventing the loss of valuable knowledge."

"..."

(That's a terrible idea. If the knowledge is so valuable, the artisan will be killed without hesitation to obtain it...)

In response to Sigrún's explanation, Erik chose to remain silent, but his expression revealed his true thoughts about the regulation, something that made Sigrún smile proudly. After all, it was evident that her disciple was smart enough to instantly grasp the problems with that regulation.

"I can see you understand the problems with that rule, Erik."

Erik simply nodded without saying a word, prompting Sigrún to continue speaking cheerfully.

"And what you imagine really happened. After a couple of centuries of that rule being in place, many artisans were killed by those coveting their knowledge, and many of those murders were carried out with the help of the same assistants.

The madness reached such a point that the rule had to be abolished. But since the loss of knowledge was a real issue, many other solutions were tried, such as having artisans deposit their knowledge at the university database.

But none of them worked. There was always someone with more greed than principles, and the knowledge ended up leaking, leading to a great revolt among the artisans who refused to take the licenses. Many even went to other factions, almost causing a large-scale war.

After much discussion, it was agreed that assistants would be used, but they had to be chosen by the artisan themselves. Additionally, a special blood contract was developed, preventing assistants from harming the artisan in any way or using the knowledge for themselves without the artisan's express consent. If the artisan dies, the knowledge can only be used after 2000 years.

This greatly helped to ease the situation, and because several juicy benefits were implemented for artisans who shared their knowledge with the faction's database, along with the creation of the Auric Award, given every 500 years to those responsible for notable research, discoveries, or contributions to humanity, sharing knowledge is no longer a taboo topic as it was in the past."

"I see. So now the Auric Award is what fulfills the need to safeguard knowledge, as the recognition it grants is equal to, or even better, since anyone would want to have an award winner on their side. Therefore, power and resources would come pouring in, without the risk of being killed or kidnapped for their secrets, Erik replied thoughtfully, causing the assistants present to look at the boy in a new light.

"Exactly, once you win the Auric Award, the galaxy is yours," Sigrún responded with a proud expression, leading Erik to ask.

"Have you won it, master?"

"Hehehe, of course, and I was the youngest to receive it too."

"You're amazing, master."

Pleased, Sigrún affectionately stroked Erik's starry hair, while the assistants watched the scene in surprise. In all the centuries they had spent with Master Eldurdóttir, they had never seen this expression of affection and care she was giving her disciple. Specially, the way she spoke to him, that was something they had only seen when she was with her sworn sister, Master Silverwood.

After a moment, Sigrún removed her hand from her disciple's head and turned to look at her assistants before speaking in a more serious tone.

"Well, enough chatting, let's get to work. Today we will make a basic healing potion where Erik will be my main assistant, so make sure to help him."

Upon hearing Sigrún's words, the assistants quickly bowed respectfully, while Valeria, the beautiful redhead leading the group, spoke respectfully on their behalf.

"Understood, Master Eldurdóttir."

Satisfied with her assistant's response, Sigrún turned to look at Erik, speaking to him in a noticeably softer and more affectionate tone.

"Well, Erik, today we will create a potion called Radiant Elixir. It’s not very difficult to make and is very useful for healing wounds and illnesses. Although it only works up to the Revealed level, it is one of the best-selling potions in the galaxy."

"I suppose it's because the number of customers is higher, right?" Erik commented, interested, which caused a cheerful laugh from Sigrún, who added.

"Hehehe, exactly, but we better start working."

With a calm step, Sigrún went to one of the shelves in the room, from where she began to take various things while explaining.

"The first thing we need to do to prepare a potion is to gather the ingredients. For this potion, we will need: Radiant Flower: the main ingredient and the one that gives the potion its name, Moon Pearl Powder: which acts as a catalyst, Star Salvia Extract: which complements the healing properties and helps stabilize and contain the potion's magical energies, Mandrake Root: the main stabilizing agent that will keep the potion stable and homogeneous, and Enchanted Spring Water: the base of the potion."

With a serious expression, Erik began to quickly write in his notebook while Sigrún spoke and showed him the ingredients one by one.

"We also need a magic cauldron."

Sigrún then approached the cauldron in the center of the room, which was a coppery gold color with evident signs of age, and its surface was covered with all sorts of carved runes, which she pointed to before continuing.

"This is a magic artifact and the most important tool for any alchemist."

In Sigrún's hand appeared a mortar that seemed to have been carved from a precious stone, milky white, which seemed to emit a faint golden glow. She then handed it to Erik, who looked at it curiously.

"This is a mortar, and it will be your tool for today," Sigrún announced cheerfully, while recalling the time her master had told her the exact same thing centuries ago.

For his part, Erik put his notebook aside and settled at a worktable next to the other assistants. The assistants quickly took their places while Sigrún drew what appeared to be a geometric magic circle surrounded by several runes around the base of the cauldron with a softly glowing white chalk.

"The first step is to prepare the magic circle that will help channel and concentrate the Myst and mana in the brewing."

With Sigrún's explanation, Erik looked at the magic circle, confused, as his master was a practitioner of the aegis system, and it was supposed that magic circles were part of sacred geometry, something Sigrún immediately noticed and explained.

"This is known as runic-geometric refinement, something developed a few millennia ago, and its efficiency is much better than previous methods. It uses a magic circle as a base because one of the advantages of sacred geometry is that it is very efficient and the most economical in terms of mana cost.

Moreover, magic circles are better for channeling and containing, so they are most commonly used for alchemy. And as I told you a while ago, although I am not compatible with sacred geometry, I can use it and know it very well. Although, well, Eli is much better at it."

"Does the aegis system not have alchemy, master?" Erik asked curiously, to which Sigrún nodded, understanding her disciple's doubt, and responded.

"It's not that it doesn't have it. In fact, all systems have their own methods of alchemy and artificery. It's just that they have advantages and disadvantages. For example, although the magical artifacts of sacred geometry are the easiest to make and can be mass-produced, they are absurdly expensive, as they require very rare materials.

This is because, instead of carving, they enchant the magical artifacts with special spells. On the other hand, the magical artifacts of the aegis system are harder to make and difficult to mass-produce, but they have an unbeatable advantage: they can create very complex things with many functionalities, unlike sacred geometry which only reproduces the spell with which the artifact was enchanted when mana is applied. And they are also several times cheaper."

“Couldn’t sacred geometry simply copy the aegis system and carve magic circles?” Erik asked, a bit confused, to which Sigrún responded while crossing her arms beneath her voluptuous chest.

“They've tried, but it doesn't work very well. Although they can add more functionalities this way, they can’t use more common materials like the aegis system and have a limit on the complexity and size of the magic circle they can carve.”

“I see… and how is the alchemy of the aegis system, master?”

“Well, actually, the aegis system doesn’t create potions. Instead, it creates a type of amulet that generates the same effects, like a spell, but they have a major disadvantage: they need to be activated, and they are much slower than potions. Although they have something similar called brews, these lose their effect very quickly if not consumed, and their effects are worse than those of potions. So almost no one uses the alchemy of the aegis system except for the Boreal League.”

“And what do the Zazen discipline practitioners do, master?”