The Insider System

Chapter 37: It's Not That Hard

Lake watched as Lucas Grabbed 3 new powders. Two were the same color as the others but one was different. "These are level one ingredients your going to make a strength potion like I did. I replaced the red powder with this orange one because all three of these have exactly the same effect so this first try will be as easy as possible. You don't even have to worry about using distill all you have to do is stir."

Seeing he was about to start Lake made sure his job was set to Alchemist. "Alright pick these up and pour them in one at a time. As soon as the first ones in use your other hand to stir, and make sure to keep it at a steady pace." Lake grabbed the first one and started to pour it in carefully. "You don't have to pour so slowly you can just dump it all in."

Hearing this, Lake picked up his pace and poured it all in. "Alright go ahead with the next one." Lake grabbed it and poured it in like the last one after a few seconds of stirring Lucas said, "Alright the last one." Lake grabbed it and as he dumped it in, Lucas said, "Alright stir this until it starts to turn blue. Once you see blue you can stop, it will finish itself." 20 or so seconds later Lake saw the mixture turn from brown to blue, so he took his hand off the spoon he was using to stir.

Watching it slowly turn more and more blue, Lake asked, "Why did the one you make turn blue so much faster?" It had been almost an instant transformation earlier. "The ingredients I was using were much stronger, the ones you're using barley have magic properties since they're all level one, so the reaction is slower."

After a few more seconds of waiting, Lake heard a ding.[Level up] Lake smiled and took a brief look at his stats.

Race: Human Lv.2 ( 6/10 )

Job: Alchemist Lv.2 (2 / 20)

Special: The Insider Lv.0 ( 3/5 )

Stats

Health 20

Stamina 20

Mana 20

Strength 10

Endurance 10

Agility 19

Dexterity 26

Perception 20

Intelligence 33

Charisma 6

Free stat points: 2

Lake wasn't too sure but he thought this potion had given him 9 Exp, so if it had been poison it would have been 72 Exp. Lake felt he should probably ask Lucas to make poison; it would make this much faster. "Master, can I try to make a poison?"

"Yeah, here in a minute. I just need to set the equipment up real quick." Lake watched as Lucas grabbed a slightly larger cup and filled it with water. "Alright I know this looks like the same type of water we used earlier, but this is pure water made through magic so its a level 1 catalyst you need a better catalyst when you use more or stronger ingredients. In this case we're using low level ingredients so we would of been fine but this will make it easier for you. This is like last time you wont need to remove anything using distill. You just have to keep the two reactions stable at the same time."

Lake wondered what the odds of him succeeding was. "Alright get ready to watch." Lucas took the potion from last time out of the way, and set the new cup where it had been. "I'm going to use these four powders. This time we're going to make what's called a split potion. They aren't very common but they're good practice. it's really just making two different mixtures into a stable potion by balancing the two effects. Alright I'm starting."

Lake watched as Lucas grabbed two powders and added them at the same time, and started to stir slowly. "This is the stronger of the two effects this potion will have. That's why I started with it. You always have to start with the strongest. This makes the mixture more stable during the next reaction since the other effect is weaker it can't overpower the first one."

Lake wasn't too sure what Lucas was talking about but he understood the start with the strongest part so it was probably fine. "Alright I'm about to add the next ingredient." Lake watched as Lucas put the next powder in but noticed nothing happened it all just sunk to the bottom. "This means this ingredient does not react with anything that's already in there but when I add the last one there will be a violent reaction, and the potion will try to turn to sludge if you don't control it properly so get ready to use Distill."

After Lucas said this he put the last powder in and just like he said the liquid reacted like it was boiling. "You see how one powders at the top and the others at the bottom. What's happening right now is they are slowly mixing in the center of the already formed mixture. That's why you start with the strong one, because the other way around the strong reaction would just blow the weak mixture apart, and all this would turn to sludge because all the mismatching effects would try to combine." After a while Lake saw the potion calm down and it started to turn a yellowish color. It kind of looked like mustard.

"The best way to finish potions like these is to add an ingredient that has both the effects of the two mixtures. It holds them together and strengthens both effects but you can also stop here, this is a method to make potions when you don't have 3 ingredients with the same effect. Instead of just using a mixture you can make a slightly better potion, and if you can find two effects that synergize this is a way to keep them in the same bottle. This potion gives 4 endurance and 2 agility for 6 hours. If you would have made 2 mixtures and drank both the effects would be about the same but it would only last an hour at most."

This made Lake wonder if he could just mix two mixtures that had already been made into a potion "Master, can you use mixtures that have already been made to do this?"

"That's a pretty difficult question to answer because it depends. Mixtures can be used as ingredients, but you need the ingredients to make a potion. You remember earlier when I said you could finish this potion by adding an ingredient that had both effects, If you started with two separate mixtures you would have to add an ingredient like that to turn two separate mixtures into an actual potion." This sounded reasonable to Lake. It was like building a bridge between two islands to let the people meet each other for the first time.

"You can also use three Mixtures to make a potion with three effects but that's much too difficult for you to even attempt; you also need special equipment for the process to work."

"What do you mean it's too difficult?" So far Lake felt Alchemy was pretty easy, so he was interested to hear about some of the more difficult parts of Alchemy. "Your Intelligence is too low for your Distill skill wouldn't be able to handle it." Lake new Lucas didn't mean he was stupid he meant the stat Intelligence. "I'll be right back."

Lake could feel this meant it was his turn, so he rolled his sleeves up a little and stepped over to where Lucas had been standing. Lucas had just gone to bring another cup of water for Lake to use. "Alright don't feel bad if this fails. This is your first time actually doing anything during the stirring process other than stirring." Lucas was right about this, the first potion he had made could almost make itself.

Lake watched as Lucas pulled out new powders he hadn't seen before but instead of four there were five. "What's the new one for?"

"It's the ingredient used to finish the potion like I mentioned earlier. If you succeed we'll use it so you get more Exp. Ok go ahead, the ingredients are in the order you need to add them." Just to make sure Lake pointed at the first two and said, "These two first right?"

"That's right." Lake grabbed them and poured them in at the same time like Lucas had done, and he started to stir. "Those were both level two ingredients with damage health, so this mixture would deal 4 damage every second to someone's health. Alright you're ready for the next powder, remember to let it all fall to the bottom before you add the next one." Lake poured the powder in and stirred it to let the powder fall to the bottom once he saw there was no more on the top he looked at Lucas to see him nod. "Get ready to use Distill."