The evening was a disaster. The near enslavement of both Abby and I was horrible enough. With the Earl blocking his heartbeat, it meant the Mages somehow had information about Snowy’s Skill. We had been cautious not to discuss how her Skill worked in detail. Snowy had even followed my advice to not share it even with her father. I certainly had never discussed it with anyone. Doing so would have been unprofessional and dangerous for Snowy. Yet, somehow, Earl Mirsdeget was prepared and had a method of blocking her Skill. Though, that begged the question, why stop that part of the Skill? Blocking a part of her combat Skill could be seen as an assault. Did he decide to abort his attack because he failed to stop the rest of her Skill? The questions were endless, and we couldn’t decide on an answer.

When we talked with the Baron later, being vague about what part of Snowy’s Skill was blocked and how we knew, he had even less to say. He was deeply concerned with the example of foresight. Still, he had garnered even less information in his efforts than we had. His contacts insisted that the Mages were upset with his support of me, but not violently so, taking a more ‘wait and see’ attitude. The only noble that was directly against the Baron was Baron Mard. With the mercenary delivered to the King’s jail and the documents on his person, that was an issue that would soon be solved. At least, as far as any of us could see. Beyond Baron Mard, the nobility was against the Baron because of his upstart nature and Snowy specifically because she was barbarous and foreign. The three of us had stayed up late discussing the problem but had made no real progress.

Breathing deeply, I closed my eyes and let the sound of the garden surround me, allowing the stray thoughts from the night before to fly away. I was tempted to dip into [Meditation] to calm my mind but resisted the urge. Jorge had slipped a note into the mail saying he would be delivering supplies today, and I was eager to get to work. I would need my [Meditation] once my materials were here.

“Sir?” Marcus said, his face held in a neutral mask.

“Yes, Marcus?”

“Your…guest...has arrived. As you predicted, the gentleman has come in the company of the yard supplies?” Marcus said, his voice still turning into a question at the end, perhaps questioning my choices.

Rising from my relaxed pose in the garden, I followed Marcus. When Jorge told us when he would arrive with the alchemy supplies, it was simple to determine how he would sneak the supplies onto the estate. He would simply mix them in with the unsavory garden supplies that were to be delivered simultaneously.

Stepping around the corner of the mansion, I watched as Jorge stood next to the garden supplier. The man carefully backed his well-laden donkey through the garden until the back of the wagon was situated at the side entrance. Clapping the wagon hauler on the shoulder, Jorge approached with his usual giant grin.

“I figured you would guess,” Jorge said as he dropped the back gate of the wagon, exposing the pile of monster corpses.

Grabbing a wheelbarrow from the back of the wagon, Jorge hefted the device to the ground and grabbed what looked like the leg of an orc, and dropped it in. Dropping multicolored - and jointed - limbs, torsos, and heads into the wheelbarrow, he quickly loaded it to capacity.

“Where do you want this setup?” Jorge asked, gesturing to the metal contraption that would hold the pyre above the ground while holding the wheelbarrow steady.

“Anywhere in the back. The Head Gardener will even-out the growth with a Skill, so it doesn’t really matter. Maybe over the uncovered pavilion. The stone should make clean up easier,” I said while glancing with distaste at the pile of bodies.

The current fad of the nobility was to shift garden layouts, demonstrating the quality of their gardeners. Rapid growth like that required the cleansing of corpses, and of course, the hardest corpses to obtain were non-human sapients. So the corpse wagon’s were making a pretty bit of coin importing monster corpses for the rich to enhance their gardens. A fad I was sure would die out soon enough and switch over to some other fancy bit of frivolity. This was good since the local farms needed as many corpses as they could get. Most nobles I was sure were supplementing the expensive monster parts with the cheaper wagons of human remains. Not that I was even sure monster corpses worked better than human ones. It was a fad. They didn’t need to make sense. Likely, they were better if they didn’t.

With Jorge being stronger than average, the crates of glassware and herbs were quickly uncovered with two people hauling corpses. I noticed Jorge hiding a sneering look as I avoided touching the bleeding corpses, but I didn’t comment on it. If he thought I was unwilling to deal with bodies and blood, that could only help him underestimate me. I even practiced my [Acting] by holding a handkerchief to my nose in disgust as they dragged corpses into the garden.

When the wagon was empty, I gestured Jorge into the wagon to grab my supplies, playing up my act of disgust. The large man jumped down from the wagon while keeping the crate balanced and the glass inside unrattled. I startled when he jumped, but ignored the apparent provocation, merely directing him to follow me into the house. I wanted to watch his response to the house and where his interest lay. I wouldn’t put it past the man to sell information to his other clients.

Trudging through the house, I directed Jorge into the old library. The library was scoured clean, the books were shipped off with the Baron with his office, leaving the room mostly unused. It wasn’t perfect as an alchemy laboratory - wooden floors and rugs were bad combinations for chemical and herbal tincture spill. Still, it had more light than my old shop and far better airflow when the windows and shutters were opened. Directing him to put down the crate, I was surprised when Abby joined us, her smile slipping into a sultry look as she looked at Jorge.

“Well, hello there, little miss,” Jorge said, his broad smile spreading across his face while he crossed his arms, his biceps bulging none to subtly as he nearly posed.

“Hello there,” Abby said. To my surprise, it appeared that Abby was actually interested in Jorge instead of acting. Her eyes followed over his form as she passed him to lean on a table - oh so casually - in a pose that showed off her figure. “Who is this now, Master?” she asked.

With my nose and mouth covered by my handkerchief, while [Acting] like a snooty upstart, I couldn’t resist laying it on thick.

“This gentleman is my….source of alternative procurement, let us say,” I began, only to watch Abby suddenly drop her sultry look.

“Oh, a smuggler. I’ll be upstairs until you need me, master,” Abby said, passing around the table and out of the room.

The sudden reversal confused me until I remembered Abby’s early dealings with the underbelly of crime. Luckily, Jorge didn’t seem to take her response to heart, simply shrugging it off. It wasn’t long until the supplies were unloaded in the workroom, and Jorge was oh so casually leaning against a wall trying to blend in. My guess was he was hoping to be ignored and see if I would let slip who the Baron wanted to be trained. Giving the large man a smile, I shook his hand and allowed Marcus to direct him out.

After a couple of hours of work, I had my new laboratory ready to go. Burners, beakers, glass stir rods, mortars, and supplies were all arranged on either a shelf or a table. The most expensive purchase was an enchanted quick dryer. They were made by Mages for Alchemists and were tracked rather extensively. Given the residue I had to clean from the inside of the device, I was sure it was used to produce one of the more addictive alchemical substances. Still, Jorge had gone beyond my necessary request and found my more esoteric requirements as well. The cost alone would have convinced me the Skill Trainers were taking this seriously.

Before I could start my experiments, Abby wandered in with a look of contrition. Standing in the doorway, my apprentice grabbed a strand of her hair and fiddled with it, before dropping it and taking a deep breath. Before she could start, I cut her off.

“Don’t worry too much about it,” I said. Then flashed Abby a smile before turning back to my bottles and pouring an even level of boiled water into each. Seeing a bit of dust floating in the glass bottles, I swirled the water, then walked over to the window and poured the liquid into the garden.

When I looked back again, Abby gave me a grumpy look, one I couldn’t help but smile at.

“Not everyone who works as a criminal is a bad person. Obviously, you had to deal with some of them, but you shouldn’t just assume. After all, some of the Skills you are learning from Mason could have the Baron declaring you unfit for his Barony! That would make you an outlaw as well, hmm?” I said though I tried to temper my response with a smile.

Huffing at me, Abby retreated, though she didn’t seem as upset as she was pretending. She might have been old enough where someone would assume she was reaching the end of her apprenticeship, but she was still immature. It was likely the result of her confinement. Still, she had been coming out of her shell lately and progressing in her Skills, so I wouldn’t comment on her behavior until it became a problem. I could remember when I had acted the same way - contrary purely for the sake of being contrary. Not that it had been that long ago.

Shrugging again, I turned back to my now cleaned supplies and couldn’t keep the smile from my face. Now was the time for [Alchemy] and to see if my supposition about my wayward Skill was correct.

Breathing deep, I shouted over my shoulder. “Marcus, check on me every ten minutes and administer a healing potion if I am bleeding, would you? Thanks!” then I turned to my work.

Grabbing a stick of burn-weed, I pulled back the bark and removed the fleshy stem inside. Pushing the stem into the mortar, I ground and pulped the stringy flesh, watching the juices ooze out. When the plant’s meat was ground into a mash of yellow-green pulp, I squeezed the remains through a cheesecloth into a clean flask, adding a small spoonful of lampblack. Mixing with a glass stir rod, I poured in boiling water and watched as the now tar-black liquid flashed into a thicker black concoction. I quickly cleaned off the glass stir rod, making sure to leave nothing on the expensive stirrer. The residue would harden and stick, leaving a nasty black paste that was almost impossible to remove without breaking the glass.

Alchemy has advanced to 1.

Alchemy has advanced to 2.

Alchemy has advanced to 3.

Alchemy has advanced to 4.

…

Alchemy has advanced to 11.

Setting up the incense burner, I held the glass flask over the flame, swirling the black liquid as the water slowly boiled away. As the water boiled off, the lampblack left with it, leaving the burn-weed oil behind. This was one of the simplest of potions. The steps were not designed to cause any significant change in the burn-weed, only to make it easier to produce and reduce the stink of its burning. Burn-weed was infused with an oil that burned quickly and was often used as a cheap replacement for lanterns. The material would burn with a pungent odor when not purified; after processing the clear liquid burned with a scentless blue flame.

Alchemy has advanced to 12.

Alchemy has advanced to 13.

Alchemy has advanced to 14.

Alchemy has advanced to 15.

…

Alchemy has advanced to 19.

It was totally useless. Production was simple and easy, so it didn’t require a high [Alchemy] Skill to produce. The result burned with a blue flame, which was pretty, but eery and nearly useless as a reading light source compared to a candle’s warm glow. Worst of all, it was used by poor people. Burn-weed was relatively cheap to procure, and lampblack was only required in small quantities so it could be harvested by the alchemist themselves.

But, I didn’t care about its quality or usefulness. I only cared about advancing my [Alchemy], and it had worked excellently in that regard. Cleaning up my supplies and putting out the incense burner, I dropped into the single chair that remained in the library. Squirming until I found a comfortable position in the oversized leather seat, I settled into [Meditation]. In the background of my mind, I noticed my [Meditation] Skill advance.

Meditation has advanced to 16.

In my soul, I stared at my [Alchemy] crystal, the shape and form evident to me though I couldn’t say why. The mana swirling throughout my soul demanded use, and so I obliged. Gently, I pressed on [Alchemy], the crystal growing in a familiar pattern. As it advanced, the Skill leveled, the process slow and steady, and requiring nothing but my focused will and the excess mana inside my soul. When I pressed too hard, the crystal would shake and vibrate. Without my force of will behind it, the crystal would stagnate and resist growth. After an hour of focus, the crystal was once again returned to its original size and shape. The random shards that had littered my soul were now reintegrated and returned. I was left with a Skill unchanged from before my rash action.

Alchemy - Tier 1: 35

Creating potions, tinctures, powders, and pills, Alchemy creates from that which is embodied in mineral, plant, and animal.

Passive Effect:

Minor: Quick Process - Cutting, grinding, concentrating, filtering, and purifying ingredients is quicker.

Lesser: Eye for Detail - High chance of noticing details that might harm an alchemical production.

Active Trigger Effect:

Minor: Chemist’s Nose - with a sniff, judge the properties of a potential ingredient.

Major: Empowered Production - with effort, an alchemist can increase a potion’s effect at no cost in ingredients.