The storage room for my alchemy lab was declared complete as the sky seen through the open shutter windows turned a soft pink. The storage room took up a quarter of the space in the workshop, with shelving that rose from the stone floor to the flat wooden ceiling.

Narvi had also installed a ladder which could be slid along a wooden rail around the room, though I would need to wax the wood to ensure it would move smoothly along the rails.

While the carpenters worked to build the room and shelving, their apprentices had built dozens of crates to fit onto the shelves, and also half a dozen ten-liter barrels which sat on their sides, propped up by a wooden stand.

Shelving had been added to the outside wall of the storage room and a set of wooden stairs led to the roof of the storage room where two barrels of vodka sat.

I’d made a deal with Bron to get the alcohol from the kitchen supplies, in exchange for taking two of my barrels, which would be delivered to me later in the day.

With some help from Tink to slice off the mushroom stems and dice the caps, I’d added half of the red Amanita mushrooms to the barrels before sealing them and having the carpenters heave it up above the storage room.

An earthy scent filled the room, wafting from a nearby bench where a retort sat on a tripod, a candle positioned beneath it to heat the contents. The retorts spout arched down towards the bench where it was connected to a receiving flask that was submerged in a clay bowl filled with icy water thanks to the ice wisp core Darius provided. A slow trickle of steam flowed through the spout, condensing into liquid as it cooled during the journey down into the cold receiving flask. Next to the retort was a clay jug of vodka and a bowl filled with more mushroom caps, ready to be added to the retort as needed.

Seated at a bench that contained piles of plants which Darius, Noctus, and even Tink had pulled from their bags, I worked to identify each of the plants in order to determine if they were for trash or use.

These purple fig-shaped fruits are from the cat's tongue plant; the waxy outer skin causes irritation if touched without gloves according to Felix’s guide to common plants and herbs. In a Potioneer’s guide to basic Salves and Tinctures, it says to scrape out the fruit and crush it in a mortar, then infuse it in water with dried leaves of the morning dew bush to create a revitalizing drink.

The pulpy mass of purple in the mortar gave off a sharp, tart scent and a tentative lick of the pestle I’d used to mash the fruit confirmed the tart taste.

It tastes like a raw quince and leaves a tingling sensation on the tongue, I noted, scrawling this discovery down on a page in the vellum journal I’d dedicated to notes about plants and herbs. The first four pages were already filled with notes on the Amanita mushrooms and I made sure to leave a dozen pages blank between those notes and the ones I was making for cat’s tongue.

Scraping the pulped fruit out of the mortar and into two clay jars with my copper paring knife, I made a mental note to add spoons, spatulas and tweezers to the list of things I needed. I also need scales with weights for both grams and kilos. Oh, and a set of measuring spoons and cups.

Once the fruit pulp was evenly distributed between the two jars, I filled the first with vodka and the second with water, which I’d boiled in a copper kettle Bron provided, to make sure there were no potential bacteria in the water. Darius claimed it was safe to drink, but he also said the city's water supply was from an underground river and who knows what kind of contaminates or even monsters could be in there.

After using a candle to melt some of the beeswax I had set aside in a clay bowl, I dipped the lids for each jar in the wax, making sure to evenly coat the tiny lip that would sit inside the jar before pressing them into place. Then, using my charcoal pencil to write directly on the jar, I scrawled a notation of its contents and the date it was sealed.

Strange that a virtual fantasy world would still use the same calendar as the physical world, I guess it helps both players and digital beings track the passing of time.

Humming under my breath, I carried the jars into the storeroom and placed them on the shelf next to the four jars I’d set in there earlier, each one containing a different infusion of the Amanita mushrooms.

Back at my work bench, I rinsed the tools I’d used with water and then wiped everything down with the pure vodka to sanitize it before I examined the next plant.

Boom, clang, boom, clang.

The thunderous sound of a hammer hitting metal shattered my concentration as I read the notes Noctus had given me on the various potions sold by other alchemists. Between Noctus and Darius, I had almost twenty vials and containers filled with different concoctions that boosted the ability to do a range of things.

Boom, clang, boom, clang.

Slamming the book closed, I stood from the wooden stool and headed for the door. The moment I opened the door, the noise increased to a deafening level.

Ears reflexively pinned against my head, I entered the forge where a sweaty Minotaur was hammering away at a long piece of metal.

“You’re back,” I called out in-between swings, causing Markion to spin around, hammer raised as though he were about to throw it in my direction.

“Kadia, shit, don’t sneak up on me like that,” he spluttered, dropping the hammer down onto the anvil and rubbing a hand over his muzzle.

“I wasn’t sneaking, you just couldn’t hear me over all the noise,” I told him with a shrug as I walked further into the room.

“Where have you been? I spent a good twenty minutes looking for you but thought you might have gone into the city,” Markion asked, screwing up his face in confusion as he looked to the open archway that was on the opposite side of where I’d entered the forge.

“I was in the city, but I’ve been in my lab most of the night,” I said, pointing a finger upwards at the ceiling.

“Your lab… What lab?”

The confused look on his bovine face made it clear that Darius hadn’t informed him I’d moved in upstairs.

“I’ve assigned Kadia the workshop upstairs for her alchemy lab.” Darius announced, walking into the forge with Bron and his team of helpers, two of which carried cloth sacks, while the other two were rolling barrels.

“Kadia, little fairy, ah no, little fox, I’ve brought your spices and the last two barrels of vodka.” Bron said, gesturing to his workers with a beaming smile.

“Thank you, Bron. Is it possible for you to put the barrels above the storage room? On the opposite side of the other two, please, so they don’t get mixed up.” I returned the Orc’s smile as he nodded and gestured for his workers to roll the barrels up the stairs.

“Ay, I can do that. I’ll also have young Taurie here to sort, label and jar up the spices. I’ve also got this for you,” Bron said, waving a small leather-bound journal in the air.“I’ve copied down everything I know about the spices, meats, fruits and vegetables I use and the effects it has on cooking. I’m sure you’ll find it useful for your research, I can’t help much but Chefs do have some recipes which cross over into the potioneer side of things. Once the lads have the barrels situated, they will bring in some crates of the fruits and vegetables that I have on hand that have different magical properties.”

“Thank you, Bron, I appreciate that.”

“If it helps you become an alchemist, then there are no thanks needed. I know alchemy isn’t quite the profession you planned for your future, kid, but it ain’t that far off.”

“No, it isn’t far off at all,” I sighed. He is speaking as though I’m going to be staying.

As Bron headed towards the stairs which led up to the lab, I looked over at Markion, torn between following the Orc and speaking with my brother.

“We’ll talk once everyone’s gone,” he muttered, glancing at the stairs.

“Nothing I need to know urgently?” I queried, a pang of disappointment shooting through me when he shook his head sadly.

Straightening my shoulders, I forced a calm expression onto my face as I walked up the stairs to my lab with Bron, leaving Markion and Darius downstairs.

“You’ll be needing an ice box for some of the fruits to keep them from perishing. Since we dug out the cellar for cold storage, I haven’t been using the one in the kitchen anymore. We’ve just been using it as extra shelving for pots and such. I’ll have it emptied out and carried up to your lab, though, you’ll need to get an ice core for it. I’d offer you one from the cellar, but they’re all inaccessible.” Bron advised.

“I have some that Darius gave me. I’ve been using them to cool water for my experiments,” I told the Orc, who grunted.

“They can do more than just cool water. The cores will cool and freeze any liquid they come into contact with. The liquid will stay frozen until the core is removed, which is why we use them for cold storage. I think we used just over a hundred of them to build the storeroom. I had them flood the cellar until it was about ten inches deep with water and then we froze it before building a new stone floor over the ice. Works well for the most part, and by encasing the ice in stone it prevents the ice wisp from reforming. If you leave an orb in ice for too long, the wisp will re-form, so make sure you chip out the core every two weeks and plop it into the sun or in front of the fire for a few hours before refreezing it.”

Darius never told me about the wisps reforming, that would have been a rather nasty surprise if Bron hadn’t said anything. Turning my gaze to the burning fire in the furnace, I shuddered at the mental image of a drake crawling out of the furnace and going on a rampage.

“Uh, Bron, if the wisps can reform does that mean fire drakes can?” I asked, pointing to the furnace, and getting a booming laugh from the Orc in response.

“No, no, though that’d be quite the sight. A wisp core is just that, the core of a wisp's essence. While a fire stone is found inside a fire drake's uvula, once the fire drake is dead it’s a simple matter of prying open the mouth and cutting the uvula from the back of its throat and peeling away the flesh to reveal the fire stone.” The Orc explained and, pressing a hand to my back, guided me over to the workbench where my stool was positioned.

“Now, I noticed you didn’t come to the hall for the morning meal, so I’ve brought you a meal box,” Bron said, pulling out a plain lacquer wood box from the pocket of his apron, which I’d learnt the night before had the same enchantments as a bag of holding.

The scent of cooked meat and freshly baked bread wafted out of the box as the Orc lifted off the lid to reveal the contents. Split into three compartments the box reminded me of the lunch boxes our school cafeteria sold, though those came in a plastic container.

“Wild boar curry, cornbread and a sweet honey roll for dessert,” the cook declared with pride, and turned the box's lid over to show me the wooden utensils that were clipped to the underside of the lid.

“I provide meals three times a day in the hall, and you’ll hear my bell ring thrice to announce the meal being served. In the mornings, we also hand out prepared meal boxes for those of you who want a packed lunch to take with you if you are heading out of the city or won’t be coming to the hall for lunch. If you are leaving for more than a day, let the kitchen know ahead of time so we can prepare a ration pack. I’m still working on ways to preserve food over longer periods, so the rations are basic for now. Dried fruits, hard cheese and jars of sauce that you can mix with water and meat for a stew. I’ve been experimenting with dehydrated meals, so with luck the quality of rations will improve soon.” Bron explained, and I nodded, not fully paying attention to what he was saying as I ate.

It hadn’t been until the scent of food hit me that I realized how hungry I felt, the moment the lid of the food box was lifted my stomach began screaming out for food.

Hmm, this purple chunk has the texture of pumpkin, but the taste is closer to that of a red bell pepper.

“The purple vegetable, what is it called?” I queried, tearing off a piece of corn bread to dip into the curry.

“They’re called purple peppers in the market, I don’t know if they’ve got another name. They grow on a light purple vine, and look like a bell pepper, but where a bell pepper is hollow, these contain a hard flesh which softens when cooked. They have seeds inside which are dried and ground to create a powdered spice that is much hotter than eating the flesh. Touching raw purple pepper or the powdered seeds will cause irritation much the same way touching peppers does. Our guild's Artificer uses the powder mixed with water as pepper spray, and several guild members have begun carrying some around with them to help deter wild animals.”

“Do you have some you can spare?” I asked, looking up at the Orc with wide, pleading eyes.

“I already put a few in the crates the lads are bringing up. Taurie will sort everything into the storage room, with labels and dates. Good kid, that one, bit of a rough life before becoming digitized, but she’s got a good head on her shoulders.” Bron said with a smile, looking over his shoulder.

Following his gaze to the open door of the storage room, I saw the slender elf pouring salt into one of the clay jars I’d stacked onto the shelves in preparation of the spice order arriving. Taurie had been one of the four who Bron brought to help clean the night before, and when I first met her, I’d thought she was a vampire as Noctus was, because of her dark hair, pale skin and dark clothing.

Once I was finished with my meal, Bron popped the box back into his pocket of holding, informing me that in the future there was a crate outside the kitchen where used boxes could be stacked for cleaning. Leaving the Orc in the lab where he went to check on Taurie’s progress, I made my way back down to the forge with my dented pots and the book containing the list of things I wanted Markion to make.