I've come so close to finishing the expansive antidote, don't judge me, I'm still working on the name. I'm more concerned about how to finish the product, not what it should be called, although now that I think about it, maybe it should be something that includes the word Panacea. I'll have Tommy think up something for me to name it, since he's the only one in my life who seems to have any naming sense.

I'll never resort to asking Eric to name something after I learned he named a healing salve he made "healing salve", it has no flare to it, although it is undoubtedly accurate. He's lucky he's so good at alchemy since he would be a terrible businessman or marketer, his only claim to fame is the quality of his work. I love the man dearly, but anything outside of science and alchemy and he was as helpless as a 2-year-old.

Although that was honestly part of his charm, after all who wouldn't want to be able to take care of their significant other. Most men were too stubborn about things like that, not to mention he is one of the few men who has always treated me kindly and as an equal. I can't say I hate all men since Tommy and Eric belong in that category, but the vast majority see me as just another pretty face and nothing else. Past experiences aside, men as a whole in this world or at least this city seem to have reverted to cavemen after strength became most people's greatest concern.

Speaking of my wayward lab partner, he was studying the heart of a wood nymph under a makeshift microscope and introducing slivers of other material to see how it would react. Nymphs of any type left only a heart and their core when killed since they were technically spirits, and they seemed to have great potential with either alchemy or as enchanting material. We had received a few hearts from Tommy when he had gone hunting in the marsh, and he figured we might be able to find out a few uses for them as they weren't currently very valuable in alchemy.

Eric had discovered this method of experimentation to be the most useful for discovering reactions between ingredients while minimizing any waste. He didn't seem to be having any luck currently, but that wasn't uncommon since the wood nymph heart wasn't an especially reactive material. I didn't have much hope for them to have any real use in our work, but Eric thought it would be interesting to try, so I was leaving him to it.

Anyways, back to the potion that I'm still trying to perfect, hopefully I wouldn't have to experiment on many more lab mice to get a finished product. I was running low after most had died under various unfortunate circumstances, but the antidote was getting better as I continued to experiment.

What I had discovered so far that had made my antidote more effective in the treatment of poison was a change in how ingredients were prepared and the ratio they were introduced. These were all little factors that I had to consider that may or may not be important. It seemed that the ratio of fragrant wasp flower pods that were needed was 2.5 and only 5 petals from the ice lotus were needed in order to finish off the final reaction. What I was trying to figure out was how to make it more effective and if there were any ingredients that needed to be added to perfect it.

Luckily my supply of manticore venom was sufficient for quite a while considering that I only required 2 drops of it for each experimental batch. The poison ratio seemed to be sufficient so what I believed was wrong was either the timing of the potion ingredients being put in or the processing of the current ingredients and perhaps even an additional herb or flower was needed.

Deciding to test out part of my theory, this time I decided to crush the fire-red fragrant pods with the flat of a knife before adding them to the potion. This seemed to enhance the color of the potion currently which was a good sign, but the ice lotus petals didn't seem sufficient to suppress the reaction of the pods. It seemed like I would need to enhance the ice lotus petals or add an additional ice type ingredient.

Throwing out the batch of failed antidote, I started a new batch of potion after cleaning out the cauldron and decided to try cutting the ice lotus leaves into thin and equal strips before adding them to the fragrant pod enhanced elixir. The mixture sizzled little red and blue bubbles until a few seconds later the ingredients seemed to merge and settle into a purple color that was just above room temperature.

The moment of truth came as I selected one of the more virulent venoms from my selection that came from a particularly nasty Arachne if the shop I had purchased the vial from was to be believed. I dipped a disposable pin into the vial and then gently poked one of the fresh lab mice to test out the antidote. The poor creature immediately began showing symptoms of lethal poisonings, it's veins bulged as anticoagulant properties from the sample made its' blood rush increasingly fast, and it began sweating from its' internal temperature being cranked up to fight off the venom. I immediately administered a dropper full of antidote into the lab mice's mouth and waited to see its reaction.

I didn't have to wait long as the symptoms quickly began to fade from the subject's body. It seemed like the sample was a success for an extremely deadly venom. I would need to test stronger poisons and venoms on a few fresh mice to see just how well it worked, but it looked to be promising.

It seems that by de-structuring the final ingredients, they were able to integrate with each other and cancel out any reactions quickly enough that the potion settled without ruining the potion or breaking the glass it was settled in due to extreme temperature changes in a short amount of time.

The other experiments with stronger venoms and poisons were successful as well, and the only thing they weren't able to cure relatively well was manticore venom since the potion was made from the stuff. The other ingredients must have diluted the effectiveness a bit but were necessary to turn the mixture into a cure rather than an even deadlier mixture. I still felt like something was missing from the formula as the stronger venoms and poisons were only mostly negated and took quite a while to properly work, which would leave most dead unless they immediately took the antidote after being injected.

"Back to the drawing board I guess."

.........

It has been two days since the mostly successful formula, and I still needed to figure out just what was missing in order to perfect the solution. I was aimlessly looking through my stored ingredients to see if anything sparked a solution, so far nothing seemed to pop out as helpful. That was true until I came across a bezoar left in a cupboard near my work station in case of accidental poisoning.

"That's got to be it. Why didn't I think of this sooner? Obviously a bezoar whose express purpose was to cure poisonings would be the perfect thing to add to an antidote mixture."

I thought about what part of the process I should add the stone-like ingredient, and just how much of it I should add. It wasn't particularly large, about the size of a decent rock that would fit within the palm.

Taking the ingredient from its place in the lab cupboard, I cut the ingredient with a special alloy knife I had for difficult to cut ingredients, and cut it up into eighths. With that finished, I decided to coarsely grind the ingredient to help it mix better with one of my steel mortars until it had a sand-like consistency to it.

With that portion taken care of, I started a new batch of antidote and decided that the hard ingredient would need to be added right before the pods and petals so that the reaction would break it down. Low and behold, my idea worked and the potion finally settled into a gold color that just screamed vitality.

Eager to try it out, I gathered the last of my previously untested lab mice and administer the venoms and poisons while swiftly giving them the antidote and then waiting to see how they turned out. I couldn't help but yell in delight as I saw the toxic substances be quickly wiped out with no side-effects, and even the manticore venom was at least slowed down, which was a major achievement as it was one of the deadliest substances known to man.

"Whooo! Eric, I did it!" I exclaim as I swooped up the spindly man in an oversized labcoat that used to be white in a bear hug.

"That's great Mira, you've officially become a master alchemist. Now we just need to register the recipe and provide proof of its' efficacy." - Eric

"Yep, and now that I'm no longer your apprentice, how about we go on a date." - Mira

"Mira, I'm not sure-" - Eric

"Nope, you said if I became a master alchemist like you said I needed to before we would go on a date." - Mira

"I didn't expect you to become one so soon, that's not really what I intended when I agreed to the bet. Plus I'm too old for you." - Eric

"Too bad, a bet is a bet. You have to go on one dinner date with me, and if you don't want to continue after that then fine, but you have to at least give me a chance. Plus you're like 6 years older than me, in this world that barely seems to matter when you risk dying from monsters every other month." - Mira

*Sigh* "Fine, you win. A deal is a deal, and you certainly earned it. It's not that I don't like you, I'm just worried about how it might affect our work." - Eric

"Don't worry, I'm a big girl and can deal if the date doesn't pan out. You can pick me up at my new apartment on Saturday at 6 PM sharp, I expect you to dress up for the occasion as well, and no, your lab coat doesn't count." - Mira

"Now I just need to bottle a few vials to give to Tommy and Alexis before they go out hunting again, this could very well save their life. Knowing Tommy, I bet he has to use one within this monster break cycle, reckless brat." I can't help but say with some frustration and fondness in equal measure.

Looking at the small golden vial in my hand I try and think up something to call it, but after wracking my brain and turning up nothing, I decide to leave the naming for Tommy to decide.