“Unfortunate indeed.” Aleister rolled his back and cracked his fingers before standing up. “Well, on the bright side, at least I still have this batch of alchemical fire. Although, do I really want to sell these? I feel like they would be fairly dangerous if put in the wrong hands.”

“At their price, the only people who can really afford them are going to be Weavers or wealthy nobles and merchants in the first place.”

“I expected as much. How much should they go for? I don’t know the cost of the materials, but I would assume they range around twenty to thirty gold.”

“That would be a major underevaluation of their true value. For this less potent batch, I would go with around seventy to seventy-five gold per flask.”

“And how much were the materials in total?”

“With the amount you used, around five-hundred gold. So your profit margins are lower than they should be by about half.”

“By half?” Aleister let out a frigid breath. “So a superior flask of alchemical fire would sell for one-hundred and fifty gold? Those are some crazy profit margins.”

“You have to account for material losses and failed batches, so the margins will come down considerably for a more inexperienced alchemist such as yourself. This is why I wanted you to start with talisman creation initially,” Syn said, folding her arms open in a half-shrug.

“I totally forgot that you even mentioned that. What exactly does it entail?”

“It’s a completely different craft, and one that I’m less experienced in, but the materials are much cheaper at lower levels than alchemy which is why I wanted you to start in it and gain a stable income, but you got fairly lucky with your sales and your friends bets, which is why I disregarded it and just focused even more on alchemy.”

“Ok, all of that is great and all, but you didn’t answer my question.”

“I know, but you seriously can’t be asking me to describe what creating a talisman is, right? It’s in the name. But, since you’re so insistent, I’ll go with its alchemy but instead of effecting a person, it effects items.”

“That’s perfect, actually.” Aleister stood up and placed ten of the alchemical fire flasks in a wooden box. He put the other two in his bag. Never know when I’ll need to start a fire.

Syn walked over to his bed and picked up the spellbook she threw down earlier. As she handed it over to him, she said, “I just want to let you know, that I truly am sorry for deceiving you. I just really wanted it to act as a form of encouragement, and not harm you.”

Aleister smiled. “Don’t worry, it isn’t really that big of a deal. Besides, it kind of worked, I think. But, I don’t want you to lose any sleep, so I accept your apology.”

“Thank you.”

He took the spellbook from her hands and flipped it open to the first page and noticed that although it was in a rough state, the quality of the vellum inside was some of the best he had ever experienced. He scanned the first page, but the creator of the spellbook wrote in a language he didn’t recognize. “Can you read this?”

“I can’t,” Syn said. “But, I can tell you they wrote it in Draconic.”

“Perfect. I just have to find a dragon to translate this for me.”

“The author didn’t even write most of it in Draconic. There are more than several pages written in other languages, mainly Elvish and a scant few in Common. The majority is in some unknown language.”

“Unknown language, huh? Sounds scary, but Elvish and Common? That I can work with.”

“Well then, have fun. If you need help, I’ll be here.”

Aleister nodded and nestled himself against some pillows and his bedside. First up was a quick skim of the book. He rustled through the pages and marked each page written in a distinct language with some paper. It was strange, though. He felt as if the words carried a life of their own. As if each one could breathe and change form at any time. A part of him wanted to ignore it, but he decided that there must be something more to it. Even if it was a vague feeling.

Along with written words, there was also a plethora of diagrams, charts, and illustrations. Some pages were full of occult sigils, with others containing a colourful cluster of geometric shapes and monsters.

A page displayed several creatures with forked tongues and crooked faces. He vaguely recognized a small, dark red creature. Its prehensile tail and scorpion-like stinger confirmed his suspicions. The creature was an Imp. A type of devil. With that knowledge, he assumed the rest of the creatures on the page were devils, but more importantly, he now knew what one word was. If he could recognize more creatures or object, there was a chance he could decode the alphabet, and start to understand the meaning of words. He noted this down and flipped over to the next page.

The next one was a singular page with multiple others attached to it. Once spread out, they revealed a multi-page array of strange shapes. This was uncommon, however, and only appeared a few times throughout the book.

Thanks to his bloodline giving him the innate ability to read and understand Elvish, he was able to understand the few pages written in it. The largest section referred to what he understood as High Magic.

It was a type of magic that was difficult to comprehend, but their successful execution would leave devastation in their wake. Only true masters of the arcane could even hope to execute such spells, and most attempts ended in failure and catastrophic backlash. The author wrote no method of casting them as users with such power in the world of Elatale were far and few between, and those that knew kept the knowledge of how to cast them as close secrets.

Aleister took a break from reading to ask a question. “Hey, Syn, have you heard of a place called Elatale?” He knew the name of the world he lived in as Oroth. And as far as he knew, the continent shared the same name. The other continent, named Colias, was in a state of complete ruin and decay from the aftermath of the previous era and therefore, abandoned.

“Elatale? It sounds familiar.” Syn rested her head against a desk, deep in thought. “I’ll let you know if anything comes to me.”

Aleister nodded and continued to engage himself within the mysterious pages. Each turn left him with more questions and fewer answers.