Starting with the sentries on the frontier

Chapter 111 Complete [The Healing Hand]

"real?"

Rowan swirled the dragon's blood tea in his cup and looked at George.

Seeing that he couldn't avoid it any longer, George reluctantly answered, "Maybe, maybe—"

Rowan raised an eyebrow.

Zag kindly spoke up for George: "He will. He did yesterday's accounts. I checked them, and there were no problems. Besides, his handwriting is much neater than mine."

That's true. When Zag worked at the guard post in Cabbage Town, he had to copy a lot of text every day, which honed his ability to write quickly and messily without affecting legibility. But George, a young man who had just graduated from church school, was different. His handwriting was quite neat, especially when he was working, and he almost wrote in the printed style of a newspaper.

"Excellent mentor, then you can resign today. Your wife no longer needs you."

Rowan chuckled and made a joke—this is a Quen idiom, originally referring to a husband's incompetence in bed, but later extended to mean a joke with the connotation of "abandonment".

Yes, even when the people of Quen joke, they seem overly open.

"It seems that new armor is always better than old armor."

Zag replied with a proverb, but it was a Norther proverb, a bit more conservative. Even so, George, who was huddled behind the counter, blushed and buried his head almost in his chest, as if he wished he could disappear on the spot.

To prevent Ms. Rowan from saying anything more hurtful to George's fragile heart, Zag immediately changed the subject after replying with that proverb: "By the way, I've already ground the oxaden and pine cones. Please check if there are any mistakes."

As he spoke, he took out all the processed magical materials that he had specially stored in a wooden box to keep out of the light.

Osagen can be stored in any way without much problem, but liquid magical materials usually need to be stored away from light. Zag's house doesn't have any colored glass bottles specifically for storing away from light, so this is the only way to temporarily store them.

Fortunately, these magical materials can be processed on the alchemy workbench today, so this temporary alternative is acceptable.

Rowan became much more serious when it came to alchemy. She commented with satisfaction, "A clever move. I did forget to remind you that pine cone paste needs to be stored away from light. I didn't expect you to notice, or perhaps it was just a coincidence?"

Zag replied, "I'm not sure. I guess liquids need to be stored away from light? Because I saw you storing them like that in the alchemy lab, so I specifically brought a box to store them."

"Yes, most of them, but you're wrong about one thing. Of these alchemical materials, only black pine cone mud needs to be stored away from light, because the real active ingredient is black pine cone oil. As for the Death Knell Lily, because of its excellent stability, it won't easily lose its magic."

"Loss of magic" refers to the degradation or disappearance of the magical properties in alchemical materials. This usually occurs due to improper storage, as both magical materials and alchemical materials require processing. Simply boiling a bunch of magical herbs does not make an alchemical potion. Processed magical materials are alchemical materials. After all, the term "magical material" is not exclusive to alchemy. The raw materials used in many occult disciplines such as ritual studies, enchanting, and magic circles are also called "magical materials."

Zag suddenly realized: "I get it! Because the Deathstroke Lily of the Valley potion acts as a stabilizer in the recipe, which means it's inherently stable enough not to be affected by the loss of magic due to sunlight—I should have realized that!"

I should have realized this yesterday when Luo Wen said that the tonic of Deathbell Lily of the Valley was used as a stabilizer!

It's still not enough to apply what you've learned to other situations!

Zag sighed inwardly with some annoyance.

"You are truly the smartest apprentice I have ever seen," Rowan praised. "In fact, that is true. Apart from a few very special alchemical materials, most alchemical materials used as stabilizers do not require special preservation methods because they are stable enough."

Sure enough—I must remember this.

Zag thought to himself.

George was completely engrossed in their conversation and, no longer shy, couldn't help but whisper, "No wonder you always pile those lilies of death in your basket like that—"

Rowan took another sip of hot tea, then smiled at George and said, "It seems you're also interested in alchemy? After Zag leaves, I can give you some pointers when I have time. Your spirituality doesn't seem high, but it's enough to learn the basics of alchemy. Perhaps you can help me take over this shop in the future—I plan to go to the North in a few months."

George was both surprised and delighted: "Me...I can learn alchemy too?"

Rowan replied, "Of course, alchemy doesn't require much spirituality; most people can learn it."

Zag, however, was more concerned with another piece of information in Rowan's words: "The North? The Kingdom of Friggia? What are you going there for?"

"My teacher and the Seastone Magic Academy have formed a project team to investigate the ruins of the Lost City. It is said that some apprentices from the Seastone Magic Academy have discovered some alchemy recipes written in special script there. I plan to go and participate so that I can get a share of the profits and maybe even expand my alchemy potion business."

Rowan spoke as directly as ever, and her shrewdness was evident on her face despite her mercenary reason.

As Rowan joked, George had mastered the methods and skills of bookkeeping, so Zag no longer needed to keep an eye on things.

Following Rowan's instructions, he personally tried making alchemical potions.

The whole process does resemble a chemistry lab class from my student days, but it feels more like being in a kitchen—a modern kitchen.

Weighing, mixing, heating, and then filtering, the final product was a bottle of somewhat purplish "Healing Hands".

Clearly, it wasn't a complete success, because a normal Healing Hand should be dark red.

Rowan commented, "The transformation isn't quite complete, but that's acceptable because we used black pine cone paste instead of black pine cone oil. As for the effect, it's about 60% of the 'Healing Hands' product sold in the store."

Zag humbly asked, "Is it because the powder wasn't ground fine enough?"

"There are many reasons. For example, the original recipe should have used black pine cone oil. Another reason might be that the Death Knell Lily of the Valley potion contains too many impurities or is too thick. The consistency of a liquid stabilizer directly affects the enchanting effect of an alchemical potion because it represents the dosage. I guess you understand that."

"If the dose of stabilizer is too high, the stability will be too high, resulting in incomplete demonization. If the dose of stabilizer is too low, the stability will be too low, and the potion will go out of control during the demonization process."

At this point, Rowan emphasized, "Therefore, it's better to add too much stabilizer than not enough."

You wouldn't want to know the consequences of the potion going out of control and becoming demonized. At best, you'll be injured by unstable magical fluctuations; at worst, you'll suffer irreversible contamination, or even death—none of which are pleasant things.

Zag then realized—

So one reason why alchemy labs are made so airtight is to contain the consequences of an out-of-control situation within the lab and prevent the spread of contamination.

He thought it was simply because alchemy in this world was more advanced!

Divider line [Lost City Ruins]: An ancient city ruin in the eastern part of the Northern Territory (Kingdom of Friggia), located in the western part of the Seastone Ruins and the northern part of the Seastone Magic Academy.

The exact era in which the site originated cannot be determined at present, and the stone inscriptions in the city do not belong to any existing civilization system.

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West