D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad - Chapter 2093 Bottling Magic Part 2

Chapter 2093: Chapter 2093 Bottling Magic Part 2

— Kat —

It became a sort of dance, with Appoline leaning backwards to collect ingredients as she placed them in the pot. Sometimes a few more steps would need to be done, and in one instance Appoline took off her shoes, and kept a toe in the cauldron while she leaned over to chop things on a bench nearby.

When Fred complained about it not being sanitary, Appoline answered with. “Don’t be stupid. Not only is the water hot enough to boil most issues away but half of these ingredients are poisonous. This isn’t a potion people DRINK and I didn’t realise I’d need this ingredient for this run. In fact, I was pretty certain I wouldn’t need any diced swallow bark. I was wrong clearly, but why you’re taking offence is beyond me.”

“You have your foot in the cauldron,” countered Fred.

“Yes, and the cauldron is too hot to move this low quality wooden table next to it so that I could more easily slice things while still maintaining a flow of mana to the water. Sometimes you need to do things like this when you’re an alchemist. Besides, as I already said, this isn’t a potion to be drunk. It was never the intent to drink it. Why this seems to bother you is beyond me,” sighed Appoline.

“Why are you trying to convince me having your feet dipped in a potion is normal?” growled Fred.

“I specifically did NOT say it was normal. Just that it’s something you should be prepared to do. If I don’t want the potion to fail I NEED this ingredient, and I need it to be sliced properly, no more than a centimetre per section and all of them need to be within two percent of each other size wise. Trusting someone else to do that work is a big ask… and we’re still not drinking the potion,” explained Appoline, a slight glare on her face.

Which was in contract to Tweedle who looked about ready to strangle Fred for his repeated questioning of Appoline. It got a lot worse when he simply kept pressing on the point and Kat felt like, if he asked once more, the dwarf would jump him. Kat wasn’t sure if she wanted to see that or not. On the one hand, Fred was being annoying, on the other Tweedle might actually get in trouble if she did. *What do you think Lily. Weird or not weird?*

[I mean it is weird, it’s the sort of skill you have to wonder HOW she even developed. Like at what point did she decided she needed to learn, and then, how long did it take her to master it? Did she practice? Intentionally pick potions it might be needed with? Is it even SAFE for her to use on more poisonous potions? I have questions.]

*That last one is a good one.* “Hey Appoline, is this sort of thing safe for all potions?”

“Not really,” said Appoline as she went back to using a finger for the process. “You need special stirring rods that allow you to easily channel mana for them, but they’re expensive, wear out quickly, and can be bad for other potions. Best not to get in the habit of using them at all until you’ve got at least a year of experience, or if you’re a prodigy perhaps one hundred unique potion batches under your belt?”

Tweedle was nodding along as she made notes while Fred made a disgusted noise. “You do realise that for normal alchemists, stirring rods with mana channelling properties are standard?”

“Yeah I do,” sneered Appoline. “And if you want to be a mediocre alchemist that relies on a fancy stick to make your brews work then that’s fine. Just accept that you’ll likely never amount to anything,”

Fred glared back at her but Kat cut him off to ask, “Why is that?”

Appoline didn’t turn, too focused on the cauldron that was now bubbling and shifting from side to side, as if it wanted to jump out of the pot. Appoline didn’t seem concerned and Tweedle was drawing it so this was probably fine. Appoline did answer though. “The more standard rods make things easier.

“It doesn’t teach you proper control over your mana. Instead… hmm… think of it like… like hmmm… I’m struggling to think of comparisons. There should be some… cakes? No not quite right. Ah! So, when you’re mining, you can get a machine to separate the various ores, or use enchantments for it. You can also use it to detect them.

“That’s all fine and good, but when things get tough and the machines break, or you’re working on a private operation you won’t know what the uncleaned ores actually look like. Hmm… no that’s not quite what I wanted either. For stirring rods, there are a few types, blenders, amplifiers, and specialty ones. Blenders are what they sound like. You pump mana in and they magically shred the ingredients. Sort of.

“It dissolves things roughly and the quality is notably worse… but it takes no real effort on your part if you have the mana. A lot of potions you can’t make with them though. The second one, the amplifiers aren’t pure material. What they do is store mana, and then when you send mana through them, it pushes out extra. It helps you control everything because you don’t have to focus quite so much on output. Smooths that out you see.

“The specialty stuff is usually a blender for a specific ingredient or a specific potion. If you need one of those? Then unless you’re a master at crafting them I barely consider you an alchemist. I occasionally use amplifiers, that aren’t really but sort of fit the category for more toxic potions. Toxic when making them that is. Mine act more like a bridge and it’s just because I don’t want to have my fingers destroyed. Sadly, the stirring rods I use for that purpose are usually destroyed after a few uses but it is what it is…”

Appoline shrugged and pulled her hand away from the cauldron. It hissed as she stopped supplying it mana, rocking back and forth, bubbling up in the centre and for a moment Kat thought boiling liquid was going to explode over everyone. Her wings flexed open and Kat was ready to shield Tweedle, and perhaps Appoline from the blast…

When suddenly it contracted, Kat didn’t lower her guard. Still, it seemed to be finished. The reddish goop closed in on itself so much that it was collecting in an orb at the centre instead of clinging to the walls. “Hmmm… think this one might be a failure. Want to test it?” said Appoline.

“How can you tell?” asked Tweedle.

“The fact that it’s still sticking to the cauldron implies that it doesn’t have a strong enough pull. I’m thinking I need some more windmill leaves and perhaps some feathers… but that’s a guess at this point. The colour is about what I expected, but that’s more a side effect of the ingredients I put in then anything else. Bottling it will be a bit of a pain… not sure the potion can be bottled properly. HMmm…” Appoline reached out with a bottle and dipped it into the elevated section of the potion. It bent around the glass bottle instead.

“Annoying, guess we’re going to have to test the whole batch at once. Not ideal, but acceptable for now. If it works we can tweak it,” explained Appoline as she gently took the cauldron off the fire.

“Are you just going to hurl that into the air or something after crossing the barrier?” asked Fred.

“Well… yes,” confirmed Appoline. Fred opened his mouth to retort only to shut it soon after. Apparently he couldn’t think of anything proper to complain about this method since it obviously wasn’t going into a bottle and disturbing it too much might lead to it getting set off. They moved over to the edge of the barrier and after a nod from the guards, Appoline threw it in.

Immediately, the red expand and started to spin, nearby poison started to be pulled towards it and the colour changed in response, slowly darkening as more and more poison was sucked up. It moved slowly forward and was able to grab more poison that way. If it kept going, it could clean up a fair bit… but Appoline was already shaking her head.

Before the cyclone could even make it five metres the whole thing started to destabilise, bulging in various spots for a moment before contracting down. Its forward momentum halted and the thing started to collapse in on itself. For a few moments, a slim column of liquid existed, before it exploded.

Poison went everywhere, splattering against the barrier and dumping itself on the ground. “Yeah about what I expected. The explosion at the end is because it destabilised, and the fact it didn’t float is an issue. Also didn’t condense properly but that might be related to the explosion. Hmm…” mumbled Appoline.