6.66 - The New Metal
Salire stood outside with Theo, watching as he decomposed the solid part of the leftover essence. It broke into two parts, one-tenth of which was volatile and couldn’t be broken down further. The liquid it left behind was marked as ‘impure,’ which neither member of the duo knew what to make of. The alchemist held it to the light, swirling the flask of lightly pink liquid and humming to himself.
“It feels slightly reactive,” Theo said. “I’m not sure this is worth using, though.”
“Everything is worth taking a note for, though!” Salire said with a bit too much excitement. “I’ll record it anyway.”
“Let’s review,” Theo said, clearing his throat. “Everything we know about Tero’gal’s version of alchemy and herbalism.”
Salire flipped through the pages of her notebook, nodding and looking up as though ready to take notes.
“We swapped from the grade of an essence, to purity. Which makes a lot more sense. If you examine raw reagents, you can determine some of that purity before processing.”
“Which is why reagent quality matters more for Tero’gal’s alchemy. That’s also why we have the specialized greenhouses.” Salire underlined a section in her notes. “We have better control over what we’re doing because we can assume less pure reactions are more volatile.”
“Agreed,” Theo said, tapping his chin. “Jumping from tier 2 to 3 might be about something else, though. We need some theories about that, since we can only make an essence so pure before the numbers are meaningless. We’ll jump from 95 to 98 percent and then what?”
“Alternative methods,” Salire said with an excited nod. “But I have the current method documented very well. For the second tier, we’re looking at the same deal. A centrifuge removes the impure part of the essence, leaving behind waste. But the pressure vapor condenser is still required.”