Chapter 60: The Feel of Alchemy [ I ]
–Chapter 60–
Title>> The Feel of Alchemy [ I ]
Back at the Green Solace...
By the time Xavier reached Buttallo’s preparation table, the fairy gardener had already begun arranging his materials.
The table itself was a broad section of root that had grown flat and smooth over decades of use.
Several glass jars and small pouches occupied one side, while unfamiliar tools were arranged across the middle. At the far end, a clay vessel sat above a low heat source that produced warmth without any visible flame.
Sir Buttallo glanced at Xavier as he approached, then returned his attention to the materials.
"You really intend to learn?"
Xavier stopped beside the table. "I wouldn’t have asked you to teach me if I didn’t."
Buttallo’s eyes lingered on him for a moment.
"Then I have to ask something." He picked up one of the small jars and turned it between his fingers. "Why?"
Xavier’s brows lifted in minor confusion. What was the fairy talking about.
"You restored Fiona’s wing. You restored plants that I had already considered beyond saving. You did something I have never seen another fairy even the ones before me accomplish."
Buttallo placed the jar back down. "If you can do all that, why are you here asking me how to make a healing potion?"
Xavier looked at the preparations spread across the table.
It was a fair question. A very good one at that. But as simple as the answer was, he wasn’t going to give Buttallo the answer he actually wanted but what he needed.
"Because I want to learn how fairies do it."
Several creases formed above Sir Buttallo’s brow as they furrowed. "That is not an answer."
"It is..., " Xavier paused "Stay with me." Xavier pulled out the chair beside the table and sat.
"I know how to use my own abilities. But that doesn’t mean I should ignore everything else simply because I have them."
With his expression unconvinced and unchanged. Sir Buttallo keep his eyes focused on Xavier.
Xavier continued before the gardener could argue.
"Besides, Restore isn’t something I can use for everything. Even if it were, I would still rather have something I can prepare beforehand and give to someone else than stand around casting a skill every time somebody needs help."
The creases on the fairy’s forehead slowly receded, that seemed to make Buttallo pause.
This would have to do, because Xavier had no intention of explaining the real limitation.There were things about his abilities that were his business alone.
"I came here," he continued, "and I found something I don’t know. Why wouldn’t I learn it?"
The last few statements finally got Buttallo’s expression back to normal. He didn’t necessarily believe the boy because everyone did have their own secrets but something about his enthusiasm reminded Buttallo of his younger self.
He had expected someone who could perform miracles to have little interest in learning ordinary methods.
Instead, Xavier was sitting in front of him asking to understand the very things Buttallo had spent years learning.
The gardener gave a small grunt. "Fair enough."
He reached for a bundle of dried stems and placed it in front of Xavier.
"You already know what materials do?"
"Generally," Xavier nodded.
"But you don’t know what they feel like."
Xavier’s fingers moved toward the bundle as Buttallo pointed at it.
"Crush those. Slowly."
Xavier picked up the dried stems and began crushing them between his fingers.
The stems were brittle, but not completely dry. There was still some resistance beneath his fingers before the outer fibres gave way, releasing a faint herbal scent into the air.
His Alchemy skill immediately began feeding him information about the material.
Xavier ignored it. Instead, he paid attention to what was happening in his hand.
The stems broke apart gradually, their texture changing as the pressure increased. A small amount of moisture emerged from within despite their dried appearance.
"Too fast," Buttallo said.
Xavier stopped in immediate response. "I was not going fast."
"You were," Buttallo made a rotating hand gesture, Xavier couldn’t understand.
Xavier glanced at him as Buttallo pointed toward the crushed stems. "You are thinking about what you are making instead of what you are holding."
Looking down at the material between his fingers. Xavier brushed them together softly.
"They are different things," Buttallo completed.
For a moment, Xavier said nothing. Then he gathered another bundle.
Buttallo watched him. "Again."
Xavier started over. This time, he slowed his hands and paid attention to the material itself. The resistance beneath his fingers. The point where the outer fibres began to break. The moisture hidden within the stems and the way it changed the texture once released.
It was not difficult compared to some medical practices or even gaming procedures he had tested and accomplished.
It was simply different from relying on information.
The Alchemy skill could tell him what the material was capable of. It could tell him how it interacted with other ingredients. But it did not replace the experience of actually handling it.
Xavier continued until the stems were reduced to a fine mixture.
Buttallo inspected it. "Better."
Xavier placed the crushed material aside.
"What next?"
The fairy gardener gave him another bundle. "Now you learn why you were crushing it slowly."
Xavier looked at the new material. Then at Buttallo. The gardener’s mouth twitched almost to a senile smile.
"Don’t worry. I will tell you what to do before you ruin it."
***
After minutes of trying to redeem the irredeemable, Xavier finally came to terms that the first preparation failed.
The mixture separated before it could properly hold together, the mana dispersing through the compound instead of concentrating within it.
Xavier was pissed at the result but Buttallo studied it.
"You applied too much pressure during the second stage," he said. "You broke the structure before the mana could settle into it."
Xavier glanced at the materials and then at himself.
His Alchemy skill had already given him the theoretical explanation, but that wasn’t what mattered here.
He compared what he had done with what Buttallo had just told him, then considered the difference between knowing the correct process and actually performing it.
He understood the mistake.
"Again?"
Buttallo nodded at how enthusiastic Xavier was.
The second attempt failed just as stylishly but in a different manner.
This time, the mixture held together longer before separating. The mana began to gather inside the compound, only to disperse again when Xavier introduced the final ingredient.
Buttallo examined it by swirling the ocean blue mixture in the jar. "Closer."
Xavier looked at the mixture. "How?"
"You noticed the separation before I told you."
Xavier’s fingers rested against the edge of the table.
The third attempt went even further. The mixture held. Mana gathered inside it. But the System only recognized the result as a compound rather than a completed preparation.
Xavier stared at it for a moment.
Buttallo’s expression softened slightly.
"You’re making immense progress," The Older fairy admitted.
This was something that would usually take a normal person months of trial and error to achieve.
Yet this dragon was consuming all the practical information like he was a devourer and is somehow beating himself up for failing on his first three attempts.
"It isn’t finished yet?" Xavier confirmed.
"No. But the first two weren’t even close."
Xavier looked at the compound again. Then he reached for the materials again.
***
Several attempts followed. Each failure was slightly different. Each correction narrowed the gap between what Xavier knew and what his hands were actually doing.
Eventually, something changed. He stopped thinking about the final product and started paying attention to the materials themselves, reading their resistance, their texture and the moment mana began to respond.
After the seventh try, the mixture finally held.
This time, the components stayed together.
The mana concentrated instead of dispersing, settling through the compound until the clay vessel released a faint herbal scent that smelled strangely complete.
Buttallo leaned his head closer just as Xavier did.
And finally after hours of keeping silent, the System finally said something.
[Alchemical Success]
[Item Created: Minor Mana Potion ]
[Effects: Restores 50 Mana on use.]
[Alchemy Mastery +40%]
Xavier looked down at the small vial in his hand with a proud smile. His first of many future successful preparations.
Buttallo reached for another bundle of ingredients and placed it on the table.
"Again."
Xavier looked at him with kneaded brows.
"Now that you know what it feels like," Buttallo said, "do it until it becomes reflex."
Xavier set the vial aside.
Then he reached for the next bundle.
–End of Chapter–