Chapter 18 - A small glimpse at Alchemy (1/2)
Time passed unperturbed, and the last rays of light had already seeped below the horizon, giving space to the tranquil atmosphere of the night. The distance brought forward the ever-eager sound of wild animals getting ready for their nightly escapades.
In a clearing stood a singular hut, whose chimney was puffing a steady flow of smoke. The fireplace was lit, and the fire was cracking while a small, blonde-haired girl was sitting on the floor in front of it with a contented smile on her face.
”Aaaaah I love desserts! It is the best!” She then opened her eyes, only to see that her brother was no longer sitting next to him, but made her way towards the elderly lady, who was preparing a large cauldron.
She was currently cleaning it, making sure there are no residue or stains inside it. She had to be thorough, as anything could cause impurities in the final product. Impurities that would lower the end products pristine quality, and she couldn't have any of that. Her pride as a Master Alchemist would be in ruins after the fact.
As she was cleaning, and humming to herself, she just noticed the boy that was in front of her, looking at her every movement with focused eyes.
”Oh Aiden, are you interested in Alchemy? Would you like to watch?” Granny asked the boy.
Aiden, who could now perfectly understand their speech, but was still unable to express himself, at least not until the system finished its process and granted him the necessary skill, nodded his head in affirmation.
”Alright, but do not touch anything okay? Just watch, and I will do my best to explain the steps to you.” Then she turned towards the resting girl. ”Lily you should come as well, and stand with Aiden, okay?”
Lily frowned a bit, as she was in an absolute bliss, caressing her full tummy, like if it was her unborn child. However, after thinking about it momentarily, she could be with her brother, and as his senior, she could help him! This realization transformed the frown to a happy smile and filled with energy about this newfound revelation she hopped to her feet and ran to them while cheerfully answering her Granny.
”Sure Granny! I will help little brother explain things! Leave it to me!”
Granny smiled at Lily's shenanigans, then she focused once again on the task in front of her. Continuing the cleaning process, she gently explained.
”Cleaning the cauldron, or in fact whatever you will be using to brew your potions or pills, is of paramount importance. You have to make sure there is not even a tiny speck of dust or grime left inside, as that could cause impurities, failures or in some rare cases even explosions.
You see, standing next to an exploding cauldron is not something, you want to experience, so you could understand how important this preparation phase is, right?”
Listening to Granny's words, Aiden nodded his head. However, he was wondering, would he survive the explosion? His new body is pretty durable, and even if the power of the explosion would prove fatal, he could still shapeshift into a more durable form. For example, his 'Birth State' may be able to withstand it.
'I have to get a form that is more durable, in similar cases it could be useful.' he thought to himself.
[That would be a wise decision Aiden. One of your main goal should be to assimilate as many life forms as you can. You will also need to start using Fusion at some point, to fuse specific abilities to your main form.] Enya's soft voice resounded in his soul space.
She was right, so far, he didn't even take a look at the Fusion feature. Not that he had any reason to, there were no abilities to gain from the Bug form, and he did not want to do anything with his Birth state if it's not forced onto him. Now he had this new, default form and his previous form, the Cave Viper had his toxic, incredibly poisonous spit that could be useful. However, he could not control it, and the idea that the contents of his mouth would be always deathly venomous is not something he was looking forward to. So, for the time being, he decided to wait for a form that would have better abilities.
As she was cleaning the insides of the cauldron, Granny was taking peeks at Aiden every now and then. She could see that the boy was watching her every move, with an incessant, fervent gaze. It was as if he was analyzing her every move, trying to understand the underlying meaning in her smallest movements.
'This boy… just how many secrets does he hold..' she thought to herself while continuing the cleaning.
In fact, she wasn't wrong. Aiden was indeed analyzing her every move. Or to be more precise the system was, through Aiden's vision. He could see the notifications popping up every now and then.
[Analyzing Alchemy. Progress 2%]
[Analyzing Alchemy. Progress 3%]
However, he noticed that he will probably need to watch the entire process multiple times, as after reaching 5%, the progress stopped and it said that he needs to watch the next phase to continue with the analysis.
[Analyzing Alchemy. Progress 5%. Threshold reached. Continue watching the next step, to continue gathering information for analysis.]
As Granny was doing the last scrapes in the cleaning of the cauldron, she looked back at the 2 and continued her lecture.
”Once you are absolutely sure that you have cleaned your cauldron, and even double checked it, just for safety, we can continue with the next step.” Then looking at Lily, she asked. ”Lily my dear, can you tell me what the next step is?”
Lily raised her right hand to the air while exclaiming loudly.
”I know! Preparing the ingredients in order!”