23 The Alchemist Apprentice, Part 2

The next item I plucked from the shelf was another rare ingredient. It was purple dust that glittered inside its pouch like a sea of sparkling stars.

"This is pixie dust," Liara deduced. Then she punched me in the shoulder suddenly. "Pixie dust's a hallucinogenic—it's a party drug!"

"That's just how you party animals at the tower use it," I chuckled. "Pixie dust—especially the high-grade ones in this pouch—well, it's used for something more serious than getting shit-faced and high… it's a damn-good catalyst for combining strong ingredients.

The final ingredient I acquired was a tiny vial of 'Hallowed Tears' harvested from the waterworks of a living saint. I assumed that the saint in question was long dead, but that didn't mean their tears had lost their power.

"Okay, now comes the fun stuff." I pulled out Divah's journal and reread the instructions for the attunement ritual she'd written down for me. "Combine the three ingredients in a sanctified bowl of rosewood—"

I glanced back at the shelf and zoned in on the tools I would need for this.

"Grab that wooden bowl for me, will you," I asked Liara. "And don't forget that 'Ever-Heating Jug of Spring Water' on the shelf above it, too."

"Anything else?" she sounded a bit annoyed.

"Nope. That's about it."

"Isn't it strange that all these materials are readily available to us?"

"Well, these mats are necessary to attune with any one of the grimoires found here so not really."

"Same rules as the special section then?"

"Exactly."

Once we'd gathered everything, I set them all on the floor and began to bring these dissimilar materials together with the power of alchemy. If it wasn't obvious yet then now was the time to reveal that besides being a kickass all-rounder, I was also a budding alchemist. Groovy.

'Remember, the chant is just as important as the ingredient if one wishes to create an attunement spell of expedience.'

Per the journal's instructions, I poured water from the Ever-heating Jug of Spring Water—this cool-looking thermos made entirely of something that looked like molten obsidian but was cool to the touch—into the sanctified bowl of rosewood while reciting the incantation Divah had written down for me. "Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn, and wooden bowl bubble…"

The water inside the bowl instantly turned from hot cocoa levels to boiling temperature heights.

"The flower born from an elf's mistake"—I crushed the glowing petals of the royal elf's foil in my hands and dropped them into the water—"in the bowl to boil and bake…"

Then I sprinkled pixie dust into the bowl in a clockwise rotation.

"Enhance with the power of groovy dust, to wish for a body made robust." I chanted.

I picked up the tiny vial next.

"Finish this tincture with hallowed tears"—I poured two drops of the old saint's tears into the bowl to represent the two idiots who were preparing to take on insane-level risks for the allure of power—"and banish away all doubts and fears."

"Form a charm of powerful muscle"—Finally, I formed a 'valknut' over the sanctified bowl of rosewood; triple-linked triangles that reflected the connection between earth, heaven, and the underworld and then brought them together in harmony—"like a Viking's mead of fun and trouble."

With the assistance of the valknut, the water in the bowl turned from its colors of blue and purple swirls into a mixture that glowed like a deep blue sea reflecting the pale light of a full moon.

"Double, double toil and trouble"—Liara joined me in chanting these final lines—"our mana burn and our magic rumble!"

The valknut winked out as the liquid inside the bowl began to cool. A sweet, sugary aroma wafted out of it, which Divah's journal claimed was how you knew you'd concocted the potion the right way.

"That was…" Liara's eyes were glittering at me. "It was…"

"Incredible?" I supplied. "Amazing—stupendous—uncanny—out of this world?"

Honestly, a normal-grade potion like an attunement draft wasn't anything special to me as I'd witnessed Divah concoct excellent-grade, life-saving elixirs before. But, a novice like Liara who probably didn't have as much experience with alchemy as I did certainly would have found this moment an achievement worth feeling excited about. Well, I guess the caveboy in me was a little thrilled that she was excited.

"Don't push it, Wisdom." Liara's elation deflated just like that. "So, what's next?"

"Now we get naked," I grinned.

Okay, okay, I know how that just sounded. But absorbing magical energy through the skin was an efficient method of cultivation, and stripping down to our undies to expose more skin was the quickest way to go about things.

Anyway, after I suffered through Liara's look of disdain, I led her back to the dais where we'd both met our ends in the previous run of my crazy life.

"Okay, do as I do…" I stripped to my undies without looking at her because even I felt embarrassed about showing off too much of my skinny teenage body to the pretty elf maiden. Once that was done, I took a long swig of the potion we'd made and then offered it to Liara. "Remember our time inside the fairy pool?"

"Yes," she said as she took the bowl from me. "You want us to absorb and attune to the magical energy leaking out of those grimoires, right?"

Dwalinn did call her a wunderkind so she was pretty quick on the uptake.

"Yeah…" I glanced her way and noticed that she'd also dressed down for the occasion. "Ahem… we'll begin the attunement process once we've gotten close enough to them."

"All right." Liara slapped me on the small of my back, causing me to stiffen unexpectedly. "Lead the way."

Her smile—that playful, mischievous look she gave me then—was the very thing that tethered me and kept me sane throughout the rest of the painful attunement process. Yep, it was unimaginable pain all over again because that's what you get when you try to absorb the raw magic of the Elemental King of Fire into yourself—pain like washing your insides with lava over and over again.

Divah's journal was little help here as the wisdom she left for me was distilled into a single word; 'Endure.'

Still, just like that time within the fairy well, this torture was a feat of mind over matter. And, eventually, as my body gradually attuned to the elemental energy I absorbed from the grimoire on the pedestal before me, the searing pain in my insides cooled into a tolerant warmth that made me stop wishing for another quick death.

I didn't know how Liara was doing either. I couldn't bear to look and see that pained expression on her face for a second time. She didn't cry out though. She seemed to be enduring as I did, and I knew we would both be stronger for it.

Later—much, much later than I anticipated—that feverish feeling finally went away. I opened my eyes and reached out for the pendant nestled on the pedestal. It was an orange gemstone shaped to resemble a fireball. A soft, golden glow emanated from it, bringing heat and warmth to my palms.

A chime from my status bar drew my attention to my pile of clothes beneath the dias and the blue screen resting on top with its notification that was easy enough to read from where I stood.

[CONGRATULATIONS! You have received the blessing of the Elemental King of Fire! You are now the owner of [Flame Heart], a legendary-grade grimoire that shall set its wielder on the path to becoming a Lord of Flames.]

"Flame Heart…" I whispered as I tied this pendant to the same silver chain that my hearthstone hung from. "I choose you."

"Took you long enough," Liara called.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw her sitting on the dais' bottom step. A sparkling crystal tiara was nestled on her brow.

"You attuned with the Ice Crown?" I asked expectantly.

For an answer, Liara raised her hand, and after whispering a chant that was inaudible to my ears, a three-foot blade of ice formed in her hand.

"Groovy," I grinned.

"What about you?" Liara asked. "Did you finally work it out with your grimoire?"

I raised my hand too, and after whispering "Nova Stella," a golden flame came to life in my hand, one that was bright enough to light up the entire space around us.

"So, how does it feel to have a sun in the palm of your hand?" Liara asked.

I flashed her an excited grin. "Cosmic."