Although Leon had only been away for five days, his little hut and garden were showing the first signs of his neglect. For example, there was a thin layer of dust coating the shelves inside his home, where the air smelled a little musty and the soil of the planted bladed thistle bulbs was a little dry, despite being watered well (but not overly) before he left them be. The garden had sprouted several new weeds and a handful of them had grown quite big in that very short time.
With a sigh, Leon rolled up his sleeves and grabbed his bucket and cleaning cloth. As it had rained a fair bit over the past couple of days, the barrels outside his home had accumulated a good amount of water, so he did not need to travel to the lake this time. Cleaning took the best part of the morning, especially as he decided to wash his bed sheets in the tub, before leaving them to dry in the brisk air. The weeding took much longer. One of the weeds had extremely firm roots and had buried deep into the soil. Another had a perfumed scent as he tugged it from the soil. He placed these aside, wondering if they were more than just simple weeds.
After a long, arduous day, Leon didn't wish to cook anything complicated and simply made rice congee with peas and herbs before settling upon the floor, basking in the remnant heat of the stove. It had been quite a while since he had last carved and on seeing his knife upon the shelf as he cleaned, his fingers had been itching to grab it. The moment the sharp blade sliced into the piece of wood, Leon felt his whole body relax and his thoughts wander.
Jin Li had been quite strange this morning with his deeds and words, not only pressing for something that Leon could not give him (as he wasn't sure what he wanted), but also reluctant to let him leave the martial arts school. Sun had even questioned him.
"Jin Li, What are you thinking?" The youth had asked. "Leon's not a martial artist, he can't stay here. And besides, Jin Li, is he not at the alchemist school to make pills to help improve your growth and strength? How can he do that if he is here?" Sun had not yet figured out that Leon was not Jin Li's servant, but he was not wrong that Leon would make him pills. "We'll visit when we have time, okay, Jin Li?" Leon had agreed, even though the suggestion was not directed at him and Jin Li had finally given in.
"Don't think that I will forget," he had murmured into Leon's ear as he made to leave, causing the colour to flare in the alchemist's face.
Leon sighed as the leaping koi fish slowly appeared in his hand. It was different to what he usually carved, which were more two dimensional in appearance. Even though it had been a while, he seemed to have not only not have lost his touch, but improved upon it. Though the fish was small, its fan like tail seemed delicate, its beady eyes alert and its body defined with scales. And just beneath the fin upon one side, Leon carved a symbol of prosperity, while on the other side, he carved an 'L' to represent his name on a whim.
After he was done, he yawned heavily and crawled into bed, falling asleep within minutes.
*****
A few of days later, Leon was making his way to the Herb Hall to hand in a large batch of clear spiritual pills, one heart pills and a few blood pills. As he had a fair bit of purple spirit grass in an interspacial bag in the trunk beneath his bed from his experiments, he had decided to use it to test whether the same reduction of impurities occurred in not only one heart pills and blood pills, but their improved counterparts as well. He had not used any of the grass from the Southern Grassy Plains though, not wanting to produce inferior pills anymore.
The result had been much the same with the pills improving in quality even if they were the standard version of the pill. The improved pills had been of good quality to begin with, those made with the grass from White Jade Crystal Mountain or even the little remaining for harvest in his own garden were now on the cusp of high quality, only lacking in the spiritual concentration that would improve Leon's standard pills to above average.
The improved pills were naturally tucked away, the best ones Leon would save for his own use, while the others could be sold for more silver. But Leon hesitated in taking the better quality pills, not wanting to stand out, especially as the higher quality was not due to his talent, but to his source ingredients. So he decided that, for now, he would just take the pills he had made as a base for the experiments. He never considered using the poor quality pills at all, leaving those upon a shelf.
Author's note; I apologise that after enticing you with dog food, I now must remove the bowl. But as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder x x x
The plaza in which the Food Hall, Herb Hall and the Lecturers Hall were located was bustling with students, both first years and seniors, who swiftly moved between Herb Hall and Lecturers Hall and in the reverse also. Leon had to wonder just what was occurring. However, he was never one to step forward and enquire, so he just slipped inside the Herb Hall to exchange his pills.
Teacher Sagi was there with two seniors, checking pills and handing out bundles of herbs to those who entered. When the Teacher saw Leon enter, his eyes lit brightly and he beckoned the boy to his side.
"Leo, thank goodness," Teacher Sagi exclaimed. "I hadn't seen you since the start of the Standings! Where did you disappear to? Actually never mind that! We're in a bit of a crisis and to rectify it requires the assistance of all students."
In fact, two rather large events had occurred at the same time. Poachers had been discovered on the Hidden Vale mountain, that part of the Sky Reaching Mountain range that was protected by the Beast Taming school in order to train martial artists and beast tamers alike. And upon Silver Spire mountain, where the foliage was significant less and the stone skin of the range was more dominant in appearance, there had been an explosion in the outer mage school, when a student had lost control of their magic and caused others to lose control as well.
The stocks of healing pills and potions had been depleted to aid the latter first, with Beast Calming pills, Hidden Mist Pills and the beast orientated Dream Blossom potions sent to the former to ease wounded and orphaned beasts, while students were conscripted to make healing pills.
On hearing that, Leon handed over his stock of pills, feeling a little guilty that he had left the better quality ones behind. Nonetheless Teacher Sagi was grateful as Leon produced twenty one heart pills and ten blood pills along with the clear spiritual pills, that while would not help with the crisis, were always needed at this time of year for first years throughout the institute.
"As always, Leo," Teacher Sagi said with a smile, "I can rely on you. Are you able to perhaps make Fox Bandages?" Leon frowned as he considered all of the pills and potions in Leo's diaries and realised that the recipe was not noted down at all, so he shook his head. "Well, I am not surprised. I usually teach it to students a little older than you as it requires a focused mind and touch. But I only have two students able to create them now as they are not usually in high demand, seeing as they are only needed for wild beasts. Come with me for a moment."
Fox bandages were an external remedy for beasts(although could also be used on humans), a mix of a healing potion called Spring Willow Salve and strips of silk soaked in river reed sap-water. River reeds were very common and grew in clumps in rivers and lakes, the main plant submerged with a stalk coated in tiny, wispy flowers emerging from the plant. These stalks had a sticky sap within them, which if the plant was damaged, would seep out and harden immediately. This made harvesting it a more difficult job. One way to do so was to cut the reed while submerged in water. The diluted sap would not harden until the water evaporated.
The Spring Willow Salve was an old recipe, hardly produced by most alchemists and even pharmacists kept only a small supply. Smearing it onto a wound would cleanse it and improve the rate of which the wound healed. However, more people relied on cheap one heart pills to heal themselves nearly instantly, should the wound be an annoyance. It was hard to get wild beasts to take pills, so the salve was a better solution. Coupled with the silk bandages, their wounds would be protected from dirt, water and infection until the sap weakened and the bandages fell off the healed wound.
However, the worst thing about making Spring Willow Salve, Leon discovered, was the smell! Once Teacher Sagi was satisfied with Leon's reproduction of the recipe, Leon was left alone with a spare cauldron to mix and create the potion and to deal with the smell by himself.
The recipe's primary ingredient was called Lilyfoot and also required a whole flowering version. The flower resembled a lily, just like the ones from his old world with six large petals and long stamen coated in pollen, although this one was a wet-sand colour and speckled with greenish spots. The flower's scent was a bit like sweaty gym socks, should one get a good sniff of it. However, this smell was only enhanced while the roots and flower were boiled until Leon could safely say it was like being in a changing room belonging to a rugby team who have just come in off the field and removed their footwear.
In the meantime, Leon removed the thorns of the Falcon rose plant, the large curved thorns resembling the beak of the bird of prey. These required spiritual energy to remove them, hence why Teacher Sagi could not rely on others. In the past, harvesters would just wear blacksmith's gloves and tear the thorns off with brute strength, but not only did that spill some of the inner acid inside the thorns, which was the ingredient needed for the Salve, but it also damaged and weakened the plant, which would eventually die from the abuse. This had caused the plant to become rare and forced alchemists to create new healing products, which is why the one heart pill had been invented.
Coating a blade with spiritual energy, the alchemist could carefully slice the thorn off without damaging the plant and the energy would also 'seal' the thorn to stop the acid from being lost. Leon caught onto the concept of using his energies surprisingly fast, Teacher Sagi had been exceedingly pleased and could not regret passing on the old recipe into Leon's reliable hands.
The acid from the thorns was mixed with the leaves of the lilyfoot, dissolving them into a slimy goo that was then added to the cooled and drained stinky water and stirred until it began thicken. It was then placed in a keg to finish setting. Only once the valve was stoppered and the remnants tossed was Leon able to breath again.
Celebrate; chapter 100!!!
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