Isekaied Into An Eroge, Time To Have Fun!-Chapter 98: Alchemy (3)

"Hmm... that’s about right... Human girl, what is your name..?"

Returning to her podium and opening her books, the Professor was searching for something as I told her my name, earning a nod in response before she asked "Tell me, Natalie, why would you want to learn about salves?"

There was no malice in her voice, nor did it seem like she was demeaning me, but I was thoroughly embarrassed to have been the only one who wanted to start from the very beginning...

Even Sera raised a brow at me when she noticed I had raised my hand, though she seemed just as curious and wasn’t looking down at me either, so I felt a little better... just by a little bit though...

"I... It’s a very good way to learn and master the basics, which... I don’t think I’ve done just yet."

Trailing off a little at the end, I only continued to speak when Professor Jezebyra waved at me to continue, that piece of chalk still in one hand while the other was flipping through page after page.

"Salves are a good way to learn about portions, simple ingredient mixture, refinement and more without adding the ever present risk of some more... explosive effects when you make a mistake. Also most salves are used as ingredients themselves, so understanding how to make them better means you can make a better potion."

"That is mostly... correct... ah, here we are. Class list... for 1:45 to... hah..."

Slumping a little, the purple Elf let out a long sigh as she realize how long the class actually was before looking back up at me, her amethyst eyes sparkling a little as she said "You’re not entirely wrong, and I am quite relieved that someone seems to know that..."

"But Professor, everyone here had to make a good salve to get into the class. What point is there to doing it again when we are here to learn about potions?"

A fluffy eared girl with glasses asked that, her voice having a bit of an edge to it as she glanced over at me with a bit of a sneer, though when the Professor straightened up and stared at her she pressed herself back against her seat.

"You made a ’good’ salve once. You created something passable... once. Congratulations. If I need you to whip up a jar of healing salve right this instant, could you do it? Maybe, but Alchemy doesn’t work with ’maybe’. It is yes or it is no."

The sharpness in her voice made us all flinch, though immediately after she softened up and turned back to the board to start scribbling something down; as she did so she said "We will be making salves this week. I need to understand who I am teaching and you all need to learn that ’good’ is never enough.

Now, before anyone begins to think salves are ’useless’, Natalie brought up an even better point. Many intermediate potions and all of the ones above it are going to require a salve of some kind for an ingredient.

Some of them require something basic like a healing salve, others require more specific things like elemental resistance. Pills are another entire thing we are going to have to cover as well, but they are most likely something all of you have never been able to make yet."

Stepping back and tapping the board, Professor Jezebyra yawned and added "So we’ll be making a few batches of healing salves today and the rest of this week. That should be good enough to teach you everything you should need to know about salves, and I can also send these to the Physical Combat classes for use."

She nodded to herself before returning to the podium, leaving the recipe for the healing salve behind her and turning towards us with another yawn, looking at each of us before pointing at Galiena and asking "Can you tell me why Heartroot, Bloodthistle Sap and Mana Water work so well together?"

The Night Elf thought on it for a moment before replying "Heartroot has healing properties already, Bloodthistle Sap is a thickener and amplifier, while Mana Water helps combine everything during the process of boiling.", earning herself a nod from the Professor.

"Alchemy has reached where it is today through lots of trial and error. The healing salve available to everyone everywhere is made of these three simple ingredients, found pretty much everywhere on the continent.

Heartroot has been used for millennia as a healing agent, usually boiled in water and drank to help rid yourself of sickness or soothe aching muscles. Bloodthisle Sap is a sticky red liquid that has a fair amount of mana within itself, allowing it to work as an ’amplifier’ to most of what it is paired with, though it does dislike being bound to something else.

Mana Water is something that you will need to become very proficient in making. Taking normal potable water and imbuing your mana into it turns it into the most common potion ingredient in existence. Without it there are no potions, and without it everything we try to make will never work."

Pushing herself off of the podium and walking over to the large cabinets that were on either side of the chalkboard, Professor Jezebyra found the jars of Heartroot and Bloodthistle Sap and brought them out, gesturing for us to get up and gather around her as she prepared to show us how to make healing salve.

"Now this isn’t terribly hard nor time intensive, so I will show you now and you can replicate it yourselves. Three ingredients in a very simple recipe should be more than manageable for you all... I hope."

Selecting one of the many crimson colored roots and laying it on the table, she looked around at all of us before sighing again, shaking her head and keeping her thoughts to herself; I had no idea what was going through her head right now, but I was feeling a little excited to try and make my first salve~!