Starting today I'm an alchemist too (Potion Edition).

Karina-chan here!

I bought the alchemy textbook, Potion Edition, from Sati-tan, so starting today I'm an alchemist too (Potion Edition)!

So I started reading the textbook right away, and it was quite interesting. Well, I bought it because I was interested to begin with.

Apparently, the mana recovery effect of Mana Potions works by absorbing the mana contained in herbs and materials.

"So that means you can make Mana Potions from monsters too, right?"

In fact, monsters are actually excellent materials as sources of mana. Oho.

Eating them raw as ingredients doesn't provide much recovery though, so you need to process them properly. That's where the techniques of alchemy (Potion Edition) come in.

I went to gather herbs from the mountains near Solasidor right away. The textbook had illustrations, so they were easy to identify. Hehehe, now how should I cook these up… that's on the next page of the textbook.

 

 

"Huh? Onee-san, what are you doing?"

"Oh, Dea-kun. Alchemy. Alchemy, Potion Edition."

"! Geez, call me for stuff like this! Is that a new textbook? Let me see!"

Geez, Dea-kun is always so curious about new things! Sure thing!

"I was actually planning to learn it first and act all senpai-like around you, Dea-kun."

"Then you should have done it in your room instead of the living room."

"In my room, well, I get distracted…"

My toys catch my eye and I end up doing other things. Tehe.

"Then maybe we should make a workshop?"

"Ah, that's a good idea. Let's make one sometime. Doing woodwork in a workshop would be more productive too."

"I'm getting the urge to buy all sorts of tools."

"Should we make a smithy for blacksmithing tools and such? That'd be nice. So many dreams to pursue."

After all, I can make as many rooms as I want, so I can make rooms for each specific purpose.

Oh, then maybe a room stuffed with toys for, you know, that… no, those have to stay in my room. If Dea-kun or Aishia saw them, I'd die. Of embarrassment, that is.

"Onee-san, it looks like we need a grinding mortar and a mortar with pestle to grind the herbs."

"I could just substitute with Spatial Magic, but let's carve some tools out of stone. You want to try too, right, Dea-kun?"

"Yes, I'd like to try."

So I created a grinding mortar, a mortar, and a pestle from natural stone using Spatial Magic—shwip.

Eventually we might buy proper tools, but for trying things out, this should be enough.

"… These tools might actually be better quality than cheap ones you'd buy?"

"Huh, really? To me they're just makeshift."

"Your Spatial Magic has amazing precision, Onee-san. Plus they're basically carved from natural stone, so they might be equivalent to expensive tools."

Ahh, I do have confidence that my processing precision is second only to the Goddess in this world. Yep.

Anyway, following the textbook, I ground the herbs and squeezed out the juice. Then I have to simmer this in a pot while casting magic on it… apparently you need a Potion Pot, a Magic Tool with a special magic circle built in. You should've written that earlier. Such poor organization.

Well, the magic circle was in the book, so I could make it right away. I copied a small pot from the pirates' hideout and printed the magic circle on it. There we go, there we go. Done.

"This magic circle has all sorts of complex functions built into it!"

"Really?"

"Yes, it looks like it has effects for separation, extraction, and preservation. I wonder which part does what…"

Dea-kun didn't seem to enjoy grinding the herbs much, but he's super excited about the magic circle. I put the herbs in the pot together with water and simmered them.

I carefully skimmed off the scum. Apparently the scum itself becomes a different material, so I set it aside. Not using it this time though.

"… Phew, all this grinding and simmering is quite tedious."

"You don't like this kind of work much, Dea-kun?"

"It's completely different from thinking about Magic Tool circuits and combinations. Well, I guess making Magic Tools normally requires this kind of painstaking work too… Thanks to you, Onee-san, I'm realizing I've only been doing the fun parts."

Ahh, I've been handling all that easily with Spatial Magic. Like making ink.

Never failing when carving magic circles into wooden boards or filling them with ink is definitely a factor in Dea-kun's enthusiasm and talent for Magic Tools continuing to grow.

In terms of successfully getting magic circles he designed to function as Magic Tools, Dea-kun might actually have more experience than a novice Magic Tool craftsman. Conversely, he has none of the skills normally needed, like making ink or carving. He's becoming a super rare existence in this world—a magic circle design specialist.

I'm not against specialization.

Anyway, straining the simmered herbs produces Potion Base. It's a blue-green color and quite pretty.

Apparently you add materials containing mana to the Potion Base, simmer it in the Potion Pot, and strain it to make various potions.

"If I simmer Magic Stones, it should definitely become a Mana Potion. Seems like there's a lot of room for experimentation with different blends."

"If we tweak the magic circle, couldn't we make specific potions more efficiently?"

"Yeah, I'll leave that research to you, Dea-kun. For now, I'll just make a Mana Potion and try drinking it."

I poured in some crushed Goblin and Orc Magic Stones and simmered it as a test.

…

The color turned much bluer. Is this good enough? Let me try a sip.

I scooped some with a wooden spoon and brought it to my mouth.

"Mmm… bitter. And my mana isn't recovering at all…"

"Let me try a sip too… Oh, one sip recovers quite a bit of mana."

Hmm? Dea-kun and I have different reactions? What's going on?

"But even if I drink a whole bottle, it won't even recover enough for one Spatial Magic Teleport? If I made Copies it'd definitely be a loss."

"… Isn't that just because Spatial Magic consumes a lot of mana?"

"Huh!?"

[Breaking News] Whoa, is my mana capacity too huge!? [Obviously]

I'm Goddess-made and can wield cheat magic. Of course my capacity is massive!

"I wanted percentage-based recovery…!"

"So potions don't replenish mana from within, huh. If they did, they'd probably put a lot of strain on the body."

Ohh, that's true. It would be like borrowing from your future self in emergencies. At best it'd be like energy drinks—fine occasionally but regular use would be bad for you.

I portioned out the completed potion with Spatial Magic and put it away. I hadn't bought potion bottles. I'll have to get some later.

"But Onee-san, doesn't that mean you can use regular magic as much as you want? Like the magic skills from the Catalog?"

"Ooh. So that's what the magic scrolls are for. I see…"

… Right. On the other hand, if I used my own body as a material, how much mana recovery would that give? Strike while the iron's hot—I copied a piece of my own breast meat, minced it up, and threw it into the Potion Base.

Ooh, the color's changing rapidly.

"… Onee-san, what material did you just add? It went blue, then past blue to purple, and now it's turning red."

"Uh, my flesh."

"Don't just casually use yourself as a material!?"

It's just a copy, so who cares. Right?

"Still, a red potion, huh… Dea-kun, this is still a Mana Potion, right? It did turn blue at first."

"Uh, I don't know…? At least the textbook says Mana Potions are blue."

"It's just a beginner's introductory text. I'm sure advanced books have red Mana Potions too. Yeah, definitely."

I declared it complete when it turned bright red and portioned it out with Spatial Magic.

Maybe I should buy some glass potion bottles. They'd look nice.

"Just smelling it feels like your mana would overflow with recovery."

"Well, if I drank all of this, even I'd recover a fair bit. Not enough for a single Copy, but enough for several other Spatial Magic spells."

The efficiency is poor, but if I get dizzy from using too much mana, drinking this would help a little.

Might be good for storing excess mana. Karina-chan Potion.