Chapter 35: First encounter with dwarves and learning alchemy
Here’s the direct continuation: arrival at the Artisans’ Guild, meeting an important dwarf, and then alchemy training with Elaria.
When Adam arrived at the Artisans’ Guild, he immediately sensed a difference from the previous day.
The place was busier.
Reinforced crates were stacked near the entrance.
Several artisans were carrying ingots, crystals, and sealed boxes bearing dwarven markings.
Near the large counter, Elaria was talking with a woman Adam had never seen before.
She was small.
Very small.
Barely four feet tall.
But her presence was anything but small.
Her long black hair was tied back in a thick braid adorned with metallic beads. Her gray eyes shone with keen intelligence, and her compact frame exuded an air of strength and stability. Her hips were wide, her torso generous, and despite her height, she possessed a figure that naturally drew the eye.
A miniature beauty.
But seeing the hammer hanging from her belt and the runic bracelets on her wrists, Adam quickly understood that she was not to be underestimated.
Elaria noticed his arrival.
"Adam. You’ve arrived just in time."
The dwarf turned her head toward him.
Her gaze swept over him with disarming candor.
Then she smiled.
"So this is him?"
Adam blinked.
"Him?"
Elaria adjusted her glasses.
"Adam, this is Mira Heartforge. She’s the leader of the dwarven merchant caravan currently in Valoria."
Mira proudly placed a hand on her chest.
"Mira Heartforge, of the Heartforge clan of the Gray Mountains. Merchant, trader, blacksmith in my spare time, and the best metal judge in my entire caravan."
She paused, then added with a smile,
"In my opinion, of course."
Adam inclined his head slightly.
"Pleased to meet you, Adam."
"I know."
Mira approached him and gazed at him curiously.
"The man recommended by the duchess, trained by Selene, observed by Vespera, and kidnapped by Elaria to learn the craft."
Adam looked at Elaria.
"Kidnapped?"
Elaria replied calmly,
"An exaggeration."
Mira burst out laughing.
"Not so much, if she gave you access to her private workshop."
Adam felt he had just discovered something important.
"Is that rare?"
Mira looked at him as if he’d just asked the obvious.
"Boy, I’ve known Elaria for decades. Even she only lets me into her private workshop when she needs something very specific."
Elaria looked away slightly.
"That’s not entirely untrue."
Adam raised an eyebrow.
"So I should feel honored?"
Mira smiled.
"Or worried. With Elaria, the two often go hand in hand."
Adam remained silent.
"It seems to be a common theme among all of you."
The dwarf laughed again.
Elaria continued more seriously:
"Mira has come for a special enchantment job. Some parts of her caravan need to be reinforced before she sets off again for the dwarven territories."
Mira folded her arms.
"The roads are getting less safe." Bandits, monsters, and above all, those damned tensions with the Holy Empire. Even a dwarven caravan can’t afford to travel without extra protection.
Adam immediately thought of his conversation with Shiora.
Trade routes.
Banks.
Imperial propaganda.
Economic pressure.
It all seemed connected.
"Is the Empire affecting the dwarven roads too?"
Mira’s face hardened slightly.
"Not directly. Not yet. But their merchants are avoiding certain crossings, their priests are spreading rumors, and their border patrols are becoming increasingly arrogant. When fanatical humans start talking about purification, the dwarves are always checking the condition of their axes."
Adam nodded slowly.
Elaria gently placed her notebook against her chest.
"We’ll discuss this later, Mira. I have to begin Adam’s lesson."
The dwarf looked at Adam, then at Elaria.
A mischievous smile appeared on her lips.
"Very well. I won’t steal your new apprentice. Not today."
Adam blinked.
"Not today?"
"If you learn quickly, I might have a couple of things to show you someday. Dwarves know how to work metal in ways that even the best human artisans don’t always understand."
Elaria replied calmly:
"That’s true."
Adam smiled slightly.
"Then I’ll gladly accept."
Mira stared at him for a second.
Then she laughed.
"Polite, curious, and not intimidated by a dwarf wielding a hammer. I understand why they’re all interested in you."
Adam wisely decided not to respond to that.
After they finished their conversation, Elaria led Adam to her private workshop.
The door closed behind them, silencing the sounds of the guild.
The space was as perfectly organized as the day before.
But this time, the alchemy workshop occupied the center of the room.
Several plants were lined up on a table.
Empty vials.
Mana crystals.
Mineral powders.
Pools of purified water.
And several small enchanted burners.
Adam observed everything.
"Today, only alchemy?"
"Yes," Elaria replied. "Yesterday, I showed you the major branches of crafting. Today, we’ll delve into a single foundation."
She indicated the ingredients.
"Minor healing potions. Minor mana potions. Disinfecting solutions. Muscle recovery balms. These are simple but essential products."
Adam nodded.
After training with Selene, the last example particularly interested him.
Elaria began with a minor healing potion.
She picked up a green plant with thick leaves.
"Vitalis leaf. It contains a very weak but stable life energy." "
Then she added a pale root.
"Root of Calm. It prevents the reaction from becoming too aggressive for the body."
Next, a few drops of a clear liquid.
"Water purified by crystal of light. It serves as a carrier."
Adam discreetly activated Eyes of the World.
The information appeared in fragments.
Purity.
Freshness.
Proportion.
Recommended temperature.
Probable reaction.
He couldn’t see everything yet.
But enough to follow the logic.
Elaria crushed the leaves, heated the water, added the root at the right moment, then circulated a small amount of mana through the vial.
The liquid turned light green.
"Minor healing potion. It won’t close a serious wound, but it speeds up healing and reduces minor pain."
Adam memorized each step.
Then it was his turn.
He repeated the preparation.
His grinding was more consistent than the day before.
Mana’s body stabilized his fingers.
World’s eyes helped him see the quality of the mixture.
But when he added the root, Elaria stopped him.
"Too soon."
Adam froze.
"How soon?"
"About three seconds."
He looked at the vial.
"Three seconds really makes a difference?"
"In alchemy, sometimes a single second is enough to turn a potion into a mediocre poison."
Adam remained silent.
"I’ll remember that."
He tried again.
This time, the color was more stable.
Not perfect.
But acceptable.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Alchemy
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Minor healing potion created.
Quality: Acceptable
Defects:
*Average purity
*Slightly uneven mana
*Incomplete extraction
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Adam read the notification.
"Acceptable."
Elaria examined the potion.
"For a second day, it’s very good."
They then moved on to the minor mana potion.
The logic was different.
Where the healing potion sought gentleness and stability, the mana potion required more precise flow.
The mana crystal had to be ground into a fine powder.
If it was too coarse, it dissolved poorly.
Too thin, it lost some of its energy.
Adam failed twice.
The first potion became cloudy.
The second vibrated ominously.
Elaria immediately took it and neutralized it with a drop of blue liquid.
"That would have given whoever drank it a migraine."
Adam grimaced.
"Not lethal?"
"No. Just very unpleasant."
"That’s already too much."
The third attempt was better.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Alchemy
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Minor Mana Potion Created
Quality: Low but usable
Drawbacks:
*Unstable density
*Reduced mana regeneration
*Probably tastes unpleasant
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Adam stared at the last line.
"The system even judges the taste now?"
Elaria tilted her head.
"That’s useful information."
"For the person who has to drink it, certainly."
She nodded earnestly.
They then moved on to a disinfectant solution.
This time, the knowledge from his former life helped him more.
Adam had a better understanding of the concepts of cleansing, infection, and prevention.
Even though the terminology in this world was different, the principles remained similar.
Remove impurities.
Prevent contamination.
Stabilize the solution so it doesn’t burn the skin.
Elaria immediately noticed the difference.
"You seem more comfortable with this preparation."
Adam gently stirred the liquid.
"In my old world, I studied some basic medicine and chemistry. Not enough to be a doctor, but enough to understand why a wound needs to be cleaned properly."
Elaria noticed something.
"Your old world seems to have developed very advanced practical knowledge."
"Yes. But without magic."
"Which makes it even more interesting."
After several attempts, Adam produced a suitable solution.
Then a simple balm for muscle aches.
That one almost made her laugh.
"If I had known, I would have prepared this before going to see Selene."
Elaria replied calmly:
"You can keep a sample."
Adam looked at her.
"Really?"
"Yes. You’re going to need it."
He couldn’t argue with her.
The two hours passed quickly.
Unlike Selene’s training, here the fatigue was less intense, but more mental.
It was necessary to measure.
Observe.
Wait.
Adapt.
Correct.
Adam understood that alchemy wasn’t just about recipes.
It was about sensitivity.
Too much heat.
Not enough mana.
An ingredient that’s too old.
Improper grinding.
An unstable reaction.
Every detail mattered.
At the end of the session, several vials were lined up on the table.
Two acceptable minor healing potions.
A weak but usable mana potion.
A decent disinfectant solution.
A simple muscle balm.
Elaria observed the results.
"You’re progressing quickly."
Adam wiped his hands.
"Thanks to the Eyes of the World, I can see many small flaws. And Mana Body helps me keep my hands steady when I’m handling mana."
"Yes. But you also take the time to understand the logic behind each preparation. That’s important." Many apprentices memorize recipes without understanding why they work.
Adam smiled slightly.
"In my old world, following a recipe without understanding it could also lead to disasters."
"Then you’re in the right place."
A notification appeared.
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Learning Complete
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Domain: Basic Alchemy
Duration: 2 hours
Preparations Made:
*Minor Healing Potion
*Minor Mana Potion
*Disinfecting Solution
*Muscle Recovery Balm
Results:
*Improved understanding of alchemical reactions
*Improved ingredient handling
*Mana control applied to Enhanced Alchemy
*Eyes of the World: Improved Component Analysis
*Mana Body: Improved Manual Dexterity
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Adam read the window with satisfaction.
"It’s confirmed. I’ve made progress."
Elaria nodded gently.
"Tomorrow, we’ll continue with alchemy. Then, we’ll move on to applied enchantment."
Adam carefully put away the muscle balm she had given him.
"Thank you for today, Elaria."
"You’re welcome."
She paused.
Then added:
"And if Mira Heartforge ever invites you to visit a dwarven forge, accept." But don’t drink what she calls a "small welcome drink."
Adam blinked.
"Why?"
"Because dwarves have a very personal definition of ’small.’"
Adam remained silent.
"I see. Noted."
Elaria smiled slightly.
After saying goodbye, Adam left the Craftsmen’s Guild.
As he passed back through the hall, he spotted Mira Heartforge overseeing the movement of a crate of black metal.
The dwarf noticed him immediately and raised her hand.
"Hey, Adam!"
He approached.
"Yes?"
She looked at him with a broad smile.
"Elaria hasn’t blown a vial in your face yet?"
"Not yet."
"A good start."
She patted the crate beside her.
"If you survive your lessons with all these women, come see me sometime. I’ll show you what a real forge is."
Adam smiled.
"With pleasure."
Mira narrowed her eyes.
"You say that now. We’ll see if you’re still smiling after holding a dwarven hammer for ten hours."
Adam sighed.
"Why do all the training sessions in this world feel like threats?"
Mira burst out laughing.
"Because good masters are honest."
Adam couldn’t help but smile.
After greeting the caravan leader, he finally left the guild.
The sun was already high.
His body was still aching from the morning’s training, but the muscle balm in his inventory gave him a glimmer of hope.
His mind, however, was filled with the scents of herbs, alchemical reactions, proportions, and unstable vials.
He took a deep breath.
"Combat, gravity, alchemy..."
He looked toward the merchant district.
"Now, Shiora." "
A slight shiver ran down his spine.
"After the physical pain and the potions, now it’s time for debts, contracts, and the legal ways to ruin someone."
Then he set off for the Merchants’ Guild, already certain that this day would be no easier than the last.
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