The Runic Alchemist

After collecting all the materials for his first ever batch of healing potion, Damian stopped paying attention to the vegetation anymore. Finding a location that was in the middle of two small hills which kind of made natural crater in which Damian decided to practice spells all he wanted without much trouble.

The first spell Damian drew while sitting beneath a tree, enjoying it's shade and the morning breeze was [Water whip].

Though the control of the solid flowing water in his hand took some getting used to and asked for some practice, it was a pretty useful one. Then Damian tried [Air tornado] which he already knew but just never tried before, the mana cost was same as the [Water whip]. It was the most simple one, it didn't even require a proper aiming. One just had to point and release.

It also was the weakest of the bunch.

Now it was time for the important ones, Damian drew the giant blue magic runic circle that he saw constantly following the girl. Damian was not stupid though and so he did not source it with his own mana and added a section for using atmosphere's mana to see whatever it was supposed to do.

Damian got behind the tree and activated it, he felt a strong pull of mana in the surrounding and it was all getting sucked in by the huge magic circle that was drawn on four papers combined. But after the pull ended there were no changes just the paper burned to ash as usual.

Damian knew that it did do something, he just couldn't figure out what. But after witnessing the pressure of the mana required Damian would definitely not try it with his hands at all. Maybe it needed a subject to really show it's effect.

Finally Damian drew the runic magic circle on air with his fingers which he wanted to check out the most. Instantly from the land below, dirt gathered in one spot and took the form of somewhat chubby humanoid figure. It neither had a face nor any fingers on hands and legs. Sheela's golem was also the same so Damian knew it was not a mistake of any kind.

The spell had already connected a string of mana to the golem but he could also rip it and connect string of his own. Expelling mana was not something easy to do but with the level of control that Damian had over mana, he could achieve the feat if he tried, of course it would leave him extremely sleepy and tired without mana in his body.

Damian using his thoughts and mana could make the emotionless golem walk and use hands and legs that were just four slabs of dirt and pretty hard to balance.

Dismissing it Damian drew the same circle with the magic ink and a quality parchment that could handle three times the mana as normal papers and still function for a while before burning. Damian usually used them for his [Fire Pillar] fire rune spell and the [Wormhole] space-time spell that he learned since they were really mana heavy.

The golem this time was much better built with fingers and a faint lines of humanoid body features. Still no face though, just an empty head. There was no mana string attached to it so Damian used his own mana for it, the spell wouldn't accept any other person's mana since the spell recognized his authority for activating the spell.

Damian didn't how exactly how it worked but it just did, one more thing in the list of things that Damian hoped to figure out one day in the future.

Controlling it was also better and the balance was pretty good. It could easily grab on things and pick them up. Useful indeed but it only lasted for some 20 minutes before the mana eroded it's dirt body. Without mana it couldn't be controlled or remain in a fixed structure but the same mana was also like fire destroying the dirt molecules bit by bit until the whole structure failed.

The solution was using better material for the golem, there were other kind of golem spells such as wood and water and even fire but they were even worse and needed even more mana to maintain their form. The wooden one was a pretty good compared to others but the spell to make a wooden golem was not a public knowledge.

Some special families that had a strong connection to nature in their bloodline could use it and they never revealed the spell. Damian had read just a few pages of golem related book, but he already got to know this much.

Damian could figure it out if he saw one but that wasn't something that would just happen. Not to mention the reaction of the family who had this exclusive spell towards him if he succeeded. The metal was the best material for a golem but unfortunately there was no spell that could use metal to make a golem.

People still tried and enchanted a metal golem, piece by piece making by hand but the overall cost was astronomical for the things you could achieve with a metal golem so it was just a fancy blacksmith and runesmith project.

Getting back to the city gates and paying his way in which was five coppers, Damian walked around on the busy streets of the 'Seraphim Luminara' to find and buy utensils for his little potion making project.

At one store which was selling various kinds of colorful liquids and powders, it looked like a apothecary but there were also tools such as mortar and pestle that Damian bought. He also got one big cauldron, some utensils to stir the cauldron and some empty small bottles made of poorest quality glass Damian had ever seen with some other necessary things.

They even priced more than anything else he bought. All in all he spent some 3 gold coins and some copper ones but finally he had everything that he needed for brewing his potion.

Damian took all this stuff and settled his temporary cooking lab in one of the empty building that had huge holes on it's wooden top and looked extremely risky structure wise, but this was the best spot Damian could find to do his business in private. It was empty of all life and there was no one nearby at all.

First thing Damian did after cleaning a little space to put down cauldron and other materials and tools neatly was stripping the willow bark and Earthheart root and chopping it into small little pieces then putting them on the side Damian used mortar and pestle to crush Glimmergrass, Lavender, Comfrey, and Chamomile to a paste.

Then getting up Damian filled the cauldron with his [Water ball] spell, he ignited the wood he had collected outside the city walls beneath it with another spell which was just a simple fire rune and let it get boiling hot. Then he added the small pieces of willow bark and Earthheart root in the cauldron and let it simmer for about 20-30 minutes.

Then he added the paste of Glimmergrass, Lavender, Comfrey and Chamomile and let it simmer another 15 minutes.

Once the brewing was complete Damian used a clean cloth to strain the liquid into another container, removing all the solid materials. While the liquid was still warm Damian also added honey into it and stirred it a generous amount till all the honey was fully dissolved. Honey will not only enhance the taste but it will also add in antibacterial properties in the potion.

After the liquid cooled down Damian poured it into the small glass bottles while extracting it once again with a cloth. The potion was finally ready. Damian did not know how good it was, he did buy a Basic healing potion from the store and tasted it before and to his senses his potion tasted and felt better but then again it might just be his brain making a fool out of him.

Storing all 25 bottles in his spatial storage along with all his stuff Damian went to his inn to clean himself and rest for a while before he would go out finding a place to sell it.