First Experiment (3)
There were three samples to analyze. First, the off-the-shelf product from the guild. Second, the replica I'd made following the recipe exactly. Third, whatever it was that Arienael had produced using some mysterious method.
At first, I'd thought the earlier result was just a fluke, that she probably couldn't reproduce it. But probably not. If the ingredients differed that much from the start, it wasn't strange for the outcome to vary.
"Let's start with the guild one."
Clearly, at this level of mana flow, it needed to hold its shape for at least ten minutes. Earlier, we'd gotten eight minutes and forty-two seconds.
"Professor? Hold on a moment."
"What is it?"
"Could I try it?"
I couldn't analyze like this every time she brewed something. Her eagerness to learn was commendable, so maybe I should let her handle it this time. I grabbed the potion bottle we'd opened earlier for measurement and handed it to Arienael.
"Measure this one first."
Arienael took the guild potion and headed to the alchemy workbench, activating the circuit. She seemed to be sticking strictly to the manual, pausing often to check the book. The procedure was nearly flawless, but it took quite a while to get started.
"Alright, begin."
Arienael had been going all day and must have been exhausted; she made a small mistake at the end. The remeasurement came out to nine minutes and fifteen seconds.
"You felt that mana disruption in the middle, right?"
"I'm sorry."
"No need to apologize. I'll handle the rest from here. It's getting late anyway."
"Yes, sir."
I cracked open two more guild potions and analyzed them the same way. Commercial products were definitely different. Mass-produced to spec, their quality was consistent. In this case, consistently shitty.
The results: eight minutes forty-five seconds and eight minutes thirty-nine seconds. The first bottle was probably more accurate under my measurement, so eight minutes forty-two seconds. With results clustering like this, it wasn't a single defective unit mixed in. At least all the potions I'd received in this shipment were like that.
"What's this? Why is it like this?"
What else? Defective. At this level, it probably wasn't a measurement error.
"Makes me suspect the guild sent faulty goods."
"What do we do? Report it?"
"Can't say for sure. Could be our mistake. Maybe an issue with the alchemy bench circuit."
Of course, it wasn't. But we needed solid evidence.
"Let's measure mine next. Since it's the same recipe, if I get good results, it'll confirm the guild stuff is bad."
We'd wasted too much time already. I'd shown Arienael enough; time to wrap it up. I conjured three magic circles and linked them to the circuits, each applying steady magical pressure to a sample.
Arienael watched the process with keen interest from the side. Hard to teach, though.
Results: ten minutes four seconds, ten minutes thirty-five seconds, ten minutes eleven seconds. Less tight clustering than the guild's, but handmade—you can't expect perfection. Enough to confirm a clear difference.
"Definite. Those crooks... Did they water it down or something?"
"Isn't that illegal? What are you going to do?"
"I'll decide after thinking it over more."
This was why you didn't deal with adventurers. Did they send me defectives on purpose, or were all their shipments like this? Either way, no refunds for me. I'd figure it out later. I was tired now.
"By the way, this clock is really convenient. First time I've seen one like it. Where can I get one?"
"I've only got the one. Hard to get another."
That was probably why the guild could get away with it. Few could measure to the second. No one would bother testing and complaining, and if they did, the guild could just say, "Maybe you measured wrong?"
"You can't use it every time either. Borrow it when you have free time. Better calibrate those hourglasses—measure how long they actually run."
"Huh? Don't you already know?"
"Potions are like that—can you trust hourglasses?"
"Now that you mention it..."
"Mark the intervals too. Unless you want to measure nine minutes with a seven- and four-minute glass."
Arienael recoiled at that.
"Ugh... Just hearing it hurts my head. Why do humans love those kinds of problems?"
"Who knows. But solving them can be fun sometimes."
"Eek."
Why the groan? Leaving Arienael looking queasy, I started the final experiment. We ran her potion through the same process.
I could feel it. It lasted much longer than the other two. Times: fifteen minutes two seconds, fifteen minutes forty-five seconds, sixteen minutes fifty-two seconds.
"Huge difference."
Considering the atrocities she'd committed during brewing, it was expected. If it had clustered as tightly as the others, that would've been weird.
"Still... the results are good, right?"
"For now, yes. But be careful going forward. If the gap wasn't this big, I couldn't even call it better."
"So, did we find a way to improve the potion today?"
I shook my head. Not that simple.
"No way. What did we make today? A preservative?"
"Stamina recovery potion."
"The key is recovery effect. If that's weaker than the original, stability doesn't matter—it's useless."
"Maybe the recovery improved too? Oh, I know we can't say without testing."
"I think so too. Good ingredients boosted stability, so probably recovery too. Problem is proving it. Thought about how to test recovery effects?"
"Ah..."
"Discovery matters less than proof."
Arienael's excitement faded again.
"No need to be too down, though. We don't have to do every experiment ourselves."
"Collaborate with others?"
"That, and show these results—plenty will fund their own tests."
Alchemy workshops, alchemy guild, adventurers' guild... More than a few came to mind. Even just for this potion, or if it applied broader, kings and magic towers across the continent would swarm.
"So we build solid evidence as best we can. Present it right, and others will move. Good enough for a solid journal if we research it well."
Arienael's face brightened noticeably.
"Sloppy experiments like this won't cut it, so securing funding is key. There's an alchemy workshop grant for potions—deadline's end of April."
"Next month already?"
"Yeah. But this experiment won't even get a proposal through. They're not suckers; need to convince them it's a sure thing to open their wallets."
"How solid does it need to be?"
"Best is explaining the principle. If not, test the range of application. This was just extending a cheap potion's life—show bigger potential."
"Sounds tough."
"It is. Lots to do, so hurry. Repeats take time, planning experiments isn't quick, and writing it up afterward is work too."
"Wow. You're really busy."
"For now, compile today's results into a report by tomorrow."
Arienael's expression hardened instantly. She'd been all over the place with moods today. Was she always this emotionally volatile?
"...Professor? I have three classes tomorrow?"
"That's under five hours total. Day's twenty-four."
"And your class materials for next week."
"Tough break."
Arienael gaped in despair, then resigned. Good attitude. Reality didn't change for whining.
"Do all humans live like this?"
"Dunno. But grad students do."
"No way..."
This would be rough to sort and report. Not that I was in a position to talk—my plate was overflowing. I'd spent way more time on her experiment than planned. Still needed the heretic-trial-bait proposal, actual research, Friday lab prep. If this became formal research, another proposal. She couldn't plan it properly, so that was on me too. Not just oversight—every experiment design. And juggle other research amid it.
Life force absorption had improved my image but wasn't big on funding. Papers were out, so needed grant-friendly stuff too. Oh, papers reminded me.
"And there are a few papers I dug up for you to read. Prep and send tomorrow."
You heard me, right? She looked soulless, frozen.