Chapter Three Hundred And Thirty Four - 334Once more across the Beacon landing and up another set of stairs had Felix to the final Crafting Hall. The Alchemical Lab.
"And then there was one," Felix said.
"What?"
"Nothing, Karys."
This door was a plain, dark wood. Age worn, despite being recently constructed. It opened at his touch, and Felix could feel dozens of wards and locks disengaging the moment he chose to open it. Intent-sensitive, he realized. The other doors had opened the same way to his Authority, and likely would to their new Masters as well. Very cool.
Inside was just as impressive as the other Halls. Where the Forge was a study in metal and stone, and the Glyphworks was all pristine white, the Alchemical Lab was dark woods and black metal. All three Crafting Halls had a suite of rooms to them, each different in their own way, and the Lab was a long hall, almost sixty feet long and twenty wide. No less than six chambers branched off, three to a side, each marked by a trefoil arch and a dark wooden door, banded with iron. Sigils were marked out on the iron, each glowing very slightly with red-gold lightnot arrays or enchantments so much as signs. Or they would be. For now, every one read "Undesignated."
Central to the main Hall were a series of stations, much as the other Halls had individual crafting stations. An assortment of hooks and pliers, tweezers and clamps, all made of silver and gold and heavily inscribed. At a casual glance, they were meant to preserve whatever they held or dismembered; likely monsters. Felix even saw a field-dressing knife, much as Magda once owned, likewise enchanted to preserve monster flesh once cut, preventing it from sublimating into that noxious black smoke. Another station held alembics and vials, those weird tube-things that spiraled about, and other glass oddments. Inscribed points of the counters were meant to heat up to incredible temperatures, and others were meant to cool down, all of it operating on ice and fire Mana stored in reservoirs below the floor. Felix could sense them, the alternating pitch of the Mana itself; it wasn't a huge amount, nothing like what he could hold, but more than most folk he'd guess.
In the very center of the Hall was a desk larger than all the rest. Black and dark brown, iron and wood, filled with little planters and already budding plants. Not many, just a few local samples that Felix had seen growing atop the cliff, but plenty of room for more. For a whole little garden. Felix recalled the entry on his Authority menus, the one for his Garden, but a casual perusal of that showed him nothing in the sub-menu. It was clearly separate from what his Alchemical Lab contained.
Beyond the plantsamong them, reallywas a series of tables, basins, and the most elaborate set of alchemical paraphernalia he'd ever seen. Scales, alembics, aludels, odd pots and jars that looked to be woven of vines but were in fact a type of bronze. A large oven/furnace at in the center, with inscribed circles atop it in a series of stone rings mounted with black iron. The mountings were attached to a central frame and could rotate, so that the stack of enchanted rings could spread out like a tree. His Eye called it a Ladder of Ascension, which was interesting.
Name: Ladder of Ascension
Type: Alchemical Equipment (enchanted)
Lore: The name comes from persistent belief that alchemy was the path to the peak. The rotating rungs of the Ladder are individual heating or cooling surfaces, depending on how their inscriptions are activated. The arrays, however, are flawed and require more Mana that usual to operate.
It was, in essence, a far better equipped space than Aenea's was back during their fight against the Revenants. Better than it was now, even. Felix didn't know the purpose of half of the bits and baubles around him, but his Voracious Eye would solve that in some regards. He'd received some small instruction in Alchemy weeks prior, but there was no one else to take control of this Crafting Hall. Just him.
Congratulations!
You Have Chosen To Become The Master of the Nagast Alchemical Lab!
Alchemical Lab, Tier III!
Journeyman Tier Advancement Detected!
Primary And Harmonic Stats Exceed Minimum Values!
Primary And Harmonic Stats Exceed Average Values!
The Following Bonuses Now Apply:
15% Increase in Production Speed
-5% Resource Loss
5% Increase in XP Generation By Completing Craft Quests
0.5% Increase To Final Product Quality
Complete Quests to Advance The Glyphworks!
Advance Yourself To Increase Bonuses!
Before that window resolved, another followed, trilling across his senses.
Titles/Skills Meet Minimum Requirements!
The Following Special Bonuses Now Apply:
Title - Savant of the Green Wilds
+15% Effects And Harvests From All Flora
Title - Natural Scholar II
+1% Chance To Properly Harvest Uncommon And Lower Rarity Flora And Fauna
Skill - Aria of the Green Wilds
+50% Chance To Properly Harvest Rare And Lower Rarity Flora
+25% Chance To Properly Harvest Rare And Lower Rarity Fauna
All Titles And Skill Special Bonuses Apply To Those Working Under You.
As Autarch, That Includes All Sworn To Your Banner.
The windows flickered and faded, but a rising thrumming came upon Felix like a wave. A bright gold notification lettered in silver appeared.
You Are Connected To A Spirit Tree - Atlantes Anima!
Due to your connection to the Spirit Tree in your Stronghold, all beneficial effects of your Alchemical creations are enhanced. All detrimental effects are diminished.
The Following Quests Are Available:
Harvest I
Dissect 25 monsters of Tier I or greater potency. Extract their cores and any usable materials.
Reward: XP, Monster Cores, Varied
Distillation Is the Key
Distill an Essence Draught
1/1 Essence Draught
Reward: Title, XP, Essence Draught
Alchemical Talent