The Bee Dungeon

Chapter 59: Bee a Potionmaker?

From then on, the talk got technical. Belissar described in detail the things he was looking to build and the kind of materials he would need, while Chief Rohsuak confirmed or denied what they could supply. Belissar had experience in home projects by necessity, but he was no master architect, so his needs were fairly basic. While the bear folks’ previously nomadic lifestyle restricted what they had available immediately, they were at least familiar with anything known to Belissar, so the talk went fairly smoothly. Once Chief Rohsuak had a good idea of what was needed, she left to arrange things, at which point Juosiutik took over.

“Ok, shall we get started, then?”

Belissar thought for a second and then nodded. He could spend the time cutting down more trees, but at this point he should probably wait for Chief Rohsuak to start delivering materials so he would know what he didn’t need to make himself. So, he could afford to spend some more time today on a lesson.

“Yes, that should be fine.”

Juosiutik nodded.

“Ok, first of all, how much do you know about herbology and potions?”

Belissar shrugged.

“Um, not much? I know some basic remedies and stuff, but I don’t know anything about potions.”

Juosiutik tried to hold back a frown at that.

She took a deep breath.

“Ok, let’s start at the beginning, then. Potions are NOT simple medicines, unlike what the hunters will tell you. If I had to put it simply, they’re like medicines, but more. You have to learn regular medicine making, and then add a whole extra layer of complexity on top of it.”

Belissar gulped.

“That, um, sounds pretty complicated. Um, what’s the extra layer then?”

Juosiutik nodded.

“It is. Ok, so, the basics. For a potion to be a potion and not just a medicine, you have to imbue it with mana. So, first, you have to have a source of mana. Either you have to add it yourself or you have to find some material that possesses it. Then, you need to imbue it into your ingredients. But mana isn’t like any other ingredient, you can’t just mash it together in a pot and expect it to work. Mana interacts differently with every object, plants and ingredients included. Some plants that make powerful medicines normally don’t interact with mana at all and are useless for potion making. Other plants that are mere weeds have a powerful resonance with mana that make them ideal. And then, just having the mana and the ingredients present isn’t enough. Every method of processing the potion, from mashing to drying to boiling, will affect the mana as well, and you need to account for that. Sometimes, you need to add ingredients and processes that are entirely unrelated to plants and herbology just to get the mana to develop properly. And mana has different types as well, so all of this will change depending on the source of mana in question.”

Belissar’s eyes were spinning at this point.

“That, um, uhhhh...I’m sorry, that’s a bit much. I don’t really understand, I think?”

Juosiutik caught herself.

“Oh, um, sorry. Maybe a practical demonstration might help? You have more of those herbs Metsaitti’s group brought back from here, right?”

Belissar nodded and Juosiutik smiled.

“Could you bring some, then? I could make a potion and explain what I’m doing and maybe that would help? Oh, um, since we’ll be using both yours and my materials, would it be alright if we split the potions?”

Belissar nodded at that.

“Ok, I’ll go get some, then.”

And with that, he made a trip to the healing herb patch by the Flower Meadow hives. There was a closer patch but that was for Metsaitti’s group to gather from so Belissar figured he’d leave that one to them. Assuming his bees didn’t need the flowers he was about to gather.

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But they did not. The healing herb patch had more flowers than the glowing ones he could harvest, so grabbing those did not prevent the bees from continuing their gathering. Belissar was able to get what he needed without issue.

When he returned, Juosiutik had set up a mat on the ground. On top of it, she laid out a knife, a pestle and mortar made of stone, a water pouch, a small pot, and a radish of some sort. He walked over to her and handed over the herbs. Juosiutik nodded as she put on some leather gloves.

“Thanks. Why don’t you have a seat? I’ll get started, then.”

Belissar nodded and sat in front of her. Juosiutik placed the herbs down and then grabbed the radish. It was bright red with a bit of orange.

“I’m going to stay pretty basic, this time. Just the herbs you brought, and a fire radish.”

Belissar’s eyes widened.

“Fire radish?”

Juosiutik nodded.

“A radish with a bunch of Fire mana inside of it. They’re normally pretty rare, but the chief can sense sources of Fire mana so we have a surprising amount of them. They’ll catch fire if you pass a bit of mana into them, we use them to start fires and stuff. I’m going to use it here for both heat and mana. The heat will be for boiling, while the Fire mana will adjust the effects of the herbs and imbue the potion.”

Belissar rubbed his chin.

“I...see?”

Juosiutik shrugged.

“It’s fine if you don’t get it now, you’ll see as I process it.”

She began to shave off a bit of the root.

“Too much Fire mana will overwhelm the herbs’ healing properties...or will just burn off all the water and set the mix on fire.”

Belissar gulped.

“Um, how do you know how much is too much?”

Juosiutik gave him a serious look.

“Practice.”

Belissar started at that.

“But...wouldn’t you get burned?”

Juosiutik’s gaze didn’t waver.

“Yes.”

Belissar gulped again as Juosiutik’s expression softened.

“Well, for this you can just learn it from me, so pay attention to how much I use. It’s just we lost...our last potion-maker before I could learn everything I needed to, so I’ve had to figure a lot of things out myself.”

Belissar let out a sigh of relief at that. He would much prefer to be informed what would catch fire before it actually did. Then he thought a moment longer and caught the rest of what Juosiutik said.

Losing people and having to figure things out for yourself was something that sounded familiar to him.

“Um, sorry for your loss. Do you, um, want to talk about it?”

Juosiutik shook her head and she immediately moved to grab the healing herbs and the mortar and pestle.

“No.”

Belissar nodded and said no more as Juosiutik put the herbs into the mortar. He caught little flashes of mana as she started to grind them up.

“Dumping mana directly into the ingredient while grinding is about the simplest way to go about it, but in this case it will work. These herbs you grow are very receptive to mana, and from what I’ve seen so far the mana easily resonates with their healing properties. They’re very easy to work with. Normally, you need to be bit more careful about how you do this. In this case, though, I can just imbue them directly. I’m mashing them up in the process to help with the next stage.”

Belissar smiled slightly at that. He already knew his Tower could do amazing things, and the more he learned the more incredible its feats became. Apparently, that also extended to potion-making. Once Juosiutik was finished mashing, she filled the pot with some water and poured the mash in, followed by the fire radish shavings.

“Normally, I’d have to be more careful about this. I’d have to add the fire radish first and watch for a precise moment in the boiling process to add the other ingredients to ensure they aren’t exposed to the fire mana for either too long or too short, and that the temperature doesn’t end up affecting the mundane properties either. But...”

She furrowed her brow at the mixture.

“These herbs are not fair. Their healing properties don’t go away even if I boil them from the start. I've boiled them down to nothing and they still worked. And as long as there’s not so much Fire mana that they get entirely overwhelmed, I can expose them to it as long as I like without them losing the healing effect either.”

The water began to bubble even without further input. Juosiutik motioned as Belissar’s eyes widened.

“As you can see, even the mana I imbued into the herbs is enough to activate the fire radish. Which is, again, why I’d normally have to be really careful about when, how, and in what order I added all this. But you can at least see that the mana in one ingredient can clearly impact the mana in the other, and if you’re using ingredients that are harder to work with, you have to pay attention to that sort of thing.”

Belissar nodded as he stared at the pot. Juosiutik mixed it a bit until the liquid began to turn greenish-blue. She then took out a small, empty water pouch and a cloth. She stuffed a the cloth a bit into the water pouch’s opening and then held it to Belissar

“Could you hold this open for me? Make sure to keep the cloth over the entrance”

Belissar nodded and did as she said. She then grabbed the pot and carefully poured it into the water pouch. The cloth caught the debris from the herbs and the fire radish. Once she was done she put down the pot, took the pouch from Belissar and tied it shut.

“Let it sit for about a hour and there you have it. A functional healing potion, a minor one at least. The fire mana can cause or exacerbate fevers so it can be helpful for some light illnesses, but should be avoided if the patient already has a fever.”

Belissar nodded in a daze. They...made a potion? One of those magical elixirs? Just like that?

Well, maybe not just like that. There was a lot of information involved and doing it wrong could potentially set things on fire. Apparently, the Tower Lords hadn’t lied entirely about that part. But still, the process was far more...normal than Belissar had anticipated. He even thought he might be able to do something like that himself...assuming he knew what not to do to avoid setting it on fire.

And speaking of which, Juosiutik nodded at him.

“How about you give it a try?”