Flashback foundation of mundane alchemy.

[Eridanus]

Day 48, Spring of 470 AV
Late Afternoon
Lym's Workshop underneath the Opal Temple

Corrosionem and Kaustos. Strong and weak. Opposing elements that form the extremes in philtering fundamentals, yet both complement each other to form greater things. Is that much like good and evil? Greed and benevolence? The two combined create society, yet remain incomparable on their own.

The young vantha's grinned wryly, though only momentarily, as he considered the philosophical implications of Philtering. Perhaps Lessons of Life can be found everywhere, and it existed because of its truth for it can be found in nature and in man-made environments.

Just like how nature and society are opposites to each other, exist on their own yet cause unexpected reactions with they collide? Philosophy of Philtering indeed.

"You happen to be in a better mood today, Eridanus," A female voice startled the vantha abruptly from behind, her voice a melody amongst the spacious echo above the confines of their laboratory.

"I'm wondering about the philosophical implications between Corrosionem and Kaustos, ma'am."

"And you're not the first to draw such parallels. There was a time long ago when a young, naive Konti and a youthful, idealistic scholar from the University of Zeltiva exchanged letters on this topic," Lym gave an imperceptible chuckle before walking on to place several unfamiliar looking glassware before her assistant.

"I hope that you have been studying well?"

"I have memorized what little you have taught to heart, ma'am."

"I do not doubt that. Have you, by chance, tried to seek out further knowledge on those topics?"

"I found myself swarmed by their technicalities."

"That is not surprising. Worry not, when the time comes I shall properly instruct you and the abstract words you read would reveal themselves to your understanding. Now prepare your notebook and ready your mind for our next lesson."

[Eridanus]

Lym began to place several glassware with varying shapes and sizes side by one before the vantha, commenting, "Feel free to draw the picture into your notebook to help with identification. I will tell you what each of them are used for; their general function. However, there exists several more advanced glassware with specialized purposes, it is likely that we will not touch them. Otherwise, I will instruct as we go along."

Pointing to a large, cup-shaped container similar to the one she used to drink from earlier, though this was made of glass instead of copper, she said, "This is the common beaker. We use this for all-purpose storage and measuring of liquid substances. This will be your most common glassware that you will use, in terms of measuring, storing and mixing."

As she spoke, Eridanus drew the outline of the beaker before the title "beaker" in his notebook. As he felt that it was more important to provide a functional understanding through his drawing rather than an accurate artist's interpretation, he instead used simple lines and shapes to get his message across. This would work because the rest of the glassware had vastly differing shapes as well; therefore outline drawings would work in differentiating them.

"Beakers, got it."

Next, the konti pointed to another container though it was more triangular shaped, or cone-shaped, with the base starting as large as that of the beaker but the cross-section constricting as it went up, until the mouth of the container was a small, miza-coin-shaped opening.

"This is a cone flask, otherwise referred to as cones. Like the beaker, it is also used to store, measure and mix substances in philtering. If you have a question feel free to just ask."

Eridanus had been raising his hand, unwilling to impolitely interrupt her as she was speaking.

"Sorry, ma'am. It seems to me that it would be easier to use the beaker instead of trying to fit-"

"Tell me, Eridanus, why do you think the beaker is easier?"

The vantha glanced at the difference between the two instruments, and quickly answered, "The mouth of the container, ma'am. I'm no philterer, but I always find it easier filling a bucket with water than the small opening of my water-bag."

"Exactly, that is the main difference between the two. However, if you want to heat the liquid, what would you do?"

"Bring it close to a flame?"

"How so?"

"Put it next to a candle?"

"That is insufficient. You want the apparatus above the fire. How do you do so at extended times, without being there in person?"

"Use some sort of... instrument to hold it up?"

"You're being vague, but you're on the right track. That's what the Cone is for. The smaller bottleneck of the flask allows for the use of a clamp to hold it suspended above the air. Furthermore, the smaller mouth of the vassal makes it easier to close the system - that is, separate it from external disturbances - with a simple stop-gap rather than having to cover the entire surface area like it is with the beaker. Keep that in mind when you have to decide between beakers and flasks."

With that, the vantha simply drew a triangular shaped outline with a small opening up front, with Lym's advice written neatly below before he turned a page for the next lesson.

[Eridanus]

"Do you see this large, metallic object, Eridanus?"

Lym gently tapped a strange-looking apparatus that towered over the rest. Unlike the rest of the glassware which were made of glass, and seemed to be designed to be some sort of a container, this tool was metallic and did not seem to be designed to hold anything at all. It had a large flat metal base at the bottom, with a thin, steel stem like a willow tree going upwards. There was a claw-looking object that was somehow secured at the upper parts of this steel stem.

"This is a retort stand, or simply a Retort. Don't make any jokes relating to witty comebacks, I've heard my fair share of them," The teacher raised a finger to preempt her student before he could say anything. Avalis knows just how many jokes about "retorting" they had heard over the span of centuries to students who fancied themselves as witty comedians.

"Remember what I said about the clamp? This is it," She said, grasping the claw-shaped object fixed onto the stem. "You secure the neck of the cone to the clamp like thus, and that allows it to be suspended in the air while you situate a heat source below it."

"Ingenious."

"Some say it is the gods who gift us with such knowledge, it seems that it's most likely true in any case, to be able to think of such wonderful solutions."

"Indeed," The vantha muttered as he sketched carefully the awkward shape of the retort stand, making several notes below as to how it can be used to clamp and secure containers with small necks for heating purposes.

Lym lifted out another rectangular-shaped piece of glass, though it has openings on both side, one large and one small. Placing it onto the cone flask such that its small tube-shaped opening inserts nicely into the mouth of the flask while the large opening on the other side of this apparatus stood above the flask, she grinned at Eridanus with a questioning eye.

The functionality became apparent to him, causing him to comment, "This just makes it easier to transfer from say, a beaker to a cone flask. Genius invention, truly genius."

"It's called a Funnel."

After he recorded the necessary details, he flipped yet another page as he awaited eagerly for more to be taught.

[Eridanus]

Lym gestured to a wooden stand that looked like armory shelves, except that they had holes in between them. Glass tubes were placed in every hole, which was understandable for those tubes did not have a flat bottom like the beaker and would require assistance to remain upright and to not spill their contents.

"Tube Stand," She said dismissively. "The glass tube. If you notice, some have thicker walls while some have thinner. The thicker ones are much more expensive, unfortunately, due to requiring a different process to create by glassblowers. However, they are the best in withstanding the naked flame. Another method of heating is to fill a large beaker with hot water, and leaning the tube upright in the water. For such methods, you can use the ones with thinner walls. Just be careful as the ones with thinner walls cannot withstand direct heat for long and... those are expensive."

When the vantha finished drawing and writing down his teacher's observations, he gave a nod to let her know to carry on.

Next, she picked up another conical-shaped glass container and placed it in front of her student.

"What is the difference between this and a cone flask?"

It did not require intense inspection to tell the difference.

"The small opening to the side of the neck, ma'am."

"This is called a receiver flask, or receiver for short. Indeed, it is also made for storage, measuring and mixing of materials like all containers, as well as for easy heating due to its bottleneck. However, this small opening at the side - the receiving exit - is meant to connect it with say, a closed container that you want to keep from outside interference. That is the only way to introduce substances, especially those in the air, without contamination."

"Now where did I put those," She muttered to herself while rummaging through the drawers of a nearby shelf. Waving a glass tube to him that has openings on both sides, she continued, "These are your connectors that you will need to connect the receiver to a closed container. Please be careful as they are fragile and cannot bend; you must accommodate the positions of the instruments. We have some stop-gaps around, those are the black-green objects you see, that are made of some sort of tree resin from the Jamouras. They can be used to wrap around the connecting joints between containers and these tubes to ensure that no substances leak out."

Eridanus nodded as he muttered these points to himself, sketching out the outline and notes in the following few pages.

"And that's it for today. There are actually many more glassware included, feel free to read up by yourself on the more specialized ones and their purposes. In the next lesson, we will be working with some of the fundamental substances in Philtering. I expect you to be prepared accordingly. Any questions?"

"Yes ma'am... what exactly did that konti and Zeltivan talk about many years ago?"

Lym's eyes crinkled as she considered his question, before chuckling and shooing him away from her workshop. "Irrelevant question, child. Now leave me be and don't clutter up this lab with your presence."