Flashback with haunting resolve and approach.

[Eridanus]

Day 76, Spring of 470 AV
Early Morning
Lym's Workshop beneath the Opal Temple

The lunch and walk down the beach to clear his mind was uneventful, but anticipation brewed in the vantha's mind. He had remembered reading paragraphs on Spirits of Niter which attributed several destructive recipes to it. While he was not planning on setting Mura on fire, the destructive capacity of the substance stirred the dregs of bloodlust within him. It would be interesting to learn about a substance that was not merely used in household chores.

Upon returning to the underground cavern that was the workshop, he noticed Lym already there, though with several new unknowns introduced into the fold.

"Quickly, Eridanus. Do not tally," She beckoned, and he proceeded to wear the leather gloves in advance. Remembering what she said about the dangerous properties of Corrosionem and that of the Spirits of Salt, it is likely that its 'twin ghost' be just as dangerous, if not more.

There was an even stranger looking device now on the table, though it was made of glass as well. It was now routine as the philterer began to explain and Eridanus began to draw the apparatus and write down the notes accordingly.

Apparently it was known as an Alembic. In truth, the term Alembic can either refer to the apparatus itself, or the set-up involving the apparatus. In most philtering texts the term would refer to the set-up, for the device on its own could not achieve much. It looked like a teapot, with his spout pointing upwards, but that when when it was upside down. Put upright, it had a large bulbous ceiling on top, connected to a sort of funnel-shaped object welded to the walls of the bulbous ceiling. There is an opening to the glass bulb that is connected to a small glass tube that pointed at an angle away and downwards.

The glass tube of the alembic was meant to be connected to the receiving exit of a receiver flask, and the welded funnel was meant to be connected to the mouth of a cone flask. Once the connecting joints were secured and sealed with resin stopgaps, the whole thing would be a closed system, except for the mouth of the receiver flask which could then be connected to other experimental set-ups, or be closed by a resin stopgap for an entirely closed system.

"Distillation," Lym clarified, putting a name to the process as she lectured on, her student dutifully taking everything down.

According to the konti, different substances and different liquids evaporate at different temperatures. By understanding the order in which substances evaporate on an increasing scale of heat, the intrepid philterer can separate mixed substances. For example, substance A evaporates at average wood fire heat while substance B evaporates at average coal fire heat. By bringing the temperature to just slightly above the heat of wood fire, one can separate the mixed substances such that substance B remained at liquid while substance A is completely evaporated.

That would bring the philterer to the next question - How does one harvest the gas? That was where the beauty of the alembic came in. As gas, and air in general do not have a set direction, the heat would cause them to seek the sky. As the alembic has an exit going upwards (the glass tube), the gas would then follow this tube and move into the bulbous glass portion.

As glass is a generally cool material, and since it was at a distance away from the heat, it would be cooler - and if the alembic was set-up properly the coolness would be below wood fire, using the example above. This would cause the gaseous substance A to condense - just like how morning dew condenses - into liquid, and it would roll down the glass ceiling to the welded glass funnel portion, then into the cone flask connected below.

As the entire set-up would be a closed system, no air or gas would be introduced to decrease the purity of the distillation process, and the evaporated substances would not escape either.

"That is what we call Distillation," Lym finished, waiting for Eridanus to finish writing down these points before she moved on.

[Eridanus]

"One thing important to note is the idea of ratios. Absolute values do not matter in philtering, it is the ratios that do," Lym cautioned. Gesturing towards a collection of large beakers and plates, she introduced the materials one by one.

The first one was a green-blue liquid that reminded Eridanus vaguely of the lights in Morwen's sky above her ice palace. Though he had not actually visited the place before, he seemed to have memories of it from his previous life as a vantha, and that was where he retrieved his memories from. That liquid was known as Cyprus Vitriol, a substance found by miners, more commonly in sulfur mines. It could be artificially created through philtering by the mixture of the Oil of Vitriol and Spirits of Metal for a purely aqueous reaction, or Oil of Vitriol and Cyprus Ore, which itself contains naturally occurring ores of metal and copper in unknown ratios. Because the ratio was unknown, the resulting grade of Cyprus Vitriol would be unknown, where identification was only possible when the product was formed based on the color. Depending on what one wanted out of the colored liquid, the grade would differ based on the blueness or greenness of the resulting liquid.

The second was a large collection of semi-granular white grains in a small wooden pail. It was known as saltpeter, or the solid ore of Niter. It could be artificially created through philtering by the mixture of Spirits of Niter and Ash of Qali, with the resultant being left to crystallize-

"What is crystallization, ma'am?" Eridanus interrupted, his quill hovering above his journal when he realized that he was not getting sense out of the lecture.

"It is the intent of retrieving the solid mineral from the liquid," Lym replied. "For example, the colorful liquid you see here - the Cyprus Vitriol - can actually be found in solid form in mines. With a bit of reaction with natural substances from the earth in the mines and some rainwater, the liquid form can be found. Please remember that crystallization can only work on some of the more balanced reagents of philtering. Reagents that belong on extreme spectrums, such as the Corrosionem and Kautos, have no crystal form and will disperse into the air. That means that only certain mixtures of Corrosionem and Kautos, that brings the balance of the reagent closer to neutrality and harmony, can be crystallized and bear fruit to a solid mineral."

Placing a glass crucible from a nearby table on their main worktable briefly for Eridanus to see, she continued, "You will want a glass crucible for cases like this. Simply place the liquid ore into the folds of the crucible and subject it to a heat source. Over time the solid will form, and the impure liquids will flutter away."

She replaced it back to its original position, then cleared her throat as she tried to remember where she was interrupted from. "Right as I was saying..."

Saltpeter was the crystallized product of Spirits of Niter and Ash of Qali, which was ironically a chicken-egg loop problem since they were intending to use saltpeter in the artificial production of Spirits of Niter. However, philterers could be rest assured that saltpeter occurred naturally in mines as well, and it was not too hard to search for materials in markets dealing with products hailing from the mines. It was, of course, one of the many side products of mining.

The third bucket actually seemed to contain a bunch of pebbles within it. Also the side products of mining, these were known as Alum, a mixture of hard metals and ores coagulated together in a small, structurally sound form. Philterers have, of course, managed to artificially synthesize these solids through an advanced formula involving Ash of Qali, certain ores and Oil of Vitriol.

"You can read up on them later on; I have written down a list of books that you can refer to after this lesson that includes what we have talked about so far."

"Ma'am," The enthusiastic student started. "Is it just me or have I noticed repeated mentions of Oil of Vitriol?"

"We will be covering that in our next session. I figured that we may need an entire lesson for that, since the Oil of Vitriol is a highly crucial substance in Philtering, perhaps even more so than the rest of the Corrosionem and Kaustos combined. Even its many derivatives and precursors hold great power within them, if understanding is achieved as to their purposes. You will do well to do some minor read-ups; I do not expect you to know everything, but get the basics familiarized before the next lesson. Before then, let us bring our minds to the present."

[Eridanus]

"The last you want is water. As you can see, I have procured this pail of water from the nearby Silver Lake, with the assistance of some helpful sisters who were free at that time."

"You could have told me to get it for you, ma'am."

"I only remembered when Giea reminded me halfway through our meal. I appreciate the thought, however."

With the konti's instruction, Eridanus proceeded to gather the smaller glassware that would hold the requisite reagents in their upcoming synthesis of the Spirits of Niter. Before that though, they needed a form of measurement due to the emphasized importance on the need for correct ratios.

With that in mind, with her direction he retrieved a large, copper weighing scale from one of the corner cupboards. It was large in comparison to the rest of the instruments, even in comparison to the iron retort stand. The body of the scale at the center was stylized with engravings of what seemed to be Laviku and Avalis entwined in some sort of embrace, with Laviku's hand extending out to hold one of the weighing cups, while Avalis' hand extending in the opposite direction to hold the other weighing cup.

"Don't mind the art," Lym said fondly as she caressed the weighing scale briefly. "It's just a little memory of mine." She gazed at it for several more moments before she tore her eyes away, returning to issuing orders and guiding Eridanus.

The ratios involved were to be of one instance of cyprus vitriol, five-eighth of an instance of saltpeter, one-eighth an instance of alum, and three-eighth an instance of water.

Eridanus blinked.

That meant that they had to somehow troubleshoot the comparison of materials to get the substance right. His mind whirring to place the variables he had in place, he finally settled first on alum. By practicality's sake, alum should be used as the central comparison piece since it was the hardest to manipulate in terms of quantity, since the rest were either liquid or available in minute sizes. Taking one of the semi-translucent pebbles from the pail, he put it in one of the scales, causing both sides to raise and fall unequally.

Next, he took a glass tube from the wooden rack, using a small spoon to transfer the saltpeter from the bucket to the tube. Leaning the tube against the walls of the weighing cup, he continued slowly adding until the resulting balance was more or less equal.

"They are not equal in weight, Eridanus. The glass tube has its own weight as well."

The student gasped in surprise, though he did not allow himself to be flustered. Adding a glass tube of similar wall thickness to the cup that contained the alum, he continued to add more saltpeter in minute quantities until they balanced out. However, he would not use this saltpeter in the reaction, for it was meant to be an easier means of comparison.

Taking a receiver flask as instructed by his mentor, he placed it next to the weighing scale. He removed the alum and the empty glass tube from the other weighing cup.

Making some mental calculations, he frowned as he compared the mathematical information given by Lym. For every eight instances of cyprus vitriol they would need five instances of saltpeter and one instance of alum. Using the latter two for comparison, that would mean that they would need five times the weight of alum in saltpeter.

[Eridanus]

Thus, using the weighed cup as a control, he filled the empty glass tube in the other weighing cup slowly, making sure to be meticulous and systematic with his measuring of saltpeter. Every time the scales balanced, he would empty the contents of the saltpeter into the receiver flask carefully, and repeated the process four times until there was a sizable amount of saltpeter within the flask.

Next, he transferred some of the water from Silver Lake from the pail into a glass beaker. Using a glass funnel, he poured water slowly into the glass tube with the beaker until the weight was equal. He then emptied the contents of the tube into the same receiver flask, making sure not to spill any. He repeated the process three times, using the same mental calculation as before to determine the correct ratio to use.

Finally, he repeated the process with the cyprus vitriol, though he made sure to handle with care. The measuring process was carried out for a mind-numbing total of eight times before he finally emptied the original tube of saltpeter into the flask. Now only the alum was left, and so he picked it up, before realizing that the mouth of the receiver flask was too small for the pebble.

"It is brittle enough to break down by force, use a mortar and pestle for such situations," Lym's voice piped up. Her foresight was displayed in the wooden set usually used by herbalists already placed on the workbench.

Eridanus proceeded go grind the pebble using the mortar and pestle, though he made sure not to hit with too much force or the pieces of crystal might fly about the room. When the alum was separated enough into small enough pieces, he poured it into the receiver flask, again with the help of the glass funnel to channel all the contents of the particles properly.

Following the konti's instructions, he then shook the contents of the flask for several moments, noticing carefully the reactions and color changes within, mentally taking note to copy these observations into his journal later. Reaching for the iron retort stand, he secured the bottleneck of the receiver with the clamp, suspending it above the table. Taking the alembic, he inserted the tube into the receiving exit of the flask, then placed the funnel of the alembic into the mouth of a cone flask. He had to, of course, balance the cone flask above several weights in order for it to synchronize its height properly with the alembic since the glass tube was inflexible. Finally, he sealed the joints and the mouth of the receiver flask with resin stopgaps.

Lym passed him a brass pot, otherwise known as a directed heater, and he took a nearby candle to set the fats within. Sliding the pot underneath the suspended receiver flask, he proceeded to strip off his gloves, picking up the quill and recording all the information that he could not record so far.

[Eridanus]

"Listen carefully, Eridanus. The Spirits of Niter is a very powerful substance when used properly at advanced levels of reactions."

"I have seen descriptions of liquid fire."

"Ah so you have. Do not try making them until you fully understand the processes, Eridanus. I value my workshop highly and I will not be happy if you accidentally raise it to the ground in enthusiastic liquid fire production attempts."

"Understood, ma'am."

"In fact, do not try making anything without my supervision. I will consider letting you work unsupervised after we've finished our course... that will take quite a while. Other than that you are too inexperienced for me to trust handling such a large laboratory on your own."

"Understood ma'am. No offence taken."

"Write this down. Spirits of Niter can be used to artificially age wood at low, low grades and purity. A good estimation would be the production of it using this method, and adding ten times the weight of water to dilute. You'll be able to sell it to woodcarvers-"

"And con-men?"

"Ahem. By adding it with water and certain types of alcohol you can also create an etching agent, if you're into that industry. Like I mentioned earlier, Spirits of Niter can also be combined with Spirits of Salt to form the powerful Royal Water. You should do so with only high-purity Spirits. Therefore, they must be synthesized with more advanced formula, which I will not cover. However, keep in mind the important ratio of one to three when it comes to Spirits of Niter and Salt."

Waving to him to quickly finish up his work on his journal, she beckoned him to go closer to the experimental set-up.

"Now watch closely. Do you notice the liquid bubbling somewhat? If you notice the stain here, that is where the original water level was at."

There were also condensed droplets rolling along the path of the alembic and into the cone flask, slowly dripping but forming the liquid. After a while, the heater was taken away and the cone flask had a decent amount of colorless liquid in it.

"Spirits of Niter."

Using the measuring scale method earlier, he combined it with the Spirits of Salt they made in the morning in the ratio of one to three, and was now the proud philterer or Royal Water, albeit a much weaker and less pure version.

"Congratulations, Eridanus. I have to leave soon for an appointment in the evening. You are to clean up this place and dispose of the reagents carefully. Finish up by recording any other things you forgot to do, and read up on the books I have listed in the parchment over here. Farewell."

"Farewell, Lady Lym. Thank you."

Eridanus sighed. There was still a good day ahead of him before he could truly rest.