[Erenthril Mael'tharias]

Mistress Llorai turned around and began to select random vials, displaying them to Erenthril and informing him of their makeup, components, usability, and effectively their easiness to come by. Most of them seemed rather complicated in his book, and as he paused to take notes frequently, he put tiny asterisks next to those he figured he could come by honestly (quite honestly, depending on just what the ingredient was) and those he’d have to actively pursue if he sought any means of utilizing their particular…aspects.

Mistress Llorai ended up handing him a glass container that possessed a crystalline substance made up of a putrid, sickly yellowish green. “This is called Green Vitriol, Heru Mael’tharias, and comes about from green iron ore. After adding water and distilling it, you’ll end up with this glossy substance. And this,” she spoke quickly, reaching out with her left hand and picking up another glass container, this one with crystals which were a shade of blue, “this is called Blue Vitrol, and is taken from copper ore. You grind down the copper ore, flush it out with water, then distil the solution. It has no effects on the ore when it comes to smelting – you’ll still get the same aspects of iron from each,” she spoke, lifting the two containers for emphasis before setting them down on the table. Her fingers drummed across the wooden edge.

“They each have numerous uses, though Green Vitriol is a bit more practical. You use it to create Spirit of Salt – all it consists of is distilling Green Vitriol with table salt. Fairly simple. Due to the nature of the reaction, it becomes a very strong acid otherwise known as Hydrochloric acid, and is fairly reactive. Due to the nature of this acid, it’ll burn you if you have any open cuts upon your skin when handling it. Don’t rub your eyes afterwards either – in fact, it’s lab etiquette to always wash your hands after dealing with chemicals. Otherwise, the results won’t be pretty,” her tone became flat and dead serious as she paid Erenthril a look that would have stopped most men in their tracks. She evidently had had a rough time with lab etiquette in some shape or form. “Green Vitriol is also used to make Oil of Vitriol. All it requires is a further distillation of the Green Vitriol, and creates a strong mineral based acid. It’s fairly caustic – you would want to wear gloves when handling it,” she gave him a pointed look.

“Another thing worth mentioning: Potassium alum. All alums start at the base: aluminum sulphide. You can prepare an alum by grinding and pulverizing alumna rock, then adding water to it for 40 brightenings and letting it sit. Boil it for two brightenings afterwards with the occasional stir here and there. It’s a binding agent, you see. You use it for dyes, and can even stop bleeding from various wounds. One of the more useful components in Alchemy, and my personal favorite,” she grinned before continuing onwards. “Now this foul smelling nectar is called Aqua Fortis. And funny thing is, you already know how to make it. You create it via distilling the green vitriol we spoke of earlier with saltpeter and alum. The perfect Aqua Fortis is a clear liquid; however, most take on the tint of brown. It will react with practically everything but gold, and is an oxidizing agent….

“Better yet, there’s more. If you were to mix one solution of Aqua Fortis with three or four solutions of Spirit of Salt you would end up with a stronger chemical agent called Aqua Regia, or ‘King’s Water’. Most solutions that have found their way into alchemical textbooks have slang variations, and that’s that one. This concoction is stronger because it can actually dissolve gold. Fairly interesting material,” she spoke, shaking her hair loose and combing it with her fingers for a bit.