The crushed perpou spread in his tongue like Keltz. The ten-cent, off-brand scotch mints his school's cooperative used to sell. Euca remembered savoring the sharp fresh tinges after the two o'clock bell rang. Not that it tastes great. Mrs. Welimmar only purchased the least sweet one. Since her oldest son's root canal, she seems to wage a silent war against the students' tooth decay. He think she will forgo all the candy together if the cooperative were hers alone.

 

Yet, people are people. And people love candy.

 

He remember pocketing at least five pops every day. Not that he dismiss her cause —he was one of the few students who regularly floss— it was just, the mints irritating sting help. Most of the second and third years have a grueling cram afterschool till five. Sometimes eight. Especially eight if you really, really want to enter the university of your dream. And He have a bad gene roll, the slightest drop of coffee make his stomach churn—

 

Ah, I'm rambling again. Perhaps it was the rain. Their slightest pitter-patter bouncing off from gardens' foliage.

 

He holds his hand, peeking from the window blind. For a brief blink, he thought he saw his golden fur. Playing in the ground laughing, ruining his just cleaned coat.

 

Matt. He found the dog when he just a pup. The lady told him it was his friend's day at the shelter.

 

His drooped eyes. His limpid face. In retrospect, he might be projecting, yet in that moment, he thought he saw acceptance in his eyes. A defeated sigh telling the universe; well, here he is.

 

With all the strength of his limping arm, the fifteen years old him, lift the retriever to his chest. He barks, surprised. His young self continues to hug him though. Fiercely. Deeply. Until finally, his bark turns into a snug growl. That day, sealed by their beating heart, they become a friend.

 

 

A stray wind splashes a drop to his right eye. Rubbing it, he realizes he's been crying...

 

..focus Euca! You're here now!

 

You're here now.

 

"Matt. I hope you're happy," he said to no one. The wind rustle against the falling leaves. "I'm sorry but I think I can't see you anymore, buddy."

 

 

 

The young man took a deep, drawn breath. It's been a day since he enters the lab. Even though he calls it the lab, it was just a side room in the back garden that he asked Ed to put a couple of tables on. A temporary place until Restia finalized her end.

 

Taking a look at the slightly splotched note, he swishes a mouthful of water a couple of times in his mouth; rinsing the taste. he rarely does organoleptic if it's not at least proven to be safe and widely consumed. It was certainly ...unique. Perpou berries, as it was called is what he thought as a fall short snack, one that should be popular if it's slightly sweeter. Yet, he only gets the sharp peppermint jolt bordering spicy undertone of freshly grounded black pepper. Not a great combination. Still, he notes it anyway, perhaps with certain mix, it could be used as flavorant.

 

Mr. Lup, the peddler who sold it to him, told that those round double-dented bites were more necessity good; given to awake Erwee after their afternoon grazing. He shook his head, half chuckled, telling him how several of the older flocks sometimes would just flop down snoring after full hour of grazing, ignoring even the loud boom from enchanted stick of their exasperated herders. Luckily for those little furballs, the [Ranchmaster] associate already commission predator-free zone to the adventurer guild since at least a decade ago. Most D ranks fought hard to be included in Erwees' patrol rooster. Bribes, favor, threat, that kind of favor, and favoritism run rampant. He said it would be much chaotic if the guild hasn't stepped in. 

 

Perpou was also popular among delvers. Sometimes they will mix three crushes into their waterskin. The unique taste, help the night-shifter, particularly the new one, awake. Or that's what it supposedly used to. Mr.Lup lost count how many times he saw a delver chasing his teammate, sword drawn, because of Perpou prank. He said putting perpou in the soup was a classic while smearing it under the nose of sleeping teammates were the new catching fad.

 

Still, questionable use aside, He proceeds to deactivate the [Heating Runes]. The tepid hot waft swept him with its pungent jolt. He felt his eyes tear up, revealing the much shriveled blackish-skinned berries. Safety note: install oven exhaust.

 

 

He let the grinder do its thing.  Already, he saw the first scoop was turning to quite smaller chunks. For this run, I'm gonna let it run for a while. He supposed he should note the standardized grinding time. But it's the first time, after all, and end-point eyeballing is most what he can do.

 

 

Almost done. The sound was a lot smoother than it was quarter standard hourglass ago. Grinding time: half standard hourglass per 100 gram batches.

 

He shakes his head at the rapidly decelerating grinders. It was a miracle really. The rune essentials were much, much function-replacement of modern-day electronic. Still, the itty gritty mechanism eludes him. It was very much like his phone. He just one of the many, many end-user who didn't know how the handheld device, that he might point out, —consume half of his waking life— function. Well, it's true sometimes stray off recommendation video would point out about binary on and off, zero-one, or the multitudinous feature of logic gate. Still, it was very basic understanding. A more clickbaity, passing curiosity appeaser than explorative DIY.  It was top on his list though, looking into the deep know-how of magic itself.

 

Unfortunately, as you may see, he was preoccupied with refilling bounty of the pocket. It was 18th-century earth all over again. As slightest observance points out, how majority of notable scientists were a product of privilege —a well-offness. A sir here, a gentleman hobbyist there. Even if there are few non-old money, they were simply a well-connected, grant scholar. It was just one of the features of society that was still in the phase of scarcity economy; that to have decent chance of succeeding in pursuit of passion, one ought to have proper financial foundation.

 

Ah, he rambles again, isn't he?

 

The grinder stopped. Opening the lid he saw a very, very light dark-ish purple powder. Sigh. Very carefully, he closed the lid again. With that kind of burn, the powder would be a choking hazard.

 

 

Still, it was finally ready. It is time for the *urgh* legworks.

 

 

Experiment #1 direct water extraction.

 

 

Experiment #12, 24-hour 25:75 water-alcohol maceration.

 

.

..

...

 

Experiment #12.4.2 controlled manaspark introduction (3 SC jolt)

.

.

..

...

Log notes: Experiment #12.4.2

Safety shower should be installed in the immediate reach of personnel. Yellow-spectrum mana introduction possesses an explosion hazard of caustic liquid. Coat crystal ground with brown-spectrum for controlled dampening (proportion to be determined at later date). Starting with a smaller pilot batch at ten safety factor dilution should be immediately taken under advisement. Figure delayed reaction process in matter—

 

.

..

...

 

—include minute by minute [Appraisal] as standard procedure. Pay attention to the sign of successful spellwork formation, [Alchemy]—

.

..

...

Experiment #12.4.3.3.7.1

Stability protocols were established with aim of maintaining at least 90% of potency. Shelves-life target is set for one month after packaging.

.

..

...

MbM [Appraisal] confirms variance of temperature show no discernible effect until -20 to 80 degree Celsius. Beyond that rapid potency, loss was observed at 5% per degree per minute. (Need to be confirmed)Temperature variance on the packaging itself—

.

..

...

Mana flux continues to become a problem, particularly in high difference gradient. Isolating ambient mana is noted as the main stability basis of good packaging...

.

..

...

1. Erwee waterskin induced immediate color change. MbM [Appraisal] determines loss of potency.

2. Leat wood bottles were degraded within half-hour of storage. Multiple micropuncture were observed.

3. Stone container express no noticeable visual change. MbM [Appraisal] shows no observable difference.

4. Glass containers as predicted were totally inert. However as the only source was [REDACTED] of experimenter, scalability possesses a problem. Currently, glass containers only used in manufacturing process.

.

..

...

 

"[Appraisal]."

 

 

"Good enough."