“Okay… Can you explain?”

“Gladly!”

He picked up the newly synthesized piece and held it up.

“As ya just saw, I have combined da gold piece vith da iron perfectly. No matter vhere ya look, ya vill only see gold on da outside.”

“I see that, but how is this practical? It doesn’t exactly match up to your earlier example.”

“I’ll get ta zhat in a moment. But ya mentioned how alchemy is used by scammers. Ta demonstrate how zhat’s done, I’ve created zhis. Now tell me. If ye didn’t know zhis was iron underneath, how much do ya zhink it’d be vorth?”

(I’ll get to that in a moment. But you mentioned how alchemy is used by scammers. To demonstrate how that’s done, I’ve created this. Now tell me. If you didn’t know this was iron underneath, how much do you think it’d be worth?)

“Some silver valins? Maybe?”

“Aye, roughly. An’ zhat’s how zhey trick people.”

Torgrak then snapped the piece in half, showing how the gold is entirely on the outside but iron inside.

“Done it plenty myself.”

“Why are you teaching me this?”

“Just pay attention an’ I’ll explain.”

Still excited, Torgrak then takes the wooden knife and blue-ish metal out. Holding the knife to a blank sheet of paper, he asks if it can cut or not.

“Do ya zhink this vooden knife vill cut zhrough da parchment?”

“No, it’s made of wood.”

Torgrak tries to cut the paper, but it expectedly does nothing.

"Now vhat if I used da same mezhod as before, but vith zhis?”

He held up the chunk of metal.

“I’m not sure. Cut the paper? Maybe?”

“Let’s see.”

Doing the same thing as before, he places the wooden knife in the circle and the metal inside the triangle. The ink wriggles and sinks in as before. And when moving both to the circle, the metal behaves as the gold did. It coats the wooden knife, leaving now gaps anywhere.

Holding the new knife up, Torgrak asked Tessa what he had now.

“Vhat kind of knife do I have now?”

“A… Metal one?”

“Aye, but actually no. I now have a ‘mithril-coated vooden knife’.”

“Mithril?! Isn’t that an incredibly rare metal?!”

“Aye. And it’s infamous for being lighter, stronger an’ more flexible than steel. But difficult for most smiths ta forge vith due ta it’s high melting point.”

Torgrak then tested to see if the knife could properly cut through paper. This time, it cut through with little effort. Tessa stared in awe at what he’d done. He’d just combined wood and mithril to make a functioning knife. Something that would cost an arm and a leg to have a normal knife forged entirely from mithril.

“Don’t get too caught up in vhat ya’ve just seen, zhough. Remember zhat vhile it is coated in da mizhril...”

Torgrak then put the knife in both of his hands and snapped it in half. Revealing that it is still very much wood inside.

“It’s still mostly made of vood. Meaning it can be broken given enough force. Vhile a smith could forge ya an actual knife, zhis vould do in a pinch. Zhink of it like a shortcut, perfect for last-minute preparations.”

“So, in theory, you could create a silvered blade for a sword. And it would have the magical properties of silver, but the durability of the sword’s material?”

“Zhere are other factors ya vill learn, but aye.”

Tessa found herself completely fascinated with alchemy, wondering just what kinds of things it could do and how many ways it could be used.

“Why don’t more people practice alchemy?” she asked.

Torgrak chuckled at her sudden curiosity.

“Switching tunes quickly, aren’t ve? Da reason vhy alchemy isn’t used much is due ta advancements in magix, miracles, an’ so on. As ya zhought until recently, most prefer da convenience of spells over somezhing like zhis.”

(Switching tunes quickly, aren’t we? The reason why alchemy isn’t used much is due to advancements in magic, miracles, and so on. As you thought until recently, most prefer the convenience of spells over something like this.)

With his lesson and demonstrations done, Torgrak began packing everything up. The foldable table and blackboard still mesmerizing Tessa with how they magically fit in his bag.

“Tomorrow ya’ll be meeting Hei at Redbrick Park ta practice yer miracles. As for yer vound, ya should be able ta valk as usual by dawn. So between now an’ zhen, read zhese...”

(Tomorrow you’ll be meeting Hei at Redbrick Park to practice your miracles. As for your wound, you should be able to walk as usual by dawn. So between now and then, read these…)

Reaching into a different bag from the first, Torgrak pulled out a few thick and old textbooks. There weren’t any words on the cover, nor anything on their spines. Tessa thought they might even be older than her with how yellowed the pages were.

“What’s in these?”

“Research I compiled long ago. Ya don’t have ta memorize vhat’s in zhem, but it’d be good ta be familiar vith da contents.”

Tessa set the books down on the floor beside her bed, but was definitely curious to crack one open very soon.

“An’ take zhis.”

Torgrak handed Tessa a folded piece of paper and poured a glass of water from a flask at his side.

“This is…?”

“Medicine. Take a small bit at a time an down it vith vater. It’s bitter enough ta make a dead rat gag. Other zhan zhat, it’ll get ya back on yer feet faster zhan anyzhing else.”

“How’d you get something like this? And what makes it so bitter?”

“Made it myself! It’s ground up death bat bone, chimera fang, dried vile flower, an’ reduced green leaf sap.”

Tessa’s jaw dropped.

“Three of the things you named are poisonous, aren’t they?”

“Two actually. Chimeras are venomous, not poisonous.”

“That doesn’t make it better.”

“Don’t vorry, I already tested it.”

“On yourself?”

“Didn’t say that. Anyvays, I best get going. See ye in a few days.”

For a dwarf, Torgrak was surprisingly quick. He’d left the room before Tessa had a chance to ask any other questions. But deciding to trust in her new mentor, she opened the paper and stared at the pale green medicine. Closing her eyes, she quickly threw the medicine in her mouth and downed it with water.

Thankfully, there were no issues with getting it down. Though she wished the after taste wasn’t so unpleasant. And in mere moments, she felt a comforting warmth slowly fade in across her body. It still hurt to move, but it was turning from a sharp pain to a minor sting.

Torgrak then suddenly popped his head in from behind the door.

“An’ if ye sprout animal ears, zhat’s completely normal!”

“Wait, what?!”

“Alright, bye!”

She shot a distressed look at the door, but he was already gone.

What kind of mad dwarf is he? Well, time to read… I guess?

Tessa then heard a kind of poof and felt the top of her head.

At least he warned me…

Raising a hand and feeling the top of her head, she felt the freshly sprouted cat ears. And when she touched them, they twitched and responded even though she couldn’t feel them.

How long are those going to be up there? Hopefully they aren’t permanent.

Relenting to her current fate, Tessa turned her attention to the books Torgrak had given her. Pulling one from the pile and into her hands, she looked it over more closely. Aside from being closer to encyclopedias than tomes, they had allall had been attentatively cared for. She noticed the pages’ yellowing earlier, but now she also noticed the faded leather backing and how it had cracked in a few places.

Curious to know more about them, she turned to the first page and read what appeared to be the title.

‘The Starting Recipe’. That’s a weirdly normal name. Is it a cookbook?

Moving on from the title, Tessa noticed how clean the written text was. If this book was even close to how old Torgrak said he was, there should be noticeable damage to everything. But other than the pages looking old and book’s bindings getting worn out, that was it. The ink looked freshly dry and perfectly legible.

Maybe he used an ink made through alchemy. It’s definitely a possibility.

Curiously, Tessa flipped through the pages. Stopping at random places, but never really reading anything specific. She wondered if this was just a kind of picture-book-for adults with how there were illustrations throughout its entirety. Each one separated by several paragraphs of weirdly written text before showing a new “thing”.

Then she noticed a thin piece of red fabric between two pages and stopped her skimming.

Why’s there a bookmark here?

On the left page was an overly detailed drawing of a birthday cake. If not for the lack of color, Tessa felt as though her stomach would rumble at any moment. The spirals of cream and bits of fruit were all illustrated in painstakingly great detail. It was a three-tiered cake and one she doubted ever actually seeing in reality. Though what followed the illustration confused her.

If this is a cookbook, why aren’t there any instructions? Also, why are there so few ingredients?

Tessa’s face contorted into one of confusion and disgust at the listed requirements for the so called “birthday cake”.

THE BIRTHDAY CAKE:

Required:

• Baking pan

The Cake:

• 0.1u Rotten egg yolks
• 0.75u Fertilizing salt
• 0.15u Extra black pepper

The Candle:

• 1 x String
• Water
• Leftover cake

Moving on from this, Tessa flipped through more pages and delved ever deeper into the book. She came across what looked like magic circles. Yet matched nothing like the ones she saw students in the magic division at Unity Academy use. Instead of being clean and fairly symmetrical, these were a mish-mash of shapes with mathematical formulas written inside, outside, and between lines.

Of all the complex shapes and calculations, Tessa could only understand three very simple ones. A triangle, a square, and a circle. And when she looked closer at them, she saw the strings of math but found these to be legible to her. Whereas all the others made no sense at all, she could actually understand the meaning of the symbols and shapes.

So, a circle means component one. A triangle means component two. And a square is where the resulting compound is realized from components one and two.

For a moment there, Tessa felt as though she was in a trance. Forcing herself away from the book and blinking several times, she wondered how she understood that. The various symbols and markings matched nothing she’d ever seen. It wasn’t angular and sharp like dwarvish, nor was it curved and fluid like elvish. A more accurate description would be “chicken scratch”, yet she could read it somehow.

Getting a headache from staring at the nonsensical diagrams, Tessa closed the book and moved on to the next one. It bound in some kind of black-scaled leather and stunk of acid.

What is this thing made of?

Ignoring the unpleasant smell, she turned to the book’s first page.

‘Torgrak’s Guide to Monsters: Vol. 1’. At least this one’s straightforward.

Flipping to the following page revealed an index of monsters. Lists of creatures’ names put under predetermined categories. Some made sense to her, such as: beasts, constructs, elementals, plants, undead. However, there were a few categories that seemed unusual: aberration, celestial, fiend, humanoid.

Why would Torgrak have knowledge of these creatures? Even with how old he says he is, encounters with such beings are rarities mostly documented in myths. And if this is only volume one, what other things has he encountered?

Curious to know more about the contents of the tome, Tessa looked for a creature she had some familiarity with. Flipping to the listed page for wolves, she glanced it over and noticed that there was a lot more documented than she expected. A detailed illustration of a wolf greeted her along with the number “1” put in the corner of the drawing.

Tessa wondered what the number was for, but set that aside for now as she found information on everything from a wolf’s diet to social behaviours. Even details about where it preferred to rest and roam were present. Most of it didn’t seem all too useful, but the level of dedication in researching just a wolf was impressive.

Turning the pages, the book revealed more illustrations. Dissections of the wolf’s muscles and physical structure. Notes about the creatures’ weakest and most resilient areas, or how to manipulate one with scents or sounds. Even a breakdown of how to use every piece of the wolf from its fur to its bones to its excrement. This ridiculous level of detail disturbed Tessa slightly, but impressed her at the same time.

I guess Torgrak had a lot of time on his hands over the years?

Continuing further into this chapter on wolves, things got darker. She could handle the general dissection of the wolf, but now it was getting into a level of detail beyond pedantic. Full drawings of skeletons and organs. The individual layers of fur and flesh separated with the most minor of details between them described. Autopsies of males, females, and cubs in their various stages of life. Seeing the illustrations of the cubs alone made her nauseous, and she didn’t even want to know what else was just a turn of the page away.

Slamming the book shut, Tessa took deep breaths to calm herself. Then she recalled one category in the book that she’d skimmed over: humanoids. Considering what was in the book on just wolves, she feared to know just how far this book’s contents went. Ill thoughts quickly passed through her mind that ran shivers down her spine, but she dismissed them for now. It was better to live in ignorance of what else the book contained than to look in curiosity. Or at least for now, it is.

Setting it aside with the other one, Tessa eyed the last book. This one didn’t offend her sense of smell, thankfully, but she hesitantly opened it. Finding its first page, she read the title.

‘Equipment for Simpletons: Vol. 1’.

Continuing further, this one also had a categorized index full of the names of weapons, armor, tools and more. It was also all given subcategories. If she wanted to look up something about swords, she’d also have to know what kind of sword it was. Would it be an arming sword, a shortsword, a longsword, a bastard sword, a falchion, a claymore, or something else?

How many kinds of swords are there? And not just swords, are there really so many kinds of axes, spears, and bows?

It was genuinely astonishing to see such a detailed list of each weapon. She wondered what some of the more exotically named ones looked like.

Moving onto the different armor listed in the book, there wasn’t as much variety in their names. When compared to the weapons, Tessa found herself a little disappointed. But quickly remembered what kind of person Torgrak is; at least through what she’s read in the books so far. She had a feeling Torgrak had put a ludicrous amount of detail into whatever notes he had on armor. Unable to resist her curiosity, she flipped to the section on chainmail.

Similarly to how Torgrak had notes on monsters, Tessa found what she expected. Illustrations and diagrams that break down the armor both as a whole and in pieces. Details on resilience against different weapons, damage, and even spells and miracles were all listed. However, this too had a very questionable depth to its information.

After the more digestible information was a list of questions and answers, but each question was weirdly specific. One asked how the armor held up under severe stress and heat. Another asked if the armor became detrimental to the wearer when subject to freezing or below freezing temperatures.

What kind of testing was Torgrak doing?

The questions continued for pages, each one asking a fairly specific question most anyone else would rarely come up with by chance. Even Aavron’s detailed descriptions didn’t get into details this minute. Turning a couple of pages, the questions only continued on and on.

Just how much did Torgrak investigate each item?!

But just like the others, the questions started getting morally questionable to borderline malicious. Especially when the phrase “test subject” started appearing, and often followed by “alive” or “dead”. Feeling her stomach churn, Tessa quickly flipped back to the index to look for something else to read about.

Moving onto the “tools and more”, she found a portion of the index dedicated to potions. Searching for something familiar, Tessa found an entry on healing potions and quickly flipped to its dedicated chapter. It started off plainly. A central and detailed image of the potion with a handful of other illustrations that suggested other variations of it. Notes that asked and answered simple but valuable questions. There was also a table of ingredients someone could combine to create it. It was all pretty straightforward to understand.

No idea how to make it, but I have a feeling I’ll be learning how to brew potions in the future. Though I can’t tell if Torgrak is more intelligent than he seems, or is just a madman with too much time on his hands.

After having read the pages before her, Tessa’s hand began moving of its own accord. Reaching for the next page’s corner out of curiosity to see what else there was on just this one entry. Just as she began turning the page, she realized what she was doing and hesitated.

Do I… want to know what else he ‘researched’?

Her hand lightly held onto the corner of the page as she contemplated things.

No. I think I’ve had enough for today. Maybe in the future, but no more for now.

Now, mentally exhausted from her delve into knowledge some would consider forbidden, Tessa placed the book atop the others and rested in the bed. Turning her head to face the window, she stared outside and wondered just how much there was to learn.

Unity Academy only prepared me for so much, but now I’m on my own… I guess. Torgrak’s lesson today and the books he left are definitely things I’d have learned behind the walls of Solis or the school. I wonder what Hei will teach me tomorrow.

Tessa’s eyes slowly shut as she rested up for tomorrow, and whatever shock to her system it might bring.