"Reina! I got the last thing you needed!" Neeks came through the door wearing a triumphant smile. She had gone searching for the clatharis leaf alone. In the meantime, Reina prepared her cauldron to begin the divining process for the soul stone. She was handed a glass jar of the leaves. Poisonous secretions began to pool at the bottom.

The clartharis leaf came from the plant of the same name, which grew only from a body of moss. Their leaves were unique in that they had jagged edges that secreted a poison when disturbed. So deadly was it, that a single drop could render a centaur unconscious for days.

Antitoxins were easy to come by and sold cheaply by merchants or general stores. A regular traveler journeying through the forests easily held several on hand just in case. Even the  atelier carried a batch.

"This is almost nostalgic," Perrwyn remarked from her corner of the room. She was lying on a bed of leaves of her own making, head propped up on a hand and curiously watching the preparations.

The alraune did say she served the Eudora Faust. Rather, used as an alchemical resource was more appropriate. Having been in the presence of a witch for as long as Perrwyn had, it was no surprise she had seen alchemy firsthand.

"It would be nice if you gave us a hand or twenty," Reina said, taking a last minute refresher on the instructions.

"Can I help?" Neeks asked, hovering from behind.

"You've done enough. It's up to me to do the rest. Just sit back and watch the magic— er, I don't do magic— the alchemy happen!" She gave a reassuring thumb's up.

Neeks nodded and took a seat by the table to watch while snacking on some grapes. A pair of tentacles crept up from underneath in an attempt to snatch the fruits away, but the harpy was too alert to be caught unawares and leapt away.

"Get your own!" she snarled at the alraune.

"But you have so many. If you don't share, who knows when I might lose control and feast on something more readily available." Perrwyn brought a tentacle up to her lips and licked the sap dripping from it.

"If you two don't pipe down, I'm shoving an aphrodisiac down your throats and sending you to the orc pens." Reina sighed.

Both of them quieted down immediately. 

Now that she had some peace, it was time to get to work. All the ingredients were on the counter next to the cauldron. A soul stone, clatharis leaf, blessed fruit, small diamond, magic crystals, and a squirrel skittering around in its wooden cage, ignorant of what was going to happen to it.

First step: put the soul stone into the cauldron. Of course, nothing was happening yet because it was merely submerged in inactive alchemical waters.

Next, cast ten magic crystals into the cauldron to stoke it to life. As the cauldron began to bubble, the atelier became noticeably warmer.

She plucked the squirrel from the cage and made a silent apology to it.

"You sure you don't want me to do it?" Neeks offered.

"Couldn't call myself an alchemist if this made me squeamish." Reina shrugged. She slit its throat and drained the blood into a bowl. When the writhing had stopped, she carved the heart from its chest, and tossed the organ into the cauldron.

The bubbling stopped, but the color shifted to a dim purple and cooled rapidly. So far so good.

Before it could heat up again, Reina threw the clatharis leaf and diamond in at the same time. The cauldron began to emit a light like a lantern. At this point, the soul stone was gazing at its own reflection from the diamond.

"Is that supposed to happen?" Neeks yelled, shielding her eyes from the blinding purple light.

"I think so? This is my first time divining a soul stone," she replied, sweat beading on her forehead.

One more step. Finally…

Reina thanked the goddess Vessyra again, then gently let the bastil fruit sink into the mixture. The light vanished at once. The cauldron ceased bubbling.

"Did I… do it?" she asked herself out loud.

Neeks ran over to peek in the cauldron, too.

When brewing potions and elixirs, once the mixture is complete, the liquid would rise to the top and be scooped into containers. This wasn't a process of concocting anything, so she wasn't sure what success or failure looked like.

Reina fished out the soul stone with a ladle. It was no longer a cloudy purple, but pure white. 

"What the…"

As soon as she took hold of the stone between her thumb and index finger, an unquenchable desire to have sex overwhelmed her sense of reasoning. She let go of the soul stone and clutched her head to fight the migraine. The sound of the marble-sized stone hitting the floor and rolling off rang like a bell.

"It's… a soul stone of lust." Reina caught another glimpse just as the cloudy white surface darkened back to its purple shade.

The divining process had run its course, and the identity of the soul stone was uncovered.

Neeks lowered a hand to help her up.

"You okay? That alchemy stuff didn't hurt you, did it?" she asked, worry written all over her face.

"I'm fine, but…" Reina's lower region began to swell. "I think I might need your help after all…"

Reina hopped off the bed, leaving Neeks lying there and convulsing from orgasm after orgasm. Her cunt dripped with cum, nipples had gotten so erect that they bulged from her fur, and the delightful expression on her friend's face showed of blissful satisfaction.

"Whew! That hit the spot."

A tentacle extended its way to the bed. Reina watched as Perrwyn's vine opened into a four-pronged mouth with a slimy tongue that then clamped onto Neeks' pussy, both fucking her and sucking the cum out of her.

"NNNGHHAAAA! Gods, please— I'm still cumming… it's so good, it's so good— aaahhh!" Neeks screamed until her mouth was plugged up by another tentacle.

"Be gentle, Perrwyn. She's still sensitive," Reina said.

"This harpy has such prime quality meat, and your ejaculate is like sweet nectar. What a feast!" The alraune smiled, cheeks taking on a shade of pink.

Reina picked the soul stone of lust off the ground. Why it affected her like that was strange. Fortunately, there was a readily available and willing outlet in the form of Neeks to sate her lust. They were lucky it wasn't a soul stone of pride or wrath. Things might have gone horribly wrong.

From what she recalled, the lustful soul was categorized as a lesser soul by witches. When imbued into a familiar, granted a witch and her bonded familiar the ability to keenly discern spells and magical signatures.

But she was no witch, and neither did she have any need for a familiar.

Which meant this soul stone of lust was Reina's to do as she pleased.

What could I craft from alchemy with this? she wondered.

"Alright! I successfully divined a soul stone and fucked to my heart's content. Talk about a milestone. Now what to do? What to do?" Reina hummed as she rolled the soul stone around with her thumb.

With the prize at the palm of her hands, she suddenly hadn't a clue what to do with it. They busied themselves collecting materials for the divining that Reina hadn't had the chance to think about what to do with it.

If it had been a soul stone of gluttony, she could have concocted a rather powerful trait-inheriting elixir. Familiars imbued with the gluttonous soul possessed the unique ability to inherit traits from living creatures by consuming their magic signature. If she could manage a successful divining, then she should be capable of brewing an imbibable elixir out of this reagent.

"Perrwyn!"

"Mmm… Yes?" The alraune was groping herself while her tentacles continued to molest Neeks, who was beginning to enjoy it in her helpless state.

"When you were with Eudora, did you ever witness her synthesize something with a soul stone? Or anything with a soul stone?" Reina asked.

At first, Perrwyn didn't seem the least interested in searching her memories. After all, she was preoccupied and more interested in playing with Neeks. However, the tendrils and vines retracted from the harpy just before she reached another climax. The alraune sat up on her fly trap and put a tentacle under her chin.

"Eudora once spoke of soul-binding, where one tethered the soul from a soul stone into a weapon to empower it. Not so much an alchemy thing as it was more of a witch and magic sort of thing," she explained.

"Soul-binding… is a taboo art. Headmistress Parabelle and Grand Alchemist Eileen outlawed it and made its practice punishable by death. I'd rather keep my head." Reina gulped.

Perrwyn was unfazed. "Just regrow your head as I do."

"I'm an elf, I'll die— Wait, can you really?" Reina raised a brow, skeptical of the claim. But the alraune put her hands on her head and looked like she was about to pop it off. "STOP! I don't want to see that."

"You can kill a squirrel and cut its heart out, but can't take seeing me headless?" Perrwyn dropped her arms to the side and asked with an amused grin.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

A heavy hand noisily rapped at the atelier door.

Reina stowed the soul stone back into a lockbox and underneath a trap door, where it was then covered by a heavy round carpet. No one could know what she had. It was essentially contraband for someone like her. If ever a witch or priestess discovered a soul stone was in her possession, then that would be the end of her alchemy career.

"Neeks, get presentable or cover yourself with a bedsheet! If someone sees you like this, it's not my fault if they start lusting after you," she shouted across the room.

"Uugh… but I can't feel my hips…"

Once Perrwyn had retreated into her oversized flower bulb so as to not scare away the visitors, Reina opened the door and was greeted by a party of young male elves. The tribal tattoos on their bare bodies and faces suggested they were not cityborn. Bows were slung on their backs. They wore nothing but pants and thick boots.

Perhaps a band of vagabonds passing through. They wouldn't be the first nomadic tribes to pay a visit to the city before moving on. All worshipped the same gods after all.

But damn. Reina couldn't help but stare at their musculature and toned physique. How could she not gawk at members of her own race who were at their peak forms?

"How can I please you— I mean, help! How can I help you?" Reina cleared her throat and pinched her arm to get the jitters out of the way.

One of them, not quite the tallest but had the air of leadership about him, stepped forward. His auburn hair was worn into two thick braids that fell over his chest. Chalky white paint covered the right half of his face.

"We sought help from healers and physicians in the city, but they could not resolve our problem. Witches, alchemy, magic… I do not trust it. However, my people and I are at our wits' end," the elven man said, almost pleadingly. The tension in his eyes told Reina this wasn't an easy decision for him. Witches, alchemy, and magic had undoubtedly been the cause of a lot of great evils in the world. She couldn't blame him for his hesitation.

Whatever it was, she was eager to lend her aid as an alchemist.

And…

Maybe get to know a couple of these fine men…

"I'm Reina. I'm not a witch, nor do I know magic. All I can offer you is my expertise as an alchemist. Whatever ails you, I might be able to help," Reina said sincerely, putting a hand over her chest.

"My name is Rahja. My tribe has come upon a problem… Uhm…" Rahja's cheeks took on a bright red tint as he struggled to find the words. "The women of my tribe have… become frustrated with us. You see… we… cannot seem to get it up anymore."

Reina stared blankly.

"Eh? It as in…?" She pointed to Rahja's crotch.

"Yes… None of us can get an erection," he replied in a whisper.