Grand Saint Alloy

Hadrid threw himself to the floor, frantically trying to collect the sludge that was all that remained of the back cover and last page. Tristan had to quickly remove them, as the decay ate through them rather quickly. Paper was evidently less durable than leather, who would have thought.

Hadrid looked up at Tristan, “Let’s be reasonable, hand me the note-“

“No, reasonableness is something that ceases to exist when you drag an injured person off and preform experiments on them!” Tristan shouted.

“But they were important experiments,” Hadrid said indignantly.

Tristan opened his mouth to yell some more, but he realized, Hadrid would not be convinced by anything he said. Did he want him to be convinced? Right now he had leverage over the alchemist, he could use that to get some information.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Tristan said, “However, if you want your notes, we need to have a talk.”

Hadrid’s face scrunched up, “Fine.”

“How do you use a force?” Tristan asked.

Hadrid frowned, confused, “I thought you would ask about the plant crabs?”

“No, thats what Eve and Bruce are here for,” Tristan said, “I want to know how to use a force.”

Hadrid nodded, though his eyes never left the book, “There is a force for most natural phenomenon, don’t ask how many, where they come from, or why tier zero’s are more likely to have them.”

Tristan almost asked why tier zero’s were more likely, but bit off his question before he could ask. He changed his question, “What force do you and Luke have?”

Hadrid settled back in his chair, “Luke has conductivity, while I have alloy as well. Also you don’t ‘have’ a force, no one does, that would make you a god. However, your essence is flavored by that force. An easy example would be if a fire kern had the force of combustion, their fire would be able to burn better than plain fire essence, but the fire kern does not own the force no combustion essence will be thrown out.”

“Then why do I have decay essence in me?” Tristan asked. He got off the table and rolled another wheeled chair over.

Hadrid perked up and grabbed a pencil, before frowning at the note book in Tristan’s hand, “So it worked! As far as essence goes, you don’t, you have decay force metal essence. Think of it like a dark attribute metal.”

“Then why can’t I move it?” Tristan asked. He was getting frustrated. When he looked into his kern he clearly saw a decay essence with no hint of metal essence.”

“Of course, are you stupid, essences are made up of different combinations of forces, it is a decay force that is prominent. Why would you be able to control that before you make an alloy out of it?” Hadrid seemed offended that Tristan forgot something that he had said while pouring decay concentrate down his throat.

“How are alloys made,” Tristan asked.

Hadrid rolled his eyes and gestured to the floor, “I suspect that you already have that figured out.”

“Tell me anyway,” Tristan said brandishing his finger at the note book.

Hadrid narrowed his eyes, only sitting back when Tristan put his finger away, “I have no idea, my first three alloyed forces were all metal related. I call them, toxin, flexibility, reflection and stability. The only one not associated with metal is integration, and it was also my first one.”

“Toxin?” Tristan frowned. That did not sound like a metal related force.

“Boy, you have never played with mercury, have you?” Hadrid said, as if playing with toxic metals was a normal thing to do. Then he went back to the original question, “Those first four are metal essences, so I can control them, integration needs to be mixed at a five to one ratio, using a stirring method.”

Tristan frowned, “My decay, needed to collect much more than that, it just absorbs a massive amount and then destroys everything.”

Hadrid got excited and raised his pencil, “Could you at least give me a page.”

Tristan almost said no, however there was a large number of other books lying around. If he pushed too hard the alchemist might go and get another book. So he tore off the back page, causing Hadrid to wince, but he still took it and started writing down what Tristan had just said.

After some contemplation Hadrid nodded, “Seems right. In practice, decay only occurs when there is something to feed upon. If you use the force of consumption you have it will probably work the same way. So you have to prime it to activate its effects, which is good otherwise it would eat you from the inside out.”

That at least made sense. Even if he knew what to look for, Tristan was not sure he would know what to look for in a consumption force. In practice it should be a worse decay. There was another oddity about this experience.

“Why did you have me swallow a metal reservoir?” Tristan asked.

“Potency mostly. I wanted to have the essence on hand to get flavored by alloy, as opposed to collecting it slowly. It means your decay will be vastly stronger than your consumption, in terms of volume. Also I wanted to see how big a kern could be stretched in a single sitting.” Hadrid said.

“What. I could have died,” Tristan said. He wasn’t even sure if he should be mad at this point. If his kern had failed to heal because it was too full, that would have been just as bad “So, how far did you stretch it?”

Hadrid made a disgusted face, “I put a tier five essence reservoir in you, and you only got half way to tier three. The decay must have eaten most of it.”

Tristan could not help but grin, that meant only half a tier before he could make his own equipment. He could actually have armor, and as a side affect, it would also supply a near limitless supply of money if he decided to sell it.

“I’ve answered you questions,” Hadrid held out a hand like an expectant toddler, “Give it back.”

Tristan was about to refuse, but after Hadrid mentioned that he could inflate tier growth he knew one thing. If Hadrid lost the journal, he could beat Tristan within an inch of his life and preform the experiment again. As soon as the alchemist realized this Tristan would lose all his bargaining power.

Tristan nodded, “Sure, but before I hand it back, I need you to promise not to do any experiments on me again.”

“I promise,” Hadrid said quickly, Tristan raised an eyebrow, “I promise on my mother’s grave.”

Tristan was not sure what that was supposed to mean, but he knew that Hadrid was too cold to care about anyone who was already dead. Tristan stood and said , “Follow me, I need you to promise in front of witnesses.”

Hadrid rolled his eyes and sighed. He was really reminding Tristan of a big toddler, but at least the alchemist followed. Tristan found Eve and Ruth having a picnic on the front lawn. Eve seemed uncomfortable with the setting, despite the fact that all the blood and gore was gone. Several, golize surrounded them, very dog like in how they begged for food, though more horrifying. Bruce looked like he had gotten bored with waiting and was practicing with the artifact spear.

“Sage!” Eve said happily, “I’m glad you recovered from your head injury so quickly.”

Head injury? Tristan glared at Hadrid. So he knew that they would disapprove of his actions and went about it anyways. What would he have done if Tristan had died. Briefly, Tristan imagined Hadrid telling Eve that he misplaced the body and then to get off his lawn.

“No, Hadrid has something to tell all you fine people, “ Tristan said loudly enough to get some of the passing citizen’s attention.

Hadrid raised a hand, “I swear on my moth-“

“Please swear on the integrity of your research,” Tristan said.

Hadrid’s eyes dulled a little, “I swear,” he took a deep breath, “Do I really have to do this?”

Tristan nodded, Hadrid definitely had something else planned.

Hadrid clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, “I swear on the integrity of my research to never experiment on you again,” He looked at Tristan hopefully, “without your consent?”

Tristan was about to yell at the alchemist. However he was not likely to get a better promise, that and he would benefit from selecting the alloyed forces in the future. He tossed the note book to Hadrid, who snatched it back and inspected it for more damage.

“He did what?” Eve said.

“Don’t worry, it happens all the time,” Ruth said waving her hand dismissively.

Tristan chuckled at Eve’s wide eyes and slack jaw directed at her sister. However he had another thing to request of Hadrid, the real reason why he came.

“Hadrid can you teach me how to create essence reservoirs and infuse objects with them, you know alchemy stuff?” Tristan asked, “I’m willing to pay.”

Hadrid gave a smug grin, “Fifty talents.” The grin died when Tristan handed over fifty talents, “Uh, well thats not what.”

Eve spoke over him, “Its a good thing your boss knows how much he’s worth, right Ruth.”

“Indeed!” Ruth said, much less sarcastically. Her hands were pressed together like she was praying to Hadrid, “It is only reasonable for someone to pay fifty years worth of wages to even step on the same path as him. My Hadrid is a very good and wise man.”

Hadrid’s face turned red and he looked about ready to choke, “Fine!” He slammed the castle door, Tristan could hear him mutter, “Troll turd,” as he stomped down to the basement.