“But I’ll get a stronger dose of Coal mana?”
Jelan stared at him strangely. “Why does it feel like you’re not hearing the words I just said?”
“He has that strange ability,” drawled Naomi.
“How much more potent is the tincture than the removed solids?”
“I’m not going to tell you that.”
Scorio bowed low before him, his brow nearly touching the counter. “Please. I’m an adult. I simply need to know the truth.”
The silence was drawn out, but finally, he could sense the apothecary relent. “There are several variables. But in short, an unfiltered elixir is about twenty times more powerful than the pill, and requires half as many plants to make. The poison is simply the reaction of your system to consuming raw, unfiltered Coal mana.”
Scorio straightened, suddenly feeling awkward. Too late to deny it was for him. “Can higher-level Great Souls drink the tincture?”
Naomi sighed. “They would be violently ill for most of the afternoon, but yes.”
“And a Blood Baron?”
Jelan appeared genuinely astonished. “Why would a Blood Baron waste his time drinking unfiltered Black Star tincture?”
“But one would be able to process it?”
“Without noticing any effect on their system, yes. But a Char? You’d be lucky not to die as the raw mana tore its way through your Heart.”
“And if I didn’t die?”
His stare was direct and disapproving. “You’ve already decided to do it, haven’t you?”
“This is purely academic, I assure you.”
“Then, academically speaking, I would advise the following: the first time you make it reduce the tincture with enough alum to make it safe to drink. Each time thereafter make it a little more potent so that you can determine your threshold.”
Scorio frowned but nodded. “Fine. As long as it’s not too weak.”
Jelan laughed, the sound bitterly amused. “When you’re begging for death, I hope you remember those words.”
“That is fair.”
“If that is to be the case, you won’t need the fifty plants. Twenty-five would suffice for an elixir of equal strength to a pill.”
“Excellent, thank you.” Scorio paused, a half-formed thought coming to him.
“Yes?” asked Jelan reluctantly.
“I’m just curious. Coal mana is intangible, correct? A Great Soul can draw it into his Igneous Heart through a combination of willpower and mastery of his spirit, but how does a Black Star do the same? Do they have Igneous Hearts?”
“Ah, you really do wish to address academic matters.” For once Jelan appeared slightly more stimulated; he shifted his weight and refolded his hands on the countertop. “You are asking questions that require years of study to answer fully, but I have here a… where is it?”
Jelan turned and walked farther back into his store, fingers dancing over the scroll tubes that emerged from the honeycombed walls, till at last he tapped one and drew it forth. “A treatise on Black Star flower cultivation.”
He blew dust off it, turned it over in his hands, and found a small tag. “And only eight copper octs. This should answer all your questions.”
Scorio took the scroll from the apothecary, trying not to let his expression drop at the price, and pulled off the cap. Within were a half-dozen tightly rolled up sheets which he smoothed out on the counter. Carefully inked diagrams revealed the anatomy of the plant, but he only glimpsed charts and intriguing instructions before Jelan took the pages back and rolled them up.
“You must purchase before perusing. Do you have the octs?”
“Not yet,” said Scorio. “But I will.”
“I see. Well, until then, a succinct answer must suffice.”
Scorio bowed his head gratefully.
“All mana flows from the Pit on the far side of hell, but only Coal reaches Bastion easily. Distance is the great limitation; Silver mana can travel farther than Gold, but not as far as Bronze. There are many theories as to why, but the fact remains.”
Jelan took up the Black Star flower, and spread its velvety petals apart. “Inscribed within the heart of the flower is a unique pattern that is edged with hardened Coal mana. This pattern draws the Coal mana along its course, and by some unknown mechanism tricks the mana into thinking it has traveled a greater distance. Even Coal, it seems, cannot travel forever; upon reaching the end of the pattern, it coalesces into a dewdrop of pure mana, which feeds the plant.”
Scorio bent down to gaze at the heart of the plant and thought he could see the faintest of traceries there in a deeper black. “And that mana feeds the plant?”
“Just so,” said Jelan, folding his hands back together. “And is used to imbue its seedlings with the ability to generate their first, minor pattern when they germinate and flower.”
“This pattern,” said Scorio. “Could it be copied out, in larger form?”
“Yes,” said Jelan. His smile was cold, patronizing. “It forms the basis of mana traps. But people do not have the skill to draw the pattern finely; at best we have been able to approximate its intricacies only crudely, resulting in vastly inefficient traps. It is far better to cull actual patterns from fiends and use them instead.”
“That’s fascinating.” Scorio rubbed at his chin, pondering the limp flower on the counter. “Not even Great Souls have been able to do this?”
Naomi, who had stepped forward to press her hip against the counter, shrugged one shoulder. “There’s little need. Out in hell proper, there are entire forests that capture mana. It’s easier to tap the trees than spend time trying to copy their patterns.”
“Tap the trees?” asked Scorio.
“Yes,” said Jelan, blinking at Naomi. “That is precisely correct. One can ‘tap’ a greater harvester by drilling a hole into its core and simply inserting a short tube. Condensed mana will drip out, and can be collected in a receptacle.”
“Of course, the trick lies in guarding the receptacle,” said Naomi wryly.
“Could one tap a Black Star?” asked Scorio.
Both Naomi and Jelan stared at him blankly.
“I mean, I understand it would need to be a small hole, a pinprick, but that would allow the plant to continue living, wouldn’t it?”
Naomi was the first to speak. “You wish to cultivate Black Star plants?”
“Is it possible?”
Jelan was gazing at him in wonder. “It is possible. But hardly worth the trouble. The system Mistress Esoka describes is used to collect Gold, Emerald, or even more precious mana. But Coal?”
“The expense of defending such a setup would make the effort not worthwhile,” said Naomi firmly. “Even the few beads of condensed mana you’d harvest would draw attention from the local fiends. Not to mention that Black Star never grows close to each other.”
“Just a thought,” said Scorio. “But thank you. You’ve given me much to think about.”
“Well,” said Jelan with a sniff. “Let’s talk practicalities. Equipment, costs, and methods.”
“Yes,” said Scorio firmly. “Please.”
1
Naomi agreed to fund the alchemical process, extract the tincture, and let him know when it was ready. She already owned most of the required pieces of equipment, and explained most grudgingly that she had a passing interest in alchemy. It helped, she said defensively, to pass the time.
The next few days of training were a chore, as Scorio forced himself into an artificial state of patience, until at last, at Second Rust, Naomi relented.
“Incidentally.”
Scorio lowered the towel with which he’d been wiping sweat away. “Yes?”
Her expression was scrupulously calm. “I may have distilled a sufficient quantity of the tincture for you to drink.”
Immediately he dropped into a cross-legged seating position. “You’ve got it? Here?”
She drew a slender flask from inside her robe but didn’t offer it. Instead, she gauged him through narrowed eyes. “You look terrible.”