Haldo called for Audree attention, “before we can get up to anything we are going to need to get that arm under control.”

Audrees arm was glowing again he hadn’t even noticed. He looked down at his slime and quickly picked it up. The slime seemed to be happy to absorb his energy. You have really calmed down lately normally you would have caused more trouble. The little wiggled comfortably in his hands.

“Then again I must be an easy infinite food source for you now.” The slime seemed to turn in his hands looking away. Audree sighed, “of course.” he put the slime back into the bag.

Haldo continued, “So for your arm I think I have a way to make this more manageable. But i will need you to help yourself. For that you will need some things.” Haldo with a mana hand reached over a shelf with ease grabbing an empty book.

Four hands went to work writing as Audree watched in aw. Then Haldo handed the book to audree. “Here you go boy, a new book for your notes.” Audree scanned the book. It had his name in extremely neat hand writing as if it was fresh off a press. Audree flipped through pages and haldo had written things about mana control meditation and basic magic theory as well as basic spells that were only based on mana control. Within it he saw that toward the end of the lessons, Haldos mana hands were a learnable skill.

It was a lot. Overwhelmingly so. “So I will be able to make those hands?” audree said, every moment was making himself realize this was real.

“Maybe, there is a lot to learn. I have a very controlled mana and the-” Haldo cut himself off. “These note a just some tips and things you should practice as you grow into a mage. Or at least what I believe is important. Milestones if you will. For now there are more important things. Look a little further in the book.”

So audree did and there it was a page labeled. Task: Audree’s amulet.

1. One mana core
2. 3 Blood roots the size of a palm
3. A teaspoon of Salt

The list went on for a while with about thirty ingredients total. Some seemed harder to find than others. At the bottom of the list there was an explanation for the amulet.

Once all the materials are collected, return to my library and we will begin making a charm to control your intake. It will restrict your keyword’s effect, forcing you to try harder to draw in mana—or at least that’s how it should work. When we craft it, we’ll tune it so it isn’t too restrictive, just enough to stop the passive absorption. This is a temporary solution until you can manage it yourself.

There were more technical details after that, but today had been a lot. He’d need time to take on this project. Might as well learn as I go, Audree thought.

“So I’m going to need to collect all of these parts,” he said, scanning the list. “Some of these are really hard to find in a place as mana-dead as Embershade.”

Haldo smirked. “Giving up already, and you haven’t even started? Well, that’s the fastest I’ve ever lost a student. Eh—this life isn’t for everyone.”

“Chill out, old man. I’m just a bit overwhelmed,” Audree shot back. “I’m not a quitter. This is what I’ve been after my whole life—what I’ve been studying and researching. Now I have a path. There’s no chance I’m quitting. I’ll find the materials—just give me a bit.”

“I’m looking forward to it, then,” Haldo said.

Audree waved him off and started toward the door, then paused. “But really—thank you for this chance. I won’t disappoint you.”

“Don’t thank me,” Haldo replied. “You’re the one who pushed the ball into motion. I’m just giving it an extra kick. Without that arm experiment, you probably wouldn’t have found your keyword at all. So thank yourself—and push forward.”

Audree turned, a bright smile breaking across his face, and stepped out onto the library entrance. The old man was right.

Nothing happens unless I make it.

Outside, Audree thought about the events that led him here—from the first potion he made with his mom, all the way to meeting some boy and blowing up his arm. It had been a slow but eventful climb, and there was still more work to do to reach his goal.

He tried to fidget with his bracelet again. Nothing there.

He slapped his cheeks for motivation. “Come on, Audree.”

He looked over the list of ingredients again. Some of these I can find in the old flower patch. There was a bit of metalwork that needed doing, too. This time—unlike the wooden contraption—he’d get a professional to forge it. Luckily, this was a mining town, so finding a metal craftsman shouldn’t be too hard. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too expensive, though.

One thing Audree hated most was not having the skills to do what he needed. But he’d realized, time and time again, that trying to learn everything at once just made you mediocre at all of it. A sad fact of life, he thought.

He looked down at his slime. It stared back with eyes that seemed focused on something far away—cute, in a way, almost like a cat.

Audree looked up and felt the absence of company. I really need to be more sociable. He wondered where Lief had gone, but guessed the boy would show up.

Audree arrived at the flower field that somehow—despite Embershade’s never-ending smog—still thrived. By some strange twist of fate, Lief was sitting in the grass, seemingly entranced by a conversation with… Velra?

She wasn’t in her usual red mage robes and pointy hat. Today she wore a red sundress and a straw hat—though she still carried her staff, the orb inside it unmistakably filled with blood.

“I see you and I share a deep love for nature,” Velra said. “It’s rare in this place to find someone who truly appreciates the little things, rather than exploiting the land for all it’s worth.”

Lief giggled. “Well, I have to find something to do in my free time. Plants and nature are just… welcoming.”

“I understand.” Velra smiled. “The invitation of a cool day in nature is always welcome. To feel the life of plants and bugs flowing—it’s refreshing.” She glanced at Lief. “No matter how small the life is, it has value. The balance of things flows in cycles, and—” She paused, turning her head. “Oh. It seems we have an audience.”

Lief turned and spotted Audree.

“No, don’t mind me,” Audree said, raising a hand. “I’m just here for materials.”
Why was Lief with Velra? Did they know each other? And what was that nonsense she was spouting?

Velra sighed. “A perfect example of one of the exploiters.”

Audree ignored her. “Lief, what are you doing with her of all people?”

Lief mumbled, “I got uncomfortable with Mr. Haldo and decided to wait out here. I figured you’d come for materials eventually. Then I ran into this lady—she seemed nice—and she said she knew you.”

Audree eyed the skinny boy. Was he a bit slow? He could think of a dozen reasons not to chat with a strange woman carrying a staff full of blood.

“I’m going to have to teach you what stranger danger is, aren’t I?”

“Stranger what?” Lief blinked.

Audree sighed.

 

Velra butted in. “So, I heard you talked to the old man. How did that go?”

Audree looked up, debating whether to tell her. She was the one who’d said, Rule number one of being a mage—never tell someone your keyword. But something told him she’d figure it out anyway. And Lief—friend or assistant—probably needed to know as well.

He glanced at Lief, whose wide eyes were practically begging for the story. Audree sighed and told them everything that happened in the library.

Lief lit up. “So you’re a mage now?”

Audree paused. The words hadn’t fully landed until that moment. He thought it through. “Well… I guess I am, at least in terms of having a keyword. I still don’t have a mana pool. And out here in Embershade, I’m kind of just… dry.” He imagined mages going on grand adventures—saving people, throwing flashy spells. Right now, he was more of a giant straw, and the flashiest thing he’d done was blow up his arm. If he was honest, most of his ideas about magic came from exaggerated histories and fiction. The two real mages he’d met seemed cool—but he wasn’t sure how closely his image matched reality.

“I think that’s really cool,” Lief said. “Whether you’re a mage or something else—you can do magic. That’s more interesting than anything else in this town.”

“Your friend is right,” Velra added. “Don’t downplay your success. This is a big step toward your goal. It may seem underwhelming or slow, but that’s usually how progress works. As an alchemist, you should know that best.”

“You’re right,” Audree said. “Thanks.”

“Just some kind words. Don’t stress it.”

Velra’s staff suddenly vibrated, the red orb beginning to boil. “Whoops. I’ve got to go. I’ll see you two later—I look forward to your progress.”

Lief waved. Audree just stared as Velra sank into a puddle of blood, which then vanished.

Lief frowned, thinking. “Oh—that’s where I saw her before. That lady did the same thing outside your house one day.”

“What,” Audree said flatly.

—-------------------------------------

The next few days blurred into mud, metal, and early mornings. The boys ranged across Embershade’s fringes with a scavenger’s focus—down into damp channels where moss clung, through narrow shale cracks that forced them sideways, and across slag fields where the smelters’ smoke drifted low and sour. By dusk their boots were always wet, their hands nicked, their bags heavier—bloodroot wrapped in oilcloth, salt-petal blossoms sealed in jars, threadlike vein-lichen coiled like green smoke. They’d managed nearly eighty percent of Haldo’s list without much more than scraped elbows and the occasional rat the size of a cat eyeing them like landlords.

Audree practiced control whenever the air tingled—breathing slow, thinking of siphons and shutters. Lief had joined in for extra motivation. It wasn’t graceful, but it was enough that he could sleep at home without waking to a hot, electric buzz in his arm. The rune-gold under his bandages still pulsed in Haldo’s library, though, sipping the room like a thief at a party. If this much ambient mana made him hum, a true natural mana well might burst him like an overripe berry. He didn’t plan to test the theory.

They finally settled behind the old kiln at his “testing grounds,” a scarred patch of earth tattooed with circles and scorch crescents. Broken beakers glittered like fish scales in the dirt. To Audree, each mark was a tally of progress.

“Hey, Lief—flask from my bag,” he said.

“Got it.” Lief rummaged and pressed cool glass into his palm.

They’d hit a roadblock anyway; the rest of the ingredients lived in guarded bins or far beyond town. Norra was working her connections to import what she could. The price worried him at first, but Norra and Ina were adamant about helping, which was oddly comforting.

Audree set a brass tripod, coaxed a blue flame to life, and chalked clean rune arcs on a slate—containment, bleed-off, a simple mouth-rune to drink heat. He uncorked two vials, let amber and cloudy tincture ribbon into the flask.

Lief crouched beside him, watching.

Audree began mixing and carving runes for another, less dangerous test.

 

Haldo had said that, in some way, Audree’s keyword boosted his ability to do alchemy—but without a mana pool, it was only passive. So Audree drew a simple conclusion: if his arm was more charged, maybe he’d see an effect. That was what he’d been working on all day—building just enough mana to make the runes glow and tingle.

“Your arm’s been glowing for a while now,” Lief said. “You should probably stop that from getting worse.”

“No, no—I’m trying something. Don’t worry about it.” Audree glanced down at his slime, mind drifting. “Lief, can you give this guy a name while I’m doing this?”

“What? That’s so random, Audree.”

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while. It feels weird to keep calling him—well, it—‘the slime.’ But I could never come up with a name.” He let the little creature out of his bag, then returned to carving runes.

“Well, I guess that’s true,” Lief said after a beat. “But I’m not very good at making names.”

“I think you’ll do better than me,” Audree said—probably true; he wasn’t known for naming things.

Lief studied the cheerful blob. “Hmm.” He tapped his temple. “Um… Bubbles.”

Audree tilted his head, ready to object—but the slime began spinning in a little circle and formed a wobbling bubble of water and mana. He looked down at it. Really? Bubbles? He tried to think of anything else, but nothing came. Curse you, brain.

“Uh, sorry,” Lief said. “You kind of put me on the spot.”

“No, you’re fine. The slime seems to like it,” Audree said, watching the blob bob proudly. “Bubbles it is.”

To think his magical companion would now be known as Bubbles. Well, that was what he got for choosing a slime in the first place, as if he knew these set of events would happen.

Audree returned his focus to his arm. Behind him, his slime—Bubbles, apparently—slid around Lief, blowing wobbling spheres that burst with soft pops. Audree hadn’t even known it could do that. He really needed to do more… limit testing.

He tried to sense whether his arm would help with the alchemy. Nothing. Maybe he wasn’t doing something right. He thought back to the times the energy had flowed—that feeling of movement through his body. Maybe that was what he was missing.

He tried it.

Using the meditation Haldo had taught him, he sat before his setup and focused. At first, nothing. Then, as he eased his breath and stilled his thoughts, he felt it: a current of mana coursing through him. It burned—the same sting as the explosion, the same bite as when Velra had touched him. He winced, though it hurt less this time; this was a much smaller dose.

“Are you okay?” Lief asked.

“I’ve got this. Give me a moment,” Audree said through clenched teeth. “It seems the pain starts the moment the energy leaves my arm and flows through the rest of me—like there’s no path to follow, unlike the markings on my arm. So it’s just forcing itself around.”

The thought nearly broke his focus. No, he told himself. I am in control of this. I control it. This is my power. My keyword. I need this.

A surge answered him—sharp and bright. A faint chime rang in his ears. His vision snapped into a cleaner focus. Energy flooded his limbs; the pain receded to a manageable ache. All that remained was a pull toward his alchemy.

He looked at the beakers—and, suddenly, a wave of disgust rolled through him.