When they reached the Alchemy lab, the Witches picked their spots and began setting up equipment for the potion. According to the information that had been left up on the board, they didn’t need much, only a cauldron, a burner and a few beakers.
The small, cast iron pots looked out of place in the modern scientific surroundings, but according to the notes left over from Professor Ashcroft teaching students about this potion, the thick walls of the pressure vessel helped with even heating. The bubbling and boiling, very witchy part of the potion-making was only for certain recipes which needed to be physically stirred in a ritual pattern.
Wolfe examined the small cauldrons more closely, noticing that they did, in fact, have lids that could be screwed on with an adjustable vent so it could release pressure at a preset level.
Though the witches had joked about it not being a stew, the process really did remind Wolfe of cooking soup over an open burner. All of the ingredients were added in order, with a carefully measured amount of distilled water, and a burner was lit under each cauldron.
In only a few minutes, the pots were whistling smoothly and emitting soft green steam that was whisked away by the vent fans. The Witches channelled mana into the concoction the entire time until the steam turned from green to blue, then quickly doused the flames and opened the vents on the lids to let the pressure release.
It didn’t seem difficult, and the amount of energy that Cassie and Ella combined had pulled through him was negligible, so almost anyone in their class could make this potion if they had the ingredients.
Once the pressure equalized, the concoction was strained into a Pyrex beaker, and the flow of mana began again. The dark blue liquid slowly turned to sky blue and began to let off a pleasant glow, which the directions said was a sign of success.
“Not a single failure and it made so much. It is supposed to be taken by the drop, but we’ve each got half a litre of it now.” Reiko gloated.
“What determines the final volume?” Wolfe asked, wondering if they had missed a step and ended up with a diluted version.
“The quality of the ingredients, supposedly. Everything that’s not part of the potion congealed into that sludge in the filters, and the colour change should be pretty reliable, so I don’t think there was extra water.” Ella informed him.
“What happens if you take more at once?” Wolfe asked.
“Nothing. The effect is the same if you drink a drop or the whole bottle, only the duration changes, but it’s not a direct increase, so a daily drop is the best way, accusing to the Professor.”
The side door to the lab opened at that moment, and the Professor in question walked in to examine their results.
“That is precisely correct. Ten drops last for seven days. It looks like your ingredients were of the highest quality. The loss you expected is due to impurities and a lack of vitality in the ingredients.
In an ideal world, you can get almost as much filtered potion as the amount of water you started with, so this is very close and would certainly get top marks if it were an assigned potion.”
Professor Ashcroft’s approval had all the Witches beaming in joy, and the next words only improved their mood even further.
“The Spirit Grass is the only ingredient that is hard to find, but the potion sells for an academy credit per ten-drop vial. If you want to keep a hundred drops each and sell the rest in the store room, the senior students would appreciate it.
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Not many can fool the Mud Monster with their disguises well enough to get to the Spirit Grass, after all.”
Stephanie gave an annoyed meow from Wolfe’s pocket, reminding him that the creature’s attack could break enchantments, which was the reason she was in this furry and four-legged situation to begin with.
“Wait, you can trick it with a disguise?”
Professor Ashcroft looked at Wolfe in confusion before answering. “Of course. It doesn’t view woodland creatures as a threat, so if you’re good enough with a transformation or disguise spell, you can walk up and take a little Spirit Grass without getting attacked. Is that not what you did?”
Stephanie batted Wolfe’s chin with a paw, chastising him for the oversight while ignoring the fact that she hadn’t thought to ask about it either.
“I stunned it with Lightning, then clipped a leaf and ran.” He replied.
“And it didn’t kill you with a mud ball? Those things collapse armour spells and most other enchantments on contact. But I suppose you’re big enough to take a hit or two.”
“Yeah, it didn’t stay stunned for long. But we got the ingredients, and that’s what matters.”
Professor Ashcroft was about to leave now that she had verified the safety of the potions, so Wolfe stopped her in order to earn some goodwill.
“One more thing. The Headmaster gave me some extra mana stones on top of the daily one I have to fill for her as my punishment for the thing with Stephen. Would you like me to fill one for you? It’s no trouble.” He offered.
“I heard about your situation. If you’ve got the energy to spare, I don’t mind if you fill my daily quota as well.” The Professor told him while giving a pointed look at his coat, where Stephanie was hidden, to let them both know that she knew the real story.
The Professor reached into her lab coat and pulled out a large crystal for Wolfe to fill. The same five hundred unit size that he had to pay every day for the next month as punishment for not turning Stephanie in when he realized she was an unregistered Witch.
The rules seemed incredibly petty to Wolfe. But clearly, the Coven took it much more seriously since the maximum penalty for housing an unregistered magic user was death, even if she was a witch.
Wolfe emptied half his storage to fill the crystal, then handed the glowing black gem back to the Professor.
“I can likely cover for you a few times a week if you need. I have been told the process is much more time-consuming for you than it is for me.” He offered.
“Once a week is all I need. My quota for the school’s storage is only a hundred units a day.” Professor Ashcroft told Wolfe with a sly wink.
Wolfe should have known that his punishment wasn’t as light as it seemed, even if it didn’t cost him anything but the appetite he built up after burning through so much energy.