Siderius began his process.
He first used the pommel of his sword to break the large rock salt into tiny pieces. Pieces that would fit into a small mortar.
Ashe had a pair of mortar and pestle made from wood. They were crudely made and a bit low quality for Siderius' taste but it would do the job.
He crushed the pieces into finer powder. The rock salt had a lot of impurities. Along with the white salt particles, there were pieces of other minerals and elements.
Siderius ground them well, making sure the salt powder would be at its minimum size for maximum solubility.
Then he dropped the powder mixture into a big ceramic bowl. He added warm water inside and stirred for the salt to dissolve.
This step was simple but had an important role in this barbaric extraction method. You must stir well to not let any salt remain. Additionally, the water to salt percentage must be exact to avoid the solvent becoming saturated.
After the mixing, big impurities floated to the surface which allowed Siderius to scoop them out carefully with a spoon.
The solution was complete and the biggest unwanted materials were removed. However, there were still a lot of impurities left that the eyes couldn't observe.
Siderius needed pure salt so more work had to be done.
As the morning was still early and the sun was not yet high, Siderius made use of this little time to run out to the river bank and collect some materials.
First was sand. The sand needed to be as fine as possible. Still, the quality wasn't up to Siderius' standard but it would suffice for now.
He also collected some small pebbles to bring home with him. These will act as the first filter layer.
Siderius darted back into Ashe's house before sunlight completely took over the land.
He found an old and dusty ceramic jug that Ashe no longer used in the storage room.
This jug would act as the filter container.
Then he grabbed a piece of pointy rock and started to grind at its bottom. Siderius was very meticulous about it as he knew these low-quality ceramics could easily be shattered given enough force.
He patiently created a small hole at the bottom of the jug, just big enough for water to pass through.
Then it was time to make the actual filtration.
Siderius first put cloth into the jug, covering its bottom and the hole simultaneously.
The next was to put in pebbles. He put enough to fill one third of the jug and tried his best to not allow many crevices or holes to form.
The second filter layer was a matter that Ashe's house already had, wood charcoal.
Siderius crushed the charcoal into bits. Large, rough bits but not fine powder. It needed to have textures.
These rough charcoal acted as the second layer of the filtration and filled the next one third of the jug.
These charcoal, obviously, were cleaned through water first to make sure it didn't have any nasty things on it.
Last was the fine sand from the river. Siderius let the sand completely fill the jug and then wrap its mouth with another piece of cloth.
As Ashe was a tailor on the side, Siderius could find all kinds of loose pieces of cloth around that he could use.
The filter was made quickly and the morning had only gone by half.
Next Siderius poured the salt solution into the jug.
Siderius hung the jug up high and placed a metal pot beneath. One of the pots that Ashe usually used for cooking. The solution was poured into the jug and it slowly travelled through the layers of filtration.
Drops of pure, clean, salt water were dripping through the small hole Siderius had created, falling into the pot beneath.
Once the pot was full, he replaced it with another one and poured the next batch of salt solution.
As for the first pot, Siderius simply boil it.
Evaporation separated the water out of the salt and soon, everything left in the pot was pure white salt.
One of the three primes of Alchemy, the body, Salt.
Siderius grabbed a handful of Salt and felt it in his hand. Its heat warmed his skin gently.
Salt took the role of the three primes for a reason. Not only was it critical for alchemical processes. Salt could also ward off very specific evil spirits, some from the Kingdom of Monster and some from the Kingdom of Chaos.
Its crystallization property was important for a lot of formulas and defensive seals.
Siderius was focusing on extracting salt that he didn't notice the day had gone by completely.
His stomach growled and he looked out the window. It was already late and moonlight had replaced sunlight to illuminate this land.
Ashe had not come home yet. She did say she had things to do.
But this was very late. Unusually late.
Anything unusual meant something had gone wrong.
Siderius should go and check what was happening. But there was no rush in his heart. He didn't know what the enemy was and he would be stupid going unprepared.
He needed to complete his new sigil first.
With his current rank and materials, a defensive sigil was the only choice.
Parave, a Sigil that created a one second barrier that could easily block a full force strike of an adult. Its limit was obvious. A one second barrier was minimal and without good timing, it would be basically useless.
Timing was what Siderius was great at.
There were better defensive sigils. Repelle, Parare, Aegise, all were good sigils but he had no materials to construct them. His soul wouldn't be able to conduct these sigils either way.
Parave needed only salt. It was the only viable choice.
Siderius flexed his left wrist and the silver bracer appeared immediately. He grabbed a handful of salt with his right hand and drew a symbol on the black mirror of the system.
The Sigil for Parave was a diamond shape inside of a circle. A simple and easy to construct pattern.
Once it was done, the salt line lit up in a faint light with a mix of white and blue. The symbol seeped under the mirror and more salt flew up from the pouch.
The salt created a three dimensional version of the symbol and then enlarged until it completely enveloped Siderius.
If he was to do this sigil by hand, he would have to measure his body, set up the correct parameters and sizes for the barrier. But thanks to the system, all of it was now automated.
The barrier was a pure white and glass-like force field. It disappeared once the sigil was set up completely and most of the salt Siderius had extracted was now gone. A small price to pay.
[PARAVE SIGIL REGISTER]
[SIGILS SLOT: 2/2]
[SIGIL:
The symbol for Parave temporarily lit up in the black mirror then dissipated.
"Now. I am ready." Siderius strapped on the guard sword and walked out of the house.