Making Object Transformation was much easier and simpler than Clothing Transformation. It also required much less Mercury.
By using ten points of Mercury Extract, Siderius drew the seal on the ground and put clay inside.
[MERCURY -10]
[MERCURY EXTRACT: 13/150]
Next, he drew a second seal outside the Object Transformation. This was a simpler version of Salt Isolation that contained only the Isolation part and not the Formation and Crystallization.
"What are these Seals, Master?" Ashe asked.
"Object Transformation and Salt Isolation.
Transformation Seal can only be drawn with Mercury.
Salt is specialized in Crystallization but its Isolation capability is also great. That is the second seal, Salt Isolation.
The Transformation Seal can mold the clay into what we want in a couple of minutes and the Isolation can suck out all the moisture inside the clay."
"Oh! So that means we don't have to dry the clay at all?"
"That's correct, my apprentice.
Transformation has the most amount of sign gestures as we need to precisely control the length and shape of the object we want to transform. It has at least a few hundred signs.
Watch!"
Siderius began to move his hands. The Object Transformation Signs were the same as any other Transformation Signs. In their basic concept, they were all used to shape matter.
As seconds went by, the clay separated itself into twelve different palm-sized balls of clay. Then, with more gestures, the inside of the balls were customized further.
The wall was made thin enough for it to be easy to shatter. The inside was made different between the twelve balls.
Siderius splitted them into three types.
The first type had three balls. They only had one compartment inside. Its compartment was also the largest since it took the entire space of the ball.
The second type contained two compartments and had a total of seven balls.
One compartment for the black powder that Siderius was going to make.
One compartment was for the 'trigger', making sure the projectile would explode on impact.
Then the last two balls were the third type. Siderius splitted them into three compartments.
The third compartment would contain a third element that would greatly enhance the power of the projectile. Siderius was sure that even if a witch was caught with these two unique projectiles, they would be dead for sure.
Once the transformation was completed, Siderius moved on to the Salt Isolation sign.
Pure water and moisture dripped out of the clay as clean smoke and dissipated into the air.
The process was elegant and controlled. It looked much more magical than the chaotic magic that Ashe had seen in her family.
Witch magic was unstable and easily went out of control because of the user's emotions. But what Siderius showed her was something else entirely.
It almost felt like a calmer, more natural version of magic.
However, Ashe knew that this wasn't magic. It was Alchemy, the manipulation of reality.
The twelves balls landed gently on the ground.
Of the twelve projectiles, each ball had lines going around it, indicating its number of compartments. One line for one, two lines for two and three lines for three compartments.
"I can't remember all of them, Master." Ashe mumbled. Her voice was so low that it was barely audible. She's afraid to disappoint Siderius again.
"Don't worry, my apprentice. This was merely a showcase to teach you how our alchemy operates. I will teach you in detail about the signs and seals later."
"I understand, Master!" Ashe smiled, her mouth turned into a curved moon. "What do we do next?"
"We don't need to dry these balls but they still need to be heated to harden. Come! You will help me with this part."
Sulfur could be used as replacement to the firing but that would be too waste of energy.
Siderius would need to substitute a huge amount of Sulfur to fire these balls. Using George's forge was a smarter move.
Siderius fired up the forge like he did last time and showed Ashe how to maintain the fire and feed the forge.
"See the charcoal shimmering? That is the ideal state we want them in. Make sure to keep them like that."
Ashe nodded.
Next, a new challenge appeared. A forge was not ideal to harden clay as its temperature was sudden and couldn't spread evenly on the surface of the clay. This was where a kiln of a potter reigned superior to a blacksmith's forge.
However, this challenge was easy to solve. By using a little amount of sulfur and drawing an Alchemical Seal onto the surface of the ball, Siderius could make sure it received all the heat evenly. A second salt barrier was constructed around the clay ball to protect it from thermal shock.
With these arrangements, Siderius made sure the clay balls could harden in a quick time and wouldn't be destroyed by the forge's intense heat.
Each ball would need to be fired individually to avoid it sticking together. Siderius showed Ashe how to put the clayball in a crucible then picked it up by using the tongs.
Then she would continue to watch the fire and the clay. All she had to do was to make sure the fire continued and swap out the clay ball when the time came.
Ashe learned quickly. Once Siderius saw that she knew what to do, he continued doing something else.
Making the projectiles was only one part of the job. Now Siderius needed to make saltpetre.
The traditional non-alchemical way to make saltpetre took years. So Siderius had to substitute it with something else.
One very important element of saltpetre was nitrogen.
Nitrogen exists in all living things. Siderius only needed to extract it from a suitable material.
Living matters were hard to extract nitrogen as its bond with the life force was too great. However, other byproducts of life also had nitrogen. The most regulars were urine and blood, of which blood had a much more concentrated amount.
That was the reason Siderius needed to buy a gallon of blood.
He put the bucket of blood in an open area and drew his alchemical seals.
Separation was Sulfur's ability so the first seal was drawn by pure sulfur.
Once separated, Siderius would have a very short amount of time before the Nitrogen gained the air element and became a gas.
So before it did that, Siderius needed to combine it with the other elements to form saltpetre.
The other two elements were potassium and oxygen.
Oxygen was everywhere and existed in the very air he breathed so it wasn't a hard thing to find. Siderius could use the very air surrounding him.
Potassium was also very common. It was inside every wood ash after the woods were burned away.
So, Siderius gathered a big pile of wood ash and let it sit alongside the blood bucket.
The next thing was to make a Salt Seal to direct the elements to fuse together. Siderius used a combinated version of the Supplementary Seal that he had used for the tonic and the Salt Crystallization that he had used for the pyrite.
The role of this seal was to direct the elements to react and seal the new saltpetre in a safe container. Hence its name, Directing Agent.
Everything was prepared carefully for the reaction to happen.
[SALTPETRE]
Sulfur (Base) + Blood (Main) + Oxygen (Main) + Wood Ash (Main) + Salt (Directing Agent) = Saltpetre (Product) + Ferris Sangusium (Byproduct)
- Base:
Sulfur: 🜍
Core initiator. Start the combustion process to separate the elements.
- Main:
Blood: Nitrogen (N) + Various Elements
Any type of Blood, containing high concentration of nitrogen and other various elements.
- Main:
Oxygen (O)
Pure oxygen existed in the air.
- Main:
Wood Ash: Potassium (K) + Various Elements
Any type of wood ash, containing high amounts of potassium and other various elements.
- Directing Agent:
Salt: 🜔
Core reactor. Guiding the element to combine with each other to form the desired product and store it within a salt barrier.
- Product:
Saltpetre
White, crystallized powder that could be mixed with sulfur and charcoal to make black powder.
- Ferris Sangusium: 🜃 Earth Element
Also known as Iron Blood. A special mix of elements from blood and ash. Contains high amounts of carbon and various metals. Can be used to treat steel.