There were currently seventeen registered raw materials warehouses for fragrance studies. Each warehouse had a theme corresponding to its primary stockpile of materials.
For example, the theme of the Number Three Raw Materials Warehouse was "Crimson Broth," and its stored materials were blood and the glandular fluids of various organisms. The theme of the Number Ten Raw Materials Warehouse was "Earthforce," and its stock consisted mainly of fragrance minerals.
The theme of the Number One Raw Materials Warehouse was called "Transformation." Ninety percent of its stored materials were excrement, the only difference being that it came from different species.
And all that excrement was basic raw material for fragrance studies.
So calling it the Rice-Dung Pit was not an exaggeration in the slightest.
Using feces as fragrance material sounded rather baffling, but anyone with even a little understanding of fragrance studies would know what it meant.
For fragrance-study alchemy apprentices, the very first lesson introduced them to a concept: fragrance and stench shared the same source.
Humans defined fragrance and stench differently according to their own preferences, but in truth, when it came to smell alone, fragrance and stench were one and the same.
Thus, extracting odor factors from excrement was nothing unusual.
For that reason, handling excrement was a skill every fragrance-study alchemist possessed.
However, due to personal preferences—and because extracting odor factors was not particularly difficult—most alchemists no longer handled excrement themselves, instead hiring apprentices to do it...
Of course, not many apprentices were willing to take on such a task.
After all, due to geographical restrictions, the skill of extracting odor factors could only be performed on-site in the Number One Raw Materials Warehouse, and one could not seal off one's sense of smell. Therefore, apprentices generally only came to handle excrement when they genuinely needed