"Low temperatures below freezing can preserve liquids better."
As he shook the test tube, the priest spoke to Shade. He then showed Shade the "refrigerator" in his basement. It was a metal box wrapped in quilts, straw, and canvas. Inside were Ice Blocks hollowed out with large cavities for storing medicines or herbs that needed to be kept at low temperature.
Priest Augustus merely lifted the lid long enough for Shade to take a look. Before the cold air could even spill out, the priest immediately closed it again.
"Ice Blocks are very expensive in Tobesk during the summer. Mine came from..."
The old priest actually blushed.
"I got some from the church's losses. That's why the Chemistry College at Saint Byron's is so expensive. You can't study this without Gold Pounds."
But Shade did not need to worry about storing potions. His house was large, with plenty of unused space. After learning about this from the priest, he planned to convert part of the basement into an Ice Room. He could not make ice, but he could make it snow, and he could control how heavily it snowed.
He just had to be careful not to let the curious Cat wander into the Ice Room. It was timid outside, but extremely curious about everything at home.
Besides the extract, Shade also handed several ores and some labeled liquids he had brought back from Coldwater Port City to Priest Augustus for appraisal (Note).
Unfortunately, most of those items were not worth much. The Warehouse Dispatcher had no means of identifying Ring Arcanist materials. The most valuable item was a fist-sized piece of silver ore, worth around 12 pounds.
Shade accepted only 11 pounds and sold the entire pile to the priest. It was also a way to thank him for