"You're all very talented. This batch of fire gel and burning oil turned out quite well, and most importantly, you finished right on time. Your companions didn't have to wait long enough to wear out their eyes."
Night had fallen by the time Triss finally finished slacking off and remembered that a batch of apprentices was waiting for her in her alchemy workshop.
So she brought along her newly assembled clan chief's guard and put on the airs of a clan chief making a grand tour. With Bonnie and several elite guards close at her heels, she made a magnificent entrance at her alchemy workshop in the ruins of the outer district.
She inspected the items made by the ten apprentices Leading Pigeon had selected for the alchemist's path. The buckets of clear burning oil and the blocks of fire gel, crystallized like tofu, left Triss very satisfied.
She had known for a long time that these Otherworldly Essences were excellent at learning and hands-on work. Seeing it for herself today only deepened that impression.
Neither of these two products was especially complicated to make, but even a novice alchemy apprentice would need some practice to get such good results.
The players had done remarkably well on their first try. It was beyond her expectations.
The little players were all beaming at Lady Triss's glowing praise, and each of them sent Lumina a heartfelt thank-you through private messages.
They had done so well because Lumina had patiently taught them how to control the proportions of the mixture and use more effective methods for multiple rounds of filtration. She had even shown them a little about how to filter and crystallize the mixture.
As for why Lumina knew how to do all that—
Did you really think grad students spent every