The Goddess Granted Me the [Hatching] Skill and Somehow I Became the Strongest Tamer, Commanding Mythical and Divine Beasts - 66

Chapter 66: Visiting the Alchemist Guild (Part 2)

“How much do you know about alchemists, Klaus-sama?”

As I walked beside Lorraine down the hallway, she asked me about my knowledge of alchemy.

“Well, I only know that they make and sell various potions,” I replied.

“Brother, that’s far too vague!”

Saria gave me a disappointed look and chimed in.

“Well, it’s true that I don’t know much about guilds I’m not involved with. I don’t know that much about adventurers or tamers either,” Lorraine said, laughing while placing her hand on her mouth.

“Alchemy is a noble technique that aims to combine various substances in this world to create new ones, almost as if trying to reach the divine,” Lorraine explained confidently.

“Every living being and substance in this world contains some level of magical power. Each one has its own unique magic, with varying strength and weaknesses,” she continued, as she began explaining the basics of alchemy to Saria and me.

“Some combinations of magical powers can cancel each other out and weaken the effect, while others can strengthen each other and produce new results.”

Because there are endless combinations of materials, alchemists continue to research new combinations every day.

“Our goal as alchemists is to discover useful material combinations that help the world and enrich people’s lives,” Lorraine said as we stepped outside. The alchemist guild’s grounds were large, and each research facility was a separate building.

“Ah… I got a little carried away. My apologies,” Lorraine said, suddenly sounding a bit embarrassed and lowering her voice.

“No, we’re both impressed by the noble ideals of alchemy,” Saria said, her eyes sparkling as she looked at Lorraine with admiration.

Perhaps the reason Saria wanted to become a mage was to make our lives, and our parents’ lives, better.

“For now, this is the first research facility,” Lorraine said, guiding us to the place. She held up a card to a security magic device mounted on the wall, and the door opened.

After passing through two layers of security, we entered the room, which turned out to be a farm.

The ceiling was covered with transparent panels to allow sunlight to shine in. The temperature was warm, and a gentle breeze flowed through, causing the grass to sway.

As I looked around, I noticed a place where clear water was flowing in a tank. The plants growing there were herbs that I was familiar with.

“Is this the place where they grow herbs?” I asked.

When I first arrived in the capital, Carol had told me that the price of herbs was low. She also mentioned that the alchemist guild was involved in artificial herb cultivation, so I was surprised to see it for myself.

There were a large number of herbs, which was impressive considering I had only been able to gather a few leaves in the forest each day.

“This facility grows rare plants. The ceiling is made of transparent panels to capture sunlight, and we use magic devices to adjust the temperature and water levels throughout the day,” Lorraine explained.

“Wow, we have a small greenhouse at my school, but this scale would require a lot of magic stones to maintain!” Saria said, her eyes wide with amazement.

Magic devices need magical power to function, and since they must work continuously, magic stones are required. I wondered how much money it would cost to keep all of this running.

“These rare plants are sold as potions, which helps fund the maintenance of the facility,” Lorraine explained.

“Indeed, there are many plants I’ve never seen before,” I said, admiring the various plants.

I was initially distracted by the herbs near the entrance, but as I looked deeper into the facility, I saw colorful and rare plants being cultivated. If we didn’t have to go all the way to the forest to gather them, maintaining the facility might not be as expensive as I thought.

If I had brought Purple here, it would’ve been overjoyed and excited.

“But can you really mass-produce herbs just by flowing clean water and stabilizing the climate?” I wondered aloud. There didn’t seem to be any other obvious tricks.

“That’s because the latest alchemy technology is being used here, so it would be impossible to replicate easily,” Lorraine said, giving a meaningful smile.

Saria, who had been silent, focused on the herbs, deep in thought.

“Is something wrong, Saria?” I asked.

“No… it’s just that the soil here has a very low magical power,” she said, placing a hand on her chin as she observed the plants.

“Saria-san, can you really tell that much?” Lorraine exclaimed, her eyes wide in surprise.

“Now that I think about it, you’ve always had a good reaction to magical power…” I said, recalling when she noticed the magic I used with Hatching and her doubts when Purple was around.

“Since you’ve noticed, there’s no point in hiding it. As you guessed, the key to efficiently growing herbs is removing the magical power from the soil,” Lorraine continued to explain.

“To grow plants, you need soil, water, and sunlight, but the soil has the most impact. Rare plants are especially affected by the magical power in the soil,” she added.

In other words, the magical power in the soil has a strong influence, which can hinder the growth of the herbs.

“Right now, we use magic devices that absorb the magic from the soil before planting the herbs. However, it still takes time to completely remove the magic, so there’s still room for improvement,” Lorraine explained.

While Lorraine spoke, Saria seemed to be deep in thought.

“Anyway, we’ve been standing by the entrance long enough. Let’s go see the rare plants at the back,” Lorraine said, leading us forward. As she walked ahead, Saria tugged at my clothes and whispered to me.

“What’s up?” I asked, looking at her with confusion.

“Well, maybe… but the soil that Rock produces has very little magical power. If we use that, it might be possible to replicate this,” she said quietly, explaining what she had been thinking during Lorraine’s explanation.

If it’s true, then maybe we could grow herbs at home too.