The Aura Guardian Elixir

Early the next morning Aiden woke up refreshed and ready to throw himself into alchemy once more. It wasn't until he entered the alchemy room and saw the gently smiling face of Dylan did he remember that he had completely forgotten the older boy last night. 

"Dylan, what a surprise to see you here so early!" Aiden greeted while holding the back of his neck sheepishly. He couldn't believe that he had let Dylan wait for him last night and never even thought of him.

 "Well I thought I might collect the new pills from you and then hand over your payment, if that is alright with you Aiden," Dylan replied, his signature smile never once fading.

 "Of course! Right this way, I have them prepared." Aiden rushed over to the porcelain bottle in hopes to move past this embarrassment. He handed the bottles to Dylan with great care so as not to blow the two of them up.

 "Including the two pills used for testing, nine mid grade Snapfire pills, and nine low grade pills. Gwyneth has informed me that for each mid grade pill you will receive sixty gold pieces. And for each low grade pill you will receive thirty gold pieces. Is this acceptable?" Dylan inquired while tallying up the total gold needed. 

"Perfectly." Aiden struggled to keep his reply elegant, whilst inside he was hopping around like a madman. Even more than the Swift Pills! Aiden imagined himself swimming in a sea of gold pieces, he just knew that one day this dream would be achieved. Dylan soon handed over a small sack that held the seven hundred twenty gold he was due for the eighteen pills that he had turned in. After his business was done, Dylan turned sharply on his heel and left the alchemy room, onto his next task. It took a good ten minutes staring lovingly at the gold, before Aiden reluctantly put it away in the palace. 

He gently patted himself on the cheeks to try and regain his focus. His next order of business was to craft the Aura Guardian Elixir, which would help guard Marcus' sensitive organs and meridians in the case of backlash. However, an elixir was very different from a pill. Although supposedly potions and elixirs were easier to get started in than pills, every path of alchemy was complex and nuanced. Aiden carefully examined the recipe, and simulated the process in his mind several times before getting up to grab the ingredients.

 Greedy Vine was the main and most vital ingredient. This was a type of aggressive magical plant that devoured nutrients voraciously and was even harder to get rid of as it seemed to grow and sprout endlessly. This type of incredible vitality was integral to supplying a constant energy shield to the body. 

The next ingredient was Sheep's Ear seeds, the seeds of a white fluffy magical herb that was used in several healing recipes. This was used for the soothing property of the elixir, to warm and nourish the organs and meridians.

 Also used in this recipe was Loftus root for the stability and endurance of the energy shield, to prevent the shield from buckling under the onslaught of rampant aura. 

The next ingredient used was Pop Beans, a lightning element biased magical herb. These were used primarily to allow for pockets of reserve energy to build up within the shield, to replenish depleted energy. 

Lastly, was Ice Spring Water to bind and keep the energy stable and under control no matter how much energy bombarded the shield.

 Aiden took a deep breath while the cauldron heated up, now that he knew about the drastic differences quality had on the final effect he couldn't accept a low quality elixir for Marcus. The Ice Spring Water was poured into the cauldron, but no steam arose, only a gust of bitterly cold wind. Aiden began forming palm signs rapidly using his mental strength to stir the water, preventing the aura inside from stagnating.

 The Greedy vine was carefully ground into a fine paste, and poured into the Ice Spring Water. Immediately he used his mental strength to stir in the opposite direction creating small eddies in the water from the opposing currents. 

After five revolutions, the Pop Beans were crushed and all the liquid inside them was wrung out into the solution. Electricity arced across the surface of the cold and slightly green liquid. Aiden did not stir this time, only guiding the aura through the manipulation of the Rising Phoenix Palms. 

This lasted for ten breaths, before the Loftus root was added whole. He immediately began stirring again in the same direction as the first time, and the Loftus root seemed to just dissolve into the liquid. The energy in the solution fought madly to escape, despite the calm unmoving surface. After four more breaths Aiden reversed the direction of the stirring and a shocking change occurred. The green liquid began to darken, eventually transitioning into a vivid deep blue. 

Aiden did not slacken his concentration, seeming to pay no mind to the change. His hands still flew through the different motions, a strong feeling guiding him not to stop. Ten more breaths passed, and suddenly another change occurred. The blue began to lighten again, steadily paling until only a milky white liquid was left. The tension in his mind weakened, and Aiden understood that this was a successful result. 

He looked at the elixir in puzzlement as he leaned against a table to rest. In the description of the recipe, it was described as a blue liquid, so what was this? Aiden turned to a resource that he rarely visited, his mother's notes. Most of the plants and magical beasts that she utilized were not native to the Golden Lion Kingdom, and so the recipes that she had recorded were often not coincident to what he was working on. However, he scoured them top to bottom searching for an answer. Soon he found something promising, the Guardian of the Mirage elixir. Apparently this was an upgraded version of the Aura Guardian elixir used at something called the Mirage realm. Aiden was unsure of how powerful someone in that realm was, as he had never heard of such a thing. According to her notes, although the typical expression of the elixir was blue, the lighter the color became the more pure it was. The worst quality was a deep blue, and the best quality was a pure snow white. 

Although his elixir didn't quite reach the pure white status, as it had the faintest bit of light blue which under the warm yellow lights in the Alchemy room gave it a milk look, the quality was exceptional. This was a huge relief, Aiden didn't know if there would be any complications later, and the better the quality of this elixir the safer Marcus would be. Aiden used his mental strength to gather up the elixir and pour it into a waiting porcelain bottle. It was icy cold against his mental power, almost causing it to recoil and lose control over the liquid. Aiden raised his eyebrows, I hope Marcus is okay with super cold drinks! 

He then cheerfully began to stroll towards Marcus' office. They had already agreed to meet there, even though the final process would occur in Marcus' bedroom, the most heavily fortified room in the manor. Aiden didn't know how Marcus intended to introduce aura into his body now that they knew about his special physique. Marcus was too stingy and wanted it to be a surprise, so Aiden could only wonder anxiously. He almost turned around to see if he could prepare any lifesaving pills or potions. The knowledge that the Aura Guardian Elixir already had that function, and mixing medicines could cause even more complications is what stopped him. 

He just took a breath and forced himself to have faith that everything was going to be okay and that Marcus had everything planned out. The doors of Marcus' study were in front of him and Aiden forced his anxiety down, he didn't want to infect Marcus with his nervousness.