Having had your fill of watching Moira mutter to herself, you quietly leave the woman to her rather pointless work.
Yesterday had been a scattered series of events that were more mental than tangible progress, so it would be better to reign in your focus to a single pursuit today. Since alchemy had been what you were working on before Cattleya's interruption, you should probably finish that before moving on to a new project. Such is your reason for approaching the faunus test subjects.
Animal appendages perking up where applicable, the volunteers immediately notice your approach as you enter the stock room. Nodding at their greeting, you take the stack of notes from a lynx eared giant of a man. The balance potion had no noticeable effect on the cat-man, but the ram-girl twins both saw a tremendous boost to the point that they managed to walk across a pole while the workers' children threw rocks at them. You hadn't instructed anything of the sort, but initiative that aligns with your goals is always a good trait for subordinates.
As for the Night Eye potion... it was more of a debilitating poison when applied to faunus of any type, burning out their vision to the point that they each needed one of the health potions from the meager stockpile that survived the destruction of the last base. While not ideal, the loss of simple potions is better than losing valuable manpower needlessly and you did manage to discover a weakness for a race that is naturally superior to normal humans. Not to a Reachman though, that would be absurd.
It isn't hubris to acknowledge that interbreeding with every compatible race in Tamriel and some from without cannot be matched by Khajiit-like night vision, slightly stronger muscles, and random animal traits.
Still, even without Aura their abilities are sufficiently more advanced than their cohabitants of this world and the unmodified X-com personnel that having a countermeasure in place is reassuring.
After dismissing them with a promised five percent increase to this month's pay and an additional five for their continued service as test subjects, you retire to you bedroom. Flipping open a case of dust vials, you select one at random and prepare the alchemy equipment.
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Well, as you suspected, red is certainly fire.
Pulling the calcinator from the ruined wood that was previously a workbench, you mark down your observations. Most Dust had proven at least somewhat willing to be processed in your equipment, but red Dust was just too unstable even in crystal form. The only thing close to a potion that worked was mixing it with chilled liquids and even that merely resulted in turning the resulting solution to flames that flowed like water and exploded with extreme force upon warming. While it made some sense, that didn't make it any more pleasant to confirm.
It was still useful information to have if only to avoid future attempts at potion making with the substance... though it at least became easier to manage when mixed with Wind to make Lightning. Somehow.
As for the rest; cyan Dust, aka Force Dust, is a combination of Wind and Ice that when mixed with an elemental Dust or salts and run through the alembic followed by the retort for refinement creates a Shield potion for that element. Ice Dust itself is a combination of Water and Earth, neither of which do much of anything on their own alchemically other than add magic to any given substance. Lightning was a good choice to add to more Wind, the yellow and white joining to make an eggshell colored potion that increases the imbiber's speed by a ridiculous degree for a short while. Combining Earth and Fire predictably made lava while using Water instead of Earth made steam, though both seemed to be useless in potion as well.
Perhaps Lava Dust would be good for Victoria?
Last is the single most expensive, to the point that you could only buy an ounce pre-made, and stable type of the magical material. Combining most of the remaining Earth, Wind, and Force evenly before sublimating and condensing into a small crystalline mass produces Gravity Dust. Seven pounds of all three each and the illogical result is a fifty pound gem tiny enough to fit into Louise's fist. While naturally inert, the dark purple gemstone reacts to an application of either Lightning Dust or direct magicka by emitting a deep blue glow and warping the effect of gravity. Experimentation allows you to make objects lighter or heavier at will, though this is one situation where one of Vahlen or Raymond's machines would probably be a better fit, the careful precision required for rapid or complex manipulation not being something you would trust to a distractable being in high stress situations.
While the uses for Gravity Dust are potentially endless, the immediate thought that occurs to you is that this must be how the people of Remnant create metals that are so strong despite being so thin.
Status: Healthy
Magicka: (500/650)
Choose:
[] Try to make a potion with Meld.
-[] An Eldritch Flesh Potion.
-[] The Gravity Dust crystal.
-[] A Tamrielic potion.
[] Present Gravity Dust to Vahlen, she hasn't had a chance to study the excessively expensive material yet. Then again, maybe Shen would make better use of it.
-[] Give it to Vahlen.
-[] Give it to Raymond.
[] Work with Cattleya on hastening the expansion of the Kwama mine.
[] Speak with Raymond about building an airship.
[] Write in.
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A/N: Dust Shield Potion Learned: Produces 100% physical and elemental damage shield for 1 hit of any severity, element dependent on Dust or Salt used. Dust Speed Potion learned: increases speed/acceleration x4 for 10 seconds. Gravity Dust recipe learned.
