Johan

His studies had brought him far. Johan was a Bogsneak among Bogsneak. He had yet to graduate, of course; that itself would be a feat worthy of immense acclaim to any clan, and their home was anything but a center of alchemical knowledge, as much as Johan considered that a shame.

That said, little by little, he'd found himself surpassing his reluctant mentor. Baldwin's course work, growing ever more intensive and difficult, was more than Yance, the former medical alchemist (a pioneer, one could say), could speak to any longer. Out of his depth, out of practice, he'd say. Johan didn't gloat, no. Not knowing why the work had to go to someone else.

The work, alchemy, it was honestly isolating in a place that feared it so. Johan was careful, now, knowing now the true breadth of its follies and fantastic heights.

His room was one of the few that had proper ventilation, the sort that one needed in the event of a chemical accident. He had a hearth for brewing, exclusively. His room was well-appointed, mostly decorated with his own creations, photos, drapery, piles and piles of stored up materials, papers, notations, jewels and gold, just about all one could need. It was just that his room, buried in the ground with an upward facing door, was the farthest from any of the rest of the Dugout. It was rare anyone came to visit him but to pick up orders from him, and in turn hand off orders.

Baldwin held him back after a lecture one day. Johan had never even spoken directly to him. Now though, he beheld him with plain worry in his eyes behind his half-moon spectacles.

"My friend, your countenance grows ever more dour. Is there some issue with your classwork?" Baldwin asked, going about clearing class papers from his desk.

Johan swallowed away his nervousness. "Is it so distracting? I apologize; it has nothing to do with your teaching, I assure you."

Baldwin hummed, considering. He picked up a vial of blue sludge and tapped at the reinforced glass with a claw. "If you are unhappy studying alchemy, I would have no objections to you seeking a different path in life." he said, plainly.

"No, I love alchemy! I'd have to! I--" he paused as he spoke, realizing the way that sounded. He shook his head to himself.

Baldwin regarded him evenly. "It's Johan, isn't it? Your papers are disorganized. However, I think there is real talent in you. Not just any Bogsneak has that sort of aptitude."

Johan sighed, and smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Thank you, it means a lot. I suppose it's just... lonely. My clan is sort of a special case. They distrust the work greatly."

"Why is that?" Baldwin sounded almost hesitant, as though he'd already cottoned on to the reason.

"Do you remember a Tundra called Yance? He's become an Obelisk ever since leaving the work for Archaeology. He's boss over in the Dugout."

"The disaster of the Wandering Floe..." Baldwin said to himself, breathing the words in a hiss as though it were painful merely to say them. "I see. It was a dark time for us all to learn of the origin of the destruction. On the bright side, I was able to recreate the melt compound and issue warnings to Sornieth. I regret deeply that it had to come after a thing like that."

"So, you understand why they hardly even want me there? It's a necessity for most any clan, that's all. I just wish there was someone to share my enthusiasm with, at home. Maybe it'd be bearable then." Johan chuckled mirthlessly, and looked to the grandfather clock near the door. "I really shouldn't keep you; thanks ever so much for your concern, Master Baldwin." he made to leave.

"Ah, before you go..." Baldwin rummaged in a desk drawer and flipped open a file. Thumbing through the papers he smiled, and plucked one out. He extended the paper to Johan. "This recipe may be slightly... presumptuous, but I think it could at least take your mind off things."

Johan took the paper. Indeed, it was a recipe, more complex than any he'd ever worked on. The result? A Bogsneak egg. Johan looked up at Baldwin, catching an enigmatic smile. Johan returned the smile, feeling strangely hopeful.

"Off you go. Lots of work to do, for the both of us." Baldwin said, waving him off, picking up his papers once more.

Johan nodded, determined.

Baldwin had been right. Johan didn't think about anything else for weeks. The egg, a son or daughter, floated in his mind like a star just out of reach. He was single-minded as his cauldron blurbled furiously at all hours.

And at last... his son hatched. A bog bab he called Helix.

Maybe not all of his problems disappeared overnight, certainly not. Now, though, he had someone to look after other than himself. He had someone to share his knowledge with. Helix was quiet, and curious, head in the clouds, and Johan loved him with every scale he had. The work was never easier than when he had Helix watching.

Food becomes Goo
Materials become Ooze
Apparel becomes Slime
Familiars become Muck
Other becomes Sludge

The order of rarity by color for Goo, Ooze, and Sludge goes thusly: most common is green, then yellow, orange, red, purple, and rarest is blue.

The rates of upwards conversion are: 243 - 81 - 27 - 9 - 3 - 1. Downwards conversion rates are 1 - 2 - 4 - 8 - 16 - 32. So, one can assume that case-by-case refinement and timeliness are the only reasons one would want to convert colors, as it's either a matter of waiting for a high quality outcome by random chance, or condensation, which is inherently wasteful. Of course, alchemical compounds are not overwhelmingly weighted toward common colors. When considering time taken to get to a target recipe by ingredient over how much potential is 'wasted' by conversion, I do think there is little reason to be precious about it.

Color rarity functions differently for Slime and Muck. For Slime, the colors are grey, white, and black, with grey being common, and white and black being equally rare. Conversion for these compounds is yet to be accessible to me, so recipes that require non-grey slime tend to be something of an annoyance. Same goes for Muck.

Muck's colors are copper, silver, and gold, and much the same as Slime, copper is common while silver and gold are equally rare. As I am able to do so, I will note down conversion rates.

The next component one often needs in a recipe is a brewed compound, such as alchemical reductions, beakers, and cubic compactions. These are made using their own recipes.

The final components are target guidances, i.e., things that help specify the final outcomes in recipes. For example, including certain types of ear for an earring, or frogs when targeting a frog apparel or familiar. These objects tend to be found in coliseum venues, so the team will be provided with notes as to which monsters are likely to be carrying the things I am searching for. Other target guidances can also be found in the wild when hunting or gathering and the like, and again, I will provide notes. Generally, it is also reasonable enough to purchase certain target guidances.

*ahem* Ah, this is a recording of my thesis notes to be taken down in writing at a later date. So! For me to become a fully accredited alchemist, I will need to complete research to the 26th level in Baldwin's course. I've been able to extensively study Yance's old notes up to level 14, which is a great help. As things stand now, though, we're rather far off.

In the interest of pacing myself, I'll keep my goal at 16th level, and subsequently 20th level. There is a gene that Bela is targeting, so she's got a vested interest in my success...! Alright, let me have a look here at the quickest way forward...

Currently, in our vault, we have every ingredient we need for the Pinstripe gene. The only thing missing is the access, level-wise.

The largest sources of experience are genes, however they cost a lot of treasure to make, so I will do some calculations to determine whether there is a more cost and time effective route... I have come to the conclusion that companion apparel is the most effective. For about half the experience gain of a gene, you spend only what it costs to purchase the target guidances (if you don't have them already), and something like a twelfth of the treasure. Of course, one also needs a supply of familiars.

I will be making toad companions, which require 2 copper muck (~ 1 hour and 4400t at best), 3 orange goo (27 green, or 9 yellow, not especially rare itself), 3 green ooze (good chances to get this in the minimum 1.5 hours with any 3 materials), and 5 heartred croaker legs (a monster part from a popularly hunted coliseum venue, therefore cheap and abundant), a flat treasure cost of 3200, and a steep 10 hours (during which the materials could be recouped fairly quickly, especially if one were to purchase compounds). All of this for 1450 experience.

To level 15 from where I am now that would be 3 toad companions. 30 hours, plus however long it takes to replenish compounds. The 10 hours seems prohibitive, however I think it's workable.

Alright, I'll be back once we have achieved level 15... Level 15 is imminent! It only took 2 toad companions, as i didn't consider the small batches of experience from making compounds. It seems that progress is meant to be quite slow. I need about 12000 experience to get to level 16 (and be able to make a bogsneak egg, which I'd love to do). I think I will at least partially embrace the slow pace... I will pursue brewing each unbrewed familiar for the entirety of this level.

Here is the list with all of their requirements and details about them:

Skinks - mucks and phosphorus, as well as target guidances (skinks, you need 10 of each to make both skinks). These are found while hunting in Earth, Lightning, and Light territories. missing 8 J. P. skinks, and 10 of both others. I have achieved level 16! A great milestone. Will need something to look forward to in the coming levels before 20, I imagine. There are still quite a few familiars I have yet to make; I will focus on them after creating a Bogsneak egg.

Unfortunately, it seems quite a few of the newer more complex recipes I have access to require Imbued Sulfur. It's quite troublesome.

In the meantime, there are a few things I'd like to make:

(i finished the list as much as I could!)

Veined x2 (Level 24)
Gold Muck (1), Grey Slime (1), Yellow Sludge (2)
Azurite (2) (from Crystalhide Jester in Crystal Pools {level 21})
Reinforced Glass Beaker (1) (Orange Goo (2), Red Goo (2), Broken Bottle (4)) The Bogsneak Egg is brewing! I'm excited to meet them... I got a bit impatient getting the last few materials on my own, so I took the liberty of purchasing them. It should be no problem to recoup the loss, though. Having a brewed Bog bab of my own is enough for me, at least. I doubt anyone would begrudge me that happiness. My boy, Helix, has hatched! He is the cutest, sweetest little hatchling... Ah, I did make some notes as to some genes he would look nice with. His primary will be Laced, secondary Toxin, and tertiary Firebreather (which I was able to pick up easily). Dark Sclera will also look lovely, though my level isn't quite high enough. We have been making slow, though sure progress. We're rather close to level 18, now. The only specific things we want to make are either too complex, or have rare and expensive target guidances. Skinks, I'm speaking of you! Warden, it is too much sometimes... That said, we are still working on the familiars. We've gotten to level 18! I trudged forward finishing out the level by brewing copious amounts of compounds. And now there's only two more levels to achieve before Bela will be fully happy with me, *laughs*. Of course, there's plenty more to get around to past level 20, like the above I have listed, more familiars, some specific apparel that some clanmembers are clamoring for, and so on. Exciting stuff! Our work is coming quite close to its initial goal. We're well on our way to level 20! As it is the Night of the Nocturne as of recording, we are able to brew additional familiars, which should help pad out the remaining experience even more. And yet we still lack all the skink target guidances we need... terribly rare, our friend Seraph the hunter has practically been camping out in Earth territories, and that's only for the first batch! And here we have arrived! Level 20. It's been quite the journey. Now on to higher heights, eh? Bela's Pinstripe looks lovely on her, as was scried. Next in line are the vials of darkened sight for my son as well as a battle trainee who has volunteered herself a partner to the primal-eyed raffle organizer. Exciting stuff! I can only hope the raffle is well received. Feeling now very confident in my abilities as an alchemist. I know I still have a fair bit of work to do at only level 22, though. Upcoming is, in level 23, the starsilks that are most desirable. I've been working steadily in the meantime on various smaller projects. It turned out that the vials for dark sclera were quite complex! They afforded me a great amount of experience, almost single-handedly boosting me from 21 to 22. Must look through for projects...

For Romana, sweet on our Helix... she wishes to become a Bogsneak, and I wish for more experience. I approve of her enthusiasm, at least. Done, now. Okay, we are extremely close to finally getting to level 24 (and so unlocking Veined). Before we get to that, though, we have a couple other things we need as well. Done!
Level 24 is ours! now to graduate! Onwards to level 26 (and beyond, if ever it is possible!) The two Veined genes we need are listed further up. Chroma will finally have all three genes soon enough! As well as Obsius, who is to partner with our friend Flowerpot.
It's... done? level 28 is achieved. I can hardly believe it. I actually graduated! Now nothing feels impossible! Wonderful. And we even lack a specific goal, aside from the ever present need for skinks. I suppose it's high time I took a vacation.