D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad-Chapter 2136 Examining the Issues

--- Kat ---

"What did I do wrong?" asked Lily with a frown.

"It seems you were correct that you were reaching your limit," admitted Appoline. "While yes you made a mistake, I’ll admit that in some part this is my fault as well. You essentially put your full focus into completing the task and ignored quite a few other warning signs. You had too much mana in the cauldron and that would’ve soon caused a failure, but the real issue was that instead of adding another layer to the cores, you crushed them. Mostly the destruction one, as evidenced by the more... regenerative failure but regeneration cores tend to be more stable anyway,"

"Really? How... how did I lose track of things so much I didn’t notice?" asked Lily.

Appoline shrugged. "I really can’t say, I don’t live in your mind like your girlfriend does." Lily blushed, even as Appoline continued. "The extra mana likely didn’t help. You tried to force everything into place instead of guiding it and because of that it all collapsed down. I’m not sure if the extra mana alone was enough, I suspect it wasn’t but I was already calling for you to stop before the crushing happened and I wasn’t paying close enough attention to be certain.

"HOWEVER while I’m no expert in failing potions I can tell that this," Appoline gestured out of the window at the damaged lawn. "Isn’t just from excess mana. That tends to goop a potion or have it explode. Whatever the heck that was? Definitely not from excessive mana alone."

Lily nodded, "So... were there other mistakes?"

Appoline nodded, "Of course. The main issue is that, despite having a fairly accurate idea of what the core should look like, there was a whole myriad of mistakes in their construction, but it’s hard to pick at them too much. Fixing them would be nearly impossible, like the layer two steps back. It was a bit lumpy in a few areas... but you can’t just peel it away and go again, so it’s hardly worth mentioning in the moment.

"It’s also more of a ’reduced potency’ deal then a ’this will explode’ problem. I didn’t want to overwhelm with instructions, instead the idea was the guide you along. I’d also say you didn’t do the best when breaking the ingredients down into essence, quite a lot of it was wasted and you might not have got a full set of doses from it in the end... but that was the first potion you’ve ever made so I can’t be mad about it, even if it was an obvious mistake."

"Ah..." intoned Lily. "That’s... well I guess it’s nice to know... it’s really hard to know what to do about it."

Appoline shrugged, "Practice. For the minor defects it’s a matter of understanding the specifics of your ingredients, and sometimes the differences between ingredient samples as well. Perhaps you needed to refine the essence a bit more, or perhaps you needed to coat the cores a little unevenly to have it set into a smooth sphere for some reason. It’s just the sort of thing you need to feel out over time.

"I think your biggest issue for the moment is that you were continually wanting to push more mana into the potion. Whenever it got a bit difficult for you to shape the mana, you put more in. This does NOT help things. It just gives you more mana to work with it makes it more likely little problems will slip by you. Sure in the macro sense the mana is easier to move, but on the whole, fixing small issues is perhaps even harder with more mana."

"Why do you think I keep adding it? If it’s not going to help?" asked Lily. "Like I’m not actively trying to add more mana I don’t think..."

"From my understanding, limited though it is, the issue is similar to how musicians using brass or reed instruments still instinctively suck in their stomach to try and squeeze more air out of a single breath... but it doesn’t really work that way and it hurts the sound. People still do it though because it FEELS like it will help.

"I’d also posit, that it has something to do with the fact that when you need a spell and you need it to do MORE you instinctively add more mana. Most well developed spells can accept a much higher mana threshold then they naturally use, so that extra oomph you give the spell makes it more powerful, and sometimes, easier to control.

"So in this case when you need MORE control, you add MORE mana, because more mana means more of the main factor of the spell... which should be control. At least, that’s how I think the brain is interpreting it. The main issue with my second theory is that I know plenty of people who still do it even when they’ve never casted a proper spell in their entire life. So..." Appoline finished with a shrug.

"It’s an issue I had trouble with originally," admitted Tweedle with her own shrug. "I managed to work my way out of it pretty quickly because it really doesn’t help regardless of what it feels like. It’s just one of those things that if you don’t know about you probably miss for a while."

"Did you ever have that issue Appoline?" asked Kat.

"Not really no," admitted the elf. "Though in fairness, I wouldn’t say it was because I was some super genius that instantly realised what sort of issue it might have. I simply started alchemy almost unreasonably young. I barely had the mana to complete my first few potions let put extra mana into them. In fact, while I don’t actually remember it, I imagine my first few failures were all due to lacking mana. I really was young when I started, with a correspondingly small mana pool.

"If I was wasting mana in an attempt to better manage the potion? Then I probably wasn’t finishing said potion. It’s also probably what kept me from blowing myself up and granting me an amazing practicing ethics. I simply couldn’t jump ahead to more advanced potions because even if my parents would foot the bill, and I’m not sure they would... I’d still be lacking in the mana to complete anything too complicated,"

"Hmmm... any tips for avoiding that issue? Being aware of it is nice... but well..." Lily trailed off. "Feels like something to get a handle on sooner rather then later."

"Cast a bunch of spells while making sure you only use the minimal amount of mana? Perhaps find out what that is first? I could also have you make a very sensitive potion that explodes, gently, every time too much mana is added. The ingredients are cheap enough, at least the first few. So that’s an option. You could also just practice and I’m sure you’ll eventually get it down," listed Appoline.

"Hmmm... guess it’s mostly down to practice of some kind isn’t it?" sighed Lily.

"I don’t know what other answer you expected from me," countered Appoline as they stepped outside. Appoline glanced around for a bit until she found a rake leaning nearby. Picking it up she started to work on the grass. It wasn’t exactly able to fix things but it was able to clean up the mess. Additionally, a good chunk of grass seemed to have survived the whole thing somehow, so it wasn’t TOO bad. "I’ve always championed practice as the best way to learn anything and this is no different.

"I can offer you a variety of ways to practice, even ones that serve almost no other purpose then to provide such practice to you... but that won’t change the fact that you simply need to spend time regulating the amount of mana you are using. Perhaps by watching it closely, or perhaps by experiencing the consequences when you fail. Think about it overnight I suppose. Now Tweedle, are you ready for your second attempt?"

"Are... are you still having me do that?" asked Tweedle.

"Yes? Unless you wish not to for some reason?" asked Appoline.

"I... I guess I’m just nervous. I’ve got a lot more practice then Lily has and yet she was able to make it quite a way through the recipe. It makes me feel like I’m not that good at this..." admitted Tweedle. "Like I’m wasting time and ingredients."

"Did you not just hear my speech on practice? That’s what I’m providing for you. Perhaps she’s better, perhaps she’s worse. Neither matters in the long run for whoever practices more, in quantity, quality, and mindfulness, will come out ahead in the long run. If you’re worried she’s better then PRACTICE more. While unlimited ingredients for which to practice is a pipe dream, we have this set, and I’m suggesting you use them," stated Appoline firmly.

"Sorry," apologised Tweedle. "You’re right of course," Tweedle didn’t SOUND like she believed it, but Kat’s senses weren’t telling her it was a lie. *I wonder if that means she wants to believe it and somewhat does? Or if she’s just a nervous wreck all of the time...* "Let’s get started. I’ll do me best!"