I wanted to have it patented under the Ashborne name. A monopoly on regrowing arms? I would be richer than the Emperor. But for that, I needed a physical sample to present to the Patent Office. And I didn't want to share the recipe with the Alchemists' Guild because I trusted those old lizards about as far as I could throw them.
And since I have absolutely zero talent in alchemy myself, I was just the GPS guiding the car. Ariana was the driver.
"Okay," I instructed, reading from my mental database. "Now, lower the heat to medium-low. Stir counter-clockwise three times, then add the Starlight Dust. Slowly."
"Medium-low… counter-clockwise…" Ariana muttered, her brow furrowed in concentration.
She reduced the flame. She stirred. One. Two. Three.
She picked up the pinch of glittering dust.
"Now!" I said.
She dropped it in.
The liquid turned a beautiful gold.
"It's working!" she gasped.
"Steady," I warned. "Now, stabilize the mana flow. It needs to be constant."
