Intermediate alchemy day two

Walking into the alchemy lab, you see the workbenches have small ingots: dark gray, bluish-gray, and shiny black bars stacked on top of each other. You take your seat and examine the metals curiously. The two gray bars are roughly the same size while the black is much smaller.

"Hey there." Parisa greets you taking her seat at your shared workbench.

"Hi, partner." You return her greeting. "Looks like we have graduated to solids today." You joke holding up a small gray bar.

"Ooo fun." She says.

The bell rings to begin class and Professor Schwartz exits the small storeroom door behind his desk. "Greetings students." Despite his weasely appearance with a wispy mustache, he has a pleasant and upbeat attitude. "Last class we changed the state of one substance into another state. Today we are moving on to something a little more complex. We will be combining two substances to create another altogether. We will also split one substance to create another while, at the same time, altering yet another." He clasps his hands together. "On your benches, you will find three materials: carbon, iron, and lead." He pauses a moment to allow the class to examine the tiny ingots provided to them. "Make sure you have your alchemy rings before you start. Now, everyone grab two iron ingots, the dark gray, and one carbon ingot, the black." You follow Professor Schwartz's instructions, placing the three bars in front of you while Parisa does the same. "Some students find it helpful to stack them on top of each other but try how you like." He suggests. "When you are ready, hold your ring bearing hand over the material and focus on melding them together as evenly and smoothly as possible." At his own work station at the front of the class, Professor Schwartz demonstrates and, in a flash, the ingots disappear and are replaced with a single shiny grayish silver ingot larger than the original. "The result will be steel." He says with gusto.

Plodding your hand over your own ingots, you think about the materials melding together. Being rebuilt as one substance. The thought of hard steel forming and what one might do with it. The town's folk in your old village would work it into tools, sometimes weapons. You remember watching the blacksmith forge daggers for the local hunters one afternoon and how much you wanted one for yourself. Shaking your head back to the present, you open your eyes to find a pair of fine steel daggers. Their basic design holding a simple elegance as the black tented silvery blades twinkling in the light. You quickly look around for Professor Schwartz, not sure if you will get in trouble for crafting weapons in class.

"Well well." You hear the professors voice behind you. "I wasn't sure if your artistic side would show again."

You turn to find him smiling with amusement as he lifts one of the blades. "I'm sorry sir. I didn't mean to make them. My mind just kind of wandered as I was thinking about steel."

"Don't worry. A dagger is the least dangerous thing in your hands, the way Professor Kiehn tells it." He laughs. "Obviously, I can't allow you to go roaming the halls with weapons but you are not in trouble. Very nice quality though." He says sitting the blade back in your workbench.

You look over at Parisa who hasn't even started her transmutation yet. She is just watching you with a curious look. "Hmm.." She hums before turning her attention to her own material, raising her hand above it and closing her eyes. In a flash, the ingots disappear to be replaced by a slim rod of steel about six feet long. "Ha!" She cheers for herself and you question why.

"What is it?" You ask.

"What?" Comes her shocked reply. "It's a staff obviously." She insists gesturing to her creation.

"Ooohh." You say, still not fully understanding if she intended this or not.

"Last class, you said you thought of the boat and it happened. This time you said your mind just wandered and you made those knives." She explains. "I wanted to know if I could too, and voilà."

"I see. Well done then." You commend her.

The two of you look around the class at how the other students have done. Most have formed the steel ingot as demonstrated. A few are left with two-toned lumps of metal showing they didn't completely meld their materials. Only one other student, aside from Parisa and yourself, had formed an object. A boy in the back of the class had crafted a short polished pedestal.

"Ok." Professor Schwartz addresses the class one more. "It looks like most of you understand." He picks up a mutilated lump of metal from one student's workbench. "Let's move on to the next exercise." He places the lump back down. "If you need to keep practicing the first exercise, there will be time after this one." The professor takes his place at the front of the class before continuing. "Next grab your lead, the bluish one, and another iron. This time, instead of melding two materials, you will remove part of the lead and add it to the iron." He holds his hand over the metals and they begin to glow. The next instant, where the lead bar was, rests a bar of solid gold and the iron had turned from dark gray to a dull silver. "And now we have gold." He says excitedly.

"Professor." Asks Parisa. "What happened to the iron?"

"Good question. With the added material, it has transmuted into zinc." He answers. "Give it a try."

You and Parisa share a quick glance before collecting your material. "What are you going to make this time?" She asks you smiling.

"I think I might actually do it as instructed this time." You laugh.

"That's no fun." She teases. "How am I supposed to learn your advanced techniques if you just do the same thing as the professor?" She laughs with another smile while tucking her soft brown hair behind her ear and you get the impression she is flirting with you.

"I can't go giving away all my secrets in one day." You joke with her as you place your metals in front of you. Raising your hand again, you think about the lead and transmuting it to gold. Extra careful not to let your thoughts drift as you focus. You feel a rush and look down. Just like the professor, you have a pristine bar of gold and another of zinc.

"Well, if we are going to do it the correct way." Parisa jokes as she extends her hand over the lead and iron in front of her and transmutes them just as you had.

"Nothing special from the art table this time?" Professor Schwartz examines the recently transmuted ingots on your table. "Still, excellent work you two."

"Thank you, sir." Parisa says before he moves on to other students. "So... Seeing as we have summoning class together after lunch..." She draws out her thought in a cute way, slowly swaying her hips causing her skirt to swish lightly. Lee was right, she does have a very nice ass. "Should we get some lunch together too?"

"We could do that. Then head to class together. Is the common dining hall good with you?" You ask her.

"Yeah, that would be great." She beams with excitement.

"Ok students. It's time to wrap this up. Take an ingot with you. I want you all to transmute something of your choosing and bring it back with you next class. The more complicated and intricate the detail, the more credit you will receive."

You and Parisa collect your things, both selecting the freshly transmuted gold bars for your projects. The bell tolls and everyone makes their way out of the classroom. You and Parisa chat about your classes and life at the academy on your way to lunch