Chapter 73.4- Doom Days

“Okay so our first lesson is the mot important part of alchemy. Equivalent exchange” He said.

“I know that one, we can skip it” I said.

“You do, do you? Tell me what you know then” Nicholas said, making a come hither gesture. I nodded, and deciding where to start, began to tell him what I’d studied on the subject already.

“Alchemy operates on a balance of gain and loss. It’s similar to rituals in a lot of ways. Alchemy works by changing one thing to another, but both things must be equal for it to work.” I said.

“Equal in what ways?”

“What ways?”

“Yes, how must they be equal. If I had one ton of lead and wanted to turn it to one ton of gold, how would that work? Just because they’re the same in weight- would that be enough? Or would I need to make them equal by another metric. Would I need seventy tons of lead for one ton of gold assuming that gold is worth seventy times more than lead? What if the price of lead changes mid transmutation and I suddenly have less than I need to make the transmutation I want?” He asked.

“Well, I assume they can be equivalent on any metric. Just as long as it makes sense, I suppose.” I said.

“Any metric? So how would the magic know which metric I was using specifically. If I had seven tons of lead instead and wanted seven tonnes of gold instead of one tonne, how would it know I wanted it to focus on the weight of the component part rather than the difference in value?” He asked.

“Intent. You channel your intent into the transmutation, I presume.” The only in-depth mention I’d been able to find of alchemy so far had been something in a book in the Room of Requirements had been a brief chapter in a much larger book that explained the bare bones of the art, and that seemed to be far from enough to settle Nicholas’ mind.

“Well, I did, but that is not quite how it works.” He said.

“So how does it work then?” I asked.

“What is the difference between equality and equivalence?”

I thought for a few seconds before answering.

“There is none. It’s just two words that mean the same thing. Different ways of saying it, but same message being passed.” I said.

“Maybe in every other respect, that could be true. That is not the case in alchemy though. I said equivalent exhange, not equal exchange. The properties of the object in question actually matter very little. The only thing that matters when you make a transmutation from an alchemical sense is whether the input and output have equivalent value to you the alchemist”

“Wait. If that’s the case, then how can any transmutation work? The only reason you’d switch something for another is if the thing you were trying to get was more useful to you. And if they need to be equivalent, how would the transmutation work then?” I asked.