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  • Beqanna

    COTY

    Assailant -- Year 226

    QOTY

    "But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura


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    [open quest]  Summer School 2019 - Art in Chemistry
    #1
    Art in chemistry

    Some have undiscovered golden voices, some clearly do not, and others are creative enough to find a workaround. It seems only two made use of the little loophole he gave them when it comes to their voices, and one found a different one, but Tir appreciates the enthusiasm more than their voices at any rate.

    He gives them a few (slow-)claps and waits for them to regroup. Then, a tilt of his head transforms the classroom - one with plenty other opportunities to be creative.

    “Ah, my students, aren’t you all so artistic. Which brings me to your next subject... and your next assignment. Welcome to chemistry!

    Now, as you might know, chemistry is a subject that is technically at the base of life. I know physicists and biologists will probably disagree with you, and that’s an ongoing debate for later, but the fact is that a world without would not exist, and you will find a hard time naming any aspect of the world that doesn’t have a little chemistry to it.

    Since you’re here to explore all those options and learn about it: design me a new molecule. I don’t need it’s molecular structure, that’s advanced learning, and we’re only horses after all. But tell me about it. Is it gaseous, liquid, solid? Is it heavy or light compared to other material? Is it even a material or rather, a smell, a poison? Bring me something new. The magic in this room will allow you to design what does not yet exist in nature.”





    Next subject: chemistry!

    *'assignment' is individual

    *due Monday, August 19th, 2PM CST

    *design a new ‘stuff’. Could be literally anything.

    *describe it’s physical properties (color, physical state, freezing/boiling temperature etc)

    *explain what it is you made and what its purpose might be in a horse’s life. Or has it no purpose at all? Is it potentially dangerous?

    *give it a fancy or logical name, your choice

    *you’re still a horse so you do not actually get lab equipment. Use magic to create your thingamabob. Perhaps it’s even lying around somewhere?

    *to help you get ideas: https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-uses-of-chemistry

    *I know you’re all creative enough to think of something!




    Results:

    HorseAssignmentNameDescriptionRhyme schemeMeterProsodyGeographicCreativity
    Total
    Olver100100959010040857585.6
    Lepis5010010095100701007586.3
    Cassian10010070908075258578.1
    Cyprin10010010010070701009091.3
    Nolin10090
    1007580501009085.6
    Lilliana100100100100100501008591.9
    Sevda10010070100100805010087.5
    Aeolus5010090100100801007586.9
    Bethlehem501001001001001001007590.6
    Ruinam10010010050100
    90758587.5
    Elaina1001001005010050508078.8

    Notes:
    Assignment: If the song is shared, you didn’t get 100%, since I asked for one song each. In the case of the trio, this meant that you came up with only 8 original lines since I couldn't figure out who wrote the refrain lines.
    Prosody: if I couldn't quite sing a line, or whole couplet, to the given song then you scored lower each time a syllable didn't match or a whole sentence was off (wrong intonation to the notes with emphasis). When I wasn't given a song, I looked at the different couplets to see if they matched or otherwise 'flow' well with one another.
    Creativity: Standard is 75%, you'd score higher if something stood out from the rest or something was just funny.
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    #2
    He survived the singing assignment, and honestly it wasn't as embarassing as he imagined. He listens as Tir the teacher explains there next assignment, chemistry....boy he really just wasn't made out for school. But again, he wouldn't give up this easily, and so he sets out to create something.

    He was a horse of little traits, and even the ones he had didn't allow him to do anything spectacular. But after the assignment was granted his body felt different.....it was....magic running through his veins. He didn't know what magic he had or even how to use it...but maybe it would all make sense when he needed it?

    He knew exactly what he was going to 'create', he always had a fascination with shiny things. He didn't have to travel far, he runs into a couple boulders that came up to his knees. He didn't know if this magic thing would work, or even how to make it work...

    But he closes his eyes and thinks about the large flames that crackled from the mouth of some equines. As he takes a large breath, his throat grows warm and as he exhales his mouth spouts red and orange flames. His eyes shoot open and he is almost too amazed at this power to actually finish his task.

    But he regains focus, and the flame continues to blow until it becomes so hot the boulder melts. The once rock now a hot lava that slowly moved around the ground.

    Creating his end goal was a finicky task, he hadn't much time to waste. As his mouth closes and the fire extinguishes he imagines a rain cloud above him, and somehow one appears! He demands it to rain with his mind, and the cloud obeys. It now rains on him, the water was cool and as it clashes with the hot lava it begins to form his final creation.

    The pale stag watches with amazement, in disbelief he was actually able to create this! The rain slowly stops as the lava is now a shiny black rock, an obsidian. It truly has no purpose, a collection for those who enjoyed shiny things, perhaps a decoration in his home land...

    The pale stag paws at the rock, he needed to break apart the large obsidian, he couldn't carry back this huge formation. It took quite a few strikes, but he finally manage to smash a small bit off the end. The imperfect obsidian was perfect to him! It was shaped more like a hexagon than a circle, but it was beautiful. Perfectly shiny, and certain to catch the attention of any equine.

    He seems to be the first back with his creation, and he only hopes the teacher didn't find his creation too simple. He drops it before Tir and steps back to await the arrival of the others, a smile on his maw filled with pride.
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    #3
    He praised himself for his ingenuity to figure out a way around his defect and had thanked Lilliana several times since for performing his song with gentle nods and boyish smiles.

    Their next assignment was to create a new substance. It could be something useful or have no use at all, he decided on the first. After class Tir told him that there was enough magic present in class to give him a temporary voice, had he of known of his defect he would have made sure he knew. Olver stood before him doe eyed and simply nodded as he left. What would he even say if he could talk?

    He decided to hold off at least one more class session to utilize that magic because he wanted to create something that could help the mute talk on their own. And so instead, he used that magic to pull the inner bark of a cherry tree (for its elasticity), placing it in front of him in the shape of a larnyx. Next, he pulled the sap from a maple (for it's high viscosity), and water from a cool spring in Loess (for it's low viscosity). Xanthan was his last ingredient to bind it all together.

    The new substance that formed at his hooves was a semi solid liquid of sort that molded like a palpable slime. It held a medium viscosity level, the molecules standing somewhere between his syrup and water, allowing the vibrations of sound to pass easily but necessarily through it. It was versatile in it's movement and shape. He watched as the brown substance moved and folded in on itself over and across the cherrywood bark creating necessary folds and creases. The substance, now infused with the elastic cherry wood, moved to cover his throat placing itself over his broken larynx.

    He had chosen not to attempt the success of his creation before presenting it to the classroom, he did not want to get his hope up. When the day came he walked slowly to the front, turning to stare intently with his green, moss eyes. He opened his mouth and waited for the words to fall out, and they did, bubbled and scratchy in an alto tone. He sounded like a record that had not been played in many, many years as he told the class what he had made and how. I haven't talked in my entire life. Of course it's not perfect if one were to use it they would have to live in warmer conditions. Because it is made up of sap and water you would not want to find yourself somewhere that your ponds freeze over. he shrugged bashfully in his presentation, In its slime-putty form, it's longevity is acceptable and all of this is bearable for even a moment to talk… I call it, dream. he said simply at the end, his red cheeks becoming more red as he broke eye contact, dipping his head in conclusion.
    BQolver
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    #4
    He’s not much of an inventor, but he hadn’t been much of a singer either.
    Somehow, he thinks, this may be even further outside of the realm of his comfort zone.
    He is a simple man of simple means, a lowly wayfarer.
    His brainpower goes largely unused in all of his wandering.

    This is an individual assignment and he does not have his groupmates to lean on.
    He wanders the classroom, ruminating. The muscles and the joints ache with the effort. He so scarcely stops moving that the muscles rarely get the chance to recuperate. He does not rest them long enough to ever feel refreshed.

    It is this he is thinking about when he finally comes to a stop in the corner of the classroom. He is plain and ordinary and entirely without magic, so he is grateful for the magic that the classroom affords them. He could do not it on his own. 

    He thinks about the aching in his joints, persistent. Relentless. And then, by magic, a vapor appears before him. A cloud like smoke, except thinner. There is no smell. But when he inhales it, the pain in his tired body immediately disappears. The muscles relax and the joints stop their aching. It truly is magic, he thinks, that he could think of this thing that plagued him and be immediately handed the antidote.

    There is a sly, secret smile that ties up one corner of his mouth as he takes to the front of the classroom. “My creation is a gas, which by nature is colorless but I have added a slight color to it so that it can be seen by the naked eye.” He nods to it now, hanging there in the air above his head, contained by magic. 

    “As a gas, it has neither a boiling point nor a freezing point. I made it because I am a nomad by nature and I do all of my traveling by foot. It is a pain reliever that can be inhaled, though I could not explain to you how its paining relieving properties work. Its main purpose in a horse’s life is to serve as a remedy for pain, be it from wandering or from battling.” He clears his throat then, trying to remember all that he’d been told to explain. 

    It can be dangerous in large doses and should not be inhaled unless the horse is actually in pain.” He tips back his head to peer up at the white-ish gas above him. “I call it ‘Relief’, primarily because I am not especially inventive.” He shrugs then before returning to the fray, his invention dissolving into thin air as he does.
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    #5
    The magic in the air of the classroom is intangible, but there is no denying its presence. The thrill that it causes to dance along her spine is not unlike the sensation of using her own gifts. An unspeakable feeling, an emotion without name. It is invigorating, and Lepis begins the task with enthusiasm

    For some time she simply experiments.

    Elements and emotions swirl around her, coloring the air in vivid hues as she stares – seemingly empty-eyed – into the air. Shapes and swirls appear in the earth ahead of her, flickering in and out of existence as she rejects them or changes them, just to reject the changed substance shortly after transformation.

    In the end, the solid substance in front of her resembles a little pile of sand. But no sand has ever been this fine or this pure. No sand has ever captured the sunlight quite like the delicate matter does, holding its glow and reflecting it through its clear crystalline structure until it shines out even brighter. It eddies and swirls with each movement in the room around her, but no particle ever drifts too far from the others – it is bound to its kind by something just a little like a magnetic field.

    Lepis blows on it, and the conical pile falls away and flattens, the particles reshaping themselves under the force of her breath. She nudges her nose beneath it and it lifts it up, and it drapes across her navy nose not unlike a piece of cloth might, if cloth were made of a million little bits of dust.

    As soon as it settles on her, she can feel her eyelids start to droop. Though she stifles a yawn and blinks sleepy eyes, she is also grinning widely as she summons the energy needed to toss the object away. As soon as it does, her weariness vanishes. Bracing herself for the effects of her creation, she sleepily stumbles to the front of the class with it once more balanced carefully on her nose.

    “I call it Slumber Dust.” she tells them, glancing down at the shining pile. “I suppose it’s a solid, though it reminds me of a liquid with the way it moves. It is colorless, but the way it captures the light makes it glow, and I don’t think it weighs no more than a few feathers.”

    “It induces sleep with physical contact. I’m not sure what use others might make of it, but I imagine it would be quite useful in getting my children to sleep at bedtime.” She laughs softly to herself, trying to imagine Celina ever standing still enough for Lepis to get her to touch the Slumber Dust. “It will cause sleepiness as long as it is making contact, so caution should be used when using it, least the sleeper never wake. It will become truly solid at the same temperature as water, and when cold is not as effective and can be more easily carried about.”
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    #6
    Lilliana has no magic of her own. She has always admired the abilities of others and marveled at it. Now, here on the mountain, she finds an amount of limitless potential that makes this assignment seem so much harder. Her mind wanders and searches, thinking and trying to decide on something that would be a suitable project. She goes big and broad, turning thoughts over until she grasps on something familiar. Something that has always brought her joy and she thinks now to share with her teacher and classmates.

    Her mind immediately goes to flowers. And then an idea dawns, spreading across her face in a smile.

    She conjures a flower, a simple thing that hovers before her. Lilliana plays with it, makes it sway and dance as it might in a field. She creates the scent, a smell of pure joy and contentment and peace. It is sweet and delicate though Lilli doesn’t intend for it to be fragile. She studies it as the petals elongate but they remain pale, pale as the first winter snow while the stem becomes a deep evergreen. There is a touch of cold as she summons frost and ice (something that still makes her shutter) and it ripples down her chestnut frame as she continues to work with her creation.

    The first few times, the flower wilts as they have always done when exposed to freezing temperatures. The petals fall to the ground similar to snowflakes. Each time, the chestnut mare starts over again and conjures her flower again. It takes her some time, several tries in fact, but eventually, she plays with the sap of the flower. She toys with it and eventually changes it, wields the frost until finally, the plant refuses to succumb to its freezing properties. The magic of the classroom makes her smile and pleased with her project, she keeps it in front of her face. It hovers and dances, twirling before her.

    When it's her turn, she steps forward and offers a small smile to Tir and the class. ”I present a flower,” she starts. It hangs suspended in the air as she continues to speak, ”But what makes this flower so special is that it is able to withstand freezing temperatures.” With the magic of the classroom, a small liquid appears next to the pale flower. The liquid compound is translucent with an icy appearance that has a slight glacial glow. ”The sap is a liquid. It retains a boiling point of regular water but this flower should be watched in the warmer months as it will be easy to overheat. However, the sap itself has no freezing point.” It is here that she grins, proud of this revelation. ”It allows the flower to endure during the winter months when it would otherwise perish.”

    ”I call it the Never Freezing Flower,” she adds. ”It has no official purpose other than to survive the winter. But I thought a flower patch of these growing during the coldest months of the year might offer some pleasure and joy.”
    but it's all in the past, love
    it's all gone with the wind
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    #7
    The first thing she needed was an idea. She thinks of Kensa and all her beauty and wonders, wouldn't everyone wish to look like her leader? Elaina would create something to enhance another’s beauty, to make someone feel more confident. The golden sunflower girl looks around for some Rosehip. She knew its properties fought against aging and gave the skin a youthful glow. Easily, she finds it amongst the many ingredients. Amber eyes spot crystals similar to the ones that were in the cavern in Paraiso. Elaina knew crystals held magical properties, including healing and brightening. As she is gathering these pieces together, that is when amber eyes are drawn to something else, and she isn't quite sure why. It looks like water, but there has to be something more to it, right? She stares for a moment as she takes a step towards it, it sits in the stone basin.

    She knows it is magical, can almost feel it, but, when she tastes, it’s bitter, as if all the magic had been drained from it. Elaina sighs heavily. Oh well, at least it would provide the liquid she needed to mix her other ingredients. The moment she places the rosehip and crushed crystals into the basin, they disintegrate leaving behind just murky water. Strange. Elaina eyes the water carefully, but as she does so, she has failed to realize that magic has been steadily heating the basin and steam begins to rise from it. It takes a moment, but those firestorm eyes rest up the silver vapor rising upwards like a mist of sorts. When she reaches out towards it, that is when she becomes pleasantly surprised.

    Elaina has her creation. It would seem that just a bit of heat was enough to restore the water’s magical properties.

    “Hello, everyone,” she begins when it is her turn to present. “I have created something today that anyone can use if they think they are not looking as radiant as they feel. It will help with some of those lines of age, and it will give you a radiant glow that will have you feeling your best,” she adds. “This is called Radiance Dust,” she says before directing her gaze downwards to the stone basin where she had combined her ingredients. “Well, not when its in liquid form,” she says. “You see, like how water may exists in multiple forms, even though it is derived of the same elements, so does Radiance Dust.” She says, her confidence growing. “In this case, we have a liquid state and a gaseous state. But to use this object for its intended purpose, it must be in its gas state.” She adds with a nod of her golden head. “As a liquid, this material is no more dense than the water we drink, but with a bitter taste. As a gas, it is denser than air, and also, unlike air, you can see it.” She adds excitedly.

    Now it was time for the fun part. “In its liquid state, it looks just like muddy drinking water, but relatively more useless. But, let it heat up with its low boiling point (it only needs some sunlight or a bit of heat) and it becomes a beautiful silver vapor.” She takes a breath and turns to the basin that has been slowly heating in the sun. As the vapor rises, Elaina places her face close to it. The moment it reaches her skin, it causes a reaction and makes her skin illuminate and sparkle, giving her a radiant glow. “When it touches your skin, a harmless chemical reaction occurs and it will actually make your skin glitter and sparkle. It will fill in some of those worry lines I know we all have and return you to a youthful glow.” She says. “It’s freezing point is extremely low, so now worries about your supply freezing up!” She says, adding a bit of humor. “Just keep it out of direct sunlight and away from heat until you are ready to use,” she says with a smile before giving a slight nod of her head, concluding her presentation.
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    #8
    The results of the first assignment hadn’t been too promising as he thought they might be. Aeolus doesn’t fret much over it all though. He still believes his group did a good job despite the miscommunication they had about the first assignment. As well, he knew he wasn’t too far behind the rest of his classmates.

    Aeolus listened carefully to the next assignment. Each of the students had to create a new molecule. The molecule could be anything with a purpose or no use at all. Aeolus already liked the idea of their second assignment. He looked forward to seeing what his other classmates came up with.

    The sea serpent already knew what he was going to create. He wanted to be able to share the experience of being able to breath underwater. The problem was he wasn’t sure where to start. He looked around the room after the students were dismissed to work on their assignments. The room was filled with magical things their teacher had said.

    He decided to look around. Aeolus found some strange looking gems (they are hard like diamonds, but not diamonds), a jar that was labeled magic air (perhaps oxygen), and a red-orange metal (perhaps similar to copper). These materials would just do enough.

    Aeolus then placed all the materials onto a table. He looked around the room searching for the magic the teacher had spoken about. The boy didn’t see any magic, so he turned back to look at the materials he found. He knew what he wanted to make, but how?

    The boy huffed with frustration, but suddenly the diamond-like gems and red-orange metal floated in front of him. Aeolus smiled wide and proud. He inhaled a large amount of air blew onto the two materials. The two materials then fused together. The gems were now a red-orange color with a little more shine to it. Aeolus then opened the jar of air and dipped the gems in. He then crushed up the gems into tinier pieces that could easily be chewed and digested.

    Finishing his creation, Aeolus set off to meet the rest of the students that gathered around to present their creations. When it was his turn he moved to the front of the class with a large smile on his face, ready to present his new creation.

    “Hi everyone!” He begins cheerfully. “I made a new thing called Aqua Rocks.” He lays out his new creation in front of the class to see. They are small-diamond like gem rocks in red-orange coloring. “Aqua Rocks are considered a solid since they are from both a mineral and metal. The red-orange coloring is the metal fused into the gem-like rocks that are almost hard like diamonds. The Aqua Rocks are surprisingly considered light and can easily be carried.” He pauses for a moment, allowing all the students to look at his creation further. “Aqua Rocks can sense and hold oxygen. I dipped each of the gems into a jar of air.” His smile widens and his eyes gleam with excitement suddenly as he continues. “You can eat the gems. They will magically be any flavor you want them to be thanks to the magic we have in our classroom! When you eat these gems, you have the ability to swim deep into the ocean without worrying about breathing for up to 12 hours. During those 12 hours while you are in the water, the gems will take any oxygen from the water around you to help you breathe. As well, it can withstand cold and likely freezing temperatures, but when it’s super hot in the water the effects of the Aqua Rocks do not work.” Aeolus pauses again, turning to look to the other students. “I wanted everyone to be able to swim underwater like me. The ocean is so beautiful, and I think a lot of you would enjoy seeing the bottom of the ocean like I can!” He falls silent when he is finished and returns to his previous place among his classmates.
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    #9
    Cyprin attentively listens once having completed her attempt at poetry. A smile sweetly lifts the edges of her mouth before she shyly glances away. There are other tests, she reminds herself, and the realization is thrusted upon them when the teacher inclines his head. The theater cracks away and in its place is a room with volatile substances and smoking flasks. Her eyes dance, but still she listens to the instructions. Contemplating the assignment, she gropes for something beneficial to her – but also to others – as a means to address the chaotic world around them. Cyprin is not a fighter, and so she dives into that and reaches tendrils of her magic into the spaces around them.

    Any inanimate object she can find – both physically and through extraction from her personal magic – she utilizes with a plan steadfast in mind. Rocks, spider silk, limpet teeth (a surprisingly strong material), sand, and some diamond for a feminine dazzle.

    First, Cyprin melts what she can with magic of extremely high and dangerous temperatures. Separate from the other substances, the sand stands alone to be melted. Surprisingly, ordinary sand can be melted into a liquid – thus how glass is so often formed – and so she utilizes the strength for that and ensures through microscopic observation the atomic rate to which it all binds to form a “strong liquid.”

    Everything else is melted and combined, one at a time. Gas is introduced in attempt to expand gradually, cooling the temperatures periodically to ensure the elasticity of what she is making. Spider silk, oddly enough, is one of the strongest natural materials in the world. Strength is what she wants, and its elasticity.

    But there’s more.

    Like in an anatomy class, Cyprin retrieves an ear – somehow, the entire structure of one – from a lab specimen. It will hear, she tells herself as she adds it to the mixture and watches everything roil and bubble.

    After what feels like hours, Cyprin steps away with a cooled down substance.

    It’s gelatinous as it sits next to her while she waits for her own turn. When the time comes, she steps forward and speaks rather quietly.

    ”I’ve created a force shield that can expand or shrink as the user wants. It is a Maxwell solid, it’s behavior considered viscoplastic or gelatinous. This material is light,” she is able to lift it, move it, before setting it back down tenderly, ”in comparison to what I used to create it. The diamonds were to add strength, a pale white, and some shimmer on top of everything else.” Here, she pauses and inches back slightly to allow herself room. ”Due to a little piece of anatomy I added – and some magic – the force shield is reactive to sound. If there is a war with a lot off commotion, it will be larger. Have it near you, and when it hears a scream, it registers the pitch due to the cilia and determines the urgency.” As a demonstration, Cyprin shouts and exclaims for a shield, and the gelatinous ball expands in a size large enough to protect her. ”It’s gone,” she says and the substance shrinks back down as she makes it believe the danger has gone. Next, Cyprin yells and allows her magic to create an army of loud noises that rattles the blob to life. It expands large enough to house the classroom, holding its structure until the girl once again says, ”Okay, it’s gone.” It retracts and plops back down on the table next to her, idle.

    With a tilt of her head, Cyprin concludes. ”A force shield. Gelatinous substance that is strong enough to protect one or many others from harm. It’s reactive to sound. Light and bouncy in hand but tough and sturdy once in a protective mode.” And with a curt nod, she is done.
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    #10
    All Ruinam can think about it how astronomically hungry he is, the idea of eating food before class quickly crossing his mind, though as he thinks he also comes across a problem with eating, this problem of course being that you could not eat too much without become full too soon, with that thought the stallion decides to create his own little catalyst that would be able to speed up the reaction in his stomach, letting him digest food faster and being able to eat more.

    The stallion starts by thinking of a shape, nothing big or heavy would suffice, the catalyst would have to be something small and easy to eat.
    The stallion gathers a few small berries and thinks about what he should to make the catalyst work. First the stallion had to think about what enzymes would be released using the catalyst and if the catalyst could be re used.
    After some thought the stallion decides that a retrievable catalyst may be slightly, unsanitary, and decides to allow the catalyst to be used up in the reaction.

    Ruinam uses the berries as a base for the catalyst, she shape and taste being quite inviting, the ivory-white Male then adds Amylase, Protease and Lipase as the main enzymes for the catalyst, allowing from breakdown of starches, carbohydrates, proteins (into amino acids), fats, glycerol and acids. In the first few runs, the berry explodes before it can even be ingested, creating a slight problem, though after some altercations, Ruinam decides that instead of using a natural berry, he will use a fake one with a thin layer to allow for diffusion of the chosen enzymes.

    Through magic, the stallion makes the berry activate when it touches the slightest hint of saliva, allowing its thin layer to disappear and to allow the enzymes to release into the body, allowing for faster digestion.
    Ruinam walks up to the teacher and places the small berry in front of him “I have created a Catalyst that will speed up the reaction during digestion, this reaction will force digestion to speed up, allowing for horses to eat as much as possible without having to worry about becoming full, I call it the Eatalyst” the stallion says comfortably, stepping back after his small presentation.
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