The "Alchemy" science allows:
1. making buildings "perfect";
2. making Artefacts "perfect";
3. stealing magic Crystals.

1. Perfection of buildings#

Some buildings, upgraded to the maximum level, can be perfected.
"Perfect" buildings have improved parameters and extra features.
For example, "perfect" military buildings produce certain number of units once a day.

When you click on a building of level 7 (or Tavern building of level 1) that can be perfected, you will find the "Make building perfect" button instead of the usual "Upgrade" button in the round menu of the building.

"Perfect" buildings are marked with a little crystal sign instead of the number showing level.

Perfection of a building can be added to the queue of construction.
Durability of the "perfect" buildings is 1 building's level higher.

In order to make a building "perfect" you will need resources, Black Gems, and Crystals.
Crystals for perfection are taken from Heroes' Bags and from the "Vault" tab of the Vault building.
Crystal are taken in the following order: from Bags, from the "Vault", from the "Alchemy".

2. Perfection of Artefacts#

There is the Altar in the "Alchemy" tab of the Vault building.
There are 5 slots for Crystals of each type and 3 slots for Artefacts or Scrolls around the Altar.
And there is a slot for the Artefact you want to make "perfect" in the middle. If you place an Artefact in the slot you will be able to see the characteristics of the Artefact after upgrade.

Perfection of an Artefact requires 5 Crystals, 2 any Artefacts of the same level (with the one that is upgraded), and a Scroll.

Perfection is completed on clicking the "Make Artefact perfect" button.

"Perfect" Artefact costs more than similar not-perfect.

There are 5 types of Crystals:#

Red	Green	Blue	Yellow	Purple

Crystals are generated in the Monster Heroes' Bags. Monster Heroes dwell in the Aggressive Ruins.
Monster Hero from an Aggressive Ruin of level 5 has 2-3 Crystal in the Bag, Monster Hero from a Ruin of level 6 has 3-4 Crystals.

How to get Crystals#

Hero of a player or a Monster Hero gets Crystals into possession in the course of the "Robbery" mission. Only player who have the "Alchemy" science studied can steal Crystals.
Crystals are stolen from the defeated by the winner regardless of their roles in the battle (attacker or defender).
Player who has no Hero or whose Hero is stunned can't steal any Crystals.

Crystals can be stolen from Hero's Bag, the "Vault" and "Alchemy" tabs randomly. Stolen Crystal gets to the winning Hero's Bag. If there is not enough place for all gained Crystals in the Bag, random Crystals of the gained will be stolen. If there is no place for Crystals at all, Crystals won't be stolen; this will be registered in the Battle Report.

Robbery of Crystal from players:

In the course of 1 "Robbery" mission with 1 Hero, a player can steal 1 random Crystal from those the opponent has in the Bag of the Hero in Garrison, from the "Vault" and "Alchemy" tabs of the vault building.
Crystals cannot be stolen from the hero's bag if the hero is in the Sanctuary.
Crystal are not stolen from the assisting Hero.

If there are more than 1 Crystal in a domain and several players take part in the mission, each player will get 1 random Crystal. If there is only 1 Crystal and several players in the mission - random player will get the Crystal.

Robbery of Crystal from Monsters:

You can steal more than 1 Crystal from Monsters if the Monster Hero has robbed another player of his Crystals before.

When Monster Hero goes out from the Ruin, he leaves 1 random Crystal there. The Crystal can be seen in the Main Building of the Ruin. The Crystal can be stolen from the Ruin if it is destroyed and if there is place for the Crystal in the Bag of your Hero. If there is also Magic Item in the Ruin but there is not enough place for both the Item and the Crystal - the magic Item will be stolen.

On the returning home to the Ruin, Monster Hero takes the Crystal left for the time of his absence back in the Bag.
Defeated Monsters lose all their Crystals, winners will get the Crystals evenly.

Crystals and other Magic Items do not interfere each other, meaning that a Crystal and, for example, an Artefact can be found by a player in the same Ruin.

Storage of Crystals

1 Crystal takes 1 slot in the Hero's Bag or in the Vault.
Several Crystals of the same type cannot be placed at the Altar.

Sale of Crystal

It's possible to sell Crystals to the Trader for 100 Black Gems on credit.
Crystals can not be sold 2 hours before battle in case of incoming attack.

3. Converting artifacts#

To convert an artifact into an ancient one, place it onto the central slot of the Alchemy altar and click the button «Convert into ancient». The cost of converting is half the price of the final artifact. With that all additional effects applied to the artifact (crystals, runes, and rune words) remain unchanged. The conversion does not consider any items placed in other Altar slots. The cost of converstion of the artifact will be displayed next to the Conversion button.

The second level of the «Alchemy» science allows:

1. to rob Runes in Stonehenges
2. to perform runic rituals

1. Runes.#

Rune – is a magical stone which provides a passive bonus to the player by means of engraving a runic sign on an artifact.

There are 9 types of magic runes:#

Feoh		+25% hero`s experience in battles against the Monster race
Ur		+10% hero`s experience in battles
Thorn		+5 defense in battles against the Monster race
Eoh		+3 defense for all troops
Rad		+5% health for all troops
Tir		-5% enemy’s attack in battles against Monster race
Gyfu		+3% attack for all troops
Ior		-2% mission duration of hero squad
Haegl		-3% enemy’s attack

The Runes are enlisted in level ascending order from Feoh to Haegl. For example, three Feoh runes can be upgraded into 1 rune of the next level – the Ur rune.

The Runes appear in ancient monster estates – the Stonehenges which can be discovered only by Suzerains with the help of explorers. When a new Stonehenge appears on the map, one of the 9 Runes is randomly generated in the bag of its monster hero. The higher the level of the Rune, the less often it appears in Stonehenges and the stronger the monster garrison defending it. If winning an attack against Stonehenge, the attacker (mission’s initiator) gets its Rune, provided s/he has the second level of the Alchemy science studied and there is at least one free slot in the bag of initiator’s hero.

Unlike magic crystals, Runes can`t be stolen from other players. If needed, runes can be sold to Artifact Trader.

2. Runic rituals.#

Magical rituals with runes can be performed in Treasury’s Runemaster tab (and in the Hero window).

Runic signs#

At the Runemaster`s, you can engrave an artifact with one or several runes to activate their bonuses. The runes used in this rite will disappear and their bonuses will be added up with those of the artifact. To perform the rite, place a “clean” (not engraved with runic signs) artifact and runes into slots at the Runemaster`s and click the button «Perform the rite». An artifact can be engraved with up to 5 runes, no matter whether of the same level or not.

Rune recovery#

At the Runemaster`s, you can restore the Runes from an engraved artifact and therefore use them again. In order to do so, place an artifact engraved with runic signs into the Runemaster`s slots and click the button «Restore runes». When performing the ritual, there must not be any other objects besides the artifact in the slots. Upon performing the ritual, the player gets the artifact (free from any runic signs) and the runes of the respective runic signs. The ritual can be performed only for Black Gems.

Rune conversion#

If needed, three runes of the same level can be upgraded into 1 rune of the next level at the Runemaster`s. Once done, the ritual can`t be reversed.

Runic word#

Special combinations of runes create Rune words that give artifacts additional in-game bonuses. A rune word can be created with 2-5 runes, if the runes used in the magical ritual are in the rune word recipe. If even one rune that is not in the recipe was used in the ritual, the word won`t be activated on the artifact. Each rune word is meant only for one kind of artifact (sword, armour etc.) and cannot be activated on an artifact of a different type. Each rune's bonus is shown in turquois in a separate line of the tooltip of the artifact, the Rune word's bonus is shown in yellow. The value of the bonus is generated within given limits at the moment of the activation of the word and therefore may vary. When runes are taken off the artifact, the effect of the Rune word disappears.