Spell Components

It's well known that a mage is capable of using various forms of mana through Primordial and Natural magic. However, there are some that are capable of augmenting their magic even further by combining unique alchemical components together with their spells. This allows them to augment a spell through Alchemy. However incorrect ratios of various components can cause a spell to completely change, or worse, backfire. As such it's rarely done in the midst of battle and is usually done for ritualistic spells instead.

For instance, a mage could mix guano, wood ash, and sulfur in a ratio of three parts wood ash, two parts guano, and one part sulfur. This could then be made into a rudimentary ball that the mage could use while channeling a fire-based spell to greatly augment the destructive properties of the flames with the added fuel. This could then be multiplied even further using rarer reagents such as Imp Guano and Ironwood ash instead.

Alkahest

Though Alchemy is not magic, it can be combined with magic without the usage of spell components. In doing this the magic is known as "Alkahest", and is capable of breaking down anything that they make contact with in the world using magic into its base compounds. The user is then able to manipulate these compounds creating something entirely new using them, however it will only create something that those chemical compounds could normally create. For instance, breaking down a stream of water and turning it instead into a thick fog that fills the area with their magic instead.

Due to Alkahest relying on the magical manipulation of other forms of magic it can still be draining to use. However, because it does not create matter or energy from nothing, but instead alters matter or energy that already exists in the world, it drains the user far less than normal Natural Magic. To learn this requires one to be skilled in both alchemy and magic. This limits one's ability to "transmute" as it is often called quite heavily based on their individual knowledge. As such this is a rare form of magic, but can be quite potent.