The noblest goal of an alchemist is, supposedly, to turn lead into gold, even if that goal is not so difficult these days. It's perhaps telling that we've run laps around reality when we spend so much time coming up with our five-thousandth formula with which to blow things up.

Not that I'm complaining. Half of my classmates at the Imperial University were inspired by watching magnificent explosions, and the world is better for them having learned alchemy. Fire is the most popular cardinal for many reasons.

Oh, the reason I found to like it with this machine is that for the final attachment of a flame rod to the fuse, I could not use the Glyph of Bonding to make the final spur for geometrical reasons. The spur's purpose is reagent suppression. I nearly abandoned this design, but I then realized I could attach it with the Glyph of Triplex-Bonding, as it ultimately does not need to be part of the polymer and need not conform to its bonding structure.

- Alchemist Kazyan, /u/StillNotABrick