1-30 "Prep"

The bread and butter of alchemy is from Elemental Stones. You'll be using hundreds, if not over a thousand elemental stones each tier depending on how you go about it. The worst part of each tier is realizing you need to make more elementals and you don't get any skill off them. You will do nothing but make Lesser Elemental Water and Stone Powder until they are grey, I'd say about 9 to 1 ratio. The powder isn't used for much unless you're making scrolls and weapons down the line, and this tier doesn't have a lot to do for weapons. Load up on those lesser elemental stones and churn out that water in one giant load.