on the topic of diamonds, i think they'd be kind of a test of skill. it's rare to find large single crystal diamond (like, everything is perfectly uniform all the way through), the largest synthetic one is 1.2 carats, so for industrial purposes, if alchemists can make large single crystal diamonds they would probably be like, the top of their fields. Diamonds are super useful for their hardeness, and a single crystal would be harder than a polycrystaline diamond.
yeah!!! like, as you mentioned elsewhere, alchemists would be super useful as, essentially, materials engineers - working in construction, manufacturing, etc. It would still be valuable just like you said - just for different reasons! instead of status symbols lol it’s for applied science stuff haha
(specifically for 99% snipers, i think i left myself enough wiggle room to later posit that ed’s sheet o’ diamonds is a bunch of individual crystals together instead of One Big bc that. wouldnt work. i think. listen i skimmed like 3 wiki pages, i am so glad actual science people are coming to talk to me about this)
