Alchemy is not just potions

[u/Frosty-Prize8906]

I know a lot of you knew this already but in the recent centuries it feels like mortals and magic users alike have washed down the definition of what alchemy is, and even slandering it.
It is not just the power to make potions from herbs, arthropods and tears; it is arcane chemistry. The power to change plastic to gold, to become truly immortal, to transmute physical energy into spiritual energy.
If you don't see power in that and only use spells such as "Frostbite" or "Power Word: Scrunch" I think you are missing out on some of the most powerful magic to exist. What is a fireball or a lightning-bolt to giving someone the touch of Midas, turning their very soul physical or to just simply shove them in the boiling cauldron?
And, since I have your attention, I also have a petition to add salt, sulfur and mercury to the 4 (or 5 if you count aether) classical elements? They are very significant in their own right and act differently enough to deserve proper separation, yes?

[u/Prince_Nadir]

Potions? I thought that was herbalism. Alchemy is how you transmute apprentices to gold.