al·che·my

– noun
1. a form of chemistry and speculative philosophy practiced in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and concerned principally with discovering methods for transmuting baser metals into gold and with finding a universal solvent and an elixir of life.
2. any magical power or process of transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of great value.

pseu·do

– adj.
1. not actually but having the appearance of; pretended; false or spurious; counterfeit; fake; sham.
2. almost, approaching, or trying to be.