--- Kat ---

It was officially morning and Kat had spent most of the night making various things in the kitchen. Some were fancy, the biscuits were mostly just normal, and the meat stew had originally been for breakfast before Kat realised that was a dumb idea. Pancakes were considered and discorded, just in case a certain someone decided to be an idiot about it.

Breakfast was still done far too early, but Kat heard someone getting up and made her way over. Appoline met her at the stairs and Kat offered a bit of tea. One bit of brewing later and the pair of them were sitting outside drinking from the pot to keep themselves warm in the crisp morning air. "Do we have any pressing engagements today?" asked Appoline as she blew gently over the teacup in her hand.

Kat had no such worries and simply started to gently sip on the liquid. "Not really. I might grab Lily from where she is... but I don’t know if Steel is going to arrange a guard in a timely manner so... not sure if I’ll be going to grab her or not. Plus... yeah I just don’t see anything getting decided all that quickly."

"Perhaps you’d be interested in an experiment then? I’d be curious to see what happens if I brew something while including your demonic energy," stated Appoline.

"Um... pretty sure horrific mutations?" Kat said with a somewhat unsure tone. One Appoline noticed. "Look, I really have no idea but I know that too much demonic energy can cause major mutations and long-term issues, destroying a person from the inside out and turning them into what’s basically a monster... but I have no idea what is too much. I’ve killed plenty of things with demonic energy and not had them resurrect as horrific monsters, and fought a few horrific monsters without any demonic energy."

"Well... we won’t know until we test things!" smiled Appoline.

Kat frowned. She was sort of interested in the answers, mostly for Lily’s sake... but doing this seemed unwise. *Demons? What happens if you brew potions with demonic energy.*

D.E.M.O.N.S will not assist User when confronting another User in conflicting Contracts. All information on potential enemy User has been completed restricted. Most other questions have been restricted.

*Counterpoint. I’m not currently fighting another demon, I have no idea where they are, and surely there’s some sort of override for experimenting with demonic energy because I was bored?*

Bored Scientist Override Attempted. Scanning Surroundings. Alchemy Equipment Detected. Override not required. Question Allowed.

*Um... ok that’s better than I thought. I almost wonder if I should’ve been asking more questions. Alright, what happens if I use demonic energy to brew potions?*

User Kat is to be informed that Demonic Energy can change potions in wild and unpredictable, but consistent ways. Assuming any created potions are made without involving a being other than User Kat at Rank 3 or above, including ingredients, no Demonic Corruption will occur should the drinker consume less then ten doses within approximately ninety-six hour period.

*Wait so it’s FINE?*

Long term effects possible but User Kat’s contract is predicted to last significantly less time. The chance of long term issues are minimal. Please check back in a year to see if any issues have arisen.

*Um... I don’t think I want to be hear that long. Um... why is this fine?*

Demonic Energy concentration unlikely to be significant enough for issues. The World is capable of filtering some level of demonic energy without issue and brewing with Demonic Energy does not properly concentrate it. Thus, chance of horrific mutations are minimal.

*Not what I was expecting... but thanks I guess?* "Ok, apparently D.E.M.O.N.S was willing to answer my questions... somewhat and nothing horrible will happen as long as you don’t drink too many of them in ninety-six hours or so and use nothing too powerful it’s fine?" explained Kat.

"Huh... that’s... you were able to just ask for that information?" asked Appoline.

"Apparently?" Kat shrugged.

"Why would you not make use of such a wealth of knowledge more often? Or ask for some of the effects?" asked Appoline.

"It’s not that simple. It doesn’t tend to go into things that are too specific without payment and I’m not sure I can just ask for potion recipes. Especially in cases like this where technically I’m competing against another demon. Apparently making sure that nothing horrible will happen by messing around with demonic energy and alchemy is considered fine though... and I’m still not sure WHY it’s fine..." mumbled Kat.

Appoline shrugged. "I think you’re considering all of this on the wrong scale. If demonic energy was so corruptive that adding a bit of it to a potion would turn someone into a monster, you simply existing would be a MAJOR problem. I’m not certain how it is with demons, but mages create mana just by existing."

"Yeah it’s the same as demons... so I guess I get your point. Sure I’m adding demonic energy to the potion... but I guess if I was standing close enough I might be doing that anyway? I just thought that, like, concentrating it would be a problem?" mumbled Kat.

"Perhaps it would be if I was trying to extract the concentrated essence of demonic power... but I’m not. I’m interested to see what effects it will have in smaller doses. Perhaps your little answering machine knew that, or perhaps not. Regardless, do you want to test things? I’m curious as to what will happen, I’ll need to take notes. Perhaps if I get rich enough I’ll see if different demons have different effects..." rambled Appoline as she started to get some ingredients together.

At this point, Kat knew enough to recognise the ingredients for healing potions as well as a few extra ones that she wasn’t quite sure what they were for. "Alright how do you want me to do this?" asked Kat.

"Well, first I want to just start with a healing potion. It likely won’t be one at the end... but maybe not. I’d like you to summon some fire to burn below the cauldron, assuming you can keep it steady?" asked Appoline.

Kat nodded, "I can, and I won’t need to be too close. Though question, what sort of intent do you want me to give the flames?"

"You can give intent to your demonic fire?" asked Appoline.

Kat made a ’so-so’ gesture. "Sort of? At the very least I can choose if they ’burn’ something or not."

Appoline nodded for a few moments before wrinkling her nose. "I don’t love the idea of that. While I don’t doubt your willpower keeping things consistent is likely going to be a challenge. Perhaps... can you start with focusing on nothing?"

Kat nodded, "I can, but the effect seems to be at least somewhat subconscious because it’s never burned anyone I’m friendly with... and I’ve honestly never used it against someone I wasn’t sure what it would do to."

"An understandable precaution, though one that makes this a bit awkward. Nevertheless, let’s get started..." mumbled Appoline. Kat nodded and summoned the demonic fire underneath the cauldron, keeping the power quite low. "Can you increase the power without running out of energy?"

"Yes," said Kat with a nod.

"Please do so," Appoline requested and Kat did as asked. The flame seemed to burn brighter and deeper as the water in the cauldron started to freeze over. Kat wondered for a few moments if Appoline would be surprised by that fact, but clearly she already expected this. "Keep this level if it is manageable."

"It is," confirmed Kat as Appoline started to work. Ingredients went in and Appoline constantly stirred the cauldron, keeping it all spinning at a faster pace then she normally did, likely as a way to keep the ice from forming properly. As ingredients were added to the pot, Kat noticed that whatever effects they’d normally had were very subdued. The whole process was. Every ingredient added had minimal effect on the brew, breaking down to nearly nothing but a soft glow.

"Hmmm... interesting... and potentially not that useful..." mumbled Appoline.

"What seems to be the issue?" asked Kat.

"The essence is... being eaten? For lack of better phrasing. Your demonic energy seems to be wearing it away. It’s creating something else in its place... something essence adjacent and perhaps useable but without a true understanding of what’s going on likely quite a lot less potent. I’m also not sure if its ice aligned at this point because my own mana sense is obviously quite disrupted..."

"Will it even turn into a useable potion at the end?" asked Kat.

"The answer is looking like... no at the moment. If I just keep adding things to the cauldron as normal I suspect that the whole thing will freeze over. Though that isn’t necessarily the end of things. The essence aren’t gone completely. It will have... some effect I’m just not sure how useful it is, or if melting the ice is possible. Though... hmm... perhaps it will act as a mild salve and numbing agent? Yes I could see it... but is that what will happen? How exciting," grinned Appoline.