Wraithwood Botanist-Chapter 201 - 147 - God’s Elixir

I returned from my hunt in the Fifth Domain as if nothing had ever happened, but everyone could tell that something had. It was strangely awkward that night for dinner.

"It's kinda weird that we can't ask you about your trip," Aiden said. "It's like you went to Mexico, and the day you got back, we got an email warning us it's a sensitive subject."

Asail turned to him with raised brows. "What?"

"Yeah, what was that?" Cassain asked.

Aiden pointed at me. "Earth talk," he said. "She knows what I'm talkin' about."

I grumbled and stabbed my fork into my steak and then dropped it. I reluctantly got up, dragged my backpack to the table, and pulled out a core the size of a baseball.

"What the hell is that?" Cassain asked.

Felio picked it up with wide eyes. "Mira…"

"Elana's coming by soon for some more witch fuckery," I said to Felio. "Join me for it, and I'll tell you."

Felio's shoulders slumped.

"I'm just asking you to show up," I said.

Aiden laughed. "We've been here for what? A year? And this place already has the craziest culture. People are hesitant to celebrate insane achievements, and others are reluctant to get lectured by gods. What a trip."

"What about you?" I asked sarcastically. "Anything you want to share with us?"

"Oh…" He intentionally blushed and scratched his cheek with a finger clownishly. "Well, I suppose I can't complain. So, sure. I'll tell you a secret, if you," he looked at Felio, "go with Mira."

"Hey, why are you getting involved?" Felio asked.

"'Cause I didn't mean to get Mira to reveal this," he said. "It's not really something I can hide from Brex, so I gotta make it up to her."

Felio puffed out her cheeks. "Fine. I'll go."

"Thank~you." Aiden scooped the core out of her hands and looked at it. "I'll start. I have a patron god, and he's famous for turning entire planets' wildlife into armies and getting them to murder all his enemies."

Cassain dropped her fork on her plate.

"No need to be so hesitant," Aiden said. "His name's Killian and he's a great guy. You can just call him Kill for short."

I laughed and covered my mouth.

"Are you being serious?" Asail asked.

"Yeah, I'm serious," Aiden said. "We're not really the most compatible because his magic is designed, you know, to murder beasts and animals, and the only thing I've used it for is chastising my snake for looking at my birds too long."

Felio giggled, and the atmosphere lightened.

"Your turn," Aiden said.

I pointed at the core. "That's a fourth-evolution mana core. I got it in the Fifth Ring."

I didn't even mention the soul core I took from the beast. That was a discussion that could get me in trouble.

"You killed a fourth ev?" Cassain asked in a daze.

"Sort of," I said. "I poisoned one. But even that was a bad idea. In fact, I'm not confident in making my trip next year anymore."

I was going to Lake Nyralith — also known as Lake Symmetry — to cash in on Brindle's reward while also finding unmarked plants to fulfill Elana's tribute requirements. But I wasn't feeling confident anymore. Lake Nyralith was somewhere between the Fifth and Sixth Rings, with the entrance being in the Fifth and the exit being into the Sixth. Combined with the fact that it was a sacred location, it made my danger signals go haywire.

"That's wise," Cassain said. "I'm not sure if anyone has told you this, but you're young. I would focus on training for the next decade before you…" She pointed at the core.

I smiled wryly and thought, Just wait till you see the new equipment.

My mind flashed to the Bramble and my equipment within it. I was making a trip to get it this harvest, and once I did, it would be impossible to deny my skills.

She was going to flip. Assuming that she was still here.

"Anyway," I said. "Elana's coming in a few days, so just relax. We're pretty smooth sailing for the rest of summer."

And that's how things went. We enjoyed a nice bath that night, and I practiced my illusionary storytelling to entertain everyone. It was great practice and kept me on my toes. Then, I threaded third evolution cores and practiced my Mental Shielding until morning—

Then, I repeated the routine.

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Three days went by in a flash, and I soon found myself in my alchemy lab with Felio, staring at the clock. I was stressed as I stared at the box of ingredients Elana sent me and the Cailain flower. I hadn't even looked at the flower since I got it out of fear that I might destroy it. Now, I was staring at the impossible. Despite being uprooted and put into an airtight box to ensure it would die in a sanitary environment, the pink and white translucent flower looked lively. It had perky petals and a vibrant stem. It looked like the day I collected it.

That's so unnatural, I thought.

Trant said that the plant had regenerative abilities to recreate itself over and over, and so when they're found, they're treated with deference, harvested carefully for decades or even centuries to create tempers that infuse the regenerative abilities in your skin and muscles. It was unbelievable.

I didn't even realize how fixated on it I was until I got the chime and stumbled back.

Elana materialized in my lab at that moment. She viewed my shock in confusion. "What?" she asked.

"I was just surprised," I said.

"By what? You've been standing there for over an hour."

I blushed and then pointed at the plant.

Elana turned and smiled as she cloned the plant with her illusionary body and pulled it out of its jar. "Regenerators are quite strange aren't they?"

"That's an understatement," I said. "How's that even possible?"

"Because they contain ilignan." She turned back to the flower. "It's a naturally forming mana-infused chemical. Once you ingest this, your body will create it like saliva. And its one job is to copy and replicate your body in peak condition to recreate it if it's damaged."

"So you're saying that thing's actually alive?" I asked.

"That's a complicated question," Elana said. "The plant is dead, but its body is still functioning. As long as it has a source of mana and nutrients, it will continue functioning like it's alive—but it's not. In the case of a plant, the difference is merely philosophical, but if it happens to you, it's definitive. So make sure to protect your skull."

Felio folded her arms nervously, and her body turned very small.

Elana scoffed. "Be proud of your friend's strength. General worry is both a declaration of non-confidence and a sign of selfishness. Right yourself."

"Yes, Ma'am!" Felio unfolded her arms, stood straight, and then blushed because she didn't know what to do.

"It's a start," Elana said. She turned to me. "I watched your battle."

"Yeah…" I said. "The power differential is… insane. I'm not sure I can make it next year."

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"Nonsense," Elana said. "Two years ago, you said that about third evolution beasts. What changed?"

"I… practiced."

"And?"

"I…" I paused. "Evolved."

"Yes, you evolved," Elana said. "The magical and aura potential between you and them is too high—that's all. Therefore, to ensure you don't nearly kill yourself again, we will put you on a resource training regiment to retain your Kyfer core before your next evolution. You will sacrifice most of your year to your evolution. It is non-negotiable."

I nodded and bowed my head. "Yes, ma'am."

"And you." Elana narrowed her eyes on Felio.

Felio swallowed. "Yes?"

"I expect you to aid her this year. In doing so, I will guide you as a temporary pupil. So make sure to inform your parents of the change."

Felio's face glitched into a confused smile. "Yes, ma'am!"

I was ecstatic. I was so sad about Felio leaving, but this all but guaranteed that she would be with me for another year at a minimum.

"Now get to work," Elana said. "Felio. I need you to prepare a liter of elandor. Make sure it's—what?"

She stopped when Felio's face turned deathly pale.

"I…" Felio stammered.

I jumped in. "Felio and I agreed months ago—"

"You agreed?" Elana interrupted. "What do you have to do with anything? I just declared Felio my pupil and she accepted, so why are either of you questioning me? Prepare one liter of elandor with a sixty-five percent concentration of alcohol. That's not a request—it's an order."

"Yes, master!" Felio cried, rushing to a workstation.

I couldn't help but smile as I watched Felio get to work. Elana might have been an emotional sledgehammer, but she obliterated a year's worth of fear and anxiety in one order.

"What are you smiling about?" Elana asked. "Dry, separate, and purify 84 grams of highland root. Go."

I chuckled to myself as I set to work, desiccating a root and grinding it in a mortar and pestle, then separating it with telekinesis and purifying it. Then I got the next instruction—and the next. And this happened for hours. By the time we even looked at the box of ingredients Elana sent me or the Cailain flower, we were in the zone, and all the hesitation that Felio had was gone. That woman was a machine when she was performing alchemy. Absolute concentration. Dedication.

I watched her in small spurts and used her clean techniques as inspiration to work harder.

Soon, I was also in that groove, performing the best work that I had ever done.

"Now grab the box and chant the following," Elana said. I nervously grabbed her ingredient box, the lineless cube tattooed with arrays and added mana to it to make it glow. Then, Elana started chanting, and I followed. It unfolded, exposing a normal box full of jars and ingredients.

Felio looked inside, and her eyes widened. "They are… normal ingredients."

"Most of them," Elana said. "I wouldn't take chances on her getting any ingredient. Now step back. Mira, cycle your cores and open the black jar. Carefully."

There was a large jar filled with black sand. I opened it, and I was blasted with so much mana and aura that if I hadn't been cycling my cores, I would have dropped the jar and had a seizure. Felio had fallen to the ground and was wheezing.

"What is this?" I asked.

"Do you think the resources we use would be weak?" Elana asked.

"No… but… are we supposed to deal with this?" I asked.

"No," Elana said. "Your friend will."

I turned and saw Trant kicking his tiny legs back and forth on one of the back shelves near the door.

"Who me?" he asked.

"Yes, you," Elana said. "Or did you think I would send these resources to a fresh amateur?"

"Oh? So you counted on me helping her?"

"Of course I did."

"That's a bold assumption."

"Stop posturing. You may have your allegiances, but Mira is this forest's queen. If you disregarded her after feeling that release of mana, I would've lost all respect for you."

"Queen?" Trant asked. "That an equally bold assertion."

"Prove me wrong and leave," Elana said.

Felio's eyes were glued on Trant, bewildered by what she was seeing. He ignored her and turned to me, reading my expression. I desperately wanted his help.

"My helping her doesn't make her a queen," Trant said. He fluttered up to the black jar. He pulled a light blue crystal from his backpack and suddenly all the mana in the atmosphere sucked into it in a torrent. It felt overwhelming, as if my mana channels would rip out and suck into the stone with it, but a moment later, the atmosphere cooled and Felio and I could breathe again.

"You are only to establish the mana domain and wells," Elana said. "Otherwise, you are not to intervene."

"Even if they're going to fail?" he asked as he used chalk to create an array on the countertop we were working on.

"Even if they fail," she said. "I'm raising gods, not children. If they fail, they will learn an equally powerful lesson. For the strongest beliefs are born from deep regret."

"You sound like Reta," Trant grumbled.

I shivered and nudged my head to Felio to help her up. She was bewildered, but I mouthed, I'll explain later, and she nodded.

"Maybe it's not a personality trait," Trant continued. "Maybe it's just a messed up mindset." He finished a large array on the countertop. Then he put the crystal he used in the center and activated it. All the mana in the atmosphere suddenly sucked into the array and stone, leaving the room with the original magical pressure.

"This array is a mana domain," Trant said. "It treats mana like gases and isolates them. The helki crystal is acting as a mana well. You know about wells, yes?"

I nodded.

He turned to Felio. "You?"

"I do," she said. "Wells infuse mana or aura into a medium to store it. We use the method to make mana infused elixirs."

"Correct," Trant said. "Though there's times, like now, where you siphon mana and aura from ingredients just to breathe. And unlike Numina Animas, where energy is the ingredient, for a plant like this…" He looked at the Cailain. "Mana is the result of the ingredient. Question is…"

He emptied the black jar inside the mana domain, revealing a dozen smaller jars filled with powdered ingredients and liquids. Just releasing that black sand made the array kick into overdrive to handle the released mana, burning brightly against the table.

"What are these?" Trant asked.

"Most are simply active ingredients, but those two…" She pointed at a vial of golden liquid and a small container of purple dust. "Those are Numina Sycon. That said, the mana will make her core rupture, so we need to make grades. Do you have more mana wells?"

"Can't we use Diktyo water?" I asked.

"It would be a waste." He retrieved a dozen tiny crystals from his backpack. "So we'll only use it for the elixir."

Elana smirked. "Aren't you prepared?"

"Of course I am," he said. "If you are going to help someone, do it right."

He lined up the stones in groups, some with more and less. "These grades should be adequate."

"I'll take your word for it," Elana said. "Now get to work. Felio, take the white powder and mix it in a beaker and heat it to…"

Elana gave more orders and we set to work. It was much harder because we only had a small area to work with. If we moved ingredients out of that magic circle, the entire room would erupt with mana pressure and destroy everything. So we took our time, creating the elixir within the spaces that Trant made for us.

Strangely enough, the elixir was easy to make. Like most things, the steps are easy, but each operation is skilled. Felio took care of fusing compounds with mana, I took care of drying, purifying, separating, and using domains, and Trant managed the mana. These steps are each simple yet require profound levels of practice. And since we had them, we ended up creating a master elixir within a half hour.

"So how are we going to make grades?" I asked, staring at the purple and black marbled liquid. It looked like a starry nebula in deep space.

"It's simple," he said. "A portion of this elixir is considered a Numina Sycon, which means that unique mana created by the active ingredients is what's valuable. To create grades, we will simply remove portions of mana with one of these wells so it can be absorbed at each stage."

I stared at the small crystals. "Can I use the amounts you soak up later?"

"You can, but it's very inefficient," he said. "You'll lose more than two-thirds, so it's not recommended. That said, there's no choice. If you were to touch that elixir with your finger, your mana core would rupture and kill you."

I swallowed hard.

"Luckily for you…" He looked at my core. "I think that you'd only need three grades with that core of yours. But it'd be wise to make four to be safe."

"So I'll be taking the final dose at a fourth evolution core?" I asked.

"Correct." Trant looked at Elana.

"Regrettably, I cannot see her core," she said. "I can only see the Oracle's interpretation. So I'll leave it to your discretion."

"Okay… we'll make it four…" He looked at Felio. She had a strong second evolution core. "Or five…" He muttered.

Felio turned bright red. "There's no need! I couldn't possibly."

"You're making it, idiot," I said. Then I looked at Trant. "Just make four. Felio and I will work on our cores this year, so she'll be ready to take it by next year."

Elana looked at Felio. "Are you okay with waiting?"

"Of course!" Felio said.

"Well, that settles it," Trant said. He rummaged through my cabinets and pulled out two dozen tiny vials the size of AA batteries and lined them up. "If you will," he said.

I purified them and used Separate to fill the tubes.

"How many will I need to take?" I asked.

"Just one at max grade," Elana said. "But that could take decades. We need you to obtain its benefits now."

"I see…" I muttered. "How many would you like? I'd like to give four to the Drokai, eight for me and Kline, four for Felio, and that leaves—"

"Enough," Elana said. "That elixir may be unheard of on the lower domains, but it's nothing special to gods. So keep the elixirs and use them to protect you and your loved ones."

"Wow…" I muttered. I looked into her eyes. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now create the grades."

I looked at Trant. "You, Reta, Kyro, and… one more. You can have whatever grade you wish. Four grades for Kline, Felio—"

"Just one for me," Felio said. "I cannot evolve and leave the forest. So there's no need."

"Then two," I said. "Just in case. Then… seven… can't we just dilute them?"

"No," Trant said. "Even if you dilute the activator, you still need the main ingredient. Remember, this is a Cailain. These other ingredients are secondary."

"That was a dumb question," I mumbled. Maybe not to others, but I felt stupid for asking it. Diluting the active ingredient instead of limiting the activator was the direct equivalent of someone struggling to smoke marijuana with a blowtorch, only to rectify the situation by using less marijuana. The fact that the activator was expensive didn't change that.

"Well, in that case," I said. "Make four grades for me and Kline, two for Felio, two doses for my three family members, four for you, two for Aiden, and the last two full power. I'll figure that out later. If it's okay with you, I'll let the lurvine temper the amount left in the stones."

"As you wish," Trant said. He purified the mana well crystals and carefully siphoned mana from each to create the grades. As he did, the tiny crystals glowed brighter and brighter until one looked like a radiant star. It took about twenty minutes of mind-melting concentration for him to do it, but once he capped off the tiny bottles, I got the chime.

----

Author's Note: Thank you all for the warm notes and the people who reached out directly. It meant a lot.

I have a surgery on the 10th. Nothing major. No one knows what it is yet, but in good news, it's "less likely to be cancer" than other things. Fingers crossed.

Since I don't think I'm immediately dying, I've decided to write twice a week while I'm waiting. The story must go on! I'm starting to itch from not publishing. So, let's do this thing! 3500 words to get this party started. See you tomorrow, my party peoples.