Elydes

Chapter 39: Stupid Mushroom

Chapter 39

Waking up in a good mood the next day, Kai was pleased to notice it was barely an hour after dawn. His mana was also completely full.  

Yesterday had gone splendidly, but he was happy this would be the last day of his crazy marathon. He really needed to take a break.  

Curious about his progress, Kai checked his skills list.

 

• Skills:

• Running (lv74)

• Swimming (lv73)

• Meditation (lv62>63)

• Awareness (lv54)

• Herbology (lv50>52)

• Acting (lv44)

• Processing Plants (lv28>32)

• Reading (lv19)

• Gardening (lv12)

• Sneak (lv7)

• Mana Sense (lv40>41)

• Mana Manipulation (lv8>9)

• Alchemy (lv6>7)

• Inspect (lv5>6)

Compared to the first day, Alchemy had only gone up one level, but Mana Sense had leveled too, which was far more valuable considering its level. In two days he had gained the progress of at least a week of hard work, which came to show how highly pushing your limits was regarded and rewarded by the Guide.  

He was about to close the window when something caught his eye. Meditation had leveled too. Kai watched it confused.  

Why did it level? I never practiced it.  

Thinking back, he remembered the strange feeling he fell into the flow of doing alchemy.  

Can I actually meditate while doing other things?  

This discovery deserved more study but now was not the right time. He could try to achieve that state after he was finished with the order.  

Walking into the kitchen, Alana greeted him with breakfast once more.  

Do you need anything else today?  

Kai shook his head. Her tone wasnt cold, but it made clear she was still upset regarding the trouble he got into.  

Dont worry Mum, its all fine. Ill be done by today and make this worth it.  

Good.  

Thinking again, there was something he needed. Actually, could you ask Uncle Moui to come late this afternoon? Ill need his help to move everything.  

Alana raised an eyebrow, Uncle?  

Kai smiled mischievously, He makes funny faces when I call him that.  

With a scolding glance, Alana sighed, You shouldnt go provoking dangerous people so casually. Moui is a hunter and a very good one from what I hear. Are you sure hell be willing to come to help you?  

He nodded, Uncle Moui is harmless behind the menacing muzzle. Im sure hell come, he was the one to lend me the money after all.  

In the time it took Alana to process his latest revelation, Kai was already halfway to his room. I need to get to work now. Thanks for the help mum.  

Closing the door to his room behind him, Kai waited holding his breath to see if Alana would follow him. After a minute, he let go a sigh of relief.  

He was in the clear, for now.  

His Alchemy station dearly needed a good wash, together with his whole room. The herbs for the energizing potion didnt smell as pleasant as those for the healing one, leaving a pungent smell behind.  

Doing a quick check on himself, he definitely needed a shower too. The smell of sweat had been covered by the herbs, but he wasnt sure if that was better.  

It can wait another day. Just one last stretch and I can take all the time I want.  

Eager to get this over, Kai looked for the recipe for the bait poison. Rummaging through the chaos of his workstation, he found the right piece of paper.  

This recipe was a step beyond the previous two, with two main tier-one ingredients and three secondary ones. Worst of all, he wasnt familiar with either of them. One was a pale mushroom with dark veins called ghostshroom, the other a night blue bellflower aptly named nightbell.  

While the greatest appeal of this poison was that it was innocuous to humans, the ingredients were not. He had to be careful how he handled them.  

If properly prepared, the ghostshroom and the nightbell would form a reaction that changed their poison on a fundamental level, creating something greater than the two parts that would not harm most sapient species.  

Kais only hypothesis for such a strange effect was that it must somehow act on the mana veins, that was the only factor he knew that sapient species had in common against beasts. He was not clear on the details, but awakened animals interacted with mana in a different way. Something that had to do about how their version of the Guide worked.  

Just another thing he would have to study back at the estate. Was their Guide different because awakened beasts bodies worked differently? OR maybe it was the Guides touch that changed them. A classical case of what came first - the chicken or the egg.  

His mind was intrigued by the thought, but he couldnt afford to be distracted. Putting away anything that wasnt needed for the current project Kai took out two sealed boxes containing the poisonous ingredients.  

The ghostshroom and nightbell werent that dangerous in their current form unless he ingested them. The risk was if he failed to properly carry out the reaction process, making their poison stronger, but not innocuous to humans. It wasnt the most likely outcome if he botched the process, but the recipe clearly stated it could happen.  

Kaid rather avoid that risk. He needed to be extra careful and succeed on the first try. For both his money and health.  

This time he started with the secondary ingredients. Tier-one plants quickly bled out their mana after you cut into them. If you handled them correctly, not damaging the main mana channels, you could slow the process, but not stop it. Since he needed to prepare two tier-one herbs, starting from the less delicate pseudo-tier-one materials would get them out of the way.  

As soon as he was done with the main ingredients, he could begin the brewing process immediately.  

By now any plants below tier-one proved no challenge. A few minutes later he got through the three pseudo-mana plants.  

Next, he decided to begin with the pale mushroom with dark veins. Kai focused on his usual combo of Mana Sense and Inspect, proceeding cautiously, ready to observe any change.  

As he was about to make the first incision, the ghostshroom spongy texture resisted his knife. Kai swore under his breath. The blade must have dulled with all the recent usage. He had never planned on using it so much. He had other knives, but this was the best one, he doubted the result would be as good with another blade.  

Deactivating his skills, he rummaged through his alchemy chest with growing desperation. Thankfully Dora had more foresight than him and packed a whetstone. He breathed out with great relief. Wasting time sharpening his tools was the last thing he wanted to do right now, but he had no choice.  

This was not how he hoped to begin the day. Honing a blade was a delicate and slow process if you wanted a good result. It took a good fifteen minutes, but he couldnt skimp on it. Finally, he was satisfied with the result.  

The knifes edge easily reflected light like a mirror, looking perfectly sharp. He was not so stupid as to try it on his skin when he was about to handle poisonous materials. Instead, he tested it on a piece of paper. As predicted the blade went through without problem.  

Turning back to the mushroom, Kai was ready to proceed, but his good mood was soon dashed again. The damned thing was too stretchy and still resisted his knife. He was able to cut into it if he applied more strength, but alchemy needed precision, he couldnt reduce it into a pulp.  

With another deep breath, he reminded himself to stay calm. There was certainly a solution, he just had to find it.  

Turning the twice damned thing in his hands and examining his mana flow from every angle, Kai got more anxious with each passing second. He was pushing Mana Sense and Inspect to their limit. Nothing he tried seemed to work.  

Worse yet, while Reishi had been generous with the other material, he only gave him exactly 20 ghostshrooms. If he committed to something and it ended up ruining the ingredient, he was screwed even before starting the brewing process.  

Damn brain, time to pay rent. Give me something.  

After racking his mind for answers, Kais neurons finally got working. If he couldnt find a solution, chances were he was looking at the problem from the wrong angle. In his scramble to get things done quickly, he had overlooked the obvious.  

Deactivating Mana Sense, he started looking with his own two eyes. This wasnt an issue about mana, not only at least. The problem lay in the physical structure and composition of the mushroom. Odds were the solution did too.  

Observing the stalk and cap of the stubborn material, Kai focused on Inspect to find a weakness on its pale surface. Finally, he got something. He used the tip of the knife to make a small cut into a dark crease of the stem and slowly worked on widening the cut.  

After piercing the outer layer, the knife was able to effortlessly sliced through. In his reverie of glory, he came dangerously close to cleaving the cursed mushroom in half. His instincts kicked in just in time to stop his hand. Now, it was time to tap into his Mana Sense.

That was close, but it seems I didnt sever any important mana veins.  

Containing his enthusiasm, he proceeded with bated breath. His deep study of the ghostshroom to find a way to cut it turned into a great boon for the next part. He might have overused Inspect a bit, but now he knew exactly what to do.  

And one is done.  

Next was the nightbell, he had to be quick. The mushroom parts were already bleeding out mana.  

Thank the spirits, the night blue bellflower turned out to be a much more agreeable patient. The flower almost had the opposite problem. It was extremely delicate and fragile. Thanks to the recent sharpening, he just had to gently move the blade along its surface to cut into it. It was a different kind of challenge he warmly welcomed.  

With the main ingredients done, he started brewing. He tossed the secondary ones in the cauldron, mixing them properly was fundamental. They would create the base that would catalyze the reaction between the two tier-one herbs.  

It had taken more than he expected to get everything ready, but the pseudo-mana plants didnt look like they decayed too much.  

Step one went without an hitch. Starting with step two he added the ghostshroom first and the nightbell 20 seconds later.  

The difficulty of the recipe became immediately apparent. Even with the help of the secondary ingredients, the energies of the two tier-one herbs clashed violently.  

Kai had no time to consider if he did something wrong before things started going south. He could only use his mana to placate the situation, but there were too many clashes. He had to choose his battles going for the most serious cases.  

Time lost all meaning as Kai's senses zeroed in on the bubbling contents of his cauldron. He pushed the thought of rationing his mana to the back of his mind. He couldnt afford to hesitate. Despite his efforts, the reaction continued to escalate out of control. For a moment he considered if it was better to leave it be and cut his losses. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the reaction reached its apex and started to settle down.  

Kai nerves relaxed a little. The hardest part was over. Now he had to continue stirring for three more minutes, sieve the solution while it was still hot and continue to boil the brew. It would have been ideal to have a second cauldron, so he could directly pour it there and continue the process. Alas, he had to make do with what he had.  

Sieving the concoction in a glass container he prepared, Kai was careful not to get burned or get any liquid on his body and clothes. The problem with not having a second cauldron was that the liquid would cool in the time he took transferring it back into his cauldron.  

It shouldnt affect the final result too much, but it wasted more time reheating the mixture. He had thought about heating the glass container but only had one stove. He would need to ask someone in his family to heat it in the kitchen and he didnt want to involve any of them while he worked with poisonous material.  

The bait poison was basically over, he only had to wait for most of the water to evaporate till he was left with a sapphire substance. Luckily, Reishi had provided small glass jars with a large opening for the poison. He didnt want to try to scoop it into a vial.  

I just have to stir and wait. Exactly the thing I love the most while Im working against a deadline.  

The water content wasnt high, but each second that passed Kai wanted to scream. His eyes glaring at the shrinking sludge.  

Give it a move, I dont have all day.  

After untold time, which admittedly was probably less than ten minutes, it was ready.  

But instead of the advertised sapphire color, his concoction was a murky teal sludge with a sugary aroma.  

At least it isnt purple.  

That was the color he had to worry about according to the recipe. When the reaction had not occurred properly making it not safe for humans.  

Scooping the sludge out of the cauldron into a glass jar, it could probably be considered a success of the lowest quality.  

A win is a win.  

Kai conceded himself a small celebration for the hardest potion he ever created. Then it was time to assess his situation.  

It took him about an hour to complete it and he had to make 19 more to go. But that wasnt even the most worrying problem. He spent around 8-9% of his mana on this one potion. Even considering his regeneration across the day, he needed to reduce his mana usage drastically if he wanted to have any hope to reach his goal.  

Just this morning, Kai had been very optimistic about his chances. Now not so much. Could he meet the deadline?  

Only one thing he was certain: this alchemy session would not be meditative or relaxing.

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