WIEDERGEBURT Act II: Chapter 17

The first thing we did was head back to our rooms and grab our weapons. Well, Erica, Kari, and Tungsten grabbed their weapons. I still didn’t have one myself.

After everyone was equipped with their respective battle arms, the four of us raced out of the hallway and toward the entrance hall. As we ran across the catwalk inside of the room filled with lava, where the numerous forges were located, we found ourselves being swept along by the many Dwoerg who were also running in the same direction.

Like us, the Dwoergs were also equipped. Their brilliant armor looked bright as the Runes inscribed into the gleaming alloy glowed vibrantly. Similarly, their weapons were also glowing, and I noticed that they, too, had Runes inscribed onto them. It really made me wonder. Humans had never inscribed Runes into their armor and weapons. What would happen if we did?

The shaking got worse the closer we ran to the entrance hall. As we moved up the staircase, a loud rumbling echoed down to us, and the tremors became so violent that I nearly fell back down. If it wasn’t for the Dwoerg behind us, essentially pushing us up, I would have taken a serious spill.

As we rushed out of the stairwell, we found nearly two dozen Dwoergs standing at the ready, their armor gleaming and their poleaxes held in tightly clenched hands. Erica, Kari, and Tungsten also readied themselves. I did as well, but I also lamented how I still didn’t have a weapon.

Boom… boom. Boom! BOOM!

The loud rumbling that echoed around the entrance hall was coming from the currently closed door, which was blocked off by several thick crossbolts running perpendicular and parallel to each other. However, even as I looked at the door, I could see cracks beginning to form on the surface. They rapidly spread, growing larger and more numerous, until, like glass being smashed apart, the door shattered inward.

Everyone at the front screamed as they shielded themselves from the falling debris. It acted as a powerful diversion for the creatures who dove into the now broken entrance. Grunts. There were hundreds of Grunts streaming in carrying weapons of all kinds. They attacked the Dwoerg up front with swords and staves, knives and spears.

A lot of their attacks glanced off the tough armor the Dwoergs were wearing. I noticed right away that the attacks didn’t do anything. In fact, whenever a Dwoerg was struck, the Runes on their armor would glow and repel the attacker’s weapon. It was like those Runes had created a reflective shield of energy that added another layer of protection.

“DEFEND THE HALL!!” I heard Samreak shout.

A deafening roar went up as the Dwoerg defended the hall, attacking the Grunts to keep them from slipping by.

Kari raced forward. She slipped between a pair of Dweorgs engaged in battle, slitting the throats of the Grunts they were fighting, and then she twirled her ranseur around and thrust it forward. Her blade pierced the chest of her foe. She lifted the still living Grunt up, and then threw him into several of his companions, who had been teaming up on another Dwoerg.

While Kari went off on her own, Erica and Tungsten stood back to back. One swung her claymore around like it weighed less than a feather. Each swing slammed into two or more Grunts, lifting them off their feet and sending them to the ground. Meanwhile, the other hefted his battle axe in a two-handed grip and methodically cut apart the enemies before him. A green glow emitted from his blade, which made me realize his strange movements were creating a blade of wind that coated his weapon and increased its cutting power.

Realizing that there were far more enemies for me to contend with, I activated the Flash Step, which caused the world around me to blur slightly as I began moving about at extremely high speeds. I quickly appeared before a Grunt attacking a Dweorg. With a shout, I thrusted out a fist coated in lightning. My attack was enough to send the creature flying, its insides burnt. I didn’t stick around to see the end resulting. Using the Flash Step again, I appeared beside another Grunt, leapt into the air, and snapped off a spinning kick. The loud crack! of the Grunt’s neck breaking was just barely heard above the din of battle.

As the fight continued, Kari and I eventually met up somewhere in the middle of this blood bath. We relied on each other for support. Her ranseur swung around, releasing precisely timed burst of golden Spiritual Power that swept over the Grunts and caused their bodies to burst into dust. Meanwhile, I continued unleashing powerful lightning melee attacks that fried the insides of our opponents.

After the Grunts swept in, several Elites also appeared in the entrance, roaring as they charged into the defensive line. I responded by leaping into the air and swinging my arm forward. A massive crescent wave of lightning lept from my hand and slammed into the first line of Elites, killing some and paralysing others. Kari used the Flash Step to appear before the paralysed Elites and finished them off with precise thrusts and elegant swings.

It did not take long before the ground became stained with blood. I wasn’t sure how long the fighting lasted, but the rest of the massive door suddenly exploded and a giant figure walked in. This one reminded me of Zadram. He walked on two legs, had a bulky body densely packed with muscles. Unlike Zadram, however, this one was wearing armor. It was rusted and dull, but the chestplate, gauntlets, and greaves were covered in spikes. Furthermore, he was wielding a sword made of pure darkness like Zadram, but he seemed more talented as he swung it around. There was a certain finesse to his movements that the other one didn’t have.

“Ah ha ha ha! I’m glad we finally found you little worms!” The Sekbeist grinned, his massive tusks turning the joyous smile into something sinister to match his words. “Now we can annihilate the last bastion of you accursed Dwoergs! All who refuse to bow down to our rule will suffer the pain of a thousand deaths!”

I would have told this monster that it was impossible for someone to “suffer the pain of a thousand deaths” because people can only die once, which completely rendered the threat ineffective, but I didn’t.

Using the Flash Step, I appeared underneath the creature. Looking up, I saw the Sekbeist’s fat chin several meters above me. I channeled as much lightning into my fist as I dared, and then jumped into the air and slammed it into the underside of this monster’s jaw. The loud clack as his mouth was forced shut was followed by his head snapping back. The Sekbeist stumbled several steps backward before catching himself. He brought his head back and glared down at me.

“Who dares to attack the Warlord Urmog?! I will have your—a human?! No! You aren’t human! How did you get here?!”

I didn’t answer his question as I attacked again. I used the Flash Step to appear behind him, and then I slammed both lightning covered fists against the back of his knee. While this creature’s body was strong, all bipedal animals had the same weak points. The back of the knees where the legs bent was one of them.

The Sekbeist went down with a mighty scream, falling to a knee. I grabbed his metal chestplate and unleashed a powerful torrent of lightning, using the metal as a natural conductor of electricity to increase the damage and fry his body. That was my intent anyway. I gaped when my lightning did nothing. It skittered against the armor and dispersed as if it couldn’t generate enough power.

“That won’t work on me, fool!”

Urmog tried to swat me away like I was a fly, but I saw the attack coming and used the Flash Step to get away. As I landed on the ground, Kari descended on the Sekbeist from above, her ranseur glowing with a bright, golden Spiritual Power that shrouded the tip of her blade like a divine flame. Sadly, I wasn’t the only one who noticed.

“So you can use divine energy, can you?” Urmog raised his blade to meet her attack head on. “Do you think you can defeat me just because you have trace amounts of Alv blood?! Think again!”

Kari slammed her ranseur into Urmog’s blade of darkness. Light exploded and darkness engulfed. The two colors crackled against each other, each one vying for dominance, warping the air around them, but it soon became apparent that the black Spiritual Power of Urmog was winning. It pushed against the golden light of Kari’s Spiritual Power, and then exploded when it reached her ranseur.

With a scream, Kari was sent flying backward, her ranseur exploding in her hands as she flew through the air.

“KARI!”

I used the Flash Step to appear beneath her. Catching the woman in my arms, I held her tight as my feet slammed into the ground and I skidded backward.

“Kari! Are you okay?!”

“M… my hand…” Kari grimaced. I did too when I saw the shape her hand was in. It looked mangled. Her glove was gone, and her flesh was torn to the point where I could see her muscles and bones sticking out. If that was all, it might not have been so bad, but two of her fingers were barely hanging from her hand by tendons that looked close to snapping.

“Hold on,” I said before raising my head and lifting my voice. “ERICA! TUNGSTEN! I NEED YOU TWO TO BUY ME SOME TIME!”

“How much time?!” demanded Erica as she cut a Grunt in half with a single swing of her claymore.

“As much as you can give me!” I shouted back.

“That’s a tall order!” Tungsten grunted as he blocked a sword swing, pushed the Grunt back, and then split his enemy’s chest open with a downward swing of his battle axe. At that moment, an Elite sent a burst of darkness toward him, but Erica danced in front of the attack and swung her claymore, unleashing a powerful wave of fire that swept over the Elite and roasted him.

Despite his complaint, both he and Erica ran toward Urmog as I quickly retreated to the back of the entrance hall. There was no fighting this far out, which was of course because the Dwoerg were steadfastly refusing to let the Sekbeists past their first line of defense. I crouched near the stairwell, hidden slightly behind a column, with my left knee raised so Kari could rest her back against it as I held her mangled hand.

“I’m about to heal this.”

“T-thank you.”

I focused intently on the mangled hand, holding it within my own, and sending a surge of the water element through my palms and fingers and into Kari. The water elemental Spiritual Power I poured into her was visible as thin blue threads of light. They looked like light particles that had become warped into the shape of strings. As the light slowly entered her hand, the muscles and veins healed. Even the mangled and barely hanging fingers reattached themselves and became fixed. This event was followed by the skin that had been peeled off knitting itself back together, leaving her hand completely healed. Even some of the scars that I hadn’t been able to heal before were no longer present.

“How does it feel?” I asked.

Kari tested her healed hand, clenching and unclenching it, before she nodded. “It feels better. It’s almost as if I never got hurt.”

“Think you can keep fighting?” I asked.

She nodded. “I still have a lot of Spiritual Power left—at least enough for another A-rank Spiritual Technique.”

“I don’t think the same thing you did on Zadram is going to work on this guy. That armor of his is tough.”

“Then what should we do?”

I thought about her question, or more specifically, about the answer. “Maybe if we aim for the gaps in his armor, but that will require a more localized attack. If you can condense all of your power into a smaller area, it might increase your ability to pierce his weapon and strike at where he is weak.”

“I don’t know if I can do that,” Kari admitted.

I opened my mouth, prepared to give her one of those “I’m sure you can do it if you just try” pep talks, but a loud, agonized scream stopped me. Kari and I raced out from around the column we’d used as cover and looked at the battlefield. Erica was screaming in agony as she stared in horror at her mangled left leg. Meanwhile, Tungsten had been caught within the crushing grip of Urmog. His armor had already shattered and blood was gushing down his mouth as the hand enclosed around him slowly clenched.

I already knew that we wouldn’t reach them in time. The Flash Step I had created relied on propelling myself forward with an intense but short burst of Spiritual Power to race across the ground in the least amount of steps possible. It was technically a very crude technique. It also had limitations.

“If only I could use my mother’s Three Thousand Steps,” Kari muttered, helpless.

“Three Thousand Steps? What is that?” I asked.

“It’s a Spiritual Light Technique where my mother transforms herself into a being of pure light,” Kari answered. “She can only use it for a short amount of time, but for that period of time, her body transforms, which allows her to move instantaneously and melt through anything.”

A technique that can transform someone into light… the thought hit me like a bolt of lightning, and I wondered if I could do the same thing.

“It’s worth a shot,” I muttered.

“Huh?”

Kari looked at me as I took a deep breath, but I didn’t have time to say anything. I was completely focused inward. I blocked out the screams, the clash of metal, and even the agonized cries of our comrades. Traveling deep into myself, I dredged up all the Spiritual Power I had, transformed it into the lightning element, and then willed my body to become one with it.

Agony raced through me. It felt as though my entire body was being fried. I wondered if this was how my enemies felt. If so, I almost felt sorry for them. I could hardly think!

The moment my body became assailed by pain, I was pretty sure I’d done something wrong. However, the pain soon subsided and a tingling feeling passed through my body, causing me to raise my hands and look at myself.

I could no longer see my skin.

My entire body seemed to have turned into an electric blue color.

It looked like I had successfully transformed into the lightning element. Arcs of lightning skittered across my body, leaping between my legs, fingers, and arms. When I moved my left arm, a loud vwhoom! sound echoed around me, followed by a crackling burst.

“Eryk…” Kari stared at me with wide eyes. “You…”

“Hold that thought,” I said as I looked at Urmog as he laughed, still crushing Tungsten in his grasp, and Erica as she laid on the floor holding her mangled leg.

I took a step forward, and then I was no longer standing beside Kari. I wasn’t even on the floor. I was standing on the wall, my feet sticking to the metal as though they were magnets. It all happened so fast I couldn’t even see it myself. After taking a moment to take stalk of my new orientation, I looked back at where I believed Urmog was.

He was still there, still standing, but there was a large, gaping hole in the center of his chest. It was so big I could see through it. There was no blood or organs dripping from the hole, but it looked like that was because the wound had been cauterized. Urmog remained upright for a little while longer, but then his body tilted backward seconds before he slammed into the ground with a thunderous crash. The hand holding Tungsten remained locked up, but it was no longer crushing him.

I realized, belatedly, that I had just blown hole straight through a creature in less time than it took to blink.

With Urmog dead, the Dweorg released a loud cheer and began pushing the Grunts and Elites back. Meanwhile, the remaining enemy forces, with their leader dead, seemed to lose their morale. They shrieked and tried to flee as they were killed.

I released the technique that transformed my body into lightning and dropped to the floor. Rolling, I leapt to my feet and raced toward Erica and Tungsten. The battle might be mostly over, but my friends were still injured.

***

Waking up that morning was a bit more difficult than normal, which likely meant I’d been more tired last night than I thought. As I stifled a groan, I tried to ignore the light pouring in through my eyes from a window with no glass, and groped at the warm, soft, squishy objects in my hand as I settled back down to get some sleep.

Said warm, soft, squishy objects suddenly released a pair of soft moans.

My eyes snapped wide open when I heard those noises. Glancing down, I found two people lying on top of me. Naturally, they were Kari and Lin.

I had slept on the couch, which was 6 meters long to accommodate for Lin if she decided to recline on it. That said, I hadn’t expected her to use it while I was sleeping on it. While Lin was sleeping with her body snuggled against my torso (I noticed that my arm was wrapped tightly around her) and the couch, Kari had taken to lying directly on top of me. She was fortunately still dressed. However, Lin was completely naked. To make an awkward situation worse, the “objects” I had grabbed sometime during my sleep, which my hands rested on even now, were the firm and perfectly heart-shaped butts of Kari and Lin.

Even though she hadn’t done so in a while, I had grown used to Lin sneaking into bed with me, but Kari was another story entirely. I wondered what she was doing here. Why would she sneak onto this couch when I had given her a perfectly good bed? Well, I mean, I guess the bed wasn’t that good compared to what she was used to, but I couldn’t imagine the couch would be any better…

As I was trying to figure out what I should do, Kari chose that moment to wake up. She groaned, stirring on top of me, her leg brushing against the very obvious sign of my arousal, and then lifted her head and blinked several times.

“Eryk,” she murmured, her sleepy expression only partially confused. “What are you doing in my bed?”

“We’re not in your bed,” I said just a touch dryly. “This is my couch.”

“Oh.” Kari took exactly two seconds to ponder my words… and then she set her head back on my chest. “Okay then. Goodnight.”

“Don’t go back to sleep!” I shouted at her.

***

“I’m sorry about this morning,” Kari apologized as she looked at me with adorably pink cheeks, which she had cupped in her hands as though to try and hide them. She was sitting at the table as I served her, Lin, and myself a breakfast that I had just bought: Porridge with honey for me and Kari, and meat skewers for Lin.

I was sitting at the head of the table, while Lin, who had ceded her spot to her “Big Sister”, was standing (I only had two chairs) while she devoured her skewers at a rate that astonished me. I had bought six, but she had already eaten four in half as many seconds.

“Can I ask why you two were sleeping with me?” I gave them my perfectly logical request.

“Ah…” Kari’s cheeks deepened a shade as she looked away. I waited for her to say something, but when she remained silent, I glanced at Lin.

Lin paused when she noticed the look I sent her way, finished off her fifth skewer, and then coughed into her hand. “This princess was cold last night,” was all she said.

“That doesn’t answer anything,” I told her with a sigh.

“It’s… well…” Kari cleared her throat and, with her ears now as pink as her cheeks, tried to explain. “You see, last night, I had woken up in your bed and needed to use the restroom. As I was coming back, I saw Lin trying to sneak onto the couch with you.”

“Big Sister stopped this princess and said she couldn’t sleep with you,” Lin said, and then added. “Of course, she remembers the agreement she made with Big Sister, so she made a proposal.”

“And that was?” I pressed.

Kari said nothing as she looked away again, twirling a strand of hair between her fingers. It was a far cry from the confidence her older self had displayed, but I understood there were differences between this Kari and the one from my previous life. Since she was unwilling to answer, I looked at Lin.

The Lamia girl finished the last of her skewers and then answered me as if it should have been obvious. “This princess proposed that we both sleep with you.”

“I see.” I stared at Lin some more, not at all surprised that she had suggested this, and then raised an eyebrow at Kari. “Lin is one thing, but I’m surprised decided to sneak in bed… onto the couch with me.”

“Well, I… that is…” Kari squirmed in her seat as I continued to stare. Her cheeks became increasingly more hot as though my eyes were a fire that was roasting her. “I… wanted to experience it for myself… what it was like sleeping with you… Also… I want us to be more intimate… because of what happened in the Demon Beast Mountain Range.”

So that was what it was. I did have a hunch that her decision had something to do with how I’d fallen down that ravine, but I wanted to hear it from her since there was always a chance I was wrong.

“If you want to sleep with me, you should just say so,” I said.

Kari paused. “You aren’t… against it?”

“Why would I be?” I answered back. “I love you. I obviously also want to be more intimate with you.”

“Oh…” Kari blew out a deep breath, placed a hand against her chest, and smiled. “So I see. Yes, I suppose it would be obvious, but I was afraid you didn’t feel the same way since you haven’t really touched me or done anything intimate since our first few kisses.”

“I’ve technically only just started courting you about ten days ago.” I shrugged. “I don’t want to rush things and make you think I’m using you for pleasure.”

“Is that why you haven’t slept with this princess either?” asked Lin.

“Well…”

I wasn’t sure how to answer that. I hadn’t slept with Lin because I loved Kari and didn’t want to be disloyal. It had absolutely nothing to do with the subject of our conversation, but I’d feel bad if I told her that.

Perhaps, to my great fortune, while I was struggling to think of what I should say, Kari answered in my stead. “Lin, the reason he hasn’t tried anything with you yet is because he’s taking matters slowly. I don’t think he’s really used to being in a polygamous relationship just yet.”

“That’s… right,” I agreed, even though that wasn’t really the whole reason. To be honest, I was still a little uncomfortable about this polygamy business. I’d known several people who were in relationships like this, but it wasn’t something I had considered until Kari told me I should court her, Lin, and Fay at the same time.

“Hmm…” Lin frowned just a little as she considered this. “That is… understandable. This princess accepts your reasons, but!” Before I could sigh in relief, the Lamia girl narrowed her eyes. “You should also remember that Big Sister isn’t the only woman in your life. This princess also wants your affection.”

“You’re right,” I said. “I promise, I won’t neglect you.”

“Good.” Lin gave me a decisive nod. Meanwhile, Kari’s eyes gained a tender look as she watched this interaction.

I couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but it seemed I still wasn’t doing the best job I could when it came to how I interacted with them. Maybe this was a sign that I should show more affection. I still wasn’t certain of my boundaries, which was why I hadn’t done anything yet, but if they were both pushing for this, then I needed to do my best to meet—no, to exceed their expectations.

Nodding to myself, I made a promise that I’d do a better job of being a good suitor when I was with them. I needed to be more attentive to their needs.

***

After breakfast ended, I parted ways with Kari and Lin. Kari had classes that day, but first she needed to return home and get dressed—she was still wearing her clothes from our journey into the Demon Beast Mountain Range, which had yet to be washed. Lin was heading to the library to continue memorizing humanity’s written language.

I went to the Alchemist Association.

The entire reason I had gone into the Demon Beast Mountain Range during this time was because I wanted ingredients that the association didn’t possess to refine pills. Now that I had them, it was time to teach Feinrea how to make the Blood Replenishing Pill.

It didn’t take more than fifteen minutes to reach the Alchemist Association, slip past the crowd loitering in the courtyard and clamoring to buy pills, and reach Feinrea’s office. I opened the door upon receiving her invitation. Feinrea, her orange-tinted red hair styled into a messy braid, looked up from her work when I closed the door behind me. She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and smiled.

“I haven’t seen you in a while. I heard you went into the Demon Beast Mountain Range.” She eyed the bag I was carrying as I walked up to her desk. “I’m guessing you found the ingredients you were looking for while you were there?”

“Yes.” I set the bag on the desk and took out a long, thin bone that was blue instead of tan and one reed with four tongue-shaped leaves. “Water Nymph Bone Marrow and the Four Tongue Clover.”

Feinrea looked at the two ingredients with eyes that shone like brilliant emeralds. As they continued to sparkle, she glanced back up with a smile that made her seem almost like a child. 

“Since you managed to get your hands on these, let’s grab the other ingredients you need. Luckily for you, I’ve made sure to keep them stocked in my office just in case you came in.”

Spinning around, Feinrea went to a drawer located behind her desk and opened the top, where she pulled out several items that I recognized as the ingredients I had requested. They were all placed in jars with an airtight seal to help keep them fresh. She set each one on the desk after clearing away her papers. Then she pulled a notebook out from somewhere, set it on the desk, and grabbed her quill and ink bottle. Now set up and ready to take notes, she stared at me with an expectant look that made me break out in a somewhat cold sweat.

“Right. So, pay close attention to what I’m doing, okay?” I said.

“Yes.” Feinrea nodded. “Don’t worry. I won’t even blink.”

I wanted to tell her that she didn’t have to go that far, but I was sure it would fall in deaf ears.

The first thing I did was fill a 500 mL beaker with water and use a burner to bring it to a boil. While the water was heating up, I grabbed the Yellow Snapdragons, four of them, and ground them up in the mortar until it turned into a yellow paste. Then I did the same thing with the Wild Geranium, which gave the paste a paler color that reminded me of pastels.

“Do you mind if I ask you what the Wild Geranium and Yellow Snapdragons are used for?” asked Feinrea.

“Yellow Snapdragons have the effect of strengthening and thickening blood,” I informed her. “You can actually smear paste made from Yellow Snapdragons directly onto a wound and it will help clot the blood. However, the effects are too great for your body to ingest. Doing so would actually cause your veins to clog, which would probably kill you, so you need something to mellow it out.”

“Which is what the Wild Geranium is for.” She was nodding as if she’d expected my answer, which she probably had. “Wild Geranium is used mostly in incense and is known for its mild scent and relaxing properties.”

“Exactly.” I nodded. “Wild Geranium is a very mild plant that mellows out anything it mixes with, lessening the effects of other ingredients. Most people think that’s bad, but if you make something where the effectiveness is too strong, you might do more harm than good, especially with pill refining.”

The water had come to a boil by now, so I grabbed the Ancient Cedar Shavings, which were a bright brown bark. There was a whole bag of the stuff, which I didn’t hesitate to dump into the beaker of now boiling water. I set the bag down and grabbed a stirring rod. Then, stirring the water, I watched until all of the shavings had completely melted, turning it a shade of light tan. I shut the burner off.

“In case you are wondering, the Ancient Cedar Shavings are used as a catalyst to help the Four Tongue Clover and Spira Root agglomerate. These two ingredients do not mix well together on their own,” I explained before Feinrea could ask.

“I see,” Feinrea murmured as she dipped her quill into the ink jar, tapped it against the lip, and jotted down several notes.

As she did this, I grabbed the mortar and scraped out the Yellow Snapdragon/Wild Geranium paste into a 100 mL beaker. I cleaned out the mortar and pestle next. Setting the mortar back on the table, I grabbed the Four Tongue Clover and ground it up, added it to the water with Ancient Cedar Shavings, and then repeated the process with the Spira Root and added that into the beaker. Once I added both Four Tongue Clover and Spira Root, I stirred it all together. Slowly but surely, the mixture in the beaker went from light tan to a slightly yellowish green.

“The next thing we’re doing is adding the Mulberry Tree Milk to the paste we made from the Yellow Snapdragon and Wild Geranium,” I said as I grabbed the jar containing the slightly white liquid.

“Is this being done to increase the healing properties of the mixture?” asked Feinrea.

“No, it’s being done to further dilute the paste so I can add the Water Nymph Bone Marrow.” As I said this, I tipped the jar and added the Mulberry Tea Milk, filling the 100 mL beaker to the 75 mL marker. After stirring all of it in, I grabbed the femur bone I’d taken from the Water Nymph, cut off the tip, and began scraping out the dark blue bone marrow.

“I see!” Feinrea’s eyes shone vividly as she realized what I was doing. “Mulberry Tea Milk is sort of like water in that it can act as a base. The effects are mild, so anything mixed with it gets diluted, but not as much as water.”

“Basically, yes. There’s a bit more to it than that.” As I stirred the Mulberry Tree Milk and Water Nymph Bone Marrow, mixing it with the pastel-colored paste, I watched as the whole thing turned into a lighter blue color with light pink swirls mixed in. “Depending on what you are mixing with the Mulberry Tea Milk, it can act as an enhancer, but with this combination, it simply acts as a base with stronger properties than water.”

“Yes, that makes sense.” Feinrea was nodding along.

The two beakers were now properly mixed, which meant it was time to finish this. I first poured the mixture with the Yellow Snapdragon, Wild Geranium, Water Nymph Bone marrow, and Mulberry Tree Milk into the cauldron, and then added the liquid that mixed Ancient Cedar Shavings, Four Tongue Clover, and Spira Root. After that, I grabbed the last ingredient, the slightly golden sphere of Eldar Sap, and dropped it into the liquid.

“Now we just mix the whole thing…”

I grabbed a larger stirring rod and used it to mix the ingredients together. As I did, I poured some of my Spiritual Power into the liquid, causing sparks to appear from within. The liquid glowed for several seconds before dying down. When the glow disappeared, the whole thing had turned into a golden color.

“And now we refine it…”

I grabbed both sides of the cauldron and channeled more Spiritual Power into it, enforcing my will over the liquid to make it change shape. The golden liquid bubbled and popped. Then it began separating into tiny bubbles, which soon hardened and turned into many small pills about the size of my thumb.

Taking one out, I showed it to Feinrea. The pill was a light golden color, but there were swirls of a pastel blue and pink within it.

“So this is the Blood Replenishing Pill,” Feinrea murmured in a fascinated tone.

“Yes.” I dropped the pill into her outstretched hand.

“You made so many at once.” She bit her lip and stared from the pill in her hand to the ones still in the cauldron. “I didn’t think you could do such a thing.”

“What I just did was called Mass Pill Refinement, and it’s generally not something you want a beginner doing,” I admitted. “It’s what could be considered an intermediate technique, but I figured I would make several for you right now. You can use them as a measuring stick to compare with the pills your alchemists make.”

“Good idea,” Feinrea admitted.

“Now.” I gestured toward the alchemy set with a smile. “Since you’ve seen me do it, I want you to begin trying. I’ve brought a lot of ingredients, so we shouldn’t run out of them before you can learn how to refine this pill.”

“I’ll certainly do my best not to disappoint you,” Feinrea said as she moved gracefully over to the alchemist set and began working.

For the next two hours, I instructed Feinrea in how to make a Blood Replenishing Pill.