Chapter 38

Turning in his bed, Kai raised his arm over his eyes to cover them. He wanted to keep sleeping. A glimmer of light was filtering through his window. He had purposely left it open to wake up at the first light of day.

Strange. The window looks more closed than how I left it…

His eyes shot open. His mother must have closed it to let him sleep. Kai jumped off his bed, running out of his room, his worst fears proven true. Judging by the light, dawn could have been hours ago. He lost precious time sleeping.

Alana was sitting at the table, watching him. He was about to give voice to his grievances, but his mother talked first.

“Come sit and eat breakfast.” She didn’t raise her voice, but it didn’t sound like a suggestion. “You can’t work properly without rest and a full stomach.”

Forcing his beating heart to calm, Kai sat at the table. His mind screamed at him to hurry and go brew more potions.

Seeing his restlessness, Alana sighed. “Don’t worry, it’s just a couple hours after dawn. Still plenty of time in the day.”

Kai’s agitation decreased slightly. He took a deep breath and started eating. Under his mother’s watchful eye, he tried not to gorge himself and chew every bite a few times.

There is plenty of time. It’s all about pacing.

Alana watched him eat, probably still mad about the whole situation, but holding off from lecturing him. “I have to go out now. Kea should be back to help you in a while. Eleni will come to cook lunch. I expect you to eat every bite.”

With a last look full of meaning, she walked out.

She’ll understand once this is over. She’ll understand for sure.

There was no time to think about that now. He needed to work. He was going to skip his training routine—surely Elijah would let it slide. Doing some light stretching to wake up, Kai got started.

He found a bucket full of distilled water near his table. Alana must have worked into the night and woken up early to do this. His heart warmed at the thought.

A bucket wasn’t exactly the perfect container to avoid contaminants, but he wasn’t brewing delicate recipes anyway. It should be fine.

Checking his notifications to see the progress of the day before, he received a pleasant surprise. The brewing spree granted him 5 levels in Processing – Plants, 1 in Mana Manipulation and Inspect and 2 in Alchemy. His eyes focused on one screen in particular.

*Ding*

Herbology reached lv50 – Max, congratulations!

Herbology (lv50) ➔

You are presented with one choice to continue your journey:

- Stay the course. You won’t gain significant new benefits, but you’ll deepen your insight into what you already know.

Well, not much of a choice there.

*Ding*

You chose to stay the course, Herbology (lv50) can now reach lv75.

True to Virya’s words, specializations were hard to get. Having three options for Meditation had been an exception to the rule. Swimming and Running had been the same.

He expected this. To be offered a specialization, the easiest way was to repeatedly use a skill favoring a certain aspect. In the case of Herbology, if he had focused on studying only poisonous plants, he would have been offered an option to make learning about them easier at the expense of other types of plants.

He wasn’t ready to commit to something. For now, he preferred to leave all the doors open.

Satisfied with the significant growth in his skills in just a day, there was no time to waste.

Kai opened his small window to let in more light and air, tidied up his workbench and prepared the ingredients for the healing potions. Ready to start, he checked his mana levels on a whim.

What the hell! I’m not yet full. Damn this shit mana density.

The situation wasn’t too bad, he was around 95%. But after a whole night of sleep, he had taken for granted he would be completely full. At the estate, he got topped off in a couple hours with a nap. It was true that yesterday he overdid it, but still…

I can’t afford to waste even a drop of mana.

Thankfully his mother let him sleep. Otherwise, he would only be more tired and with less mana.

Not losing himself to negative thoughts, Kai poured a triple dose of distilled water into his cauldron and lit the flame. He wanted to refresh the process before trying a batch of four. To not waste his mana, he would need to be more careful during the preparation of the ingredients, relying on Mana Sense and Processing – Plants to refine the process. Every mistake was one mistake too many.

The triple batch went without problems. Being extra cautious, while testing a few adjustments to his technique, Kai did another two, gaining valuable information. It was time for the next step.

After he added four sets of ingredients, the process went smoothly for the first few seconds. The difficulty increased yet again, but nothing out of the ordinary. Then the energies inside the cauldron started moving erratically.

Why can’t something be easy for once?

With four sets of ingredients, a new reaction had emerged. Kai tried to dissolve the problem in the mixture by changing his stirring pattern. It only made the situation worse. Without hesitation, he intervened with his mana. The longer he waited, the more mana it would need.

The next batch of four would require a way to solve this problem without using his mana. For now, this was the best he could do. He focused on Inspect and Mana Sense to not let this go to waste. Maybe if he stirred in a way to slow the reaction, he could prevent it from going berserk.

With a couple more ideas, Kai sifted four potions of average quality and got back to work.

Testing one theory after the other, the batch of four got easier after three more attempts. After six, he had perfected it.

Should I try with five?

Five would be the maximum capacity of his cauldron, but it wasn’t the reason he hesitated. Each new problem that arose had to be solved, while not interfering with the solutions to the previous problems. There was no point fixing a leak if he created two more in the process.

With only forty-three more healing potions left to brew, he could do nine batches of five or eleven of four. Considering the time to learn the new kinks and the risk involved, it wasn’t worth it.

Four is the magic number.

With the decision made, Kai focused on improving efficiency and pushing for peak quality.

Working methodically, he fell into a rhythm. Process the herbs, try small adjustments, throw it all in the cauldron, stir, observe and repeat. It was relaxing, almost meditative.

The deadline loomed over him, but right here and now he had a clear task. There was nothing else to worry about. He got better with each try. Using his resources in clever ways for his last batches, he was able to consume only as much mana as he naturally regenerated.

Kai took a small pause around noon to eat a quick bite and then finished the last two batches. He wasn’t able to achieve peak perfection but got close. He was sure that if he tried with one set of ingredients by itself, he would easily succeed.

In a rare waste of time, Kai spent five minutes neatly arranging a hundred vials of greenish color on his workbench. He smiled, satisfied. More than half of the order was completed. The easiest half to be honest, but it still felt great.

Carefully putting away all the vials in the five wooden boxes Reishi provided, he noticed there were some ingredients left. Not many lushstalks, but plenty of secondary ingredients. Enough to brew a few more for personal use. He was surprised the greedy merchant didn’t count the herbs to the last one. Maybe he had judged him wrong.

It was time for the next step.

Taking out the energizing potion recipe to refresh his memory, Kai nodded. It didn’t look much harder than the healing potion. The main tier-one ingredient was a dragonroot, together with three secondary pseudo-mana herbs. The processing steps might be a bit more difficult, but nothing exceptional.

He needed to make fifty, possibly before the end of the day. With more materials, his cauldron could not possibly contain more than a quadruple batch, but he would be surprised if he got to that point.

With his tried and tested methods, Kai processed the ingredients. He was already familiar with the dragonroot, so the main ingredient and obstacle went without a hitch. With Inspect and his high Mana Sense, the secondary herbs weren’t a challenge either.

He moved cautiously, his mana was around 80% and had to last the rest of the day. The only thing worse than going under 50% once, was doing it twice in a row. While his body felt fine, Dora had warned him the consequences of mana overuse were unpredictable. One day you were fine, the next you crippled yourself for life. It was especially dangerous since his mana veins were still developing, growing together with his body.

His first potion was a success. Kai didn’t feel like this recipe was any more difficult. Or maybe he had improved his technique. In either case, he quickly perfected the process.

In the late afternoon, Kea begrudgingly came to help distill more water. After a while, she sat on his bed behind him, watching him work.

“Do you need something?” Kai asked, containing his irritation. She was just being curious, but it was distracting to have someone observe him from behind. Especially when he was trying to perfect the double batch.

“Is what you’re doing alchemy?”

“Yes, it is.” Kai tried to channel his Zen self.

Remain nice and calm. She is just fascinated by her cool and smart brother.

Forcing a smile, he said, “I can show you how it works when I’m free.”

“Nah. Thanks, but that looks boring. I thought you worked with magic, not chopping up vegetables to make strange soups.”

A vein popped on Kai’s head. He considered explaining what was going on beyond her mortal sight, but it felt like a lost cause. Maybe he’d try after he managed to teach her or Ele Mana Sense.

“I like it. Why don’t you go find something that you like.” Kai knew it was a low blow as he said it. Kea was stumped trying to decide her future. But he didn’t have the patience nor the energy for her shenanigans.

Predictably, Kea glared at him and ran out.

Finally, blessedly alone, Kai immersed himself back into the flow of alchemy.

I might or might not do something nice for her later. Alchemy is much more complicated than ‘chopping vegetables.’

Forgetting his problems in the methodical work, he was able to enter the same semi-meditative state he had this morning. Perfecting his double batch and then the triple.

As he predicted, there was no point pushing for a quadruple.

Alana came to check on him at some point, bringing him dinner and asking if he needed anything.

“More distilled water for tomorrow,” he replied distractedly. He was so close to pushing the quality to the peak. Alana nodded and disappeared.

“Finally.” Kai raised the vial of brownish liquid with reverence. In his last batch, he managed to achieve the awaited result. To his senses, there was nothing more he could do better. It was perfect.

With great satisfaction, he placed all fifty of them in their boxes.

Outside his window, the moons were lighting the night with their pale colors. Only then did he realize how tired he was. Having to stay bent over the cauldron the whole day left him with a sore neck. He made some slow circular movements and massaged it.

Three full bottles of distilled water and the remains of his cold dinner stood a few feet from him.

Finishing the food and drinking a glass of non-distilled water, Kai did some quick stretches and jumped in his bed. Another day was over, and more importantly, he was on schedule. Only twenty bait poisons remained to concoct. Reishi told him they would set sail the next evening.

With his mana a few percentages over half, he could fall asleep with a smile.

Aboard the Fortuna, Reishi leaned on the rail of the ship, facing the muddy fishing village. A few fires illuminated the houses in the distance, not that he needed them. The faint light of the pastel moons overhead was more than enough for his eyes.

After just two days, all the possible deals had already been closed. The small village offered no more opportunities for him to train his skills and profession.

The bizarre duo of the day before had given him hope this boring stop might hide a few more twists. Alas, nobody as fascinating showed up. Or maybe he was setting his expectations too high.

The hunter had been a surprise, and the kid even more so. He never imagined finding an apprentice alchemist at the age of seven in this forgotten corner of the seas. It had been welcomed entertainment on this dull voyage his father forced on him.

When he had been told they were going on a journey, he thought they would sail the Golden Coast or maybe the Shatter Isles. Instead, his father chose this desolate archipelago he hadn’t even known existed.

New opportunities and a fresh market, he said. More than fresh, the market had been non-existent. True, the low competition allowed them to get a few good deals, but he hoped for something more exciting.

“Do you think it’s worth wasting a day? The Fortuna hull isn’t so fragile, we could set sail right now. I’m not so sure he’ll deliver the order in time or that it will be worth it anyway,” Sehn’s voice drifted to his ears.

The old merfolk walked up to the rail next to him, adjusting his golden monocle to look into the distance.

Sehn turned to him. “The bait poison is not something an inexperienced alchemist can make. And that human child is as green as they come. He probably got his Alchemy skill a couple weeks ago.”

After leaving all decisions to him, his father had been trying to make him doubt his own judgment.

“Why not? It’s not like another merchant will beat us to the next rock if we wait a day.”

Waiting to see if the little alchemist would deliver on his promise sounded vastly more appealing than visiting the next scattered village.

“I’ll bet you ten silvers he doesn’t show up,” his father offered.

“Let’s make it fifteen, old fish,” Reishi replied with a smirk.

“If you want to hang yourself, we can do twenty. But he needs to bring at least 90% of the bait poison. If he comes empty handed, it’s my win.”

“Deal.”

Reishi was sure his father had faked falling for his provocation, but he took the bet anyway. What was the point of going on a journey to become a better merchant if he didn’t trust his instincts?

That kid better deliver.