Episode 4: Twilight (5)

After guiding us to Lowe’s room and helping her settle in, we headed to the private lab which Glenn had booked. The lab came with a whole alchemic station, scroll circuit work station, and a safety field for magic experimentation.

Despite the airheaded nature of Glenn, at times like these you realise that he can be incredibly thoughtful.

“Now breathe and feel it circulate through the veins in your arms.” Glenn guided Lowe through a meditative state.

Here, Glenn was refining Lowe’s mana sensitivity so that she can better wield mana to improve casting efficiency. In turn, Glenn satiates his curiosity of her unique support-class magic which bordered on the realm of intuition.

Left out from the pink space between the two, dogman and I sat on the lab stool observing the duo.

“Lowe expressed her desire to employ you as her knight.” Breaking the silence, Soren said.

“That sounds good. So what’s stopping that?” If she already said yes, why hadn’t you guys appointed me yet?

He thought about it for a moment and then smiled. “How about we exchange swords and see?”

“Here? In the middle of the lab?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Of course not. We can ask your friend Glenn and see if he has a spare training field we may borrow.”

“The magic hall provides ample space for combat experiments. Though, the magicians don’t like it when people use that space for safe activities. And since fighting isn’t safe, that should be a suitable place to do so?” Glenn, who overheard us, spoke over Lowe’s shoulders. It was a weird way of reasoning.

“That would be much appreciated.” Soren said.

“Then that’s scheduled for the afternoon.” Glenn nodded.

“Thank you. Then It’s settled. I look forward to the spar.” Soren, excited for the potential upcoming duel, extended his hand to me.

I wanted to swat it away but thought it would be too rude to do it in front of Lowe. Shaking his hand, I thought…

‘Yeah. Let’s just crush him.’

The scheduled duel was in the afternoon. But that didn’t resolve the problem of still having a whole morning of nothing.

Glenn had earlier mentioned that the lab had been prepared specifically for us. Anything we wished to do, we could. I saw things like potion flasks, glass bottles and fume hoods.

Since I had all this time right now, the thought came to me that I should try my hands on proper alchemy.

I got up and made my way to the alchemic station. I glanced over the ingredients chart, and following the assigned slot numbers, went to search for them at the row of pocket drawers.

These drawers, which stretched wall to wall were all loaded. Seeing the plethora of alchemic ingredients the lab had, my mind spun with ideas.

“I didn’t know you knew alchemy. What are you trying to make?” Like a dog who could hardly sit still, he followed after me tail wagging curiously.

“...” I felt tired just from hearing his enthusiastic voice.

Alchemy was something I had studied for fun in my previous life. The process of making potions somewhat overlapped with the procedures used in making desserts.

In pastry making, we followed a set recipe and prepared the materials according to the steps. The same was seen in alchemy where ingredients were combined in correct proportions and put under regulated heat in order to create the final product.

And the more you do it, the more you start seeing patterns. In baking, there were common bases like stirring butter into warm milk, or letting dough set in an oven of a specific temperature. In alchemy, you had bases made of slime, or maybe even fermented monster parts which had their own unique properties that when combined with different methods of process, leads to a different potion.

‘I should create one just in case.’

The current state of alchemy lacked the base for creating potions which suppressed blight. Unless you were Lowe, blight itself wasn’t something you could destroy. The most you could do was transfer it to another medium, or confine it.

It was during the later stages of the apocalypse that I found a combination of ingredients which created a faux anti-blight potion. Rather than a cure to blight itself, I focused on incarcerating blight. A method of force absorbing blight into a container which can then later be excreted elsewhere.

The base for this faux anti-blight potion was the same one used in the making of a bloodline amplification potion.

“I’ll create the substrate first.” I mumbled to myself as I started on the base reagent.

“What’s a substrate?” Asked the dog.

“A solvent to combine with an organic substance.” I answered, it didn’t matter if he didn’t understand.

Cook a drake (any dragon, but they only have lesser dragon ingredients) heart, and the stamen of a vampire lily plant, in a hearth at a controlled 80 degrees for half and hour, and let it cool before combining a high grade vitality potion to make a blood amplification reagent.

After that, titrate the blood amplification reagent into synthetic heparin until the viscosity is water-like. This then becomes a base for which my blood would sit in.

“What if you added more?”

"It’ll become diluted and the potion efficacy will decrease.”

I stored the reagent inside an airtight flask filled with nitrogen gas and began working on the second part of the recipe.

The biophobic slime I’m using is a modified version, made with seaweed-based nutrient agar instead of forest slimes, ghoul ectoplasm, and powderized wraith crystal core which needs to be soaked in holy water overnight until the red stains disperse completely. It makes the normally poisonous substance safe for consumption.

“You can use holy water like that?”

“If it’s blasphemy you can complain to the alchemic association. This is a common technique to remove curses from spiritual ingredients.”

Sprinkling holy salt into the mixture and leaving it under a fume chamber, all that’s left is to wait.

Tomorrow, once the biophobic slime is settled, the substrate is then combined with it in a specific ratio depending on the amount of blood smile soaks up. From experience, the ratio varies from time to time, so I can only calculate it after adding my blood. The concentration of blight is what affected the ratio.

If it isn’t obvious enough by now, then let me spell it out for you. The main ingredient for making an anti-blight potion is my blood.

Or more specifically, it wouldn’t work without the Copper bloodline characteristic.

‘Now that I think about it, will it still work if my blood doesn’t contain an iota of blight?’

Right now I’m completely null of blight, but back then when the potion was being made, the amount of blight stored within me was beyond lethal.

‘Now, where exactly should I get some blight?’

I glanced in Lowe’s direction. She and Glenn were no longer practising magic in front, instead they had snuck behind me to observe this alchemic cocktail I was making.

“What’s this?” Glenn asked, pointing at the stored reagent.

“Bloodline amplification substrate.” I answered briefly.

“And what’s that?” He tilted his head. I felt a headache coming on.

‘Come to think of it, he doesn’t know much about alchemy does he?’

“I didn’t know you were an alchemist.” Lowe spoke with surprise. “How are you so good at so many things?”

“Cruel as he may appear, I guess he does have an unexpected genius side to him after all.” Soren joked, as if to follow up on Lowe’s words.

“So what potion are you making?” Glenn asked.

Considering how it’s a potion that could upend the entire empire…

“You’ll know soon enough.” I decided to keep it a secret for now.

⌌✧ ⫺⪼▫◆▫⪻⫹ ✧⌍

The Magic Tower could be described simply as a giant, thick pillar that extended to the clouds. It’s surprising to consider how many interesting facilities could fit within such an unremarkable cylindrical form.

Located within the upper-middle section of the tower, there was an arena. It was a space meant for mages to test new offensive spells without fear for destruction.

Equipped with many of the most advanced hazard prevention instruments, it had the ability to contain spells up to tier-7 and prevent the death of the caster simultaneously should anything go wrong. Worst comes to worse, there were many excellent healers in the magic tower that I heard could even reattach limbs.

For a space so conducive, what could go wrong if we did a simple duel?

In the first place, I only accepted Soren’s request to teach him a lesson. Nothing less nothing more.

Leaning against an ice sword, I let out a yawn as Soren came charging towards me.

As long as I held back, nobody was going to die… I hope.

⌌✧ ⫺⪼▫◆▫⪻⫹ ✧⌍

As a non-magician, Soren regarded his visit to the interior of the Magic Tower as a rare privilege. After all, those without the ability to wield magic were typically shunned from setting foot within its halls.

As he stepped onto the floor marked: hazard magic test ground, what he saw amazed him.

There was not one, but five arenas located within this one floor. Each located in its own level, the high floor-ceiling gap appeared to be at least a dozen floors high. Grand clerestory windows lined the outer, upper edge of the walls. There were also numerous glowing light sources which illuminated the space.

These ‘arenas’ were actually called spell containment zones. An isolated space for large-scale offensive magic testing, which also functioned similarly to a barrier-ready arena.

“Follow me.” Glenn mused.

The individual arenas were accessible by aligning the specially engraved levitation blocks to form stairs. As they were present currently, it just so happens that two of five of the arenas were being used.

They quickly took a vacant zone, a hazy barrier enveloped their surroundings, obscuring both sight and sound to a considerable extent.

“Best of three?” Soren asked Kairen.

“Whichever number works.” Kairen shook his head. “Standard duel rulings.”

“Yes, we’ll go by the standard rules.” Soren nodded.

Standard duelling rules were ground rules established within Estelle Empire’s knight community. The precepts could be summed up like this:

Firstly, it would be over the moment one calls for surrender, or the surrendering party were seized in a situation where they should’ve been inflicted a life threatening injury which had been withheld.

Secondly, any injuries sustained was the responsibility of oneself and not one’s opponent.

Thirdly, no magic. Purely swords.

<Ice Magic: Crystallize>

Glenn condensed two swords and presented it to the two duelists. Soren gave it a few swings and found it solid enough.

While it felt lighter than his liking, considering how this would be a friendly match to assess Kairen’s abilities, there shouldn’t be any need for perfect equipment.

“Be careful, both of you.” Lowe sent them off with her concerns and blessings.

They each took their sides. Warming up with a couple swings, Soren was amazed by the ingenuity of the sword Glenn made purely of translucent ice. It didn't melt, the handle felt comfortable with an unusual cloud-like cushion to it. Even the edges were blunted to prevent severe injuries.

Truly a prodigious mage, Soren thought as he performed his knight’s salute.

“Shall we begin?” Then he took his stance.

“Ready when you are.” Kairen didn’t seem to care as he stood there languidly. Soren found his lack of preparedness and overconfidence somewhat concerning.

If he took on this attitude as Lowe’s guard, there would certainly be problems. Perhaps Kairen wasn’t suited to become the Saint’s shield after all.

“Kairen, I won’t go easy so don’t take this lightly!” Soren, giving a cordial warning then charged ahead.

Neither of them were wearing protective gear, so any injuries sustained would be theirs to suffer until it was healed. If Kairen couldn’t handle this much, then he wasn’t cut out to be the Saint’s bodyguards.

As Soren approached within attacking range, he performed a clean diagonal strike. Kairen, in his unprepared stance, abruptly swung his sword to deflect.

The pounding weight of Kairen’s parry caused Soren to stagger.

Then in that split moment Soren felt something hook his ankles.

With his center of gravity titled, he fell to the floor. And when he raised his head, a sword was readily pointed towards his neck.

“...”

There was no pride or arrogance in Kairen’s expression as he removed his sword and distanced himself

“I did not expect that.” Soren dusted himself as he got up. “Impressive, Kairen.”

The feeling of challenge and possibility outweighed the disappointment and pain. Standing before such an opponent, Soren felt something burn inside of him.

When was the last time he had lost so humiliatingly to someone? The last person he recalled overpowering him so thoroughly was the holy knight commander—Ralph Amberheart, his adoptive father.

A wall to scale, a peak to reach—

“But I won’t be giving up.” A flame was lit in Soren’s eyes.

“Yeah.” But Kairen didn’t seem in any way enthusiastic.