Upon returning, I decided to send Lucas to Nuwa’s, rather than go myself. A little of the reason could be laziness and the other was simply due to perception. Normally, I wouldn’t give a damn what people thought of me, still didn’t, but somehow I ended up as the most popular shopkeep in Kyushu. The last thing I needed were rumors spreading of me cheating on my fiancée. Milia trusted me, especially knowing my muddy disposition with the hero’s party, but you know how people were. When the opportunity presented itself, instigate! I wasn’t saying the people of Kyushu were like modern humans. Oh wait, I totally am, since humanity hadn’t changed a bit, even this far in the cosmos.
Chenzu and I scaled and gutted the first shed-size fish, which took roughly half an hour. Rather than try to eat all of these, I asked Harmony to provide us with as many food-wrappers as possible, so that we could store these in cold storage. They weren’t as great as the modern wrappings you’d get upon buying fresh meat or seafood from a market, but good enough.
Mana-enhanced creatures, especially spirit fish, provided benefits through their meat. The only problem, of course, being that they were extremely dangerous. Even adventurers wouldn’t dare hunt them.
As for the other massive spirit fish, we didn’t bother scaling, opting to slice them into decent chunks, wrapped, and prepared them for cold storage. By this time, Nuwa had already arrived and gave me the holy water. Lucas and the other apprentices either helped with placing the fish into cold storage or worked on their crafts.
When the fish were seasoned and on the grill, the entirety of the hero’s party, except Ramon, were present.
“Someone go fetch that guy,” I said. There was a lot of fish to eat, too much, not to mention the hard work the beastkin and I put into preparing the meal. For the vegetarian side of things, Milia prepared a stew-like dish and rice that almost made me want to abandon the spirit fish.
Eventually we were all seated, including Ramon. The first bite into the spirit fish made me pause as the flavors coated my mouth with a level of savory I’d never experience before. I actually considered not selling the fish, but we did have a lot of it.
If that were it, I wouldn’t have paused. Mana or something oozed from each bite, filling my core and then every cell of my body.
Soon, I stared sadly at an empty plate, along with the others.
“So tasty,” Ronica said, almost openly drooling.
Milia chuckled. “I’m sure I looked like that when I took my first bite of a spiritual fruit.”
“That’s a thing?” I asked, mouth watering at the thought of an apple that probably tasted like apple pie.
“They sure are,” Iris said, her eyes longing. “Vegetables too. But they’re notoriously rare. I’ll let your imagination have fun with the price.”
I sighed. “Because of course they’d be ludicrously expensive. Who wants more fish?”
Everyone, other than Milia, raised their hands. Even Cheetara meowed cheerily, having enjoyed it cooked and raw.
“I’ve never had something this amazing. What about you, Big Brother Woofy?” Cheetara asked after taking another bite of the delicious fish. “This must be what luxury feels like.”
Wolverine nodded in agreement as he wolfed his food down. There were no bones, likely due to Best Buddy removing them or the fish having none at all. The sunlight wolf cub wasn’t sure.
“I’ve never had something like this either,” Wolverine said. “What about you, Disciple Beakwing Wingy?”
The three were eating together with their humanoid counterparts. The elicrones did visit, but weren’t interested in the fish, preferring bugs, berries, and feed.
“No,” Beakwing said. “Hunting them alone is asking to die.”
Cheetara nodded twice. “It was big, wiggly, and so much blue, almost like the sky. That magic kind of reminded me of yours, Big Brother. Maybe it had the combined strength of Wingy and Big Brother’s strongest magics.”
Beakwing chuckled. “Your power too, little one.”
Cheetara giggled.
Ares watched the Lord Ruler leave the capital and couldn’t help but smile. Perhaps the paranoia of a sudden attack from the Lord of Darkness festered to the point where he couldn’t take it anymore, or perhaps a situation involving the Astral Empire had finally taken root in the far east. Whatever happened was of no concern for Ares. He dropped his butler guise, marveling just how easy it was to live in the Lord Ruler’s palace, travel back and forth to his own dimension undetected, and thrive on unlimited funding beneath his nose.
Of course, the Lord Ruler needed to be alive for Ares’s purposes. His specialized research required time, resources, and his scrutiny. Well, maybe not alive, as one of the lordlings would surely take over.
Ares walked unimpeded toward the queen’s room. She froze, eyes widened and shocked when he opened the door.
“Hello Mother, long time no see,” he said, casually walking in, a trail of darkness following him. “I see the Lord Ruler’s still unaware of your past relations with the emperor’s son.”
Ares shook his head, speaking in a smooth voice. “That’s quite cowardly for a queen, but it suits me. Thanks to your silence, no one bothers me. For your sake, let’s keep it that way.” He watched the queen’s fear increase. “I jest. Your dear ol’ thrown-away son wouldn’t possibly harm his mother.” He smiled. Ares was a handsome man who could also appear as a child, an old man, and even darkness itself. An unstoppable magician that evolved into something far beyond mortal comprehension. However, today, he appeared as himself, the son that had grown up and relished in his notoriety. “I’d love to stick around, catch up, have overly expensive coffee while telling you about the love of my life, but we both know why I’m here. Your excitement certainly wasn’t because you enjoyed being around that pathetic excuse for a husband, but because your Red Alchemist contact has finally found one.”
Ares held out his hand. The queen didn’t hesitate, practically throwing the Philosopher’s Stone fragment at her first son, tears of utter fear running from her cheeks.
“Excellent,” Ares said, pocketing the fragment within his soul space. “I don’t care what they say, you’re the best mother a charming young man such as myself could hope for.”
He wiped a tear from her face with a gloved hand. “Surely Mother would keep this exchange a secret. And, of course, if you find any more fragments, I’ll be back. Otherwise, you’d be wise to distance yourself from this hunt. It is something beyond even magicians like you. Unless you’re willing to sell your soul to it in order to gain a wish.”
He turned from his mother, shaking his head. Even this kingdom’s child hero knew about her past tendency to sleep around. Why Maximus had chosen to wed someone like this was as good as anyone’s guess.
“Perhaps you will never see me again. Farewell. And remember, the path of the magician is as dirty as it gets. Emotional attacks may be far more effective than physical. Should you feel the need to… say, plunge a dagger in his heart, make sure you’ve disarmed him with his weaknesses.” He continued out the door. “Perhaps I should get myself a top hat, for you only see me as a villain, instead of an innovator, perhaps savior, or progenitor. Relax, for I have no interest in running a kingdom as pathetic as this.”
As Queen Cerial watched her white-haired eldest son walk away, emotions of despair and sorrow ravaged her until she felt numb. Her past would never stop haunting her. She wasn’t perfect, just someone in a dark place in life and it wasn’t uncommon for her to think… unsettling thoughts.
It was Maximus, a childhood friend, that pulled the woman from the fated path of self-harm. Yet no matter how much she tried to move on, her past showed itself one way or another.
Only once did she ever consider attacking Maximus. Only once. When he apologized for what he did and changed, Cerial eventually forgave him. Even though she probably shouldn’t have and not so easily…
She couldn’t help it. She did not want to be alone. For a magician’s journey truly was a lonely one, if not taken with caution.
One of her most painful secrets, one she’d likely take to the grave, was that she and Prince Roman, the emperor’s son, found Ares abandoned in the middle of a deserted town. They raised him together only until he turned four, before eventually going their separate ways.
Ares’s origins could be that strange, deserted town, but Cerial had never found it again.
As Ares vanished and reappeared at the top of a random noble’s manor, he focused his thoughts on the far east. Perhaps the Lord Ruler would welcome his gift, something a few people would call a love tap, as they enjoyed the humor.
The intense aura of mid-tier magic enveloped him as he chanted, “Laughing Meteor.” There wasn’t a need to waste Grand-tier magic on a weakling.
A second later, he was gone, having exited Mondra. Descending on the far east was, of course, a massive space rock with the Lord Ruler’s name on it. The only one who could stop that attack was probably himself or a master magician, not that anyone worth a damn would be in that area.
He considered firing a wyrm magic burst at the palace for some goodbye damage, but that felt purposeless.
As the crew and I wrapped up the cleaning, I was struck by a sense of danger so strong that blood oozed from my nose and the pressure began to push down on me. Seeing my apprentices not faring well, I looked up, the direction where I felt the impossible mana coming from and froze, eyes wide. A fucking meteor approached and slow too, indicating magic, not just being affected by this planet’s atmosphere.
The only saving grace was that we weren’t the targets as it seemed to change course. But I simply wasn’t having it.
Filled with rage, I unleashed my aura at maximum, aimed both hands at the rock, and conjured a building-sized dragon magic burst. However, I didn’t stop there. I wasn’t sure how I did it, but I infused it with the Dao of Creation.
With a roar, I launched my magic.
Maximus felt a horrible power manifest above him, forcing him and his troop to look up, aghast.
“Lord Ruler, that is…” The woman fell to her knees, along with the other soldiers as the pressure came upon them. This wasn’t an ordinary meteor or mid-tier spell, but something infused with a Dao… The Dao of Destruction. There was only one person he knew that had such a Dao. That cocky bastard told him after all before infusing it with the Midnight Dragon, driving him insane.
Utter terror and fear dawned upon the Lord Ruler, causing him to freeze up as he realized that the Peace Spawner had decided to reap his soul. He trembled as the pressure got the better of him. The only spell he knew that contained magic capable of restricting one intended target was the Laughing Meteor, which truly confirmed that the Peace Spawner had finally come for him.
He strained as fury rushed through him. That coward! Maximus did not want to go down without a fight, but the Laughing Meteor, infused with one of the most powerful Dao abilities in existence, couldn’t be resisted quickly enough.
Despair filled the Lord Ruler, but he stared at the incoming giant rock, deciding to accept this death.
“This is what I get,” he said. “Karma begets karma.”
Just when he began to ponder his long list of regrets, including being born, a giant ball of powerful red energy smashed into the space rock, shattering it into dust, then proceeded to evaporate the dust altogether.
The pressure vanished, allowing the Lord Ruler to collapse to a knee, panting.
“Lord Ruler, are you alright?” attendants asked, surrounding him.
“I am fine,” Maximus said. “Clean up the camp and get the horses ready. We have to get away from this area.”
“Yes, my lord!”
[You have averted a disaster! You received a merit.]
Assuming a merit in this context could only be a good thing, I hurried to check on everyone. Milia was up and moving as well and eventually, Nuwa’s healing smothered all of us.
“Anyone have the slightest idea on what just happened?” I asked. Even Ronica looked worried, not a trace of her cheerfulness remaining.
“Something about that meteor felt familiar somehow, but I can’t figure out what,” Ramon said.
“It clearly wasn’t targeting you,” I said, seeing how its course seemed to be headed for something potentially hundreds of miles away.
Opal tried to fly and crash into my cheeks, but I caught the pixie the moment her eyes began to radiate with excitement.
“Sir Nate, what was that power! I’ve never felt anything like it. That big boulder in the sky stood no chance.”
“Just me putting effort into my spell and not allowing that thing to crash,” I replied. Cheetara leapt into my arms. “That kind of took everything I had… I think.”
Maybe I should probably train the hero’s party or force one of the sects to help them out. Sure, they were experienced adventurers, but not S-ranked like Anzu, and froze, despite being far more used to magic than me.
Then again, training my apprentices was my primary task. Hopefully, they could avoid the church and not end up as the new hero’s party.
Lucas put his tools and current projects into the E-ranked shed, Mandi following his lead moments later. I couldn’t blame them for not wanting to continue working outside, especially with the random threat of a giant rock falling onto their heads. Either that or they were simply tired out for the day. Done. I certainly was.
“Whenever you guys remember why the magic that looked as if it was going to cause an extinction event felt familiar, let us know,” I told the hero’s party. “We’re going to call it a day, a little tired from some dungeon diving. I just hope this isn’t retaliation from our good friends of the Crimson Sect, or we’re fucked. Their accuracy is godawful, but the shockwave would’ve done some serious damage to the land. If they conjured more, eventually…”
“That wasn’t magic that anyone of the Crimson Sect knows,” Iris blurted out. “There’s no tinge of blood aura either. There… was another signature on it, but as far as what, I’m not sure yet.”
“Why would an attack like that appear in the skies near us, then change course, clearly targeting someone far?” Kelvin asked. “What could this mean?”
I sighed. “A good question. Who pissed who off? Do the master magicians fight each other often?”
“Not really,” Ronica replied. “They rarely leave their sects, opting to meditate and in some cases, live questionable lives. But you’re familiar with the path to immortality, right?”
“I know it’s the endgame of mana cultivation, I guess,” I said.
“Right. Master magicians spend most of their days meditating and pondering something called the Dao,” Ronica continued. “I highly doubt they’d waste their time pointlessly fighting, especially when there is nothing to be gained. Insight or otherwise.”
That night, my thoughts continued to replay the moment I managed to infuse the Dao of Creation, a crafter’s Dao, with an active spell. It took a lot out of me, but if something attacked, I would’ve been in a perfectly fine position to take it on.
I checked my stat sheet for any changes.
Nate Sullivan
Class: Potion Maker. Secondary class: **Divine Master Magician**. Third class: Unknown.
Magician rank: 1st realm of the Saint.
Class rank: Established.
Ability: Can make up to SSS, divine-grade potions, and blighted potions.
Power: Low World-breaking Strong.
Defense: Low Absolute Titanium.
Dao of Creation. Rank: Divine. Stage: Awakened. This is a middle stage.
Physique rank: C.
Primary quest: Purpose. Progression: 21%.
Shop Rank: D.
Heavenly attunement rank: E.
The only thing that increased was progression. I suppose even the smallest of victories counted, even if they came with no immediate rewards.
Unable to sleep, I found myself in the lab, lit by a few lighting potion lamps. I’ve been meaning to experiment with creating a blighted potion.
System, what’s a blighted potion and how do I create one? It returned my thought with an answer.
[First, remember, a blighted potion is dangerous. It is the act of taking a potion and adding negative effects. That may be putting it mildly, so do not take it as if it is the opposite of your ability to inject Flavors, also known as boosts. You could still add Flavors to blighted potions as well.]
[Quest. Follow the instructions to create your first blighted potion. Instructions added to your menu.]
[You’ve unlocked the ability to add fire-element explosive blight to your potions. Throw at your opponent and watch the kaboom! However, it will only poison if consumed, not explode. The poison will burn the target from the inside out. If you prefer not to witness something gruesome, don’t feed it to anyone.]
Noted and holy shit, blighting my potions could be quite useful, except for the large mana cost.
There were also complex and advanced blights, but the system refused to show the instructions on those.
The blighted potions felt… maybe a little overpowered. I could also make them from scratch, rather than turning a freshly made potion into a blighted potion. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to turn anything I made more than a couple of hours ago into a blighted potion. Otherwise, our entire stock room could be turned into an armory.
To conclude the night, I created a health potion infused with the Dao of Creation. Thankfully, no giant dragon leapt out of it. Instead, it exploded, splashing potion goo everywhere.
“Goddammit,” I snapped.
So yeah, I spent about an hour cleaning up the lab, which looked like one of the worst murder scenes in existence. Afterward, I took a good long shower, deciding to just give up on the applying the Dao to basic potions. I’d make the water breathing potion in the morning, without applying the Dao, so as to not summon a kraken.
“Potion making and alchemy is so fucking hard,” I said and did my best to not think of the diagrams.
The complex potion served as a roadblock to rank up my class. Ranking up my class would better serve the town and the shop, making me more money in the process.
After dragging my sorry ass to bed, I gladly accepted Milia’s glare and embrace.
Well, no one said this class would be easy. Getting complacent over simple potions would do more harm than good.
I ended up having dreams of facing down a shadowy foe that asked me repeatedly for the Philosopher’s Stone. But an invisible force refused to allow me to toss the thing and move on with my life. It was then in this fucking dream that I gave up on trying to get rid of it.
If I ended up with it, then it’d make a good lab ornament. With a warning sign not to touch it, of course.
Wait a fucking minute. Maybe my reluctance to use it was why the system desperately wanted it in my hands. Or not. It sure as shit didn’t hand me the other fragments.
