Chapter 17: Elixir [Bonus]

"So what are you going to use it for?" Fredrick asked.

"To make an elixir that will enlarge my meridians while strengthening my physique" I replied.

"Do you think elixirs are that easy to make?" Fredrick asked.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing, and it's a potion that barely qualifies as an elixir, but for people at my stage, it's indispensable" Ezra answered.

"And how are you going to do that exactly?" he inquired while giving me the exotic monkey look.

"By ingesting the rosewood poison and the potion you just created"

"Is that so?"

"Yes it is, so listen carefully"

"I can't move, which means I won't be able to drink them with my own hands, so you'll have to help me with that"

"But how am I supposed to know which order it'll be? Or how long do I have to wait before giving you the next bottle?" Fredrick asked in quick succession.

"That's why I'll give you signs to know when to do what. As for the sequence..."

"It's the rosewood venom, then the poison dehydration potion, and lastly, the mana recovery potion"

"What about the Un-limiting Dew? Aren't you using it?" he asked with a surprised tone.

"Of course I am, but that's far in the future. You said it yourself, the more powerful I am, the closer I am to my limit"

"If I use it now, it might only allow me to sail smoothly to grandmaster ranks, instead of surpassing sage rank"

"Here's what you'll do..."

Ezra proceeded to explain the signs and sequence the potion would be poured in his mouth.

"And that's how you do it, do you understand?" Ezra said, ending the minute long explanation.

"Alright, I think I got it" Sir Fredrick replied.

"Good, let's begin then" Ezra said as he opened his mouth wide while slightly raising his head, a very painful process, but Ezra endured.

Once he did so, he gave Sir Fredrick the go ahead.

"You may begin"

"I can't believe I'm following through with such a crazy plan..." Sir Fredrick muttered, before opening the vial containing rosewood poison and emptying it in Ezra's mouth.

It was the catalyst to make the elixir.

Elixir. What exactly did such a thing actually mean anyway?

Well, it was basically a high-ranking potion, but made mostly through combining exotic minerals and herbs which in turn grants extraordinary effects.

Some are man-made, while others were a result of unique natural occurrences.

Some increase affinity with a particular element. Some can restore the health of a body on the brink of death. Some, like the Un-limiting Dew, could allow easier pathways to power. Some could be even more miraculous.

So why had Ezra put together a bunch of silver rank herbs and said he was making an elixir?

Well, it was because, in his past life, he saved someone from a situation where they would most likely have died, and that person became a high ranking alchemist later on.

He repaid Ezra by giving him five different recipes to make an elixir, and this was one of them.

As for the others?

The things needed to make those were rare and expensive. Sure, the palace might have it, but they will definitely want to know what he used them for, and Ezra wasn't about to lose one of his advantages.

Even the current elixir wasn't complete, with some key herbs missing, but it would get the job done. Ezra was sure of this much.

If other powerhouses saw this too, he would have to face some serious problems, because his whereabouts would be monitored from then on, something he desperately wanted to avoid.

'I was going to buy it after setting up my merchant organization. Who knew I would find it here?' Ezra thought as the rosewood venom went down his throat.

Ezra started counting inwardly while doing his best to move his body.

'1'

Heat began to build up like a grown forest fire as we see Ezra's skin start to turn dark green, building up from his stomach to his lungs and to all other parts of his body.

'2'

He could feel the little amount of mana in his body burning up, trying to push back the venom, but was used up before it could do anything substantial.

'3'

His already weak bones were hit with searing heat as the poison rapidly spread.

'4'

His hands rapidly became green as the poison spread through his vein at an abnormal pace.

'5'

The poison had spread to his calves.

'6'

His abdominal area was fully dark green in color, while his nervous system began to slow down.

'7'

The poison had entrenched both his arms in dark green.

'8'

The poison had spread throughout his legs.

'9'

The poison was burning his blood like a furnace.

'10'

The poison covered his head in its entirety. Ezra was plunging into darkness, but getting out of it was unknown.

Fredrick looked on anxiously, waiting for the sign with the vial of transparent fluid in his hands.

After a moment, he saw Ezra's body unmoving, and multiple thoughts flashed by his mind, but he remembered the words Ezra said.

"When the time comes and my body is completely filled with poison, you'll need to trust me and wait"

'He said I needed to trust him. You better not die on me' he thought with his heart beating out of his chest.

A few seconds passed...but nothing happened.

'No, you said I needed to trust you, so you can't die on me' he thought as he looked at the potion in his hands with multiple thoughts conflicted in his mind.

He should pour the potion into Ezra's mouth, but Ezra had severely warned him against doing so without seeing the sign.

And when it seemed all hope was lost...

Ezra's body twitched. He had delivered the sign.

Fredrick immediately popped the vial and emptied the potion in his mouth.

As the last of it entered Ezra's throat, his body started quivering, vibrating at a minimal level as the vibrant dark-green colour on his skin began to dim.

Like the potion's name, it was a drug that literally dehydrated poisons or toxic impurities.

With the effectiveness being based on the rank of the poison versus the rank of the dehydration potion.

It sucks the poison and other impurities dry of their essence, causing the poison to stop functioning.

Ezra's body, whose green skin color was vibrant, now became dim like rapidly cooling rubber.

The poison stopped, but the damage was already done, but that's why Fredrick emptied the High-grade mana recovery potion into Ezra's throat right after.

What happened next...was like turning on a forest fire within Ezra's body.

His body might have been completely infected, but with his mana recovering at an absurd speed, the now dead poison was erased, literally burnt off, along with all the toxic waste and foreign elements in Ezra's body.

To put it in layman terms, Ezra's body was like a place with a little bit of water, then fire came there and turned the water to vapor, but without any fuel, fire died out, then a literal tsunami swept through the place.

This should give you an idea of what was happening in Ezra's body, with his mana being water, while the poison, along with every other toxic waste, being fire.

Simply put, the poison was burnt up as the green skin rapidly cracked and fell off, revealing light skin with no blemishes.

Silver hair seemingly more vibrant than before, glowing eyes now taking on a silverish-black color and...

*Crack* *Crack* *Crack*...

The sound of numerous bones cracking sounded as we see a smile form on the face of this being as he spoke out.

"You did well waiting for my sign, it must not have been easy"

Ezra said as he looked at the slack-jawed Fredrick, who no longer looked at Ezra like an exotic monkey, but like a shining dragon.

Well, maybe not exactly like that, but you get what I mean.

'I knew he wasn't bullshitting when we talked earlier, but to think it worked just as he said'

Fredrick couldn't help but be amazed.

'A five-year old making an elixir' the thought itself sounded preposterous, and yet here it was in front of him.

When Ezra was showing him the signs, he had shown a bit of his knowledge by naming a lot of magical herbs, but seeing it in action and being told were completely different things.

When Ezra saw the look on Fredrick's face, a thought came to him.

'I'll need to get used to such looks in the future'

*Cough* *Cough*

Ezra coughed, pulling Sir Fredrick out of his reverie.

"Ah, yes, what is it?"

"The cure for your curse"

Fredrick moved closer as he heard that, after all, this was the reason he gave up a Diamond ranked artifact.

"Yes, what about it?"

"Do you know where to find amethyst plant?" Ezra asked.

He knew the cure because it was popularly used at a time in his past-life.

The curse wasn't at all lethal to those who knew how to cure it, but for those who didn't, it was one of the most deadly.

It was said to be created in Houston Empire, the land of mage-killers, or anti-mages, in war against mages.

Which proved brutally effective, because of the attribute of eating mana, but only for a time. Once the cure was found out, it wasn't half as effective anymore.

"I don't think it's sold in the empire" Fredrick seemed to know the plant but answered gloomily.

"Hmm, what if I get it for you? But you'll have to wait two months for that" Ezra said.

"Huh? I said It's not sold in the Empire, what are-" Fredrick began saying before Ezra cut him off with two words.

"Royal Treasury"

"Huh?" Fredrick instantly became dumbfounded. Of course he had heard about the treasury.

'But what did this kid want there?' as he thought this, a terrifying assumption came to mind.

Yet, he couldn't be sure, so he probed Ezra with a question.

"You're not going to steal from the treasury, are you?"

"Of course not!" Ezra answered with a snort, before continuing...

"Why would I need to do that when I was granted permission to take something from there?"

Fredrick breathed a sigh of relief before his eyes abruptly opened wide.

"Huh?"