19: Realization (III)
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Overload69
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Suitable soil, water, nutrients, and sunlight. Every plant needed these essential factors to grow. However, some outliers challenged that, especially after the rifts arrived. Nature always has a surprise in her bag.
Changed environments forced adaptation, and adaptation birthed mutations. Not to mention plants that weren't local to Earth, they had a whole different set of processes and needs altogether.
Night Bloom Flower was like that. It needed a poisonous soil that 99% of the known plant life wouldn't survive in. It didn't do photosynthesis and relied on magik only. It absorbed the heavy metals and used them to gain bioluminescence, since it only grew in places without sunlight.
Because of the plethora of these conditions, Johan had overlooked another essential key that the plants needed. That was air.
"Phantasia doesn't just have perfect soil and sunlight. It also has the perfect air for gaseous exchange." Johan muttered, laying petri dishes of Nickel chloride, Cadmium sulfate, and Zinc nitrate around the pot.
He covered the pot with a plastic glass cube with a small cut on the right side for his hand. He couldn't allow the air to seep in, so he prepared a piece of cardboard on the side. Moving the pot on the glass alone took him a few hours, but he did the best a weak amateur could.
With the pot now covered in the cube, he sprinkled magik water over the dishes with a spray bottle and covered the small cutout with a cardboard piece.
Johan moved his mask a little and slammed it back on. A metallic tang stuck to his tongue, like blood and rain and old coins left in water for too long.
Suppressing his urge to cough, he removed the cardboard and shoved his hand in.
Growth acceleration.
He had learned another part of its working. The skill accelerated the gathering of nutrients, cell division, and also gaseous exchange that happened naturally.
The translucent stem reached out of the soil, growing upwards by choice. Soon after, the oily leaves sprouted. The moist air stuck to it, giving it a waxy sheen. And in that moisture, oxidized metals. That was the missing part.
And to confirm that, the bud opened up. However, unlike the pale core from before, this one was a deep magenta with specks of glowing pink.
Johan couldn't take his eyes off it. He felt like the plant locked eyes with him. It swayed as if greeting him, or maybe he had gone delirious over the lack of rest and the happiness of success.
"Finally, it worked." Johan wanted to jump around when he saw the blue window pop up before him.
Name: Night Bloom Flower (Delta)
Rank: C
Uses: The magenta core, stem, and roots are used to create a Detoxification potion. The flower petals can be dried and used for a tea that cleanses the body of harmful toxins.
Additional Info: Harvest upon blooming is recommended. The flower's lifespan is 24 hours.
"This one is a problem to the end, huh?" With shaky hands, Johan separated the bud with sharp scissors.
It took him fifteen minutes just to take the core. Not because the task was hard, but he was too scared of messing up. Thankfully, nothing went awry.
In a matter of minutes, he had the translucent stem, the fibrous root system, and the flower petals separated. All that remained was the bud, which wasn't of any use. For the moment, he kept it all in his storage and turned the pages of the Advanced Alchemy Vol. 4.
Although the Mage Tower had a monopoly over the potion, they had still included the recipe in the books. Well, not like anyone could produce them without the Night Bloom flowers. They were a nasty bunch for sure.
Night Bloom Flower Delta… is this flower artificial, or did they only create variations for different purposes?
Johan sat on his thoughts and stuck the root and stem in the dehydrator, since he needed to crush them into powder. His eyes went to the magenta core. It looked weird but also attractive. Could it hypnotize people?
Regardless, he had turned it into pulp for later use. As soon as the dehydration was complete, Johan crushed the dried-up roots and shrivelled up stem with a pestle. A machine would be too rough and only cause damage.
Pouring the brownish powder into 100ml of heated holy water, it felt like he had created a weird tea as the hot water extracted everything from the fibres. After letting it sit for a few minutes, as the water turned lukewarm and a tint deeper than brown, he passed it through a strainer with a cheesecloth.
Even without the clumped-up gunk, it didn't look appetizing in the slightest. However, Johan saw the change the moment he introduced the first drop of the pulp. Like a glow stick, the bright drop, glowing in wonderful magenta, exploded into a rain of tiny streaks that beat against the beaker's bottom.
If the brown water was the dust cloud, then the glowing streaks became the storm. The moment Johan activated his upgraded Intermediate brewing, the beaker became the brightest lightshow he had ever seen.
The brown lightened and turned pink, then purple bled into that pink. At the end of thirty minutes, Johan bottled the potion that settled into a shimmering royal purple.
The colour, according to Ariestle's method, should have been light purple. But he had gotten a much different result. However, if Johan had learned anything about his class, it was not to trust the norms. The blue window in front of his eye confirmed that theory.
Name: Detoxification Potion
Rank: C
Effects: Will detoxify poison up to C+ rank and remove debuffs such as blindness, weakness, bleeding, petrification, and fear.
"Jackpot!" Johan would've questioned what constituted as C+ rank poison, but his healing potion, the one ranked D, gave him enough confidence.
Although his body screamed for rest, there was a bigger problem outside. Master Adelan shouldn't wait any longer.
He rushed out of Phantasia and called Merilyn this time.
"The potion's ready, what do I do now?"
***
Merilyn had seen hundreds of awakened during her time. As one of the first awakened ones on earth, she believed that nothing could surprise her at this point in life.
However, what caught her eyes after years wasn't a Hunter with unimaginable power, but an unnamed, unlicensed alchemist that Lucas found. Or was it the other way around?
Trivial, that was.
This alchemist created an ice resistance potion that helped Lucas and others clear Mahapadma, the very rift they had struggled to escape two years prior, losing their clan leader Ivan and the young star Selena.
And that very alchemist had made a stir in the potion market; low to mid-ranking hunters went to the shop in droves just to get his potions. So, the moment his identity became public, Merilyn had to step in. In fact, she had waited for that moment.
Her initial thought was recruitment and containment; however, that thought changed when she met the young boy. Straightforward and sharp, he seemed like a good kid. But that wasn't good in the slightest.
Such a kid would get torn to bits in the Hunter world. She had seen it happen many times to ignore it. Even heard of a similar case in the past year.
So, she gave him a task, a task she believed to be impossible, in exchange for a favour. The same favour she planned to use and bring him under protection.
The Detoxification potion for Adelan, one of the few who mastered the rare labourer class, Blacksmith. The Mage Towers already surrendered; neither their current potions nor their healing methods helped.
Merilyn struck a deal with them, using their wounded pride and inflated ego. That resulted in her getting twenty Night Bloom flower seeds, with a clear message.
You won't succeed, the Head Mage of the Magik Herb Department said.
However, she only handed over seven to Johan. Without a clue on how to grow them and where to start, she expected him to fail all seven attempts soon. She planned to then give him some more seeds and pile up the favours.
Her eventual plan was to use those favours and bring him under her wing. But fate worked in mysterious ways.
She almost dropped her cup of tea when he called her. Not only did he succeed in the cultivation of the Night Bloom flower, but he also completed the potion.
Merilyn cancelled her meeting with a foreign delegate and rushed over, not even bothering with a car or decorum. Within a minute, she had arrived from the central Sector N to the outskirts of the capital, Sector A.
Arriving at the street, she noticed the presence of six A-Rank Hunters, their eyes on the Morgan Mart and the areas around it. But the aura of the S-Rank inside gave her a sense of reassurance, but also a tinge of annoyance.
The bell jingled as she opened the door. Inside the run-of-the-mill mart, Johan stood behind the counter, yawning along with the troublemaker himself.
"You are late. Is age catching up to you at last?" Lucas leaned on the counter.
Normally, she'd give him a curt response, but her mind gravitated to the potion sitting on the counter. She didn't need her gaze to see the potent magik swirling inside that liquid. Her nose twitched at the nectar-like scent. A hint of raspberries with a touch of ginseng.
She read the description on the paper around the neck. This was it. This was the potion they needed to treat that brat Adelan.
"Is it ok?" She could hear the lethargy in Johan's voice; he stayed awake by sheer will.
And not just that, his rounded shoulders, the strained eyes, aching brain, and even his screaming body. She could see it all through the cloth. She could see everything but the boy himself; he was only a white and black outline for her.
"This is more than ok deary." She chuckled. "This is close to a miracle."
"True that, I didn't expect I'd succeed in growing it either." He laughed, scratching the back of his head.
That wasn't what she meant; the real miracle was Johan himself. His class definitely wasn't the normal labourer class; it should be a unique class, much like that brat Adelan. No, she believed that it may be more special. Closer to Do-Yun and her class, maybe.
"Johan, be careful, she's scheming something," Lucas warned against her, playing the angel on Johan's shoulder. And he wouldn't be wrong to accuse her of that.
Merilyn had a scheme. She had planned to make more. She always did so. But not this time.
"Seems like I have been rather lax with the clans these past few years. Shall I add more taxes to your business? Maybe on magik beast materials, or would you like an increase in the processing fee?" She placed the potion back on the counter and smiled.
"Johan, you see this beautiful woman is the epitome of caring and motherly. You can never go wrong with trusting her as she always has your best interests in mind." Lucas blinked twice like she held him hostage.
"Is that so?" Even Johan wasn't buying it; that was good.
"Johan, I will be taking this potion with me. If it works, you can expect extra rewards not just from me, but also from the Round Table." Merilyn already knew how to squeeze out the benefits.
"I am fine on that, please just make sure to use it on Master Adelan. Also, if it isn't too much to ask, can you tell me how the potion performed?" His request was a simple one, too simple in fact.
"Hey, now, bro, you can get millions out of this." Lucas pointed at her. "This old bag will wring them dry, so at least take a piece."
She couldn't even take offence to that. It just made her nod along.
"We already made a deal, she did her part, and I did mine; anything gained beyond that is her ability." Johans shrugged. He had no interest in financial gains, like most of the Hunters today; that's what she could understand from that.
"This boy has more tact than you; maybe you ought to learn a little." She glanced at Lucas, who whistled away, and walked around the counter. "Since you performed better than my expectations, I must give you a little reward in turn." She added, reaching for the ceremonial cloth that covered her eyes.
"Are you for real?" By the time Merilyn opened her eyes, Lucas hid behind the counter, refusing to enter her sight.
However, she didn't care as her eyes caught the clear light for the first time in a while. Her lashes fluttering a bit, and before her stood Johan, his mouth open.
"Beautiful…" He muttered in awe.
...
Here's the invite link. I hope to see you there soon: Discord
If you have any questions for me, you can ping me on Discord anytime, and I will contact you ASAP.
Want to read chapters early or support the novel directly?
Check out my Patreon
You'll get advance chapters, exclusive content, and help keep this story going strong!
Thanks for reading, and see you in the next chapter!
Changed environments forced adaptation, and adaptation birthed mutations. Not to mention plants that weren't local to Earth, they had a whole different set of processes and needs altogether.
Night Bloom Flower was like that. It needed a poisonous soil that 99% of the known plant life wouldn't survive in. It didn't do photosynthesis and relied on magik only. It absorbed the heavy metals and used them to gain bioluminescence, since it only grew in places without sunlight.
Because of the plethora of these conditions, Johan had overlooked another essential key that the plants needed. That was air.
"Phantasia doesn't just have perfect soil and sunlight. It also has the perfect air for gaseous exchange." Johan muttered, laying petri dishes of Nickel chloride, Cadmium sulfate, and Zinc nitrate around the pot.
He covered the pot with a plastic glass cube with a small cut on the right side for his hand. He couldn't allow the air to seep in, so he prepared a piece of cardboard on the side. Moving the pot on the glass alone took him a few hours, but he did the best a weak amateur could.
With the pot now covered in the cube, he sprinkled magik water over the dishes with a spray bottle and covered the small cutout with a cardboard piece.
Johan moved his mask a little and slammed it back on. A metallic tang stuck to his tongue, like blood and rain and old coins left in water for too long.
Suppressing his urge to cough, he removed the cardboard and shoved his hand in.
Growth acceleration.
He had learned another part of its working. The skill accelerated the gathering of nutrients, cell division, and also gaseous exchange that happened naturally.
The translucent stem reached out of the soil, growing upwards by choice. Soon after, the oily leaves sprouted. The moist air stuck to it, giving it a waxy sheen. And in that moisture, oxidized metals. That was the missing part.
And to confirm that, the bud opened up. However, unlike the pale core from before, this one was a deep magenta with specks of glowing pink.
Johan couldn't take his eyes off it. He felt like the plant locked eyes with him. It swayed as if greeting him, or maybe he had gone delirious over the lack of rest and the happiness of success.
"Finally, it worked." Johan wanted to jump around when he saw the blue window pop up before him.
Name: Night Bloom Flower (Delta)
Rank: C
Uses: The magenta core, stem, and roots are used to create a Detoxification potion. The flower petals can be dried and used for a tea that cleanses the body of harmful toxins.
Additional Info: Harvest upon blooming is recommended. The flower's lifespan is 24 hours.
"This one is a problem to the end, huh?" With shaky hands, Johan separated the bud with sharp scissors.
It took him fifteen minutes just to take the core. Not because the task was hard, but he was too scared of messing up. Thankfully, nothing went awry.
In a matter of minutes, he had the translucent stem, the fibrous root system, and the flower petals separated. All that remained was the bud, which wasn't of any use. For the moment, he kept it all in his storage and turned the pages of the Advanced Alchemy Vol. 4.
Although the Mage Tower had a monopoly over the potion, they had still included the recipe in the books. Well, not like anyone could produce them without the Night Bloom flowers. They were a nasty bunch for sure.
Night Bloom Flower Delta… is this flower artificial, or did they only create variations for different purposes?
Johan sat on his thoughts and stuck the root and stem in the dehydrator, since he needed to crush them into powder. His eyes went to the magenta core. It looked weird but also attractive. Could it hypnotize people?
Regardless, he had turned it into pulp for later use. As soon as the dehydration was complete, Johan crushed the dried-up roots and shrivelled up stem with a pestle. A machine would be too rough and only cause damage.
Pouring the brownish powder into 100ml of heated holy water, it felt like he had created a weird tea as the hot water extracted everything from the fibres. After letting it sit for a few minutes, as the water turned lukewarm and a tint deeper than brown, he passed it through a strainer with a cheesecloth.
Even without the clumped-up gunk, it didn't look appetizing in the slightest. However, Johan saw the change the moment he introduced the first drop of the pulp. Like a glow stick, the bright drop, glowing in wonderful magenta, exploded into a rain of tiny streaks that beat against the beaker's bottom.
If the brown water was the dust cloud, then the glowing streaks became the storm. The moment Johan activated his upgraded Intermediate brewing, the beaker became the brightest lightshow he had ever seen.
The brown lightened and turned pink, then purple bled into that pink. At the end of thirty minutes, Johan bottled the potion that settled into a shimmering royal purple.
The colour, according to Ariestle's method, should have been light purple. But he had gotten a much different result. However, if Johan had learned anything about his class, it was not to trust the norms. The blue window in front of his eye confirmed that theory.
Name: Detoxification Potion
Rank: C
Effects: Will detoxify poison up to C+ rank and remove debuffs such as blindness, weakness, bleeding, petrification, and fear.
"Jackpot!" Johan would've questioned what constituted as C+ rank poison, but his healing potion, the one ranked D, gave him enough confidence.
Although his body screamed for rest, there was a bigger problem outside. Master Adelan shouldn't wait any longer.
He rushed out of Phantasia and called Merilyn this time.
"The potion's ready, what do I do now?"
***
Merilyn had seen hundreds of awakened during her time. As one of the first awakened ones on earth, she believed that nothing could surprise her at this point in life.
However, what caught her eyes after years wasn't a Hunter with unimaginable power, but an unnamed, unlicensed alchemist that Lucas found. Or was it the other way around?
Trivial, that was.
This alchemist created an ice resistance potion that helped Lucas and others clear Mahapadma, the very rift they had struggled to escape two years prior, losing their clan leader Ivan and the young star Selena.
And that very alchemist had made a stir in the potion market; low to mid-ranking hunters went to the shop in droves just to get his potions. So, the moment his identity became public, Merilyn had to step in. In fact, she had waited for that moment.
Her initial thought was recruitment and containment; however, that thought changed when she met the young boy. Straightforward and sharp, he seemed like a good kid. But that wasn't good in the slightest.
Such a kid would get torn to bits in the Hunter world. She had seen it happen many times to ignore it. Even heard of a similar case in the past year.
So, she gave him a task, a task she believed to be impossible, in exchange for a favour. The same favour she planned to use and bring him under protection.
The Detoxification potion for Adelan, one of the few who mastered the rare labourer class, Blacksmith. The Mage Towers already surrendered; neither their current potions nor their healing methods helped.
Merilyn struck a deal with them, using their wounded pride and inflated ego. That resulted in her getting twenty Night Bloom flower seeds, with a clear message.
You won't succeed, the Head Mage of the Magik Herb Department said.
However, she only handed over seven to Johan. Without a clue on how to grow them and where to start, she expected him to fail all seven attempts soon. She planned to then give him some more seeds and pile up the favours.
Her eventual plan was to use those favours and bring him under her wing. But fate worked in mysterious ways.
She almost dropped her cup of tea when he called her. Not only did he succeed in the cultivation of the Night Bloom flower, but he also completed the potion.
Merilyn cancelled her meeting with a foreign delegate and rushed over, not even bothering with a car or decorum. Within a minute, she had arrived from the central Sector N to the outskirts of the capital, Sector A.
Arriving at the street, she noticed the presence of six A-Rank Hunters, their eyes on the Morgan Mart and the areas around it. But the aura of the S-Rank inside gave her a sense of reassurance, but also a tinge of annoyance.
The bell jingled as she opened the door. Inside the run-of-the-mill mart, Johan stood behind the counter, yawning along with the troublemaker himself.
"You are late. Is age catching up to you at last?" Lucas leaned on the counter.
Normally, she'd give him a curt response, but her mind gravitated to the potion sitting on the counter. She didn't need her gaze to see the potent magik swirling inside that liquid. Her nose twitched at the nectar-like scent. A hint of raspberries with a touch of ginseng.
She read the description on the paper around the neck. This was it. This was the potion they needed to treat that brat Adelan.
"Is it ok?" She could hear the lethargy in Johan's voice; he stayed awake by sheer will.
And not just that, his rounded shoulders, the strained eyes, aching brain, and even his screaming body. She could see it all through the cloth. She could see everything but the boy himself; he was only a white and black outline for her.
"This is more than ok deary." She chuckled. "This is close to a miracle."
"True that, I didn't expect I'd succeed in growing it either." He laughed, scratching the back of his head.
That wasn't what she meant; the real miracle was Johan himself. His class definitely wasn't the normal labourer class; it should be a unique class, much like that brat Adelan. No, she believed that it may be more special. Closer to Do-Yun and her class, maybe.
"Johan, be careful, she's scheming something," Lucas warned against her, playing the angel on Johan's shoulder. And he wouldn't be wrong to accuse her of that.
Merilyn had a scheme. She had planned to make more. She always did so. But not this time.
"Seems like I have been rather lax with the clans these past few years. Shall I add more taxes to your business? Maybe on magik beast materials, or would you like an increase in the processing fee?" She placed the potion back on the counter and smiled.
"Johan, you see this beautiful woman is the epitome of caring and motherly. You can never go wrong with trusting her as she always has your best interests in mind." Lucas blinked twice like she held him hostage.
"Is that so?" Even Johan wasn't buying it; that was good.
"Johan, I will be taking this potion with me. If it works, you can expect extra rewards not just from me, but also from the Round Table." Merilyn already knew how to squeeze out the benefits.
"I am fine on that, please just make sure to use it on Master Adelan. Also, if it isn't too much to ask, can you tell me how the potion performed?" His request was a simple one, too simple in fact.
"Hey, now, bro, you can get millions out of this." Lucas pointed at her. "This old bag will wring them dry, so at least take a piece."
She couldn't even take offence to that. It just made her nod along.
"We already made a deal, she did her part, and I did mine; anything gained beyond that is her ability." Johans shrugged. He had no interest in financial gains, like most of the Hunters today; that's what she could understand from that.
"This boy has more tact than you; maybe you ought to learn a little." She glanced at Lucas, who whistled away, and walked around the counter. "Since you performed better than my expectations, I must give you a little reward in turn." She added, reaching for the ceremonial cloth that covered her eyes.
"Are you for real?" By the time Merilyn opened her eyes, Lucas hid behind the counter, refusing to enter her sight.
However, she didn't care as her eyes caught the clear light for the first time in a while. Her lashes fluttering a bit, and before her stood Johan, his mouth open.
"Beautiful…" He muttered in awe.
...
Here's the invite link. I hope to see you there soon: Discord
If you have any questions for me, you can ping me on Discord anytime, and I will contact you ASAP.
Want to read chapters early or support the novel directly?
Check out my Patreon
You'll get advance chapters, exclusive content, and help keep this story going strong!
Thanks for reading, and see you in the next chapter!
