"Add 10 drops."
After repeating the process from scratch, Erik was once again at the most complicated part of the process, so he announced with a serious tone while stirring. Ebonique, who was in charge of dropping the water with traces of Zaryonite, commented in a worried voice.
"You went overboard with 10 last time…"
"That was before; now I'm sure we're missing 10 drops." Erik replied confidently, without stopping stirring the water. Elara, who was firing several clay containers, from pots to small vials, commented calmly.
"Why don't you go with something like 7 drops, and if it's not enough, just add a bit more?"
"That sounds like a great idea." Ebonique said with bright eyes, turning to look at Erik, who nodded.
"Alright, but I'm sure it needs 10 drops."
"And I believe you, but let's go with 7." Ebonique replied with a smile, then let 7 drops of water with traces of Zaryonite fall into the boiling water.
Erik laughed softly, though he didn't stop stirring the water and sending small pulses of mana, until, after a few minutes, the glow in the water changed to a faint blue, but it was mostly uniform. After stirring for three more minutes, Erik turned to look at Ebonique and commented with a calm smile.
"Now it needs 3 more drops."
"Are you sure?" Ebonique asked, full of suspicion. Erik nodded calmly and said.
"Absolutely. Do you see the glow in the water? The optimal glow has to be completely uniform, and this one is still missing a bit."
"…" Ebonique carefully studied the pulses of light in the water, and indeed noticed that, although it was mostly uniform, it was still just a little short of being completely even. Turning to look at Erik, she said.
"It looks like you're right…"
"Of course I am." Erik said, somewhat amused. "Just drop the three drops, and you'll see what the optimal glow looks like."
Although still a bit suspicious, Ebonique complied and dropped exactly three drops, then watched the water with complete concentration as it pulsed with regular light. After about three minutes, the glow of the water dimmed even more, but finally became completely uniform, which made Erik nod in satisfaction and say.
"That's the optimal glow." Erik turned to look at Elara, who was in charge of the fire. "Elara, lower the flame to about 50 degrees."
"Sure." Elara replied calmly, waving her hand.
Quickly, red-hot coals walked out of the tunnel on tiny legs made of flames—a trick that used so little mana it didn't affect the mixture in the slightest. Once the temperature of the water began to drop, Erik grabbed the whisk with both hands and took a deep breath. Ebonique asked, full of curiosity.
"What are you going to do, Erik?"
"I'm going to try to do manual cavitation." Erik said calmly as he focused on recovering all his mana. "Cavitation is something the cauldron usually does on its own, but since we don't have one, I'll try to do it manually by striking the bottom at least 120 times per minute for three minutes while sending a constant amount of mana."
"What is that for?" Ebonique asked curiously, to which Erik replied after taking one last deep breath.
"So that the Zaryonite is evenly distributed and aligned, which improves its conductivity."
"Is that how you did it with the chalk?" Ebonique asked, curious. Erik nodded and answered.
"Exactly, it's the same. With the chalk, I only needed a spell because it was a solid material and the amount of Zaryonite was much greater. For this base, we have to do it with cavitation."
"I see…"
Ebonique replied in a thoughtful voice, marveling at the beauty of creation. After all, for a being at her level, there was nothing others didn't offer her as a tribute or gift. So, she had really never created anything herself before, making this a new and very pleasant experience—especially because she was with her beloved Erik.
"By the way, Ebonique, bring the ground charcoal; we're going to need it in a moment."
Before starting, Erik looked at Ebonique and spoke. The dragoness quickly nodded and flew over to the stone table to grab the mortar with the ground charcoal. Meanwhile, Erik began to strike the bottom of the improvised cauldron over and over again with measured, steady force.
At the same time, Erik started sending measured, consistent pulses of mana through the whisk, mana which spread throughout the mixture with the help of the tiny bubbles bursting from the pressure. After three minutes, Erik stopped stirring and looked at Ebonique.
"Ebonique, the ground charcoal."
While gently stirring the mixture with one hand, Erik took about one gram of finely ground charcoal from the mortar Ebonique offered him. Adding the charcoal little by little, Erik continued stirring clockwise for another three minutes, then once again performed manual cavitation for another three minutes.
"Phew, it's done." Once he finished, Erik let out a tired sigh and commented with a smile. Ebonique, visibly excited, asked.
"Is it ready? Do we have the base for the potion now?"
"Let's hope so." As he spoke, Erik took the quartz crystal he had tied to a Vidrena root, which immediately caught Ebonique's attention. The dragoness asked, full of curiosity.
"The mana detector? Is that going to tell you if it's ready?"
"Exactly." Erik replied as he held the root over the cauldron, letting the quartz crystal dangle.
After sending a pulse of mana into the water, Erik began to stir it clockwise, his eyes fixed on the quartz. The quartz moved slowly and evenly for a couple of minutes, until it finally became completely still. At that moment, Ebonique turned to look at Erik, full of doubt. She didn't know if that was a good or bad sign.
"It's ready." At that moment, Erik announced with a huge smile. Ebonique showed a wide grin that revealed her sharp teeth and exclaimed, full of a sense of achievement.
"We did it! We're the best!"
"Is the potion base really ready?"
Elara, who ran back after hearing Ebonique, asked with clenched fists, doing her best to contain her emotions. Erik looked at the beautiful young woman with golden hair and, with a warm smile, replied.
"Yes, it's ready."
Unable to contain herself, Elara jumped and hugged Erik around the neck, burying her face in his chest. Erik, surprised by the outburst, quickly reacted and moved away from the improvised cauldron, since the excited girl hadn't even considered it when she jumped.
"You're amazing, Erik… Now we have a way to make potions… With you, we might survive…"
With her face hidden in Erik's chest, Elara spoke in a soft voice that gradually broke until she finally burst into tears. With the emotionally fragile girl in his arms, Erik began to gently stroke her back comfortingly, while at the same time giving Ebonique a warning look. The spoiled spirit was about to send a dark electric bolt at Elara, her expression angry.
"It's alright; you don't need to get so emotional. This is just the first step; we're still a long way from having an actual potion in our hands. If you get excited every time, you'll run out of energy to get excited in the end."
Erik comforted her with a warm voice. Elara, a little embarrassed, took a step back and, while wiping away her tears, replied in a calmer voice.
"You're right. Sorry, I got carried away."
"Don't worry about it." Erik said in a calm voice as he moved the improvised cauldron off the hot slab. "Let's get back to work. We need to prepare the other ingredients before Zoe and Frank arrive with the materials for the cauldron."
"Understood. I'll get back to finishing the ceramic containers." Elara finished drying her tears and asked. "Or do you need me to help with something else?"
"For now, I just need you to lower the flame another five degrees."
Erik replied with a smile, to which Elara nodded and then walked back to where she had been working before. Not without first giving Ebonique a smile, who rolled her eyes, then turned to Erik and asked curiously.
"Why do you need the others to bring materials for a cauldron? Isn't the log enough?"
"No." The star-haired boy shook his head and explained.
"While for simple things like the base and the initial preparation of some ingredients it's fine, making a potion is another story. To make a potion, you need very precise control over too many variables, including the confinement of mana—a vital part in the creation of any potion, and something our log simply can't do."
"And what about the way you do it at home? With all those weird-shaped glass containers?" Ebonique asked curiously, since she saw Erik making potions in his laboratory all the time. Erik smiled and explained.
"Actually, the really important part of my method is the table under those 'weird-shaped glass containers.' The table is a relatively complex artifact that interconnects the different containers and allows the whole setup to function as a cauldron. So, even though it's actually easier to make a potion with my method, the table is harder to make than a classic cauldron, so this time we're going with a classic one."
"I see…" Ebonique commented thoughtfully, but when she noticed Erik picking up his machetes, she quickly asked.
"And what's next?"
"Now I'm going to make a barrel to store the potion base." Erik replied calmly, and, looking at the spoiled spirit, he added. "And I have a special mission for you."
"What do I have to do?" Ebonique asked with a voice full of purpose and curiosity. Erik pointed to one of the stone tables where the ingredients were and replied.
"I need you to cut the caps off the Mycelis mushrooms and slice the bark of Bitter Mahogany into thin strips—it's the reddish-brown one with black specks."
"Leave it to me!" Ebonique quickly replied and flew to the stone table. Meanwhile, Erik began making a waterproof wooden barrel.
…
When the barrel was finished, Erik coated the inside with resin and left it to dry, then walked over to the stone table where the ingredients were. As for Ebonique, who had already finished cutting the mushrooms and the bark, she was now watching with curiosity as Elara worked on the clay containers.
When he reached the table, Erik took the mushroom caps and, after washing them with water from a spell, began mashing them into a paste. Carefully, Erik set the paste to dry on the hot slab, at which point Ebonique returned to his side, watching the whole process with curiosity.
While the mushrooms dried, Erik quickly made a campfire, where he left the strips of bitter mahogany bark Ebonique had cut to smoke. Using a sharp stone, Erik carefully peeled the Vidrena roots, and after collecting the smoked bark strips, began to crush and press the roots, ending up with a kind of translucent gel.
After letting the mushroom paste dry for fifteen minutes, Erik left it to macerate in a bamboo container with one hundred milliliters of base water, then poured all the base water from the improvised cauldron into the new barrel. After sealing the barrel and storing it in the supply hut, Erik conjured runes again to condense water from the air.
Using the pure water, Erik washed the improvised cauldron, which he then stored in the supply hut. After that, Erik set about creating different containers to properly store the other preprocessed ingredients, with the helpful Ebonique assisting him. After a while, Elara finished drying the last clay container Erik had asked for, so she set it to bake and walked back.
"The clay containers are ready. What's next?" Elara asked while Erik was weaving bamboo fibers. The star-haired boy turned to look at her and replied calmly.
"The next step would be to create a furnace and a tall crucible for smelting. But for now, take a break—Kaiser and Tiberius are still pretty far away, so the group will take several more hours to return."
"I see. I guess I'll rest for a bit…" Elara commented in a calm voice, watching what Erik was doing, which led her to ask curiously.
"What do you want to do with that bamboo?"
"Baskets." Erik replied, not stopping his hands. "When the Grisnebula and Aldarion hides finish drying, I'll make leather backpacks. But for now, without storage rings, carrying things is a problem, and since your mana constructs aren't as versatile as my Myst constructs, baskets should make things easier."
"Thank you for thinking of us…" Elara commented with a slightly curious tone, as if she wasn't sure how to feel, but she was quickly drawn back in by Erik's calm, methodical actions and added.
"You're pretty good at weaving baskets." Hearing this, Erik couldn't help but laugh, then explained with a somewhat nostalgic voice.
"I guess I am. I learned a long time ago, and it was very useful in my early years, when I got stranded on that island and thought I'd never make one again. But life has a way of coming full circle—what seemed like useless knowledge turns out to be really helpful."
"Could you teach me?" For some reason she didn't quite understand, Elara found herself asking with a small smile. A bit surprised, Erik turned to look at her and asked back.
"Are you sure you want to learn? It's not particularly useful, and in a few days I'll be able to make leather backpacks and similar things."
"I'm sure." Elara replied with a smile as she sat down in front of Erik. "You said it yourself; life is full of surprises—you never know when knowledge like this might come in handy. So I'd rather learn now that I have the chance."
Elara's words brought a smile to Erik's face, which surprised both Elara and Ebonique. The spirit dragon quickly flew out of Erik's hair, grew in size, and announced enthusiastically.
"I want to learn too!"
"Haha, alright. Then I'll teach you both how to do it."
Erik laughed cheerfully and picked up a long piece of bamboo that hadn't been cut yet. After slicing the bamboo into thin strips, Erik looked at the beautiful blonde mage and the enthusiastic spirit and began his first lesson on how to weave bamboo baskets. But what stood out most to the spirit and the mage wasn't what Erik was trying to teach them—it was the warm smile that never left his face during the whole lesson.
…
…
…
"Arcane Order, what does this mean?"
From within the fortress guarding the entrance to the ancient ruin, a powerful and aged voice echoed, reverberating across the entire asteroid—almost as if it could be heard from anywhere with exactly the same intensity.
"We're going to open this damn place, even if we have to tear it apart." In response came Sigrún's cold voice, which had an undeniable tinge of urgency.
The Master-level of the Meridian Federation guarding the interior of the fortress silently observed the five women who had appeared out of nowhere before them, having bypassed all the security systems in an instant, his gaze deep and contemplative. The same was true for the other Master-levels from the other factions.
In his hundreds of thousands of years of existence, he had seen many things. Perhaps too many. But this was probably the first time he had seen five women so beautiful, young, and talented gathered in the same place and with the same goal. Still, even though it was a new experience in his long life, he didn't let himself be carried away and announced in a calm, deep voice.
"That's not possible. The four factions made a blood pact, and this place is currently under the joint protection of all four factions. If you want to destroy it, you'll have to face the entire galaxy."
"Perfect. Then you'll be the first to die."
Sigrún quickly replied in a cold voice as blue flames began to surround her. At the same time, her armor—a sleek blue plate armor that fit her body perfectly, highlighting her sensual silhouette, and, combined with her helmet with wings on the sides, gave her the appearance of a goddess of war—began to glow faintly. The countless runes carved across its surface filled with power.
Just as Sigrún began to raise her staff, which looked like an old, weathered branch decorated with details of various precious metals, Eleonora raised her hand, stopping her. With an expression devoid of emotion, Eleonora scanned each of the four Master-levels present and exclaimed.
"We've just received information that, inside the ruin, all magical artifacts have stopped working. Our disciples are in great danger, and an emergency evacuation is necessary."
"All of them...?" The Master-level from the Arcane Order couldn't help but murmur with a hint of surprise. The Master-level from the Lotus Union looked at Eleonora and asked in a voice so calm and flat it almost sounded like he was asleep.
"If it's true, how did you get this information?"
"My disciple Erik has a contracted spirit who gets along well with mine." Sigrún replied, her voice filled with murderous intent. "She informed her in the spirit dimension."
"We should inform the Legend-levels." The Master-level from the Arcane Order commented in a calm tone. At that moment, the voice of the Master-level from the Boreal League echoed out, a trace of disdain in his calmness.
"They're just magical artifacts. It's not such a big deal. It's only been a few hours since they entered."
"We don't know what might be happening inside." Thalia announced in a heavy voice. And although, unlike Sigrún and Eleonora, she wasn't wearing her armor, she was fully ready to fight at any moment.
"It's hours for us." Jessica added firmly, also without armor but ready to fight. "But for them, it could have been days or months. Time dilation isn't uncommon in an ancient ruin."
"You have no proof of what you're saying." The Master-level from the Meridian Federation said in a calm voice. "But since this concerns the entire younger generation of the three factions, it is necessary to inform the Legend-levels."
"Tell them we'll blow this place to pieces if we don't find a way out in less than an hour."
At that moment, an androgynous, mysterious voice echoed from the entrance to the ruin, causing the Master-level guardians to open their eyes in disbelief and turn to look. Standing at the entrance was a humanoid figure that blended so deeply with the darkness it was almost impossible to make out, with the only thing betraying its presence being the cold, grayish glow of its eyes.
***
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Sigrún: