Containing their excitement as best they could, Zoe, Elara, and Frank watched as the magic circle glowed on the stone slab, and after a few seconds, the outer layer of resin on the cauldron began to slowly disappear. The moment the resin was completely gone and the water inside had just started to boil, Erik commented as he watched the cauldron closely.
"Now I'm going to activate it."
Erik's announcement prompted a chorus of nervous gulping sounds, not just from the young ones—even Ebonique couldn't help herself. With a serious expression, Erik took his quartz pendulum and extended his hand toward the cauldron, then sent his mana to activate it. Soon, the quartz pendulum began to move unnaturally.
Ebonique and the young people looked at Erik in confusion, unsure if this was good or bad, but when a smile appeared on the young man's face, everyone clenched their fists in anticipation. As Erik looked around, Elara gathered her courage and asked, her voice trembling with hope as she gazed at the star-haired young man.
"Erik… did it work?"
"Yes, it worked." Erik turned to look at the young people and replied with a smile. "The cauldron is able to confine the mana and control its flow. Although I haven't tested the pH regulation functions yet, since the thermal zones function works, we can call it a success."
The moment Erik finished speaking, Elara, unable to control the avalanche of emotions overwhelming her, threw herself into Erik's arms. Surprised, Erik caught Elara and stepped a little away from the cauldron, but before he could say anything, Zoe came up to him and hugged him too, while Ebonique wrapped herself around his neck.
"You're the best in the world!!"
Ebonique exclaimed, full of excitement, her purple eyes shining brightly. But when she noticed that Zoe and Elara had nestled into Erik's arms like a pair of hussies, her expression quickly soured, and she spoke in an almost murderous tone.
"Just because my Erik is the most exceptional of all doesn't mean you can touch him whenever you want. Back off!"
Because of Ebonique's shout, Elara and Zoe were pushed back a few steps, looking both surprised and embarrassed. At that moment, Erik began stroking Ebonique's chin and spoke in a calm, soothing voice.
"There's no need to get angry, Ebonique. The girls were just excited."
"Hmph, I don't care. I don't want some hussies contaminating you." Ebonique quickly looked away and replied indignantly. Erik began to stroke the dragoness's head and sent her mana as he spoke in a more serious tone.
"Don't insult people for no reason. Zoe and Elara were just excited, that's all."
"But…" Ebonique looked at Erik and replied with a sad, slightly resentful voice. Erik looked the dragoness directly in the eyes and said in a serious, firm tone.
"No buts. Zoe and Elara are my teammates, and they deserve respect. This time, you're the one in the wrong, and that's the end of this conversation."
After being 'scolded' by her Erik, Ebonique quickly shrank down and hid in his hair, full of sadness and anger. But her anger wasn't directed at Erik; it was at those two shameless hussies who threw themselves at her one and only exceptional Erik. As Ebonique glared venomously at Elara and Zoe, Erik spoke with a calm expression.
"Sorry about Ebonique. She's very spoiled and sometimes goes overboard."
"Actually, we were the ones who acted disrespectfully…"
While the fox spirit looked at Erik filled with terror and disbelief, Elara quickly replied, a soft blush on her cheeks. Zoe immediately bowed and apologized, her face even redder than Elara's.
"I sincerely apologize, Erik. I need more training and self-control."
"Don't take it so seriously." Erik said, a little amused as he watched Frank 'dance' with Lirio, a huge smile on his face. Wanting to move past the awkward moment, Erik quickly added in a calm tone.
"Well, now that we have a cauldron, we need to break it in. It's time to prepare the potion."
"Boss, should I bring the ingredients you prepared earlier?!" Frank quickly asked, his eyes shining. Erik nodded and said.
"I'll leave it to you, Frank. And bring the stirrer I made last time, along with the other things that go with it."
"On it!" Frank responded quickly and dashed off to the 'storeroom'. At that moment, Elara looked at Erik and asked in a serious tone.
"Do you need us to help with anything?"
"Not really." Erik shook his head and then turned to look at the beautiful girls. "For now, you can finish preparing and organizing the rations. I'll take care of the potion."
"Alright." Elara replied in a serious tone and quickly went to the back with Zoe.
Meanwhile, Hiyori looked at Erik and at Ebonique, who was hiding amid his hair, filled with disbelief, all her fur standing on end. For a moment, the fox spirit believed they were all going to die—no one, nothing, could speak so arrogantly to an Eternal and live to tell the tale.
But there he was, the star-haired young man, smiling casually after 'scolding' one of the most dangerous Eternals as if he were a superior, acting as if nothing had happened. As a jolt ran through her entire body, Hiyori slowly stepped away from the young man, her respect for him increasing by several orders of magnitude. She was now more aware than ever that if a single hair on his head were harmed, literal rivers of blood would flow across all dimensions.
...
Once Frank handed him all the pre-treated ingredients and the stirrer, Erik set them on a table, leaving the stirrer inside the cauldron with boiling water. While the water boiled, Erik placed the Auravida resin in a corner of the hot slab—it was in a bamboo-sealed container.
After about 10 minutes, Erik removed the cauldron from the hot stone slab and poured out the water. Using a magic chalk, Erik drew a runic-geomantic refining circle on a new stone slab, which he placed over the hole where the fire was. Immediately afterward, Erik put the empty cauldron with the stirrer on the slab and filled it with the potion base—the water he had prepared earlier with SARI and water with traces of Zaryonite.
Activating the refining circle on the slab, Erik took the quartz pendulum and let it hang over the cauldron. The pendulum began to move slowly and steadily, which made Erik nod in approval. He then quickly grabbed the bamboo container where he had left the Mycelis mushroom soaking in base water, while simultaneously conjuring 16 runes around the cauldron, each emitting a greenish light.
Using a carved wooden spoon, Erik measured out and dropped the Mycelis suspension into the cauldron. Then he began to stir clockwise with the whisk while sending his mana in steady, fixed pulses, both through the stirrer and through the runes surrounding the cauldron. The mana from the runes traveled through the cauldron via the channels he had deliberately created.
After a minute, Erik added another spoonful of the Mycelis suspension and stirred again for the same amount of time before adding another spoonful. After repeating the process two more times, the base water took on a striking violet color. At that moment, Erik once again took his quartz pendulum and let it hang over the cauldron to analyze its fluctuations.
Once he confirmed that everything was fine, Erik took the container with the Auravida resin and used a new spoon, filling it halfway with the warm liquid resin. After adding nine half-spoonfuls of resin to the cauldron, Erik began stirring the mixture counterclockwise while activating the cauldron's sectorial heat control functions, which he managed manually using the channels he had created in the cauldron.
After about two minutes, the mixture began to form fine bubbles, and its color started to shift to indigo. At that moment, Erik took the container with the Vidrena root gel and let it fall into the potion, creating a thin but continuous stream in the center. After adding about 75 ml, Erik activated the cauldron's pH control function while stirring clockwise and reducing the amount of mana in the pulses to a third.
After about 30 seconds, the mixture began to thicken slightly, releasing a faint earthy smell. Erik checked the simple pH meter integrated into the cauldron's runes, which showed a soft bluish-green light, letting him know that the pH of the mixture should be around 7—exactly what he needed.
After a final check with the quartz pendulum, Erik removed the stirrer from the cauldron. At that moment, Erik looked up and saw the two spirits and the three young people watching him from a few meters away, barely blinking and completely still, as if they were statues. Finding the scene rather amusing, Erik couldn't help but let out a small laugh, then spoke in a playful voice.
"Haha, Elara, bring me the clay bottles you prepared."
"Be right back!!" Elara replied loudly, a slight blush on her cheeks, before running off to the storeroom. At that moment, Zoe coughed a couple of times, then looked at Erik and asked, full of curiosity.
"Is the potion ready?"
"Not yet. It needs to boil for about 40 minutes, and then I'll add the preservative. So I'm going to use this time to prepare the containers." Erik replied casually as he stretched. Frank couldn't help but comment with a hint of disbelief in his tone.
"Making a potion seems pretty simple."
"It is." Erik nodded and explained calmly, casually pointing at the runes floating around the cauldron. "The hardest parts of potion-making are the preliminary preparation, the mana control, and maybe manipulating the internal properties of the ingredients if you don't have a wood affinity. But it's easy once you get the hang of it."
"Now it doesn't sound so easy…" Frank couldn't help but say, with a bit of respect, realizing the process wasn't easy—it was Erik who made it look easy.
"It just sounds more complicated than it is. With a little practice, anyone can make a potion." Erik said with a smile, which made Zoe and Frank glance at each other, not believing a word he said.
"Here are the bottles!"
At that moment, Elara returned, carrying dozens of small clay containers that looked a lot like potion bottles, although a bit irregular. As Elara unloaded the bottles onto the table, Erik smiled and picked one up.
"Thanks, Elara."
"Do you need me to help with anything?" Elara asked, her eyes shining. Erik took several balls of dried Glowsap resin and replied calmly.
"Could you heat this resin until it's liquid?"
"Leave it to me." Elara replied enthusiastically, quickly grabbing the resin balls and running off to start a fire. Meanwhile, Zoe stepped forward and asked seriously.
"Do you need help with anything else?"
"You can help me make the corks. There should be a brown, spongy-looking bark in the storeroom—just cut the corks from that." Erik said as he carefully inspected the clay bottle. Zoe quickly nodded and replied as she headed to the storeroom.
"Got it."
"Frank, you can start sorting what we brought and store it in the storeroom." Erik said, knowing Frank would be the next to ask. "Remember to organize it so we can get to it quickly in case of an emergency."
"Understood, boss." Frank replied quickly and followed Zoe to the storeroom.
…
"The resin is ready, Erik." After a few minutes, Elara returned with a bamboo container full of liquid resin. Erik nodded gratefully as he took the container.
"Thank you, Elara."
While Elara and Ebonique watched with interest, Erik added about a spoonful of SARI to the resin and began to mix it with a peeled wooden stick. Once everything was evenly mixed, Erik placed the container in the center of a simple refining circle they had drawn earlier on the table and activated it.
"Well, now we just need to apply a thin coating of this mixture inside each of the bottles." Erik said calmly, then looked at Ebonique and Elara and asked.
"Do you want to help me with that, Elara and Ebonique?"
"Of course!" Elara replied almost immediately. Meanwhile, Ebonique looked at the beautiful blonde with annoyance, but after a few seconds, she sighed and said with some resignation.
"I'll help too."
"Perfect."
Erik said with a smile and quickly began explaining to the young woman and the spirit how to make the inner coating evenly. Once they understood what to do, the dragoness and the blonde took the container with the resin and some bottles, then headed to the campfire since they had to keep the resin liquid.
Before long, Zoe returned carrying a large number of perfectly cut and uniform corks, which earned her a compliment from Erik, making her blush slightly. After testing the corks with the bottles a few times, Zoe and Erik started adjusting the sizes with sharp stones, at which point Zoe couldn't help but comment with a gentle smile.
"You're really impressive, Erik. I never imagined we could be so calm and 'safe' in the middle of all this chaos. Out there, others must be fighting tooth and nail for even the slightest chance to survive, while we have all the food we want and can spend an afternoon calmly adjusting corks… I honestly don't have words to describe how I feel."
"I don't think I deserve the credit for that." Erik replied in a calm, casual voice. "If anyone deserves credit, it's Lirio or maybe Frank. This peace and abundance are thanks to us finding that 'entrance' under the rocks."
"That's true, but…" Zoe said, her voice a bit uneasy as she glanced at Erik's profile. After a few seconds, she sighed and added in a more relaxed tone.
"If you say so, then let's leave it at that. But you know, when I saw how easy you had it in the tournament, I was a little annoyed, because it was really hard for me. But now that I get to enjoy your 'easy mode,' it's honestly really nice…"
"That sounded a little off, but okay." Erik commented, slightly amused, before starting a casual chat with Zoe about sabers and combat styles—a conversation that greatly interested the star-haired young man.
…
Forty minutes later, Erik stood in front of the cauldron, whose contents had reduced by about 10%, and quickly removed it from the hot stone slab. After letting it rest for 5 minutes, Erik sprinkled about a gram of bitter mahogany bark powder into the center, then stirred it clockwise for 15 seconds.
Once he finished stirring, Erik handed the stirrer to Frank, who was nearby, and immediately placed both hands on the sides of the cauldron, just a few centimeters from the runes. At that moment, the runes began to rotate slowly, then gradually rose up and gathered above the cauldron. After spinning for a few seconds above it, the runes started to dissolve into tiny points of pale green light that fell onto the mixture.
Immediately after, the surface of the mixture began to reflect a kind of bluish-green halo, which quickly contracted as if somehow 'sealing' the mixture. In that instant, Erik let the quartz pendulum hang over the mixture, and it began to swing with diminishing movement, as if it were winding down, until it became completely still after a few seconds.
Nodding in satisfaction, Erik put away the quartz pendulum and quickly grabbed a new wooden spoon, conjuring a magic circle to completely sterilize it. Carefully, Erik scooped up a spoonful of the mixture and brought it to his lips.
"It's done." With a bitter aftertaste on his tongue, Erik announced with a smile and then turned to look at the young people and Ebonique, who were watching him with bright, eager eyes. At that moment, the star-haired boy asked.
"Do you want to try it?"
"Yes!!" they all responded in unison, full of curiosity and excitement, so Erik quickly cast the spell again to sterilize the spoon and dipped it into the freshly made potion.
…
As he swallowed the still-warm, bitter potion, Frank felt his mana reserves—which had been somewhat depleted from the earlier hunt—begin to steadily increase. Filled with happiness and respect for the genius of the star-haired young man, Frank closed his eyes and focused entirely on the rate of recovery, wanting to give Erik a clear report on the potion's effects.
"Incredible…"
After just a few seconds, Frank opened his eyes and commented in disbelief, then glanced to the sides, where he found Elara and Zoe wearing the same expression. That was to be expected—after all, while this recovery potion was far from the almost-instant restoration provided by the most expensive potions, it was still worlds away from being low-quality.
If Frank had to compare, Erik's potion was at a high-mid level, something that could easily cost around 40 to 50 mana crystals per bottle. A high price, considering that a regular mana recovery potion usually costs only 8 to 10 mana crystals. And yet Erik, a direct disciple, had managed to create such a potion practically from scratch and without any equipment—a complete miracle.
"Well, let's bottle the potion!" Erik said enthusiastically, snapping everyone out of their thoughts. Then, Erik quickly began giving instructions while drawing a simple magic circle with chalk on the stone table.
"Zoe, with your steady hands, you'll handle filling the bottles. Elara, you'll warm them to about 30 degrees, and you can use mana. Ebonique will seal the bottles with the corks and pass them to Frank, who will activate the circle I'm drawing."
"""Understood!!"""
The young people and Ebonique replied in unison, then immediately began working like a perfect assembly line. Erik positioned himself at the end of the line, acting as a sort of quality inspector, checking each sealed bottle before placing it in a wooden box filled with dry leaves. After a while, the group stood in front of the box with 15 'beautiful' potions, their faces full of pride and anticipation.
"I can't believe we did it…" Elara said in an almost dreamy voice, to which Zoe, Frank, and even Ebonique couldn't help but nod. At that moment, Erik commented, a little amused.
"Don't be too amazed. This is just the first step. Now we have to make healing potions and some general antidotes, and since the cauldron worked without the golden chains appearing, we can also make weapons and some equipment to explore the real garden in search of an exit."
***
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