After a few days and nights that I will remember vividly, we were finally back at the manor. Luckily, there were no problems on the way back to the manor. However, we had finally reached our destination in the late morning. For us, we were finally back, though for Dawn, it was unknown territory, as she looked around nervously at first.
When we reached, the first thing we saw were two exhausted women, Rina and Sana, from Lourel's training regimen.
"Aurelia... save us... from your mother's... training..." Rina begged before she collapsed.
"Aurelia... is that you...? You are back... yeaahh..." Sana cheered weakly before she collapsed.
They said their last words to Aurelia before they collapsed due to exhaustion, which terrified Aurelia when she saw her friends collapse in front of her after we had just arrived back at the manor. What was scarier was her mother's words when she saw us come back.
"Oh, Sweetie! You are back! Though sadly, you came back quite late; if you had come back earlier. I would have you train with them. It is quite unfortunate that you came so late. But that is okay; you can make up for it in the afternoon." Lourel smiled brightly when she spoke to Aurelia after we returned from our expedition.
When Aurelia heard that, her entire body was shaken in fear, fear of what her mother would put her through. Aurelia knows her mother's training regimen, which is why she was even more afraid. She'd rather fight monsters than endure her mother's training regimen.
I even felt a sense of fear when I heard her words and witnessed the scene of the two women who had just collapsed. It reminded me of my time training under a certain confident woman in my previous life. She had a strict training regimen, but that wasn't the worst part. She would often pull me out of bed when I was exhausted or mentally drained. There were times she even dragged me out of the shower, all to train or spar with her. Whenever I seemed to be relaxing or slacking off, she would haul me out of my comfort zone, forcing me to focus on training. Thinking about it still terrifies me.
"But you miss her, don't you? After all, she is one of your masters," Lust said playfully.
I do. But I do not need you to remind me of that.
"By the way, Miss Lourel. Is it all right if I could also partake of your training regimen?" Yukino asked politely.
Lourel, who heard that, was surprised as she did not expect Yukino to wish to join her training regimen.
Yukino understood Lourel's reaction and explained the reason: she felt weak and powerless. Lourel, who listened to every word Yukino said, accepted her to join; she was even happy that Yukino wanted to join. Though I can never understand why, during that moment, I saw that Aurelia had a fearful expression. I could never understand why Aurelia was having a fearful expression.
Then we walked to the manor, where my mother, who had spotted us coming back safely, rushed towards us. My mother hugged me tightly when she saw us come back safely, tears of happiness streaming from her eyes. Right after that, she asked Yukino for her reports regarding the expedition with a happy expression. Yukino glanced at me with a sorry expression, then back at my mother as she explained her report.
Though sadly, the happiness ended when my mother received the details of our expedition from Yukino. This made her look at me with a serious expression when she heard everything, and she decided to punish me, but told us, except me, to wash up for lunch. Everyone nodded in agreement with my mother's words, though, sadly, I was held back to wash up.
In contrast, my mother punished me by making me write a reflection essay about what I regretted doing during the expedition and what I should have done instead. I just quietly do it without complaining; after all, I could understand her feeling, which was why I just quietly wrote my long reflection essay for my punishment.
As I was writing my reflection essay, I swear I heard a wolf howl, which made me suspect that Dawn either liked or hated water. Once I was done, I handed it over to my mother, who read it.
After she finished reading, she let me off but warned me never to do what I had done during the expedition again, to which I wholeheartedly nodded, showing how sorry I was, and then allowed me to leave.
I did not waste a second rushing towards my room; I was pretty sweaty and dirty, so I wanted to shower as quickly as possible. As soon as I arrived in my room, I quickly undressed and soaked myself in the bathtub. As I was soaked, I thought back to the words I wrote in my reflection essay.
Honestly, although I wrote my reflection essay about how sorry I was, I did not regret what I did back then. After all, I did what I had to, knowing the risk to obtain the Nectarbind Fruit in that cave. In the end, I managed to get the Nectarbind Fruit, which proves that I succeeded, but only succeeded because Yukino saved me from the Ursus Terranus and my assistance in stopping the Ursus Terranus with a language that could command nature itself.
Though even if I did not regret what I did, that did not mean I had no regrets. After all, I regretted putting Yukino and Aurelia in danger because of my own greed to attain the Nectarbind fruit. It really shows how weak and powerless I really am, in this body, in this life, reminding me that no matter how much I have grown or trained, I will always be weak and powerless, just like the struggles I had in my original life.
I clenched my fists as I thought to myself with my own reflection regarding the expedition to obtain the ingredients that I needed for the Growth Elixir. I also understood that at that time, I was affected by Greed's Authority side effect, which made me risk the two women's lives for my own personal greed, driving me to attain the first stage of my mind realm as quickly as possible.
I continue to soak myself to feel relaxed, as if all my fatigue, exhaustion, stress and struggles are slowly fading away as I relax my body and mind in the warm water. As I soaked myself, I could feel the side effects of the Sloth Authority affecting my mind, making me wish to remain in the bathtub and soak myself for a bit longer, as I wanted to close my eyes slowly.
But there were lots of things I had to do today, which forced my eyes to open wide and wake me up, and I got out of the bathtub. I quickly put on my black suit and black pants, dressing like a noble, despite my situation being more like that of a disowned noble son.
Soon, I was escorted by Aurelia, who was already cleaned up and was wearing similar but different training armour, as it was too clean, to the dining hall. However, it wrapped tightly around her body, which gives me the impression that she really needs a new armour.
Upon reaching the dining hall, I saw that our lunch included honey-roasted chicken, roasted root vegetables, creamy mushroom soup and many more. My mouth watered as I looked at the meals. I noticed that almost everyone was seated, so I hurried to my seat.
Once Aurelia and I were seated, Seraphina, who looked calm, also sat in her seat, which signalled that it was time to eat. I tried the honey-roasted chicken as I bit into it. Once I took a bite, the honey-roasted skin was so crispy and sweet, with a honey coating, and the flesh was so juicy and tender.
The roasted vegetables, on the other hand, tasted quite good, with some soft and some hard, and had a slight burnt flavour, which made me enjoy them even more.
As for the mushroom soup, its texture was thick and creamy, but once drunk, it was savoury and slightly sweet. Scooping one taste wasn't enough; I scooped more.
Eating all these meals made me relieved that I am finally back at the manor, after all, life in the forest could not be compared to it. Maybe next time, when I plan for another expedition, I could bring seasonings, which reminds me, why didn't I do that in the first place... Thinking for a while, I understood, it is because the mind is still of a mind that had reached four years old.
Luckily, later, after lunch, I will finally fix that problem, though it will take quite a while, as I will need to make it work, and it will take time for the mind to fully adapt to its limit.
Soon, the desserts that Seraphina had made were brought out by the maids and herself. There were ice creams in different flavours, and I even saw a mint chocolate flavour, which excited me the most. Seeing my excited expression, Seraphina handed me the mint chocolate flavour, which I happily thanked her for as I took a clean dessert spoon and scooped it into my mouth.
The cooling sensation of the mint had blessed me with a taste like eating ice, which I am currently doing... What I meant to say was that it tasted delicious, especially the chocolate.
"MOREEE MOREEEEEE MORREREEEEEEE FOOOODDDD!!!" Gluttony shouted in hunger as he demanded more food to be eaten.
"If he eats more, he would get fat, which I believe would not be what I wish to see if he lay against a woman", Lust commented.
"That is impossible, due to my authority", Gluttony replied.
"Are you saying that your authority prevents one from becoming fat?" Lust said in disbelief.
"I am not surprised, you did not even remember your own authority", Pride commented.
"Wait, his authority can do that!? I wish I had that ability!", Lust screamed in jealousy and agony.
"I wish I had one of your authority passive ability..." Envy said in jealousy.
"Which passive ability?" Lust asked, wanting to know what ability of his authority Envy is jealous of.
"Not telling you, if I said it, it just makes me more jealous" Envy complaint in jealousy.
After a while of eating the dessert and enduring the headaches of the devils' conversation, I got off my chair, exited the dining hall and walked through the hallway to arrive at my destination. After a while of walking, I finally reached a metal door that seemed old and rusted. I slowly opened the heavy metal door and entered.
The room in the manor resembled an alchemy lab. I had cleaned it up with Yukino before leaving for the expedition. The room had a few cauldrons that varied in different sizes and old wooden shelves filled with some scrolls that I had read long ago, as well as some new scrolls that looked like they had been newly added, as they contained formulas for different potions. Several old wooden tables were neatly arranged, with wooden racks for glass tubes, metal vials, and many other things.
Beside the entrance of the alchemy lab, there was a giant bag that I was familiar with, being placed neatly, as it was the bag that I had brought for the expedition, and a Nectarbind fruit beside it. Looking at it, I believed Yukino must have placed it there.
"What will you do with it?" Wraith asked.
Well, as much as I would love to use it, I do not wish to use it yet.
"Then what was the purpose of the expedition?" Lust asked.
The purpose of the expedition was to gather certain herbs at first, and a Nectarbind fruit that is deemed very rare, but sadly, it is useless to me now because the Nectarbind fruit will be used in the future, as if we used it now, it would be unfortunate as we will need to obtain another and that another would be from that cave.
So, we will grow the Nectarbind fruit at the manor, and considering our harvest from the expedition, we can also grow the rare herbs and plants for a higher-quality growth elixir in the future, which means I will be focusing on making a lower-quality growth elixir in my current present.
And once those rare plants, herbs and the Nectarbind fruit grew in numbers, I could produce more high-quality growth elixir than the low-quality growth elixir in the future. Also, even if I could make one now, I doubt it would be safe for my current body. If the elixir is too potent, it would just backfire, which is why I have to start with being satisfied with a lower quality for now.
"I see, so the expedition was more an-" Lust said, but before he could finish, he was interrupted.
An investment.
I pushed a standing chair near a table where I could reach for a scroll that looked like it had been newly added, and I tiptoed on it. Once I reached it, I carefully took it out of the shelves and slowly lowered myself onto the chair.
I slowly unwrapped the scroll and opened it, spreading it out to reveal the contents.
⌜
Growth Elixir (Low Quality)
Ingredients: ten Enlustergy, five Saprats petals, six hundred and fifty grams of Misice, twenty point six grams of Amathambo, seven Verenkierto, one Novabloom, two Serenara, one Zenithra Orchid, ten Drakona, and four Mentisara petals.
⌟
These were the main ingredients I had written for the growth elixir I was trying to make, based on the botany book and my own original life experience. Though if there are dangerous ingredients in the scroll, it would be the Enlustergy.
That ingredient is primarily used to create aphrodisiacs that boost your sexual desires and provide a huge energy boost, which is the only part that I wanted, but the sexual desires, I wish I could separate the sexual desires from the elixir. Sadly, I do not have the equipment for it as it is too advanced for this world.
"What's wrong with a little desire being boosted?" Lust complaint.
"It is because of your authority", Pride answered.
"What's wrong with my authority?" Lust complaint.
If I were to be drunk in a state of Lust or happen to have any lust, your authority, which is the sin's authority of lust, what do you think would happen?
"I don't know, I do not remember," Lust said, giving up.
It will amplify my emotion of lust, making me a literal pervert...
"Oh yeah, I remember now, it is a good blessing, no?" Lust replied.
No, it is a curse. A curse that earned me a literal pervert title back in my original life, you idiot!
"Hmph, someone is unappreciative", Lust said.
I just slowly got the main ingredients out and prepared the tools I would need for the process.
First, I opened the windows in the room and let the Misices and Amathambos dry out in the sunlight. Unfortunately, it is still winter, and although the new year is almost upon us, the air is still cold, which would hinder my progress toward the growth elixir.
I frowned. If the misices and amanthambos cannot be dried, I will have to wait until the cold air warms, which would result in too much time wasted, not counting the failures that might occur if I cannot achieve the result I need or want. Fortunately, I had a method that could assist me with this operation, and that was our latest member of the manor.
I soon left the room to find Dawn, whom I apparently knew was there, as she was watching four women training under Lourel's training regime. Rina, Sana, Aurelia and Yukino were training.
Rina, Sana, and Aurelia were panting as they trained, though Yukino, on the other hand, was doing training way harsher than theirs; her calm expression shows it did not exhaust her at all, though she was sweating a lot.
I wanted to continue watching, as all of them looked quite hot due to my mentality of a child of this body, looking at them in a perverted way, but I controlled my mind, remembering my purpose for coming here. Also, if I were to stay any longer, I believe Lourel would rope me in, which I would want to avoid.
I did not stay long to watch as I calmly picked Dawn up, carrying her like a pet dog, though this overweight dog was making my arm ache. Thankfully, she did not resist as I held her.
Seriously, did she gain weight? If so, I think I will have Lourel plan a training regimen for it. I have many plans for this wolf pup.
As if sensing my thoughts, Dawn looked at me with her wolf eyes, as if she felt that she sensed horrible thoughts from the one carrying her.
Don't look at me like that, I was kidding... which I am not.
I carried Dawn from the outside to the alchemy room. The trip required me to take a break about 15 times, since the manor is enormous, which meant I was walking slowly with a heavy, overweight dog in my arms.
"You need to exercise and train, you are so weak", Wraith mocked.
Shut... Up...
Once I had reached the alchemy room, I slowly put the wolf pup down. As I did, I could feel the difference between having her here and not having her here, as I forgot to shut the window before I left. Yet, the temperature felt like it was before I opened the window.
So after I closed the window to keep the cold air out, since the temperature felt warm like the outdoors before winter, I went to a random empty room, grabbed a pillow, and came back to the alchemy room to prepare a comfy cushion for Dawn.
Dawn, surround the pillow, then lie on it after, as her fur emitted warm air, letting me set the Misices and Amathambos dry near her. After that, I took a blank parchment and wrote down some possible supplementary ingredients for the growth elixir.
Doing so, I started preparing the ingredients, as it is essential not to waste time; otherwise, the result would backfire into a different potion. I started preparing the ingredients that needed peeling as I peeled five Saprats petals from the Saprats, then peeled all the petals from the Zenithra Orchid. After that, I also peeled four Mentisara petals from a Mentisara flower.
Once I had finished peeling the ingredients that needed peeling, I looked at the Misices and Amathambos that Dawn had dried, which made me happy, so I patted her head and started pounding the Misices and Amathambos separately with a stone mortar, trying to pound them into fine powders.
Dawn, who could not lie comfortably on the pillow cushion because I was making so much noise by pounding the Misices and Amathambos separately with the stone pestle on the stone mortar while also moving it in a circular motion, which created even more noise.
When I finished pounding each of them, I put them in small plates to hold the ingredients. Then I decided to focus on converting the mana in my body into water and letting it pour into the cauldron.
Once the cauldron was filled, I lit a small fire under it to boil. Once the fire was lit, I waited for the water in the cauldron to boil. Once boiled, I pour in supplementary ingredients, mostly herbs and other plants. I took the cauldron spoon to stir the supplementary ingredients in the cauldron, in a slow circular motion.
I stirred the water, which slowly turned bright yellow-green, and then I poured in the main ingredients one by one. Ten Enlustergy, five Saprats petals, seven Verenkierto, one Novabloom, two Serenara, one Zenithra Orchid, ten Drakona, and four Mentisara petals were all poured into the cauldron and continued stirring even more for who knows how long.
I did not pour in the Misice and Amanthambo just yet, as they were essential for the final step.
The bright yellow-green colour slowly turned dark brown as I kept stirring. The smell from the elixir was also quite strong. It smelled awful, and it felt that whoever drank it, instead of gaining a boost in growth, they would either gain a boost in having their lifespan decreased or an instant death if they drank it.
When I saw the colour, I took out all the ingredients from the cauldron with a wooden filter spoon. It took quite a few moments to take them all out. Once done, I pour in the misice and amanthambo into the cauldron and continue stirring.
Dawn, on the other hand, sniffed the ingredients that I took out, thinking it could be a nice snack. When she sniffed, she quickly moved away from it. It was as if the ingredients I took out were so smelly that she did not even want to try eating them.
Soon, the dark brown colour slowly fades into a slightly lighter shade, though it remains dark brown; the difference is easily seen, as it is somewhat lighter than its original colour. The smell, however, was still bad.
I scoop some of the elixir into a small glass vial. I steady my breathing, though it is hard to do so amid the strong smell of the elixir.
"So, when are you going to drink it?" Wraith asked impatiently.
"Yeah, when are you going to drink it?" Lust said playfully.
"I don't think this is good stuff, maybe you should not drink it", Gluttony said with a disapproving opinion.
"I hope it fails because I can feel that I may have to work endlessly if it is a success", Sloth prayed for failure.
Hearing their words, I brought the vial near my mouth and drank the elixir from the vial as I tilted my head back to let all of the elixir flow straight into my mouth.
Gulp gulp gulp!
I swallowed the elixir into my throat. I could already feel my tongue wanting to be cleansed from the very bitter taste of the elixir that I drank.
"Did it succeed?" Pride asked.
When Pride asked his question, I could feel my muscles gradually strengthening, my bones becoming slightly denser, and my blood circulation increasing.
My senses were heightened; I could feel the air more acutely, hear sounds more clearly, and my vision also improved slightly.
The once-worthless talent I was born with seemed to have increased as well. My mind felt clearer, and I found it easier to sense the mana in the air. I could feel my body energised, especially in the lower part. I could also feel my physical limits expanding, allowing me to grow slightly stronger.
Though, because of all these sudden boosts, my body is also screaming in pain as it was sending signals to my brain on how painful it was, making me experience this torture.
Instead of panicking and suffering in agony, I calmly sat on the floor in a meditative posture and absorbed the mana in the air into my body. By the effects of the elixir, I could easily absorb more mana in the surrounding into my body, and I could really feel the difference between absorbing without it and absorbing with it.
I had to steady my breathing as I panted for breath because my circulation was moving slightly faster, so I had to breathe more oxygen to keep my heart beating faster.
Soon, I spat a few bloods out of my mouth, as I was exerting myself too much due to changes that were happening to my body that I could not fully adapt to.
"Woof woof", Dawn whined at me in concern as she rushed towards me, looking at me.
Unfortunately, I cannot assure her as I was focusing on enduring the changes that my body was forced to endure for a while.
"Argh... arghhhh... arghhh!" I gritted my teeth in pain as I focused on enduring the pain, trying to get over this torture.
Thankfully, I have to hold up for quite a while before the effects dissipate and the boost in my body will disappear, aside from the sexual desire that was given to me and amplified by Lust's authority.
After a while, all the changes that had happened to my body had reverted to normal, and my talent that had increased was also reverted to normal. Everything reverted to normal, but if there were any changes, it would be that I had grown some muscles and that my bone durability had become more durable than usual. My senses, which were amplified and then reverted to normal, have increased a little permanently.
So, in summary, all the things that have happened to me have increased slightly permanently aside from my body's talent, which has reverted to normal. Feeling all these changes, I laughed in joy. However, there was still an abundance of energy in my body from the Enlustergy effects as well as an energised little brother...
"Then just released it", Lust said straightforwardly.
...
"..." All the other devils remained silent.
I will do it later, when I am alone at night, dinner is near, and it would not be nice to do it now, so I will endure it for now...
But seeing that I have succeeded in making my growth elixir, I could not help but laugh in joy.
"Hahahahaha, I have attained a method to become stronger faster now, but in return, I will have to endure the torture from it, but if my body develops stronger, the effects of it would hardly matter." I laughed out loud.
"I think he has gone crazy", Wraith whispers.
"I agree too," Lust agreed quietly.
"I think he has become mad like his title back in his original life", Envy said in pity quietly.
You know I can hear you all, right?
"woof woof?" Dawn barked in confusion as she looked at me like I was a mental patient, as not long ago, I was enduring a pain that almost, wait, not almost, as I actually did spit blood out, and now I am fine and laughing like a madman.
I patted her head softly as I forgot that I was not alone. How embarrassing...
"Definitely mental..." Wraith whispers.
"Agreed," Lust said playfully quietly
"Mhm mhm", Envy agreed.
At this point, I just gave up trying to talk to them.
I just stood up and stored all the elixirs in glass tubes, since I now have a good supply of low-quality growth elixir that I can use to boost my training and growth whenever I drink it for a while now.
Though I could also feel my stomach rumbling from the torture that I endured, which was absorbing the nutrients from my body, so if I want to make full use of the elixir effect, I will need to do it after eating breakfast, lunch and dinner to benefit the most out of it.
Also, I need to improve its taste and smell; it is really hard to endure, especially in the body of a four-year-old who has the food preferences of a four-year-old.