At last, it was finished, a fireball.
So this is magic—alive, hungry, red…
Then, he picked the first crystal—the blue one—in confusion. Such complex steps needed to be taken to produce a simple effect, so he wondered if extra steps were needed to bring out the true potential of a catalyst.
The generation of water seemed to be extremely difficult. Why was that? Was it affected by the moisture in the air or the proficiency of the user?
There was a bucket of water not too far away from him, likely placed there to water the plants, so he used the crystal to send a bit of essence into the water, and as he expected, the water followed his commands, forming a ball roughly the size of his palm before collapsing.
With his discovery, he placed the crystal down and picked up the last one covered with hardened blood. He scraped it with his nail to realize that it was as hard as, if not harder than, the crystal underneath.
So he simply poured a bit of essence into it; nothing happened externally, but he could feel the essence inside his body clearly and control it to some extent.
"It's such a strange one; does it allow me to control essence internally?" He muttered to himself, then that would surely make his body strong like a Blessed of Valor, would it not?
He continued experimenting with it and soon realized that it did indeed make him stronger and faster to some extent. It would prove to be very useful to him if he were to face any strong monsters soon.
A few moments later, the two older men exited the house; Ulfur approached him first.
"These two seem useful." He told the man, who nodded in understanding before taking the others away.
"Are you sure about them?" He asked the boy, who nodded, "Pretty sure."
"You see, after you use these catalysts sufficiently enough, the colors of the crystal will seep inside you, turning you into a living catalyst," Ulfur spoke and returned with a bewildered expression.
Brand understood that his body would behave like a catalyst that could convert the essence into something else without the need of a crystal, perhaps resulting in an effect at a higher degree as well.
"Yes, that is the next rank of the blessing, Adept."
So the first stage is Dormant, the second stage is Awakened, and the third is Adept. I wonder how many other stages there are. He thought as he looked at the two crystals in his hands for a few moments.
"If you're not sure, I will hand you another one of your choosing after the work is done," Ulfur told the young man.
Syrash cleared his throat. "The foxes, Ulfur."
So it is about the foxes… Brand noted.
"Yes, yes, The Syals, those cheeky bastards." He turned to Brand. "Our targets are three Syals—Foxes—that have been frequently appearing on the northern side of the village for the past month or so."
"Quite strange if you ask me." Brand said, with a questioning gaze, and continued, "I wonder what could have caused this."
The alchemist quickly shut him off, "It matters not. What matters, in fact, is making sure those monsters are dead."
As expected, he's the one behind this. Brand thought as he observed the man. Stroking conflict would not be a good idea, especially considering that he didn't know what stage his blessing was and what abilities he had access to.
"Hurry, we don't have all day," Syrosh said and took the lead, walking onwards to the northern side of the village.
It didn't take long for them to reach their destination, which was closer to the farm of Rufus than Brand had expected.
"They are sometimes capable of using magic; most of these foxes have been born as dormant creatures, and the strange phenomenon here has Awakened them into monsters although mindless ones." Ulfur informed them.
What is the difference in strength between an Awakened and an Adept? Brand thought to himself, from what he understood, the difference between a dormant and awakened blessed of Chaos was quite a large one since the dormant couldn't even manipulate essence.
That meant a dormant couldn't use any one of the four catalysts decently besides the maroon one, which emitted light. That made him wonder about the power gap between the next subsequent tiers.
"The fox den is right there." Ulfur pointed to a small cliff in the distance; below it was a small natural cave. Brand wondered if they were going to be taking the foxes head-on because that would be an extremely stupid move.
"Aim for their eyes," Syrash advised him; it was rather rare to see the man interact positively.
"I will." He told the man, who quickly looked away and towards the den.
Brand wondered if he was making the correct decision by deciding to hunt the monsters; he'd seen enough blood for a lifetime already, but for a chance to rediscover himself and not regain those godforsaken memories, he could see more.
As time passed and the pseudo-expert of the group, Ulfur, observed the den for a long enough time, he motioned them to go near said den.
They slowly moved through the bushes and trees; as they got closer, the alchemist advised them to use the leaves to hide their scent.
After doing so, he opened a bottle of a concoction that smelled awful and threw it inside the cave. "Hide!" He whispered and ducked under the bush.
From what Brand had understood from the awful odor, the liquid inside the bottle was the same he had found lying outside and surrounded by strange, deformed insects. It was likely one that caused negative ailments in monsters.
Footsteps neared them as they hid in the bushes. Brand caught a brief glance of the tails that wagged behind one of the monsters; it was half as large as an adult man.
He slowly poked his head out, and there they were.
A figure akin to a bear more than a fox, sharp jagged teeth drenched in saliva, maddened eyes, fur stained by blood and dirt and ash…
Felt his pulse quicken as the adrenaline pumped through his blood. He reached for the catalyst stone in his pocket.
Its red glow mirrored his burning eyes.