Ch 53. Alchemical Means

We finished up breakfast while Cal gloated over the fate of his arch-enemy sister. Amazing me with how bad their relationship was... to think that he would actually be glad about it.

Walking down the hallway to Cal's room, he patted me on the back excitedly. Belle trailing just behind, in a good mood after such a grand breakfast, her ribboned tail swishing happily. The only remaining girl after dropping off Tammy, and sending Marcella for guidance.

"To think I'd live to see the day! You saw Marcella's face right?" He was beaming. 

Did this really make him that happy?

"Introducing you to Marcella was the best decision I've ever made."

What an exaggeration, rolling my eyes. 

"I actually had something I wanted to talk with you about, Cal."

"I'm all ears. I owe you one for this"

"Well... technically I still owe you one. I did make a promise when you put Belle up in your store."

"You were serious back then?" He paused, contemplating.

"Anyways. I wanted to ask you, did you ever make anything for Marcella for enhancing magical talent?"

"You knew? I didn't think Marcella would tell you..." He looked surprised.

"Well, she didn't but it's not exactly hard to guess. You're an alchemist, she's a mage. If you were at all capable of making those things for your family, you would be... so how do you make them? Can I have them?"

"Hmm... it might be a tough call to show you how to make them. But we probably could give a few to you. These normally go to Marcella, but since you're her husband what's her's is your's. Am I right?" Elbowing me in the ribs.

Cal wasn't kidding earlier, he really does hate Marcella doesn't he?

"Well that's fine with me. Just let me see them."

When we got to his room, he started digging through the closet. Coming up with a locked chest which he fiddled with to open, unveiling a number of vials of various colors.

"Careful with these, they're all extremely expensive."

I picked up the first bottle.

Elixir of Sages: Enhances Intelligence

"You had some grass on the table that looks a lot like this..."

He narrowed his eyes at me. 

"How would you know that just from looking?"

"I'm pretty perceptive about these things. Is this okay to drink?" Emulating a drinking motion with the corked contents. 

"Go for it... it may have some mild side effects. Some people complain about strange sensations." He said to me.

I downed it in one go. Faintly jelly-like texture, just as all potions made from a slime-base tasted, but the flavor was bitter and tasted like lawn clippings. I supposed it made a certain sense... even magical grass is probably still going to taste like grass. 

My head felt weird suddenly. A slight pressure building in my ears, feeling like my mind was expanding out of my head. It wasn't particularly unpleasant, rather it felt like enlightenment. Like I had been stuck in a mental fog my entire life, and only now was I aware of it. The fog wasn't lifted, but now I knew it existed. Before long the sensation faded, leaving me just as I had been. 

"Strange indeed."

Picking up another vial. 

"Woah, slow down there. Better to not drink so many so fast. I heard it's pretty hard on your body." He cautioned me. 

Somehow with fourty-five constitution, I think I should be fine. If it was bad enough to hurt me, normal mages would be dropping like flies. 

Still, I put down the second elixir of sages and picked up another.

An unnamed brew: increases charisma, mild necrotoxic poison. 

"Don't drink that one, that's a failed recipe. I tried using ambrosia moss for that, much cheaper material that I suspected had the effects I wanted... but ultimately I could never get rid of the poison aspect."

"So you could mass produce these?" I asked him, more than curiously. 

"Like I said, there's no point. Even if I could."

I uncorked the potion smelling it, walking out in into the main part of his room, over to a wall with large mirror hung up. Eyeing my free attribute points so that I could use them at any point if needed. 

Spilling a drop onto my tongue, which greatly alarmed Cal, who tried to grab the vial from with no success as I kept him at bay with one arm. I was twice as powerful as a grown man, arguably in better form than even the best trained knights, while Cal was a playboy bookworm. 

I felt a tingling sensation on my tongue, but within seconds it was gone. No noticeable effects aside from that. 

Seeing it seemed to be alright, I downed the whole vial. Relying on my enhanced constitution to keep me safe. 

My whole mouth and throat tingled, feeling a slight burning sensation all the way down. If someone drank this they'd definitely die. I'm pretty sure this was almost like drinking acid. 

I felt myself grow more confident, feeling larger, but not in the physical sense. So this is what it felt like to grow your mana capacity? Strange indeed. Slightly disappointed that neither of the potions lead to an increase in a point, but not surprised. The feeling I got from both was not particularly that of a profound change. I'd need to drink a lot of these to make any difference. It was actually somewhat reassuring to me in a way, at least this way I knew there weren't thousands of mages out there running around with tremendously attributes attained from a life of endless potion-drinking. 

"Keaton... how on earth are you okay? That's poison you just drank... right?" He was trying to take a drop to try for himself before I stopped him. 

"Let's just say I'm an exception. So, can you make more?"

Cal looking at me with hesitation, unsure if he should comply.