Chapter 466: Alchemy

Shion looked at the people who entered her house and quickly held onto her staff and pointed it at the intruders. Her hands were shaking in fear, but even then she stood her ground and spoke to the intruders.

"Who are you people, and what are you doing here?! If you're here to rob me, unfortunately for you I don't have anything that you can steal so just leave! I'm warning you people, If you don't leave now, I'll be forced to attack you. I'm not joking, I know high-level attack spells, so if you don't want to die then you better leave now!"

Even though Shion had threatened them, the intruders didn't even bother looking at her as they started rummaging around her house. Shion was truly afraid as her legs were shaking but despite that, she strengthened her resolve and shouted at the intruders again.

"This is the last time I will warn you, leave now or I will attack? I'm not joking, I will try to kill you!"

"Tsk, are there only these few materials in this workshop?... Can we look for another workshop, no Ren is already in a critical state. There's no choice then, Val put Ren down on the table over there. I'll start preparing, just make sure to stop as much of Ren's blood from flowing out. Please do whatever you can to keep him alive until I'm finished."

"I'll do my best, but you better hurry. Without mana or that thing he calls Spirit Aura, he won't last long."

The intruders didn't even look her way as they started their own conversation, they treated her as if she wasn't there. Shion didn't know what to feel, but she couldn't allow her materials to be used up now. Since those were her last stock and she had nothing left, if she loses those she won't be able to practice and would most likely fail to become an official alchemist. Those materials were her last hope in succeeding. Shion gritted her teeth as she gathered up all of her courage, and shouted.

"I warned you!"

Shion then started chanting a spell and once she was done released it towards the beautiful woman who was taking her materials, but even before the spell made contact with the woman's body it was negated. Shion looked at Lara in surprise as she couldn't understand what happened. Shion then started to panic as she used her next spell [magic missle]. Yet the same result happened as her spell was once again dispelled before even hitting the target. As she continued to be confused and was about to use a different spell, someone touched her shoulders.

Shion looked behind her and saw a gigantic beastkin, her legs quickly gave in as she fell to the ground in fear.

'I'm sorry big sis, it seems like we'll be meeting again without me fulfilling our dreams.' Shion closed her eyes waiting for her death, but instead of being killed, she heard a kind voice talk to her.

"I'm sorry that we have barged in so forcefully. We will compensate you for everything later, but for now please allow us to save our friend." Shion opened her eyes and saw the large beastkin bowing in front of her, and behind him was another beastkin who was also bowing his head.

Shion grew even more confused and that was when she noticed that the person on the table was wounded and he didn't have a simple injury he had a huge hole in his abdomen.

'Shouldn't he already be dead with that kind of injury? Didn't he already lose some important organs, so even if they're able to heal the wound somehow... That person would still die.'

"Miss, please just allow us to use your workshop. We will give you thrice the price of what those materials cost." When Shion heard Kor's gentle voice she was finally able to calm down. These people weren't bad they were just here to save their friend.

Shion wasn't one of those people that believed that every demi-humans were evil so she was easier to convince. Still, even though she sympathized with their plight, she wasn't sure that they should waste the materials seeing the man's injuries.

"... Ummm, I understand your situation better now, but... I hate to be the one to say this, but isn't your friend already-" Shion wasn't able to say what she wanted to say as Lara angrily interjected.

"Don't you dare say it, don't you dare finish that sentence! I will save Ren no matter what the cost!"

Shion was surprised by Lara suddenly shouting at her, but she understood what Lara was feeling at this very moment. Shion also felt the same way as her big sister was dying in front of her.

"I know it may not look too hopeful, but we need to at least try." Hearing what Kor said Shion shook her head as she replied.

"... It's alright I truly understand. Don't worry about compensating me. If I could I would want to help as well, but I'm just a failed alchemist apprentice."

"Thank you, miss."

After that, the conversation between the two ended. Shion then looked at Lara who was concocting a potion and Valdel who was trying his hardest to keep Ren alive. She was surprised at the skill Valdel was using to stop Ren's blood from flowing out his body. Yet what surprised her, even more, was the way Lara was making whatever potion she was making.

The way Lara was handling the materials, was a skill beyond what Shion could comprehend, it was an amazing sight to behold. Still, what caught Shion's attention even more than Lara's skill was that the ingredients that Lara were putting into the alchemy pot were so random that she couldn't understand what Lara was trying to make.

Every move Lara made was so elegant and precise that it was breathtaking. Even the senior alchemists in the association weren't as good as Lara was in controlling the fire of the alchemy pot. Lara was able to control the fire with so much precision even while chopping some of the ingredients.

While Lara was mixing the ingredients while perfectly controlling the fire, she bit her thumb and blood started to flow out. She then put a few drops of her blood into the pot and a small burst of smoke came out. The blood-red color inside the pot started to change into an azure color. There was then a fragrant smell coming from the pot. When Shion saw what happened, she finally knew what Lara was making. She had read this from one of the history books on alchemy.

'Isn't that the legendary 'breath of the world tree' or more famously known as a mana potion!' The process of making such a potion had been lost in time. It was the goal of many modern-day alchemists to recreate the effects of such a potion. Many had made inferior products, that could only restore minuscule amounts of mana despite using so many high-grade ingredients. Yet here in her broken-down workshop using the worst possible materials, this beautiful woman was able to create the legendary potion.

As Shion was shocked by what she was seeing, she suddenly remembered that this was a potion created to save the dying Ren. 'How is a mana potion going to heal that person?'