19 Poison

I woke up the next morning with two girls cuddling on either side of me. It was a lovely feeling, and I am glad to have each of them. Since the bed wasn't all that big, I couldn't wake any of them, so I decided to lay there until they woke up.

I go over my plans for the day and decide I will train some more at Old Man's as that will be a good source of income in the future. I still have some savings that will last for a bit, especially since I don't have to make a house payment.

I felt some rustling come from my left and noticed Lenora was looking at me.

"Good morning, beautiful."

I said while planting a kiss on her lips.

Her giggle and blushing seem to indicate that she liked that a lot.

"Hey. That no fair. Where's mine?"

I hear Emiko's voice behind and turn over towards her and plant a kiss on her too.

"Good morning to you too, my little minx."

After some morning cuddling, we decided to get up for the day. We had to wait for Lenora to get out first as the bed was against the wall. I am reminded again that we were all very naked, and I did not mind it.

"What are your plans for today?" Emiko asks while putting on some pants.

"I thought of going over to Old Man's place and training my [Apothecary] skill some more. What about you, guys?"

Lenora spoke up while putting her shirt on.

"I was thinking of going to the fighter school and learn some more techniques."

"Well, I guess that only leaves me. I guess I'll do some quests or something then."

"How about we meet up at the inn at 7 tonight then, and we can spend the evening together." I proposed to everyone.

They both accepted the plan. We head downstairs and give each other a kiss and split up for the day. I travel through the town, taking in everything. I find it interesting that a VR game can emulate things such as smell, taste, and even touch.

I can smell the different scents of the town in the air while also feeling the breeze dance across my skin. It all feels very peaceful until I come across a loud commotion.

I find two other players fighting each other in the marketplace. Surrounding them appears to be a barrier made of light, and in large letters above them are the words' Duel'.

One player looks like a wolfman with some metal armor, a sword, and a shield. The other player seems to be human wearing nothing but a full metal helmet, metal gloves, metal boots, and a loincloth. The naked guy is also using a massive two-handed sword and is jumping around trying to slash the other player.

This fight goes on for a few minutes before the wolf guy hits the naked guy with his shield and stabs him when he is on the ground. The word Duel is then replaced by "Congratulations, StockWulf Syndrome defeated Mr. Tibbs." Other players in the area cheer while others look disappointed.

Once the fight was finished, I continued towards the little shop. I arrived and opened the door and was greeted by the familiar chime of the bell.

"Ah, my best pupil arrives."

"Very funny Old Man. I'm your only pupil…I am right?"

"Yes, you are. Now then, I am guessing you are here for more learning?"

"Yeah, I wanted to practice making some more potions."

Old Man strokes his chin in thought for a moment before responding.

"You seem like a capable archer, how about I teach how to make poisons for your arrows."

He motions me to follow him, and we walk back to his hidden lab. He rummages around some of the equipment before pulling out a small bottle and the mortar and pestle again.

"Before we begin, do you have any poisonous plants with you?"

"Yeah, actually, I think I do. Let me check real quick."

I dig through my inventory. I find my black lotus and yellow cap mushroom.

"I got two black lotus and a few yellow cap mushrooms."

"Oh? Now we could have some fun with those."

"I am going to teach you how to make demon's blood."

"Demon's blood?"

"Yes, it is a nasty little poison. It temporarily paralyzes your enemy and also causes a festering wound that eats itself. One little nick is all it takes. It may not kill the enemy, but it will take them out of the fight with paralysis and debilitating pain. Plus, it's also a pain in the ass to heal."

"First, we get a small pot with some water and boil it. Next, we tear up the black and white lotus. Then we grind it into a paste while adding in yellow cap mushroom in intervals."

Old Man is really grinding the plants into a fine mush.

"Once everything is ground with no lumps, we then add it to our boiling water. This part is important because we don't want it to burn. We must continuously stir the mixture until all the water is gone and we are left with a boiling sludge."

After several minutes of stirring, we are left with a boiling black sludge.

"Now while it is still hot, we will pour it into this bottle. This bottle has a special lid that allows you to dip your arrows into the poison while still keeping it fresh. This bottle is good for about 30 days, at which point you will need to toss it and make a new batch."

He hands me the small bottle.

Demon's Blood [Poison]: Causes instant paralysis for 1 minute. Deals 5 necrotic damage per minute until healed.

Curious about some of the effects, I ask Old Man a question. "So how bad is necrotic damage?"

"Necrotic damage can only be cured with either a purification potion or a divine type healing spell. Most healing spells are nature type."

Now I know just how terrible this poison is, and all it takes is a single scratch. Old Man's voice brings me out of thoughts of poison.

"Once you get a grasp on potions, I will teach you how to refine pills.

I spend the rest of the day, making potions and listening to Old Man's lectures and demonstrations. Once it starts to get close to 7 o'clock, I head back towards the inn.

Walking in, I see Lenora and Emiko already sitting down with a few drinks.

"Hey, how was your day?"

"It wasn't too bad. I learned some great techniques, and I managed to get my starter gear too."

Lenora said in between sips of her beer. She looked kind of cute with her foam mustache.

"Today was fun. I did some quests and eventually made my way to the hunter school and trained."

I sat down and motioned to the barmaid for a drink. I then pulled out my vial of poison and showed it to the girls.

"I made this today."

They both looked at it, and I could see a flurry of emotions on their faces.

"That looks hella nasty. I mean, just the word necrotic sounds bad enough." Lenora responded while holding the vial.

"You don't even know. So necrotic damage…"

Before I could finish my sentence, a notification popped up in front of me.

Notice:

The game servers will be shutting down for scheduled maintenance in 15 minutes. Please log out in a safe location.

"I guess we should go to our room then and logout." I spoke to everyone

The girls agreed, and we paid for our drinks and went upstairs to our room. We were really comfortable with each other at this point and just stripped down to our skin. They wanted to make a Gwyn sandwich, so they had me sleep in the middle.

"Goodnight, I'll see you guys when I log back in." I gave each of them a kiss and proceeded to log out.