Chapter 35 - Experimenting (Part 1)

He was so deep in thought that he didn't even notice how and when did they arrive in front of their home. He only realized it when the small fists of Lily kept poking him to wake up.

"Hey Brother, wake up! What are you doing standing there like a statue?"

Poked back to reality Aiden slightly shook his head, before looking back at Lily, and with a small smile creeping upon his face, he apologized.

"Sorry. I was just thinking about today."

Innocent inquiry visible on her face, and with an O formed by her small mouth, Lily continued.

"What about today? Do you mean the food with the nice auntie and the uncle?"

Hearing her reply, the smile became kinder on his face, and as he gently patted the top of her head, he answered her.

"Not exactly. Just all the things that happened lately. Anyways, let's go inside and help Granny. She probably needs us to prepare."

"Yes! Let's help Granny!" agreed Lily, as they went inside the house. Meanwhile, from the rounded windows, the aforementioned elderly lady's smiling visage could be seen, as she was looking at the duo.

"I can't shake the feeling that this boy is not just a simple dragon. Sometimes he behaves like someone with years of experience, and other times like a kid that is in desperate need of familial love. I don't understand it at all..." she lamented. Everything that happened lately just confused her. He was impulsive when the ones he cared about were mentioned, but other times, he was cautious and calculating, almost scarily so. Like with the little 'birdy' on the trees that have kept her watch over the course of days relentlessly, he knew about her immediately, but chose to not do anything, but continue to keep watch.

And then, there's the situation with the hunting trip. When combat was initiated, he behaved like an adult. He was calm, he had the situation under control even during the ambush.

"*Sigh*... I hope that all of this is not just some prelude to something terrible coming. I'm not sure how he would react if something would happen to me or Lily. I just don't understand this kid…" she sighed as she walked back towards her currently clean and empty cauldron.

They should use the last rays of the sun as effectively as possible and work a bit on the requested extra ailments. While she is clear about what to do with the stamina-refilling energy drink, she needs some experimenting on how much she should dilute the regular stamina drink to make it feasible for the normal person. The regular version would be way too potent and could cause heart problems with such a kick.

"Lily, Aiden please come here! We need to work a bit on the drink Mrs. Norton has ordered from us!" She called the 2 stray cats.

Soon a blonde pig-tailed head peeked out from the room across the corridor followed by a pair of innocent eyes. Looking around like a cautious rodent, once she confirmed that the area is clear she dived back into the depths of her room. However, soon her giggling sound could be heard as Aiden pulled her out of the room and hand-in-hand they made their way towards Granny.

"Today would be a bit of experimenting on the dosage. We need to make sure that the stamina drink we create will be digestible for the normal people. Our first step is to prepare everything normally for the Low-grade Stamina Potion, which are a bit of Devil Cloves and a dose of Grey Wolf Blood." Smiling at Aiden, she continued.

"You see, stockpiling meat for you wasn't the only reason we went hunting, their parts are also a good ingredient for many professions. Their blood is a good ingredient for our case. Grey Wolf's are the lowest rank among their kind, it would just be perfect for our case."

"So, we have another reason for the hunt. I see." nodded Aiden and continued to watch with unfettered focus. He wanted to make sure he maximized his gains from this session. Meanwhile, Lily could be seen dangling her feet from the chair she was sitting on while listening to Granny. She wasn��t really interested in working today, but she wanted to stay close to her brother.

"I will describe the steps we will be taking, so pay attention. Lily, that means you as well." Granny looked at Lily who was looking at the windows currently.

Hearing her name called out, she twitched, but then she jumped down from the chair and trotted to them.

"Sorry Granny, I'm listening now!" she apologized.

"*Sigh*... With this potion, it is important to boil the ingredients together from the start in hot boiling water. So first, we will fill the cauldron with water, then boil the water. Once that is done, we will have to add the 2 ingredients at the same time. This is exceptionally important, so I will need both of your hands to assist me with this. We need 2 full vials of the blood and 1 handful of the Dark Red flowers we gathered previously. We will prepare these together and once I give the signal, we all pour the ingredients in, then close the lid and wait a few hours for the concoction to brew. One thing to note is that once the concoction is ready, we will need to dilute the potency of the concoction down, and for that, we will need to use cold water AFTER it is ready. I would assume that we need to lower the rank of the potion by at least 1 whole grade, for it to work, but we will see once we are ready." She stopped and as she looked at both of the children, she could see that they both were focusing on her words, so she did not ask if they listened, but instead sent them for the ingredients.

"Okay, let's start it up. Aiden bring us the water barrel, it should still have just enough for this brewing. Lily, go to the pantry and bring the Devil Clove flowers. You know, the ones you gathered before, they are those Dark Red bell-shaped flowers. We should still have enough. We will need to head out to gather new herbs for the sleeping potion anyways so tomorrow we will head out. Now, go bring me those herbs, while I get the blood ready and make sure the cauldron is clean!"

With that, all of them went towards their own destination. Aiden went to the kitchen and picked up the same barrel he did before, and easily made his way towards Granny. Meanwhile, Lily scattered to the pantry at the back of the house, where most of the herbs, flowers, and even the food were kept preserved. The floor had a unique runic symbol on it, that made sure the room's temperature was kept cool, regardless of what season was outside. The rune also made sure that everything was kept fresh twice as long as normal.

Although Lily was interested in the strange form of magic Granny used, she was told she is too young to be able to learn. Granny told her that once she grows and matures a few years she will start teaching her the basics. If she knew that Aiden was already making progress in it, she would probably pout and pressure Granny more than she did so previously…

Looking around the shelves in the room, there were a lot of different herbs prepped and preserved for later use. On other shelves, you could see various kinds of fruits and vegetables, while the meat they hunted was still hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the room.

Focusing more on the shelves containing herbs and flowers, she eventually found what she was looking for: The dark red, bell-shaped flowers, they gathered previously when they found Aiden in the forest. The memory made her giggle, and while picking up an empty basket from the corner of the room, she filled it with all the herbs she could fit in.

Once her basket was filled, she trotted back. By the time she got back, Aiden and Granny were both finished with their tasks and were just waiting for her to finish. As she arrived, she presented her filled basket to Granny as she proudly exclaimed:

"I'm back Granny! And I got all of the flowers you asked for!"

Taking the basket from the girl's hands with her right, she patted the top of her head with her left hands, as she gently answered her.

"Yes, you did sweetheart." Then turning towards Aiden, she motioned for him to come closer. "Okay, now let's begin! While we were waiting for you Lily, we already filled up the cauldron with water. Our next step is to start the fire and make sure the water is boiling before we add the blood and the flowers."

She flipped her hands and drew a quick rune in the air. She murmured something under her breath and the rune started glowing bright red, before shooting towards the prepared wood under the cauldron. As the symbol reached the wood, it vanished, and soon after the crackling of the newborn fire could be heard.

"Now, we just need to wait until the water is boiling."