Chapter 21: New Possibilities

Chapter 21: New Possibilities

Chapter 21

The next day Kai woke up at the first light of dawn. He slept only six hours but felt fresh and ready to tackle the new day. He walked the shore for his usual routine. It was slightly cold outside, but after having swum in the middle of winter, a chill breeze was almost pleasant.

Another benefit of improving your race grade was a reduced need for sleep or so he read. The book in question said that at the highest grades, people could manage with sleeping once per year. Even if the author herself admitted such a statement had not been verified and was based on hearsay and a good dose of speculation.

Kai had yet to decide if not needing to sleep would be more cool or unsettling. Sure, he often wished he had more hours in the day, but to live without any sleep would be weird. Who doesn't love to take a good nap or fall asleep after a long day? And what about dreams?

He couldnt come up with an answer. Not that he needed to worry about this problem, probably ever. For now, needing one or two hours less a day was a total net positive in his book.

Now that I think about it, I bet Elijah is going to increase my training time. Fuck my life!

Speaking of which, in his excitement, he had forgotten to check his next race enhancement. Orange wasnt the end of the road, just the first step. With a mental command, the familiar window appeared in front of him.

Race: HumanGrade: Orange Next enhancement 0/100,000 XP

Kai stared blankly at the message for a dozen seconds.

What the actual fuck, thats more than all Red combined!

He had suspected there was going to be a big jump, but not this much. It would be hard to even reach one more enhancement before fourteen.

By doubling his number of skills, his experience gains would also spike, but his old skills were slowing down. He had no more easy gains.

After level 50, skills gave 50% more XP and that rose to 100% after 75, which for Red skills was 150 XP and 200 XP per level, respectively. But the increase did not make up for how much harder each new level got.

Well, if it was that easy everybody would do it. There is a reason most people in the Archipelago have their race stuck at the beginning of Orange.

Kai tried not to get discouraged. One step at a time he would get there, eventually.

He continued with his morning session of meditation and put those thoughts to rest.

When he reopened his eyes, Elijah was looming over him staring at him with a flat expression. Kai casually stood up. That had stopped working months ago, it would take more than this to spook him.

He expected to have a long conversation with Virya, but she just congratulated him for achieving Orange in an acceptable time and sent him his way.

What did change was his routine. Kai thought he was finally done with Running and Swimming. The reason he trained those skills so frantically had been achieved.

Elijah didnt think the same. Physical training was the best way to get used to his new attributes.

It was kind of exhilarating, Kai felt like he was flying when he ran at full speed by the sea. Contending with the wind to go even faster.

That lasted about twenty minutes, then he discovered he could get tired all the same. If he could do more, he would be pushed all the way till he was as exhausted as before.

Commn, get up. We are not done yet.

Kai was heaving on the beach, that was how each training session ended after all. If he could still stand, he had not pushed hard enough.

Kai glared at the pale man, what else did he want from him? He stood up with a groan, before he could protest Elijah threw a stick his way.

Kai fumbled to catch it. It had been purposefully a short throw. He stared daggers at the butler before looking at what he was holding. It was less than a meter in length, with an unmistakable shape. Kai threw a questioning look.

That is called a sword, a wooden imitation of one at least, but you should still hold it from the handle, not from the pointy end, Elijah said slowly enunciating each word and showing how to wield an identical wooden sword.

Kai took a deep breath. He was only trying to provoke him, I know what a goddamn sword is! But why am I holding a wooden practice sword?

Elijah smirked, You are holding one because I just gave one to you,he threw him a worried lookhave you already forgotten? Did you hit your head while you were swimming?

This jerk!

A vein pulsed on Kais head.

Elijah didnt give him the time to come up with the right retort and continued speaking with a slightly less irritating tone, There are two reasons. First, everyone should be able to wield a weapon well enough not to embarrass themselves. If you live long enough, you will find yourself in a situation where a sword or a knife is the only thing standing between death and survival.

His words lost all his sarcastic undertone, Even if you somehow become something resembling a mage, there will be plenty of times when you will be unable to use your mana. A sword is more reliable and often also faster than a spell.

Secondly, there are many ways to use magic. Elijah extended his sword sideways, in the blink of an eye blue flames spread to its entirety.Ñøv€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

Kai took a step back without realizing, the wave of heat he expected to feel didnt come. The blue flame burned brightly, but he could hardly feel its warmth.

The two ingredients were used in many potions, but with them alone, he could guess they were going to prepare an energizing tonic. It was as basic as they came, but Kai was more relieved than disappointed. It would be very hard to mess this up.

Back in the laboratory, he followed Dora's instructions to clean and process the root and flower correctly. He eliminated the unnecessary parts and left their magical properties intact.

Kai knew what to do, but it was his first time, so he was a bit nervous. He had to use Mana Sense to not harm the small mana veins of the lifebloom. The dragonroot was a lot less delicate; the hard part was in controlling the temperature as it boiled first.

Now add the lifeboom. Dora hurriedly said.

Kai threw the purple flower inside the cauldron without hesitation.

Pay attention to the process with Mana Sense, Ill take care of the rest, Dora said.

Like a hawk with his prey, Kais gaze observed as the mana of the two plants meshed inside the cauldron, giving birth to something different. It wasnt a completely peaceful process and Kai noticed several points where the two energies clashed with each other instead of assimilating, destroying some of the energies and forming impurities. This only happened in a few parts and most of the ingredients fused together properly.

After cooling and sifting it through a paper filter, they were left with a dark orange-ish solution.

Come on, drink up. Dora smilingly offered him the potion.

Of course I have to drink it.

Kai downed the tonic. The taste was a bit earthy, quite good considering what he usually drank.

The effect was almost immediate. As if a liter of coffee had been directly injected into his veins, Kai felt more awake than ever, ready to run a marathon and memorize an encyclopedia.

Dora smiled, I can still remember when I drank the first potion I made. Its been so long but it feels like yesterday. The full effect of your potion should last about ten minutes, then it will start waning till it disappears after half an hour.

How old are you, auntie Dora? Kai asked before his brain could catch up to his mouth. This was certainly a side effect of the tonic. He had always been curious, she looked around forty, maybe a bit more. He couldnt really tell.

Thankfully she seemed to take it in stride and laughed out loud adjusting her red curly hair.

Oh, dear I will only say Ill be in my second century for a few more decades.

Kais jaw hung low.

I know, dear, I know. No one would guess I was a day over a century. Maybe one day Ill share my secret recipes. Dora winked at him, misunderstanding the reason for his astonishment.

Now lets finish this up, we still have two sets of ingredients to go through. Ill do next, so watch carefully and dont miss a single detail, youll do the last.

Without waiting for an answer, hurricane Dora proceeded to process the dragonroot and lifebloom. Explaining the how and whys she did something and what he did wrong.

It had taken Kai almost forty minutes to complete the process. Dora finished in ten while she also slowed down for the explanation. Her hand moving fast and precise, the mana of the plants seemed to shine brighter when she was done.

She then easily controlled the temperature of the cauldron and showed how to correctly stir the mixture.

Kai observed the whole process with Mana Sense. The two energies seemed to willingly mesh without any sign of clash or impurities.

was a clearer pale orange liquid with a stronger mana signature.

Come on, dear. Now it's your turn for the final batch.

Kai sighed, Dora made it seem so easy, but replicating her actions was not. He did his best to correct the mistakes she had pointed out and follow her tips.

He worked methodically, taking his time with each step. When it was time to put the ingredients together, Dora once more took charge and told him to observe.

The magical properties of the two plants fused better in his second try, but it didnt come close to Doras. It didnt take long to see the first clash appear. However, instead of the expected destruction a thin tendril of mana intervened and calmed the situation.

Dora was commanding half a dozen mana tendrils through the concoction to placate any clashing energies.

Look Kai, this is what it means to do alchemy. Processing the ingredients in the right way can solve many problems, but some mistakes are inevitable. A good apothecary can also use mana-rich ingredients, but only an alchemist knows how to apply mana to save the concoction when things go wrong.

And not all ingredients fuse so easily like dragonroot and lifebloom. Some wont mesh no matter how you prepare them. Its right then that a true alchemist knows how to intervene and encourage the desired result.

Filtering the concoction, the energizing tonic was indistinguishable from the second one despite all his mistakes during the preparation process.

When youre able to prepare this potion by yourself and achieve a similar result, youll receive the Alchemy skill.

Kai now knew what he wanted in his last skill slot.