Chapter 344 Intermission: Madam Wu (Final)

"Now, make the two things I just made, and then I'll teach it. I'm not wasting materials on using this technique on something mid as fuck…, so go. Do it. Now!" She demanded, and as I stretched my limbs a bit, she slammed the table, waking me up to go gather all of the ingredients.

"Y'know, just because I looked lazy didn't mean I wasn't paying attention," I cheekily grinned, and as the woman rolled her eyes once more, I ground the first batch of materials up, splashing a few drops of cold liquid into it in order to finalize the entire thing.

I then mashed up the next batch of ingredients and dripped a few drops of boiling hot liquid into the mixture, causing an eruption of steam to finalize the entire thing.

"And… how is it?" I asked, pushing two bowls towards her, causing her to let out an angry grunt as she muttered under her breath, and soon she took her two wooden bowls and shoved them in front of her.

"Now, pay attention. I won't be doing this again."

She dipped a single finger, one on each hand, into one in each bowl, and upon chanting a few inaudible words, the two liquids began to glow.

They vibrated and shook in the bowls before rising into the air, slowly but surely melding together right in front of Wu, whose concentration was so thorough that she began to drool all over the table.

I watched the woman mold these two liquids together until they formed a golden liquid that, upon mixing together, fell straight down, creating a wet splotch on the wooden table below.

"You're just gonna waste the product?" I questioned but was soon shut up as she flicked her finger upwards, sending the shimmering golden liquid arching into her mouth.

She swallowed, and I couldn't help but gag as it looked like she had just swallowed straight steaming piss.

"Mmmf… okay… I'm not fucking doing that," I muttered, and as the woman rolled her eyes, she finished swallowing the liquid that she strangely let sit in her mouth for a few seconds, slowly draining it down her esophagus.

"Delicious…"

"There was no need to say that…."

As Wu lightly chuckled, I bent over my chair, suppressing the urge to throw up as she let out a loud burp that smelt like absolutely cat piss.

"There is no way that wasn't piss. Please tell me you didn't just make piss out of herbs and medicine…  and please don't tell me it's good for you."

"Well, a good thing for you, it is not piss, but it is very nutritious for you. But that wasn't the point of this lesson. The skill that you saw me do combine and melded two polar opposites together. One was a freezing medicine meant to quell fevers and various poisons. One was a flaming medicine meant to quell hypothermia and various other poisons as well… now, what if you combined not just two medicines but two weapons? Two sets of armor? Two… skills?"

"Wait, don't tell me you can actually-"

"Yes, you can. You most definitely can combine skills, and this right here is proof of it…." The woman smiled, nudging the two bowls of medicine toward me.

"Okay, fine. Let's say you can combine two skills, but how the fuck am I supposed to do it in the first place? How am I supposed to learn a skill that you created through chanting? You think that's really gonna work with me?"

Wu gave me a stupid expression with a slight side idea to avoid my gaze, but as a drop of sweat ran down her cheek, she wearily chuckled and nudged the two bowls even further forward.

"Now, dip both of your index fingers into the bowls and keep your eyes wide open. You need concentration, but you also need to see what you are working with… see the mana swirl around you," she smiled.

"You can also see mana?"

"Everybody can. Everything around you is mana. It is the blood of the world. The wind that sweeps through blades of grass is mana. The towering rock formations making hills and mountains are mana. The raging rivers providing us with natural barriers and a source of water are mana. They are the blood of the world, and we, the inhabitants of such a world, thrive off of the resources that it has been providing us."

I paused for a moment, glancing down at the two wooden bowls before licking my dry lips. "I never thought of it that way."

"Of course, you haven't now stick your goddamn fingers in the bowl before I do it myself,"

"Alright, alright. I was just having a revolutionary moment…." I sighed, dipping both of my index fingers in the bowls, feeling two polar opposite temperatures almost begin to connect my skin to my eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.

"Now, follow after me: May the rising sun and the setting moon…."

"May the rising sun and the setting moon…."

"Blah blah blah blah blah… I'm just kidding there is no incantation. I was just playing with you," Wu smirked, and as a vein nearly popped out of my forehead, the woman slid her chair back just a few inches out of my punching distance. "Anyway, you must feel the connection already. Grasp it and hold onto it like it's a rope. Pull that feeling towards you."

I did just like she said, despite her previous prank, and made sure to grasp such a feeling, causing the mana around me to swirl into a whirlpool.

That whirlpool of mana dragged the two substances up into the air, slowly molding them together into one floating puddle of golden liquid.

"You should probably catch it in a bowl before-"

SPLASH

Suddenly, the substances finished mixing, and the new product dropped to the ground, the swirling pool of mana immediately dispersing back into the air, freely roaming the dirty lab we were in.

"Ugh… whatever…" Wu rolled her eyes before lifting up her finger, arching the substance into my mouth.

I tried my best to ignore its properties and focus on the flavor… and well, it was sour and bitter but strangely sweet as well.

"Still gross…"