Chapter 279: Walk
"This is... Ugh..." Kael exhales, massaging his temples with a frustration that seems to seep through his very pores. 'Dammit Lysandra, did you even try holding back?' he ponders, his gaze sweeping over the carnage laid before him. A destructive path carved by Lysandra's frenzied fight with Biana stretches out, the ground marred by craters and the forest around them a testament to their ferocity, with trees splintered or hanging by mere threads.
"Were they fighting some crazy criminals?" Aira muses, her voice a mix of curiosity and bewilderment. She taps her chin thoughtfully, eyes scanning the chaos. 'This is strange, how long did they fight for?' She crouches, scrutinizing the area for any sign of their adversary. 'There's no body or evidence of a standoff, did they chase after the criminal?' Standing up, she turns to Kael with an inquisitive look. "So, how long until we find them?" she queries, her eyes drifting skyward.
"It shouldn't be long; her coordinates are relatively close. They finally stopped running in the opposite direction," Kael mumbles, his attention riveted to his screen.
Aira blinks, a calm facade masking her inner calculations. 'How did he get an Mst? Given his income, he shouldn't be able to afford it. I did hear they're selling clones on the black market, but those aren't cheap.' With a gentle smile, she approaches Kael, her curiosity piqued. "Hey, how did you manage to get an Mst? They're pretty expensive, no?"
Kael meets her gaze, an undercurrent of irritation briefly crossing his features. 'Ugh... give it up already.' Redirecting his attention to his screen, he responds, "Hmm... the student body president gave it to me as a gift. She noticed I really wanted one and gladly gave one up. Along with this." He taps his watch, revealing a different holographic screen. "It's nice, but it only works near school grounds," he explains, closing the window.
'I would believe it if it were anyone else, but I know you well, V. You don't accept anything from anyone that's not Biana.' Aira contemplates silently before taking a seat on a nearby rock. "You know, if you really wanted one, you could have asked me. Let me know if you need anything else, alright?" she offers, her smile warm and genuine.
"Hey you human!" Caelir grumbles, materializing in front of Aira with the grace of an annoyed feline. Dangling from a tree initially, he flips off and lands squarely in front of her, his expression one of pure irritation. "Oi, human, stop flirting with V, will ya?" His voice is thick with annoyance as he inches closer, poking her forehead with a finger as pointed as his words. "V and Lú are going to get married, do you understand? Stop flirting with him or you'll regret it."
Aira raises an eyebrow, a smirk playing on her lips. 'Heh, what a funny elf. If only I had the time to date. Unfortunately, I don't have time for such a life,' she muses internally, her hands raised in a gesture of surrender. "I promise you, I have no intention of ruining their relationship," she assures, her tone laced with sincerity and a hint of amusement at the absurdity of the accusation.
Caelir, somewhat appeased, strides towards Kael, slapping him on the shoulder with a smirk. "Good, keep your hands off my bro." 'Oh, maybe he's useful after all,' Kael thinks, a flicker of gratitude flashing through his mind as he continues to follow the route laid out on his screen.
Meanwhile, Oliver yawns, stretching his limbs with an air of disinterest. "This is boring. I can't make any potions right now," he complains, his gaze wandering aimlessly. 'I'm so bored here... Why did mother make me come here? I have no interest in Elven culture,' he grumbles to himself, lost in his thoughts.
Caelir raises an eyebrow skeptically. "Dude, it's best you don't make any more potions. Your creations are ass, no offense. You're a horrible alchemist," he states bluntly, his thoughts even more critical. 'I don't need to see anything to know he is crazy. He just throws stuff together and calls it a potion. That's not how it's done.'
Unphased by the critique, Oliver scoffs in response. "What would you know? You have no creativity. I bet all you do is follow the horribly planned-out instructions in a book. Alchemy is about creating new potions. A five-year-old can make a potion following instructions, but that doesn't make him an alchemist."
Caelir rolls his eyes, "Oh please, I make my own potions based on already existing data. It's not copying, it's understanding you shouldn't be adding anything over 1.2 liters of condensed slime in a mid-concentrated mist healing potion! You don't just add shit randomly and hope it works!"
"You don't know crap. First of all, I used 1.4 liters in a 7.57-liter final product. The condensed slime was stabilized by the dire wolf fangs and the steel-weaving spider eyes. The stabilization process should've been perfect, the issue wasn't even the condensed slime, I probably miscalculated the unicorn tears. I should've added .3 a fluid oz instead of .45. I'm way ahead of you in this field," Oliver states, his tone dripping with seriousness, a stark contrast to the previous banter.
"Oh, fuck you. What type of moron are you?" Caelir retorts, closing the distance between them with a few strides. "First of all, you only need one dire wolf fang. And I can already tell you messed up the process. You're only supposed to use .1 fluid oz of a unicorn tear. Do you have any clue how potent it is? A cup of that can melt through steel. And it changes the entire process; the vapor was probably corroded with high concentrations of steamed bacteria. Do you know the effect condensed slime with unicorn tears does to the steel-weaving spider's eye? The cell replication quadruples you brainless weed! You fucked everything from the start; why do you think their faces melted? It's because you didn't add enough holy water!" Caelir scoffs, his frustration evident as he rubs his temples. 'I can't believe someone like this is telling me I'm not an alchemist.'
Hearing this, Oliver raises an eyebrow, unphased by the harsh critique. "Well, excuse me for trying something new. This is my first time making a mist and healing potion," he counters, his voice laced with sarcasm before turning contemplative. "But you're right, I didn't add enough holy water. I only added 4.2 liters. I thought the processes I used would lower the amount of holy water needed. Instead of boiling it together from the start, I tried boiling it into three separate sections with the intention of lowering the toxicity and the lethality. I then mixed it using a high Orc's bone just to prevent any bacterial corrosion."
"Huh? You boiled it in three separate flasks?" Caelir mumbles, tapping his chin in bewilderment. "What the hell... you'd need a mutated Boex husk. And one at least 1 foot long. That's rarer than a Cyclops eye. Even so, you'd need at least 70 hours to boil and freeze everything repeatedly. But it does make sense, once the dire wolf's fang completely merges with the condensed slime it makes the entire process 10 times easier," he muses, scratching his head as he tries to wrap his mind around the unconventional method.
Hearing this, Oliver raises an eyebrow, intrigued by Caelir's take. "What are you talking about? Why would it need to be frozen repeatedly? One time should be enough," he says, scrolling through his personal data to double-check his theories.
"Are you stupid? Separating it into three different flasks means you need to watch the cell count. There are blue cells and red cells in a steel-weaving spider. If you boil it in separate flasks, the red cell count will quintuple, but the blue cell count will stay the same. The first freeze should stabilize the reaction between the condensed slime and unicorn tears. And from then on, you need at least 10 extra freezes. Once the steel-weaving spider eye extract is frozen, the red blood cell count will freeze while the blue cell count uses the bacteria to catch up. The red and blue cell count need to be on par, or everything will go to hell," Caelir explains with a fervor, jotting down the process. 'I never thought about boiling it in three separate flasks. If it's done right, the healing can be 250% more effective.'
Hearing him, Oliver slaps his forehead in a moment of epiphany. "How did I miss that? It's so blatantly obvious I completely ignored the cell count and focused on the Boex husk. You're not bad; I thought you were basic," he admits, his previous misconceptions about Caelir's understanding of alchemy shattering. 'I didn't think there'd be someone capable of understanding my methods.'
Caelir chuckles at the compliment, a smile spreading across his face. "Hahaha, and I thought you were a crazy human."
-
"This... how long has he been like this for?" Saelin asks in disbelief, her eyes wide as she observes the animated discussion between Oliver and Caelir. 'Never did I ever think I'd see this... someone capable of intriguing Caelir in alchemy...'
Kael turns towards her, shrugging with a sense of resignation. "Ugh... they started fighting and then just talking like that for about 2 hours now?" he exhales, a look of confusion crossing his face. 'I have no damn clue what they're saying. I tried reading an alchemy book once, but the amount of information that needs to be memorized... I just don't have the time for that.'
Biana yawns, barely keeping her eyes open as she gestures towards Lysandra, who is wrapped in a blanket and hanging from a tree like a piñata, wriggling frantically. "Oi, V, what the hell is wrong with her?" she mumbles, half asleep. 'Hahahahahaha, what is this?' Kael stifles his laughter, keeping his amusement to himself. "Don't worry about her, I'll fix her later; she can stay there for a while."
With a heavy exhale, Biana shifts the conversation back to their urgent situation. "V... they're looking for you. We need to come up with a plan fast," she says, her tone serious as she rubs her wounds. 'Dammit, if I had been more careful, we wouldn't have been caught mid-air, and we would have won that fight. And why isn't Kael worried? He must have a plan, right? He always does...'
"Let's wait for Isabella before we make a plan; you know she doesn't like getting excluded," Kael suggests, his gaze wandering around the area. 'Dammit, I can't really plan for this. There's a multitude of criminals. I've changed the story drastically, so I don't really know which criminals are after me.' He clicks his tongue in frustration. "I should've been more careful. No point in complaining now," he mutters, walking up to the dangling Lysandra. 'Hmhmhmhm, I really want to keep you up there, but I can see you're trying your hardest,' he thinks, observing Lysandra, who is breathing heavily with a red face, struggling to get out.
"Okay, okay, I got it," Kael says, dragging Lysandra away from the group. Crouching down to her level, he can't help but chuckle. "Pfff, I'm sorry, you just look funny." He lifts his palm, casting a fireball with dark red flames that send shivers down his spine. 'Fuck, it still gives me the creeps,' he thinks, looking at her with a mixture of amusement and apprehension. "Open wide~" he instructs, before stuffing the fireball into her mouth.
Lysandra swallows the flame and exhales, her body visibly relaxing. "Oh... thanks... you have no clue how great it feels. Give me more," she begs, her voice laced with a desperate need. "Yeah, yeah, you did a good job holding back," he mumbles, unwrapping her from the blanket and throwing another fireball at her, which she sips gladly, licking her lips with satisfaction.
"I did, didn't I? Shouldn't you reward me then? I could've broken out of that blanket and continued attacking them, you know," she says in a tired tone.
Kael nods, "You're right, I think this is good progress. It must've hurt having to damage your body internally to keep the others safe. I'll make you your favorite steak and I'll give you a present later."
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