Chapter 44: Experiment
Fallen Star left the true soul how it was, leaving the inner soul to check up on Grey.
Grey stood in front of a flask that contained the ingredients necessary for a potion, that had been turned to a paste and added to water.
He was already sweating bullets, even though he had yet to use Mana, due to its nature.
Human Mana was a soft force that was molded, either by a Spell or Manipulation, so when it was forced into a rigid structure, there was bound to be a backlash.
Fallen Star could feel in Grey's mind the pain he was going through, just for existing with rigid Mana, so It urged him to begin.
Grey moved his hands, holding them around the flask, intent on forcing the Mana into the paste, just like a Mana conductor would.
His Mana resisted the command, but a second command forced it to comply. It followed his command through the Manipulation, exiting his hands without delay, due to his Mana Body that had Mana everywhere.
It left his hands in the form of a gas, something that regular Mana would never have done. It was meant to be formless, yet they could see and feel it without Mana Breathing showing him the Mana in the air.
'This is really weird.' Grey commented to Fallen Star, who was just as fascinated as he was.
- Keep going! - It cheered him on.
Grey refocused on the task at hand, Manipulating his Mana to enter the paste and spread it throughout the water.
The gas phased through the glass flask and entered the paste. Grey and Fallen Star watched with bated breaths, hoping to see how it would act. However, what happened next was something Grey couldn't see.
The Mana had barged into the paste with the refinement of a gorilla, forcing its way into each atom of the paste. Instead of gently infusing and wrapping the atoms, enhancing their effect for as long as it was there, the Mana made a home for itself.
It was as if the Mana drilled out a little spot in each atom for it to inhabit, which explained why its amplification never wore off. Immediately after, the Mana all settled into their new homes, finishing the reaction all at the same time.
- I know many things, but not even I knew Mana could act like this. - Unlike Grey, who was blind when it came to what happened, Fallen Star could see everything.
It may have only been able to look through Grey's eyes, but It had many more sense and capabilities than he. It took only a thought for Fallen Star's vision to zoom to an atomic level, allowing it to see the reaction.
Fallen Star dove back into Grey's soul, its vision being overrun with darkness. It had to change his Mana back before anything else.
It looked at the replica of Grey and commanded the Mana that flowed through his body to change itself back into its original self.
The Mana complied with his will, changing itself back to a soft, malleable force.
Once Fallen Star saw that it had finished shifting back, it reformed his true soul, letting it become a blob again. It then took its place back in its center, before It exited the soul.
It came back to see that Grey was on the floor, panting for breath.
'That used almost all of my Mana.' He thought to Fallen Star.
- I see. It takes around 13,000 Mana for a single 1st Rank potion. - Fallen Star commented, checking how much Mana Grey had left.
Grey took a moment to recover a little stamina and Mana. After about half an hour, Grey's scientific curiosity, what had led him to perform the experiment, couldn't wait any longer, forcing him to get off the floor.
What greeted him was a potion. A fully-fledged potion.
"Haha, we did it! We did it Fallen Star! We made a potion!" Grey almost jumped up and down out of joy but kept himself together. If he accidentally knocked over the potion, that had yet to be corked, he would lose it all.
He hurriedly grabbed a stopper and placed it in the flask, sealing the lid.
Only once that was done did he do a little celebratory dance.
'It didn't hurt that much, either,' He thought once he had calmed himself. 'It's just a different type of pain than usual pain, similar to the pain I felt when making the Mana Body, just weaker.'
- I see, that must be because soul tampering is involved alongside physical things. You couldn't call it soul pain, but it's not physical either. It's in between, a balanced mix of the 2. - Fallen Star hypothesized.
'Makes sense,' Grey thought. 'Now, how do we test it? Do I cut myself?'
- Save it for a fight. -
'Sure.'
---
After that experiment, Grey continued to make 1st Rank potions, until he had a supply of 50. Potions didn't expire, only separate, so once Mana had been added, all you had to do was shake before drinking, and they'd never fail.
He ground the leaves and seeds, mixing them until they turned to a paste. He added them to the cauldron alongside water, watching as the Mana conductor forcefully fed Mana to the mixture.
'I don't get how the machine is able to modify Mana, so I'll have to learn about that too. If I recall correctly, they have the same maker.' When Grey spoke of 'they' he referred to both the soul technology in the bracelet and the Mana conductor.
He had promised himself to figure out the secret of the soul technology, and step 1 was to talk to its maker. The only problem was that he didn't know where to start. The inventor was anonymous.
'I'll come back to that later.' He thought bringing himself back to the potions.
In just a minute, the conductor had finished mixing the paste and water, as well as forcing Mana into it.
The machine gave off smoke, something it did due to heat generated during the process, and once it stopped, Grey bottled the potions.
Once he was done, he exited the room, because it was time for him to learn more. Alchemy at a base level was useful, easy to manufacture, and cheap, but the stronger you got, the less of an effect it had.
He walked into the living room, sitting on the couch next to his father.
"Hey Dad, can I get the recipe for 2nd Rank potions? And Stamina syringes, please?" He asked, aware that it was best to ask his father, who worked in the Academy.
Lucas wouldn't know the recipe himself, simply because he had never taken formal education at The Island, and although Samantha was the daughter of Khan Wulf and an alumna of The Island, she had become a regular teacher. Over the years, she had forgotten the knowledge of Alchemy, her brain becoming filled with knowledge of Arkusian, History, Geography, Maths, and more.
"Of course, son. I'll get it tomorrow. Just let your old man rest. Making a plan for students is a lot of work, and oh-so boring." Lucas agreed, only to start whining.
Grey grabbed the remote, turning the volume of the TV up, not intent on listening to his father anymore.
A few seconds later, Samantha walked into the room, announcing that dinner was done.
Lucas snatched the remote, muted the TV, and ran to the kitchen with surprising speed. Today was his turn to choose the meal, and he had opted for his favorite dish, hotpot.
Neither Samantha nor Grey deigned to comment on his actions, knowing they would do the same if it was their favorite, choosing instead to make small talk on the way to the kitchen.
They sat at the dining room table, enjoying a hearty meal, chatting and laughter filling the room between bites of food.
"Mom, can you teach me about the other topics that I would miss at school? Such as Politics and War Tactics?" Grey knew that it would have been easier just to stay on The Island to learn Alchemy, Politics, and War Tactics, alongside other topics, but that would have hindered his growth, something that he greatly needed not to happen.
You couldn't grow without practical experience, steady training, and pushing yourself. All things he wouldn't get at The Island.
"Sure, but you'd be better off asking your father for War Tactics. Fighting was never my strong suit." Samantha emphasized the second sentence, almost making Grey spit out his food.
'Not your strong suit, my foot! Then why is everyone afraid of you, huh?!' He thought in mock indignance. Obviously, he didn't have the guts to say that to her. Doing that would only have bad outcomes.
Lucas on the other hand, had no qualms laughing about his wife, even if it cost him the privilege of sleeping on the bed. After all, what was a bond between a husband and wife, if they couldn't even have a laugh?
He snickered at what she had said, but he had enough sense to do it under his breath. However, as if she were a pigeon¹, the sound didn't escape her grasp.
THWACK!
A metal spoon found itself lodged in the space between Lucas' brows, causing Grey to laugh. Samantha joined in, whilst Lucas tapped the handle, making it fall to the table with a clatter.
He rubbed his forehead, whining under his breath, "Not funny."
________
¹ = From what I researched, pigeons have an incredible hearing range, going down to 0.5 Hz, much lower than a human's 20 Hz, hence why I wrote pigeon instead of bat, elephant, dolphin or such.
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