CHAPTER 305: MORE HOMEWORK

Arya nodded eagerly, though her nerves made her voice come out quieter than intended. "I—I think so. It’s stable now. The mana doesn’t reject the blend anymore, and the ice orchid’s reaction with frost root created a binding medium for the elemental threads."

Ellora blinked at the explanation. "You used frost root? That stuff is volatile even in a master’s hands."

Damon swirled the elixir slightly before downing it in one go. Ultimately, there was only one way to check just how effective an elixir was. To drink it and personally verify the effect!

A cold fire bloomed in his chest instantly, sweeping through his veins like a frostbitten wind laced with icy lightning. For a moment, his breath fogged the air despite the warmth of the burned plains. But most of the energy was contained within his body, settling somewhere deep.

Soon, he saw the familiar notification.

[Ding! Your ice element affinity has increased]

[Ding! Your ice element resistance has increased]

Damon slowly exhaled. "It worked." His voice was even, but his glowing crimson eyes betrayed the quiet awe brewing within.

Arya’s eyes went round. "Really? You’re not just saying that to make me feel better, right?"

Damon waved her off with a smirk. "You think too little of yourself. This is an extremely valuable elixir, and if you put it up for auction, you can instantly become a millionaire or even a billionaire."

Arya immediately shook her head and put her hands up. "No way! This belongs to you. You should take all the potions I made. Without your frost pearl, I couldn’t have made such an elixir at all."

Damon smiled. "True. But it’s your talent that made it happen. Without you, this potion might have never existed, you know?"

Listening to Damon’s words, Ellora gasped a little in shock. "You’re seriously telling me she came up with this recipe, brewed it, and stabilized it all by herself? Just how long have you been training?"

Ellora was an experienced alchemist, so if she was impressed, one could clearly see just how rare Arya’s accomplishment was.

Arya flushed under the sudden attention. "I just... read a lot. And experimented. A lot." She bit her lip before adding, "I messed up dozens of times. One time, my tent froze solid. Another time, I accidentally turned my hair blue for three days. But I kept trying."

Damon chuckled softly at that. "And now you’re reaping the rewards. This is more than just talent, Arya. This is effort, grit, and obsession. Which, in this world, are more precious than any resource."

Ellora smiled. Then, she let out a low whistle. "Obsessive little genius type, huh? You’re like a mouse with dragon fangs." A flicker of admiration crossed her face before it was replaced with her usual teasing smirk. "I have a feeling the next few days are going to be a lot of fun."

Arya blinked. "Next few days?"

Damon nodded. "About that... I have another assignment for you."

"What?" Arya immediately started to get flustered. "No. But I am still working on the frost pearls. I am sure I can get them to become a much more powerful resource. I can-"

Damon held up a hand to stop her mid-ramble, his tone calm but firm. "Relax, Arya. This isn’t to take you away from your work."

He smiled at the stubborn girl. "You can still continue tinkering with the frost pearls if you like. All I am asking is that you just take a small break from making the same type of thing. Don’t think it would help you more in the long run to have a change of pace? Challenge a different part of your alchemical brain?"

Arya blinked, still uncertain, but Damon’s gaze was steady, reassuring. "You’re right at the edge of a breakthrough, Arya. But breakthroughs don’t always come from grinding the same stone. Sometimes, a detour sharpens the blade even more."

"What I want is for you to work with Ellora on a different kind of project. Something a lot more difficult, to be frank. Here, take a look at these notes." Damon took out the three alchemy journals and handed one to Arya and two to Ellora.

"Take a look at this. This should technically talk about something called soulbrew alchemy or something related to that. The information I have might not be accurate, but there is definitely something in these journals. Can you read anything from it, Arya?"

"Soul brew alchemy?" It looked like Damon’s words had caught her interest. The girl took the journal carefully, her fingers brushing over the cracked leather binding like it was some ancient relic, because to her, it might as well have been.

Her brows furrowed in concentration as she flipped it open, eyes scanning the first few pages filled with tightly packed handwriting, complex diagrams, and faded arcane symbols. She muttered softly, her lips moving as if reading aloud in her mind.

After a moment, Arya’s eyes widened. But shortly afterwards, a look of frustration appeared. "You are right. I don’t understand the language. I need to read it." She looked at Damon desperately. "Blood God, what is this language? How can I learn it?"

Damon bitterly smiled. "One second." He then turned to Ellora. "What about you? Can you understand anything?"

Ellora, who had been quietly flipping through her own volume, tilted the book in the light and narrowed her eyes, tracing her fingers over the intricate calligraphy, or rather mad scramblings.

"Hmm. Some of it," she muttered. "Not fluently, but I’ve seen fragments of this script before. It’s not entirely Veltheric, it’s older. Possibly proto-Veltheric or a dialect closely related to it."

Her fingers paused at a page filled with layered sigils. "This... this is not standard potion work. This is essence-level refinement. They’re not just brewing for physical effects, they’re trying to tether alchemical properties to the soul."

Arya leaned in, curious despite herself. "Tether to the soul? like make it stronger?"

"Yes. They are trying to use alchemy to make the soul stronger. But, that’s just a small part of it. Mostly, the work is about extracting souls and making them obedient slaves!"

***

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