Wraithwood Botanist

But that’s not what happened.

Elana looked me up and down with a serious gaze, then made earnest eye contact with me. "That was close. We must prepare you for next time. You’re too weak."

I felt a knot in my throat and swallowed it down. It felt like my limbs suddenly weakened, leaving me scratchy, and all I could do was nod.

Kline was the same.

He could feel the seriousness.

"Then let’s get ready," Elana said. "Today we’re talking about enchantments." She started filling the alchemy station with ingredients without comment and then turned to me.

"Do you know why enchantments require you to chant?" Elana asked.

I shook my head. "I don’t know anything about enchantments."

"Why?"

"Because I figured you’d make me unlearn everything anyway."

Elana’s eyes narrowed. "Clever girl… that’s correct. I would’ve done that." She turned back to the table and then back at me. "Normal spells come in two parts. There’s the foundational spell and the activation spell. Foundational spells are based on the chant. They allow you to practice the spell. The circulation. The threads. It trains your mana channels and subconscious to activate the spell. You have an acceleration spell—does that mean you’re practicing mental shielding?"

I nodded.

"Wise choice. Shielding is a good example. When you practice it, it puts your brain through a bombardment of sensations to build resistance. But when you activate the spell, it’s clear."

That was true. My mind was stronger in general after doing mental shielding, but when I used it, it was like putting a lid on a grease fire. The same was true of Moxle Dilation, which required nightly refinement to master the mana circulation patterns but then became intuitive to simply activate.

It made sense, so I nodded again.

"Enchantments are different," Elana said. "They’re foundational spells, but they’re stand alone, like arrays. They contain the blueprint to activate a magic spell upon consumption."

"If it’s just a spell… couldn’t you just…"

"Use healing magic?"

"Yeah."

"You can." Elana pulled a knife from thin hair and slashed her palm. Then she put her fingers on the wound, and it suddenly closed up. "This’s a healing spell. It doesn’t require alchemy. However, there are limitations. Magic cannot create something that’s not there. So while it’s great for stitching up wounds, it won’t replace something that’s missing."

"That… makes sense. So this elixir we’re making replaces what’s missing?"

"Correct. But that’s not all. This stitching spell doesn’t clean. It doesn’t cleanse. It doesn’t reconnect muscle fibers or nerves. Healing magic has as high a barrier to entry as alchemy because it requires third-tier multi-stage spells to do on the spot healing. Otherwise, you’re relying upon drugs, chemicals, and techniques."

"So that’s why we got zorathorn…"

"Correct. By gaining this ingredient, we’ve removed the chant necessary to push liquid through your muscles. Now, even you can make it."

"That… makes a lot of sense."

Elana nodded. "Now sit. Enchantments require you to transfer a foundational blueprint—so you need to memorize these chants."

"Wait. Memorize them?"

"Yes."

"The words?"

"Yes. It takes a long time for the human brain to be able to effectively transfer each individual step in a blueprint. Now sit."

All my enthusiasm died. Some of these chants were like ten-page essays that I simply learned by immersing myself into the chant, listening to Lithco do it, and then repeating it. This would take forever—

—and it did.

Elana taught me five chants over the next week—and she made me memorize and pronounce every word correctly. She even sicked Lithco on me, and he was ruthless, correcting every minor detail. But that wasn’t the worst part. Halfway through the week, my concentration and focus plummeted when something began eating away at me.

Lithco… the reaper should be dead right now, right? I had asked.

It had been over two months, and the rootstrangler should’ve been able to reach the reaper’s body over a thousand feet under the ground by that point.

Lithco’s answer annoyed me.

Would you like to use an information request?

What do you mean information request? I cried. Why am I not getting a notification?

I only present information on kills if it’s part of a level-up or a reward—in this case, you’re not leveling or getting rewards.

So I’m not gonna know?

Not without a request.

Fine. I’ll use one. Just tell me when it’s dead.

It’s dead.

I almost blew a gasket when I heard the casualness with which he presented the information. Still, it filled me with intense excitement. It meant that I could evolve.

I told that to Elana the next day when I requested time to evolve, and she hit me with the most brutal answer of my life.

You think you’re ready to evolve? With your core? Are you insane? You might as well give away your power!

I was taken aback. What do you mean?

Once you evolve, you can’t work on your foundation any longer—and foundation means everything. Unless you grow up wealthy, advanced practitioners spend decades building their core between stages. You are in a privileged position but it’s not enough. Begin threading before you even think about evolving.

I said yes and did. Starting that night, I pushed aside everything and took turns with Kline threading cores. It started with a hundred first evolution cores—then I moved to second evolution cores. I let Kline keep the strongest cores because he killed the beasts, but he insisted I keep some strong ones.

It didn’t matter, anyway. According to Lithco, there wasn’t anything different about the mana in cores—just the quantity. Pure and evolved cores had high mana, but the mana wasn’t different from that in first evolution cores. So it didn’t matter. I popped them like candy, slamming back a second evolution core a night like clockwork.

Day in, day out, I memorized chants and threaded, building my core—and while Elana tried to downplay my astonishing progress, it was written on her face.

I was building power—fast.

A week later, Elana allowed me to practice the spells. I cut myself and used cleansing and stitching magic to close the wounds. I gave myself rashes with poisons and then used a spell to remove the surface toxins. I even cut myself deep and then used magic to reconnect the muscle fibers.

Only once I gained proficiency in each did Elana arrive and tell me that it was time to create the Illyndra Elixir and move on.

I nodded and set to work. I started by creating a skin barrier, followed by an oxygen domain around my head and an oxygenless domain around my body and workspace. Once contained, I desiccated and ground half the zorathorn (as I saved half for Elana’s tribute). I mixed in solvents and used Essence Extraction to extract the active ingredients and essence. Once complete, I strained out the plant matter with Separation, collecting the poison and matter into another jar to make a powerful poison later on.

I distilled the solvents to remove the chemicals, releasing the active ingredients, and captured those in a tiny jar—and I finally had zorathorn extract.

I took the poisonous gas that was trapped in my domain and released it, blowing it away with Pervasive Breeze. The gas killed the canopies, causing the green leaves to rot red and fall like it was fall time.

It was disturbing.

The elixir was far, far easier. I cooked a base with different ingredients, sweetened it with berry extract, added alcohol, and mixed only a tenth of the zorathorn extract into it.

Now a clear liquid, I put my hands onto the jar and began chanting all the enchantments.

The clear liquid turned from pink to red to glowing crimson over the next three hours as I recited each of the chants verbatim, imagining each individual process. By the time it ended, it looked like a world-ending zombie virus—but I was remarkably proud of it.

You couldn’t understand how prideful I was as I vacuum-sealed seventeen test tube-sized bottles of Illyndra Elixir and got the chime.

—---

Congratulations! You have made your first enchanted creation.

Name: Illyndra Elixir

Tier: 3

Description: Wheeeeeeew. What started as a cruel joke turned into reality! You have officially created an elixir that automatically cleanses and plugs wounds like a tire goo and rapidly facilitates the healing process. Make sure to thank your narcissistic god. For all her faults, she’s done more for you than what most gods do for their pupils for years or even decades.

Warning(s):

If you do not use an oxygenless domain before drinking it, it will rapidly oxidize and solidify. In the worst-case scenario, it will open in your throat. Be careful when ingesting the elixir.

This elixir is only active in the bloodstream for eight hours before rapidly deteriorating. After eighteen hours, your body flushes it out, leaving you with a period of immobilization followed by feeling sick for half a day. Only use before serious battles and prepare yourself for hell after.

—---

I looked at Elana who was smirking, preparing to say thank you. But before I could, I got two notifications that I was expecting but forgot about.

—---

Congratulations! You have completed the mission, "Create a Third Tier Health Restoration Creation" for your subclass.

Rewards:

Tutorial on health restoration basics that is one tier above your level’s creation.

One health restoration recipe with ingredients that are reasonably accessible to you. The recipe will be one tier higher than your own.

—---

I then got a second chime.

—---

Due to already having the rewards, you have been given alternative rewards.

Rewards:

One silver recipe request (for creating a second-tier health restoration creation).

One gold recipe request (for creating a third-tier health restoration creation).

One silver tutorial request (for creating a second-tier health restoration creation).

One gold tutorial request (for creating a third-tier health restoration creation).

—---

I looked at the screen in wonderment. The rewards really put things into perspective. To get a gold for creating a five-stage enchanted elixir made with a deadly plant really made me realize the value of a diamond reward. Yet, it also made me realize how rapidly people scaled their power into godhood. Once I got to a certain point, every new third-tier creation type would yield a gold. Once I got to the fourth tier, every new creation type would yield a platinum, and so on.

At least, that’s what I thought. I doubted that someone would run around getting epic requests for everything. So, there was probably a tiered system. But still… just getting platinum for everything would be a life changer.

"Good work," Elana said.

I looked at my teacher with a beaming smile, remembering that she had been there all along that day. "Thank you so much!"

"Repay me with my tribute," Elana said. "While I have pampered you far beyond advisable, I am still here on business."

I saluted. "I will get you more than asked."

Her eye twitched. "Must you be so weird?"

I slowly lowered my hand with an awkward smile.

"Anyway..." she said. "There’s only a month until the Harvest, so don’t get complacent. This week I want you to get all my tribute and put in an order for new bottles. You don’t wanna lose it when you sell your elixirs. Then go south to the river and evolve."

"A month…" Chest caved in, and my lungs lost pressure.

"And you’re not ready yet," Elana said. "And that’s not all."

"What do you mean… that’s not all?"

Elana’s face turned grim. "The migration’s about to happen."

"Migration? What the hell’s the migration?"

"It’s pretty intuitive. Every year, hundreds of second-evolution humanoids cross the gate for the Harvest. In response, second and third-evolution beasts flock toward the Bramble to pick ’em off."

I looked at the alchemy station warily. "So this place… it’s not gonna be safe?"

Elana’s eyes flashed with sharp light. "No. In two weeks, this place’ll be swarming with powerful beasts—and you don’t wanna be anywhere near it."