After training, Drodosis' muscles were sore to the point that he was about to collapse. If not for his determination, his quavering arms and legs would have given up on him! Yet, he forced himself to his personal bathing room.
There, he found all kinds of medicinal plants, some of them being very uncommon, others being more well-known. As he entered into the cold yellowish liquid, Drodosis felt slight pain, as if there were needles piercing his skin.
[Beep! Entering medicinal bath. Host is required to stay put, without moving, for 45 minutes, before the beneficial effects become negligible. Effects: Attributes increases (+0.005 strength, +0.04 agility and +0.03 physique), recovery rate increased by 300% for the next 12 hours, and increased charisma (soft skin). Secondary effects: pain, exhaustion.]
Forty-five minutes later, Drodosis got out of his bath with great difficulty, before heading to his bedroom. As soon as he could, he collapsed on his bed. This was a long and exhausting day, but a fruitful one.
The next day, Drodosis was awoken by George.
George – "Young Master, Chef Henri has cooked your favourite Swamp Salamander eggs, fresh from the market! He says he wanted to reward you for the performance you displayed yesterday."
Drodosis – "Good morning, George. I am coming."
When Drodosis entered the dinner hall, he found Knight Lara, Knight Eric and his father waiting for him. Drodosis felt elated. How long had it been since he had had Swamp Salamander eggs?
Drodosis – "Good morning, Knight Eric. Hi, father. My respects, Master Lara."
Roland – "Haha! I knew you were well-mannered, but I didn't expect you to know the etiquette! Helena gifted me a good son!"
Drodosis – "Thank you, father."
Roland – "You can begin to eat."
[Beep! Swamp Salamander Eggs consumed. Effects: slight improvement in agility (+0.05 points per kilogram).]
Drodosis – 'This is definitely the best feeling!'
Roland – "The Yale barony has decided to stop their provocations, seeing that we managed to get our hands on two ballistae. This is definitely the strength of siege weapons."
Lara – "Of course, but maybe it is because of they are also suffering from bandit raids. I heard that three villages were plundered in a single night. This will be a hit to their economy. Avoiding war is a good thing. A beast is the most dangerous when cornered."
Eric – "Well, it's also a good thing we stop our offensives here. The various neighbouring baronies aren't happy about our last conquests. The Kerrosby Valley is now entirely under the control of the Thornfield Household, and they are afraid we want to get more."
Roland – "So you suggest we strengthen the territory, frontiers and the army?"
Eric – "Indeed, if they form an alliance, I am afraid that with our 2000-men-big army, we will not last for a long time."
Lara – "Not to mention that we lost our heavy cavalry troops in the Kerrosby Swamp Battle."
Drodosis was remaining silent, as Roland and his two trusted knights were conversing about the territory's management. His father's intentions appeared clearly. He wanted to teach his son how to manage a territory, and how the world worked.
Seeing Drodosis interested, Roland finished the debate a few hours later, before saying.
Roland – "From now on, Drodosis, you will attend to this morning ceremony on a daily basis. Try to listen and understand what is going on. It will be useful in the future, I promise."
Drodosis – "Yes, father, I will not disappoint you!"
After all, Drodosis got to eat luxury food for free. Why would he refuse? Moreover, the more he learnt about this world, the more he wanted to become powerful and harvest its treasures. It was like an innate desire of his!
Later on, Drodosis sneaked out of the castle with George to go to the outskirts of the Great Forest.
[Beep! The Great Forest is a domain belonging to the lord of the Kerrosby Valley solely. Anyone hunting in this forest will be deemed as a thief, and according to the local law, any thief will be forced to hand out 50 gold coins, his house, and 5 years of service in the military. The Great Forest is a hunting ground, with many wild beasts. However, the outskirts are safe, with the only danger being wandering glowing boars, and red-fang snakes.]
George was an excellent bodyguard and a trained butler at the same time, who had been specifically tasked with keeping Drodosis safe and happy.
[Beep! Name: George. Strength – 1.9 | Agility – 1.6 | Physique – 1.6. Status: Healthy. Perks: Beginner Curved Dagger mastery…]
George was far stronger than the average elite soldier, and according to the various books Drodosis read, George was within the sub-realm of "preparatory knights". Preparatory knights are humans who possess strong bodies surpassing the average man, but having yet to break through the knight realm. Preparatory knights need to have a minimum of 5 points of accumulated stats.
George suddenly whispered, "Young master, there is a red-fang snake on the tree. You can probably kill it in one shot if you can hit its head."
Drodosis aimed at the snake, and suddenly released a powerful bolt.
SWOOSH.
The bolt pierced through the air, ultimately impaling the snake.
[Beep! Target successfully killed. All signs of life have shut down.]
George – "Wonderful, young master! I wonder why you didn't share this skill with your father, though."
Drodosis – "I don't want to stand out too much, and being good with a crossbow is my little secret. I can't surprise him every day, can I?"
George – "I understand. I will keep my mouth shut."
The difficulty of hunting red-fang snakes is actually not their strength, but their stealthy moves combined with their powerful venin. One bite, and your life will be in danger. Of course, just in case, George had come prepared with more than 3 vials of antidotes.
Drodosis – "Let's put the game into the bag. We will harvest the material later on. Let's dive deeper in the forest!"
In the following two hours, Drodosis polished his skill with George's help. His crossbow mastery was making progress by the minute, as Drodosis hunted more than 18 red-fang snakes in their hunting expedition.
Drodosis mumbled "Let's head back, alright?"
"I think it is for the best, young master. We shouldn't look suspicious, or else I fear Mistress Helena's wrath.", George admitted.
As Drodosis returned to his room in company of George, he collapsed on his bed, faking exhaustion.
Drodosis – "Thank you, George. You can attend to your other businesses after this. Don't worry, I will be safe."
As soon as George was dismissed, Drodosis sneaked under his bed, and picked up a tile. Under it, there was a small chest, 180-centimeters long, 80-centimeters-wide, 50-centimeters big.
Inside it were a few dozen empty vials made of fine glass, along with alchemical stuff, such as Erlenmeyer, tubes, and even a small reflux heating device that Drodosis self-created, since it didn't exist in this planet. To get his hands on this stuff, he had gone through great lengths, stealing it from the castle's physician (the Old Vailer), and he used George to distract the castle's blacksmith (Dwarf Mung), in order to use the forgery and craft his own stuff, such as the reflux heating device.
Drodosis then took out a slick from his clothing locker, and laid it out on the ground. Putting his reflux heating device next to the window, he took out his knife, and started skinning the various games he had obtained.
[Beep! Put your knife at a 45° angle from its neck, and cut vertically…]
[Beep! Take out the venin sack carefully and put it on the ground…]
[Beep! Pierce the poison sack carefully, with soft movements in order to avoid splashes and product losses. Harvest the venin into the Erlenmeyer.]
Drodosis then took out the various herbs he had gotten in the way. There weren't a lot, but besides the starlight flowers which could be used in medicinal bath to increase his recovery rate, he also managed to get his hands on 6 Brightleaf Tree roots. It wasn't a rare product by any means, but since no one bought such a material, no one bothered harvesting it, making it quite difficult to obtain. In the Great Forest, Brightleaf trees were numerous, so Drodosis was confident in acquiring some.
As for the poison recipe, Drodosis had scanned it long ago, from a book that was called 'Alchemy Guide', written by a sage whose name was erased from the cover. It was probably a forbidden book, but owning it wasn't out of the norm for a noble.
[Beep! Initiate the heating process.]
The venin, mixed with water to be diluted, started to merge with the Brightleaf roots that were grinded into powder. Drodosis witnessed the astounding sight of two immiscible phases merging together, from a red colour to a yellowish one. As soon as the solution changed colour, Drodosis proceeded to the distillation step. Using yet another device, he started to purify the solution from any kind of impurities in order to increase its lethality.
[Successful brewing! Yield: 65% of the theoretical product; 230 millilitres of Yellow Vein-Bursting Poison.]
Drodosis then versed the Erlenmeyer's content into 5 different vials of 50 millilitres.
"What a good harvest! Let's test them out! Know yourself, and you will no longer fear your enemy, isn't it easy to understand?"
Drodosis headed to the garden, and used a chicken as a guinea pig. He dipped a bolt in the solution, and planted it in the chicken, before retreating a few steps back.
The chicken cried at first, but quickly collapsed on the ground. Three seconds later, it vomited blood. Another three seconds later, it quavered. Ten seconds later, bursting sounds could be heard, with blood flowing everywhere.
"Yellow Vein-bursting Poison. What an accurate naming sense!"
[Beep! Yellow Vein-bursting poison estimated effects: Drain energy at a fast rate, and burst the veins within the zone of corruption. If not stopped, the poison spread throughout the body and ultimately, kill the enemy. Weakness: Knights can stop the spreading process with antibodies. Applying pressure might decrease the effects significantly, or at least, diminish the zone of impact and stop the spreading effect.]
Drodosis was elated and frightened by the effects of the poison at this point. If it reached a human being…then it would probably die in a few dozen seconds, if not treated!
[Beep! A bolt consumed 5 millilitres of solution.]
This marked Drodosis' Alchemy debut.