So this is it, the last chapter of the 5.
As I said, no more chapters for a week.
I'll see you all next Sunday!
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Dale ran and jumped across the entire set of stairs in a single motion, getting to the second floor without a single ounce of difficulty.
He looked left and right, determining the source of the smell to be coming from the right.
"Hey!" He exclaimed as he ran to a room in the far right corner
/COUGH!/
Dale could hear coughs coming from the room, so he quickly opened the door…
/CREAK!/
"!"
A cloud of dark smoke brushed against his face, it was rather sudden, so he breathed in a large quantity of it…
[DING!]
Dale heard the sound of a notification, but his body was completely fine, and right now, whatever was written on it was meaningless…
"COUGH COUGH!"
All because of the sight of Yumi laying on the floor coughing!
"What happened here?" He asked as he looked around, looking for clues
He quickly saw a potion vial broken on the floor, releasing dark fumes, and a flame source still lit.
The first thing Dale did was extinguish the flame to reduce the risk of a fire.
After that he grabbed Yumi and took her out of the room, but before he could do so, she pointed at a shelf, precisely towards a wooden box.
Dale grabbed the box and opened it, there was a series of vials inside.
He quickly understood what he had to do.
Dale approached Yumi and gave her the box, or tried to as she couldn't hold it...
She weakly grabbed one of the vials but had difficulty opening it, so Dale did the rest and quickly opened it, feeding its contents to her.
"..."
Yumi was feeling weak, she couldn't move properly aside from staying there in his arms, watching him feed her a potion…
She felt like a child, but at the same time, she felt relaxed and safe...
This was probably the most embarrassing moment of her life… But she couldn't help but feel happy that someone was there... And that this someone was him.
[Yumi's intimacy has increased]
"?"
'What?'
Dale was hit off guard, but he shook his head and smiled.
After he fed her the potion, he brought her to the corridor before going back inside the room.
"Urg... What was she doing?..." Dale frowned as he looked around
'It's too stuffy...'
Dale immediately opened the windows for ventilation and checked the black liquid spilled on the ground, it was still releasing black fumes and bubling…
He didn't know what it was, and its description was simply, Failed Potion.
"Looks like she committed a mistake... Thankfully I was here..."
He grabbed a box and covered it as a way to reduce the fumes being released a little.
He didn't try to gather the remains or clean it up as he didn't know what sorts of reactions he could cause by doing so…
Perhaps it would explode in contact with water?... Better not risk it.
/Clack!/
Dale left the room and closed the door, grabbing Yumi in a princess carry and bringing her to the first floor, far from the smoke.
On the way to the first floor, he opened as many windows as he could...
Once he arrived on the first floor, he put her on the couch and waited, staying by her side in case something bad happened again.
"..."
Throughout it all, Yumi's face was beet red, but Dale misunderstood it as a side effect from the smoke, checking her up close to see if she was okay...
And this made her even redder...
So time passed…
/5 minutes later…/
"Cough… Cough… AhhHh..."
Yumi coughed a few more times as she tried to speak...
"Are you okay?" Dale asked, slightly worried
She looked at him and nodded.
"Just a bit of... Cough... Smoke… I'll be fine… After 2-3 hours…" She said, still immobile on the couch
"What happened?"
"Urg… It's embarrassing…"
"I was making a painkiller or trying to… An old recipe but... The vial I was working with cracked because of its age... Spilling its contents into the ground and directly into the flame…"
"It was my mistake, I should've checked it first... I wasn't okay to heat it up after so long..."
"Is it bad to breathe? Do you need something else?"
"The painkiller isn't dangerous in any way, but when burned, it becomes an extremely potent tranquilizer…"
"Before I even had the time to process things, I had lost strength in my legs…"
Dale's eyes darted open.
"That was extremely dangerous."
Yumi smiled awkwardly…
"Yes… It isn't dangerous per se, but I've been there for around… 3-4 minutes before you arrived, so the amount of fumes I inhaled has made my body almost completely numb."
"The only risk was the flame, and the heated liquid, but thankfully none of it feel on me neither did the flame fall onto the ground…"
Dale looked at her with a worried expression before asking:
"I can see that it wasn't your fault, but next time, try to run first and call for help, or at least, prepare some countermeasures so such a helpless situation doesn't repeat itself."
'Her father died in a similar way as far as I'm aware, it would be tragic for her to leave this world like this as well...'
"I sure will… This experience wasn't exactly… Pleasant." Yumi said with a thin smile
"Aside from that… Are you sure you're okay? You also inhaled a portion of the fumes..." She asked Dale with a frown
"Why shouldn't I?" Dale replied with a smile
Just to be sure, Dale checked the notifications, but as expected, his high Constitution made short work of the side effects...
This sort of thing was incomparable to the Miasma... Although it may be wrong to compare them in the first place.
"..."
Yumi smiled.
"Yeah… You're… Pretty reliable. Thank you for saving me... Again." She said with a slightly red face
[Yumi's intimacy has increased greatly]
"..."
'It keeps rising up even though...'
"... But what now?" He asked
"I... You fed me a potion, it isn't an antidote, but it should counteract some of the effects… I should be okay within half an hour." She said, trying her best to move
Yumi tried to move her fingers, but they only slightly twitched…
She let out a sigh of frustration, it was embarrassing, but she needed someone to nurse her as it wasn't wise to remain alone right now.
"I will… I'll be in your care…" She said in a low tone
…
/Half an hour later…/
For the next 30 minutes, Dale stayed by Yumi's side.
Since she didn't have much to do, she kept talking about her potions and her experiments, while Dale listened.
Because it was getting late, he covered her in a warm blanket and even gave her water from time to time.
Yumi felt strange, this was something she hasn't felt in years, and it wasn't a bad feeling… To be cared for like this, by none other than Dale… And this was reflected in the several notifications Dale heard…
How ironic, a few hours ago he was the one being healed, but now it was her time to be pampered... Taken care of.
Her Intamcy grew so much that by the end of their convsersation, a new Emerald heart had grown atop her head, shining in all of its glory…
By the time the feeling of touch returned to her feet and legs, allowing her to walk, Yumi thanked Dale with a hug, only to then realize her own mistake…
But before she could even stop, Dale hugged her back and said:
"Try not to break anything again okay?" Dale joked with a smile
"... I'll try." Yumi said as she looked at the ground
Only then did she stop hugging him, realizing how long it had been.
"If that's all, I'll make my leave, if you need my assistance in the future, just call me." Dale said as he turned around
"Yes!" Yumi said with a smile
/Creak…/
But once Dale left, her face turned crimson as she rushed to the bathroom…
She had been holding her urge for a little while…
…
After visiting Yumi, it was time to talk with Testros and resume his training.
To learn how to properly control this new energy within him and how to properly apply it, be it in combat or in his day-to-day life.
"Old man, you there?" Dale asked as he knocked on the door of Testros' house
"Come in, I've been waiting for you." Testros replied from the window on the second floor of the house
Dale nodded, getting inside.
It was time to, the first step into an even greater change.
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Notes