Zoe was on the bed, in the room with kitty sprawled on the bed, motionless. She supported her back with the bedrail and gazed into space.
She broke out of her trance. Her thoughts were unknown.
She looked at Kitty. Her movements were sluggish and her heartbeat slow, an effect of the poison. But she could hear the kitsune's loud and irregular heartbeat.
She narrowed her eyes and silently listened. The dim lighting of the room didn't help to stop eeriness from clouding the atmosphere. Utter silence enveloped the room.
Suddenly, Kitty's good eye opened. Bright spiritual blue wisps oozed out of her foxy eye. Her blue eyes gleamed brightly, enough to illuminate the room.
Also enough to make Zoe flinch and break a sweat. Goosebumps popped all across her body, and a traumatizing memory resurfaced.
Kitty's eyes were weakly closed, but Zoe's heart was beating wildly. She became furious. Even while in a state of unconsciousness, kitty didn't lose the chance to get a reaction out of her.
And it seems whatever was slowing down Zoe's heartbeat had lost effect due to the 'scare' played on her by kitty.
But she wasn't relieved. Instead, she hunched over and closed her eyes with her hands clasping her head. A frightening memory had returned.
...
"Woah! I can't believe something made out of scraps will be this heavy."Senia exclaimed in shock.
She was handling the brazier by the tripod and she was having a hard time carrying it. The buzzing it made further made it hard for her to lift.
"It's not that heavy..."Conan came and took the brazier from her with ease and raised it as though it was a trophy.
His teasing smile irked Senia and the clothe on her frame almost slipped.
"Whatever, I should be able to carry it if I start exercising more. I'll lift more weights often."Her voice expressed smoldering determination. Her shoulders were down in defeat. "Give me three months and I'll show you how strong I can be."
Conan raised his brows in surprise. Three months? He never thought he'd feel so nostalgic on hearing "Three months or years".
"Take your time. Won't want you to die before you get stronger would we?"He said, causing her to frown and cross her arms around her supple bosom.
The clothes cast a shadow that covered her body, but Conan saw, even though he wasn't looking. So he acted that way—like he didn't see anything.
"Three months isn't that long?"
"Take your time. Strength isn't running from you."He replied and sat back.
"But I need to defend myself. Take what happened today as an example. If that happens again, then..."She trailed off. She a traumatized by the events.
"Take it easy," Coma said with the same faint smile on his face.
Senia sighed "you don't get it. Those bastards are targeting me."
His aura was so friendly that she felt it right to talk to him freely.
Conan raised his eyebrows in surprise "so you want to fight back?"
"I don't care about revenge or annihilation of filths, I'm too busy for that. I just want to defend myself."Senia scowled and went to sit beside Conan. She noticed his hands quiver a little but she judged it on sickness.
Conan had been staying quite a distance from her. And now that she closed the distance, the urge to do something wicked was screaming again but he suppressed it.
He stayed silent for a while. He could help the girl to become stronger than normal human standards through alchemy, but she didn't ask.
It was just an experiment he came up with. A human wasn't supposed to be able to take alchemical pills or potions unless they could cultivate them. This law has been since antiquity.
No mortal could consume the essence of spiritual herbs without their bodies crumbling under the sheer amount of energy.
But during one of his star-gazing moments at the citadel. His stray thoughts came to the mortals and he contemplated if there was a way to make a mortal stronger apart from "force arts".
He found the way in alchemy. A way that hadn't been found out as anyone ever thought of it possible, to begin with.
He was just waiting for the moment in which Senia would ask, but alas her mind didn't even pass the thought.
"Hey, what are you thinking about? Did I say something wrong?"Senia asked noticing his silence. His wicked gaze flashed in her mind once more, causing her spine to buckle.
He cast her a long, thoughtful gaze before answering "nothing. I'm about to get busy though..."
He set the brazier on the ground, with his back facing her. It was at that moment that the door clicked and the boss lady walked in.
The sweet scent of blossomed petals, coupled with the female's pheromones invaded his nostrils, and its sensitivity seemed to have increased along with his heartbeat.
He looked at her, and she froze on seeing his eyes. Her brown hair was wet, dripping with water. Her body even though was now covered with a furry bathrobe, it didn't help in dampening the fresh smell of her.
He smelt a bit of blood, also coming from her. It amplified his sudden hunger to eat her whole. His predatory gaze tore through her being, with a wicked smile on his face.
The woman had frozen still in fear on seeing Conan's dim eyes and a wicked grin. Her heart palpitated wildly and goosebumps embraced her skin. Even Senia was not spared and this time, she believed it wasn't an illusion.
Their scared faces brought him ecstasy and he felt like escalating, but he regained clarity over his body quicker.
The atmosphere changed in an instant. From choking eeriness to a peaceful one. With Conan standing in between.
The boss lady could not believe her eyes. She had a hard time believing she was scared like that with just a glance. She never felt so diminutive.
"W-what w-was t-that?"Suspicious, she stepped back slowly, pointing at Conan.
Senia also silently moved away from him. A bad premonition settled in the belly of both women. Looking at Conan's benign smile made them think otherwise but still, the fear induced in them was too odd.
Conan smiled awkwardly as his mind spun and then, he burst into laughter. The women were confused as to why he was laughing. And the way he laughed made it seem like he was mocking them.
"It was a prank hahaha!"He slapped his thigh and laughed uninhibitedly, disregarding the fact that it was nighttime.
The women also awkwardly laughed. They believed that it was a prank readily because he didn't look evil to them at all.
And they wanted to deny the reality that they had accepted a maleficent in their home. They still had lingering suspicions though.
"You rascal! What was that for?"The boss lady became annoyed and sighed. She palmed her chest and felt how fast and hard her heart was beating "I feared I'd die."
Senia also looked at him questioningly. If what they saw was a prank, then his ability to induce horror was rather horrific.
"Well, Senia was making a fuss over her weakness and desire to get stronger. So, I decided to give her a little test."Conan concocted the lie in a way that expressed skillfulness more than he ever did in inscriptions.
'You call that little? That's absurd, it's all absurd.'Senia scowled as she thought inwardly.
The expression of the boss lady also softened but the vigilance didn't. She seems to be a cautious lady.
"If anything, then it's Senia's fault that I almost scared you to death."He brazenly added. Causing the women to look at him in astonishment.
"My fault?"Senia leaned over and asked in disbelief.
"Yes."
Senia took a seat beside him, her guard she had dropped long and prepared to assault him with questions.
"Senia, leave him alone. Alchemy requires concentration, so let him be."The boss lady called Senia before she could say a word. She saved Conan indirectly as he was about to sigh in anticipation.
"Wait, I want to ask him a question."But she was adamant. Her curiosity was gnawing at her that she couldn't take it in for long.
"That'll have to wait till he's done."The boss lady dragged her out and she didn't even resist, lest the clothe covering her body slips off in the process.
And finally, Conan was alone. He shifted the sleeve of the form-shifting night robe. The muscles and veins are twitching vividly with every pump of his heart.
He sighed again. Thanks to his skillfulness at weaving lies. If not, he'll have ended up killing the women as they won't believe him.
And that would be a waste. They seem like the perfect candidate to experiment on. But his body just couldn't find the right time to deviate.
It wouldn't stop him from experimenting though. His time at the citadel would waste if he didn't discover something new after all.
So he continued with his alchemy. First, create a Healing Salve, then Poison Neutralizers, and Bone Mending Potion. Basic ones.
And the Nameless Formulae were made to strengthen mortals, beyond their limits but have not been experimented on yet.
Conan chuckled devilishly and proceeded to make the aforementioned alchemical medicines. He had wasted time but there was no need for him to be impatient either.
After all, he hadn't used up to an hour yet. Almost but not yet. Are his babies getting impatient already?