-Clank! -Clank!
Passing through the Members Only Area, I could hear the sounds of metal clashing together, created by the individuals sparring against each other or against puppets in the training ground.
A few days had passed since our secluded meeting.
Right now, I was on my way to the Privileged Practice Area, not for training, but something else.
Today I had a special guest to attend to, someone who was the initiator of this private guidance session.
"You are here." Calvin said, tilting his head backwards to glance at me as he was checking up on the equipment placed on a table with a few other necessities, such as healing potions, in case of emergencies.
'Seems like I am in for a ride.'
Looking at the healing potion I couldn't help but reckon that.
"Apologies for being late, Brother Calvin~."
After my contemplation, I greeted Calvin with a hearty smile on my face and apologized for my late arrival.
"...No, It's fine."
'I really am in for a ride.'
...
Fushhhhhhh!
A wind-slashing sound.
Thud!
Followed by a giant thud!
Pbffff-
'As expected.'
Coughing up some blood, I was fixated on the ground after getting the beating of my life, and was now in a lot of pain because of all the broken bones I had sustained.
I was in this condition because of the guidance session that I just took.
The session lasted for three minutes and twelve seconds.
"!"
Yeah, that was all I could last for.
'He sure was brutal.'
In actuality, what I took just now was neither training nor a guidance session. If it was anything, then it would be brutal beating in the name of friendly sparring among brothers.
"How are you that weak?" Calvin asked, while looking down at me, making a seemingly disappointed face.
'He is engaged.'
He really was, not because he found me weak, someone unworthy to be called his brother, but because of the hearty smile which was a constant throughout the session.
A demeanor which was conflicting in its own right.
I wasn't trying to smile.
Nor did I know why I was smiling, but I did have a guess.
How could I not, when I suffered through it in my past life?
"!"
Yeah, now you remember, don't you?
The trait of grinning in the face of pain.
A side-effect of my disease- Xyclophrorane.
'How did I get this?'
I had no idea.
Pbffff
Coughing up some more blood, I cleared my throat as I wanted to make a response.
"Yeah, I am weak...-"
Cough Cough.
"But won't be for long."
I spoke with the same expression, grinning at him in between my bloody coughs.
-Tak. -Tak. -Tak.
I didn't hear a response, but heard the sound of footsteps closing the gap towards us, arriving at where we were.
It was hard for me to see with all the blood on my face, but I could guess who it was and why he/she was here.
"Here it is, Master Calvin. Should I help Master Lykus drink this?" Niktus inquired.
What he wanted to provide was a Health-Recovery Serum, or a healing potion for short.
An intermediate one.
Nodding his head, Calvin agreed to Niktus's proposition, and gestured for him to handle the situation.
Niktus immediately undertook his assignment and helped me assimilate the healing potion.
-Gulp
Gulping it down, I could immediately feel a change and warmth inside my body. I could even feel a strange tingling which was created by the marrying of cracked bones.
It lasted for 5-6 minutes before it finally wore off, making me unable to sense the same warmth.
"Khrrh."
I groaned while attempting to get up.
I could still feel that one of the bones in my leg had yet to be fixed, implying that the intermediate potion was not enough to bring me back to 100℅.
Perceiving that, Calvin rummaged through his coat pockets and took out a shining, melanin-coloured serum bottle, which was of course, the high-grade Body-Enhancement serum, and handed it over to Niktus to help me drink it up.
Of course, it was all a pre-thought plan.
'For someone like Lykus, he put in a lot of effort.'
It was not a small thing to do.
But looking at his situation, it was not hard to see how important it was for him to succeed in his plans.
-Gulp
Gulping down the serum, I looked at Calvin just to perceive an expression of innate satisfaction ensuing on his face.
A very subtle change of expression, extremely hard to grasp.
"Thanks, Brother Calvin~."
Thanking him, I again tried to get up from my spot, which wasn't easy nor hard to accomplish, it was manageable.
"Now that you look fine, I'm leaving. I have a lot of affairs to attend to."
"So, our session ended?" I questioned.
"Yes, It did."
-Tak. -Tak. -Tak
Leaving those words behind, Calvin started to walk away.
"Can you extract the drug from that serum?"
After Calvin left the Privileged Practice Area, I asked Niktus.
"I can't, Master Lykus."
"Tsk. Fine."
It was obvious that he couldn't, even without him saying that I knew he had no means to do such a thing.
However...
'I need to ask for help.'
....
In a secluded place.
"So, what do you want?"
Alishia asked just after her arrival.
Putting my hands on my side pockets, I took out the same melanin-coloured serum bottle and gestured for her to pick it up, which she did.
Looking at the bottle she asked:
"Mhn... What's this?"
"You don't know?"
"...I do. But why are you handing it to me?"
Of course, she knew what the bottle was, and why I had it, after all, it was all according to plan.
"[Crest Of The Fallen] is diluted in that serum and we need to reassimilate it."
"So...?"
The only thing she didn't understand was why I was handling it to her.
"So... I can't do it, but... you can?"
"Why?"
This time she was conflicted, not because I said she could do it, but because I said I couldn't do it.
"Because a normal flame would degrade the quality of the drug."
It was true, but not common knowledge.
Of course, high-ranked individuals were aware of such things.
The quality can degrade up to 3-4%, which at the surface level didn't sound like much, but this minuscule amount could ensue chaos for our ordeal.
Alisha didn't seem to be aware of that, which wasn't surprising, assuming she was just 15 years old with very little connection to the world, with her biggest connection being Agatha herself, who in my experience, didn't know such confidential things.
"Why do you think that?"
Honestly, I didn't want to elaborate. However, looking at the quest, I had no choice but to explain it to her, if I want to improve our bonding, only... if that existed in the first place.
"When we boil up the serum diluted with any kind of drug, the liquid inside vapourises for us to see, but in actuality, a few particles of the liquid continue to float on the surface of the drug, making it a degraded version of the formal."
I explained in a formal tone, similar to that of a professor.
"...I see," Alishia replied instantly, a bit shocked at my revelation, and even more at the knowledge I possessed.
Not questioning my secrets, Alishia turned her attention to other important things.
"Then how am I supposed to do that?" Alishia asked, while pointing at the serum, indicating to me to validate my point.
"You can, because you have that blue flame..."
"Blue flame...?"
"Yes. It can be done with the help of that blue flame."
It was not a hidden fact that Alishia possessed a special type of blue flame as one of her skills. She used the same flame to win in the final round of The Arete Of Krazikta.
Finding nothing suspicious, Alisha started to walk off.
"Wait!"
"...What happened?" Glancing back Alishia asked.
"You can't leave."
"Why...?"
"If you leave now, we would need to meet again for you to handle the drug, which could come out as suspicious and might take a lot of time, so it's better to extract it now."
Contemplating for a second, Alishia nodded her head after finding my argument valid.
-
-
-
"Fuuuuuuh"
Sighing, Alisha took a deep breath and relaxed her shoulder.
It took her almost 5 hours to extract the drug, which was a surprise, as in normal circumstances, it would have taken an awful lot of time.
Why?
Because serum evaporation could take as long as a week to evaporate even at a high temperature. So compared to that, what we invested was a measly amount of time.
And, you also needed to consider that Alisha only used her blue flames 4 times during the whole process, which was required for the cooldown process to wear off.
'But how can she have such a small cooldown period?'
It was common knowledge that the higher the skill, the more of a cooldown period it required.
[ Opening the Skill Panel of the character— Alishia Ulfred. ]
Intrigued by her skills, I decided to look upon her Skill Panel, skimming through the skills, I rested my eyes on the desired skill.
'Oh! what a surprise~....'
Edited By: WorthyAdversary