-Chapter 115-
"Grand Maester Marwyn, it's been a while since I last saw you. Do you have good news for me?" I said, looking at him as he nodded.
He frowned before finally saying excitedly, "I have excellent news for you, but it requires more than just a conversation, I would like to show you the progress we have made by merging all the knowledge we possess."
I nodded, stood up, and said, "Let's go, I'm eager to see what new things you have learned this year."
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-POV Marwyn-
I led the king, accompanied by his entire royal guard, to the wing of the Red Keep that the king had privatized so that we could conduct our experiments. Upon arrival, I said:
"Your Majesty, this is not for the faint of heart nor for those whose loyalty is still to be proven."
I felt the gaze of all the royal guards on me, but I paid it no mind.
The only opinion that mattered was the king's.
"Each one of them is part of my Royal Guard, I trust them to defend my children and my life, so I can trust them with everything else," the king said calmly.
'As if he needed these useless glorified guards,' I thought disdainfully, remembering what the mages captured by the king were capable of.
I opened the door to the occult research lab and took pleasure in watching the expressions of these glorified guards shift from shock to disgust, then to fear, and back to disgust again.
In the room, there were numerous jars on shelves containing various human organs and tissues, while on the tables lay corpses in advanced states of decomposition, chained to the wall.
Four men, clearly having undergone several torture sessions, were moaning softly.
Qyburn entered the room with enthusiasm and said, "Your Majesty, we have tried to cure greyscale as you suggested, and five out of eight patients are responding favorably to the treatment without dying from their injuries."
"That's a good start, but let's talk about what really interests all three of us," said the king with a slight teasing smile.
I smiled and said to Qyburn, confused, "Qyburn, the king wants to know where our investigations stand."
A sinister smile crept up on Qyburn's face, and then he said, "Your Majesty, getting them to talk was no small feat as they tried to trick us multiple times, but here is everything we have managed to compile in this book."
"I guess you've already tried a few tricks," the king said as he flipped through the book without looking at us.
"Of course we've tried them, but the problem is that we don't have enough magic and you haven't granted us any Shade of the Evening to open our magical perception," I said calmly.
"Open our magical perception, you say, Maester Marwyn?" the king asked, raising an eyebrow.
I approached and turned the pages of the notebook the king held until I reached the relevant page, and then the king said, "Hmm, I see what you're talking about, so consuming Shade of the Evening doesn't cause you problems, aside from a minor addiction and a slight loss of vitality."
"Yes, we don't know why a person loses vitality once they drink this potion, but what we do know, however, is that if a person stops drinking this potion, the effects stop."
"But since this potion is addictive and gives you magical powers, few people really care enough to stop drinking it," I said.
"Exactly," said Qyburn.
"There's just one thing we don't understand," said Marwyn.
"Why can't we replicate the effects of Shade of the Evening?" Qyburn said.
"Have you managed to get your hands on the formula?" the king asked with a suspicious air.
"We are the humble servants of your majesty, and we thought it would please you to get your hands on such power," I said.
The king said nothing and pondered for a moment before smiling and saying, "You won't be able to duplicate the power of Shade of the Evening."
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-POV MC-
Seeing the wrinkled face of my grand maester made me jubilant because he could not reach the same theory as me since he did not know the same things as me.
What we knew was simply the formula, but I also knew that the true immortals were not these sorcerers but those that Daenerys had burned as well as the rotten heart they kept.
I had my little theory that the blue human heart was that of Emperor Bloodstone, one if not the greatest necromancer to have walked the soil of Planetos, but I could prove nothing and if this theory was correct, then it might be that the true immortal deceased had used the heart as part of or another process as part of the preparation.
I myself had several theories in mind for creating magic awakening potions, but in most, if not all, I lacked one ingredient: the blood of a magical creature other than myself, for I did not want to use my own blood for such a thing.
'Who knows what could happen to me,' I thought.
I continued to ponder for a few seconds and then said, "I think I have found a solution to our problem, so let's continue."
Qyburn stood in front of me and grabbed a jar with green powder. I furrowed my brow and then said with a feeling of frightening apprehension, "What is this?"
"We have managed to develop, by accident, Wildfyre in powder form," said Marwyn.
"How?"
"When the renovations of the Alchemists' Guild began, I had our belongings transported here, during the journey, a bottle broke in a cart, but since it was surrounded by sand, nothing happened," Qyburn tried to reassure me despite having almost blown up my castle.
"It wasn't until we arrived here and unpacked our belongings that we realized the Wildfyre had permeated part of the sand," Marwyn added to his student's story.
The two looked at each other and then Qyburn said, "I will show you, it will be simpler."
He took the jar and then abruptly shook it in all directions.
I simply raised my hand while all my guards positioned themselves in front of me, their swords drawn.
I furrowed my brow and then after a moment, I smiled and said, "Sheathe your swords."
They obeyed, perplexed by what had just happened, and then I said, grabbing the jar from Qyburn's hands, "This is truly incredible."
"Once in powder form, the Wildfyre is no longer volatile," Qyburn said.
"You two are real geniuses. You have once again expanded the realm of possibilities in my mind," I said, looking at the Wildfyre powder.
The two smiled and then I said:
"You have done well, so ask me what you want."
Without even a moment's hesitation, they both said, "We want to learn to do the same thing as you with magic."
I furrowed my brow and then said, "I cannot teach you that."
"Why?" they asked simultaneously.
"My magic is innate, I cannot teach it to you in the same way because it's in my blood," I said.
'Not to mention that it's the basis of my power,' I thought.
"Then, I would like to be able to drink Shade of the Evening," said Marwyn.
I squinted my eyes and then, after a few moments of reflection, I said, "I will see what I can do."