*****
Gradually darkness came. Under its pressure, the sun disappeared behind the horizon, yielding the right to rule the sky to its eternal companion - the Moon. Its soft light, with the light of distant stars, "rained" down to the earth, watering it, like summer rain in the sultry heat.
In the rays of the night light, the trees and grass seemed even more mysterious than in the sunlight. The trees formed a dense, almost impenetrable forest. Only occasionally did glimpses appear, without these age-old giants. I was now in one such clearing, intensely conjuring over the Nev.
Standing at the makeshift altar, I tried to return my friend to a sane state. I've been struggling with this problem for half an hour now, but I couldn't find a solution.
At first everything went as usual - the standard practice of cleansing the body of harmful "additives" takes on average half an hour. All you need to do is find "foci of influence"; that's where all the "additives" accumulate. And then it's a matter of technique - to grab, "bind" and carefully remove. However, not this time.
Finding the foci was quite simple - these were mainly the main nerve nodes, as well as the brain (perhaps it is also worth mentioning some organs - the liver and heart, through which the effect also occurs, but only indirectly). The next step is to grab it, there are no problems with that either. Next - to tie and this is where the first problems appeared.
A mixture of various potions (and it was very filled with mana), as if sensing danger, tried to escape from the "magic snares". This was my first time encountering this, but I was still able to cope with it. And then came the final step - breeding. That's where I got stuck.
As soon as I begin to "reduce" this mixture, it begins to attack the body itself, like locusts, devouring everything they can reach. Seeing this, I immediately stopped "pulling" on myself, and in response to this, the potions stopped devouring the body.
Hell, I tried more than seven different times and it didn't work out. Apparently, the impact comes not only through the physical and magical shell, but, quite possibly, through the spiritual one. And I haven't really approached the magical one yet (I mean thoroughly), but here's the spiritual one.
It's been a long time since I felt so helpless, as if all my efforts previously made were empty words. Mordred, this sucks.
But because of my attempts to save, the potion mixture managed to do quite a lot of damage to the body, mainly to the nerves.
Eh, looks like I have no other choice. I'll have to contact her. (And the potions became suspiciously active, simply devouring the body little by little. Damn, I still did something wrong).
"Having picked up" Nev's body, I destroyed the "altar" and headed towards the castle. Of course, I did not forget about the precautions, in particular the spell is hidden.
Perhaps my further journey to the castle and in it itself is worthy of a separate book. Due to the relatively free time (dinner had already ended, and it was still far from lights out), the castle was simply crowded with intelligent people. They all darted here and there. And each of these "gifted people" considered it their duty to pass by us, almost colliding shoulders.
So that's not all. While descending the moving stairs, I came face to face with Crystal. And judging by her instantly dilated pupils, she realized that someone was right in front of her.
Seeing no other way out (and the girl immediately grabbed her wand), I, with Nev in tow, jumped down, jumping over the railing. Near the ground, having softened my fall with telekinesis, I rushed at full speed towards the Hospital Wing, perfectly feeling how a colored beam flew near my landing site, and ripples of energy crawled in space, having the "color" characteristic of a girl (a magical echo location? A sort of makeshift replacement magical sense, although very similar. Quite possibly it was a variation of the same sense, and if so... Miss Crystal is becoming more and more mysterious and interesting).
The further race did not take much time. Having reached the Hospital Wing, I burst into the room at full speed and, without paying attention to the isolated faces of the students (the lucky ones who ended up in beds), rushed towards the teacher's office.
She was not inside, so without stopping I rushed into the ritual hall.
The hall was empty, but I have no doubt that the teacher felt the invasion of her domain. Carefully unloading my friend's body onto the altar, I activated the stasis charm, thereby stopping the activity of the potions.
Further examination showed that during my treatment and escape, some of the nerves were quite badly damaged, as well as the liver. Fortunately, the brain was unharmed.
Five minutes after my "invasion," the teacher came down into the hall. Noticing me next to Nev's body, she immediately rushed towards us.
- What about him? — Poppy asked, taking out her wand and starting the examination.
"Potion of Rewriting," I dumbfounded the teacher, carefully watching her actions. Once again I am surprised and admired by her skills, despite her character and supposed personality.
— What causes such serious damage to the nervous system? — without being distracted from the matter, she clarified.
"I don't know for sure, but I dare to assume that this was influenced by two other potions: Suggestion and Blunting of Attention." The mixture of these potions actively resisted standard (and not only) elimination from the body, starting to literally devour the body, I said in one breath, expecting a further reaction.
There was silence. The teacher was working intently on my friend's body, and I was waiting and watching her every action, not just memorizing them, but also thinking about and processing them, trying to learn something new for myself, adding to my knowledge.
A minute later, the teacher froze, sheathing her wand. Only her fingers continued to weave an invisible web.
In magical vision, I perfectly saw how the teacher intertwined many lines, figures (cubes, cones, spheres), as well as symbols (unfamiliar to me) into one single, three-dimensional "picture". In a matter of moments (however, I managed to remember every movement, gesture, vibration of mana), she created such a cascade of spells that I could only look at this splendor in shock. In some ways it was reminiscent of a ritual circle, inside of which there was a living, three-dimensional system of various objects.
Having imbued this masterpiece with mana (I SAW how thousands of streams of mana burst out of the Grandmaster's entire aura, as if alive, they headed exactly to those places in the circle where they were needed. This radiance of green mana was so pure, harmonious that I involuntarily forgot about everything, simply drowning in this radiance. I think there is no need to mention control here at all...) the teacher turned the circle into a kind of point with a wave of her hand, and then lightly directed it into the guy's body.
Once in the patient's body, the spell became a magical liquid that, like a tsunami, spread throughout the body. Gently grabbing every drop of the potion mixture (here I must clarify - this mixture was more magical than physical.) this liquid rushed back in a single gust, not leaving behind even a drop of the cocktail that was raging in Neville's body.
"Kha," the guy twitched on the stone "bed" and opened his lips and eyelids.
A moment and from every hole on the head (ears, nose, mouth, eyes) a brown liquid burst out, crackling ominously in the light.
A wave of the hand and all this slurry gathered in one place, hardened and turned into an ordinary ball.
Having raised it in front of her, the teacher admired it in the light for a few seconds, and then said:
"I haven't encountered this for a long time," she barely heard came out of her mouth.
— Have you encountered this before? — I couldn't help but ask, still moving away from the picture that I managed to see.
Squinting at me with her eyes glowing with a poisonous green light, the elf forcefully squeezed the ball in her hand. A moment and he disappeared, only an empty woman's palm.
"About two hundred and fifty years ago, maybe a little more, I first came across this potion. That's ironic, back then it was paired with exactly the same potions that were used on your friend," she grinned. Really...? "No, the one who did this has long been dead," she dispelled my hopes. Crap.
How powerless am I? You need more training, strength, but most importantly, KNOWLEDGE. I need to learn and understand much more than what I know and understand at the moment.
- Teacher, can you cure all the harm that this mixture has caused? And what actually caused this...
"The concentration of poison, fueled by dark spectrum mana," what I heard took my breath away. Dark mana... it is so poisonous that it is not always possible to get rid of the consequences created by it. But from where?.. - When creating a Rewrite potion, the brewer must not only use quite specific spells from the mental, but also mana of the dark spectrum. Otherwise, how can a potion permanently change the personality of a magician? Precisely because of the properties of this mana.
This means that she knows the recipe for this potion from somewhere... even the pitfalls in its creation... where?
- What then...?
"There is a method of treatment, fortunately your teacher bears the title of Grandmaster of the School of Healing for a reason," she said proudly, but her emotions were still filled with malice. Something will happen... - The treatment itself, as well as getting rid of the consequences, will take about a week. But such a long absence of your friend may interest one very busy person," here she did not pretend, but simply openly grinned from ear to ear. "But if I use fairly specific ingredients, I can reduce this time to one day." Thus, we can attribute its absence to a banal overvoltage.
Here Poppy fell silent and looked at me expectantly.
- "Come on, ask me. And that's how I'll answer," - that's what her eyes said, in which the devils were dancing. Mordred.
- But...? — he still asked her, after several minutes of squabbling at each other.
- You see, to create a potion that will help me in this "overwhelming" situation, - rr, that's it... Sidhe. — problem, I need to use five types of poisonous glands of different creatures. But here's the problem," she exclaimed, jumping on the spot and clapping her hands like a little girl. Patience Kol, think about it, you feel the whole spectrum of her emotions. The main thing is to restrain yourself. - I don't have just one type.
We stand silent. She's having fun and I'm trying to maintain my composure.
- AND?
"Here's a quest for you," she suddenly exclaimed. Really...? "Get me fifteen poisonous glands of acramantulas that live near the castle, right in the Forbidden Forest." Important! Spiders must be at least five years old - that is, adults, the size of a calf.
I just felt my eye begin to twitch spontaneously, and the amulet on my chest became ominously hot. This whole waterfall of emotions simply floods my consciousness. We need to calm down.
- Why so many? Are you going to salt them and then roll them up? — I still couldn't stand the influx of emotions and shouted out what I was thinking about. - And to fight with an adult acramantula, provided that they always move in groups... do you want my death?
"There's no need for such violent emotions," she belittled me quite a bit. - Just think, I wanted to leave a little in reserve for glands. So what? Won't you please your teacher with such a trifle? — this elf tried to bat her eyelashes. But I know that it makes you laugh.
"I don't believe it," I answered firmly, finally controlling the influx of emotions.
- Eh, you're boring. "You'll definitely be left alone forever," this little devil muttered, fully aware that I could hear her. "Okay, enough games," the elf said, instantly becoming more serious, looking firmly into my eyes. "Here is my condition: fifteen glands." If you bring it to me, I'll help your friend, no means no.
Silence again. That's how it is. She simply says in plain text: "He's nobody to me, so I won't help you for nothing."
Thanks for that though.
"I understand, I'll bring it soon," I said, turning towards the exit.
- Good luck! - she shouted cheerfully again, waving her hand after me. Mordred.
What, fifteen glands? You will have fifteen glands.
Hunting time.
*****