Chapter 32
When Gray woke up, he was inside a red tent and heard a strange but excited voice, "He is awake, tell Aslan he is awake," from a talking tiger cub. "Well, that's not strange. Agh. Not at all," Gray thought to himself as he quickly looked around. "It's warm inside," he noted as he quickly shifted out of his animagus form and checked on his equipment.
which, much to his relief, were all there—especially his cane, which didn't seem to like being transformed along with his other belongings. After ensuring everything was in order, Gray returned to his animagus form and exited the tent, where he saw tents upon tents. However, the strangest thing wasn't the encampment but the beings inhabiting it—ranging from soldiers in armor to talking tigers, jaguars, beavers, gorillas, dogs, and even regular horses.
The moment Gray stepped out of the tent, he noticed three humans. One was a young teenage boy holding a sword and shield, another a teenage girl with a bow and quiver of arrows, and lastly, a younger girl. All of them were surrounded by the creatures near the tents. The young man announced, "We have come to see Aslan," just as Gray appeared. The three humans turned toward Gray, noticing his animagus form. But before anyone could say anything, a regular-sized lion, smaller than Gray's animagus form, emerged from the tent next to him. Every creature, aside from Gray and the three humans, knelt in reverence, including the soldiers, who couldn't kneel due to their armor.
The three humans, seeing the lion, also knelt, while Gray stood still. The lion, unsurprisingly, spoke, addressing the boy, "Welcome, Peter, son of Adam. Welcome, Susan and Lucy, daughters of Eve." He then paused, turning towards Gray. "I was expecting the Pevensies, but I did not expect you, son of Adam." This surprised Peter, Susan, and Lucy, while Gray looked at the lion before returning to his human form and removing his helmet, much to the shock of the three. He then respectfully spoke, "I am Gray, Gray Knight. I apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused." The feeling of dread the lion gave Gray wasn't oppressive, but it was majestic and made Gray cautious.
"It was not, Gray Knight. Welcome to Narnia. I am Aslan. I'm sure you have many questions," Aslan spoke, to which Gray sighed before replying, "Just one: Is this Narnia separate from Earth on a dimensional scale?" Aslan confirmed with a simple, "Yes." This made Gray smile as he thought, "Thank you." Aslan then turned to the three, asking, "Where is the fourth?" His gentle question carried weight, and Peter stepped forward, looking somber. "That's why we're here," Susan added quietly. "We had a little trouble along the way." Peter, unable to hide his worry, continued, "He's been captured by the White Witch." A gasp rippled through the crowd as they echoed, "Captured!"
Mr. Beaver stepped forward, his voice firm, "He betrayed them, your Excellence!" The crowd murmured uneasily, and Oreius, the centaur, growled in frustration, "Then he has betrayed us all." Aslan, ever calm, raised a paw and said, "Peace, Oreius." Peter, guilt-stricken, spoke softly, "It's my fault, really. I was too hard on him." Susan nodded, her voice filled with regret, "We all were." Lucy, looking up at Aslan with pleading eyes, added, "Sir, he's our brother." Aslan's eyes softened, though his words carried the weight of truth. "I know, dear, and that makes the betrayal all the worse. It may be harder than you think." Aslan turned towards Gray, saying, "Give me a moment to speak with them," as Gray walked away to a secluded location where he set down his suitcase.
Entering his home, Gray took off his armor and immediately extracted his blood. He cleaned his cauldron, poured in his blood, and activated both his mana and potion creation skills. However, instead of adding ingredients, Gray only diluted his blood with water before deactivating his mana and potion creation skills. This produced a potion, technically, but he wasn't creating it for consumption. He wanted to know what was wrong with his body, and the pondering look on his face confirmed that his method had worked.
[Name: Diluted Blood of the Gray Knight]
[Grade: Medium]
[Description: The diluted blood of the Gray Knight, a young human wizard whose physical body has reached near the limit of human potential, carries both strength and danger. Due to his excessive and continuous consumption of potions, his blood contains traces of various potion toxins, rendering most potions ineffective and harmful when consumed. However, the diluted blood retains a residual magic-enhancing property, temporarily increasing magical resistance by 50% for 4 hours when consumed. Continuous use, however, risks minor organ damage and internal magical disruption due to the toxicity within the blood. The Gray Knight's body is at the brink of breaking down if any further physical enhancement from potions is applied, as his human form has reached near its ultimate capacity and further consumption only leads to his body being destroyed unless the limit is broken.]
[Deterioration Rate: 100%, the freshness of the potion]
Reading the description on his own blood, Gray sighed as he thought, "I knew that I was eventually going to hit the limit of what a normal human body could handle, but I didn't realize it was going to be this soon." He sighed again, but this wasn't unexpected, which meant he had already planned for it. "Thankfully, I already have a concept recipe for the potion. All I have to do is tweak some of the ingredients, and I should be fine," he thought to himself as he got to work.
Early the next day, Gray, who didn't sleep a wink as usual, could be seen placing several test tubes filled with potions on his waist. He thought, "The original recipe ingredients are mostly replaceable with creatures from this world. The point is, where can I find them?" He exited his suitcase, which he then strapped to his backpack as he walked back into the camp, only to see Peter standing in front of the entire encampment. The weight of the moment heavy on his shoulders as he softly spoke, "It is true, he's gone." Edmund, standing by his side, looked at him with determination and replied, "Then you'll have to lead us. There's a whole army out there waiting to follow you."
Peter shook his head, the doubt clear in his voice, "I can't." But Edmund wouldn't give up as he insisted, "Aslan believed you could. And so do I." Oreius, the loyal centaur, approached and asked firmly, "What are your orders?" Peter stared at the map before him, his eyes tracing the outlines of the battlefield they were about to face, before he spotted Gray. "Aslan thought highly of you; he said that you clashed with the White Witch before," which drew murmurs among the crowd. Gray said, "And?" Peter then asked, "Would you be able to join us in defeating the White Witch's army and freeing Narnia?" The crowd looked at Gray, some with hope in their eyes, as Gray sighed, "Sure," before the crowd erupted in cheers. But the reason Gray was joining the fight was simple.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/N so yeah, this is narnia, and yeah, gray has reached his limit for what is possible for humans, this is how i plan to make him stronger, by constantly evolving him into the next stage.