Once Clara disappeared back into the tent, Hannah sidled up to Jason with an unmistakably calculating smile.
"Big brother, can I have the other pill? Mother didn't take it."
Jason raised an eyebrow. "And what exactly would my lovely little sister do with a middle-grade healing pill?"
"Nothing," Hannah answered innocently. "It's just so shiny. I want it."
Jason laughed and ruffled her hair. "In that case, why don't you refine one yourself? Or better yet, go ask the grand elder politely for a spare." He gave her braid one last playful tug and stepped past her into the tent before she could protest further.
He rested for several hours, letting the dense spiritual energy he had absorbed in the alchemy room settle. When the afternoon light began to soften he rose, collected a waterskin, and made his way to the familiar training clearing in the woods. There he drilled the Phantom Kick and Invisible Iron Fist in alternating cycles—legs first, then fists, then both together—until sweat darkened his robe and the light failed completely. Only when the trees had turned to black silhouettes against the night sky did he stop.
He sat on a fallen log, drank deeply from the waterskin, and drew the remaining sky-blue pill from his pouch. The smooth surface caught the faint moonlight as he turned it between his fingers.
"I still can't believe Mother refused to take both," he murmured.
*She knows it won't touch the root of her illness,* the bracelet replied. *At best it eases surface pain. For you, after the tournament, it has real value. You almost certainly took internal damage you haven't fully noticed yet.*
Jason's thumb traced the curve of the pill. "I keep wishing something this simple could be enough for her. Then I wouldn't have to wake up every day wondering how much worse she'll be."
*If you truly want to help her, get stronger. Everything else follows from that.*
Jason stared at the pill a while longer. Then a thought surfaced—one he had not allowed himself to examine closely until now.
*You know how to guide pill refinement. Do you know of any medicine that could actually cure her?*
The bracelet was silent for a moment.
*I do. But the formula has not circulated in this generation. Even if the knowledge still exists somewhere, the ingredients are not easy to gather, and your current realm is far too low to refine it.*
Jason's hope flared and then immediately tempered. "There's still a way?"
*There is a way to make the pill. The problem is twofold: acquiring every required ingredient, and possessing enough spiritual energy and flame control to survive the refinement without destroying the cauldron—or yourself.*
"What does my realm have to do with it so directly?"
*Everything. The process demands sustained, high-density spiritual energy to maintain the flame at precise temperatures for an extended period. At your level you would exhaust yourself before the first purification stage finished. And that is before we even discuss the ingredients.*
Jason leaned forward. "Are the ingredients difficult?"
*Most are not exotic. Wiping grass, mystic fruit, soul-clearing grass, and winded flower. The grand elder almost certainly has wiping grass—he used it in today's refinement. The others are less certain. But one ingredient you will have to obtain yourself: the saliva of a horned leopard.*
Jason's expression tightened. "Which means going back into the beast territory."
*Where else do you expect to find a horned leopard?*
He grimaced. "Couldn't we substitute saliva from some ordinary beast or even a spirit pet?"
*No. Horned-leopard saliva carries a specific healing property that ordinary beasts lack. And you don't own a spirit pet in any case.*
Jason exhaled slowly. "Then I have no choice. How strong are they?"
*An adult would crush you without noticing. An adolescent, however, is manageable for someone at the fifth stage of the Foundation realm or higher—if you are careful and do not linger.*
"I'll aim for a younger one, then. List the rest of the ingredients again so I can see what the grand elder might already have."
*Wiping grass, mystic fruit, soul-clearing grass, winded flower. That is the core set besides the saliva.*
Jason closed his fist around the pill. "Then the path is clear. Get stronger, gather the ingredients, refine the pill. Mother can still recover."
*That's the correct attitude. And the first practical step is to swallow the pill you are still holding. You will need every advantage when you eventually re-enter the beast territory.*
Jason hesitated only a second longer, then tossed the sky-blue pill into his mouth. The moment it touched his tongue a deep, spreading warmth bloomed in his chest and flowed outward along his meridians. Residual aches he had almost grown used to simply faded. His body felt lighter, cleaner, as though a thin layer of internal grit had been rinsed away.
He let out a quiet breath of surprise. "I really was carrying hidden injuries. Good thing the grand elder handed these over."
*Next,* the bracelet said, *we start preparing the ingredient list in earnest.*
Jason looked toward the dark treeline that marked the direction of the beast territory, the warmth of the pill still moving through him, and felt the familiar mixture of dread and resolve settle into place. The cure was no longer a vague hope. It had a name, a recipe, and a price. He would pay it.