Once Elara removed all the pieces of the clay mold, everyone could see the cauldron. The cauldron looked like a large pot made of dark metallic gray, with bright orange lines running across its entire surface. Upon seeing the cauldron, Elara couldn't contain her excitement, and tears began to fill her eyes, while Frank looked at it with eyes full of hope and happiness.
For her part, Zoe stared at the cauldron for a few seconds, but her gaze soon focused on Erik, who still had the dragoness wrapped around him and was examining the cauldron with a critical eye. She had always found him attractive, but talking about him with Elara and Liliana had always been more of a game; she had never taken it seriously.
But now, he seemed to possess a charm that drew her in as if he were a magnet. This made her discover a whole new range of emotions, while powerful sensations and desires swirled inside her, so intense that they even frightened her. But what scared her wasn't the sensations themselves, but rather what she might end up doing if her willpower faltered—and the consequences that would follow.
"Well, even though it's a bit rough, it's not bad at all. It's still useful. Let's work on the runes." Erik suddenly commented, pulling everyone out of their reverie. Ebonique quickly spoke up in a serious tone.
"None of that. You need to rest."
"That's true, Erik. You need to rest." Elara quickly added, wiping away the tears from the corners of her eyes. Zoe coughed a couple of times to steady her erratic emotions before adding seriously.
"I'll go hunt something, Frank will look for fruit with Lirio, and Elara will take care of cooking. We can continue with the cauldron after you've eaten something."
"I'll go look for fruit."
Frank quickly said as he picked Lirio up in his arms. Erik glanced behind him, where the wolves were playing with each other near Hiyori, who was lying down but alert to her surroundings, and he gave an order in a calm tone.
"Kaiser, go with Frank."
After a couple of affirmative barks, Kaiser grew from his puppy form to about two meters tall, then ran to Frank's side. The young student quickly bowed and then walked toward the forest. Meanwhile, Tiberius ran over to Erik and jumped up to settle on his shoulder.
"Then I'll go start the fire." Elara said with a small smile, looking at Erik with admiration and warmth. Zoe placed her left hand on the hilt of her katana and said in a calm tone.
"I'll go with Hiyori-sama, I'll be right back."
After a quick farewell, Elara and Zoe left, so Ebonique quickly moved away from Erik and then grew in size. After that, Ebonique lay down on the ground and arranged her huge body to create a sort of bed for Erik, then spoke in a calm but firm voice.
"Rest with me for a while."
Somewhat amused, Erik jumped and landed on Ebonique, closing his eyes just as a massive amount of Myst gathered around him, then flowed into his mana circuit. Meanwhile, Ebonique watched Erik in silence, her eyes deep and thoughtful, almost like those of a world-weary sage, as Erik drifted completely into sleep.
…
…
…
After a while, Erik returned from the world of dreams, drawn back by a delicious smell. After rubbing his eyes a couple of times, he sat up and looked around, seeing Zoe, Elara, and Frank finishing up the preparations for a huge feast of meat and some fruit. With a small smile, Erik stretched lazily, just as he heard Ebonique's voice.
"Did you rest well?"
"Quite a bit; you turned out to be surprisingly comfortable. I should sleep on you more often." Erik replied, a bit amused. Ebonique answered in a cheerful, sing-song voice.
"I'll let you do it as many times as you want, but you should be grateful. That's a luxury only you can afford."
"Thank you for the great honor, your excellency Ebonique."
Erik replied playfully as he began to channel a large amount of mana to Ebonique, since his mana circulatory system had fully recovered. The dragoness soon responded in a visibly pleased tone, while the wolves jumped up to start licking Erik's face.
"Fufu, it's good that you know that."
"Are you awake already, Erik?" At that moment, Elara asked in a cheerful, sing-song voice. Erik grabbed the wolves and jumped down to the ground as he answered.
"Yes, it smelled so delicious I couldn't keep sleeping."
"Then come eat; we just finished." Zoe added with a smile, holding a huge wooden plate with big pieces of meat and fruit, carefully cut and arranged as if it were a gourmet dish.
"Then let me delight in your cooking." Erik replied happily as he sat on a log in front of a stone table.
"Eat as much as you want; we made plenty."
Elara replied after a small, cheerful giggle, as she placed a wooden cup on the table, pouring from a large bamboo container what seemed to be fruit juice with ice. Immediately after, Elara offered the cup to Erik, who took it while asking curiously.
"How did you make this?"
"Elara knows spells to make ice, Frank found the fruit and some honey, and I worked as the blender." Zoe said calmly as she placed huge plates full of food on the table. Feeling a bit moved, Erik looked at the smiling young people in front of him and said with a smile.
"Thank you, guys."
"There's nothing to thank us for—we're a team."
Elara replied with a big smile. Frank and Zoe quickly nodded, both with huge smiles on their faces. Erik smiled contentedly, and pointing to the seats beside him at the table, he said.
"Then let's eat."
…
…
…
In the middle of an arid desert, a brutal explosion of fire and lightning devastated the horizon. The blast unleashed a shockwave that triggered a sandstorm, causing both small and large animals in the area to scatter in a desperate attempt to save their lives, leaving the place in complete silence.
After some time, a beautiful woman with blue hair, dressed in a sexy armor that almost looked like an erotic garter, suddenly materialized on the sand. The beauty soon collapsed to her knees, looking exhausted and on the verge of collapse, her breathing heavy and ragged. After a few seconds, the beautiful woman clenched her teeth and managed to stand up, then continued onward with slow, dragging steps.
"Who would have thought this trinket would end up saving my life…"
Looking once more at the iridescent necklace with a pendant that looked like a miniature potion bottle, Christine murmured to herself between weary gasps, recalling the hell she had just endured. Even though she had tried different methods to keep her entourage with her, in the end nothing worked, and she ended up appearing alone inside a half-collapsed stone house.
But the worst part was that, as if misfortune itself were toying with her, no matter how hard she searched, she couldn't find a single one of her followers anywhere nearby. But things only got worse, because soon after, those golden chains appeared, rendering all her magical artifacts useless—except one. Although, well, it was hard to even call that a magical artifact.
The necklace was actually an artifact she had crafted herself in her early years, and it only had one very basic function: to store the last gift she'd received from a certain despicable man—a potion. Ironically, that necklace, which she only carried as a reminder to never trust any man, ended up being the thing that saved her life.
After her artifacts stopped working, Christine ran with all her strength toward the closest entrance to the garden she could remember. But there, she found only a fierce battle between some young members of the Boreal League and what appeared to be demonic cultivators—practitioners of the Zazen discipline who even resorted to cannibalism in search of power.
Knowing that getting involved would only result in her death, Christine had no choice but to retreat, looking for an opportunity to either win over one of the young men from the Boreal League or slip through the chaos. But to her misfortune, something appeared there that should never have been in the ruin—an Illuminated-level mage.
With discouraging speed, the mage decimated most of the young members of the Boreal League and even managed to find her, forcing her to run for her life. But running was pointless, so she quickly searched herself for anything that could save her and ended up finding her necklace.
With nothing better to trust in, Christine removed the tiny cork from the bottle pendant and drank its contents—a potion more than 80 years old. Although the potion was barely drinkable, it actually worked, hiding her completely and saving her from the Illuminated-level mage's pursuit. But the man didn't seem willing to let her go.
The mage sent the demonic cultivators to look for her, and they began using all kinds of wide-area spells and different methods to find her, forcing her to run with all her strength. But since the potion was so old and had never been stored properly, Christine feared its effects would wear off early, so she had no choice but to try sneaking into the entrance. After all, without food, she would die anyway.
Although she finally managed to slip through the entrance, she ended up having to open the stone doors there and start running for her life. Obviously, as soon as she opened the door, everyone was alerted and began to chase her, but thanks to the potion's potency, they couldn't find her.
However, that Illuminated-level mage didn't stay idle; as soon as he entered the desert, he started casting spells everywhere, which once again forced her to run for her life, leaving her completely exhausted.
…
"Damn it!! I'm starving!!"
After traveling several hundred kilometers, Christine couldn't help but curse in anger as she kicked the sand, though her voice sounded weak and powerless. She had been running nonstop, taken a spoiled potion, and used spells continuously to try to speed up her escape as much as possible.
All that effort had left her completely exhausted, to the point where she felt her consciousness beginning to fade. But no matter how far she ran, the desert seemed endless, which was slowly eating away at her hopes of survival.
Conjuring a few runes, Christine gathered what little moisture was in the air, managing to form a small sphere of water—barely a mouthful—which she placed in her mouth and swallowed slowly. After resting for a few minutes, Christine began moving forward again, her expression dark and increasingly desperate.
"I need to find someone strong from the Order… Preferably a man… I can't go on like this…" As she struggled forward, Christine murmured to herself, just as she spotted a group of human figures in the distance—one of whom looked quite familiar to her.
…
…
…
After eating, Erik went once again to record data on the basilisk with Zoe and Frank, who still seemed terrified. Especially Zoe, who was clutching one of his arms as if she wanted to fuse it with her body. But since it was their second experience, the young people seemed able to stay rational enough to follow him and pay attention to his every move.
…
"Welcome back. How did it go?"
When they returned to camp, Elara greeted them with a small smile. Erik smiled calmly and replied as he walked over to the half-finished cauldron resting on a stone table.
"Pretty well. I didn't notice any changes in the basilisk, though I'll go over the notes more thoroughly tonight to be sure."
Upon hearing Erik, Elara let out a small sigh of relief. Although it was still too soon to determine anything for certain, the fact that there were no noticeable changes in the basilisk was still good news. At the very least, it meant its awakening wouldn't happen suddenly.
"Erik, do you need us to help with the cauldron, or should we go explore a bit?" At that moment, Zoe asked in a calm voice, as if she hadn't just been desperately clinging to Erik's arm moments before.
"I don't really need much help with the cauldron right now, but I also haven't had time to figure out the properties of the ingredient for the bio-mystic technique's potion. So for now, you can start preparing non-perishable rations."
Erik replied calmly as he examined the cauldron carefully. After nodding in satisfaction at the cauldron's condition, Erik looked at his companions and explained in a calm voice.
"Among the things you brought, there were various dried fruits, seeds, and some edible mushrooms and roots, which I separated and classified. You can look for more, using Lirio to guide you, or you can also hunt some animals and smoke their meat. I'll leave the decision to you, but if you're going out, take one of the wolves with you."
"Understood, leave it to us." Zoe quickly nodded seriously, then looked at Frank, who did the same. At that moment, Elara asked seriously.
"Do you need me here for anything, or should I go with them to look for supplies?"
"You can go with them. I'll stay here with Ebonique and one of the wolves." Erik replied calmly. The others nodded quickly, then left with Tiberius, while Kaiser ran over to lie down near Erik's feet, wagging his tail rhythmically.
...
"Are you going to carve the runes now?"
After the others left with Hiyori, the fox spirit, Ebonique asked as she looked at the cauldron, a hint of pride shining in her eyes. She had contributed to its creation, and that made her feel a special affection for that piece of metal. For his part, Erik nodded and began drawing a new refinement circle on the table.
"Yes, and since we don't have any tools or materials, we're going to have to improvise quite a bit."
Once he finished with the refinement circle, Erik walked over to the storage area, where he grabbed the refined falamite, some leftover falamite slag, a bit of raw iron, and a few copper ingots. After gathering everything he needed, Erik took a huge bear fang, which he had set aside specifically when he dismantled the Graynebula.
"Well, Ebonique, your job will be to make small 'wires' out of the falamite and copper ingots and to prepare some iron powder and falamite slag powder."
When he returned to the table, Erik set everything down and spoke while looking at Ebonique, who was flying beside him. The dragoness quickly nodded and replied with confidence.
"Leave it to me."
…
While Ebonique used her powerful claws to cut, scrape, and flatten the metal, Erik activated the refinement circle. Immediately after, Erik took the Graynebula fang and carefully carved just seven runes in different parts of the cauldron, keeping it as simple as possible.
After a while, Erik finished carving the runes and turned to look at Ebonique by his side, who already had the wires and metal powder ready and perfectly separated.
"You're very efficient." Erik took a wire of refined falamite and commented with a smile. Ebonique smiled confidently and replied.
"Of course, you're talking to the great Ebonique Nox. This is nothing."
"You're the best." Erik said with a smile, then passed some mana to the dragoness and then to Kaiser, who had lain down near his legs and started whining out of jealousy.
While the satisfied Ebonique lay down on his head in her small form, Erik began using the copper and falamite wires to fill different parts of the runes, finishing the job with some iron powder or slag. Conjuring electric arcs with runes, Erik melted and secured everything in place. Once everything was done, Erik lit a campfire and melted some Glowsap resin.
Using the liquid resin, Erik coated both the inside and outside of the cauldron, then set it out to dry in the sun on a stick. Afterwards, the star-haired boy began drawing a complex runic-geomantic refinement circle on a stone slab while commenting in a calm voice.
"Ebonique, light the fire pit we used to prepare the potion ingredients. We're on the final step."
"On it!" Ebonique replied quickly, then flew off Erik's head in search of some charcoal.
Once the circle was ready, Erik replaced the stone slab in one of the holes with two openings that made up the " fire pit," then placed the cauldron on top of it. After that, Erik poured a couple of liters of water into the cauldron, along with almost a full glass of water containing traces of Zaryonite, and let it come to a boil, something Ebonique watched with great interest.
At that moment, Hiyori, Elara, Zoe, and Frank returned carrying a bear, what looked like a 6-meter-long capybara, and a bluish deer, as well as bamboo baskets full of dried fruit. Seeing the cauldron with runes carved into it and boiling water inside, Elara couldn't help but ask, full of excitement.
"Did you finish the cauldron?"
"You actually arrived at just the right moment. I'm about to add the final touch and test it out." Erik said, shaking his head and explaining with a smile.
The young people's eyes lit up at Erik's words, and even a hint of interest crept into Hiyori's eyes. Quickly, Elara, Zoe, and Frank ran to unload what they were carrying, then stood a few meters from the cauldron, not wanting to interrupt the process. Erik smiled, amused, and commented after a few seconds.
"Well, it's the moment of truth."
Under the attentive gaze of everyone present, Erik activated the refinement circle on the stone slab, causing it to glow softly. Meanwhile, the others watched with full concentration, their hearts pounding and their palms sweating, filled with anticipation and nervousness.
Success in creating the cauldron would not only give them the ability to make potions—which would greatly increase their chances of survival—but it would also help them understand those terrifying golden chains a bit better. It would open up the possibility of crafting weapons and equipment, something they needed just as urgently as the potions.
***
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