Chapter 192: Guinea Pig
Holding the two essences, I realized I was now a guard, cook, maid, dishwasher, and babysitter. On the bright side, I was relatively safe and had privacy most of the day. Some legionnaires might find it demeaning, but I felt more like Alfred. I was ready to experiment with two minor essences in my grasp, the dexterity and earth essence. I had no minor essence for a mental attribute, but I saw this as an opportunity to experiment with these two minor attributes. Starting small had its advantages. It would allow me to gauge if I could effectively harness both essences simultaneously. If successful, I would attempt two major essences next.
I crossed both legs under me on the bed and concentrated on my aether core and my slightly burning aether channels. At least with the aether burn, it was straightforward to map the flow of aether in my body. After studying for over an hour, I consumed both essences at once.
The sensation was completely different than usual. With my eyes closed, my vision swam with colors, and I associated specific colors with various senses. Brown flashes tasted like citrus, white triggered the smell of pine needles. I focused on the energy the essences spread through my body, ignoring the odd overwhelming sensory input. The essence raced along my aether channels throughout my body like a superhighway, reinforcing areas and saturating others. I tried to see any bleed in the energy, but it moved too fast to track, and before I knew it, its work was done.
I opened my eyes and moved to uncover the tablet reader. I utilized a dose of aether to activate it, and I read my results. My earth affinity had moved from 13 to 14, and my dexterity attribute went from 43/61 to 44/61. So, the good news was both minor essences had worked simultaneously, but I had not been able to observe if they were less effective if consumed individually.
I could feel some minor indigestion and fatigue from their work, but less than consuming a single major essence. Of course, this was the first time I had focused so intently on the essence’s work so I had nothing to compare it to. I covered the tablet reader and considered my past gains from a minor essence. Sometimes, I got a single point in potential, but that was rare. Usually, I received one or two points in the attribute. I decided tomorrow night, I would try to consume two major essences and evaluate the results.
I paged through the three cooking books and the dozen handwritten recipes to add to the dreamscape. I would probably never need to entertain orcs at a dinner party, but examining the culinary tastes of orcs when I have time would be interesting. The cookbook seemed to be authored by an explorer, as each recipe included an extensive description of where he had learned it and how it related to orc society. Food was definitely a unique way of exploring a race’s culture.
From the cooking book, I could tell the orc culture was complex. One recipe, for instance, could only be consumed by children. Another was consumed exclusively before a battle. Yet another involved their version of a mating ritual: both the male and female consumed it, and the winner of a wrestling match following the meal was then considered the dominant partner in their union.
A cold, quick shower later, and I was in the dreamscape. I manifested the cooking references and a few more books from the caelorian metalsmiths. Once I had copied all these books, I would look to get rid of them and clean up my dimensional space.
Maybe Ignis would know someone interested in them. She had promised to keep the source of the spinnerets secret, but I did not fully trust her. I found one book with a multitude of illustrations. It looked to be related to the techniques of making an intricate teapot. Maybe she wouldn’t be interested in it, but I could test the waters with this one.
My time in the dreamscape was divided between memorizing the earth affinity spell form and working with the enhanced Konstantin. His skills had doubled just by applying what I observed in the Imperial training yard during my visit to the blacksmith. That was somewhat unsettling, as my subconscious clearly perceived more than I did during the brief time I watched. I wanted to seek out and observe some spear masters practicing in the future to improve my capabilities with the black spear.Maybe I missed hearing Konstantin constantly criticize and correct me, as I only practiced with him this evening. I wondered how Maveith and the company were doing. They should be leaving soon to escort the Magistrate.
I exited the dreamscape and did my sword and spear katas in the common room again. Maybe I could clear one of the large guest bedrooms for my practice. There was one that had a large balcony facing the city.
At sunrise, I returned to the alchemy lab to clean. Midmorning, three crates of dusty alchemy books were delivered by three porters. Twenty-seven books in all. I cleared a shelf in the alchemy room and placed all the books there. It looked to be a complete collection for an alchemy student at the Mage College. Books on setting up apparatus and purification of ingredients were the most common among the books. After paging through the collection, I returned to clean the alchemy room.
I lost myself in my work, and in mid-afternoon, a smiling Flora and Livia arrived. They were excited to tell the tale of how they had earned their punishment. They had chosen extra sauce for their gnocchi and made a mess of a First Citizen’s robes. Before Lucia could lash out, Chancellor Zyna intervened and punished them with a week of cleaning in her apartments. Zyna had apparently put on quite a show in the dining hall, according to them, and Flora admitted she had peed herself a little.
I winced internally. Zyna was winning the trust of these two young women. Livia would feel indebted to her and would probably volunteer to go on whatever mission Antonia had planned when Zyna asked her. It was difficult not to warn them.
After talking with the excitable two mage aspirants, I switched from cleaning to cooking. My goal was to improve my baking skills today and figure out how to control the oven temperature. I opened the book on bread that I added to my dreamscape and was flustered by all the types contained within. For one, the breads were made from more than just wheat flour. Then there were flatbreads, focaccia, and loaves. Apparently, one of the most important ingredients was the type of yeast.
I found two flatbread recipes that seemed easy enough. One was the familiar pita that Lirkin frequently served, and the other was a flour tortilla-type. I also set some dough to rise with the yeast and focused on the two flatbreads that were made with a skillet. By sunset, I had tortillas and fresh pita flatbread. A quick dicing of vegetables and chicken and the wraps had stuffing.
I was surprised when Zyna arrived. “Renna never came today. Is she okay?” I asked, concerned. I served Zyna a rolled tortilla filled with the apple-berry dungeon jam.
“She is still working on the flame spear spell. She needs the motivation to work harder. She is a once-in-a-generation talent and may one day be a High Mage herself. After she learned her first spell, she’s grown complacent.” She tasted the jelly roll and smiled, savoring it and smiling. “Were the alchemy books delivered?” She asked with a full mouth.
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“They were. However, only some simple potion recipes were in the collection. Not sure making wart removal potions will be useful to me,” I snorted.
Zyna scoffed a little, too, quickly hiding a smile as Livia and Flora now stood at the archway. Both filthy and salivating at the spread on the table. I motioned them forward, “Help yourselves. Put a spoonful of the chicken and vegetable mixture on the bread, sprinkle it with the cheese, and fold it over into a wrap.” The two attacked the table and ate somewhat noisily in front of us like they were afraid they might be sent away at any moment.
“This is so much better than yesterday,” Flora muttered through mouthfuls. Each of them finished three wraps before slowing down. Even Zyna tried a wrap, and I think she enjoyed it with her surprised expression. I needed to add more spices to the mixture to make a proper fajita, but it was still good. Flora sniffed the air, “Is something burning?”
I swore as my loaf of bread was burning in the oven—another fail. The three watched amusedly as I rushed to the kitchen to try and save the loaf. The mage aspirants had left when I returned with my smoldering dark loaf.
Zyna smiled at my dismay. “Having trouble with the oven?”
“The heating seems uneven. I can’t get a constant temperature if I have to cook anything in it for more than ten minutes.”
Zyna stood and walked confidently into the kitchen. She spent a few minutes examining the oven before turning to me, “A runic vent is missing. It controls the airflow. Without it, the oven would just continue to heat over time, getting hotter and hotter. I will get a replacement. I will also get you the tier-one alchemy recipe book for poisons as well when I return. I will be gone for the next five days, so you will be on your own. Do you have everything you need?”
With a confused expression, I asked, “Where are you going, and why am I not accompanying you?”
“I am just traveling to my villa in the hamlet I rule on the coast. I need to get my affairs in order for an extended stay here and prepare my people to evacuate and flee south if the orcs or elves land nearby.” Zyna explained, but I sensed some averseness. I think it was a note of sadness in not being there for her people. I remembered her undertones of anger when she came to hunt the summoner who had attacked her fishing hamlet by controlling the weather.
I still thought I should go with her but didn’t press. “I will be fine on my own. Can I clear out the south guest room to use as a training room?” I asked. There were a few empty small storerooms on this floor where I could move the furniture.
“You can do whatever you want in any room except the master bedroom. I never thought I would take residence here again. For me, it was always just a place to sleep.” I could tell there was more history Zyna was not telling me. She didn’t look ready to open up further, so I just nodded as she withdrew to bathe.
Later in the evening, I had two major essences in my hand: earth and dexterity. From what I understood, it was a large step up from a minor essence, as major essences were ten times as effective. I retreated into my meditative focus and consumed the essences together.
The rush this time was more intense, and I think I could feel the difference in purity as the essences worked through me. I had to ignore the dizzying array of colors, smells, scents, and tingles. Again, they had worked so fast that it was hard to track, but I was certain I had not metabolized everything this time. The question was whether this was a normal overflow or if I had lost some of my potential gains.
Moments later, I stood over the tablet reader as my stomach did flips, and I chased some floaters in my vision with my eyes to steady myself. My recovery from metabolizing the essences took longer than normal, but I gripped the reader anyway.
My dexterity attribute had improved from 44/61 to 46/62. And the earth affinity had gone from 14 to 16. Both were normal gains if I took a major essence alone. I didn’t have any major essences for a mental attribute to test three in conjunction. Searching, I found that the only mental attribute in my essence stockpile was an apex essence for the insight attribute. I decided to increase my essence consumption again tomorrow evening, consuming an apex earth essence and a major dexterity essence.
I could already tell from my practice the small gains in dexterity were increasing my control and accuracy with the blade. Another factor in choosing dexterity for me was I knew that manual dexterity was also a factor in learning spell forms to cast actual spells. Mages learned by tracing the spell forms with their fingers in the air first. With enough practice, experienced mages could eventually create the spell forms without manipulating their fingers, but, to my knowledge and from my readings, they always created spell forms by channeling aether through their hands.
The routine of my dreamscape, morning, and day continued. The alchemy lab was getting into good shape, all the useless glassware was disposed of, and I wrote out a list of ingredients for the only recipe I knew—minty mouthwash. I needed to restock anyway. Flora and Livia arrived in the afternoon, but Renna had not returned. I guessed I would not see Renna again until Zyna returned and she could cast the flame spear spell.
Flora and Livia were getting more comfortable around me, talking about their lives as mage aspirants. I was surprised they didn’t focus much on the challenges they had faced. I knew they were being bullied, but they did not want to discuss that with me. I would eventually meet their tormentors and hadn’t decided how I would respond yet.
It was also nice that the two enjoyed my cooking, and maybe they would gain some weight due to my efforts. Currently, I was experimenting with various spices to try and make a decent fajita or burrito to add as a prepared meal to my dimensional storage. The two young women left after dark, and I was again alone.
I consumed the apex earth essence and major dexterity essence, and the sensory overload following was much more intense than my prior experiments. My aether core seemed the most upset with the increase in my earth affinity. I had only recently unlocked it, and I was constantly increasing it. My aether core felt turbulent, like a maelstrom of energy with nowhere to go that was constantly being fed by the earth essence.
As the seconds ticked by, I broke into a cold sweat and my nerves felt numb, but my body and aether channels quickly calmed with my aether core. What had taken seconds had felt like minutes to me. I hadn’t even realized my heart was pounding as I had focused internally on the flow of the essences’ workings.
Finally, I was breathing steadily, and my body and aether core were completely calmed. I think this was my limit. One apex and one major essence. Maybe I could consume three major essences at once, but I first needed one major essence from the physical, mental, and magical affinities to attempt it.
I took one unsteady step toward the reader before gaining my balance. My fine motor control was a bit numb but returned quickly. I tested myself. My earth affinity had increased by three points to 19. My dexterity attribute had increased from 46/62 to 47/63. That puzzled me for a while as I had received +2/+1 yesterday evening and +1/+1 today. I didn’t sense I got any less benefit from this major earth essence than the one from last evening. Zyna said there was a factor of diminishing returns from essences, so that is how I interpreted the lesser results. I just didn’t expect it to happen so quickly.
From this most recent experience, I definitely needed to rest on consuming earth essences for a few days, no matter how tantalizing the possibility of reaching a twenty-five affinity to learn the spell form may be. I continued my routine, settling into the weasel fur with the dreamscape amulet and channeled aether into it.
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