With a few moments to collect himself, and a grin that seemed wider than his face should allow, Har finally settled his gaze on the youngling standing opposite him. "A silver… do you have any idea how much that potion seller would sell such a craft for?"

Nodding to confirm she in fact did, for once, actually know something about potions after Imelda's explanation, "Uh-huh, thirty-five silver. Ingredients for potions must be way more expensive."

The elder merchant bobbed his head along with his apprentice, stifling a chuckle at her apparent naivety and lack of a merchant's instincts, "Exactly!" He said in agreement, at least to the first part "It might not be quite what I was hoping for, but it's definitely a good start." His grin turning mischievous as he spoke.

With a quizzical look on her face, Kori asked what she'd been wondering since the night before after some of Har's remarks, "A good start to what?"

"Oh, don't worry about that for now." He replied, still grinning while he tried to wave off her question.

If there was one thing Kori did not like, it was an ambivalent response to an asked question. A stubborn pout coming over her face as she tried to convince the Elder to give her a more definitive answer. Unfortunately for her no matter how many times she tried to circle back to the question, Har just continued to deflect the question with those of his own. Whatever plans the man had, he was not willing to divulge them to her yet.

He asked about plans made with Imelda for the next two days, if they still had potential ingredients to try, if there was anything that they needed, and how she liked working with the woman, eventually distracting her from the non-answer by getting her enthused about giving answers of her own. Just before she tried to circle back and pester him once again, he informed her that they would be returning to the clan on the morning three days from then and encouraged her to work hard and try to learn as much as possible in the time she had left with the herbalist.

With the addition of a time crunch, he'd finally succeeded in distracting her from the question he'd rather not answer.

Dinner passed just the same as it had many of the nights since reaching Whatzakt, copious quantities of spirits and food consumed at Maribel's café as she told the young gnome all about her day of experimentation and discovery. Her gnomish friend even ended up spraying her drink across the table when Har confirmed what had been created, something that he for some reason requested Maribel keep to herself for the time being with a somewhat exaggerated wink that just proved to confuse Kori all the more about what her mentor was up to.

In yet another change from their normal habit, at least since they'd arrived on the surface, Har managed to reach his sleeping mat still semi-conscious and without requiring much in the way of guidance or stabilization on the way.

There was yet another surprise in a day that had been full of them awaiting Kori when she returned to the enclave, Zln sat in the main chamber waiting for her.

Rising as soon as she spotted the young kobold enter, the taciturn animist approached and held her hand out with her palm upturned before herself, "Inkwell."

Unsure what to make of the unexplained demand, Kori gripped her satchel a bit tighter as she looked at the stoic woman. There was neither hostility nor aura to be had, no sign of her spiritual state that she'd exhibited earlier in the day when she'd been angered, her gaze remained blank and indifferent as ever.

After a few moments of stalemate between the two, Kori beginning to relax her posture as Zln didn't seem to be escalating the situation, the burly shaman's stance slowly softening, just slightly, the animist said something that Kori had not expected to hear from the terse woman, "Please."

Beginning to feel that she might be able to trust the woman, at least slightly, Kori did as asked and produced the inkwell. examining the spirit within as she retrieved the crystal vessel, the spark of light had recovered some from the earlier encounter, still diminished but no longer as wane as it had been after the morning's confrontation.

When she hesitated to hand it over, holding it close in case of a repeat from earlier, Zln made no motions to hurry her on or seize it as she had in their confrontation. Whether because she was being sincere in the matter being a request this time or she did not wish to provoke another response from the little spirit was hard to tell, she simply left her hand extended and stared down Kori as she waited.

When she finally decided that she would trust the woman, slowly passing the inkwell over into her waiting hand, a pulse of light passed through the quartz as it touched her scales but settled back into its pale warm glow without a repeat of its prior rejection.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Thank you." The animist nodded, holding the inkwell in her hand without changing her posture or withdrawing it from the youngling's reach. As she stood there, Kori could see as mana began slowly washing over her the same as it had when Zln had empowered her spiritual aura earlier in the day but without the enveloping glow of her own spirit. Kori watched as the energy slowly seeped into the crystal inkwell, nourishing the little spirit dwelling inside. The glow of the spirit within rekindled as the mana fueled its recovery, taking only seconds for it to surge to its former brilliance and even a bit beyond.

Without any further words, Zln nodded towards the inkwell, something unspoken seeming to pass between the two, before she handed it back to Kori and walked away without another word, returning to her seat in the corner that she had occupied before Kori had entered.

Kori blinked several times, looking at the little inkwell now brightly glowing in her spiritual sense and back at the laconic shaman.

Wish I knew how to do that…

Pursuing that very thought, Kori asked the woman how she had done what she had. Unfortunately, the response, which was as brief as could be expected, was "Spiritual magic", something that Kori knew she'd likely never be capable of on her own.

She gave the animist a nod of her own, feeling just a little less angry at the woman than she had earlier, before retreating to the den she'd laid claim to for the evening.

The rest of the evening was uneventful, spent pouring over her herbalist's tome while she made notes about potential combinations and experiments that Imelda and herself might try in the coming days. As well as writing out a more detailed recipe of her day's discovery next to the entries she'd already made for her ointment and the flame flasks.

By the time she retired for the night, she'd filled several of her spare sheets of paper that had been intended for language practice with potential combinations. Many of the proposed recipes were still based on the luminous moss tincture, though she also proposed making the same with several other bases such as yarrow tea, garlic and even honey, which she knew the town produced in abundance.

The next two days passed in a flurry of experimentation, many failures interspersed with several notable successes. None of the other bases proved to be viable for what she was attempting; it appeared that there was in fact something special about the luminous moss. That's not to say she didn't discover any recipes that did not require the plant, just that what such a combination did produce dissimilar to her previous successes.

One such success was using a strong yarrow tea and aloe extract; the initial result created a cleansing concentrate that once diluted would clean surfaces of contaminants. A few drops on a cloth and the workbench practically shined wherever they wiped it. It smelled pretty good too. Kori was certain that Bolst was going to love the stuff. As long as it didn't turn out to be flammable at least.

Her results with the tincture on the other hand included many other suspensions that increased Ability Scores and could be considered a rousing success. From Basic Suspensions of Momentum using licorice root that increased Agility and Dexterity, Resilience from blue verbena that boosted Strength and Endurance, Precision from Bilberries that boosted perception and finesse, Vigilance made with a rather acrid bean called 'coffee' that Kori was very much not a fan of that boosted Wit and Perception, and what was probably her favorite out of the bunch, Inspiration which was the only success she'd managed with a fungus, specifically lion's mane mushroom, that boosted Wit and Cunning.

The latter also tasted strongly of dirt and for some reason the crawler she'd tried at the festival. Because of course she tried that particular concoction. The sensation of suddenly expanding her mental Ability Scores was similar to when she'd received a Racial level, though without the physical side of growth she felt the peculiarities of the two effected scores in a more pronounced manner that left her slightly giddy; like that first deep breath of air after holding her breath for too long.

They had kept the trial sizes quite small to conserve the tincture, but even that wasn't enough for it to last forever, by the time they'd found their final suspension they'd burned through everything that the herbalist had in stock and much to Kori's chagrin they hadn't found the one recipe that she'd been hoping for, which according to what Renava sold should be called a Suspension of Aptitude and would have boosted her magical abilities.

There was one more discovery of note, likely the most prevalent of what they'd discovered even, that not only was distinctly important in its own right but opened the door to a whole new line of experimentation for Kori. It was in fact something that they'd proposed near to the beginning of their experimentation before the first success with the suspensions when they were trying to recreate the ointment.

Mixing the somewhat fresh luminous moss with the sphagnum moss and tincture changed the outcome of the craft entirely and opened their eyes to the idea that even the recipes that they had discovered were not the end of the line for that particular herb. Out of the entire treasure trove of suspensions they practically dropped into Har's lap, it was the one that had him rubbing his hands and counting coins in his head above all others.

Basic Suspension of Mending Tier 1, Common

A suspension created from herbal ingredients imbued with mana. Upon ingestion increases the rate at which health recovers by an additional 1 per minute for the duration of one hour. During this time wounds will close at an accelerated rate. Only one such suspension may be used safely per twelve hours without causing illness and requiring a significantly longer recovery period.

This suspension will begin to lose its potency after a period of time.

"Oh yes, this will do nicely." Was all Har had to say when he finally appraised the concoction. That and laugh. Though it wasn't a laugh that Kori was really familiar with and if she had to, she might have even described it as being a little sinister as it had made the scales down her spine itch in an ominous manner.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.