Eik sat on the stool again, facing the cauldron with his eyes closed. It had taken him a couple of days to build up the nerve to attempt the energy fusion extraction again but now he was steeled for it.

  If anything, he was even more ready now than he had been when Robert had barged in on his previous attempt, not only mentally but also because he now had a large sign with “do not disturb” written in bold letters hanging on the handle of his door.

  Bob would definitely know that if he scared him like that again he would be buried among the flowers out back.

  Taking a deep breath, Eik moved through the different stages of the fusion of Profound Toxin and the Ak’ki. Once he made it to the collision stage, his heart began to race like crazy and he had to take a mental step back to calm down before proceeding.

  The collision was successful and for what felt like hours, Eik watched the essences of each of the substances trickle slowly and lazily toward their shared barycenter, despite the rapid revolutions of the main bodies. They blended like milk and tea, floating around each other until they became something together — something more.

  The sight of it was so mesmerizing that Eik almost forgot that there was a limit to what his body could take before it would start to break apart. He pumped the brakes on the two essences to the best of his ability and hurried into the extraction phase — something he had yet to attempt once.

  By Odin’s greasy beard, this had better be the simplest part of the process or he might just explode. Probably literally, actually.

  It took a bit of twisting and pulling, which made him nervous, but eventually it came loose and floated away from the barycenter and straight toward Eik’s spiritual presence. Letting the Profound Toxin and Ak’ki decelerate as he opened his physical eyes.

  And the moment he did, he was struck by a deep weariness as lightheadedness washed over him. He had been so engrossed in the workings of the fusion that it didn’t become apparent until now.

  That hadn’t happened inside the world of Profound Toxin so there were definitely differences between that and the real world. At this point it was difficult to tell exactly what that meant overall but there was no way he could do it again right away. Maybe it was something similar to ability cooldowns.

  The fused essence sat quietly, right there on the back of his hand, pulsating and flowing like a flower in the wind. While the two energies inside of him came to a complete halt, he stuck a finger into the fused essence upon which it flowed around the finger like a wad of custard.

  There really wasn’t much of it, no matter how you looked at it. Only enough to cover the first knuckle of his index finger. What could he even do with this much? Even if it was more potent than Profound Toxin on its own, would this meager quantity really be able to do much against a strong opponent?

  Feeling a vibration inside his shirt, Eik pulled out the wooden plaque. “You’re kidding,” he mumbled as he stared down at the glowing text etching itself into the surface.

  [Reached Instinct of Toxin — II]

  “Damn…” Had he really achieved a feat worth of something like this. Maybe the hunch about the possibility of death out here in the real world had some truth to it after all. Well, he certainly wasn’t complaining. As the threats against Earth as well as himself personally continued to mount, he needed all the advancement he could get his hands on.

  He glanced down at the cauldron in front of him. Then he might as well start with this.

  To be certain that, if nothing else, the mixture did not fail, Eik had decided to use the recipe for Potion of Mighty Strength class 1 for the experiment. It was already mixed to readiness in the cauldron but it wouldn’t be good forever so there was not time to waste.

  He started with splash of regular aura to bait out the hostile miasma of the ingredients. With practiced ease he then ground that into nothingness with the annihilating potency of Profound Toxin, leaving nothing but the severely addled blend of magical plants and animal parts.

  Where he would normally have used aura once more to influence the mixture toward the completion of the potion, he now took hold of the fused essence. As it billowed eagerly in his grasp, it looked like a blazing turquoise flame that could burn anything to ashes.

  To Eik’s skin, however, it felt like the gentlest and most temperate of balms.

  How in the world could it be that rowdy beast number one and two fuse and become something this… mellow and kind?

  With care he guided the tiny thing into the mixture where it obediently melded into and briefly enveloped the ingredients before disappearing completely.

  “Wh—… Wh- What?” Eik stammered, unwilling to believe his eyes. “N- No, this is not— This is not how it’s supposed to be.” Tears threatened to push their way through to run a sprint down his cheeks. All that work and pain for… nothing? Not even the same effect as regular aura but just nothing?

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  Eik was drawing in a mighty breath — enough to get through all the curses he knew on a single exhalation — when an almost imperceptible glow rose up from the bottom of the cauldron.

  “Whoa, what?” he gasped and stepped back, holding up his hands protectively in front of his face. He had caught enough explosions with his face to know where this crap was going.

  When, after a few seconds, the glow didn’t fade and instead intensified to a bright radiance, Eik snuck a tentative peek into the cauldron.

  The mixture hung suspended in the air as if held fast by an array of invisible string. As he watched, it condensed itself from a formless mass into a small, spherical pill. Its surface was the same swirled appearance as the potion version but the vibe it exuded was definitely strange.

  “What the…” he muttered as the glow faded and the pill fell back into the now clean metal bottom with a hollow clunk. Hesitating slightly to touch the new creation, he picked it up and turned it over in his hand. It was beautiful. People would probably boy this just as a decorative piece alone.

  But surely decorative wasn’t all it was, right…? So what was it?

  He sniffed it. It barely had an odor.

  To the touch it was solid and almost crumbly like a cookie but when he applied a bit of pressure it gave no indication of coming apart.

  He didn’t lick it. Yet.

  Inside the sphere, he felt the slightest presence of Profound Toxin. But instead of the bloodthirsty, bestial vigor that it usually displayed, this was a subdued and dormant presence that emanated no threat to speak of. His aura was amalgamated into it to near perfection, its demeanor apparently soothing the blue beast.

  “So what…” he muttered, holding the little pill up to the rays of the sun coming in through the window. “do you do, exactly…?”

  He considered testing it himself right then and there but given the fact that the original recipe rather narrowly suited E-rankers it would be a waste to take it himself. The full effect wouldn’t come to light. The Profound Toxin was in a hibernant state in there so it would probably be fine to give it to Heath to try.

  And even if the toxin did end up trying to get at Heath, there was so little of it that Eik would be able to extract it long before it ever managed to do any damage. With the control of Instinct of Toxin, he was confident he could save Heath with no issue.

  This was the age of discovery after all. A little risk never hurt anybody, eh?

  Carefully, he placed the incandescent little pill on a piece of cloth which he folded it into and as he was stuffing the bundle into a soft pouch, the wooden plaque vibrated against his skin once more.

  “What now?”

  His eyes scanned the glowing text as his eyebrows climbed higher and higher up his forehead.

  [Reached Instinct of Toxin — III]

  What the hell was going on here? Just what the hell had he made?

  The discovery of Backflow that was granted to him by a spontaneous skill evolution of Profound Toxin had opened his eyes to the extremely high ceiling of his power, even now, but also made him painfully aware of what he had to pay for that power.

  If his power rank continued to rise as meteorically as it had until now, he would never get Resistance: Toxin to a point where it could keep him even moderately safe during the activation of Backflow. Profound Toxin was simply too powerful for him to endure.

  Ever since the day of Bart's death, Eik had gotten back into the flow of feeding himself poison. Resistance: Toxin had reached level 38 by now, but it was simply too slow. More drastic measures were required, that much was clear.

  Wait. Could he perhaps enter the realm of Profound Toxin and practice Backflow control with a lesser risk of death?

  He glanced down at the nondescript pouch on the table. “What are you, little guy?” he wondered out loud.

  Only one way to find out! He slung his rucksack of holding over his shoulder and ran to the door.

  “Whoa, crap!” he yelped as he suddenly found himself face to face with Robert who was standing right on his door step, waiting. “You scared me, dude! Stop doing that!”

  “Sorry. There was a sign.”

  “So what’s up?”

  “I’ve got some news about the potion theft case. More potions have started appearing on the market.”

  Eik arched an eyebrow. “I thought all of them were already in circulation. Where did they get a new supply?”

  “Well, sir, I’m actually not sure they did find more potions..

  “And why is that?”

  Robert made a face. “It would seem that they’re fakes. They look identical or near identical to the ones you made but there have already been complaints. They literally do nothing.”

  “That’s great!”

  “Not… really,” Robert drawled. “All the stunts you’ve pulled to ensure that everybody knows you’re the original creator, as well as the fact that the merchants have been crediting you, means that basically nobody knows you’re not the one responsible for the fake product.”

  Eik’s jaw tensed as anger welled up in his stomach. “They’re trying to ruin my damn image!”

  “It would certainly seem so, yes…”

  “Damn it!” Eik shouted, stomping a foot into the lawn. A small crater formed and he had to pull his foot back out of the earth, the boot covered in soil. He sighed. “What can we do about it?”

  “I already ordered the potions off the shelves of a couple of merchants but I wanted to report to you as quickly as possible. It would be prudent to minimize any damage to your reputation as much as possible by making sure all sales are stopped.”

  “Sounds like a plan. You do that, please.”

  “What are you going to do, sir?”

  “I was right in the middle of something and while this is urgent I know you’re probably more suited to do it properly than me. And to be honest, I’m at the edge of my seat to figure out this thing I’m working on, so I’ll leave it to you.”

  “I’ll make sure to not disappoint,” the young man said with a stiff bow.

  “At ease, soldier.”

  “Right… So what is it that’s so interesting?”

  Eik grinned. “I’ll tell you later. I’m gonna go see Heath. Thanks for going to get the potions taken off the shelves. And while you’re there, can you start talking about a new supply of potions?”

  “Are we ready?”

  “Yeah, thanks. We might just catch the culprit before the Championships begin but it might be a tight squeeze. I’ll see you around, Bob,” Eik said with a wave as he ran down the garden path.

  ***

  On the way to Heath and Sonja’s house, Eik made a detour to the medical clinic where Michael worked to ask if the healer was interested in coming along. It was close to Michael’s end of shift anyway, so the doctor let him leave a little early.

  “What’s up?” Heath asked as he opened the door.

  “See, I know he was home today,” Eik told Michael. “I’ve got something for you to try.”

  “Come in,” Heath said and stepped aside. “Did you find a new dessert café in Gimleh or something?”

  “Nope, better.” Eik set his rucksack of holding down on the floor and started digging around inside. He looked around. “Where’s Sonja? I was hoping she could see this as well.”

  “I don’t really know where she is. She’s been going out a lot recently.”

  “Alright, well it’s not like she has to be here.”

  “What’s that?” Michael asked as Eik held aloft the little purple pill. “Did you manage to make into pill form?”

  “Nope, better.”

  “What then?”

  “I call it… Eik’s Legendary Mystery Medicine!”

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