Legacy of the M'Zee Chapter 24

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

I've gotten a bit more writing done, so y'all get to have a chapter today too!

Thanks for all y'all's support!

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

Five minutes after learning the Dalila Aether Control Method, I was searching through the book for the next technique mentioned in the guidebook. The Thimba Combination Technique was a weaker version of the mixing technique Librarian Narwan showed him, and four other techniques were ones he already knew. That left only the Safia Purification Technique and the Omari Wood Technique. I started with Omari, which only had a few paragraphs. It was a simple exercise in combining Water and Earth Aether with the Wood Aether in its target to increase the density and quality of the Wood.

The practice for this was to enhance anything that naturally had Wood Aether in it. Wood Spirit Grass was suggested as a cheap and common herb. WIth a shrug,I walked over to the shelf of ingredients, and found a massive bundle of Wood Spirit Grass. It looked like grass, if a bit more vibrantly green. I pulled out a dozen, then verified that they were not part of the required pill’s recipe. Nice, I thought, free resources that aren’t part of the trial. Unless Spirit put this here to allow me to train on the method? He did scan all of my memories. I shivered at the thought. How strong was Spirit before he merged part of his soul into the tower? That just seems ridiculous. Will I have to get that strong to save the world? Literally become a deity? Or is it about the right power at the right place and time?

I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly over the course of a few seconds, then shook my shoulders out. No time to worry about that now, I thought. Focus. A streamer of Water Aether slowly extended out of my left hand, and Earth out my right. I moved them both to gently envelope the piece of grass, then used the trick of rotating the Aether into another dimension, or up-back or left-in, or however I wanted to try to describe it. It made my brain hurt.

The Omari Wood Technique had me rotate the Aethers together, mixing the Water and Earth to make Wood, though at a loss of a third of the Aether. This was significantly more efficient than the Dalila Method, but it only worked due to the presence of Wood Aether to serve as a scaffolding. The Wood Spirit Grass grew even more brilliantly green for a few seconds, then burst into flame as it was overwhelmed with Aether. “Oops,” I said with a laugh, then I looked at the bundle with a critical eye. “Yeah, that should be enough to practice. Got to stop putting Aether in before it burns up.”

It was, but only barely. The line between fully enhanced and too much was razor thin, and I only stopped once I was sure I could feel the edge and walk right up to it. The last two pieces of grass were carefully packaged back up and set aside. “Alright, last technique to learn, and then I get to attempt to make a ridiculously complicated pill.” I yawned, “Well, I’ll attempt the pill after I take a nap.”

The Safia Purification Technique was detailed on thirty-six pages of the book. I would need to become more proficient at sensing the internal structure of items, though the instructions given would only work on things that were dead. Anything that had a mind or spirit would be able to resist, and the book made it clear that included plants. Then, I had to isolate the impurities in the material I was working with by surrounding it in a cage of Aether. Specific runes had to be used depending on the type of impurity, with the Aether used having to adapt to the specific situation.

“Light, this is complicated,” I said after reading through it the first time. Hundreds of runes lined the next six pages, making the total length dedicated to the Technique forty-two. Each set of runes contained a bit of information about type of impurity, Elemental Affinity to look for, and a list of potential modifications at the end.

I looked back at the pill recipe, and nodded. “Okay, so I have to use set three, modified with Wood and Earth runes. Huh, neat, all of that in a single pictogram.” I got up and grabbed some paper from the bookshelf. It took me a few minutes to work out what the resulting runes would look like, and then sketch the whole set.

I flipped back to the technique and found the practice recommendation. Well, recommendations, plural. For poison, like the pill recipe called for, I was to use any level one Beast’s or plant’s poison that was either mildly irritating or mildly paralytic. In the storage shelf, I found Weak Poison Ivy and Wet Coral Snake venom. A few shelves over I also found Tra Box Jellyfish venom. Definitely taking that with me, I thought, seeing a small bottle of the liquid that was probably worth a platinum, or more. That much might kill Librarian Narwan, though, so gotta be careful. Later, though. Practice now.

On a different shelf, underneath one of the tables, I found a few droppers and a small plate. Two drops of Wet Coral Snake venom were placed on the plate. My Aether flowed out of my fingers, which I had set on either side of the liquid, and oh so gently into the venom. I manipulated the Aether to feel the droplets, following the directions of the technique.

It took me nearly thirty minutes to really figure out what I was doing, and when I did my mouth dropped open. “Wow,” I whispered, “It’s almost like I can feel every molecule in this. Every bit of it is Aether infused, and I know what the purpose of it is. That’s intense.” I played for a few more minutes, finding the parts of the venom that attacked the neurological system, along with the binding agents and stabilizing agents in the liquid.

When I was done marveling about the first part of the technique, I reread the section of the book on isolating and purifying. It was asking me to form Aether structures smaller than I ever had before, within the liquid. They weren’t molecular sized or anything, but they were still tiny. I guess this is why the technique recommended advancing to Seed Core before learning it. I wonder why Spirit is having me learn this as part of the Trials? They must believe I have a chance, I don’t believe they would make an impossible challenge here.

Thankfully, the bottle of venom was large, holding almost a litre of the liquid. By the time I got the hang of purifying the toxins out of the venom, I’d burned through all but the last few drops. The first time I thought I’d gotten everything, I stuck my finger into it. The tingly numbness let me know that I’d failed. I quickly got used to the feeling, until, finally, nothing happened. I scanned the venom, and found a few spots I’d missed the first time.

That was the catalyst, until I was able to eliminate all of the toxins in a single attempt. After the venom, the Ivy was still difficult, but I was able to figure out the differences needed in less than half the time. The rest of the Ivy was packed away. There, nice and compact, I thought as I pushed the drawer closed, Ready for me to steal, I mean, take as a reward for succeeding in the Trial. Hopefully this isn’t like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and only by turning everything back in will I actually win. Nah, that’d be dumb. Light, now the thoughts in my head.

I yawned, body and mind tired from the efforts of the day. A quick glance showed me I’d used up less than a quarter of the time I had, the sand seemingly moving at a glacially slow pace as it dropped into the bottom. I moved back into the entrance area, and found that a small pot of stew had been deposited on the food table, along with a bowl and silverware. The pitcher of juice was still there, but I left it alone for now. I had a quick dinner, amazed yet again as the Aether in the food pushed my gathering level forward. A few more sips of the juice pushed yet more impurities out of me, Where are they all coming from? , and then a shower before collapsing into the bed.

A few hours later, I woke up, feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day. “Alright, eat what I’m given, then try to make a pill. No juice for now.” The pastries were back, and I dug in quickly. My mind was on the recipe, and once I washed my hands I pulled out the book to double check.

“Okay,” I mumbled to myself. “So there’s a host of items I can preprocess, but a bunch of these need to be diced just before being added. Oh, that one, that’s going to be tricky. I’ll have three different burners going at the same time, at different temperatures and for different time periods. Wow, I really miss electric timers now.” I walked over to the storage shelf and started to pull out ingredients.

“Oh, nice,” I exclaimed after a few minutes. I’d found a dozen sand timers, all of different lengths. “Thirty seconds, one minute, two minutes, five minutes. Ten seconds. Alright.” I grinned, then started to set up. I walked through the pill’s process without doing anything, checking my steps. I only vaguely remembered the business class we had to take at USAFA, but one of the lessons was on Lean and Gemba. By positioning the pieces appropriately, I’d maximize my chances of success, and increase my efficiency.

After two practice runs, I sliced, powdered, and cooked the various ingredients that had time limits in the hours after processing. I ground leaves, boiled gastric juices, and diced vegetables for nearly an hour, creating enough ingredients to make a dozen batches. There was still twice as much left behind, and I almost marveled at the amount of rare ingredients I’d been given. After a few seconds, I shook my head and moved on. I’m keeping everything. I should pull some of the level five meat out of my bag and make some more room. Most of these plants are worth more than the meat. Maybe even the level six stuff.

I thought for a bit, Nah, not the level six. There’s a wall there for Beasts, just like humans, and any of it is worth its weight in gold. Sometimes literally. I laughed and continued to work. Finally I was ready.

I took the first two ingredients, the book laid out on the table with the main cauldron, and threw them in. My Aether flowed into the handles, passed through the Inscriptions contained therein, and into the center where I started on the stirring technique Librarian Narwan had taught me so long ago. He didn’t give me a name, I thought as I worked, but the book calls it the Changanya Technique. Of course, my translation ability makes the name just Mixing Technique, so there is that.

I laughed and reached over, grabbing some diced up leaves mixed with dehydrated blood of an Earth Gecko. I sprinkled the mixture in a clockwise motion, keeping the Changanya Technique running the whole time. After adding the new powder, I flipped the one minute timer, and watched it count down. After the minute, I added another ingredient, all of the additions for the next five minutes laid out so I could reach them without moving from the cauldron.

At ten minutes, I decreased the heat on the pill cauldron, the powders and liquid dropping to a simmer, and stepped off to the side. A different burner was used to start boiling Swamp Maple Sap, but before it started boiling I had to cut apart a Bahari Onion and grind the diced pieces with those of an Umeme Leek. I had the timing wrong, and the Sap blackened before I was ready. A glance showed me the rest of the mixture was fine, for now, but I added a dash of spring water to keep the simmer going.

I moved the container of blackened sap out of the way, and put another container onto the burner. I poured the sap in quickly, then watched. The ground powder was good for another two minutes. Thankfully, the sap boiled in only one, and I scrapped the pestle clean before stirring the sap mixture. A quick check of the book told me I only had a few minutes to add this liquid before the main cauldron’s ingredients would lose efficacy.

I moved efficiently through the process until I got to where I had to have three burners going. I mistimed the second burner, turning it into sludge, and didn’t have enough time left over for another set before the first pot, full of a dozen different expensive ingredients, blackened into tar. “Light and Darkness,’ I groaned. “Okay, clean the cauldrons and start over.”

I failed at the same spot the second time, this time due to a mistake in the third burner’s mixture. “Progress!” I said, as I scrubbed the blackened goo from the pot. Twice more I failed there, each time a bit farther along than the previous, before I finally got all three bits cooked properly and merged. I made it six more steps, before I had to use the Dalila Aether Control Method to dehydrate the main mixture and then add a new liquid in. I accidentally dehydrated both liquids, and the main mixture burned before I could recover.

Two hours of work later, and I was finally ready to use the Safia Purification Technique to process the Manticore poison. It was significantly harder than the practice items were, and it took me four portions before I got it right. This was just inside the time limit before I had to add it to the main cauldron. I’d already burned or otherwise messed up a dozen mixtures before this one, and finally I was adding the last bit.

From here, I had to continue the mixture technique until the liquid was all gone, and then use Mwerevu Mfinyaso Technque to create the pills. This was one technique I hadn’t been able to practice, but was fairly similar to one Librarian Narwan had already taught me, so I wasn’t worried. The runes I formed flashed, and three sections of the cauldron glowed as I grabbed the material there to crush it into gumball sized pills.

The entire cauldron shook, the Aether waves flashing as they rang across the surface, until finally everything calmed. Four pills hovered in the center of the cauldron, buoyed by Aether surrounding them. “Yes! Three least pills, and one lesser,” I crowed. “I did it!”

Spirit appeared beside me, “Congratulations,” they said. “The next trial will start once the timer runs out. You have until then to make more pills, take those you have made, and just gather and rest.”

“Thank you,” I said, bowing to them. “How many more trials do I have?”

“Not many,” Spirit said. “Though I cannot tell you exactly how many you have until the end. You should make sure to maximise the progress you make in your gathering level before the final trial.”

“How close am I to receiving the Legacy?” I asked.

“You have come farther than most, but there are many trials left,” Spirit said. “I do believe that you have the capacity to finish and win the Legacy of the M’Zee, what seems to be the final memory of my people. Do not give up, or give in to despair. I look forward to seeing how you come out the other side.” Spirit bowed at the waist, their body still the translucent bluish color they’d been the entire time I’d seen them.

They vanished. I bowed to the spot they’d been in, “I will do my best,” I said. “You’re people deserve to be remembered and honored. Chaos threatens us all yet again, and I hope that we can take your people’s lessons to heart and stop Chaos from overwhelming this world.”

Spirit didn’t answer. I held the bow for a few seconds, then turned back to the pill cauldron. I scooped the pills out of the bowels of the cauldron, then hauled it over to the sink. A few minutes of scrubbing later, and I was ready for the next set to be done. I set out the various ingredients that needed processing during the pill formation, and proceeded to make another set of pills.

This one only took me four tries, my ingredients burning up when I failed. In the next hour, I finagled a set of three pills, all of which where of decent quality. Let’s continue my luck until I run out of ingredients. I should still have some time once I’m done to take one or two pills. I’ll save the rest for my friends. These books are worth their weight in platinum, I’m sure. I wonder what the rest of the Legacy will entail?