188: Tea

Dashing towards the smokehouse and ripping the door open in a panic, hoping I had not ruined all the grass.

Entering the room, I was relieved to see it had not burnt, but some of it was certainly worse off. Instead of the greenish tinge it would normally have, it was now a grey-brown and crumbled away instantly when I went to touch it, while giving off an acrid smell.

The bundles further away from the vents spreading the smoke, however, seemed to be fine. They still had a green tinge to them, and although dry, they didn’t crumble to nothing.

Just in case, I piled everything into two separate piles, with the eight bunches I had ruined in one and the other fourteen to the side. I used infuse on both.

Notifications:

You have reached Level 4 in Resonate Balance!

That was unexpected. I had not really levelled up much at all in a long time, so it was nice to see an upgrade.

Inspecting the grass, I was surprised to see that both got the buff, but the one that I had overdone was providing a minor speed boost, while the regular one was providing the expected moderate speed buff. The question was, though, how bad did it taste?

I stored it all away before pulling out the next bundles, this time ensuring I positioned them away from the hottest areas so I wouldn’t over-dry them again.

Heading into the kitchen, I found myself a kettle. Filling it with water to try this tea, I was dreading it because it didn’t smell good at all.

Liane and Crisplet both entered the kitchen while I was preparing the tea.

“Oh, you’re making tea?” Liane said.

I knew I should warn her, but I felt it would be funnier if I didn’t, so I kept preparing the tea after a nod. The problem was, there was no hiding the smell. There was an acrid burnt aroma coming from the pot.

“You burnt it, didn’t you?” Liane said, leaning over my shoulder.

“Yeah, but apparently it’s still buffed with minor speed, so worse than the regular tea. I wanted to try just how bad it is,” I commented, pulling out two cups.

“Provided it’s not poisonous, people will absolutely want it, regardless of how bad the taste is. The speed boost gives someone far better reaction speed, as well as a noticeable bump to your movement speed. You walk faster, run faster, and fight better. That’s why it’s so valuable,” Liane explained while I poured the tea through the strainer.

I waited until Liane took her cup. At this stage, I would not suffer alone.

The smell was unpleasant. It had an acrid smell to it and a very strong smoky smell now that it was up close that felt like it clung to your throat.

“You drink first. I want to know if it’s poison,” Liane said with a grin.

With a sigh, I tried not to breathe it in as I took my first sip.

It was not pleasant. For the briefest of moments there was a lemon flavour, but it was rapidly overrun with a strong bitter flavour, followed by a burn on my tongue and throat that left an almost ash-like taste behind. But there was no poison notification, so that was a win, right?

“Not poison,” I said, looking around for some water to rinse my mouth out.

Liane took a sip herself and scrunched up her face before drinking the rest of the tea in a single gulp.

“It’s awful, but if you drink it quickly, you only get the aftertaste once, but you get the buff. Minor speed, three hours. This will sell like crazy, burnt or not,” she said with a chuckle, also getting some water.

“I really want to throw it away,” I laughed.

“Don’t you dare. Someone like Hari wouldn’t even notice the taste,” Liane commented.

I laughed, thinking she was joking. I had seen Hari eat some odd things like the grarok that tasted like shoe leather without issue, but this was different. This burnt.

“Want to make a bet?” Liane grinned.

I shook my head. “Not really, no.”

“I’ll bet you one muffin that Hari won’t even notice it tastes bad at all,” Liane continued, ignoring me.

“You can’t even make a muffin, though!” I contested.

“That’s how sure I am. Watch.” She vanished, leaving me alone with the tea.

It didn’t take long before Hari, Milo, and Jen all entered. Liane was pushing Hari to the front, though, quickly pouring him a cup before the others even caught up.

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“Hari tries first,” she said, handing it to him.

He looked at her with clear scepticism but took the cup all the same, bringing it to his mouth and not even recoiling at the smell, instead sipping it.

There was a pause as I waited for him to recoil or spit it out. However, it never came. He instead took another sip as Jen caught the smell, giving the expected recoil, which in turn made Milo approach it cautiously.

“It’s not bad. I like the smoky flavour,” Hari said with a nod.

“See! You owe me a muffin!” Liane turned to me.

“No, I don’t. I never took the bet,” I retorted.

Jen, looking between us, just let out a sigh. “Anyone want to tell us what’s going on?”

“Trev burnt the tea grass when he was drying it, but it still gets a minor speed buff. He wanted to throw it away, but I told him people would still drink it and buy it, and got Hari here to prove a point,” Liane explained.