241: Poisons

While they were discussing just how valuable that ability was, I looked over what I had. The stew was on and cooking. I would cook some rolls to go with it, and I still had plenty of time to kill.

I decided to work on my quests, in particular:

Second Simmer:

Use a previously cooked dish as a base ingredient in five separate new dishes: 3/5

Create 3 different stocks, then successfully use each in a unique dish: 1/3

I had successfully created and used one stock in a dish. Completing the second part would also complete the first quest as well. The only actual issue I had was a lack of pots. I already took all the pots from the kitchen in the capital, with Archie giving me all but one out of the servants’ kitchen as well after finding out what I was doing.

I was assured he would just buy some more.

But currently they were all full of various dishes for the road in case something came up. Something always came up.

“Milo, long shot, you wouldn’t have a pot on you, would you?” I asked.

Milo shook his head. “No, honestly, I got rid of most of our kitchen equipment when you arrived to save space.”

“The innkeeper should have several,” Liane added.

I had already used one of the innkeeper’s pots to provide the soup for the villagers.

Liane, however, had already taken it upon herself to go and ask, while Milo headed back out of the kitchen. Only a second later Bardo was re-entering the kitchen before walking straight through and opening a cupboard on the side which had a small stack of well-worn and stained cooking pots.

“Will this do?” he asked.

“Perfect!” I said happily.

“Anything you need, just ask. Least I can do for helping our village,” Bardo said with a giant smile.

“No, that’s all. Thank you!”

This was perfect. The cupboard was full of old cooking equipment, and although these pots had certainly seen better days, they would absolutely do the job for what I needed. So, digging through, I found the two largest pots.

I would make both stocks fairly similarly, just with different bones. For the first one, I would use some of the bones from the voidscale hare I just butchered. For the second one, I wanted something simple for regular use. I changed my mind at the last second and pulled out two drake bones that would barely fit.

Liane noticed immediately. “Are you making a drake stock?”

“Maybe…”

Liane nodded approvingly. “Good use of the bones, honestly. It wouldn’t be a terrible idea to use the vertebrae from the dragon tail in a similar manner.”

She appeared to be thinking about something as she stopped abruptly.

“You’re about to suggest I do something crazy, right?” I said with a laugh.

While I waited for her idea to come, I was pulling out the vegetables for the stocks when I had another idea. I only needed to consume one more toxic ingredient and purify four more…

I pulled out a venom sac I had left over from the trip to Boltron, one of two that Jen had removed from the miremaw, just staring at it in my hand. I could burst this and taste it… it would complete the quest.

Liane finally burst in with her idea. “You could make a dragon stock. It might be a good way to have a diluted amount of the intense mana while still maintaining the stat gain. Then you could make a dish with both the stock and the flower powder, and you’d get your boost with second simmer. Also, make it a pie and you have crust too!”

She said it excitedly.

“No one but Lily could eat it,” I said bluntly.

“We don’t know that. You can purify drake, so why not a dragon?” Liane countered.

I shook my head. “Hari would never let you try it.”

“Hari doesn’t need to know!” she said, throwing her hands up.

I just stared at her. There was no world where I would give Liane anything that risky without everyone being aware of it.

She let out a sigh. “Fine. Leave the convincing to me, but I think it’s a good idea, and it’ll make the dragon go even further because a single vertebra I bet would fill that pot. Also, what are you doing with that?”

She pointed to the venom sac in my hand.

“Contemplating biting it,” I said simply, looking back down at my hand.

Liane laughed. “Please don’t. It’ll burst and that venom will go everywhere. What’s it even from?”

“It’s from the juvenile miremaw, and you’re probably right. Maybe if I burst it in a cup, then taste it,” I murmured to myself.

“Can I ask why you want to eat that?” she asked.

“I need to taste one more toxic ingredient, then I need to purify four more as well,” I explained.

Liane seemed to shuffle a little before pulling out a small vial. “Put that away and pull out something to eat.”

I just grabbed a piece of carrot that I was in the process of cutting.

“Will this do?”

Liane nodded. Leaning forward, she put a single drop on the carrot, and I was surprised when it actually hissed a bit before turning black.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author’s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“That’s a very potent poison, easily enough to kill someone. I’d eat it quick though, or that carrot will be mush,” she grinned.

With a shrug, I put it in my mouth and nearly spat it out immediately. It was incredibly bitter, and I could feel the carrot turning to mush—no, rot. Swallowing as quickly as I could, I saw the notification about the poison attempt failing, and I half expected my stomach to rumble or something to happen, but it never did.

“You might be the only person in the world who has willingly digested that,” she laughed.

I was getting a drink of sugar reed juice to wash the taste away.

“That was awful. The carrot was rotting in my mouth,” I said between sips.

“Yeah, it’s a necrotic poison that I never get to use. Now you have to purify four items, right? Can it be the same item with different poisons?” she laughed.

“Yeah, I believe so,” I said, cutting a small carrot into four pieces.

Liane pulled out four small bottles. This time the necrotic one wasn’t one of them, and if I were being honest, I was surprised she had so many poisons on her, though thinking back, I don’t know why I am shocked. She was equally excited about potent poisons as she was about improved stealth from my buffs.

After she applied four different poisons to the carrots, I went through and purified each of them before checking my notifications.

Notification: