Chapter 8 – Stepping On a New Path

Maximus made his way to the western side of the village and found an abandoned place in the back, a bit further away from the other homes.

He made sure nobody else was using it before cleaning up the central room with the fireplace. Chains hung above the hearth, designed to hold a cauldron for cooking. Maximus dragged a nearby table as close as possible to make the work easier.

He then found a simple pot and purchased a large spoon, a basic kitchen knife, and several more bottles of water, spending thirty tokens altogether.

“Alright, let’s see what we can do here.” He summoned a small pile of Seedlings and laid out the materials he had procured.

Using the new knife, he minced the Faintglow Weed as casually as though he were preparing parsley for dinner. Next came Dawn Lily. He separated the petals from the stalk, crushing the stalk beneath the flat of the blade before arranging both parts into separate piles.

The final ingredient was the Redmother’s Root. After rinsing it clean with water, he hung the pot over the fire and waited for the water to boil.

“Well, I’m adapting my personal recipe, but this should work. The seedlings ought to compensate for the lack of higher-quality plants,” he muttered while waiting for the water to heat.

As the water reached the boiling point, he added the roots and allowed them to simmer until the liquid turned blood-red.

“Damn. I don’t have anything to strain this with.” He sighed, realizing he would need to spend more tokens.

He purchased a second pot and a cheap cotton shirt, which was far less expensive than buying a proper sieve. Stretching the fabric across the top of the empty pot, he carefully poured the crimson liquid through it, leaving the softened roots behind.

After the roots cooled, he mashed them into a thick paste and combined them with fresh water, the Faintglow Weed, and the crushed Dawn Lily stalks. The mixture soon darkened into a murky green as soft bubbles rose to the surface.

“Well, time for the last step.” He steadied himself before tossing in three handfuls of seedlings and allowing the mixture to boil once more.

When the liquid turned fully emerald-green, he strained it into the red mixture, discarding the plant remains and adding the flower petals.

After cooking the blend for another hour, he filtered it one final time before pouring the finished result into the glass bottles he had prepared earlier.

Skill Unlocked: [Potioncraft (D) Lv. 3]

“Well, it’s not red… Let’s see what it says.” He appraised it, ignoring the new skill for the moment.

[Lesser Healing Potion (Altered Version) (E)]

Heals minor wounds instantly, such as scratches and smaller burns. Medium wounds and broken bones take time to heal, requiring the potion to be consumed twice a day for five days.

A decent result considering everything. At least I don’t need to chew on those seedlings that much any longer. He stored four large bottles of the potion in his storage.

Let’s see what that new skill does then. He opened the Skill tab and checked it.

—-

Potioncraft (D) Level 3 – Allows the user to craft potions with less effort. Raises the odds of producing higher-quality potions by 20%. The chance for potions to fail during brewing is drastically reduced.

—-

Alright, useful, I guess. He didn’t find it that impressive. He was certain that a potion crafted by the great Aurelius would never fail or drop below the quality of the materials used.

Then he decided to train a little while until it was time for lunch.

He sat before the fire in a meditative position and began absorbing spirit energy. He was going to try the same method he had used to create his circles to enhance his body’s spirit reserves.

Unlike mana, which needed to be stored within the heart, spirit energy flowed through his entire body, not being stored in any single location. Once it was spent, it would naturally refill again throughout the body.

This is impractical, and the waste of energy is tremendous this way. What if I try to condense it into a single spot, just like forging a circle? He thought.

He began pulling in threads of spirit energy into his body until it was full. Then, when he sensed there was no more room, he forced in another thread, and another, and another, until he felt it, a heat beginning to rise from his abdomen, his body breaking into a heavy sweat that drenched his clothes as if he were standing in the rain.

Something is happening. I need more. I cannot let it escape my grasp now!

He dragged in more threads of spirit energy until the energy within him began to boil and surge violently through his body.

Warning!

Warning!

Alert: Excess energy is detected within the body. It is advised to expel excess energy before implosion.

“Nonsense, this is how you forge your circles!” He muttered as he forced even more spirit into his already overflowing form.

Suddenly, static crackled over his skin, his hair lifting into the air. At the same time, the spirit energy around him began to swirl, forming faint gusts of wind.

Even Sprout opened a portal and arrived on its own, linking its senses and vision to Maximus.

Sprout, what are you doing here? Maximus questioned as he observed his body both from within and without.

“Ooooh!” He understood instantly as he noticed the natural phenomena. The more spirit energy condensed in one place, the stronger the natural forces became; even thin strands of grass began to sprout beneath him, piercing through the creases in the wooden floor. “Wait… That’s it. That’s why it wasn’t condensed.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

He finally understood and laughed like a mad scientist having made a breakthrough.

“Spirit energy isn’t like mana. It’s not a liquid inside the body; it behaves more like pressure, like a gas. The more you condense it, the stronger it becomes, but also the more dangerous. But you don’t force it to stay… You make it want to stay. An anchor, that’s what I need.” He muttered as Sprout watched him.

He then pushed everything into one spot, a place where the spirit energy felt closest to nature, his abdomen. There, he began braiding the strands of spirit energy, three by three, until he could no longer fit any more, and then he ignited them.

The braids imploded one after another, releasing violent surges of transformed spirit energy, shifting from gaseous pressure into something almost liquid.

“NOW! COMPRESS!” he roared, drawing on the spirit energy he had set aside to compress the internal implosion.

For what felt like an eternity, he struggled against himself until finally, with a pulse of spirit energy that rippled through his entire being, something formed, a small crystallized seed, no larger than a fingernail.

It anchored the spirit energy within his body and began drawing spirit inward relentlessly. The energy no longer dissipated outward, but instead flowed inward, constantly drawn and bound by the seed.

Then a white light enveloped his body, and the system echoed.

Alert: Anomaly detected.

Change observed… Editing…

Class Trait upgraded from [Natural (F)] to [Nature’s Seed (E)]

Status information updated!

Reward granted: 600 Battle Tokens for opening a new path.

“What was that? I felt like my whole body was being inspected for a moment.” He muttered and opened his status.

Level: 5

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