My heart thuds dangerously in my body. A feeling I long thought lost blooms inside of me.
Hope.
“It’s really gone?” I whisper.
“I need to compile a report on this. It’s really remarkable. And you say you did nothing out of the ordinary?”
“No,” I lie. “If you do write the report, please keep my name anonymous.”
“Of course. I won’t mention anything that might lead to you. But fair warning: you might get inquiries from scholars all across the realm. Since I first started treating you, I’ve been corresponding with a lot of eminent scientists, and they’ve all expressed an interest in the case.”
“Yes, you can forward all the inquiries to me.”I’ll just deny them. “If that’s all?—”
“Wait!” She calls out as I make to leave. “Your seal might be gone, but your body still suffers from the thousands of years of lack of energy. You will not be able to simply start cultivating now as if nothing happened.”
I frown. “What do you suggest I do then? Is there a treatment? An artifact that might help?” I’m already formulating a plan to ask for those items at the next Utopiya meeting.
“Not…exactly.” She sighs. “Since there is no standard treatment for your condition, I can only recommend what I’ve seen before.”
“What is it?”
She grabs a piece of paper and scribbles a list of five ingredients on it with instructions.
Root of Gambiya
Three leaves of Loringa
100ml of blood from a Raffia egg (12 months or older)
50g powder of Wilka horn
One drop of Lake Velor
Mix the first four together and add the drop of Lake Velor at the end. Consume only when fully rested.
I read the list over a couple of times. I don’t recognize any of these terms. And if the terms are unknown, that can only mean one thing: they cost a fortune.
“What’s this recipe supposedly for?” I ask since this seems awfully precise.
“I mentioned the plague before. Although this is not a cure for it per se, it is a way through which the effects can be mitigated. Those with money and resources depend on this concoction to function normally. As far as our research shows, this combination of ingredients cleans the body’s meridians and opens them up to energy. Of course, in the case of the plague this is merely a temporary fix,” she explains. “But this should work for your specific case. You need to cleanse your body so you can start absorbing the energy around you.”
“I see.” I nod. “I assume these are expensive?”
Her lips flatten as she sighs dejectedly. “Some are notjustexpensive but also extremely rare. I can provide you with a drop of Lake Velor, though please do not tell anyone where it came from. I can also arrange for you to purchase Loringa leaves, though those will be around a hundredslovaa piece. But the rest…” She shakes her head. “The Raffia and the Wilka are onlyfound in a remote forest at the bottom of Gaigo Mountain but they are notoriously difficult to kill. For that reason, you might not even find the ingredients on the black market. I’m sorry.”
“Thanks for this,” I say and wave the paper. “I’ll have to trouble you with the drop of water from the Lake and the Loringa leaves. I’ll find other ways to gather the rest of the materials.”
She gives me a sad smile. “You do that.” Her voice is filled with pity. She doesn’t think I can get the rest of the ingredients. If it had been the Nykander from before, no, I would haveneverbeen able to gather them. But with my new connections as well as my newfound confidence in my own abilities, I’m willing to go to any extreme to obtain them.
Soon… I’ll soon be a proper immortal.
Kendra gives me a vial with water from Lake Velor as well as the three Loringa leaves, for which I pay three hundredslova.
Good thing I’ve been working a lot lately and I can afford it.
After work, I go straight home, place the two items in a safe space and inform Moe I might be arriving later this evening.
“Don’t get hurt,” she murmurs as she waves me off.
