Chapter 555: The Heights of Potioncraft

They returned to Omilaena's pool, which normally would be under higher security, but no one stopped Kai as he marched in with Juray. There, they found Zae Zin Nim still over Omilaena's body, snarling at an Irunian who was trying to extract some metal. Her cultivation left her looking as elegant and composed as always, yet something in her eyes and the slight dishevelment of her hair gave her the look of a feral animal.

When she saw Kai she calmed somewhat, and though her eyes barely glanced at Juray at first, then they returned with a tiny spark of hope.

"Oh no..." Juray waded into the pool and reached out toward Omilaena, then pulled back. "She's in stasis... this is a matter of power far beyond me..."

"But you used her techniques." Zae Zin Nim was now regarding Juray with a narrow-eyed interest that would have been unnerving in other contexts. "She doesn't need conventional healing, she needs something to restore her essence. A potion might be better for that than a pill."

"I can't imagine refusing, but I'm... not hopeful. Can we move her out of this metal? It would be easier to work out there."

Kai strode in to lift Omilaena and carry her to the side while the women waded out, their clothes thick with the metal. Omilaena was also surprisingly heavy, much denser than she was normally. Was she even heavier than she had been at the beginning? It was hard to tell, and he was too inside his own head to be sure of his impressions.

"So..." Juray knelt down beside Omilaena and began shuffling through her spatial pack. "I'm not sure how to go about this, but... we worked on a variety of potions together. Many of those were designed for recovery, or used chakra-like components. Perhaps we should start with an antidote for a sort of soul poison."

"Does she need an antidote?" Zae Zin Nim asked sharply. "Omi is made of poison, so an antidote might hurt her."

"W-well, poison and antidote are more related than you might think. I'm going to... invert the process, I guess... uh..."

Clearly, Juray was anxious to be thrown into such a high-stakes situation, and it probably didn't help that Zae Zin Nim was hovering over her shoulder and watching like a hawk. Kai stepped in and put a hand on Juray's shoulder, massaging it a little.

"Relax," he told her. "She's been in this condition for days and won't change immediately. Take your time and brew the best potion you can."

"Right." Juray gave a sharp nod and then got to work.

In a bizarre way, it was like their time years ago when he'd helped out in her potion shop. This time, he was good for more than fetching ingredients or chopping up herbs. Juray walked through her process aloud, beginning with a basis of a restorative potion and giving it a poison aspect. After hearing about how they shared energy, she took some mana from Kai and Zae Zin Nim, which substantially increased the power of the potion while also making sure it would only work for Omilaena.

Once they had a potion, which glowed a bright blue in its glass, they were left with the awkward situation of using it. Omilaena's body still seemed to be filled with liquid metal even if it wasn't seeping out, but after some discussion, they concluded that it was fine to inject it into her body. That wasn't the normal method, but Omilaena was highly adjusted to such injections.

Juray gathered herself, pressed the head of the syringe, and injected it.

And they waited.

As the wait continued with no change, Juray sagged and Kai let out a sigh. Zae Zin Nim remained beside Omilaena, wearing an impenetrable expression, stroking her arm as if that alone could wake her. Eventually Juray rose and took a step back.

"I'm sorry," she said, "but the gap in power is just too large. I don't think I can-"

"No." Zae Zin Nim suddenly leapt to her feet, grabbing Juray's hands. "Your potion made her power surge, I felt it. None of the other attempts did that. A shock to awaken her might be just what she needs, we just need a more powerful version."

"But that was the best I c-"

"Then we need to make you better." Zae Zin Nim immediately scrutinized Juray and Kai joined her in examining the woman's soul.

<

Name: Juray Phrissan

Total Power: 161

Herbalist Class: 97 (107)

Dryad Crucible (+25)

Physique Level: G-9 (20)

Soul Level: 3 (9)

>

"You're close to an Advanced Class," Zae Zin Nim said. "What does it take for an 'Herbalist' to break through?"

"Well, I need to work with more powerful ingredients," Juray responded nervously. "I grew while I was on Darkmist Island, but I was plateauing there, and then I hit a wall after working with Omilaena's ingredients. Herbalist isn't a strong Class, I don't think there's ever been one that-"

"Take my mana!" Zae Zin Nim began thrusting her Coldfire Corona out, nearly panicking Juray at the intensity of the technique until Kai got in between them.

"We need to hurry without rushing," he said evenly. "Juray, we're going to try to push you to the next stage, but it's going to take a lot of work. Are you ready?"

She nodded, and a strange period of training began, unlike anything Kai had experienced before.

They got an easy win early, as Zae Zin Nim learned to donate her mana in harmless form. After a little experimentation, Juray was able to create something she called a Coldfire Potion - it was redundant for Zae Zin Nim, but could grant someone else a brief aura of defensive flame.

Creating that potion made Juray leap up to Level 98, which gave them a false sense of optimism, but growth became harder after that. They fed Juray various powerful ingredients, whether from the Brightwind vault or the new liquid metal or their elite connections, and she made some exceptional potions, but she didn't advance again. Juray said that she felt like she was getting stronger, but it took a lot so close to the limit.

So Kai began pushing his other connections, anyone he could think of. They pulled in Talndim Bundrin because he had an Advanced Class, and the man did have some training exercises to suggest. Apparently at the peak of a Class, supporting abilities often helped a person get closer, so they began to expand Juray's training.

This time it took longer, but he eventually got Fornil to come back. The elite healer spoke with Juray for over an hour in quiet voices before he donated some mana and walked out. On his way he stopped with them, since they were basically lying in wait.

"I've never seen an Herbalist this strong," he said in a tone of mild surprise. "I thought the Class was limited because it has to work with preexisting ingredients, but she can actually make them stronger. I can't make promises, but it might work."

"Did you give her phased healing?" Zae Zin Nim asked.

"You could never bottle power like that, not unless you had phased glass and a phased potion-brewing ability. But... yes, I gave her some. If she can manage something with that, that might take her closer, but it's only likely to work once."

"Then what else can we do?"

"An Advanced Class changes the body, and hers isn't as conditioned as the average warrior. Do whatever you can to prepare her."

Juray was indeed able to make a potion from Fornil's mana, a potion powerful enough that it could restore even elites. They took it for their resources, which Kai distantly hoped was good repayment for all the resources they were spending on Omilaena, even if he would have gladly gone into debt for her. Unfortunately, Omilaena was a step up from even the elites.

The phased healing ingredients took Juray to Herbalist 99 and she seemed to feel going any further was impossible. Kai decided to press her from a different angle, putting her on a program of brutal Physique training. She had been sitting at G-9 for a long time, so she was closer than she thought, even if she didn't emphasize physical strength. Normally Juray would have complained good-naturedly, but she took on the exercises with grim determination.

Meanwhile, since they were guarding Omilaena, Zae Zin Nim swept around the continent, meeting with elites and returning to Krysal to gather resources. In the end she was able to find a valuable source that synergized with Juray's Dryad Crucible ability. Though it wasn't powerful, with a little help it was enough for her to develop a synergistic boost, which was a first for her.

Omilaena herself would have been proud. Kai just hoped it was enough.

Through all the rushing, Kai knew that they were running out of time. It was only a little over a week before the second month had elapsed, and though he didn't want to pay much attention to the contest, he knew that Yuinafal's soldiers had all gotten a secondary boost copying Omilaena's work. More importantly, the impending incursion meant that they couldn't afford to slowly build up Juray... the problem was that he didn't see what else they could do.

Juray herself came to him the next morning. "I think it's time to try something drastic," she said.

"You mean this hasn't been drastic enough?" Kai instinctively spoke lightly, but the tension lurked underneath his tone.

"Getting an Advanced Class is a phase change, right? I don't think I'm ever going to get there just by brewing normal potions. This is just a feeling... based on talking to other healers, but still just intuition... I think I need to use a potion on myself. As in, be heavily injured and then heal myself."

"I guess you're the expert." Kai stroked his chin as he considered it. "How do you want to be injured, and what sort of potion do you think would push you over the edge?"

"Well... I think you should do it. Maybe that's twisted, but I'd trust you more." She gave him a lopsided smile, so much like the old days. "As for what potion, it has to be a monstrous one. Monster ingredients are the best way to create a restorative surge of energy."

"Just tell me the type of monster. They're getting a bit thin on the ground these days, but I-"

"Uh, I was thinking of you for that too."

Kai blinked as he rearranged his thoughts. "I guess that could work, depending on what you need. I don't think I really have a monster core, though. I mean, I could tear out my own heart, but..."

"Hopefully just a sample of flesh should be enough." Juray pulled out of one of her jars and began preparing a seal. "I don't know what you need to do, but whenever you're ready."

It was a good thing that Kai had spent so long adjusting to his monstrous form, because this was using it in a very unusual way. The monster within him understood only hunger and rage, so it had no idea of how urgent the situation with Omilaena was. He depended on cool control instead, seeking the Savage Heart and slowly letting his monstrous traits take over.

Juray's eyes widened as she watched him, and he realized that he was viewing her from an increasing height. The combination of three passive techniques seemed to increase his monstrous mass even more, so by the time the dark armor had slid over his body, his head was brushing the ceiling.

"Ready?" Kai's voice sounded deep and rumbling even to him.

"Whenever you are." Juray said.

Maybe just a tiny fraction of blood would work, but Juray needed substantial materials and Omilaena's life was at stake. He finished growing his claws and then thrust them into his stomach. The pain was different than before, his own power twisting on itself, but he plunged in. Through his own blood, he gripped something that felt distinctly monstrous, then tore it out.

To his surprise, he dropped down to one knee. He didn't feel drained, exactly, more like he'd taken an injury he couldn't heal. There was a throbbing orb in his hand, still trailing dark strands that shouldn't exist in the human body.

"Will this do?" he asked, voice rasping.

"It should." Juray's voice was much lighter, and she gingerly took the monster core from his claw.

Now it took her far less time to process the core, melting down half into her jar before she added healing herbs and her own mana. Once it was mixed, she added more of the core and continued stirring in mana. By this point Kai had shed monstrous features and was feeling better, but Behemoth's Heart was pounding and he felt as though something was missing.

"Alright." Juray finished her potion and then took a deep breath. "I need you to injure me. Seriously. It's possible that a minor injury might do it, but it doesn't look like we can make lots of these potions, so it's better to aim for overkill."

"You're sure?" Kai raised one hand, letting his fingers extend into claws.

"This potion can cure a mortal wound, guaranteed. So don't hold back."

Obviously he wasn't going to truly hit her with his full power, but as Juray took off her outer robe, he readied himself to deal her a serious injury. She looked determined and Zae Zin Nim hovered nearby in case things went wrong. Eventually Juray gripped her potion in one hand, gestured across her stomach and ribs with the other, and nodded to him.

Kai cut out, and his claws sliced through her body terrifyingly easily. Juray made a soft "Oh" sound and crumpled, dropping the potion. Only Zae Zin Nim's quick reaction let her catch the jar, and Kai caught Juray before she fell.

This was what they had planned, yet for now all he could feel was the blood gushing out...