Chương 40: The Mega Elixir

Level: 1 Experience: BLOCKED Healing: 310/310 Stamina: 280/280 Mana: 180/180 Class: Tier 0, Child (Green) Effect: Increased Skill Acquisition (+8%), Increased Learning Speed (+8%), Increased Stat Gain (+8%), Increased Physical Gain (+8%) Vitality: 31 (+10) Endurance: 28 (+10) Strength: 27 (+11) Agility: 30 (+12) Perception: 21 (+11) Mind: 62 (+14) Magic: 18 (+11) Focus: 32 (+11) Free Points: 0 Tier 1 (23) (3+): Eldarin History (97+8), Running (93+3), Breathing (90+3), Meditation (82+7), Dodge (69), Eldarin Etiquette (65+8), Toughness (60+7), Drawing Skills (50 +4), Sword Skills (50 +9), Light Armor (36+7), Shield Skills (35+6), Dancing Skills (35+7), Pugilist Skills (33+6), Spear Skills (28+5), Bow Skills (20+5), Monster Processing Skills (19), Axe Skills (19+5), Dagger Skills (17+5), Speech (16+7), Cooking Skills (15), Cleaning Skills (14), Combat Tactics (13+6), Wrestling Skills (12+4) Tier 2 (22) (2+): Mana Sense (72+12), Danger Sense (40), Soul Sense (24+8), Algebra (15+12), Geometry (12+9), Darkness Vision (8), Trap Detection (8+7), Speed Reading (7+6), System Sense (4+4), Monster Analysis (3), Depth Sense (1) Tier 3 (24): Soul Resistance (24+4), Pain Resistance (22+2), Empowered Will (17+6), Eldarin Runes (14+12), Empowered Writing (7+6), Fear Resistance (4), Poison Resistance (3), Social Resistance (3+2) Tier 6 (-): Experience Siphon(C) Equipment Gloves: Gloves of Processing (T2) (Blocks Mana T2 and Below) Ring 1: Ring of Concealment (T3) (Hide Status T3 and Below) Amulet/Bracelet: Experience Blocker (T4) (Prevents all experience gain for primary level) Equipment 1: Runic Writing Set (T3) (Write Runes T3 and Below)"By the System almighty," muttered Tutor Damian after I read off everything from my status.

"Legendary child indeed," Healer Castelle replied.

"The stats! He has 249 as a level 1, and at his age. This is unheard of. It will put him at approximately level 12. 5 if we use comparisons to the stats of legendries at 20 per level. Or that would be level 25, since his free stat points could match that to level 25 once he levels up," Tutor Damian said.

"Only one new tier 2 skill, good. His soul should be stable, even if he has an insane amount of Alchemic toxicity right now. At least he solved the problem of having too many skills compared to his Mind stat. A ratio of almost 90%. It should be 100% to be safe, but we can breathe easily now that he isn't hovering over Meldor's Threshold,""Skill growth is still insanely high. With tiers considered, that is a level gain of 324 over the last three months.

Slightly less than in previous time periods, but still incredibly high."

"I am pleased with your progress, my son," my mother said, and I felt a bit of relief that my hard work was paying off.

"You said his soul is stable?"

"It is in a much better place, except for the Alchemical toxicity. Why?" Castelle asked heavily with a sigh.

"Two things. An Alchemic product was created by taking a skill from a monster and a pair of eyes from a Shadow Cat. I want my son to get the skill Shadow Vision. Also, another Soul Fruit. If his leveling of skills has slowed down, then it must be sped back up." She set a green soul fruit on the table and a glowing crystal shard inside a glass container beside it. Healer Castelle took several deep breaths, opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it once more.

"The tier of the extracted skill and its name?" I had been expecting him to go on a rant, but he probably realized it would do no good against my mother. Or he could wait until he got enough information before yelling at her.

"It is a very useful Tier 2 skill. Shadow Vision, which allows a person to detect unnatural things around their position. Specifically hiding skills. The skill focuses on the eyes."

"The issue is alchemic toxicity. In comparison, processed monster skills have only a small amount. If he gets this skill, his eyes will try to explode out of his head at his current alchemic toxicity level." This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"And if you were healing him?" I didn't want exploding eyes. I really didn't want that.

"It is possible. But I will need some Mana potions, and this is reckless. Once the skill integrates, it should settle down, but if it doesn't, he may go permanently blind. We just solved other problems, so there is no need to make more."

"I disagree. If my son is to be the best, he must be pushed. Both in soul, body, and mind. So, it is mostly safe, and you can handle the side effects?"

"It will hurt a lot."

"It will improve his Pain Resistance and Empowered Will. Only death is final," my mother declared and then looked at me.

"Unless you don't want to?" I shook my head.

"I can handle it."

"Good. And the soul fruit?"

"Impossible to say. With everything else going on, I am far out of my depth. I can only answer the question about the skill, since that is something I have studied regarding Alchemical and potion toxicity. But two green soul fruits combined with everything else? They are natural treasures of the dungeon and should not harm, but anything in excess can be dangerous. I would strongly recommend against both items."

"And if you had to make your most educated guess?" My mother asked while staring at Healer Castelle.

"I really don't know. Even if you put your blade to my neck, I couldn't tell you the most likely outcome. There are three possibilities. The first being is that it just resets what the first one did. His skill and stat gains remain insanely high. The second outcome is that his soul becomes too unstable and completely breaks apart. The third is something else, what that would be, no idea. Soul fruits can't kill. As one of the few treasures of the dungeon, that is a hard and fast rule as far as I know.

But to my knowledge, no one has ever given a child at level 1 two priceless green soul fruits before. I know one is safe, that's been done, but with two, I can't say what would happen. People space out the time they take it to maximize its potency and effect. They are far too valuable to be used in such tests. Either in rapid use or in someone your son's age who is at level 1." My mother turned to look at me.

"What do you think?"

"I am not afraid. I will eat it," I said, and my mother nodded. If I died, my future was not destined to happen. I believed my mother. Even with everything dangerous that had happened, either she or Healer Castelle would sort everything out.

"Good. No hesitation or fear in your voice. Often, you won't know the correct option. Which path in the dungeon to choose? Which skill to use? Relying on your own instincts is the best option."

"Isn't that risky? Like with soul stuff, since there is no warning?" She turned to look at her Squires.

"The same with various monsters and the dungeon. It is no different. Do any of you disagree?"

"No, Supreme Warlady Elena," they all said, and my mother nodded. That really wasn't proof. They wouldn't dare disagree with her. I looked at Healer Castelle, the only person I had seen stand up to her.

"Like I said, there is risk, a lot of unknown risks. I strongly recommend against this. But ultimately it is your decision," he said. I nodded.

"We should do the eye skill first."

"Why?"

"I know that will probably work, even if it is painful. Doing so after he consumes the soul fruit could create unexpected complications."

"Then do it."

"Come sit on this chair," Healer Castelle said. He took the case with the floating crystal inside it and brought it over to me. My mother got up and stood in front of me to observe.

"You will scream. It will hurt immensely with the amount of toxicity in your body. Don't pass out. It will drag the process out. I need a leather strap so he can bite down on." My mother pulled one out and gave it to Healer Castelle. He gave her a momentary look before placing it in my mouth. I bit down. Healer Castelle pulled the crystal shard out of the container with a pair of metal tongs and then put it against my forehead. I felt like my brain was cooking. My eyes began to really hurt.

I kept biting down and screaming. My vision became blurry as it felt like my head was splitting open." Greater Cure. Greater Cure. Stabilize Soul." I felt Healer Castelle's hands over my eyes. The pain slowly went away.

"That was more extreme than I thought. The alchemical toxicity from the Mega Elixir is far too high. Thankfully, adding a skill has the bare minimum of toxicity, barely anything. But even that would have killed him if I wasn't here," Healer Castelle said while my head was still spinning. He removed his hand.

"Don't force his eyes open. They need to rest. For at least a day,""There are a lot of delays, Healer Castelle," my mother said.

"And this is already insanely reckless. Eating the soul fruit without a full amount of healing points is too risky. His soul is already stressed, and he should wait."

"One day. Take him to his room." Someone carried me away and wrapped a cloth around my eyes. There were traces of phantom pain, but the worst of it was gone. Healer Castelle stayed with me through the night once more. The next morning, there was a slight haze to everything in my vision. Focusing, I could deactivate the vision skill mentally. I then let it activate again.

"How is your sight?" Healer Castelle asked me as I sat up in bed.

"Blurry when the skill is active."

"That's what I expect. In time, it will be more precise. Any pain? Follow my finger with your eyes, not your head," he said and moved a finger in front of my face.

"No pain," I replied.

"That is good. That means you successfully gained Shadow Vision with no complications. Any other pains?"

"No," I replied.

"I deactivated my Pain Resistance skill as well. Nothing."

"What about Soul Sense? Anything seem abnormal?"

"My soul seems a lot denser. The surface movement is more stabilized, but heavier if that makes sense?" Healer Castelle let out a sigh of relief.

"That makes sense. Don't use skill implantation again for four years and never for anything above tier 3. I am not joking about this in the slightest. While you might think it is safe to do so sooner, don't. And even then, your Alchemical toxicity is off the charts."

"What is the problem? This one worked out well."

"It is the same issue with eating monsters. The Mana contaminates you. This can ruin your soul. Implanted skills need time to settle in your soul. So, don't let that happen."

"Got it and thank you again."

"Try not to die with what we are doing next."