Chương 77: Antidotes

[It's official: Emperor Dragon Queen on top; Little Bomber is washed! @@!] Author: Dragon Queen's Footwiper Our dragon queen has officially cleared the 5th floor! With a time of 0: 36, let's welcome our new leaderboard rank 7, Emperor Dragon Queen! In contrast, what has the Little Bomber done? She hasn't even cleared the 5th floor yet LOLOLOL, so washed and bad → [The Queen has stepped up! Little Bomber fans can only weep in tears to this news!!] → [XDXDXD So easy~ Can't this Little Bomber do something this simple? Huh? No? LOLOLOL] → [Huh? Why are all the Little Bomber fans so silent? Where'd they go?] → [Your so-called queen doesn't even have a real title yet, keep acting.] → [Little Bomber is a production class, dumbass. She has no need to clear this floor and make leaderboards; While your chuuni-queen is sweating and fighting for her life in the tower, our Little Bomber will stay nice and cool at home brewing potions.] ↳ [Keep coping, loser. Our queen will keep getting more and more famous while your terrorist stays in the basement all day, hiding from the sun.] ↳ [^ Average IQ of a chuuni-queen fan. Little Bomber lives in Florida, dumbass. There are no basements there.] → [I know everyone is busy roasting and flaming each other, but, genuinely, what happened to the Little Bomber? She's basically disappeared from the internet. It's been like 3 months since we've heard from her. I thought she was preparing to launch her bouncy bouncy potion, but, it's been so long and there's no news.] ↳ [No one knows. She's gone MIA ever since she accepted her title. Honestly, what're the chances some guild kidnapped her and she's locked in a basement as a potion slave?] ↳ [If she's a potion slave, then why the fuck aren't they selling her potions on the exchange!!!! I'm seriously about to relapse!!! I need that sweet goodness, all these copycats can't even come close to her potion taste!!] ↳ [The hype for the bouncy bouncy potion has kind of died down at this point, no? At this point, will they ever be released and sold? She missed a huge opportunity because of this hiatus.] ↳ [Died down? Are you dumb? Every day there are idiots on the /potion forums asking if someone can recreate the bouncy bouncy potion. The answer is literally pinned: NO, nobody has any idea what the hell went into that potion; The best they can do is create some knock-off version that's worthless.] → [I hope the Little Bomber comes back soon…] … [Done!!! Prerequisites complete! Is it finally time for free alchemy?] Author: BinLover Officially completed the third step! I projected a triangle with my mana and it firmly held up for over 10 minutes! Am I just the best or what? So! Teacher! Is it finally time for me to start doing alchemy again? → [Juxtaps: Congratulations! You completed the prerequisites fast; What's it been? About 3 months since you started?] ↳ [BinLover: Around! What can I say? I'm just so talented and skilled and humble. I remember everyone telling me it could take years! It wasn't much though, anyone could reach this point even faster than me, I'm really just average.] ↳ [Juxtaps: Oh, how so very humble of you.] ↳ [BinLover: Hehe.] → [SlimeLube: Slime! Slime! Slime!] ↳ [BinLover: Slime! Slime!] ↳ [SlimeLube: Slime!!!] → [EfficiencyLord: A triangle, huh? A staple shape of choice. One of the more efficient options you could have made; But, a circle would've been even better. It's more efficient long-term wise to get used to something a bit more complex.] ↳ [BinLover: Stop nitpicking and praise me!] ↳ [EfficiencyLord: I'd praise you if you hadn't taken the easy route. Kids these days just… (omitted)] Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. → [CauldronBro: Congratulations! I thought it'd take you way longer strengthen your mana. Did you drink potions to aid you? I'm curious on how you strengthened it.] → [✪Potions Are Easy: Congratulations! Then, we'll move onto free alchemy itself. I'll write a post explaining it now.] I read through the manager's post, taking notes in my journal as I understood it. To cut a long story short, free alchemy is a super fast alchemy style but the speed matches the risk level. The manager empathized many times the risks and dangers that come alongside it. After all, no cookie is free… Is that how the saying goes? Well, whatever, it's officially my saying now! Hehe.

As for why it's dangerous? Basically, when doing free alchemy, I'm connecting a thread of mana to the most potent part of each material at once; It doesn't matter whether the property is a deadly poison, anticoagulant, or healing. That thread of mana has no eyes or morals. And naturally, that thread of mana is going to be connected via my own body. In normal alchemy, the cauldron—or in my case, a pot—acts a buffer and will absorb all the properties before they can get to me.

But, with free alchemy, there's no such buffer. Any mistakes and I'll be the one to suffer. After it's connected, I have to quickly draw the property out and imbue it into the liquid base. If I'm not fast enough, the property will latch onto the closest target—me. I really took my time reading through the content, taking notes and asking questions while I had the chance. If someone from school saw me now, they'd be so confused—and not because my gender swapped.

'The person who was always asleep during class and using their phone is now actually studying and taking notes!?' Hehe, yeah. If I saw one of my old friends doing that, I'd also be like 'Who the hell are you!' I reviewed and confirmed over everything several times, only finally feeling ready after an hour had passed. Taking a deep breath, I stood up and headed to the bedroom. Luna was lying on the bed, scrolling mindlessly on her phone. When I opened the door, she perked up and looked towards me.

"What's up?" She asked.

"I'm going to start practicing that alchemy style I told you about."

"Oh, okay." She nodded before suddenly continuing, "Wait, it's that dangerous one, right? I need to watch over you." Luna said, standing up.

"Pfft, it's not that dangerous." I downplayed it. Truth be told, if I made a mistake, the poison will directly enter my core. My core will naturally try and expel the poison similarly to how the human body rejects colds. Luckily, the materials I'm using aren't that high of a level and the poison isn't strong enough to permanently affect me. If the materials were any more potent, those alchemy misters would never have even mentioned the style. For now, a simple antidote can fix me up if I make any mistakes.

"Doesn't matter." Luna shook her head, "I need to make sure myself. If something happens, I'm immediately rushing you to the hospital."

"Alright, alright, whatever." I said, a small smile appearing on my lips, "Well, let's go." I signaled with a nod and headed to the kitchen. First things first, I need to make the antidotes. I'll be practicing with the poisonous materials directly; With how much I've researched these things, the recipe comes to mind immediately. First, the Jango shroom is basically a neurotoxin. Huffing it's fumes will paralyze your nervous system. If you were suddenly stranded in the forest, and thought 'Oh!

A mushroom, I remember on survival shows that people eat mushrooms all the time!' and ate it, you'd probably be dead by morning. But! As luck would have it, there is a natural antidote for it, usually just mere feet away from where it grows. The Kingrow shroom. This little fella absorbs toxins from the air and filters them into natural fertilizer before spewing them back out. That's why the area surrounding these little guys is always lush with foliage.

I'll use the purification property of this mushroom to counteract the neurotoxin of the jango mushroom. Next, I need to deal with the huffpall. Or, should I say, I need to use the huffpall. Being an amplifier, this little hat-wearing mushroom works both as a amplifier to poisons and a antidote at the same time. Basically, it absorbs properties and amplifies them. So, I'll simply use it to amplify the purification effect. Finally, we have the mossbranch vine. This one I actually don't need to worry about at all.

In the poison potion, I'm using the mossbranch vine to soak in all the properties and clump them together to make it easier to imbue into the water. So, for now, the recipe includes: A kingrow shroom, giant huffpall, and water. Quite simple when laid out. This alone would work to simply cure a mishap, but, let's make it a little bit stronger. Let's add opara grass. Don't tell anyone, but I have a little secret. Opara grass is actually my favorite material to use.

Although many people in this world see it as useless, I just love it so much. From the stories behind it by people in other worlds, or the way it struggles to survive even in the most dead land—even purifying and saving that land for other life to grow on. Everything about it just makes me happy. And adding the opara grass to this antidote will aid the purification speed—making it stronger. Really, opara grass is just the best. With the recipe set, I quickly jotted down the key parts in my journal before nodding.

I glanced over at Luna who was silently watching me. Really… I'm going to get embarrassed if she stares so hard. Shaking my head of the thoughts, I immediately refocused my attention. Kingrow shrooms went for a few thousand on the exchange. Luckily, people farm them since the purification effect is useful. I purchased over 200 of them, draining my point balance. Yep, that's right. I'm going for 200 practice attempts of free alchemy. So, I naturally needed 200 antidotes. The kingrow shroom was small and tiny.

They were about finger sized and looked quite cute. They had a white exterior with brown dots on the cap of it. I did the same for the giant huffpall. Luckily, I had enough opara grass—which is looking really cute in my garden by the way. Ahem, anyways, since I had it readily available and at a higher grade—C—than anyone else, I didn't purchase any from the exchange. As I stared at the mushrooms piled up on the counter in front of me, I pursed my lips. Huh… I really didn't think this through, did I?

Yeah, I should've really just purchased as much as I was going to use… What am I going to do with all these…? Haah… Planting them is going to be a hassle.

"Um…" Luna let out from the side, "That's…quite a lot?"

"You think?" I asked.

"Is it…safe?" Luna hesitantly asked. Ah, right, she thought I was going to immediately start with the poisonous materials. Hm…A little mischievous thought bubbled in me. And, as soon as I had the idea, I acted immediately. Grabbing a kingrow shroom, I popped it straight into my mouth.

"Stella!" Luna reacted immediately, rushing towards me with lightning spewing off her, "What're you doing!?" She had a panicked look on her face, she didn't know whether to stop me or call for help. I chewed a few times before tilting my head,"Want one? They taste like nature." I innocently asked.

"A-ah." Luna let out a deep sigh of relief, "Ah…These aren't the poisonous ones?" She asked.

"No? I'm making the antidotes first." I replied, "These are called kingrow shrooms, they're good for you. For drunkards, they can help cure hangovers; Or, they can purify the harmful substances in your body."

"Right…Even you wouldn't be that impulsive and reckless to just immediately go into using poisonous materials without some kind of backup plan…" She mumbled, "I'll try one." She said before grabbing one of the shrooms off the top and popping it in her mouth. She slowly chewed with a strange expression on her face.

"So? How is it?" I asked.

"Earthy…Very earthy…" She replied, swallowing.

"So, good? Bad?"

"…I wouldn't eat another." Pfft, that's quite a harsh rating for a foodie like her. I wonder if I sneak one into her meal later, if she'll notice? Cutting off these slightly mischievous thoughts, I pointed at the door to the garden with my chin.

"Alright, can you help me plant them? I don't want them to die out before I get the chance to use them."

"Okay…But, why'd you buy so much? Shouldn't you have bought only what you needed to use?"

"If I use a bin, you could say Bin is binning stuff in a bin." I skillfully(?) avoided answering and dumped the shrooms into separate bins.

"…" She stared at me in silence before sighing heavily.

"Alright! To the garden!" I cheerfully said, picking up a box and walking. Luna picked up the other box, following along. Okay…I admit it…Not my proudest diversion. Hehe.