Over the next hour or so, Percy brought Baldy up to speed on the mushrooms. Of course, heâd already briefed him on his plans previously, but it wasnât until now that heâd come to understand his ingredients better.
At first, he didnât expect his grandpa to be
too
interested. They already had a lot of healers at home, so the green mushrooms would only be useful for people heading out on missions â and only if they didnât have a life user accompanying them. Naturally, this didnât happen very often. It was generally a dumb idea for a group to not include a healer â doubly so given their abundance in House Avalon.
Even then, all their Yellow-borns reached Green by the time they were old enough to be allowed out, making potions essentially useless for them. Let alone their raw ingredients, which were even less potent. In theory, Red-borns might benefit more from the mushrooms. Sadly, they were rarely strong enough to risk going on missions. Not to mention how few of those the family even had left, ever since the massacre.
This all meant that the green mushrooms would only be used in some niche circumstances. Specifically, if and when a group of young Orange-borns decided to head out unaccompanied by a life user â for whatever reason.
âThey wouldnât be worth it if they were more troublesome to cultivate.â Archibald explained. âBut things are different, given how easily I can replenish them.â
Percy nodded. The best thing about the mushrooms was that they didnât need any dedicated infrastructure, nor personnel to grow. Archibald could easily maintain a stock in their warehouse by himself. Heâd only need to give up a clone whenever they were close to running out.
Sure, they wouldnât be too effective. Not without an alchemist to brew them into proper potions. Nor would they be needed often. Still, it would be handy to have a few around for an emergency. At the very least, it was easier than purchasing normal healing potions from the Guild. Additionally, Percy could brew his family their first batch before leaving.
âWhat about the red ones? Their effect is a little more exotic. I was hoping they might be useful when consumed by your clones.â
Baldy shook his head, however.
âEach of my clones would need several hundreds of mushrooms to get a boost. More than I can produce by
sacrificing
one. Even then, the effect would be minimal. Besides, I already have a spell that does something similar.â
Hearing that, Percy deflated. He had certainly hoped his latest acquisitions would prove useful for his House, to curb his guilt over all the time and attention he was siphoning from his grandpa again.
âBut thatâs not to say theyâre useless.â Archibald added a moment later, causing him to perk up. âI may not
personally
need them, but many of our younger people have yet to master our familyâs Secret Arts. Theyâll be more effective on their clones too, thanks to their lower grades.â
His words rekindled Percyâs enthusiasm somewhat. Yet there was still an issue to solve.
âDo you think theyâre safe to use in a battle though?â Percy asked. âYou saw what happened when I planted them into your clones.â
Baldy grimaced upon remembering that.
âLooking at my own mutilated body is something Iâll never get used to, no matter how many times I see it. Still, itâs not that big of a problem. It only happened because I wasnât there to supervise the process. Withholding my mana from the mushrooms to slow their growth down would be trivial otherwise.â
The two spoke for a while longer, ironing out the details of their arrangement. Archibald agreed to give him a couple more clones, which Percy would exclusively use to grow green mushrooms. He didnât need any more of the red ones â he already had plenty of those. Over the next few weeks, he would brew as many as he could into healing potions. That was both to extend his own stash, and to leave any excess he couldnât fit into his amulet behind, for his family. Additionally, Baldy would allow him to take any secondary ingredients he wanted from the warehouse â assuming they even had any, of course.
âIâm definitely getting the better end of the deal hereâŠâ
he thought, a fuzzy feeling worming its way into his heart.
Clearly, his grandpa had heavily skewed the exchange in his favour, looking for any excuse to help him out. After all, the four clones he had received were easily worth 10000 contribution points.
Probably more.
Meanwhile, the potions Percy would be giving them in return barely cost a fraction of that. And that was without even mentioning the free training he and Nesha were getting.
âThanks. Iâll make it up to you, when I can.â he said.
âJust focus on your own progress.â Archibald said, casually waving away his concerns. âYouâve done plenty for us too.â
Not arguing the point further, Percy bid the man farewell, before heading to the warehouse. There, he found his uncle Gareth on guard duty, along with another guy whose name he didnât quite remember. A quick scan via Mana Sense revealed that this person was at Yellow â probably a relatively young Orange-born â though he wasnât sure how distantly they were related.
Either way, it was already nearly midnight â way too late for new acquaintances. Explaining his reason for being there, he handed the two a written permit Baldy had given him, asking to be allowed inside. They complied of course, even offering to help him search due to his apparent blindness.
âItâd be so much faster by myselfâŠâ
he couldnât help but roll his eyes from behind the blindfold as he sifted through the place.
Even partially obstructed by the cloth, his enhanced vision had already picked up on a couple mana-rich spots that his regular Mana Sense had missed. Unfortunately, he still had to maintain the façade around others.
In the end, it took the three a couple hours to search the whole place up, with some mixed results. Percy was positively surprised to have found a couple crates of alchemical reagents â even recognizing a few pacification ingredients among them. Unfortunately, the boxes were positively
ancient
, covered in an inch-deep layer of dust.
And their contents werenât much better. The overwhelming majority of the reagents had long gone inert, not a shred of mana left within them. And that was despite magical plants generally having a much longer shelf-life than mundane ones. In fact, several even crumbled to powder in his hands as he tried picking them up.
âA few pale carrots⊠Some moonflower petalsâŠâ
he creased his brow as he tallied the surviving reagents.
There wasnât much. Barely enough for him to brew a handful of doses â if everything went well. Granted, this was all he really needed, though it also meant he didnât have much leeway for experimentation. Heâd have to get the recipe down in the first couple of attempts, to avoid wasting his limited supplies. Which was made even more complicated by the fact that heâd have to use a different ingredient each time.
âAlright. I guess I should probably test the other steps separately, to get more familiar with those, since Iâll only get a couple shots at pacification.â
It would inevitably cost him a few more mushrooms, but those were more disposable, given the circumstances.
Helping his relatives put everything else back, he thanked them before returning to his room. It wasnât until he was alone that he finally took his blindfold off again.
Well, Nesha was technically there too, but she was sleeping so heavily she hadnât even noticed him enter.
Tossing her a glance, he didnât miss the traces of exhaustion still marring her pretty face, as she was sprawled over the bed like a starfish.
âBaldy wasnât kidding about her. Sheâs really giving it her allâŠâ
Sighing, he pulled the curtain open, looking at the starlit sky blanketing the heavens. To his relief, it didnât seem the sun was quite ready to rise just yet, though he knew he barely had a couple hours left. Taking off his clothes, he carefully pushed Nesha to one side, trying his best not to disturb her as he joined her.
âImagine the look on Galahadâs face if I sleep in.â
he thought, barely suppressing a chuckle.
It was tempting, really. Not just as payback for all the shit heâd given him in the past, but also because he really wasnât in the mood for another one of those brutal training sessions. In the end, he shook his head, however. No sense in antagonizing the man now that their relationship had finally turned around. Besides, as tough as it was, Percy knew he had struck quite a bargain there.
Forcing all the stressful thoughts out of his mind, he allowed his head to sink into his soft, nostalgic pillow, a more positive note taking hold of him right before he fell asleep.
â16 more days until the lotus bloomsâŠâ