A few days had passed since Percyās group entered Twilight City, and everyone was beginning to adjust to their new life.
Luckily, the 115th district hadnāt changed that much since Neshaās previous visit, so the trio had found the inns right where sheād said theyād be. The accommodation was rather cheap too, the conditions more than liveable.
Percyās room wasnāt exactly the largest, nor the most luxurious heād seen on Remior. Not by a long shot. But it was more than sufficient for his current needs, equipped with all the basics. Between the soundproofing runes, the comfy bed, the warm water and proper heating, he had everything he needed to make himself at home for the foreseeable future. From what the others had said, theirs were more or less the same.
He wasnāt sure what Nesha and Elaine had done upon first entering their own rooms, but heād personally drank a couple healing potions to heal the torn skin on his soles, before taking a long, relaxing shower.
Granted, heād nearly fallen asleep more than once as he stood beneath the warm stream, the water splashing on his face doing very little to keep his eyelids from shutting. Still, heād forced himself to persist, knowing heād enjoy his rest a lot more if he wasnāt covered in dried sweat.
Sure enough, heād managed to make it to his bed, passing out almost immediately upon sinking into the soft mattress. In the end, heād slept for a full day, feeling quite invigorated by the time heād had his fill. Since then, heād only left the inn a handful of times, to meet up with the others. The rest of the time, heād spent locked up in his room, working on his side of the plan.
'I guess the tri-coloured clover is another bustā¦'
he sighed, emptying the inert sludge from his cauldron into a bucket by his side.
He was currently sitting at a table in his room: not quite a desk, but close enough. The pile of ingredients next to him was almost exhausted and, sadly, he didnāt have much to show for it. If he failed to make any progress with the remaining reagents, heād have to switch to a different task until his cousin brought him the next batch.
Getting up, he washed his equipment in the bathroom, before returning to his seat for another attempt. Once again, he began the process by tossing four vials of elixir and just as many portions of teal powder into his cauldron. Naturally, the bonding step went by without any issues. It was only when he added the crushed petals of the illusionary rafflesia that he ran into trouble.
Wasting vial after vial of his hard-earned elixirs left a bitter taste in his mouth, but he understood he couldnāt make an omelette without breaking a few proverbial eggs. Besides, he was confident heād succeed before he consumed even a hundredth of his stash, making this a somewhat acceptable expenditure.
Gritting his teeth, he tuned the heat up to the second highest setting, knowing from his experience with the rainbow grass that the second round of deattunement required a much higher temperature. And thus, he began the brewing session anewā¦
āMan, deciphering the recipe is so much harder without Orinās helpā¦ā
he thought a few minutes later, wiping the sweat off his forehead as he stared at another failure.
Percy wasnāt the fledgling alchemist heād once been, both his mentorās many lessons and his own years of experience still vivid in his mind. Furthermore, the value of having successfully modified the recipe once already couldnāt be overstated, as it pointed him in the right direction, allowing him to dodge several avoidable pitfalls.
And that was without even mentioning how much his mutated eyes assisted him in his endeavour. This was an advantage that neither he, nor Orin, had possessed the first time around. Nor did any other alchemist on Remior, for that matter. Suffice to say, he was confident his experiments would yield some positive results sooner rather than later.
Still, it wasnāt fast enough in his eyes.
Not even close.
Heād already lost several weeks of core purification since they downgraded to the regular elixirs. At least, they could still use the teal paste separately, allowing them to drink two doses per day instead of one, but that was still slower than theyād like.
Every day without Aurora Dew felt like a dagger through his heart. After all, it could easily translate to weeks if not months off the other end of his lifespan, bringing him that much further away from his ambitious goal of attaining divinity.
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āOk, letās not be so dramaticā¦ rushing this is only going to make things worse.ā
The Aurora Dew would save him several centuries in the long-term. And that was without even considering any further improvements he might make. There wasnāt much sense in crying over a few weeks.
Taking a deep breath, Percy shifted his attention to something else. Come to think of it, all these deattunement ingredients looked a little similar. Most of them were rather exotic plants, their vibrant colours all over the place. Not that surprising they had this in common, really. Reagents used for a similar purpose tended to share the same affinity: just like how pacification ingredients were always rich in ice mana.
Then again, Percy didnāt recall reading about the affinity that tied deattunement ingredients together. Perhaps, it was a rare one that few alchemists had encountered in the past. Or, maybe, theyād just failed to make the connection. And even if any of them had, perhaps they just hadnāt bothered to document this little detail for their successors.
Still, based on everything heād encountered in recent years, he couldnāt help but notice it somewhat resembled Jasonās karma mana.
āItās not just the colour. I suppose the effect fits as wellā¦ kinda.ā
Deattunement essentially prevented an alchemic ingredient from reacting violently with the next mana type it encountered. Wasnāt this mystical connection somewhat analogous to the ethereal strings his former opponent had manipulated during their fight?
Or maybe Percy was just reaching, and this had nothing to do with that.
He shrugged. Either way, it didnāt really matter.
Whatever the case, his current job was to complete the recipe as soon as possible, so they could all resume drinking Aurora Dew.
Then again, that was only the first stage of their plan. Brewing a few doses per day to keep up with their consumption would be an improvement, but far from enough. What they really needed was to somehow convert their entire stash, so that theyād have over a decadeās worth of Aurora Dew during their stay in the Valley.
A daunting task in and of itself.
āI guess Iāll just have to trust Nesha with thatā¦ā
His girlfriend only roamed the city at night, as it was much safer for her that way. Her current job was to gather information from the black districts, leveraging both her bloodline and her skillset to do so. This was all to eventually establish the connections they needed to scale their operation up. After all, it would take a lot of money, and a trustworthy partner to make the bulk purchases for them.
Of course, that introduced another problem into the equation. Percy had no intention of revealing the Aurora Dew in this place. It was too valuable. Too dangerous. Enough so to potentially scare or entice even the most honest of partners into stabbing them in the back.
Whatever deal they ended up striking, it would probably have the healing potions or the green mushrooms at its foundation. They might not be as lucrative as the Aurora Dew, but they were much safer to reveal. Not to mention easier to produce. As for the details of this hypothetical collaboration, heād left everything up to Nesha, trusting her to weigh everything properly and minimize the risk.
āAt least, I have plenty of teal powder now, and I can easily make more. Thatās one less thing to worry aboutā¦ā
The rest of her time, Nesha spent in her own room, working on her Circulation pattern. Percy missed hanging out with her: and heād like to think she felt the same way: but they both understood that staying together was a risk they could do without. Besides, it wasnāt like they had the time to waste on distractions, nor were they in the right mental space to enjoy themselves while Micky was getting tortured by a psychopath.
āSpeaking of which, how close are you guys to the city?ā
he asked through the cord.
āNot sure where exactly the city is, but from what Acton said, weāll be there by the end of next week.ā
Micky replied a few seconds later.
Percy frowned. This was even sooner than theyād expected. Granted, the boy travelled much faster than them, but between Percyās head-start, Acton having to carry Micky for much of the journey, and the detour the boy had taken to get him fed, Percy had thought theyād bought more time.
Evidently not.
At least, Micky was doing a lot better. His injuries hadnāt healed completely, but he could at least fly by himself: albeit painfully. In fact, heād pretended he couldnāt for as long as possible, buying a few extra days in the process.
His hunger wasnāt entirely gone either, but Acton did get him enough food to keep him from starving. On top of that, Micky had resumed using his own spells to conserve his stamina, improving his situation a little. And heād even started working on his ice pattern again, though he hadnāt made much progress with it quite yet.
Alas, Percy had no idea whether Acton would even bother to stop by Twilight City, or whether heād just head directly into the Valley. In fact, he didnāt even know which was preferable.
If Acton stopped by the city, it would buy them a little more time, but heād also reveal Mickyās existence to the rest of Remior. Obviously, nobody would bother his familiar much as long as he remained within the Holy Childās control, but this could introduce more complications down the line, once they managed to rescue him.
āWhatever the case, we need to make every second count.ā