171: Permanent
“Morning, Lily,” I muttered.
I was still surrounded by her, so it appeared that she hadn’t moved at all during the night. As I started to move, Lily just uncurled and rolled over, seemingly going back to sleep on the bed. Crisplet had not moved at all. After a quick glance, no one was lying on the floor.
“That’s a good start!” I said.
Crisplet let off a burst of sparks and started to shrink.
Heading downstairs and into the dining room, all eyes landed on me instantly.
“What happened last night?” Milo said.
I just looked at him, confused. Everyone looked exhausted. What had happened?
“No one could sleep on your side of the house yesterday,” Jen said.
“Lily and Crisplet didn’t like the potion I took, so they insisted on watching me through the night,” I said.
It was only then that I noticed Liane was in the corner with a blanket over her head, still asleep. Milo and Jen both looked exhausted, and Hari, George, and Darren were nowhere to be found.
“Could you speak with her about it?” Jen asked.
Milo nodded in agreement. “I wasn’t so worried about the sleep, but I couldn’t use the library either.”
“I’ll try. I tried to reassure them it was okay, but Lily didn’t want me to drink that potion at all,” I said, taking a seat.
“Makes sense that. They are both beings made predominantly of mana, and that potion, although it wouldn’t really hurt them in that dosage, absorbs and destroys mana,” Milo said.
“Still though, we need to address it,” Jen said, her head now in her arms.
Looking down at Crisplet, who had just been observing it all, “Crisplet, do you think you could talk to Lily? You can both protect me, but you need to calm down on the aura.”
There was a burst of sparks, followed by a groan in the corner.
I made a simple breakfast for everyone with strips of boar belly, eggs, and toasted bread. Liane woke up at the smell of bacon and, although she didn’t say anything, she did gently clip me on the back of the head.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m sorry. I’ll talk to Lily. She was just worried,” I said, plating everything up, giving Liane extra bacon and eggs before taking the rest out to the others.
Sitting down to eat my own meal, I wanted to discuss my plans for today.
“Any chance we could go to the markets today? I wanted to get some more supplies before the chefs arrive tomorrow,” I asked, looking between Milo and Jen.
Liane and Crisplet were still both in the kitchen.
“It might be best if you give Archie a list, Trev. Micca has builders and interviews at the shop today. Hari is there to assist, along with George and Darren as guards. I’m in no position to guard you if House Valrith tries something again, alone,” Jen said.
Milo nodded. “You also have a meeting with House Fellwood today, you remember, right?”
I didn’t remember at all, and I also felt disappointed. Is this what all people with a house had to deal with? No wonder they all seemed grumpy so far.
Milo slid over a notebook and a charcoal stick. “Write what you need and Archie will get it sorted for you. It’ll be nice to have the house staff do something other than hide from Lily and dust the statues.”
Jen chuckled at that.
“If you want something to do in the meantime, practise your mana control. What is your mana at this morning, anyway?” Milo said.
I pulled up my status.
Name: Trevor Ashmoon
Class: Arcane Chef
Rarity: Rare
Level: 25
Experience: 4342/23796
Hit points: 340/340
Mana: 332/690
Stamina: 338/340
Strength: 13
Dexterity: 34
Endurance: 34
Intelligence: 69
Wisdom: 33
Charisma: 10
Willpower: 13
Perception: 8
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Luck: 6
Unspent: 0
It had been a long time since I properly looked at my stats. I had always just glanced at pieces of it as I went.
“332 out of 690,” I said simply to Milo.
“A little less than expected, but I’m guessing you were slightly above half before breakfast then,” Milo said.
I was also excited to finally start raising my level again, and with Micca getting the shop open, with luck people would start using the food and that experience would grow. I doubt I could convince Lily to leave and get experience at this point, especially not in the city, and certainly not with potions.
I wrote a fairly simple list of requests: a selection of dried and fresh herbs, whatever Archie could find; a selection of fruits, again whatever could be found. I also asked for several boar bellies. If these were to take months, I wanted bacon sooner, so I would turn several regular ones into bacon in the meantime.
For salts, I requested three more barrels of regular salt, a small barrel of fire salt, and a small sample bag of any other interesting salts the vendor had.
I asked for a large amount of untouched dough. I had to assume there would be a baker in town with the same magical ability.
Finally, I requested a lot of butter, milk, and cream, and I asked for some seafood also, requesting that a wider selection be made so I could experiment.
“Is this too much?” I asked, pushing the paper to Milo, who looked it over.
“We need all this?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
I winced a little. We didn’t need any of it particularly, but I didn’t even get to respond before Jen slapped his arm.
“It’s fine, we’ll get it all. Plus, we’ll be able to sell some drake scales here without fear of reprisal or questions,” Jen said with a grin.
“Which reminds me, and not to add even more to your list, but if you want to sell that head to Wyatt in Farnox, you’ll need to get started on that too. It takes some time to dry out a skull that size after removing all the meat. I’ll be able to help you with magic though,” Milo added.
After that, I poked my head into the kitchen, letting Crisplet know I was heading to the library, and as expected, he immediately followed me.
Upon entering, I was surprised to see Sylverith sitting in a chair nearby with a small stack of books that didn’t appear to be from the shelves in this library, so I could only assume she had borrowed them from somewhere.
“Morning, Trevor. You had an interesting night, I take it?” she said with a knowing smirk.
“It was alright. Well, for me it was alright. Not everyone else though. Lily doesn’t like the potions the doctor asked me to take,” I responded, falling into the chair.
Sylverith didn’t respond at first, just turning to Crisplet and discussing something I wasn’t privy to before Sylverith’s ethereal voice came across. “It’s okay, I shall watch him. You go and make your statue. Also, that new ability—influenced by me, was it? I approve.”
Crisplet then turned to me. I felt the mana reaching out. It was concern, hope, and curiosity.
“It’s okay, Crisplet. I promise I won’t leave the library here until I have my meeting. Go make your statue. I can’t wait to finally see it,” I said.
I knew it was going to be a tree of some kind. Having caught glimpses of it through the dome, I didn’t know what else was coming with it, so I was excited. I had never seen Crisplet work on a single statue so much.
“Now then, Trevor, tell me about this potion,” Sylverith said.
Shrugging, I just pulled one out. Sylverith took it and started to inspect it closely.
There was silence for a long time while she was closely inspecting it, when a question arose—something that I had been wondering since she returned…
“Sylverith, how did you get back so fast?” I asked.
“Hmm? Oh, I can move quickly, as fast as my main form can travel. Honestly, on my first journey, I wanted to visit the local towns and villages. It’s important to see these places before they are gone.”
“Gone?” I asked, shocked.
She just let out a chuckle. “Worry not. They are not in danger, child. When you have lived as long as I have, cities like these come and go as the seasons do. You need to experience it while you can. Now I see the concern with this potion. What is the goal with it?”
I shrugged. “The doctors said that it would help repair my damaged mana channels by running them dry and letting them naturally recover for a while.”
I really didn’t understand why it would work, just that I was told it would work.
“Why not ask Lily to drain your mana then?” She asked, placing the potion on the table between us.
“It would give you greater control over when to do it, and she’d know when you’re low on mana and be able to better protect you that way, rather than these potions, which are a crude method.”
“Uh, I didn’t know she could drain mana,” was all I got out.
“Of course she can. What do you think she eats, child? She likes your food due to its mana content, and do not mistake me: there is a flavour to it. Simply having high mana raw food is not the same. I learned that with the tail you provided me,” she said with a grin, which faltered a moment later.
“There is also the other aspect: your permanent buffs. That is no small thing, even if it’s a single stat point. It’s also dangerous. As it stands, we only know dragon provides the permanent buff, unless something else has shown up since?” she asked.
“No, not yet. I thought it might have had something to do with it being a legendary ingredient, not just it being a dragon. It was my only legendary ingredient besides the Moon Orchid powder we got from the shop,” I replied, pulling the jar out of my storage and holding it between us.
“I see, and you’ve not used it yet?” she asked.
“No. I’ve also not had any dragon either. I don’t believe my mana channels could take it,” I laughed.
I had not considered the implications if it was only dragon, especially with how rare dragons were, because logically, if word got out and people started hunting dragons as a result, it would put me at odds with my friends.
Sylverith looked at me seriously. “I would ask you, Trevor, to please not reveal that dragon meat provides permanent buffs. Our species is already targeted for our body parts, and we don’t need to give the humanoid races further incentives to hunt us down. Many lives will be lost,” she said.
“I won’t. I promise,” I said.
Sylverith nodded. “Good. There are several legendary creatures in this world, and far more in the demonic planes. If it’s simply legendary ingredients you need, then I believe we can have a mutually beneficial relationship. If it’s only dragon, I would request an oath that you do not speak of it.”
Sylverith rose from her chair. “Make a meal using some of that powder for Lily, we shall test it. I will speak with her, and use her to drain your mana, not these crude potions.”
I nodded. That sounded like a good plan, and I wasn’t willing to fight a dragon.
“Oh, Sylverith, before you go,” I called, catching her before she left the room, “you wouldn’t happen to know a way to speed up or slow down time inside a vessel or barrel, would you?”
It was a long shot, but I thought if anyone might know besides the chefs, it would be her.
“I know of something that might assist. We can discuss it during your rune training. It’s a rather old one, but it might do the job,” she said.
As she left, a smile finally came across her face before she waved and left the room.
It only took less than a minute before I realised a grave mistake I had made.
She left, and Crisplet wasn’t here. Crisplet would be super angry at me if I were not protected!
I ran out of the room to find him. He should be working on his statue out front. I’ll sit nearby so he can keep an eye on me, and I won’t get into trouble.
I’d not even made it a step out of the library door when I ran directly into Milo.
“Oh, good, Trevor. Lord Fellwood is here for the meeting, are you ready?” he said.
No, no, no…
“Uh, no, sorry, not yet. I need to get Crisplet!” I called, dashing past Milo into the foyer.
Standing in the middle of the room was an elderly man, in a very modest but neat suit, with greying hair and a well-kept beard, staring up at the statue of Sylverith closely.
“Ah, Lord Ashmoon!…” I heard him call.
I didn’t stop jogging past him and making my way out the front door, calling back, “Give me a moment!”
I would not get into trouble again today.