Chapter 136: Worth the Trouble
[Yennefer emyr]
[Withdrawal Meter: 0%]
[Palate Corruption: 11%]
Max glanced at Yennefer’s status. There were only two System effects listed beneath her name, though the arousal meter above her head was still sitting at around half full.
There wasn’t much he could do about that.
After all, she was driving him home, and even then, his hands had remained on her chest, fondling her through her shirt as though he’d completely forgotten that she was supposed to be concentrating on the road.
"We’re here. Can you stop now?" she asked as she pulled the car to a stop in front of the laboratory. Her shirt was still partly unbuttoned, leaving her bra fully exposed.
"I don’t want to, but unfortunately, I have to..."
Max reluctantly pulled his hand away. It was slightly sweaty and carried her scent, and he couldn’t help looking disappointed at having to give up the feel of her soft breast in his hands.
She began buttoning up her shirt again, her expression carrying a hint of irritation as she asked, "When will those potions be ready?"
"Probably early noon..." Max replied as he picked up the herbs from the back seat of the car. "I’ll call you as soon as they’re ready."
"Do that..." she said as she opened the door for him using the control panel on her side. "Get out now. I need to get up early too. You’ve already wasted more than enough of my time..."
Max smirked and nodded, getting out of the car and walking around toward the other side.
Yennefer lowered the window after finishing the buttons on her shirt.
"See you in the morning..."
"I would’ve liked not to, but it can’t be helped..." she said with a sigh before driving off the next second.
Max looked amused as he quietly made his way back into the laboratory, moving as silently as possible. Seeing that there were no lights on, he placed the herbs inside before heading upstairs to check on Zerena, who was still fast asleep.
It was now past midnight, and Max still had to prepare two batches of potions before she woke up.
He really hated sacrificing what little sleep he had left, but there was one undeniable benefit. If he finished the work tonight, he’d have a chance to fondle his third pair of breasts tomorrow—and perhaps get up to a few other unspeakable things with them.
With a tired sigh, Max began preparing the herbs for both batches.
He’d managed to reduce the brewing time for these Minor Healing Potions to four hours, though he could probably push it even lower if he really concentrated.
And this time, he had to.
There wasn’t much time left. Even if Zerena usually slept until seven in the morning, that gave him only about seven hours from now.
And God forbid she decided to wake up any earlier.
He wouldn’t be able to keep the deal he’d made with Grace otherwise.
"Let’s get to work..." he said to himself as he hurriedly began processing the herbs that needed to be prepared.
He almost wished he had two cauldrons by now. He’d gotten so much better at brewing the potions that the main thing slowing him down was no longer the actual brewing itself, but the time each herb needed to be processed and allowed to properly interact with the effects of the others.
Max could probably make the process even faster, but doing so required him to control his mana with considerably more precision.
Like now, he was controlling three rune arrays on each finger of his hands, carefully directing the flow of mana to heat, cool, or provide extra energy wherever it was needed.
With thirty runes under his control at once, Max could already manage the process far more efficiently, and he could use even more runes if he wanted to make every part of the process more precise.
He tried adding one more—this one simply a heat-and-cold dispersing array. Using the index finger of his dominant hand, he released a thin stream of mana into it, feeding the array as he slowly began taking control of it.
He repeated the same process with his other hand.
It immediately started putting more strain on his concentration, making him lose some of his focus, but Max persisted. After nearly an hour of practice, he finally managed to control the new array as smoothly as the others.
Seeing that the potions were already nearing completion, however, he decided not to push himself any further.
Soon, he was done with the first batch of potions.
Max looked a little disappointed. He hadn’t managed to bring the time down as much as he’d hoped, but he’d still reduced it by nearly half an hour. He’d also saved some time by processing the herbs and taking care of a few other steps for the next batch in between.
So the second batch wouldn’t take nearly as long as the first.
And he was right.
He finished the second batch well before seven, leaving him enough time to let the potions cool down before bottling them and carefully hiding them away.
But it wasn’t done yet. He still had to clean up the laboratory, even though he’d already cleaned it before going to sleep.
Then he remembered that he had an extra batch left over. He’d already told Zerena that he only had enough System Points left for three more batches.
He sighed tiredly and got back to work, hoping that finishing this extra batch would leave them with enough room to earn some more points together.
Also, having the extra batch would give him an excuse to leave the laboratory and buy more herbs if he needed to.
And, honestly, he was hoping he’d get the chance to use that excuse.
Yesterday, Zerena had been gone almost the entire day, leaving him stuck in the laboratory with nothing but potions and work to keep him company. It had made the whole day painfully boring.
At least today, he had something to look forward to.
He already had a meeting planned with Grace and Yennefer, which meant he’d get to spend some time with them and, hopefully, make the day pass a little faster.