So, I’d only need to top my mana pool up four times for this to be successful. That didn’t seem so bad. I was hoping Milo had the mana potions for it, because I didn’t trust making mana food for it.
We pulled off the road into a vast, open field. I had noticed that we were passing a lot more farmhouses now, with most fields actually growing crops instead of just having them empty for livestock like this one.
“Do most people just camp in the field like this?” I asked curiously.
Jen shook her head. “No, most would head into one of the dozen villages around here. We’re just trying to avoid attention.”
She said the last part bitterly.
“Is there an issue with Colin? He seems nice,” I said, watching him set up the tent.
“No, he’s perfectly fine, and Hari verified he was with the guild.” Jen let out a long sigh.
Shaking her head, she continued, “It doesn’t matter. One more night won’t matter. Let’s get started with your skill.”
I scratched the back of my head. “Sorry about that. I started about an hour ago. I’m a little under half my mana at the moment.”
Jen nodded. “Okay, that makes things a little easier. Milo has minor mana potions; they regenerate around three to four hundred mana for most individuals. Also—and this is important—there is a limit on potions. If you feel a headache coming on, or any tingles, or a cold feeling, no matter how close you are, you tell us.”
I nodded.
She looked at me sternly. “Trev, I need you to promise me you’ll tell us.”
“I promise,” I said, and I meant it. I wasn’t so eager to go back into paralysis again, nor to tempt fate.
Nodding, she left with the horses, walking over to where Milo was building the thick dome again.
“Trev, sense the mana in this. I think it will be interesting for you, especially after you said you couldn’t sense the earth,” Milo said.
I closed my eyes and pushed my senses towards where I knew the dome was. I felt I was getting pretty good at this, at least for sensing Crisplet.
In fact, that was the first thing I sensed: a burst of fire mana, then a sense of happiness and humour—but that was behind me.
I tried to push it forward, focusing only on the dome itself.
At first, I couldn’t feel anything. It was just nothing. All I could feel was pressure…
Wait, was that it?
“I feel only pressure,” I said.
“Good. Follow it. Visualise its boundaries. Where does it start? Where does it stop?” Milo said.
I didn’t open my eyes. I just pushed harder, feeling the outer edge, which I followed down to the ground. So far, I had felt nothing at all from the ground; it was just cold and still.
But today I could feel it. You could feel the pressure emanating from the ground, and more than that, strength. Where I had pushed into the pressure earlier, this was a solid wall.
“I got it!” I said excitedly.
“Excellent work!” Milo said happily as I opened my eyes.
“What was the explosion of fire mana?” I asked, looking around.
Milo chuckled. “Crisplet was hiding inside Colin’s tinder. Then, the moment the spark hit, Crisplet burst from the wood, making him fall backwards.”
I looked over, worried about Crisplet stirring up trouble.
“Don’t worry yourself. Colin took it in stride. Crisplet did light his fire for him afterwards.” He gestured towards a fire that looked as if it had been burning for hours.
It seemed once that had been sorted, he went and joined training with Hari, Darren, and George, and they were all going through the drills as I entered the now-complete building.
“Alright. You won’t be cooking dinner tonight, so you can pull out a meal or two now that you’ve precooked, or Micca can cook, but you’re to save all your mana for this,” Milo said immediately as I walked through the door.
I was caught a bit off guard by the seriousness.
But I did as instructed, and pulled out one of the large roast meals I had ready, as it would be enough to serve both the group and Lily.
As I was doing that, Milo was pulling out six small bottles, each with a turquoise liquid inside.
“Alright, what is your mana right now?” he asked.
“265 out of 650, and I’ve been running Foraging for seventy-four minutes already,” I said, checking my status.
Milo nodded. “Right. Take a seat. I’m going to give you a quick lesson on potions. You’ve not really had any besides the stamina one at Boltron.”
I nodded, taking a seat next to the six bottles.
Picking up a bottle, Milo began. “Right, so these are minor potions. Even though they are minor ones, they are still dangerous for someone who does not have a lot of mana, so don’t let the name fool you. That said, they affect people differently. This one will roughly restore four hundred mana for a mage, but if a class like Liane or Jen took this, it would be drastically less due to their less developed mana channels, likely granting around twenty.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
He put the bottle down and next held a larger bottle that was also turquoise, but unlike the smaller ones on the ground, this one had a presence. It also physically glowed.
“This one is a major mana potion. They are incredibly expensive and restore normally fifteen hundred mana in under a minute. However, if Jen or Liane drank this, or even yourself for that matter, you’d almost certainly burn your mana channels.” He stored it away.
“Now, the last thing to discuss is what happens when you overdose on potions, as it’s the main consideration of all of this. Every person can handle different amounts of potions. Normally, people can handle five before symptoms start. Others, it could be seven; and then there are people who feel symptoms on only two.” Milo sat down in front of me.
“So when we take the first potion at two hundred mana, there are going to be a few questions I have for you. I need to know the exact amount it restores for you. Then the most important part is if you’re feeling any tingling in your hands or feet, or feeling like a drop of ice is moving through your body,” Milo concluded.
“Got it,” I said, beaming. I was excited to get this done.
I wouldn’t choose the Arcane Foraging skill today, regardless of what showed up. I’d at least want to complete the rare ingredient one to see the abilities that are offered as well; it would be foolish not to finish it.
While I waited, I was about to pull out the cookbook before stopping, realising it was stored in the pantry and would cost mana to retrieve. I went for the journal instead since that was stored in my storage ring.
I was currently reading a tale about an unnamed yeti. It was different from normal yetis due to its signature fur being replaced by spikes of ice. They were apparently strong enough to deflect Morlin’s attacks, and it fought using what appeared to be wind magic. However, every strike left the skin completely frozen and devoid of all moisture as it was turned to ice.
Morlin noted he had a scar on his leg that no potion could heal, which directly resulted from this creature’s strike. In the end, Morlin felt the fight ended in a stalemate and stopped attacking once it appeared to be communicating with him.
I was so enthralled by the entry that I nearly missed my mana ticking to two hundred, catching it just as it went below.
“It’s time,” I said, reaching out to take one of the potions.
Both Milo and Jen had come over to watch. After receiving a nod, I drank the potion, watching it slowly tick up over the next minute.
I was slightly concerned when it stopped. It was on the lower end of what to expect.
“Um, 288 mana restored,” I said.
Milo swore under his breath. I wasn’t sure what the issue was. I wasn’t far off what he thought mages got.
“That’s going to be a problem, Trev. If my math is correct, you’re going to need sev—no, eight potions,” Milo said, shaking his head.
“That’s far too many!” Jen said.
Milo sounded dejected. “I think it’s best we do this another time, Trev.”
“Wait, no. I promised I would tell you about the symptoms. Can we at least try?” I said, not wanting to give up so easily.
Milo shook his head again. “I’ve not met anyone who can handle eight potions. Seven has been the highest, and that was a single person. This is just a waste of mana potions.”
My mind was racing for a solution. The system wouldn’t give me an impossible quest, would it? No… that would be stupid. It must be possible.
“What if I had a mana candy? I’ve had them before; it’s not overly strong,” I offered.
“We don’t know how it will interact with that many mana potions, though, and if you hurt your channels again, Hari will kill us as well as you,” Jen said firmly.
“It will be okay. I will tell you the second symptoms start, no matter when,” I said.
They were both silent for a long while.
“Okay… have a candy, then we’ll try the potions. But I’m warning you, Trev, do not break your promise,” Milo said, pulling out two more minor mana potions, along with a single mana candy I had made.
I placed the candy in my mouth as the taste of frost nettle raced along my tongue and gave it a chilled effect. I really hoped it wouldn’t do the same inside me since that was one of the symptoms and I would need to stop. Not wanting to injure myself further, and more importantly, I wasn’t willing to anger the group over something I could just complete later.
I also wasn’t sure exactly how much mana this candy restored. I saw the buffs would be there for three hours and six minutes.
The next several hours were fairly tense; just shy of every hour I was taking another potion to top myself up.
I earned 182 mana from the candy across the three hours. That might bring me under seven required potions, and so far no tingles or cold.
As I drank my sixth potion, the mood in the room was very tense. Hari had come back, and when he was informed just how many potions I needed to drink, he was fervently against it, and even with Milo trying his best to reassure Hari, he was not happy with it.
This led to an argument with Jen about allowing Colin along with us, despite explicitly saying that we wouldn’t allow anyone to tag along.
In a way, I was kind of glad because it took the attention away from myself.
“We have a problem, Trev,” Milo said, looking concerned with a notebook out.
“Even after that seventh potion, you’re still going to be a few minutes short of completion. That’s assuming you do not feel any symptoms from this potion right now,” Milo said.
“Could I take another candy?” I asked hopefully.
“No, absolutely not. It’s far too risky now,” Milo said.
“So, what do we do?” I asked.
Milo shook his head. “Hope for a miracle.”
I didn’t really like relying on a miracle to save me, so I started going through my status screen for something that could help. Surely there was something I missed, or the math wasn’t right.
Then I saw it and felt like an idiot straight away.
I put the two unspent points into Intelligence, bringing my maximum mana up by twenty, and importantly, my current mana as well.
“Uh, Milo, don’t hate me for this, but I found a solution,” I said sheepishly.
“What have you done?” Milo looked concerned.
“Oh, um, I had two unspent points, so I put them both into Intelligence and got twenty more mana,” I said quietly.
Milo just laughed. “You’re an idiot, but that should be enough, provided you get no symptoms from the current potion.”
Another hour passed with no issues, and it came time to drink another potion, hopefully the last.
I drank it, and immediately it felt different. Bitter. My fingers tingled, and as the liquid went into my body, it truly felt like a solid block of ice formed in the pit of my stomach.
“Symptoms,” I said, spitting a little due to the bitterness. “It tastes so bad.”
“Good news! You would never be able to hide the symptoms from us anyway. That might be the most visceral reaction I have seen to hitting your limit,” Milo said.
The tingling lasted for nearly twenty minutes, and then finally, I got quest complete with only five mana to spare. If I hadn’t had Milo’s math, I would have been panicking as we approached it.
Notification:
Evolution Quest: Use Arcane Foraging for 9 straight hours: Complete!
Two evolution options are available for Arcane Foraging
Skill: Arcane Foraging → Purity Appraisal
- Clearly reveals the rarity level of the ingredient.
- Helps in assessing value.
- Identify subtle traits and buff potential.
Skill: Arcane Foraging → Forager’s Sight (Passive)
- Edible ingredients faintly stand out in your line of sight.
- Permanent forager’s sight