Chapter 25: Finding A Potion Book

Senka, can you go to the capital tomorrow and get me some Slime Jelly? It was a request from Angelo."

No answer coming from the other person, but then Frei said, "Thank you."

Rena was just about to knock the door when she heard their conversation. The door was half opened.

"Excuse me, I bring your lunch." She said, making her presence known.

They returned to the ship just a while ago after they went to the town. Rena quickly made something for Mr. Picky Eater and came to his office.

"Ok, Senka, that's all I ask. You can go now." Frei said.

It was only Frei and Senka in the room. Two figures of good-looking guys with contrasting personality were looking at her now. Senka was standing in front of the desk, while Frei was sitting behind it. In her heart, she was admiring the view in front of her right now.

Rena smiled at Senka who was leaving the room, but he quickly avoided her gaze. When he walked past her, she turned her head a little, stealing a glance at him. He was wearing a cold expression and his gaze fixed on the door. The way he walked reminded her of a soldier, discipline was ingrained in every bit of his movement. She only saw Senka a couple of times and never interacted with him, but had heard from Mirra that he was teaching her some skills.

After Senka left, with only Frei and Rena in the room, Rena started feeling awkward. Usually, Sebastian always accompanied Frei, but he wasn't here this afternoon. She waited until Frei sat on his usual place and put the dish she made.

"Today is fried rice. It's a simple dish since I don't have much time to prepare for another food."

"It's okay, simple doesn't mean bad. Often times, the simple things are the best."

His reply made her smiled a little.

But, Frei didn't touch his food. When she kept standing there, waiting for him to eat the dish, he spoke, "Rena... Do you remember what I said this morning?"

"Y-yeah..." She looked down, moving her toes that were hidden inside the shoes. There was no Sebastian this time, eating together with just the two of them…

"Then why don't you sit here?" He ignored her nervousness. "Please? It's dull eating alone."

He really knew how to get his way, there was no way she could refuse when he said the magic word combined with alone. And at that moment, her stomach growled.

"See, your stomach is more honest than you." He tried to hold his laugh.

She puffed her cheeks, pouting. Frei couldn't hide his smile looking that pouting face.

"Come one, eat your food. Earlier you weren't feeling well, right?"

"I said I was okay."

"Stubborn girl."

It was a quiet and peaceful afternoon, they chatted a little, and then Rena brought the topic that she was waiting to say. She wanted to borrow some books from him.

"What kind of books are you interested in?" He asked.

She wanted to know a lot of things about this world, but first and foremost was about that famous wizard who had always been mentioned every time people saw her.

"Do you have any book about The Amethyst Wizard?"

"A few. He was a famous wizard and a ruler once, his name was recorded in the History of Kingdoms."

"Can I borrow that book then? And some other books?"

"Sure, although they are boring books without any relation to magic."

"I don't mind, it will still help me a lot."

He got up from his chair, walked to the shelves, pulling the book she wanted.

Judging from the way he moved smoothly when picking the books, he must have remembered all the contents of these books. He gave the books to Rena who received them with both hands.

"You never ceased to surprise me, Rena. It's harder to find someone who doesn't know about him than finding an adamantine."

"Umm..." She didn't know what to say, Frei had found out that she didn't have amnesia.

"Rest easy, I won't pressure you to talk. Like I said last night, just share as much as you're comfortable with."

She smiled a little, grateful for his understanding. If it was Jean, he definitely would chase her to the end of the world just for knowing the truth.

*knock* *knock*

"Boss, there are guards outside asking to check the ship."

Captain Fawkes's voice came from behind the door. It sounded urgent from the way he spoke.

Frei sighed a little. "Excuse me, Rena, I need to go for a moment. Help yourself with the books. If you find something interesting, I don't mind you to take it."

"Okay, thank you." She nodded.

He smiled at her before leaving the room.

After Frei closed the door, Rena had more freedom looking at his book collections. She scanned the bookshelves, pulling titles she took interest on, checked the contents and stacked them on the pile of books she was going to borrow if she found them useful.

And then, she pulled a dark blue cover book titled Deimos Almanack.

She furrowed her eyebrows after flipping the pages.

"Hmm??"

She looked at the book cover again, trying to match the content with the title. She had no idea what Deimos Almanack was about. But she knew an almanac was some sort of calendar. The content though, seemed more like a magic book, with runes and series of ingredients. All the books in this world were handwritten books, but this particular one had a lot of scribbles in it.

And then she noticed one of the contents there.

Skin Regeneration Potion

Ingredients:

- Saliva of fire salamander (haven't shed its skin yet )

- Plum Cherry (soaked overnight under the moonlight)

- ....

(This is a potion book!)

She would never forget what Jean had forced her to drink that night.

Rena grabbed the book, and hastily left the room carrying a pile of books. Because of her excitement, she rushed back to her cabin and dropped the books she carried a few times on the way there.

*Bam!*

She closed the door in the room, placed the books on the bed, and opened the potion book. The more she read the book, the more she realized, it was like a cooking recipes book. The first notable difference was brewing potions required infusing a spell in the liquid. Second, some ingredients were using parts of magic plants or magic beasts, unlike normal cooking.

Trying to find something she could try, she spent hours reading the book.

and then decided she was going to make a Small Recovery Potion. The ingredients were simple and she had seen them in the pantry.

and later that night when everyone was sleeping, she sneaked into the kitchen. She moved quietly as she opened the creaking pantry door.

"Ok, the rootberry roots checked, clovis checked, what else? Ah, pomegrenade."

After collecting all the ingredients, she followed the instructions on the potion book. Boiling hot water, squeezing the juice, mixing the ingredients in the pot, and finally, stirring while chanting the spell, pouring her magic power. It took her quite a while and she started feeling sleepy, but soon the liquid started glowing red. When the glowing stopped, the liquid also stopped bubbling.

Now, there was only one problem. Testing the effect.

Rena took one sip of the liquid and tasted it. The moment she gulped it she felt her body was brimming with energy.

"Oh... It tasted better than the recovery potion I drank before. The fruits still tasted like an expired product but there isn't chili flavor mixed here! Hmm.... I wonder if I can add other ingredients here? I want to improve the taste. Will it change the effect of the potion?"

"Hmm, since I feel energized after drinking just a sip... Let's test it then."

Rena thought that it was just like cooking, balance the flavor the way she liked.

She took another pot and repeated the process, adding ingredients she thought would improve the taste, honey was her first selection. She tasted the liquid first before chanting. And after another hour, Rena's version of small recovery potion was done.

The color was slightly different than the first pot, the red was deeper in her version.

She took another sip and...

"Uwah!!"

A burst of over flowing energy surged through her entire body.

"The taste did improve, it's like grape juice now. But the effect was also enhanced!"

She looked at the second pot she made, a little troubled. Rena only wanted to improve the taste, but the effect was also improved. "Did I just make something amazing?"

She didn't know that she had made a premium grade Large Recovery Potion.

Perhaps because of her accumulated experience in cooking that she had acquired a good sense of balancing ingredients, perhaps she just unlocked a cheat skill, or perhaps it was just a pure luck. The only certain thing was she wouldn't escape from her teacher's devil claw when he learned that she made a potion without supervision and altered a recipe.

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