Patrick Laplante
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PU Book 2 - Chapter 84: The Hand that Feeds
🕑 Added 2024-05-29 04:10:50 +0000 UTCSorin's cauldron hissed and bubbled as he added a vial of concentrated Devil Wasp Flower Extract and used his poison flame to quicken its merger with the three-poison cocktail inside his cauldron. The mixture hissed and churned, but reluctantly, it formed a stable four poison. After adding concentrated Death Eye Flower Root, he easily brought it up to the Five Poison level like he had many times before.
It was with the sixth poison that things got tricky. Five-poison mixtures were extremely stable and tended to reject intruders. Sorin was therefore not surprised when the Amethyst Lung Rot Fungus he added encountered fierce resistance. Most of the fungus disintegrated, and in the end, Sorin only managed to merge a tenth of it into the mixture.
The merger has succeeded as per experimental procedure 707, thought Sorin as he split the resulting poison into five vials. He took one of the vials and re-added it to his cauldron after adjusting the temperature. Commencing experiment 28 of A-Tier Necrotoxin Trial 6, addition of Silver Sprite Queen Venom.
Sorin added a single silver drop of the potent A-Tier single poison into the cauldron and locked down the container with his spirituality to provide a contamination-free environment.
His actions were greeted with a wave of violent energy that threatened to tear apart the durable cauldron, giving Sorin no choice but to focus on reinforcement rather than merging the ingredients. Predictably, the experiment was a failure.
The addition of Silver Sprite Queen Venom leads to rapid destabilization and even fission of the original reagents. Could Silver Sprite Queen Venom be used for identification trials? Reagent has been noted for further experimentation. Proceeding with the next trial.
Two of the subsequent experiments were moderate success and potential directions. The other two were dismal failures, just like the first. But regardless of success or failure, Sorin was determined to see each experiment through in case additional data presented itself.
Trials like these occupied only a small portion of Sorin's day. After cleaning his experimental setup, Sorin left the workshop and entered his personal garden in an adjacent room. There, he saw seeds that were being slowly catalyzed using a blend of Madness-and-Violence-aligned demon cores alongside crushed gems, mana crystals, and demonic fertilizers.
Sorin identified twenty individual plants that were ready for harvesting. He first catalyzed them to produce seeds, then proceeded to distill the newly concocted poisons and analyze their properties.
Lot 796C is a failure. No potent poisonous ingredients or catalysts were detected.
Lot 799B is a moderate success. Variant poison detected. Classifying as minor improvement evolution and noting for future experimentation.
Lot 958…
Lot 1032…
Lot 75G….
Fifteen out of twenty plants were unsuccessful mutations, ones that did not yield plants with useful properties. Out of the remaining five, four were repetitions. Out of twenty plants, only a single strain possessed properties that could be explored or further mutated.
The experiments continued until the clock struck noon. A bony had knocked on the door, and Sorin opened it to discover Percival. "Any luck procuring what I requested?" he asked the butler.
"I obtained 7-colored beetle shells from Elder Adrian, but the cost was atrocious," said Percival. "As for the other ingredients, they'll need more time. Do you have today's quota? I can deliver it in your stead."
"Here," said Sorin, handing over six batches of Ruby Bone Unsealing Tinctures. "Has Gareth arrived yet? Would you mind letting him know I'm done?"
A few minutes later, Gareth knocked on the laboratory door. "Please, come on in, Gareth," said Sorin. "I just need to finish one more simulation. Please make yourself at home."
The simulation in question had to do with Gareth's ruby bone runes. While Sorin hadn't broken through to the next level and, therefore, wasn't able to produce Bronze Bone Unsealing Tinctures, there was no reason he couldn't learn the requisite spell-breaking beforehand.
Predictably, the simulation failed. Ruby bone runes were much more complicated than sapphire bone runes, and Sorin had yet to discover any workarounds.
"Why don't you tell me what everyone's been up to," said Sorin, lying back on his sitting room couch with closed eyes. He was tired and very close to reaching his limits.
Gareth first handed Sorin a cup of coffee. Seeing as they were in a rest area and not in the laboratory proper, Sorin decided to indulge. Bone-Forging-grade coffee from the Alchemists Guild worked its way into his blood and bones, relieving a small amount of fatigue from Sorin's tired body.
"You need rest," said Gareth. "You've been going hard for a month now, and you're showing signs of fraying. Moreover, the corruption in your body is showing signs of acting up again."
"No time," said Sorin, snatching a stack of papers from Gareth. He scanned the contents and nodded as he read through his companions' updates. There was nothing from Astley, as she was engrossed in her research as always, and Daphne's updates were more about the success of her books and the activities of her followers. "Has the situation in Delphi stabilized?"
"Somewhat?" said Gareth. "There was a riot near your place, though. Someone nearly torched your house, but Clarice happened to be there and put it out."
"Is she hurt?" asked Sorin.
"Only slightly," said Gareth. "Whoever made the attempt was of no consequence. As for the rest of the city, it's hit and miss. There were 96 fires this past week, 108 riots, and three new blood feuds. Things got especially messy when Flesh-Sanctification cultivators got involved, but in the end, they were forced to stop."
"Administrator Pollen intervened?" asked Sorin, taking another sip from his coffee.
"He conscripted 25% of the city's Flesh-Sanctification cultivators," said Gareth. "For what reason, no one knows for sure, but Astley and Daphne have their guesses."
"They're obviously stabilizing the seal," said Sorin. "As an added benefit, high-level forces are taken out of the equation."
"That's what Daphne and Astley guessed as well," said Gareth. "I'm also inclined to agree; cases of corruption practically dropped overnight. But we Nighthawks are still busy as hell.
"Moving on, Lawrence finally broke through to the 4th forging, making him the last member of our team—except you—to do so. I think it's also safe to say that most of the elite teams will have reached the same level.
"Seeing as how you only read through the first page, I might as well fill you in on Stephan's arena victories. He's been winning some high-profile fights, and there are talks of moving up his challenge schedule against the arena champion.
"Some other noteworthy events:
"Stephan reports that he's on the cusp of unlocking his bronze bones. But he's reached a bottleneck and requests your assistance in breaking through if possible.
"Daphne has discovered three new spells.
"Lawrence upset three more Flesh-Sanctification cultivators and even successfully fought with one and escaped once he experienced a Heroic Breakthrough."
"Nice," said Sorin. "What are his boosts and ability?"
"His boost is speed-based, while his ability is Shadow Traversal," explained Gareth. "He can move so quickly between shadows that it's practically teleportation. The range is impressive, and the cooldown time is non-existent. Also, he can move our entire group at swift speeds if required, though it's taxing and no good in the heat of battle."
"It's not as versatile as Haley's teleportation ability," Sorin remarked. "A light mage could give him quite the headache."
"But it suits Lawrence well, especially considering his Soul-Bound Treasure, Cloak of the Watcher," said Gareth. "Turns out shadows are a relative thing; as long as you can perceive some sort of shadow, it's good enough to satisfy the conditions of his heroic ability. Essentially, he's using his strong senses and intuition to cheat, making him the biggest cockroach on our team after Stephan and yourself.
"The only downside is that he's now Administrator Pollen's prisoner."
Sorin spat out a mouthful of coffee. "Say what?"
"Apparently, he wasn't satisfied with all that, so he went and infiltrated his manor again, thinking the Administrator was in seclusion," said Gareth. "The administrator caught him, however, and threw him in the dungeon. We're still trying to work out how to get him back."
Sorin massaged his glabella. "What a pain. I'll see what I can do."
"I wouldn't worry too much about him," said Gareth. "Instead, worry about yourself. You're dead tired and burnt out. You need to unwind."
Sorin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "As much as I'd like to leave and 'unwind,' as you say, I can't leave the manor. They won't let me. Not even Elder Adrian will, and he smuggles me illegal supplies almost every day.
"Moreover, their quotas are getting more demanding. I can't stop meeting them, or else they'll interfere with Elder Adrian's deliveries again. I expected them to make a move on me in Elder Nolan's absence, but I never expected it to be in this fashion."
"Could you perhaps send a message out to your clan's leadership in Olympia?" suggested Gareth.
Sorin shook his head. "The leadership is pretty split and involving them without having a better feel of the situation wouldn't be a good idea. I'd much rather put up with moderately bad and inconvenient treatment—something I'm sure Elder Simon, the mastermind behind all this, knows."
Even securing a workshop in the Ancestral Manor had been tedious, as the elders had insisted on a stringent security and safety review prior to installation. Elder Marik wasn't one to downplay safety reviews, and without Elder Nolan, Sorin was helpless to fight back. Expediting the process naturally required some convincing, and ultimately, Sorin struck a bargain by agreeing to produce a set amount of Ruby Unsealing Tinctures every day.
"I can't stop, Gareth," said Sorin. "I barely have time to experiment due to my quota of Ruby Unsealing Tinctures. I need to squeeze out as much time as I can. If I don't, I won't be able to break through before the third phase of the Shrine Descent. I also won't be able to unseal everyone's bones."
"Forget about our bones," said Gareth. "Plus, are you sure they'll let you go?"
"They don't have a choice in the matter," said Sorin. "Elder Simon informed me that I must attend. It has been decreed by the Pandoran Government.
"Which brings us back to the Pandoran Government's plans for the God Seeds and Melinoë in particular. We have no idea what's awaiting us and need to be as prepared as possible. Besides, Melinoë has been far too quiet of late. I expect she's hatching up some scheme that I'll need to face during the next descent.
There was one other problem. One Sorin had yet to share with his companions: the Divine Bone Rot. Exerting himself while fleeting the Amphitheater had caused it to flare up again, and it was currently attacking his bones from the inside, where it enjoyed the protection of Sorin's bones. Sorin had tried a variety of remedies and had concluded that the only way he could deal with the poison was to break through.
Given Sorin's firm stance, Gareth had no choice but to relent. He did, however, insist on meeting up every week to check up on Sorin's corruption. Once he was gone, Sorin double-checked the workshop before sealing it. A determined look appeared in his eyes.
He couldn't keep going on like this. He'd reached a dead end. His showdown with Melinoë was quickly approaching, and his only support, the Kepler Clan's elders, were playing games to waste his time.
His poison research was slow and unproductive at best. The only person who could help him, Elder Calvin, was in no state to provide guidance. What's more, the Divine Bone Rot would take his life if allowed to grow for a few more weeks.
To survive, he would need to change.
Sorin cursed Hope as he took out Embracing and Cultivating Evil—a Practical Guide to Unleashing the Ultimate You and flipped to the chapter on assimilation. The instructions were simple and involved flooding his entire body and soul with specific types of corruption. Giving up control and allowing the corruption to change him was the most basic requirement.
Sorin had decided long ago that he would not be doing so, and he wasn't about to change his mind now. But if using one's entire being to accept corruption was out of the question, what if he used a part of his body to do so?
After conducting multiple simulations, Sorin concluded that corruption, like mana, was best stored inside his bones. It's what demons did, and the result was strange runic patterns that were never found in humans.
I don't have enough data to confirm this, but theoretically, corruption's accommodating nature is complementary to mana's firm and straightforward nature. My bones have already been forged three times by mana and have become hard and brittle. If I use corruption to temper the bones like one would heat-hardened metal, in theory, I will gain a combination of strength and adaptability, the best of both worlds.
"Let's hope this works," said Sorin, taking out two cases and opening them to reveal ten peak two-star demon cores, half aligned with Violence and Half aligned with madness. He used a palm strike to crush the cores into dust and guided that dust into his parched bones, which, as predicted, began greedily drinking in the mixed corruption.
