Cherreads

Chapter 74 - Ask and ye shall receive, no you cannot refuse

Will and I sat in silence across from Mr. Lee, what we had learned over the past few minutes were mixes of horrifying, existential, insightful, and something else I couldn't quite describe. Yet despite all that fact I wasn't freaking out as much as I thought I would, and in an almost comical way, one couldn't open their system inside their own mind, so for all I know I was getting dozens of messages about permanent psyche damage or something. 

Nevertheless Will and I turned to each other, we had each been granted a question. Will has asked about what a fateless was, while I had asked to know about the gods. Leaving the final question that was granted because of the favor of Indigo. A part of me wanted to blurt out, asking about the masks, and yet I found myself thinking for a moment as we sat for what seemed like an eternity, stewing on what our last question should be. Finally Will looked to Mr. Lee and asked.

"How do we cure Selene's condition?"

Mr. Lee raised an eyebrow as he turned to me as if I would object, I nodded, confirming to select that as our third question.

"How fascinating, most seeing what knowledge can be learned would ask about things like the future, or the knowledge of absolute power, or the like, and yet you give up a question that must be answered, to learn any knowledge in the worlds for a friend, I must say there are few who would be willing to do such a thing."

Will and I didn't move as Mr. Lee clapped his hands and we returned to his bookstore, confused for a moment I looked around as Mr. Lee quietly stood and made his way over to a shelf. Reaching along the books he stopped and grabbed a small tatter journal that seemed like the kind one would keep as they traveled. Walking back over he slid the journal across the table to me. 

"Now Mr. Hollowcreek, may I tell you a story about that journal while you flip through it?"

"Oh, uh, sure."

I said, a bit confused as I opened the journal. The pages seemed ancient like they would crumble from a touch as they seemed to show what looked to be some kind of formula covered in marks that seemed to be notes of result effects.

"It was around 20,000 years ago that a young couple set out to create what they called the Panacea guide, a book said to contain the cure for every disease and ailment in the world."

"Wait, if it was 20,000 years ago, how would you know the story, or was it passed down over time?"

I asked, intrigued as I thought back to the 10,000 year time limit that even the gods had.

"Not every creature is limited to the 10,000 years the divines are governed by, creatures like dragons, angels, demons, and even Red and Indigo have lived longer than that. I believe the oldest currently living creature in the world at the moment would be Ertrerzoth, the first alchemist, I believe he just reached 4 million a few years ago."

I stared slack jawed as Mr. Lee glanced at me before chuckling.

"My apologies, It slipped my mind for a moment about your class, Ertrerzoth is one of the 3 greatwyrms, dragons who have gathered enough divinity to approach the realm of godhood in power. Ertrerzoth was the first being to make a potion, some 500,000 years ago, I believe it had been in an attempt to get a stronger effect from the plants he had been smoking to get high."

"So the beginning of all alchemy started with a dragon who wanted to be even more stoned?"

Will asked dumbfounded in my head as Mr. Lee gestured back to the book before me.

"As I was saying before, the young couple were a set of elves, the wife was an alchemist like yourself, while her husband was a pharmacist. So each held different knowledge and techniques about curing conditions through their classes. In their studies they found a myriad of cures that are commonly used today, such as basic antidotes, and other such concoctions, however the couple continued to seek out more knowledge. You see their son was also born with AES, as well as a second condition that was caused in their first attempts to treat their child. The boys energy veins were burned, so the use of even skills with a minimal cost caused the boy great pain that worsened the more the boy used energy"

Mr. Lee reached a hand over as he gingerly flipped the pages of the book to a set in the back as he continued while I read.

"In their travels they ventured into the continental dungeon of Telletonas where they found themselves gathering knowledge fast by consulting the findings of a Dr. Einwright, a genius biologist said to understand the body so thoroughly that he invented cloning, though his methods were lost. Using one of the Doctors old notebooks they managed to create 3 potions, 1 to cure their sons AES, one to cure his energy vein burns, and the final one to cure the extreme frostbite and other damages they incurred in the continental dungeon, thus creating the Elixir of Aether Harmonization, the Vita-Flux recirculator, and potion of Elemental Equilibrium. Hearing this I quickly turned to the appropriate page, my eyes flying over the words as I found it.

Elixir of Aetheric Harmonisation

An advanced curative brew that realigns aether-channels, seals micro-fractures in the energy-core, and permanently ends all symptoms of Aetheric Expulsion Syndrome (AES). One full dose must be consumed over a single day (half at dawn, half at dusk).

Crafting recipe

Base catalyst

Liquid Crystal – 1 vial

Herbal complex (10 components)

Abjurasia chips – 1 unit (aether-conductive stabiliser)

Garigne powdered bark – 1 unit (accelerates tissue repair)

Mirena sap – 1 unit (major restorative, anchors life-force)

Yaretalion shavings – 1 unit (guards against energy drain & possession)

Breakthroughs inner bark – 1 unit (purges lingering toxic aether)

Wolfhunter leaves – 1 unit (draws out residual poisons during detox)

Alleha grains – 1 unit (removes exhaustion, restores vigour)

Borage fruit – 1 unit (delays fatigue to help the body integrate the elixir)

Eldas heart-wood sliver – 1 unit (deep-cycle revitalisation)

Focus Root – 1 unit (sharpens concentration, preventing relapse)

Equipment

Mortar & pestle • lead-lined cauldron • silver reflux coil • runic strainer • crystal decanter with wax seal.

Brewing instructions

Moon-soak (night before brewing) – Submerge Abjurasia chips in the Liquid Crystal under open sky for 8 hours to pre-charge the base with neutral resonance.

First decoction (morning) – Crush Alleha and Borage; add to the charged Liquid Crystal and simmer on a low flame for 20 minutes, releasing steady golden vapour.

Vital paste – In a separate mortar combine Focus Root powder with Mirena sap to form a thick paste; whisk into the cauldron, stirring clockwise 75-80 times.

Detox cycle – Add shredded Wolfhunter and finely rasped Breakthroughs bark. Bring to a gentle boil for 8 minutes, then pass the mixture through the runic strainer into the silver coil.

Reflux & integration – Return the clarified brew to the cauldron; fold in Garigne powder while maintaining a bare simmer until the liquid turns opalescent.

Stabilisation steep – Remove heat. While the potion cools to about 60 °C, infuse Yaretalion shavings and the Eldas sliver for precisely 1 hour.

Bottling – Decant into the crystal vessel, expel all air, and seal with wax. The elixir keeps its full potency for 30 days if stored in darkness.

Administration & recovery protocol

• Dose 1 – Dawn: Consume half the vial and meditate for one hour, allowing the Abjurasia network to phase-lock with the patient's energy.

• Dose 2 – Dusk: Consume the remainder, then enter an 8-hour supervised trance. During this trance the Garigne-driven regeneration reverses any prior mutations while Yaretalion wards off external interference.

• After-effects: Mild fatigue for 24 hours; cured with ordinary rest. No lingering side-effects have been recorded.

As I stared at the recipe, I could feel my hands begin to shake. Selene had traveled across the continent, sought aid in any way she could, and went trough so much in her life because of this condition, it was why when she was young she was called a freak because of her uncontrolled mutations, and it was why she had trouble hiding her soul skill due to the drain her condition put on her energy over time, making it so she was always on a timer. 

With this in hand, I could not just help her mitigate the symptoms, I could straight up cure her, no more worrying about how long something took because of her arm, no more need to be stringent on her energy in combat because of how fast she would run out. I slapped my own notebook down as I stated to furiously write. 

I only stopped when a hand fell on my shoulder. Mr. Lee standing silently behind me. A part of my mind began to panic, worried I had offended the bookstore owner, but instead he said.

"Slow down, if you can't read what you wrote you can't help her, take your time, nobody is going to take this notebook away from you until you are done."

His words sent a soothing energy trough me as my system screen appeared and a strange backlog of information seemed to flood it.

You have learned forbidden knowledge

Your Contract with Mr. Lee prevents your mind from deteriorating

You have learned forbidden knowledge

Your Contract with Mr. Lee prevents your mind from deteriorating

You have learned forbidden knowledge

Your Contract with Mr. Lee prevents your mind from deteriorating

You have learned forbidden knowledge

Your Contract with Mr. Lee prevents your mind from deteriorating

You have learned forbidden knowledge

Your Contract with Mr. Lee prevents your mind from deteriorating

Mr. Lee has used skill soothing touch(A)

Your frantic and panicked mental state calms to normal

I took a moment to look before I shook myself back to focusing. I flipped trough the pages and recorded the 3 recipes.

More Chapters