The Lone Wanderer-Chapter 216: Crimson mushrooms

Percy’s training session only lasted a couple of hours, though to him they felt closer to years. And that was despite Galahad cutting him some slack every few minutes or so, to keep him from passing out. By the time they were done, Percy wasn’t even sure he had improved in the slightest. If this training was useful, it wouldn’t show for a while…

Dragging his tired feet through the corridor, he wanted nothing more than to take a quick shower and go to bed. Of course, he couldn’t actually do that. It was still rather early in the morning, and he had a ton of things begging for his attention.

‘It’s only a few more weeks of this. I guess I’ll have to soldier through it.’

Sighing, he entered his lab, only to find somebody else waiting for him there.

“Good morning!” Elaine greeted him. “Don’t tell me you plan to spend all your time home holed up in a room?”

“I don’t have much of a choice.” Percy shrugged. “This is the first time in two years I don’t have to constantly look over my shoulder. It’s a golden opportunity for some last-minute preparations before we head out.”

Elaine pouted at the sound of that, but she didn’t press him. She probably understood how important these next few days would be, given the perils waiting for them in their upcoming trip.

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“Say, do you mind if I spend some time with Micky then?” she asked. “I’ve missed him too, you know.”

“Knock yourself out. He’s currently trying to learn a new spell in the Whistling Woods.”

“Will I be disturbing him?”

Percy shook his head.

“Just help him catch a meal or two, and you’ll make up for it.”

Next, he took out several vials from his amulet, tossing them in a pouch.

“Since you’re going, would you please take these to him? I’ve packed some Aurora Dew for you too. It’s enough to last both of you for a week.”

Elaine drew a sharp breath upon hearing that.

“Seriously?! I thought Uncle told you not to give us any! Besides, aren’t you running low already?!”

Seeing her reaction, Percy failed to suppress a chuckle.

“Nobody has to know. Besides, we’re good for another couple of months or so. Between me, Micky and Nesha, we’re already drinking 12 doses per day. Taking that up to 15 won’t make that much of a difference…”

“You sure?” Elaine asked again, still not entirely convinced.

“As long as you never forget who your best cousin is.” Percy grinned.

Elaine rolled her eyes, though she still squeezed him in one heck of a hug before leaving.

‘It’s official. My relatives have teamed up to kill me.’ Percy thought amidst coughs as soon as she was gone.

That said, he felt better knowing she’d be watching over Micky over the next few days. He understood the bird was struggling more than he’d let on. Then again, it would be hypocritical of him to call the crow out on it, given all the reckless things he’d done himself over the years.

‘I hope he manages to get the spell down.’

In theory, it should be fine. Between the fused mana he was regularly sending him, the bird’s new Hibernation spell, and his growing understanding of mana conversion, Percy was confident his familiar would figure it out.

‘Alright. No sense in worrying about him.’ he thought.

Micky and Nesha had their training to focus on, and Percy had plenty of tasks of his own. Closing the door, he removed his blindfold before walking to his desk. Then, he took out all his supplies, as well as his alchemy equipment, scanning everything carefully while planning how to best manage his time.

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‘I still have a little under three weeks left until the lotus blooms… I need to brew more Aurora Dew, more healing potions, rebuild my weapons and work on my projects…’

Realizing he couldn’t possibly fit everything in his schedule, Percy understood he would have to prioritize the most important things.

Sadly, that meant shelving his Phantomscale Raiment for now. As powerful as it was, he knew he didn’t have anywhere near enough powder for it, nor the time to reforge all the pieces. Let alone how difficult it would be to maintain it while on the move. While it was a crucial part of his arsenal, the thrice-evolved Refined spell was prohibitively impractical.

‘I should make a push to learn some basic magiscript during my next visit to the Vault.’ he decided.

He already had an idea as to how he could eliminate the armour’s greatest drawback. But that was for later. Right now, he could only afford the dust and time for a couple of his weapons, as they were far simpler to craft and replace. That said, he couldn’t exactly make too many of those either.

‘Two scythes. It’s not ideal, but it’s probably the most efficient use of my current supplies…’

Estimating how much powder that would leave him with, he nodded in satisfaction upon realizing it would be enough to convert the last few doses of elixirs into Aurora Dew without having to condense more crystals.

Next, his eyes fell on the mushrooms again, as he reevaluated his decision not to use too many up. The healing potions were laughably easy to brew, and they were far more compact to store than an equivalent quantity of mushrooms. Perhaps, he was better off brewing more of them, now that his amulet had some space, as it wouldn’t be as easy in the future. After all, the greatest challenge was growing the mushrooms themselves. If he planted them on regular corpses, it would likely take a lot longer than on Baldy’s clones.

‘I’ll ask him to give me another one or two. I can pay him back with some of the red mushrooms. Maybe he can use them to empower his clones or something.’

Having made his mind up, he calculated how much time all these tasks would consume. Between Galahad’s lessons and alchemy, he’d need to spend all his remaining mornings, as well as the better part of his afternoons, leaving him only the evenings to work on something else. Replacing his scythes wouldn’t take too long by comparison: just a night or two. As for the rest of his time, he could spend it either on his mana threads, or on the second variant of potions.

‘It’s probably better to focus on the latter. The potions will help me a lot sooner.’

Happy with the plan, he grabbed one of the crimson mushrooms from the desk, tearing a chunk off, before tossing it in his mouth. He wasn’t looking forward to the aftereffects, but there was no better place to experiment on this than in a house full of life users. Besides, it had to be done. He couldn’t work on the potions without first understanding how the ingredients worked.

‘It’s fine. The troll used dozens of them before ruining his body. And he’d even injected them straight into his blood. Eating a single piece shouldn’t be too troublesome.’ he thought as he chewed the chunk down.

Its texture was soft and spongy, its flavour quite spicy. Percy was forced to wash it down with some water, before focusing his Mana Sense on his stomach. Within seconds, he saw a wave of mana spread outwards rapidly, heating his body up. Everywhere it passed, his blood boiled, and his organs burned.

It didn’t take long for it to reach his heart either, at which point the changes accelerated greatly. Thrumming violently within his chest, his heart pumped more blood into his arteries, helping the mana travel farther. Soon, his skin began to redden, his muscles tensing, in a manner quite similar to what Synchronization did. However, there weren’t any glowing lines of mana on his body, but veins bulging from head to toe, much like what had happened to the troll king a few weeks ago.

Taking a seat, he waited for a few minutes until the effect of the mushroom fizzled out, his heartrate dropping back to normal. The wave of energy previously coursing through his muscles was replaced by some lingering soreness and fatigue. Nothing he couldn’t recover from after a good night’s sleep, but that was partly because of the low dosage, and partly because he hadn’t tried exerting himself.

‘Ok… It’s not the most pleasant sensation, but this much is manageable.’

Of course, a single piece of one mushroom wasn’t nearly potent enough to help him in a fight either. If he brewed this into a proper potion, and drank a bunch of those at once, he was confident he could use them alongside Synchronization, strengthening his body beyond its usual limits. In fact, he even hoped the potion would temporarily increase his capacity for the boosting art, letting him keep some more mana inside his channels.

The only challenge was figuring out how to mitigate the side-effects to a safe level, so that he wouldn’t kill himself in the process. Admittedly, a rather important detail to worry about.

‘Obviously, the green mushrooms are the key.’

This was what the troll king had relied on, though his attempts had been rather clumsy. Percy understood that using two foreign sources of mana at the same time was highly inefficient, as they would inevitably interfere with one another, lowering their efficacy.

That was largely why the creature had been forced to keep consuming both types of mushrooms. Also, why his body had ended up in such a crappy state afterwards. If Percy was to follow in the demi-human’s footsteps, he’d have to approach this in a more sophisticated manner.

‘Luckily, I already know everything I need to accomplish this.’ he grinned.