While Falk carried his failed prototype back to the shop and Thera joined him to catch up after not seeing her uncle for a few months, Ben ran back to the home he’d bought for the sole purpose of using the yard and threw open the greenhouse door, seeing the plants that were there to greet him.
Of the five he’d planted, three were bearing fruit and ready to harvest to at least some extent, even if he had taken a few days before feeling comfortable with that assessment.
The issue was that each tree was being forcibly possessed by two souls, with one being that of a god and the other of a demon, and the effects it had on them meant judging the fruit each bore by regular standards just wouldn’t work.
Sure, they resembled what they were meant to look like, but each had a subtle red tinge and a slightly scaled look that wouldn’t be present in any of the plants he’d bought due to the beast form skill acting on the demon souls, with the effects of the god souls being stranger still. Ben knew full well that the gods who he’d killed and were currently being put to use in the name of his experiment had all come from radically different worlds, and he had no clue what any of them had originally looked like, but the effects on each plant were obvious. The fruit of one was growing far larger than it should have, while the entire plant of another was unusually cold, not enough to freeze it or the soil around it, but enough to keep water in the soil longer, meaning it needed a different watering routine. Of the other three, one would give off a subtle light in its leaves, another took on a chitinous look along with the scales of the demons, making both more pronounced overall, and the final was taking an unusual spotted pattern that almost looked like eyes.
It was exciting to have such a clear indication that he really had captured the souls of the gods, even if his sacrilege was telling him as much when he looked at the plants, even without the more vivid differences, but he didn’t stop to admire them. Instead, it was finally time for his harvest as he opened his bag and greedily grabbed every piece of ripe fruit he could see, shoving it in without any care as he worried about sorting them later before running out without a second thought, rushing to Sonya’s to get the bike he’d left there so he could return to the shop all the faster to get to work.
“Oh infinite hells boy, is that what I think it is?” Falk asked when he saw what Ben was sorting out on an empty table.
“Yes. I’m going to try and make the same thing as before so it’s actually great that you’re back, would you do me a favour and make me a mythril solution again while I prepare the rest?”
He didn’t wait for his teacher's answer, instead running to grab the alchemy tools he’d need as he began squeezing the juice out of each fruit, keeping them separated by type to test whether they’d give different effects based on the plants and gods they came from.
“You know, it was shocking enough when you first told me you were doing this, but to see you actually put it into action…” Thera said as she watched, trailing off in the end as words failed her. “You really will do anything, huh?”
“Hey, come on now, you make it sound like I’m doing something wrong.”
“You- but you’re… No, forget it.”
Even if it felt wrong, she didn’t know where to begin when it came to actually expressing why and since it could act as an extended punishment for the gods who may have doomed the world she lived on, she wasn’t going to argue too hard for their sake. She’d just think of it as the ends justifying the means and leave it at that.
“Cool. I guess I shouldn’t be tasting any of the fruit right now since I’m going to be seeing if the potions have any effect on my attribute growth later, but I’ll have to snack on a few tomorrow. Oh, I should also plant the seeds to see if coming from a parent plant that was possessed by a god's soul had any effect on the future offspring.”
“To be clear boy, are you even sure these are safe to eat?” Falk asked. “We’re talking about gods. Don’t you think that they might be able to poison these out of spite, even if they’re just souls?”
“Hmm, that is a good question. I should be able to handle poisons well, but that might not be enough and even if it is I want far more people than just me drinking it. Hey Myriad, are you around? What do you think?”
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“Okay, noted, but what about the prospect of being poisoned?”
“Awesome, he says they should be safe.”
“That still sounds less certain than I’d like if I’m going to have any,” Thera told him, backing away from the drinks for the time being as Falk looked at the potions he was making.
“I suppose I’ll take the risk if Sonya doesn’t mind me sleeping in your living room tonight. I’d rather have a couple good healers around if anything goes wrong.”
“I’m sure she’ll be thrilled. We’ll have to let her know there will be another mouth for dinner then. That just leaves one more person to drink a potion…”
He trailed off as he thought about who he could ask that might be discreet. His first thought was Sonya, but he didn’t really want her having one just yet on the slim chance something was wrong, so then who did that leave? He could have asked Sachel or tried to force it on Skoe, but they were all still in the woods helping the demidemons, so among his acquaintances in town, who could he turn to?
“...Do you think Ceselee would want to try one?”
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After he and his teacher downed their own without feeling any immediate negative effects, Ben raced to the guild, knocking on the guild leader's door and getting a quick answer.
“Come in,” She said, only looking up from her paperwork as he entered and wearing a very tired expression. “Ben, if you’re going to tell me you have another patent already you can go back. Even with all you fill out, it’s still such a pain.”
He was the only one in town that made her work in the capacity of a craftsman guild head to such an extent, an area that was far from her expertise considering she got the role for her work as an adventurer, but she was able to relax slightly as he came not with more work, but an offer.
“Nope, I was just wondering if you’d be willing to test something for me,” He told her casually as he worked out just how much he wanted to explain.
“Like one of your bikes again? Or maybe a weapon?” She asked, her eyes lighting up as he shook his head.
“No, nothing like that. A potion.”
“Oh,” she sighed, visibly deflating. “I’m willing, but no offense, can’t someone else help you?”
“Ah, well that’s where it gets a little complicated. See, it’s something I want to keep a secret for the time being and there’s a small chance it’s going to be poisonous.”
“You’re losing me.”
“But also a chance it will act as a strengthening potion.”
“And you’ve regained my interest. What attributes will it strengthen and for how long?”
“If it works, all of them and permanently.”
As he said it the pen fell from her hands as her mouth hung open before she got herself under control, grabbing her head as the edges of a migraine started to form. “Fuck. that’s going to be even more paperwork than when you solved the passive magic issue, isn’t it?”
“Actually no,” He told her, easing her worries. “It’s complicated, but this isn’t really something people other than me can take advantage of at the moment.”
“Oh, is this an apostle thing or an otherworlder thing?” She asked before a look or realization donned on her. “And is this why I started losing to Sonya in all of our spars?”
“Er, it’s technically not because of this and let’s call it an apostle thing for now and leave it at that. Either way, it could also end up doing nothing. Me and Falk have both had some and didn’t feel any immediate effects, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any later and I need a third person just to tell me if there’s any change to their status and if there is how much of one so I can know the overall effect to expect based on ingredients. If you say no it’s not a big deal though, I’ll just need to put off testing for a while before I can use it on myself.”
She hesitated for just a minute. While she wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of being poisoned, the idea of getting any free boost to her attributes was too good to pass up, and eventually she just held out her hand for Ben to give her a bottle, hesitantly taking a sip before her eyes widened in surprise.
“Hey, this is good. Like, it’s really really good.”
She’d had plenty of potions before in her days as an active adventurer, and of the type that would be consumed orally, they were usually inoffensive at best. What she’d just been given on the other hand tasted sweet and bright. If she hadn’t been told about the potential for some vague poisonous effect she would have wanted more.
“The primary ingredient is a fruit juice and thankfully the… process in making it didn’t ruin the flavour. If you feel anything wrong go to a healer or Sonya’s place right away for some help and you should probably let one of the staff members here know to alert someone to check on you if you don’t show up tomorrow, but honestly I’ll be by early enough to hear how it went that I’ll know if you didn’t show. Fingers crossed for good news though,” He told her as parting words, running off before she could be concerned about anything he’d said to spend the rest of the day with his teacher and two favourite healers, no concern to him even if he had been poisoned in his quest for some easy strength.