Aleister placed a white-onyx crystal into his cauldron. Next, he stabbed the top cork of one flask of alchemical fire with a needle attached to some thread. He pulled the thread through the opening on the top before closing the lid.

The alchemical fire was tricky and annoying to work with once it reached its completed state, and he didn't want to bother with trying to create another batch right now, so this was a workaround he thought of. This would let the alchemical fire break the white-onyx crystal down while making minimal contact with air.

Due to the force of the white-onyx crystal, the regular bodies of Malozar and Stronvun could not completely break it down, thus there needed to be a catalyst to do so and alchemist fire was the easiest way for Aleister to do so right now.

This was also the reason why Aleister dosed the two of them into an even deeper sleep. The alchemical fire will essentially burn their insides, which is a level of pain Aleister wouldn't want either of them to experience.

Aleister pulled the thread. He heard a glugging noise and the contents of the flask started to empty. The cauldron went hot to the touch, and a visible amount of steam escaped from the top, along with the needle. Once the flask was empty, Aleister let go of the flask and slid his thumb down to close the vent at the same time. However, some of the steam hit his thumb and caused his hand to drop the empty flask after closing the vent.

"Ah!" Aleister shook his hand sucked on the injured part to cool it down.

"Don't get distracted," Syn said. "It may not be mentally taxing, but if you slip up, not only would you waste the white-onyx crystal, you would also kill them."

"I know. And there's no reason for you to make it sound so intense. I just finished the so-called hard part. Now I just need to force the contents down their throat." Aleister sighed. "I hope the sleeping potion you told me to brew is powerful enough."

"It won't be, so maybe muffle their mouth with a towel or something."

Aleister opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out of his mouth, so he promptly closed it. Whatever. They've already gone through so much, they can live through a bit more pain. They won't even remember it when they wake up and become Weavers. Hopefully.

He wore a pair of heavy-duty metallurgy gloves. He would have worn these earlier, but because of their large and clunky shape, holding onto a thread was not possible. Sure, he could have attached the thread to something else first, but wearing them now instead of earlier was of no real consequence.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He took out a large metal straw and stuck it into Malozar's mouth. After so, he attached a funnel to the end. Aleister took in a deep breath and pulled the other vent open as he poured the contents into the funnel.

The funnel sizzled as the viscous white liquid gurgled and oozed out of the cauldron's vent. The liquid slowly traveled down the funnel and through the straw.

He poured all the contents in one go and, with a glass rod, scraped the rest of the liquid down the straw as fast as possible.

Once the cauldron was empty, he grabbed Malozar's jacket and held it in his hand, waiting for him to wake up at any moment. He waited and waited, and then finally, Malozar's eyes opened.

Aleister yanked the metal straw out of his throat and replaced it with his jacket. At first, Malozar appeared confused, and then—the scalding pain hit him.

His body started to wriggle uncontrollably as he let out muffled screams of agony. Aleister winced in response but kept a straight, blank face.

"What in the Nine Hells is happening in here," Luo Yun asked as he opened the door, letting light into the room. "I was literally just headed out for a nice lunch, and I just so happened to hear the tortured screams of a man from the room you're in."

"To keep things short and simple, his body is burning from the inside out due to both the white-onyx crystal and alchemical fire. Don't worry, it will end shortly," Aleister said with a smile. "And are the screams really that loud."

"Yes. Hopefully, this will be over with whenever I return."

"Oh yeah, it should end at any second."

Malozar's screams continued.

"Any second now."

Luo Yun looked at Aleister with a raised eyebrow and a half-smile.

"I forgot to account for his orcish blood and size, so I actually meant like right now." Aleister turned his attention back to Malozar, pushing the wadded-up jacket in his mouth harder as if would do anything.

However, Malozar's screams subsided.

"There we are." Aleister let out a sigh and removed his hand from his mouth. "Now I just have to repeat this process for him."

"Then I will take my leave."

"Oh wait, I wanted to say, don't leave just yet."

"Why not?"

"I instructed Aluyra and Panry to come back to the dojo at about midday, so since you're headed out for lunch, they should be back here at any moment."

"Got it." Luo Yun closed the door and once again let the darkness submerge the room.

Aleister let out an exasperated sigh and prepared the next batch for Stronvun.

"You've been sighing an awful amount recently," Syn said as she stared at Aleister.

"More than usual? Because I find myself sighing fairly often due to the amount of bullshit, I put up with."

"I don't mean your regular annoyed sighs, but the deeper ones."

"Ok...? I'm not sure what you want me to do with this information? Or are you still worried about the side effects of the match?"

"I am mildly concerned, yes, so I want you to get a checkup."

"Fine, I'll get one once I'm done here." Aleister shook his head. "Somehow, my list of tasks just keeps on getting longer."