Sorin and Gareth exchanged a few more pleasantries before Sorin returned to his laboratory. He’d reviewed the information gifted by Grand Elder Hargrave several times since returning form Spider Manor and had begun a few new experiments that couldn’t be accurately computed using Ophiuchan Simulation.
At the same time, Ophiuchan Simulation itself was hard at work trying to a discover a pattern between weaker and stronger poisons using equivalent spell frameworks. He’d already concluded that larger spell frameworks could be assembled. The main question was whether or not true poisons could be mixed in this fashion. There was also the possibility that true poisons weren’t required, since Sorin could now generate the runic poisons he’d absorbed with frightening efficiency.
The real challenge was higher level poisons. At each star tier, there were certain rules to assembling poisons that didn’t completely translate to higher levels. As a result, most of his computations involved finding a direction to evolve poisons in. Only a small percentage of Ophiuchan Simulation was dedicated to running a gauntlet of experiments to try out the few ideas he’d come up with.
Strictly speaking, these experiments were longshots, as were his experiments with the Gold-Plated Ant Queen he’d ‘rescued’ from the Kepler Clan dungeon. The Ant Queen was conveniently shrunk down to its minimum size and busy producing offspring with varying levels of mixed corruption and Sorin’s blood to try fusing these rogue elements.
Sorin’s main project at the moment was improving the Expanse Tincture, the gate opening tincture corresponding to the Gate of Expanse. The formula had nearly been perfected by the Kepler Clan several decades ago, but thanks to his newest insights, the new poisons he’d acquired, and lastly, the Ouroboros scales he’d secured in the advanced dungeon, Sorin was confident in producing a superior tincture within the week.
The latest ten batches produced three promising results. Simulations indicate a 90 percent chance that either one of the three could be a precursor to the result. Lack of living specimens at a sufficient level means that I’ll need to rely on lateral simulations. The computing power required is excessive but still within reasonable limits.
Sorin walked over to a small operating table and took out Lorimer from his lab coat pocket. The rat was comatose from a combination of tranquilizers and the corruption inhibiting collar locking down his cultivation.
Sorin inserted one needle at a time into the rat’s tiny body, taking extra care not to puncture or damage anything important. Then, once a full set of 108 needles had been inserted, Sorin pressed the unlocking rune on the collar. It flipped open, and Lorimer, finally having access his full power, threw himself at Sorin in a fit of rage.
“Reeee!”
The rat failed to make the three-foot jump from the operating table to Sorin’s chest and landed on the ground with a plop. Sorin picked up the twitching rat by the tail and placed him back on the operating table.
“I’m sorry, Lorimer, but this is going to hurt,” said Sorin as he pulled out the crystalized hatred Gareth had given him and used Hand of the Twisted Physician to carefully inject it into the rat’s body.
“I know it’s difficult, but you need to take control of your body, Lorimer. You need to fight the Strife invading your system. Fight it with everything you have.
“With Jealousy and now Hatred to help your Madness and Violence, you should be able to isolate a portion of Strife and create a cycle. Using this cycle, you’ll suppress the excess Strife in your body and wear it down until it’s no longer an issue.
The process was excruciatingly slow, but for Lorimer, Sorin was willing to wait it out. He carefully guided Lorimer through every step of the process until finally, a full day later, the rat succeeded in creating a preliminary cycle.
Sorin infused Lorimer with a compatible dose corruption after the cycle was formed, accelerating his recovery. The five forms of corruption formed a tenuous balance. Unlike Sorin’s situation, where Strife was gushing out of a herald’s broken prison, Lorimer only needed to balance the existing forces in his body.
“Reee!” said Lorimer weakly once his corruption balanced out. Sorin took out one needle after another until the rat was finally free. “Reee!”
“Yes, of course,” said Sorin, taking a huge piece of roast demon beast meat and placing it on a corner of the room. “You haven’t eaten in days. I was concerned you might waste away before I could successfully treat you.”
This mollified the grumpy rat, who immediately began devouring the huge chunk of meat. Sorin chuckled and turned back to his experiments. “Oh? A potential solution? Interesting. I never thought… no, never mind.”
Sorin reviewed the test data and confirmed that he’d accidentally produced a perfected vial of Expanse Tincture. This result wasn’t obtained from the three promising tinctures he’d developed but from the follow up experiments on the seven failed tinctures.
It was an unexpected win that would save him much time in the long run. All that remained was to perform live trials, something he would personally undergo before risking the life of his friends.
But it would much better to try it out on willing test subjects provided by the Kepler Clan. Then I’d know for sure before risking someone important to me.
This was a little too cold-blooded even in Sorin’s compromised state, so he killed that thought in the cradle.
With Lorimer and the tincture out of the way, Sorin set out to find Mordecai. He found the pale apothecary inside his personal laboratory modifying a spell circle.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Sorin did not interrupt the experiment and waited patiently as little by little, a functioning circle was completed. “This is the 372nd iteration in this current line of experiments,” explained Mordecai as he collapsed the spell circle to produce a spell prototype. “I’d dropped it several years ago, but the recent equivalent models produced have given me a few ideas I want to try out.”
The man placed the prototype spell on a shelf before turning to Sorin. “What can I help you with?”
“You don’t want to try it out?” asked Sorin, nodding to the circle.
Mordecai shook his head. “The testing gauntlet will take a full four hours to run. Better to have our chat now so I don’t get interrupted.”
Sorin shrugged. “I just wanted to check up on how your augmentation experiments and calculations are going. Have you determined whether augmenting my hundred poisons is feasible?”
“Feasible?” asked Mordecai. “I’m almost 90 percent certain. Is it practical, though? That’s the real issue.”
Sorin sighed. “Still no luck then?”
“No, but I’ve narrowed down the problem,” said Mordecai. “Come, let me show you something.”
They walked past the junior apothecary laboratory where a group of new hires were busy concocting tinctures. These new hires were already generating substantial revenue for Sorin, though at this point, mundane capital was meaningless. Divine crystals and valuable ingredients were how he would develop.
Mordecai brought him to a larger but weaker version of his spell simulator. While it wasn’t possible to build real spell prototypes using this model, it provided a better visual presentation. A useful feature when you were dealing with combinations consisting of hundreds of different poisons.
“I’m not sure how far you’ve gotten in your own calculations, but I thought I’d show you my progress on acitoxins,” said Mordecai, bringing up a large equivalent spell framework. “I started with Eater of All and speculated how it might grow. I then added other single poisons and ten poisons you’ve discovered to fill in the predicted matrix. This is the result.”
The two-dimensional framework twisted to form an incomplete sphere. Perhaps one third of the sphere was covered in spell forms. The remaining two thirds was empty.
“It looks like we’ll need equivalent spell frameworks for at least ten other compatible hundred poisons,” said Sorin, inspecting the empty areas.
“More than that,” said Mordecai, shaking his head. “We’d need to have well over a hundred to be able to take parts of them and force fit them together in the spherical model for generating a thousand poison. Limiting ourselves to ten poisons would get us a four-hundred poison in the best of cases.”
Sorin did not like that answer. “We don’t have enough base poisons to make even ten new hundred-poisons happen, Mordecai.”
“Indeed,” said Mordecai. “While the gardening experiments are producing a promising amount of new poisons, only a few of them are useful. Then there’s a matter of mediating agents that have been lost to time and history. That, more than anything, is our biggest obstacle.
“Don’t get me wrong, Sorin. I’m optimistic. If we keep at it for a hundred years, which is possible given our cultivations, we could well succeed.”
Sorin shook his head. “I can’t wait that long. There’s trouble brewing in the capital, and Ratten Hyde is giving me grief. I need real strength, or I’ll be dead within the year.”
Mordecai hesitated. “There is one possibility. Let me show you something.” A new sphere appeared on the simulator, this one being many times larger than the original one.
Sorin recognized the major spell structures. “You’re thinking I can combine my existing hundred poisons? Didn’t we already determine that wasn’t possible?”
“We determined it wasn’t likely,” corrected Mordecai. “No one’s really done it with spells, so I was skeptical about the possibility. I did some digging, however, and discovered that it’s not like it hasn’t been done at all. Instead, it wasn’t pursued because specialization usually gives better results.”
Sorin walked around the projection and noticed that there was a lot more blank space inside it. “We’re short even more poisons to make this model work.”
“Ah, but that’s the beauty of this idea,” said Mordecai. “Specialized poisons require stronger base matrices – matrices we don’t have. If we could somehow manage to complete this merged poison, however, we’d have a lot more matrices we can work with.”
“You’re thinking that instead of discovering the thousands of poisons that I’m missing, I could instead put ten thousand poisons together for the same effect,” muttered Sorin. “Give me a second to think it over.”
Putting together a high-level model was a tedious exercise, but Sorin didn’t need to formulate a three-star poison. Instead, he needed the easiest proof of concept, a two-star ten-poison using a hundred one-star poisons of five different varieties.
The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. All he needed to do was change his approach. Back then, he’d been concerned with poison blending rules and limited ingredients. Now, however, he had Ophiuchan Simulation and literally thousands of one-star equivalent frameworks to simplify the combination process.
It took the better part of an hour before Sorin opened his serpentine eyes. “You’re a genius, Mordecai.” He held out his hand and produced a drop of blood. “Analyze this.” He flicked over the drop of blood, and Mordecai immediately got to work.
A large spell framework that was roughly the size of a hundred-poison appeared on the simulator. “Not a terrible design,” observed Mordecai. “A few flaws, but it’s completely stable. The mana potential is definitely up to par. It’s only….”
“It’s impossible to build from,” finished Sorin. “In the end, its base elements are too weak to support expansion. In other words, it’s a dead end.”
“As far as we know,” corrected Mordecai. “Who’s to say that it can’t be reorganized or even used as a base element to bridge your five divergent hundred-poisons.”
“It’s something I’ll need to think on,” said Sorin. This was a heavy commitment on Sorin’s part. This method might get him to the demigod realm, but what was the point if he could no longer advance?
That said, my current goals are straightforward, thought Sorin. I need to get strong, and fast. Not just because of Ratten, but because of the ticking corruption time bomb in my body. The hole in Azrakul’s prison is getting wider with each passing day.
There was also the matter of his long-term goals. In the end, Sorin had asked for hope. He hadn’t wanted to die in a backwater town. At least not when he had so much more to do in life, including discovering the truth behind his parents’ sudden death.
“Give me a bit of time,” said Sorin. “At least to see if I can dedicate additional amounts of time to this idea. In the meantime, I have a task for you. How do you feel about insects?”
“Insects?” said Mordecai curiously. “I’ve dabbled in rearing them for poison.”
“In that case, congratulations on your new assignment,” said Sorin. “I’ll be in my chambers computing possible poison combinations. I need you to come in to collect 100 litres of fresh blood every three days and feed it to the hive in my lab.”
“Wait, a hive?! You got yourself a queen?” asked Mordecai with a gleam in his eyes. “And you didn’t even tell me about it?”
“It didn’t seem relevant,” said Sorin.
“Not relevant?!” exclaimed Mordecai. “Do you have any ideas how many projects I’ve benched because I couldn’t find a queen on the market.”
Sorin chuckled. “It looks like this is your opportunity to get friendly with it. If it likes you, I’ll see that you get your fair share.”
“Don’t you worry about that,” said Mordecai, pulling up his sleeves. “For access to such a treasure, I’ll be the best bug rancher you’ve ever seen.”