Tilly cut out many of the details but did share Origin’s name as well as the exact words of His Champion's Mantle Title. He almost asked if they could get rid of the Seed, but decided against it after recalling the words of the Flame at the altar. If it took a Divine Boon to remove, then it would probably take more than a few clergy to solve the problem. Plus with so much on their plate, it wouldn't be right to bother them with his problems too...
The Steward left with the Elder Priestess to send a report. She had introduced herself as Rowan with a smile before leaving to update her superiors. They left behind a few guards and the younger priestess who had recovered from the effort of channeling cleanse on such heavily corrupted materials. Amelia set up a miniature chemistry lab on the other side of the room and started brewing up different concoctions as the patients filed in, one after another.
They fell into a sort of rhythm where Tilly would purify as many patients as possible out of his Mana Well, then rest, recovering with the aid of either Amelia's latest herbal concoction or one of the young Priestess' support Abilities. Unaided, he could recover his mana fully in about 50 minutes, depending on the Mana recovery aid, that time could be cut down by 10-30 minutes.
He would spend the time between healing sprints focusing on his breathing while trying not to be overwhelmed by the side effects and debuffs that he was racking up and then removing as the Botanist Surveyor and Priestess of light worked together to get as much casting out of him as possible without hitting a medicinal or magical dead end.
You have received the Potion Toxicity Debuff. Any alchemical treatment you receive for the next 12 hours will be reduced by 50% in its effectiveness.
“I have toxicity again,” Tilly said, after rubbing some of the salve Amelia had given him on his chest and face. It would supposedly widen his ‘dantians’ temporarily and allow his natural rate of recovery to increase in all areas for 20 min, giving him a 40% gain in Mana Regen. Make that 20% now that the Debuff was back.
They had cured over 120 people at this point and Tilly wasn't the only one hurting from the constant work. Both guards leaned on their weapons, sweat staining their protective robes. They had to face a new temporary manifestation of Corruption after every patient was purified. None of the manifestations were especially dangerous on their own, but they could not be allowed to escape and the varied nature of their appearance kept both of the guards on their toes, as Tilly tried to keep from intervening as much as possible to save Mana.
The priestess, whose name was Triss, also wore a haggard expression as she choked down some sort of bitter-smelling tea that Amelia had handed to her to keep her own Mana Regen up.
“I can cast Purifying Radiance one more time, but after that, I think you will have to deal with the Debuffs another way. Even though we have kept my Well from bottoming out, I am closing in on mana exhaustion, and will be useless to you if you need me to boost your wisdom again.” She said between grimacing sips of the tea.
At that, Amelia looked up, eyes red from the repeated brewing and processing of raw magical herbs, “Yes, well save yourself until we run out of all options on my end. Speaking of which, Jonathan, I have one more thing to use that will be extremely beneficial to your power base and clear out any build-up of impurities in your system. With your Endurance, it should be safe to use, but it will not be pleasant.”
Tilly’s head pounded as he tried to focus on breathing and the source of his power. The internal flame showed no signs of flagging, unlike its surrounding vessel which felt strained and sore from the constant emptying and filling. He had not yet had a chance to spend so much time actually focusing on his internal environment, and even in short bursts he had found the practice incredibly enlightening. At this point, if he added up all of his recovery sessions, he had probably spent several hours breathing deeply while focusing inward on the sensation of his flame, experiencing how his Mana interacted with his physical body.
The flame seemed to flow out of him in specific patterns, each one manifesting a different Ability. His Flame’s Renewal built right below his lungs, stoking as he breathed in deeply and activated it. Then it would surge up from his center, through his mouth, and out with his breath onto the target. It didn't burn exactly, but after over a hundred uses in less than 24 hours… every empowered exhalation was accompanied by a sharp needle-like pain that ran up the route.
He tiredly looked over to Amelia and held out his hand,
“Sure, why not... Give it to me and let's get through the rest of these people. I can keep this up as long as you guys keep topping me off.” He said in between slightly ragged breaths. He didn't know how much he had left, but he was sure of one thing. If they had to shut down the operation, it wasn't going to be because of him. Behind his back, Amelia shared a look with Triss who just shrugged as she continued to choke down the bitter tea.
----------------------------------------
Amelia
Amelia was confounded. Tilly hadn’t mentioned Mana Exhaustion once.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
With her help, she had hoped he would be able to purify 50 patients before hitting one roadblock or another. At his level, his physical body just couldn't take much more abuse than that, or at least that is what she had thought.
A normal magic user of his class could run through his full mana reserve 3 or 4 times in a row before the infamous Mana Exhaustion debuff struck. Depending on the nature of the usage, you could lose consciousness or even lose the ability to move Mana through your pathways for hours. Typically the onset of the debuff was preceded by crippling pain that made casting impossible. But, Amelia had never met a Mana user who had such a crazy ratio of Endurance to Wisdom. For all she knew this could be typical of his build. Nonetheless, he seemed to deal with herbal toxicity just like everyone else, and it was time to use her last resort.
She reluctantly pulled out a bundle from one of her pocket spaces.
“I am going to hand you a leaf that I need you to hold under your tongue for 10 breaths. You will want to spit it out, but you must hold it for that long, it will cause a chain reaction throughout your body that will force you to expel 70-80% of your short-term impurities over the next 5 minutes. We will leave the room, and I am sure the guards will be able to bring you something to use to handle the... impurities. Also, I suggest you remove your clothing for this, as it will be quite messy.”
She gingerly took the plump purple-veined leaf from the bundle, handling it with a protective cloth, so as not to let the powerful reagent touch her skin, and placed it on the bench next to her human companion.
The whole Origin explanation had been as new to her as the others, but what he had mentioned about the administrator had taken her back decades to her own transference and the mess of a life she had left behind…
Jonathan's voice interrupted her reverie as he eyed the leaf, a curl of distaste tweaking his lips, “Naked huh… you saved the best for last, didn't you?” He muttered before beginning to shed his patchwork primitive armor.
Amelia was once again taken aback. She had expected some pushback at the mention of such a strange method of detoxification, or at least a request for clarification. But he just tiredly complied without any hesitation and it was almost as if he trusted her... Many shied away from taking anything but the tried and true recipes from licensed alchemists, however, her class let her discover new uses for flora much more readily than most who typically gathered for potion producers. This, in turn, allowed her to come up with new recipes much more frequently than others, using all kinds of unique and rare plants she came across in her travels.
“I have tried this on a few subjects, and some have even reported Stat increases after using it, so there should be some benefits to outweigh the... cost.” She stuttered quickly as she moved towards the door, not ready for how fast he had begun to disrobe. She didn't bother to mention that she had only tested it on herself and Heras and that his results would be a fascinating addition to her body of data. The priestess was right behind her through the door. The guards, remained, one of whom was pushing forward a bucket with the toe of his boot.
Tilly just nodded tiredly at her to show his understanding before pulling his furred leathers over his head. She turned away as the door shut and sat in the hall for a few minutes as the sound of retching and bowel cleansing sounded out from the room. The priestess looked over at her aghast, and Amelia gave a nervous chuckle in reply.
“I promise you, this method is by far the most effective way to use the leaf. It will allow me to re-use several of the recipes I have already employed to keep augmenting his Mana regeneration...And I would never give a patient something that I had not tested on myself first. This particular method is just a bit unorthodox.”
“...Unorthodox?” Triss grunted through half-lidded eyes as another round of retching began.
“It sounds more like torture.”
----------------------------------------
Jonathan Tillman 12 min later.
He shakily pulled on the loaned Forsaken hood and tabard.
“That should be it… Much easier to cleanse than those awful bandages.” The Priestess said, false cheer ringing in her voice.
One of the guards, the taller humanoid that displayed much more hair than the other, helpfully added, “He must have produced his body weight in waste… I have never seen such a thing in all my years at the temple.”
“Yes well, that was to be expected considering the toxic load we had put on his system. Even your order’s Purifying Radiance does little to remove actual toxicity. Rather I think it is more focused on removing the negative magical side effects of a wide range of maladies.” Amelia chimed in, leaning into an academic tone as if they were all in a lecture hall, and there wasn't a putrid bucket of waste sitting in the corner.
Meanwhile, Tilly took a deep drink of the provided church rations they had brought into the room at some point and a mechanical bite of some sort of spongy bread. The taste from the leaf still hadn't quite left his mouth, leaving behind a bitterness so acute that he felt like every tastebud on his tongue had puckered into a painful tension. Water and food were helping, but the process was slow.
He had wiped down as well as possible, and the priestess had taken away most of the smell with that handy cleanse of hers. But he couldn't shake the memory of slime oozing out of his pores as his whole body convulsed and squeezed out waste from every orifice. He felt like a tube of toothpaste, rolled to the very top of its cap.
“Well, I don't think I ever want to do that again, but you were right, Amelia,” Tilly said as he mentally dismissed the new notification on his screen, and looked over at the Botanist who had already begun the process of brewing another concoction.
“I gained a point in Constitution and Dexterity. According to the system, the changes I have undergone so far have wracked up a lot of toxins. So despite how terrible that was, thank you.” He added, actually pleased to get something out of that nightmarish experience. His Mana was nearing 100% again and while the ordeal had furthered his exhaustion, it had also left him with a strange clarity that lent him a mental sharpness that was out of place with his circumstances.
“Ulnas, can you send the next one in, I’m ready to keep going.” He asked the guard, a steely determination underlying his tone. The hairier of the two guards left while the other reluctantly picked up the “cleansed” pot and removed it from the room.
Soon enough Ulnas returned with Satyr woman holding a baby that had an unhealthy greyish pallor and was breathing far too shallowly. Tilly straightened up from his slump against the bench and moved forward, gathering in a breath as his flame stirred and trying his best to ignore the feeling of hundreds of tiny knives that had begun to stab the pathway leading up his throat to his mouth.