Thariel couldn't help but keep glancing at the new addition to her stack of books while she brewed potions.

Compared to the dated tomes it was crushing under its weight, her new book had a sense of quality to it that Thariel couldn't put into words, like the black leather that covered the pages of the tome were simply just naturally superior compared to all the others.

Thariel could see the cracked lines lining the surface of the leather even with the dim lighting of the shed, it wasn't because of her sharp senses or anything like that, but because the lining had a red after glow.

Most likely, they were dusted with Hemonium to achieve the effect.

The title too was written in this glossy red metal, with the etched words spelling out "Plasmononicon" in crimson gothic font.

It was dark and broody- in every sense of the word, - with the book itself feeling like it was straight out of a steamy vampire novel.

And in some sense, it kind of is.

There was a spin off game for Tainted Orchids called Blood Lily and it's centered around vampires and the game utilized this particular book.

She's played it briefly and because of this, seen some of the book's pages, she never used the book though and most of her knowledge regarding it comes from lore sheets, the wiki, mandatory quests, and cutscenes.

She knew that the methodology of vampires- and by extension, their book, - was maybe a tiny bit erotic?

The bloodsuckers were kept PG 13 of course, since the devs didn't want their spin off game to have a limited demographic (adults).

Game and reality were two completely different things however and here? The Plasmononicon didn't have its pages cut out.

Thariel feared that with her access to a wider variety of pages, she would find the more... risque parts of the book.

Thariel was afraid of what she'll see when she opens the Plasmononicon, she's willing to admit that much.

It wasn't all bad though, and presumably, it's not all about sex, with some of the pages mainly involving ritualistic rites and sacrifices.

... How weird was it that she didn't mind seeing blood and gore but draw the line at sex?

Movies really desensitized her version of humanity to death huh?

Thariel turned away from the book and put her focus back on brewing the mixture.

Despite this being her second time making potions, she already has an equation for making them with a low cost-to-profit ratio.

With her only basis for doing so being the lessons on her economy class during highschool as well as Tainted Orchid's wiki, which had lists for the exact amount of materials needed for each potion to be high quality after making them.

With the help of her alchemy book and a magical weighing scale she borrowed from her mother, figuring out what 3 Dire Wolf Fangs meant in weight and effect distribution had turned out to be surprisingly easy.

And after calculating an (ingredient-to-weigh-to-effect) ratio as well as doing tests by personally drinking her prototype magic amplification potions, she was able to write down an actual recipe for making an entire cauldron's worth of high quality mixture using the least amount of ingredients needed.

The day Thariel spent doing this was definitely worth it as she was able to figure out a way to not waste 3 Dire Wolf Fangs each time she wanted to make a single strength boost potion.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

The overall cut to the material cost was pretty substantial as well, as Thariel learned that she only needed 8 fangs if she wanted to fill her cauldron, a full cauldron fills up 6 bottles in total.

And 6 potions, with a regular recipe, costs 18 Dire Wolf Fangs to make so it was a pretty sweet deal.

When Thariel was done brewing her first batch of strength boosts of the day, Thariel realized that it didn't take that much time so she went on and brewed another batch.

She finished around lunch time.

Thariel headed out, after just a few hours of work, she now had a dozen strength boost potions, which was around a quarter of the promised amount she'll deliver to Liora.

When Thariel entered the kitchen, she saw that Clyra is already there, she was cooking something and from the scent, it was some kind of meat pie.

Thariel stood by the door, she had her hands on her belly and her eyes were fixed on the back of her mother's head, after putting the uncooked pie into the oven, Clyra faced her, "you have questions,"

"The Plasmononicon," Thariel didn't waste time, "where did you get something like that?"

"Did you read it?" Clyra deflected her question and briefly turned away to prepare her mitts.

The woman's demeanour is as calm as Thariel's, implying Clyra knew the significance of such a book, anyone less knowledgeable would have panicked at the name alone.

"A small amount of it, yes," Thariel lied by technicality, "I saw a ritual related to removing the guts of an animal and turning it into some kind of puppet,"

"An assistant," corrected Clyra, did the redhead support necromancy? Huh. She and Thariel felt the same way when it comes to that then.

A free labor force is always a good thing, especially if they were just emotionless puppets strung along by magic.

Clyra gave her daughter a side glance, "you don't want it?"

"I do,"

The book was useful, incredibly useful, as the Plasmononicon was one of the few things where she can learn to make homunculi and other kinds of unorthodox magic.

But...

"Why did they give it to me?" Thariel asked.

This was never part of canon, in fact, there's no route that leads to this kind of outcome, the original Thariel has always been a vampire hunter, not part of a brood.

Being given the Plasmononicon however meant that the brood has accepted her as being one of them, which had a lot of implications, mainly that she now had vampire allies and could enter their establishments when need be.

Thariel was now wishing she played Blood Lily more instead of just going through one or two playthroughs.

She was familiar with the bigger parts of the game, and locations weren't a problem for her to remember but she wishes she knew the deeper secrets that it held.

Like for example, there was an entire plot point about how different races utilize different potions due to their innate resistances.

Such as Dwarves just straight up eating wyvern hearts to boost their physical prowess or vampires literally having living potion bottles (or animals pumped with drugs).

It went deeper than that, as seems to be indicated by the side-quest she stopped doing halfway through her second playthrough.

Ugh.

"I don't know," Clyra finally broke the minute long silence, snapping Thariel out of her thoughts.

Her answer didn't sate a single one of Thariel's many curiosities. The redhead seemed to have been genuinely confused about the outcome herself.

Clyra also doesn't know huh?..

Thariel sighed, well whatever, it's not like this was a bad thing, "I'm gonna do the ritual I think,"

"Which one?" Clyra asked even though it was clear the woman knew what Thariel meant just now.

"The bloodrite," the Damphir answers, "I'm gonna awaken my bloodline,"

"That's good," Clyra nodded, she didn't seem against it, "that'll make you more in tune to your abilities," Clyra met her eyes, "did you prepare for it?"

Thariel shook her head, "no," she said softly, "I'll prepare myself though,"

"I'll help you later," Clyra nodded once.

"This'll also give me weaknesses," Thariel got back on track.

One of the weaknesses she'll be getting was that instead of her skin drying out when exposed to the sun, she starts to get painful blisters that'll rot her from within.

But hey, at least she'll get a partial monster form in exchange.

It won't be full on shape shifting and would be more similar to a Lycan's transformation- albeit slightly weaker, - but the regeneration she'll get during the night while transformed would be pretty good.

She would be able to properly fight in melee using it, even when it's only at night.

Her senses would also be sharper, and in return, her eyes would be hard to hide, as putting them under the shadow of her hood would only cause them to glow red.

She did think up of a solution, mainly glasses, so she'll have to check on a glass maker the next time she goes to Streamwise.

"Right, well, that's your choice to make," Clyra says, "how are your potions?"

Thariel took the change in topic in stride, she loosened her posture and relaxed, "it's exactly what I expected it to be," replied the Damphir, "I'm almost done with my strength boosting batch and only need to brew 8 more bottles, I'll probably brew them in batches of 4."

"I see," Clyra smiled, "and your materials? Do you need to buy more when you go back to Streamwise?"

"I'm only gonna buy glass bottles," Thariel assured, her equation did wonders to save materials honestly.

"How long would an entire crate last?" Thariel was about to answer before Clyra further added, "before it expires,"

"A month at most," Thariel replied, she hummed in consideration, "now that I think about it, maybe I should spend the rest of the month just making potions?"

"You'll only spend a large portion of it making potions," Clyra clarified, "you need to practice your magic and train your combat prowess-"

Thariel stared at her mother in confusion, what did she mean by this?

"- there's also the problem of your fitness, your physique needs to be prepared for the ritual," Clyra finished.

Thariel pinched the bridge of her nose, if it was about the ritual, then why did she need to learn how to fight?

"I'm not fat am I?" Thariel asked in disconnect. Why was she concerned for her weight? She's a Damphir.

"I don't mean that as you gaining weight, I meant that you don't have a single pound of muscle on top of your bones," explained Clyra, which was... The same, wasn't it?

"... I know that," Thariel looked away, "but do I really have to exercise?"

"Yes," Clyra gave her a stern look, "it's a must,"

"I see," Thariel wistfully smiled, "when do I start?"

"Later tonight, when the moon is at its brightest," Clyra looked away from her to check on the pie, "you don't have to worry about anyone attacking you anymore so you can train at night,"

"Right," Thariel sighed, the vampires were now gone, darn it.

Well, hopefully her regeneration will help a lot with-

"I know you're thinking that your regeneration will help you out so I want to make things clear; I'm gonna train you knowing you'll be fully recovered come morning,"

Thariel's smile turned stiff.