Lucifer was surprised. Faeries had very powerful magic, so an illness that they were unable to cure would be very difficult for Lucifer to cure with his Intermediate Potion Brewing skills. However, he wasn’t ready to leave the forest yet, so he could afford to have the faeries being hostile to him.

“Of course I’ll help you out.”

You have accepted the quest

“Lead me to where the sick faeries are.”

“Thank you so much.” Thanking him continuously, the faerie lead Lucifer deep into the forest, into an area he had never been. Lucifer had thought that he had explored most of the forest, but he was now finding out just how wrong he was. The forest became very dense and dark, as the leaves blocked much of the sunlight. After traveling for about an hour, the two got to an area where the way forward was completely blocked by shrubbery.

“Halt! Humans are not allowed any further than this point. What were you thinking, leading him here? Especially now!” A voice rang out, seeming to come from everywhere at once.

“He has the potion brewing skill and is learning from that old lady in the cottage! He might be able to heal the others! We need to exhaust every option before we go to the last resort!” The faerie who had been leading Lucifer cried out.

Silence. After a few moments, the voice resounded once again.

“Fine. But we guards will take him into the inner forest. We will move the sick to a less private area as well.” A couple of human sized faeries in armor and with swords hanging by their sides appeared from behind a couple of trees. They grabbed Lucifer’s arms and roughly dragged him forward through the bushes. Once he walked through the bushed, a flood of light suddenly hit him in the face, forcing him to blink. Once his eyes adjusted to the brighter light, Lucifer was treated to an amazing sight. The forest had completely transformed, looking nothing like it had on the other side of the bushes. The sunlight shone down on multicolored herbs that Lucifer couldn’t identify with his Intermediate level skills. This place was akin to a gold mine for potion brewers. Even the lower level herbs were herbs Lucifer had never seen before or he had found to be extremely rare.

“Don’t touch anything,” one guard roughly instructed. “If you do, we won’t hesitate to treat you as an enemy.”

Lucifer was lead into a clearing. He could see faeries that were obviously in pain being carried into it. They were constantly being healed by some healer faeries, but even after being healed, they continued to lose HP. They showed strange symptoms that Lucifer had never heard of before. Some had fires raging directly on their skin, others had ice forming on their skin, and still others had pieces of their bodies that were liquefying. Lucifer used his True Sight.

You have detected an abnormal status: Elemental Poisoning- Ice

You have detected an abnormal status: Elemental Poisoning- Wind

You have detected an abnormal status: Elemental Poisoning- Earth

You have detected an abnormal status: Elemental Poisoning- Fire

You have detected an abnormal status: Elemental Poisoning- Water

You have detected an abnormal status: Elemental Poisoning- Light

You have detected an abnormal status: Elemental Poisoning- Dark

You have detected an abnormal status: Elemental Poisoning- Lightning

Elemental Poisoning! Lucifer had never heard of that status before, it was not talked about on any of the forums that he had been on. However, remembering the hermit’s unique skill, he had an idea of how to cure them.

“If I can go back to master’s house, then I will be able to cure them.”

The guards seemed surprised that a mere human thought he would be able to do what faeries could not.

“Fine. We will take you back there. However, we will not bring that woman into this area of the forest. Last time we did that it was 5 years before everything grew back.”

They began to lead him away when a faerie approached Lucifer.

“This human said he could save them! Please, sir, save my son first! He’s the one lying over there.”

After she said this, a huge group of faeries appeared, screaming their heads off, begging Lucifer to save their family members first, pointing to where they lay. The guards had a hard time dragging Lucifer through the crowd. Lucifer was reassuring the faeries that he would try his best to save their families, and while the guards were distracted, he picked up some of the Intermediate level herbs and magical ingredients he had never seen before. Finally, the guards made it out of the crowd with Lucifer in tow, and they rushed to the bushes separating the inner forest with the outer forest.

The three traveled as fast as Lucifer’s low agility would allow. After only a few minutes they arrived at the hermit’s house.

‘This forest really is mysterious,’ thought Lucifer.

He ran into the hermit’s house gasping for breath. Lucifer began to talk.

“Master, I need your help to-”

“Not right now you nitwit! I'm busy! Go away!”

After catching his breath, Lucifer continued despite the hermit’s words.

“I need your help to cure a sickness I’ve never seen before. The faeries are in trouble. Some of them have a sickness called ‘Elemental Poisoning.’ I need your help to heal them.”

“What? Elemental Poisoning? Quickly, show me to where they are!” The hermit stood up, moving faster than Lucifer had ever seen before.

“I'm sorry, the guards said that you can’t come. They are waiting outside. Tell me, what can I do.”

“Dammit! Screw those guys, they won’t let me back into the inner forest, even for something this important? Tell them that they had better not expect me to pay them rent for 3 years after this. Fine. Take these.” She handed Lucifer a bag full of multicolored potions.

“Each of those potions is for one specific element. Be careful not to use the wrong elemental potion on the wrong person. Otherwise the elements will have an adverse reaction, killing the faerie you used it on. Make sure to collect data on their symptoms. Just because I can’t go and see my lab rats myself, doesn’t mean I can’t get some profit out of this!”

Although her last words surprised Lucifer, he didn’t have time to question her. He swiftly ran outside to the guards, and they began to guide him back to the inner forest. Once they made it back to the clearing, Lucifer could see that the situation had deteriorated dramatically. The healers were running out of mana. He quickly fed one of the faeries who had the Fire Elemental Poisoning a Fire Elemental Poisoning.

Unfortunately, that did not help at all. In fact, the faerie’s condition grew worse.

“Hey, are you trying to kill him?” One of the guards pulled out his sword, pointing it at Lucifer’s neck.

“It’s always darkest just before dawn.”

“What are you saying? This is no time to be waxing philosophical!”

“What I mean is that one will become worse before becoming better.” Despite speaking calmly, Lucifer was confused. He was sure that he had fed the faerie a Fire Elemental Potion.

Then it struck him. He had been such an idiot! He grabbed another potion out of his bag, and quickly poured it into the faerie’s mouth. This time his pained expression became more peaceful, and the rate at which he lost HP lessened until stabilizing. Lucifer breathed with relief. He had fed him a Water Elemental Potion. Of course an element’s Elemental Poisoning was canceled out by the opposite element’s potion.

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Lucifer went around feeding the faeries the correct potions. As he ran around curing the faeries, he didn’t forget to memorize their various symptoms. Once he had finished curing all the faeries, he had compiled a list based on the different Elemental Poisoning.

Fire Elemental Poisoning- Boils, high fever, burns, in severe cases small fires appeared on the faerie’s body.

Water Elemental Poisoning- Excess bodily fluids, mushy internal organs, diarrhea, in severe cases pieces of the faerie’s body had become water.

Wind Elemental Poisoning- Cuts, windburns, breathing troubles, in severe cases wind would come out of the faerie’s body.

Earth Elemental Poisoning- Dry, flakey skin, bruises, viscous bodily fluids, in severe cases pieces of the faerie’s body became earthen.

Lightning Elemental Poisoning- Damaged nerves, ruptured eardrums, unpredictable twitching, in severe cases electricity was produced by the faerie’s body.

Ice Elemental Poisoning- Frozen body fluids, severe hypothermia, shivering, in severe cases pieces of the faerie’s body became ice.

Light Elemental Poisoning- Blinding, sunburns, MP loss, in severe cases, the faerie would give off a bright light.

Dark Elemental Poisoning- Blinding, random curses, incomprehensible muttering, in severe cases the area surrounding the faerie would become dark and induce nightmares.

When Lucifer had finally finished curing all of the sick faeries, he was out of breath. He looked at the time, and realized that 3 hours had gone by. Around him, many faeries were reuniting tearfully with their cured loved ones. Lucifer sat down.

Quest Complete

A golden light fell on Lucifer’s head, and he grew another 7 levels.

“You have cured our people. You have our gratitude. For your services, we will allow you to meet with the King of this forest, Oberon.” One of the guards walked to Lucifer and announced his reward.

At his words, many faeries were dumbfounded. Only one human had ever met the King before, and even many of the faeries had never met him.

“Come back in one day. Then you will be able to meet with him”

Lucifer was satisfied with this reward. It was not anything definite, but a meeting with an extremely powerful NPC on good terms would probably greatly benefit him. He thanked the guard, and got up to leave. However, as he made his way towards the bushes that lead out of the inner part of the forest, he was stopped by some of the faeries who were grateful for what he had done. They gave him countless treasures. His bag could hardly hold all of them. Finally, he was allowed to pass. He had memorized the path he had taken with the guards to get to the hermit’s house, so he was able to get back in just a few minutes.

“Well? Did you record their symptoms?” The hermit wasn’t at all interested in if the faeries were cured or not. Lucifer had quickly written down the symptoms he had observed, and he gave the paper to the hermit.

“These observations are pretty good. Hmm, with this maybe I can find the cure.” She was muttering to herself, as if not even noticing that Lucifer was there.

“Excuse me master. What are you trying to find the cure for?”

“None of your business! Why are you still here? Go away!”

“Would any of these ingredients be useful?” Lucifer held out all of the ingredients that he had been unable to identify.

The hermit glanced at them. She snatched some of them from him.

“These are some pretty nice herbs. I guess you aren’t as useless as I thought you were.” The hermit actually praised Lucifer. He was astonished.

“I have a meeting with the faerie king tomorrow. Is there anything you want me to ask him besides for an exemption of your rent?”

“You got an audience with Oberon? Dammit, now I really wish I had gone.” She paused.

“Give him this, and tell me what happens when he drinks it.” She handed Lucifer a bottle.

“Uhhh, okay. By the way, are you a researcher?” Lucifer was remembering her words about lab rats. He found her words strangely similar to his own thoughts.

“Yeah. What about it?”

“I am too! Do you want to share our research?” He had finally found some way he could connect with the hermit, and he was not going to pass up the chance.

“Why would I want to read the research of someone as useless as you? I might lose brain cells.”

“Well, back in Serabourg, there was an old man named Darwyn, and he seemed pretty interested in it.”

The hermit’s hand shot out.

“Give it to me. Now.”

Lucifer quickly removed his old research from his bag, handing it over to the hermit. He waited while she read through it. It took a few hours for her to read through it completely. While she read through it, Lucifer created potions out of the ingredients that he had stolen when the guards weren’t looking. Some of the potions were better than the ones that could be found in any of the cities. Lucifer really would have an easier time doing his research when he got back to areas with users.

“Well, apparently you really aren’t as useless as I thought you were. You might actually deserve to be my apprentice.”

You gained a new title: Apprentice Potion Brewer

Apprentice Potion Brewer: +1 level to all skills that have to do with potion brewing

A title! And one that boosted 5 of his skills by a full level! For his hard work, Lucifer had luckily gotten something amazing. He had not only gotten two overpowered skills from Darwyn, but he had also gotten an overpowered title from the hermit. In this forest he was seeing many things that were not mentioned at all on the forums.

“Here.” The hermit held out some papers to Lucifer, and he took it.

“This is my research. It’s about the effects of Elemental Potion Brewing and how to cure different diseases cause by elemental poisoning?”

“You mean that basic Elemental Poisoning isn’t the only kind of element related disease there is?”

The hermit nodded towards the paper she had given to Lucifer.

“Read that and find out.”

Lucifer began reading the papers. From them he learned a great deal of things. Elemental poisoning was not simple. The papers were based on the effects of Element Induced Diseases on faeries. The hermit had captured many animals and force-fed them her elemental potions to get data, but as she could not afford to have the faeries be hostile to her, she avoided experimenting directly on them. Lucifer learned that the elemental poisonings, when non-opposite elements were combined, could create living life forms that acted like bacteria. The bacteria could have a variety of effects. Sometimes they could spread the symptoms from both elemental poisonings, and sometimes they spread only the symptoms from one of the original elements. Other times, they did nothing until more poison was added to the host organism, and when it was, the bacteria cured the poisoning. Thus, having some bacteria was similar to having immunity to certain elemental poisonings.

However, the hermit had been unable to achieve her main goal. She was trying to find a strain of bacteria that could cure all of the elemental diseases. Basically she needed a strain that was a combination of all of the elements. But, despite all of her efforts, she had never been able to get more than 3 elements in the body of an organism before they died.

Once he finished reading her research, he had a question that was burning a hole in his brain

“Why have you been doing this research?”

The hermit smiled for the first time since Lucifer had arrived in the cottage.

“Maybe you will find out tomorrow.”

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