Limits

I made my way back to Ulon's place, where I asked him for some private place. He offered his own room, and told me to take as much time as I needed. He left shortly after that, while I set up my tools. This time though, I wouldn't be making simple Extracts. I would be making Aura infused Extracts. First and foremost, I had to make the medicine from the herbs available to me. The next step was also straightforward. I had to make the Zenith Extract from the cooked medicine. The process took a while, but I finally had the Extract to work with.

I slowly introduced my Aura, while the liquid inside the bottle began changed. It slowly separated into pure medicine, and leftover liquid with almost no healing properties. The medicine was much more alive, compared to Extracts from more common herbs. Although it didn't act aggressively like the poison did, it had its own movement pattern. The medicine was calm in nature, but much more lively compared to the weaker equivalents. The medicine wasn't green as well, it was golden in colour.

The smell of medical properties also intensified, but again not that much. I didn't doubt its superior strength by one bit. From an Extract that amounted to about eighty milliliters, I received only thirty milliliters of the pure form of medicine. Although the amount was reduced by more than two folds, strength was comparable to about a hundred and fifty milliliters of the Zenith Extract. When I separated both liquids, I came to a rather important conclusion. Using that pure medicine would not be easy. It was gooey and stuck to the bottle. I didn't want to use the other part of Extract, which was basically water. That was because there were tiny impurities in that.

'Hmm, I need to introduce some sort of liquid, but also make sure it's pure' I thought, and immediately recalled Serelis. It was basically water, but with an additional effect. I still had some left, therefore I tried introducing that. Even if the mind calming properties were gone, it would still act as a purified water. I poured about fifty milliliters of Serelis into the bottle, and checked out the results.

The pure form of medicine formed a ball again, and floated happily inside Serelis. This was good enough. The medicine stayed pure, while Serelis or water later on, would allow for easy use of the medicine. 'Great. This worked rather well. I will need to stock up on Serelis, and make a few more bottles of this stuff. I should name my creations appropriately though. Now's a good time, I guess' I thought.

I wrecked my brain about suitable names, especially taking under consideration the herbs used. In the end, I came up with a few new names for my Extracts. For the newly created Greater Medical Extract, I decided to use the name Golden Iris. It was made with the use of Black Irises, and the colour of the Extract was golden, hence I chose such a name.

For other Extracts, such as Medium Medical Extract, I would use the name Night Star. That was due to the Night Safises used to make that Extract. Of course I could use other herbs to replace Night Safises, but the Extracts with such strength would be named Night Stars. The Low Medical Extracts would be called Vital Cure. Usually lower tier medicine, were made with the use of some sort of grass type herbs. I lumped a lot of Extracts together under one name, but it didn't matter much. Their strength was the factors, and there was no point for me to refer to them by different names all the time.

Stuff like Vital Liquid or Arran Liquid, those things were rather close in strength. Such Extracts would fall under the category of Vital Cures. The same went for other medicines. As for the poison, I didn't adapt a similar approach. After all, each poison was different and affected people differently. Therefore names were still required. For my latest creations, the poison from Boltier was named Flower Plague. The poison I made from Ghost Flax and other herbs, was named Haunting Poison. There were also the poisons I used for Shades, but I lumped them together as Shade Liquid. These poisons had the same effect usually, they only varied a bit in strength.

I cleaned up everything, and asked Ulon for some help. I said, "I have the medicine ready, but I need more Serelis. Can you deliver that, and a few other herbs to me?". He took the bottle I made, and replied "This is your best medicine?". I smiled, "Yes. Don't let it fool you though. Although the smell is rich, this medicine is different. Let me put it like this, if you get mortally wounded, this thing can save your life".

He stared at the bottle in shock. "It's that strong?". I nodded, "Yes. I used something less powerful than this, and it was already effective. This thing? It should be something that no one can replicate. I'm not 100% sure on that, but I believe this is the rarest thing you can get, when it comes to medicine". He nodded, and hid the bottle safely in his clothes. Ulon told me to wait inside the room, while he went to fetch all the stuff I asked for.

In the end, I made three more bottles of Golden Iris. I also created other medicine, as the amount of those rare herbs was really limited. The other Extracts amounted to five bottles of Night Star, each containing a hundred milliliters. As well as twenty one bottles of Vital Cure, also separated to a hundred milliliters each. I gave one bottle of Night Star, and three bottles of Vital Cure to Ulon.

I could stay to make more Night Stars and Vital Cures, but I wanted to check out some stuff at Obsidian Mountains. After handing Ulon the medicine, he asked if I couldn't make more of that really strong stuff. I told him, "No, not really. The herbs required to make it, grow very slowly. I have already exhausted a lot of your supply. Even with what you have in your garden, I would only be able to make five or six more bottles. Besides, this is a life saving medicine, don't take it too lightly".

He was a bit disappointed we couldn't make more, but happy at the same time to have been given a bottle. He asked, "What do you call this?". I replied with a smile, "Golden Iris. Good, isn't it?". He repeated the name a few times, then nodded. "Yes, very fitting name. So what now, are you leaving?". I nodded while replying, "Yes. I'm off to another place, where I can find some more information. By the way, the people you sent to Sedon. They improved as well. I taught them how to make medicine, and poison for Shades. When they return, you will have a few more competent people in your ranks".

He laughed, "That's great to hear. Thanks for everything. You can be scary sometimes, but you are helping us greatly... If you ever need anything, be sure to visit me". I grabbed his shoulder and smiled, "I will. Take care of yourself Ulon. Till we meet next time". I left Apium shortly after saying my farewell to Ulon, and headed back to Obsidian Mountains. Not only to check out their historical records, but also to check if Alicia was back. I hoped she returned already, and would finally have my weapon ready. There was another reason. With her around, I could also try to get the location of Grey Lizards, or perhaps send them a message.

My journey back was rather uneventful. Mordars backed up to their own area, which meant I didn't have to worry about them spotting me. I encountered no Furians or other minor races on my way either. This situation felt like the war was over, but I knew damn well otherwise. Although Vanauts would stay back, that didn't mean Eterians would as well.

Time slowly passed, until I made it back to Obsidian Mountains. Lizards were hard at work reconstructing Arangard, and the progress was really astonishing. They didn't have any help from Atols, yet they were able to recreate their old city. Inside Arangard, I met with a few Lizards, and they even celebrated the news of Sedon and Boltier winning. Those victories elevated their spirit for sure, they became more optimistic about the war. I also met Jora by accident. He told me that they had an easy time now. No one attacked them, Mordars and Vanauts backed off, and Eterians didn't seem to be making any moves.

I found that weird though. I wasn't sure why Eterians made no moves. After all, the walls of Sedon were heavily damaged, the Scorpions were destroyed. It would be a while before everything could be repaired. 'Something must be up. I refuse to believe Eterians would simply give up' I thought. The more time we had, the more worried I became. If they planned something big, it would take time for them to realise that plan. That only meant trouble for us, I would much prefer if they attacked at least a bit. Ultimately, I could do nothing about it. The only solution we had at that stage, was to prepare for the worst case.

While I talked with Jora, I asked him about the Northern History. He was a bit surprised I asked about such thing, but then said "Fortunately, a lot of records survived the attack, but we lost some stuff as well. I can ask if they will allow you to view those records". I nodded while replying, "I don't need any of your secrets or anything like that. I need the history. The time when you and Grey Lizards separated, stuff like that".

He narrowed his eyes, then asked "Why do you need that specific period?". I figured he kind of belonged to the Royal Lizards, that question wasn't a surprise. I didn't tell him the exact reason, I only told him there was something lost in the North at that time. "I'm searching for that thing. With its help, we might have better chances at winning this war". He tried probing what it was exactly, but I gave him some vague answers. He asked, "Are you sure that thing exists?". My reply was simple, "That is what I'm trying to figure out. If it does exist, we have much better chances fighting Eterians. I already found some evidence elsewhere, I just need more information".

He asked me to wait a bit, while he went and asked about it. It took him a while to return, but he at least had good news. They would show me their records, under one condition. I would have to share with them, whatever I was looking for. I was lying to them, but at this stage I couldn't care less about that. There were no relics or anything, but that is the lie they received.