Wraithwood Botanist

"You're late."

Elana was furious as she watched me wheeze. I had lost soul force dragging six hundred pounds of meat through the sky, and I had to run seven miles through the mountains to get to the meeting. Yet she had zero empathy.

"And you're hideous," she added.

"I'm sorry…" I said. "For both…"

"And you brought a friend to a professional meeting?" Elana pressed.

Felio trembled and averted her gaze.

"A meek one at that," Elana added.

"This is…" I put my hands on my hips, arched my back, and took a few more breaths. "Felio Hellara. She's the heir of the largest alchemy family… in the First Domain."

Elana's countenance shifted as she eyed the skittish woman up and down. "Really?"

"Yes…" I said, taking a last deep breath. "I'm hoping… she can help me… with this."

I retrieved the flower, presenting the chamber to her.

"What is this?" Elana asked.

"It's unidentified," I said. "But it's a Numina Anima—and a strong one, too. I know that for a fact."

Elana's eyes flickered with curiosity. "Where did you get it?" Find your next adventure on My Virtual Library Empire

I turned to Felio. "Secret?"

She nodded and clutched her chest as the soul pact took root.

I turned back to Elana. "I got it in the northern region, probably ten miles south of the Kelium. I found it with a nearan scan and made a soul pact with it."

Elana's eyes flickered angrily. "You made a soul pact with it? For what?"

"That I would try to…" My soul core activated, warning me not to say anything. "I… I can't. I mean… one of my soul pacts isn't permitting it."

Elana narrowed her eyes. "Then what can you say?"

I leaned against a counter, searching for words. Then, I realized something convenient. "There's something bad going on in the forest," I said. "I obviously can't tell you what it is, but Brindle's tribute requires me to fix it. I simply promised that I would try to do it. Since I'm already doing it, I've lost nothing by making the pact."

Elana studied me suspiciously, but after countless years of experience, she could doubtlessly sense the truth—and this was the truth.

"And how does that relate to this plant?" she asked.

"Because to accomplish Brindle's tribute this year, I need to double the strength of my nearan pathways," I said.

Elana scoffed and then opened her copy of the plant container and pulled out the bulb and plant with telekinesis. "Rather convenient that you would need exactly what you just found…" She glared at me. "Have you looked at your tribute?"

"I was scanning for nearan plants on purpose," I mumbled, pulling up the tribute. When I saw it, my stomach sank.

-

Requirements:

One alchemic ingredient that has not been found in the last thousand harvests and also has significant value, either in use or monetary value.

-

I slowly placed the preservation chamber onto the ground so I didn't break it.

"So you didn't know," Elana said.

I shook my head. "No. I didn't…"

"And you understand that if you fail this tribute, we are disconnected—whether I wish to separate or not. Right?"

I took a deep breath and looked up at the alchemy lab's ceiling. "Yes…"

"Well, do you still want to discuss this plant?" she asked.

"No," I said resolutely. "I'll send this to you; I can find another way to boost my nearan channels. I can't even begin to start paying you back for the resources you sent me… and I need your elixir a lot more right now."

The elixir Elana sent me ingredients to make would allow my body to heal rapidly after wounds, acting like an unlimited Illyndra elixir. That was truly a priceless treasure that I could not repay—so getting rid of this plant would be the tip of the iceberg for paying it off.

My uncharacteristic reaction pleased Elana greatly, and her mood shifted.

"I appreciate your respect," she said. "It's rather rare from you. As for this plant, if you're certain it is safe, we can create an elixir—as Numina Animas require ultra-specific conditions to survive and are thus the same in basic usage."

My eyes shot up at her.

"But," Elana said.

I forced down the fist in my throat. "But?" I echoed.

"Next year, I will require another unmarked plant of apparent value. Do you feel confident in finding another unidentified plant?"

My mind suddenly flashed back to the crypt, reminding me I had another unidentified plant with me. However, it was a plant that made soul plants easier to control—and I couldn't give that to anyone, as it would trigger my soul pact against risking the forest.

That wasn't all. I used resources to heal Halten's wings. I saved some of those ingredients. That'll work… I thought. But…

"I'd rather give you this plant than risk our relationship," I said. "And besides, I have a pact to prevent harm to this forest. If I give you the wrong plant, it could spark a new conquer attempt—and it will kill me. I also can't give you anything Brindle brings me to… it's just a mess. But if I find a rare plant that can't be harvested… like this… I'll send it. With or without tribute. I owe you, but unless you're searching for poisons, you're asking for something that's both sensitive and potentially impossible."

"I see…" Elana said. I expected her to be furious, but she was very reasonable. "What about poisons?" she asked.

"I can guarantee you a poison," I chuckled insanely. "If I can't find one in my travels, I know the location of a plant that triggers necrosis in seconds. It took a whole bottle of Diktyo water and cleansing elixirs to survive a single prick."

Elana's eyes drifted in thought, and she muttered to herself. "That orc would probably trade his…" She turned to me. "If you are unable to find something suitable—that will do."

I nodded. "Deal."

Elana seemed strangely satisfied by the arrangement, making me feel that my respect toward her was worth more than the plant. Gods lived for hundreds of thousands of years. She likely wasn't impatient to get resources in the first few years—if centuries.

Instead of pursuing the conversation, she turned to Felio. "As for you…"

Felio trembled. "Yes?"

"I'm going to list out processes. I want you to demonstrate them. If you are adequate, I will allow you to aid her in creating a proper Numina Anima elixir. I assume you understand the profound value of such an opportunity."

"Yes, Mistress!" Felio cried, bowing dramatically. "I would be honored.

Elana smirked and glanced at me as if to say: See? This is how you properly respect a god.

I gave her a look that said, I value you—but there's no chance in hell I'm bowing.

Elana rolled her eyes. "Let's begin."

—---

Watching Felio made me realize just how pathetically untrained I really was. She levitated dozens of ingredients, mixing and fusing them in the air, creating compounds as if they were nothing. Through it all, she did so with scientific exactness, maintaining multiple domains while operating to ensure that sensitive ingredients did not get contaminated with foreign gasses or compounds. The idea that Felio would act as my aid was absurd.

"Keep focused," Elana snapped. "What you're witnessing is skilled labor — and you can hire that. But normal alchemists lack recipes, knowledge, ingredients—contracts. Whether you're a warrior or an alchemist, success is determined by results—not what you personally perceive as skill. And when you achieve results, you bear the achievement."

I winced and glanced at Felio. To my surprise, she had a gentle smile as she listened to us.

"She's right, you know," Felio said. "Most of my time is spent managing people. I only perform alchemy during my research."

I raised an eyebrow. "You're a manager?"

"Yes," she said. "I manage nine thousand alchemists and oversee the supply chain of herbs and ingredients from our gardens and beyond. I only give demonstrations to teach new…"

She saw me cloistered up, arms folded against my chest self-consciously, and giggled.

"This's what my family does, silly," she said. "I've been doing it since I was five."

"And in fifteen years, you will achieve even greater heights," Elana interjected. "Now cease your comparisons and prep your ingredients."

My mind snapped into focus, and I nodded. I pulled out the plant, purified it, and lined up bowls on the countertop.

"How should I process it?" I asked.

"You will extract the ovary, as it is the area in which Numina Anima fuses aura, neara, and mana," Elana explained. "You do this live, and extract all three elements into the juice within the bulb."

I glanced at the tennis ball-sized bulb and nodded.

"I can't extract neara without cleansing it, is that fine?" I asked.

"That's the safest method," Elana said. "That said, I am curious—are you aware of the type of Anima you're possessing?"

I froze. "You don't know?"

Elana shook her head. "Not without physically seeing it," she said. "However, Numina Anima are fundamentally the same when making basic treasures."

"I see…" I thought back to the monster within the plant and shivered. "I'm not certain of the type, but I can say it was unique. Unlike the other plants that felt vibrant and… living… this plant was a void… It was as if it devoured its victims without a trace. And the consciousness within could create images, but they were purely illusionary."

Elana's cheek twitched, her nose scrunched in, and she said, "Are you certain? You've left nothing out?"

I knew something was wrong. "Yes. Is… that fine?"

"Never ask a question that you know will spark conflict," Elana lectured. "Now rejoice in your fortune. If this plant is as you describe, you need not—and should not—cleanse it. Unravel the mana and aura, and the remaining neara should be used directly. Now begin."

Elana was pissed, and I knew that this plant was far more special than I believed.

She turned to Felio. "You have proven yourself worthy, and I will permit you to aid my pupil. Now shed your cowardice and stand straight."

"Yes, ma'am," Felio said, standing straight. She did not shed her cowardice.

"It'll have to do," Elana said. "Prepare thirty-seven grams of stramba fused with estran, stabilize it to three atmospheres. Mix with seven liters of ethanol and eight grams of M7 sugars."

Felio's eyes trembled. "Seven liters?"

"Did I permit you to ask questions?" Elana asked.

"No, ma'am!" Felio cried. She immediately got to work as Elana turned back to me chillingly. Whatever she gathered by my admission left her in a foul mood.

"What are you waiting for?" she asked.

"Desiccation extraction or surgery?" I asked quickly.

Elana thought about it. "Surgical. I have changed my mind and will accept the leaves and stem for tribute this year."

"Yes, ma'am," I said gratefully. I purified a bowl and cracked the bulb above it, trying to withstand the heinous stench of the orange liquid oozing out of it like egg yolks. Then, I gently pulled back the leaves of the plant and stared in awe at the inside.

It was just as I had seen in the darkness. The white ovary was radiating with pulsing mana, mixing with complex channels of aura and neara that were woven together like threads. I felt like a criminal for plucking it out like an eyeball and placing it in the nasty yellow liquid.

"Desciate the outer layer to release the rest," Elana said.

I took a pained breath and looked into the cavity. There was plenty of ovary left, crumbled off from where I ripped it out. She wanted me to shred the lining holding it in place.

Wait… I suddenly got an idea. I touched the inner lining and used Dreamscape to clone its inner framework, and sure enough, I was able to gain absolute information on the plant. Using that, I isolated the lining. Then, I used Desiccate to target it, making it shrivel. Lastly, I targeted the dried dust, using Separate to remove it before dumping the rest of the ovary inside my bowl.

"Wow…" Felio whispered. She looked at Elana. "Did you know she could do that so well?"

Elana frowned. "No, I didn't. I wanted to know if she would utilize her servant."

I turned to Felio apologetically, but she just giggled and continued her work, mixing a floating blob of activating chemicals and alcohol in the air. She was spinning it, kneading it, skillfully letting the bubbles inside pop on the surface to release the newly created gas.

"Perform the extraction," Elana ordered.

I sealed the flower into a preservation chamber and then performed mana extraction on the bulb. It did nothing.

"The aura is locking it in place…" I whispered.

"Then release the aura," Elana said.

"Don't we want them together?" I asked.

"We do. That's why we added it to the plant's Anima. It is the liquid within that bowl that causes the two to create bonds. If you unweave the threads in the juice, they will attract and weave themselves back together."

"That's amazing…" I complied, methodically unthreading the aura in the ovary and adding it to the juice. Once I finished, I unthreaded the mana, and sure enough, the two weaved themselves back together like helixes. "Wow…"

Felio noticed, and her eyes glittered. Elana wasn't yelling at her, so it must've meant she was done.

"Is it ready?" I asked Elana.

"It is. Mix them under one percent oxygen."

I froze. Then I remembered the apparent lesson Elana was giving me and said, "Felio?" implying that I needed help.

My friend giggled at my awkward approach to giving orders. "I'd love to," she said.

Felio created a domain, and we swapped places, allowing her to take over as she added her chemical compounds to the nearan liquid. The second the compounds met, beautiful and extraordinary things happened. The liquid transformed from orange to a rich, metallic blue, creating stripes of gold within it, marbling in the liquid, which quickly thickened like syrup. The end result was like looking at a blue and gold candy cane that had yet to cool.

Right then, I got the chime.