The moment the potion landed in his stomach, it settled in there like a spiked ball of lead, hoping to tear its way back out. But he could feel that it was working. Despite the pain that made all the muscles in his body tense up all at once, Ashton felt physically invigorated. Like all the energy that he had yet to produce in this lifetime was pouring into him all at once, building up in every single one of his cells.
All the injuries covering his body, whether small or large, whether cut or bruise, recovered visibly in front of his eyes, giving off thick, blood-red steam, accompanied by unimaginable pain. Every tiniest bit of pain caused by the healing was felt individually, too. It wasn't the sort of pain that you could distract yourself from through different pain. It was all stacked on top of each other, with a clarity that didn't even allow one's mind to make it fade away to protect oneself.
But as this was happening, something was digging its way out, as well. First, it was a patch on his arm, and then one on his stomach. There were ones on his back too, though he obviously couldn't see those.
Out of each of those patches of dark red skin bordering on black, tiny maggots pushed their way to the surface, shrivelling up and crumbling the moment they came in contact with air.
These dark patches disappeared after around a minute, but Ashton couldn't feel happy about that, either. The energy-high was about to be over. It was reaching its peak, as Ashton, even with the sheer pain that he was feeling right now, felt stronger and better than he ever had in this body.
Right then, the door opened up. Someone must have knocked, not that Ashton had the mind to pay attention to that right now. Jacky stood in the doorway, staring at Ashton. He was nude, but his whole body was enveloped in thick steam that clung to him like wet fabric, so it barely seemed like it.
She silently mouthed something. Ashton tried to tell her to speak louder, but sound refused to leave his mouth. Or rather... he just couldn't hear. The world around Ashton was silent.
He couldn't hear the slight whistle of the sylph's wind, nor the crackling of the salamander's flames. Not even the ringing of Poppy's voice as she stood on the table, staring at Ashton with a worried look on her face. The only thing that was slowly fighting its way through the silence was a distant, incessant ringing. Like a train approaching him at full speed, it grew louder and louder and louder, until he became so overwhelmed by the noise that all of Ashton's other senses seemed to have forgotten how to function.
That was also when the energy that had gathered in Ashton's body collapsed, all at once, like his chest folded inward onto his heart.
It was a pain that couldn't be put into words. A pain that this potion shouldn't be causing. He had taken this many times before, and it wasn't this indescribable back then. It felt like being tortured back then, but this wasn't that. It was like Ashton felt the pain of every single time his body was torn apart all at once.
And that's when he realised, amidst the pain. He realised what the wounds on his soul were. They were the result of death. Repeated, torturous death. Or at least, that was part of it. And this potion, in order to heal the body, called on the soul to reference what one's body should look like. In that process, it figured out just how damaged Ashton really was, and tried to fix the damage all at once.
The steam wasn't stopping, climbing over Ashton's eyes and clinging to his mouth as if someone was pressing a pillow to his face. He couldn't breathe, and clawed at the mist to force it away. At least, that's what he thought was happening. Ashton didn't quite know. The only thing that he did know was that this was the worst mistake of his life. He was about to die. He was about to throw his life away, dying to get rid of some maggots in his flesh.
If only Ashton had just stayed unbothered by them. They would have died off sooner or later anyway, as he became stronger. He could have summoned something to help instead. But no, instead, he just had to take the fast route. And that was the reason why he was dying, why he was-
The pain disappeared like someone flipped a light switch. It was immediate and sudden, almost jarring. But Ashton's mind was clear, and though his body was still sore, it wasn't exactly painful.
He stood there, as the red steam slowly settled down and began to fade away, with Jacky in the doorway. She had gone to get Sam's help, so he was also standing right there with her.
"Mate, I thought we talked about this," Sam said with a loud groan. "Don't get completely nude like that randomly."
He stepped into the room, though he soon held his hand in front of his mouth and nose. "Oh my fucking- What's that rancid smell?"
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Ashton looked down at himself. He touched his chest, and realised how... sticky he was.
"I, uh... I think that's me..?" Ashton said, though he wasn't fully sure. This usually shouldn't happen, but it looked like his body had pushed out a ton of sweat, and together with it, whatever impurities were stuck in his vessel. The things that were mixed in with the flow of one's mana that was mucking things up. Weird. Usually, a healing potion shouldn't do that. But well, the soul and the body were inextricably linked, so it wasn't exactly impossible, especially considering Ashton's situation. It was still weird, though.
"What were you doing in here?" Sam looked at the small, empty bottle laying on the ground. He stared at the worried expressions of Poppy and the elementals. Even the Backpacker had popped out and was nervously hiding under the table. And Ashton had new scars. Ugly scars. Particularly, the ones on his arm, chest, and back looked rough. Ashton had described them exactly like this.
"Did you take the healing potion?"
"... Mm-hmm. But something else weird happened... I'll explain it to you later. For now..." Ashton clunkily stepped forward. At first, Sam thought it was because he was hurt, but he soon realised it wasn't that. Ashton was just extremely tired, to the point where he was barely able to keep his eyes open.
"Come on, let's get you cleaned up, and then you can rest," Sam suggested, and he looked over at Jacky, who was still standing there in the doorway, confused about what was going on. "Thanks for getting me."
"Uhm... sure? Is he okay?"
"I think so, he just needs to sleep."
"But... he's drinking another potion right now."
"What?"
Sam snapped his head around, seeing as Ashton poured not one, but bits of two different potions into his mouth. And just a few moments later, Ashton shook his head for a moment, in that reflexive way, like when someone touched something cold to your neck.
But then, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and smiled broadly. Completely full of energy again, Ashton pressed his hands onto his hip.
"I'm good, I'll just get cleaned up and continue working," Ashton said with a laugh.
"What did you just do? What kind of potion did you drink?"
Ashton looked over at the Pen of Insight, which was writing down the information of two more potions right now. One of which was the dark blue potion that Ashton had used on the pen earlier, and the other one was the vibrant, green potion standing at the edge of the table earlier.
Potion of Mental Fortitude
Grade - Rare
Creator - Ashton Garling
Volume - 200ml
Effect - Recovery and temporary strengthening of mental capacities
The Potion of Mental Fortitude is capable of calming even the most disturbed minds, even if just for a few instants in the more severe cases. Not only does it allow the user to keep a clear mind no matter the situation they are in, but it is even possible to bring those in severe panic and even unconsciousness back the world of the alert.
This potion can create a unique synergy wit the Potion of Stamina created alongside it.
Potion of Stamina
Grade - Rare
Creator - Ashton Garling
Volume - 300ml
Effect - Recovery and temporary strengthening of physical energy
The Potion of Stamina is capable of reinvigorating even the most exhausted, bringing a half-dead man back to peak condition to keep running for hours and hours! Warning! Do not take this potion within three hours of attempting to sleep.
This potion can create a unique synergy wit the Potion of Mental Fortitude created alongside it.
"Uh... wait,
so you... recovered both your mind and your body just now?" Sam summed up, and Ashton nodded, stretching slightly to deal with his sore body a bit.
"Basically." Ashton smiled happily, looking at the spot where the constellations' messages were floating. They had seemingly been pretty worried about him. Which made sense, of course. They had each given him a quest, after all. "Though it's a bit more complicated than that. The Potion of Stamina is usually just like a fancy energy drink, and the Potion of Mental Fortitude is the equivalent for mental exhaustion. It's just that they give an extreme jolt, so they can really wake someone up. But combined, they work together in this really neat way. Which is that they, essentially... reset your body's energy levels completely."
"... Hm?"
"Long story short, I feel like I just woke up from the best sleep of my life."
Sam stared at Ashton, concerned. "Uh, does that mean you're never going to sleep again?"
With a scoff, Ashton shook his head. "No, not at all. The speed at which I grow exhausted speeds up every time. So if I could usually stay awake for 24 hours, though I can manage much longer obviously, after the first dose, I could only stay awake for like... 20. Then after that, for 16, and so on."
"So you will sleep at some point again, right?"
"Of course. Using these potions together is also really bad for," Ashton said as he looked down at himself. "But, I'm now healed, my vessel has been cleaned up, I dropped some more weight as well, I think, and I'm full of energy. I'm feeling pretty great."
Still standing there at the edge of the room, in the doorway, Jacky stared at the two friends casually talking in this situation. "And you're okay? You know, you were butt-naked, with your eyes rolled back in your head, spasming, and covered in rest smoke."
"Steam."
Taken aback, Jacky tilted her head. "Huh?"
"It was steam. The healing potion makes the body head up rapidly, and it creates this thick red steam. Funny story, actually, there's this saying where-"
Sam interrupted his friend with a pat on his shoulder. "Actually, just... clean yourself up a bit, okay? You can talk about this later."
"Oh, right." Ashton nodded with a smile, looking over at the undine. He should spend some time calming everyone down, they seemed pretty shaken up. But before then, he looked over at Jacky. "That reminds me, actually. Why did you come in here to begin with?"
Finally remembering something that had seemingly been pretty damn important just ten minutes ago, Jacky slowly calmed down. "Right... Oliver asked me to see if I could get you.. He thinks he's figured out a way to get his class."